My sister pushed me into the river.

Just as I felt I was about to die, a young boy jumped in to save me. When I woke up, I discovered I had gained the ability to read minds.

It turned out that my sister wasn’t really my sister. She’d been stealing my good fortune all along.

——

On the weekend, my sister invited me to go boating with her and I agreed without hesitation.

After all, she rarely asked me to go out with her, almost as if I were something filthy that she detested touching.

Although we were twin sisters, we couldn't be more different. My sister was stunningly beautiful, exceptionally talented and always at the top of her class—one of those "model children" others admire.

And me...

My sister, Alice, looked at me with disgust. "Zeline, could you possibly dress any uglier?"

I glanced down at my pink dress, feeling utterly ashamed.

We were wearing the same dress, but it perfectly embodied the saying—whoever was uglier felt more awkward.

On me, it made my figure look bulky and bloated and it made my skin appear even darker.

But on my sister, it highlighted her graceful curves, making her lips red, teeth white and her complexion flawless. She looked stunning.

I clenched the hem of my dress, my face flushed with embarrassment, wanting to go and change.

Alice said impatiently, "Don’t bother changing. Let’s go already. If you keep dawdling, it’ll get too hot."

We arrived at the park early and there weren’t many people around.

After buying tickets, we sat on the boat together, admiring the scenery.

Lowering my gaze, I spoke with gratitude, "Alice, I’m so happy to be rowing with you."

She scoffed in response.

Then, she reached out and forcefully pushed me into the water.

"Ah..."

Alice looked at me with an icy expression. "Zeline, you’re of no use anymore. Don’t worry, I’ll live well for the both of us from now on."

"Help, help, someone save me..."

A rush of icy water filled my nose, forcing my mouth open as bubbles escaped rapidly. I felt my body being drained, unable to exhale or inhale.

I thought I was going to die…

Just then, a boy jumped into the water with a splash and quickly swam toward me.

"Zeline, hold on!"

I vaguely heard someone calling my name before losing consciousness.

When I woke up in the hospital, my parents and sister were by my side.

The moment they saw me awake, they began scolding me, "Zeline, how do you even manage to fall into the river while rowing? What’s wrong with you? You can’t do anything right!"

I glanced at my sister behind our parents. She wore a look of defiance.

I had intended to tell the truth, but I remained silent. From childhood to now, my parents had always favored Alice, believing everything she said. Why bother making the effort?

‘Hmph, this fool actually survived. I’ll have to find another opportunity. ‘

I suddenly heard a voice. I snapped my head up and looked at Alice.

She appeared full of guilt. "Zeline, it’s all my fault for inviting you to go boating. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have fallen into the river."

It seemed I must’ve been hallucinating.

I smiled coldly. "Good that you know you did something wrong!"

Hearing this, my parents began scolding me again. "You fell in because you were careless and now you blame your sister. If it wasn’t for her calling someone to save you, you’d be dead by now. You ungrateful brat, no conscience at all!"

I frowned. Alice really knew how to claim credit for herself.

‘Didn’t expect it, did you? I can say anything to Mom and Dad and they’ll believe me. Zeline, what can you do about it?’

I heard Alice’s voice again, even though her lips didn’t move.

It seemed falling into the river wasn’t all bad—I must have gained the ability to read minds.

Now, I could hear Alice’s inner thoughts.

When I got home, I pulled Alice aside to ask, "Who was the person that saved me?"

Alice responded impatiently, "No one.”

‘Who would have thought that the male lead would show up to save you? Hmph, if I can take away your good fortune, I can definitely take the male lead away from you.As long as I get rid of you quickly…’

Her inner thoughts hit me like a thunderbolt, sending chills down my spine.

Good fortune? Male lead? Who was she? Wasn’t she my sister?

No wonder, no wonder I felt like something had changed since she got seriously ill at five.

Feigning nonchalance, I asked, "Alice, why did you stop liking me after you got sick when we were five?"

The voice in my mind replied, ‘Like you? I’m not really your sister. I ended up in this world by some inexplicable twist. Thankfully, I have a system to help me steal your fortune as the female lead; otherwise, I wouldn’t want to stick around here. I can’t stay with you for too long; otherwise, my fortune will be taken back by you.’

Alice looked at me with disdain. "You’re fat, dark and ugly. Who would want to like you?"

After saying that, she hurried back to her bedroom.

Watching her quickly retreat, I felt an unprecedented rage boiling inside me.

I stood under the cold shower for an hour, the icy water making me feel numb all over, as her venomous words and disdainful gaze replayed in my mind.

