I stared at the screen.
Then another notification appeared.
[Main objective activated.]
Change the fate that originally led to your death.
[Additional information unlocked.]
Your death was not caused solely by exhaustion.
Someone deliberately accelerated your downfall.
I stared at the final sentence.
Someone had wanted me to fail.
Someone had wanted me exhausted.
Someone had wanted me dependent.
Someone had wanted me dead.
I whispered:
“Who?”
The System didn’t answer.
Instead, another message appeared.
[The answer must be discovered by the Host.]
I smiled.
For the first time in three years, I wasn’t afraid of the future.
I was looking forward to it.
The first thing I did was cancel the future.
Chloe called me again that morning.
I answered.
“Ethan?”
Her voice was sweet.
Too sweet.
“Hey.”
“Where were you last night?”
I almost laughed.
I was the one who had been cheated on in the future, and somehow she was already questioning me.
“I went to bed.”
“Oh.”
Silence.
Then she said:
“I was wondering if you could help me with something.”
There it was.
The first request.
“I need about five thousand dollars.”
I closed my eyes.
In my previous life, I had borrowed money to give it to her.
