Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Five minutes until midnight.

Today is my twenty-fifth birthday, and it is also the final deadline for my mission. As long as Shi Juan proposes to me today, I can stay here.

We had clearly agreed on this.

Balloons hung throughout the room, a cream cake sat on the table, and bouquet after bouquet of roses filled every corner.

Our mutual friends had been notified in advance and had come to the villa, ready to celebrate.

However, from noon until night, Shi Juan’s phone never went through.

My best friend, Lin Lin, held my hand and tried to comfort me.

“Chang Xue, don’t worry. Maybe he’s… caught up with something?”

What could he be caught up with?

Not long ago, he had vowed to me, promising every word with absolute certainty: “Ah Xue, I will give you the most perfect proposal in front of everyone.”

I shook my head and asked our friends to head home first.

According to the rules, if Shi Juan did not return before the day ended, I would be obliterated by the System.

I really didn’t want these people who truly loved me to witness the scene of my soul scattering into nothingness.

Perhaps I looked too pathetic, constantly checking my watch. With only a few minutes left, the System finally spoke up to remind me.

[Host, stop waiting.]

For some reason, the mechanical voice that had always been cold and indifferent now carried a hint of resentment.

[He isn’t coming. Yan Yan returned to the country today. He has been with her the whole time; they are at the hospital right now.]

Yan Yan was Shi Juan’s “white moonlight”-his first love. They were childhood sweethearts who had grown up together.

However, she had congenital heart disease and had always been frail. During high school, her parents sent her to the United States, and she had rarely appeared since then.

I rubbed my temples, feeling an overwhelming exhaustion. “Is her illness cured?”

[No,] the System explained. [But a new technology was recently developed domestically, so she likely won’t go abroad again.]

Oh. I see.

It was understandable. Since the person he truly loved was back, there was no longer any need for him to be entangled with me.

Just as the System finished speaking, the midnight alarm went off.

I closed my eyes, waiting for the moment my soul would be stripped away.

However…

Nearly a minute passed, and nothing happened.

I opened my eyes to the same familiar room, the messy bouquets, the decorations, and the lights. Why… was I still here?

[I submitted an application for you. Your stay in this world has been extended by twenty-four hours. During this time, you can choose how you want to die.]