When I was younger, I thought it was because I wasn’t good enough that my sister hated me. As a result, I became insecure and sensitive, always trying to please her and get closer.

But all I received in return were increasingly harsh words.

"Get lost."

"Zeline, you're so ugly; stay away from me and don’t ruin my eyes."

"You’re truly hopeless. After all that effort, you still ended up in last place."

***

I often wondered why, despite all my efforts to study, lose weight and do anything else, I made no progress and always ended in failure.

Meanwhile, my "dear sister" needed to do nothing to have everything she desired.

It turned out she had stolen my fortune to achieve her brilliant life.

The thought that she even wanted to kill me flooded me with a massive wave of hatred, overwhelming like a tsunami.

This time, I was determined to find a way to reclaim everything that belonged to me and uncover the truth about my real sister.

From what Alice implied, it seemed that as long as I stayed close to her, my fortune would return to me.

But even if I did regain it, that so-called system would just take it away from me again.

What I needed to do was negotiate with the system first.

With a sense of desperation, I went to the school's broadcasting station and turned on the loudspeaker.

In my heart, I called out, "System, are you there?"

There was no response.

"System, it doesn't matter if you don’t reply. I've turned on the loudspeaker and will give you one minute to think about it. If you still ignore me, I’ll expose your existence to everyone. I believe you wouldn't want that."

I glanced at the timer on my phone.

“60,59, ... 3,2,1,0.”

A minute had passed.

Still, there was no response.

Did it think I wouldn’t dare to speak? Or was it unable to hear me?

I picked up the microphone and spoke into the loudspeaker, "Hello, teachers and fellow students. I’m Zeline, a student at the university broadcasting station. I have something important to share with you all about the unsolved mysteries of this world..."

Just as I was halfway through my sentence, a cold mechanical voice echoed in my mind, "Zeline, how dare you!"

I ignored it and continued, "A being that can dominate the world..."

The system panicked, "Zeline, wait a minute! We can talk this out!"

I replied cheerfully, "Sure!"

The system seemed to realize what was happening and became furious, "You actually set a trap for me?"

"You were too guilty to notice that I hadn’t even turned on the power switch. Let’s have a proper conversation. Otherwise, if you push me too far, I can do anything."

The system gritted its teeth and asked, "What do you want to talk about?"

"I want to know what tasks you assigned to Alice, why you’re trying to frame me, where my real sister is and how to stop her from taking my fortune again."

The system hesitated for a moment and replied, "I cannot disclose anything else. But I can refrain from intervening in this matter."

I thought for a moment. This meant that starting today, Alice could no longer take my fortune.

I could reclaim everything that belonged to me on my own.

Alice found me, her finger pointing angrily as she shouted, "Zeline, you’re ugly, dark and useless. It's your blessing that I can possess your fortune and you dare to say those things to the system!"

Fury burned in my chest. How shameless could she be! How could she think my things, my fortune, truly belong to her?

I walked towards her and slapped her in the face.

The advantage of being fat was revealed at this moment.

I knocked her straight to the ground.

“Alice, don’t forget that everything you have should have been mine! You’re the little thief who stole everything from me! I didn’t let the system keep it a secret from you just so you could watch helplessly as everything that doesn’t belong to you will ultimately never belong to you!’

Alice covered her face, sitting on the ground and glaring at me fiercely. Her beautiful features were twisted into an ugly expression of anger and hatred.

She stood up and said viciously, “Zeline, we’ll see about that!”

She finished speaking and slammed the door as she left.

I didn’t expect Alice to be so despicable.

When I came out of my room to prepare for dinner, I saw her sobbing and telling my parents about her grievances.

My dad had a dark expression on his face. “Zeline, you’re so young, how can you have such a bad conscience? Just because your sister is better than you, you’re jealous and hit her?”

My mom also looked at me with reproach. “Zeline, quickly apologize to your sister.”

The moment my gaze met Alice's, a trace of a smile appeared in her eyes, filled with mockery and arrogance, as she silently mouthed a few words. ‘You can't win against me.’

My parents' favoritism left me deeply disappointed. It was always like this. They only believed everything Alice said, never listening to my explanations.

I turned around and returned to my bedroom, quietly packing my things and preparing to leave.

Dad's face turned ashen when he saw this. "Zeline, are we not allowed to say a word to you? The moment we do, you plan to run away from home."

I clenched my fists tightly and shouted, "Since childhood, whatever Alice says, you believe it without question. Have you ever listened to my explanations? If that's the case, I might as well leave this home!"

My dad was also very angry. "Fine! Go ahead, let's see how you plan to live without this family!"

I heard Alice's disdainful voice, ‘Hmph, you dare to fight with me!’