Well... I couldn’t tell them I couldn’t find you for the time being, seeing as they all seemed to be... not in their right minds.
I could only lie and tell them you’d already returned to your original world.
They missed you, so they threatened me into sending them to see you.
However, the person they met was actually the "you" from before all this, so your memory was fine at first. You kept dreaming about them later because they were constantly interfering in your original world. Every dream you had was basically a memory update.
"Do they know you’ve found me now?"
They know now. Because they accidentally found out that you had already died in your original world...
After I found you here, I did actually try to send you away.
But they suddenly decided to let you stay here.
"Why?"
Probably because they saw how comfortable your life is here? Your life in your original world wasn’t a happy one, and if you returned to the last world, there’s no guarantee you would have accepted them. That world is already a complete mess.
Some dead, some wounded...
But this current world, to Mia Grant, was already as beautiful as a fairy tale.
The origin of the "Corruption Value" was also related to the male leads from the previous world.
The corruption was real. Otherwise, the System wouldn’t have been controlled by them for so long.
It’s just that in this life, the Corruption Value became an excuse. An excuse to make Mia Grant abandon her plan to fake her death and instead return to the male leads.
That’s why, in the beginning, the System didn’t offer the so-called reward of "sending you home." Instead, it preyed on Mia Grant’s motivations and just put up a large cash prize.
Just as Mia Grant had said, it was all an elaborate, carefully orchestrated scam.
Everything that was about to happen here had long been scripted in secret.
The difference was, this time, the actress playing her part had invested far, far too much unscripted emotion into what was supposed to be her story.
"Does the fact that I have no memories of the last world have anything to do with you?"
That was also an accident. I definitely didn’t do it on purpose.
I was originally going to tell you, but they wouldn’t let me. They said it didn’t seem like remembering would do you any good.
Mia Grant stared at the ceiling, slowly blinking her eyes.
"Why did I have Hayes Hughes kill me?"
That had nothing to do with me. It was your own decision.
Because we couldn’t be sure which male lead would be the one to kill the heroine in the end. And since you had to die in the heroine’s place, you were very anxious before that unknown moment arrived.
Later, you said that since the original book’s ending never mentioned who did it, you might as well find someone yourself.
And so you found Hayes Hughes.
I asked you why, and you said that dying at the hands of your favorite male lead from the novel was a rare opportunity. An experience you’d never get a second chance at in this lifetime.
"..." Mia Grant thought about it. ’Yeah, that sounds like something I’d do.’
"Was Hayes Hughes’s death a predetermined part of the ending?"
...That was also an accident.
The System was speechless, too. Everything had gone so smoothly before, but the grand finale was full of accidents.
I never expected him to die with you.
"Then in the last world, who killed the heroine in the end? Was it Yates Donovan?"
The System thought for a moment. No, it wasn’t.
When Yates Donovan arrived, the heroine was already dead.
But I don’t know who the killer was. I can only rule out Yates Donovan and Hayes Hughes.
"Then who was the male lead who ’awakened’? Yates Donovan?"
Yes.
Mia Grant finally heard a satisfying answer from the System.
In the last world, he didn’t exactly "awaken." He was just the person who ended up taking primary control of me. He’s the "superior" I’ve been mentioning.
Most of my directives are issued by him.
As for his awakening in this current world, that has everything to do with you. You see, you told him about my existence, and he’s been recovering his memories, working with you to run circles around me. So, he has awakened.
This also counts as one of the unchangeable outcomes.
"So what’s the deal with me always coughing up blood? Don’t tell me that’s an accident, too. I’ve always thought this cheat you gave me was pretty useless."
That’s a long story. To put it simply, in the last world, you became very ill.
Perhaps because you, as a supporting female character, survived until the very end, and the plot has a self-correcting ability, you were suddenly diagnosed with lung cancer in the last world.
Hearing this, Mia Grant frowned sharply. "Then will I die in the end here, too?"
If you behave yourself, you can live for a very long time.
"Didn’t you say the plot corrects itself?"
Don’t worry. If they can control me, what can’t they do?
Mia Grant understood. Even the System couldn’t guarantee she would live a long and healthy life to the very end.
But the "them" from the last world were working hard to make it happen.
Thinking of those kind-hearted strangers she had "never met," Mia Grant suddenly felt a little like laughing.
"Is there anything else you need to tell me?"
The System took a moment to think. What do you want to hear?
"About my original world. You said last time that I was buried after I died."
"I didn’t have any friends back then. Who would be so kind?"
"Was it them?"
Yes. It was Ian Sinclair who found your body in the rental apartment. He then chose a scenic spot and laid you to rest there.
Mia Grant thought of the ring again. "In the last world, did Yates Donovan get married?"
The System said he didn’t.
He and the heroine were supposed to get engaged, but it was later called off.
His rings were a matching pair, bought after you died.
"Did he like me from very early on?"
I’m not sure. I only remember that during the finale, he was genuinely enraged when he saw your body. Even if Hayes Hughes hadn’t committed suicide, he would have waited for Hayes to finish relaying your last words before tearing him to shreds with his own hands.
Mia Grant stared silently at the ceiling.
She wanted to ask, ’Are they okay now?’ But the thought of the original ending made her fall silent again.
Just then, the door to the room was pushed open from the outside.
Hearing the sound, the System fell quiet of its own accord.
Mia Grant blinked her stinging eyes and looked up toward the doorway.
The person who entered hadn’t expected her to be awake. He froze for a moment, then quickened his pace toward the hospital bed.
Mia Grant was also stunned to see him, her gaze unconsciously drifting down to his legs.
She stared, dumbfounded. "Your legs are healed?"
"Are you uncomfortable anywhere?"
"..."
Their voices overlapped.
Mia Grant blinked, then smiled.
"Looks like they are," she said, surprised. "So fast. When did you get back?"
"We just landed not long ago."
Kian Keller helped her sit up, adjusting the pillow behind her back.
"That’s wonderful," Mia Grant congratulated him from the bottom of her heart.
But Kian Keller wasn’t so happy.
Looking at her haggard face, an unpleasant feeling stirred within him.
"I had someone pull the traffic surveillance footage from that section of the road."
"Why did you suddenly grab the steering wheel?"
"Mia Grant, what were you trying to do?"