Chapter 1

I shook off the rain as I was about to carelessly shut the door, but a glimpse of a huge black figure on the sofa caught my eye. The figure was soaked through, darkening the sofa beneath it. Startled, I thought of the series of home invasions and murders recently plaguing the neighborhood, and I quickly reached for my phone to call the police.

"You’re coming back this late again. Still like to mess around outside?" Before I could make the call, my sister Carol emerged from the bathroom, complaining. "Help me get him into the bathroom. I'm going to bathe him. When he wakes up and sees me, he'll definitely fall in love with me," Carol muttered to herself.

I soon realized who Carol was referring to and asked incredulously, "Did you just pick up some unknown man outside in the middle of the night?"

"What's the problem? The heroine in the novel 'Rainy Night Romance' met the hero just like this!"

"Are you jealous I found a tall, rich, and handsome guy? Just admit it."

Faced with my questioning, Carol frowned and retorted unhappily. I felt helpless.

When I was eighteen, knowing I was about to take my college entrance exams and despite my allergy to cat fur, Carol brought home a stray cat. It caused me an allergic shock, and I missed my exams, but she refused to apologize. "I can't abandon a precious little life just because of your exams."

"Someone as selfish as you wouldn't achieve much even if you went to college," she said, espousing her grand principles, pushing me towards the depths of depression.

It took me six months to muster the courage to retake the exam, and I finally got into my dream university's geology department. At twenty, to celebrate receiving a national scholarship, friends invited me to explore Hawk's Eyes. Carol insisted on joining, feeling guilt over my missed exams and wanting to take good care of me.

During the trip, Carol found a purple crystal. I recognized it as a radioactive mineral, but despite my warnings, she insisted on taking it. On my birthday, Carol had the crystal dyed and polished into a piece of jewelry for me, instructing me never to part with it. Less than three months later, I was diagnosed with leukemia.

When I confronted Carol about the truth, she cried bitterly, "How was I supposed to know it was as terrible as you said?"

"I meant well. I could give my life to make up for it!" she said, her words hollow, and she never visited me during my chemotherapy treatments.

Years of experience told me that nothing good ever came from what Carol picked up.

I suppressed my anger and surveyed the man lying on the sofa. With just one look, I felt as if I had fallen into an icy pit, trembling uncontrollably.

That face, I could never mistake it.

Half an hour ago, I had just seen him on a police wanted poster.