[Death countdown: 47 hours, 15 minutes, 8 seconds.]

My body had become so weak that even walking from the bedroom to the living room left me breathless. I was coughing up blood more and more often.

But I did not want to die with regrets.

That afternoon, I forced myself out despite my paper-white face and took a cab to Victoria's film set.

The moment I reached the edge of the set, I saw something that stabbed straight into my eyes.

They had just finished filming a rain scene.

Victoria did not even wipe the water from her own body. Instead, she rushed over with a dry towel and gently dried Noah's hair, her eyes full of tenderness.

Afraid he might catch a chill, she even took off her private custom shawl and wrapped it tightly around his shoulders.

"Thank you, Victoria. You're so good to me," Noah said, lifting his head with a bright smile.

The crew members around them whispered that the two of them looked like a perfect golden couple.

I stood frozen in place as the cold wind cut through my thin clothes.

Once upon a time, that kind of careful, all-consuming tenderness had belonged only to me.

Expressionless, I walked forward.

The moment Victoria turned and saw me, panic flashed across her eyes.

But in the next second, that panic turned into extreme impatience and coldness.

She grabbed my wrist with so much force it felt as if she might crush my bones. Then she dragged me into an empty corner of the prop room.

"What are you doing here? Are you trying to give the paparazzi even more to photograph?"

Her voice was low and full of accusation.

I looked at the faint kiss mark near her collar.

My heart hurt as if a needle had pierced it.

I did not argue with her the way I used to. I did not break down or shout.

I only looked at her calmly.

"Victoria, have dinner with me."

I looked at the face I had traded my luck points to heal.

"Just tonight. At the restaurant where we had our first date. After this meal... I won't bother you again."

Victoria froze, as if she had not expected me to be so calm.

She studied my bloodless face and frowned tightly.

Maybe she thought I was being sensible today. Or maybe she was afraid I would make a scene on set and affect her and Noah.

In the end, she nodded.

"Fine. I get it. Seven tonight. I'll go straight there."

"Now go home. Don't cause trouble for me here."

At seven that evening, I reserved the window seat at the upscale restaurant where we had gone on our first date. I ordered a table full of dishes Victoria had once loved most.

Soft violin music filled the restaurant. Outside the window, the city lights and traffic glittered through the night.

I sat there quietly, watching the red countdown in midair that only I could see, watching it keep slipping away.

[Death countdown: 41 hours, 30 minutes, 12 seconds.]

Seconds and minutes passed.

The food on the table slowly lost its warmth.

I lifted the glass of water beside me and looked at the faint transparent outline flickering once again around my fingertips.

Then I waited in silence for the final farewell to this relationship.

Victoria did not arrive until nine.

After sitting down, she did not even take off her coat. The entire time, she was distracted, frowning, and checking her phone every thirty seconds.

I forced down the taste of blood rising in my throat and pushed the poured glass of red wine toward her.

"Victoria, have some. You used to love..."

Buzz.

Her phone suddenly vibrated.

The moment she saw the caller ID, the perfunctory expression on Victoria's face disappeared. In its place was undisguised urgency.

She answered right in front of me without the slightest hesitation. Her voice was so gentle it sounded like a different person.

"Noah, what's wrong?"

From the other end, Noah's slightly rushed voice came through.

"Victoria, my assistant asked for leave. I'm alone at the hotel... I don't feel well. Can you come check on me?"

"Don't be scared. Stay right there. I'm coming now."

Victoria's face changed. She shot to her feet, grabbed her car keys, and headed for the door.

"Victoria Quinn!"

I calmly caught the sleeve of her coat.

My fingertips turned white from the force. My body even began to flicker faintly with a transparent outline because of the surge of emotion.

I stared at her and spoke in a steady voice filled with dead stillness.

"If you walk out that door today, then from now on... you will never see me again."

I was not lying.

The countdown had nearly reached its end.

If she left now, this would be goodbye forever.

Victoria stopped and looked down at me from above, her voice ice-cold.

"Noah is fragile. He's in danger right now."

She pried my fingers off one by one. Her eyes were so cold she looked at me as if I were an unreasonable lunatic.

Then Victoria threw down those cruel words, turned without hesitation, and strode out of the restaurant.

Her back was decisive and urgent.

From beginning to end, she never looked back once.

Late that night, I dragged my dying body back to the empty villa alone.

I did not turn on the lights. By moonlight, I found paper and a pen, then calmly began writing my farewell letter.

In the letter, I did not accuse her of anything. I only wrote in detail about the choice the system had given me seven years ago.

I wrote about how I had given up a billion-dollar cash reward, and how I had drained every last luck point from my own system account to exchange for the chance for her to stand again after the car accident that had paralyzed both her legs.

After finishing the letter, I packed all our old photos into a cardboard box and erased the last traces of my life in this house.

[Death countdown: 10, 9, 8...]

The countdown entered its final ten seconds.

I fell onto the carpet beside the sofa. It felt as though my organs were being shredded by countless blades.

My face remained cold as I endured the agony. I vomited mouthful after mouthful of black blood, instantly staining the pure white carpet Victoria loved most.

[3, 2, 1!]

[Erasure protocol complete!]

The instant the system's cold voice fell, an irresistible force violently ripped my soul out of my body.

After the pain, my consciousness sank into endless darkness and scattered completely.

All that remained was a lifeless shell, lying quietly in a pool of blood.

The next morning, Victoria pushed open the villa door.

There was still a trace of Noah's tobacco scent on her, and her expression carried the fatigue and irritation of a sleepless night.

"Julian, I'm back. Julian?"

As she took off her coat and changed her shoes, her eyes swept casually across the living room, then froze.

Beside the sofa, Julian Hayes lay quietly on the carpet, motionless.

Victoria frowned, disgust flashing through her eyes.

"You're a grown man. Why are you lying on the floor?"

"The floor is cold. Get up. Don't think this will make me soften."

The person on the floor did not react.

Victoria strode over and grabbed his shoulder.

"Are you still trying to argue with me..."

Before she could finish, her voice stopped abruptly.

What came through her palm was a piercing cold, like ice.

Stiff.

Dead.

Victoria froze. Then she turned Julian over.

What entered her sight was Julian's gray-white face, and the large patches of dried black blood at the corners of his mouth, on his chin, and across his collar.

The eyes that had once always looked at her gently were now tightly closed, never to open again.

"Julian... Julian?!"

Victoria's mind went blank. With shaking fingers, she reached under his nose.

There was nothing.

She stumbled backward in terror and kicked an envelope on the coffee table.

On the envelope were the words: [For Victoria Quinn.]

With trembling hands, she tore it open and scanned the letter.

When she saw the phrases "gave up one billion," "luck points exchanged for the recovery of your legs," and "betrayal triggers erasure," Victoria's pupils shook violently.

"No... impossible. This is impossible, Julian! You must be lying to me!"

Just as she screamed on the verge of collapse, a flat mechanical voice suddenly rang through the air above the villa.

[Detected: host has fully died. Erasure protocol complete.]

Victoria snapped her head up and looked around as if she had seen a ghost.

The cold voice continued to echo, like a death sentence being read aloud.

[Due to contract termination, the leg-healing reward previously granted to bound target Victoria Quinn will now be officially revoked.]

"What..."

Before Victoria could react, a tearing pain exploded through both of her knees.

"Ah!!!"