Chapter 6 Life Support System

Elizabeth took the business card Stanley handed her.

The card only had a name and a phone number printed on it, with no additional titles.

She put the card away carefully. "Mr. Larson, you don't need to be so polite. Anyone who encountered that situation would have helped."

Stanley looked at her intently.

His deep eyes held emotions that were hard to read. After a brief silence, he simply nodded. "Alright, I won't disturb you while you treat your wound."

He turned and left the examination room.

Primrose watched Stanley's retreating figure, then moved closer to Elizabeth and playfully winked.

"Not bad at all, Elizabeth. That man has excellent presence, way better than a terrible ex like Lonnie. You should take advantage of this opportunity."

"Don't joke around. I helped Mr. Larson without any ulterior motives," Elizabeth said helplessly. Her best friend always loved to tease.

"Of course I know that. But who can say for sure when it comes to fate?" Primrose joked while continuing her work, quickly finishing treating Elizabeth's wound.

"All done. Don't get the wound wet for the next few days, and don't strain yourself, or it'll be a real hassle if it reopens."

Primrose looked at her with concern.

"You still have to participate in the principal cellist audition, right?"

"No problem. As long as my hand isn't seriously injured, and as long as Claire doesn't use underhanded tactics, her performance will never match mine."

Elizabeth's eyes turned cold.

"Do you have a place to stay? Want to crash at my place for now?" Primrose couldn't help worrying when she noticed Elizabeth had no personal belongings with her.

Only then did Elizabeth realize her situation.

She hadn't taken any of her belongings, not even her cello from her previous residence.

But she had a solution.

"My adoptive parents left me an apartment. I can move in after a quick cleanup."

That was a place that truly belonged to her alone.

In her previous life, after her adoptive parents passed away, she found her biological parents and thought she was no longer alone, that she had real family.

But her days living at the Wilson mansion were far harder to endure than her time at the orphanage.

She finally understood now that only the house her adoptive parents left behind was her true home.

Primrose breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. Be careful on your way, and call me anytime if you need anything."

Elizabeth smiled and turned to leave the hospital.

The taxi soon arrived at her destination.

Elizabeth walked into the old residential complex.

Everything before her eyes was exactly as she remembered.

She took out her key and opened the door.

The apartment was small, just a one-bedroom with a living room.

Elizabeth closed the door and let out a long breath.

This was her home, hers alone.

A sudden wave of intense dizziness hit her. She forced herself to walk to the bed and collapsed onto it.

A blinding white light suddenly engulfed her vision.

A cold mechanical voice echoed in the white light.

[Host soul fluctuation detected]

[System binding successful!]

[Life Support System officially activated.]

[Current Affection Value: 10.]

[Warning: Host must increase Affection Value to 100 points within one week, or face life-threatening danger again.]

[Affection Value acquisition method: Collect genuine affection, recognition, and admiration from others.]

[The higher others' favorability toward the host, the more Affection Value converted.]

[System has bound a Life Bracelet to the host. The bracelet color will change with Affection Value, starting at white. For every 1000 Affection Value accumulated, the bracelet upgrades in color.]

[The bracelet has life monitoring functions and will automatically alert when the host's vital signs are abnormal.]

The mechanical voice gradually faded, and the white light slowly receded.

Severe headache overwhelmed her entire body, and Elizabeth completely lost consciousness.

When she woke up again, it was already bright outside.

Elizabeth rubbed her throbbing head and slowly sat up.

The cold system announcement from last night still echoed clearly in her mind.

She instinctively looked down at her wrist.

Where her wrist had been bare, there was now a silver-white bracelet.

The bracelet's surface was smooth and patternless, fitting snugly against her skin.

Elizabeth tried to remove the bracelet, but it wouldn't budge, as if it had fused with her wrist.

Her heart sank.

Everything last night wasn't a dream.

She had really been bound to a life support system and had to continuously accumulate Affection Value to maintain her life.

It was all incredibly ironic.

Perhaps the system chose to bind with her because it determined her past life had been too devoid of love.

She needed to gather the remaining 90 points of Affection Value within a week.

Elizabeth frowned slightly.

She wasn't clear on the exact consequences of failing the task, but it would certainly endanger her life.

She laughed at herself mockingly.

Rebirth was never free luck. This chance to start over also required a price.

But having the opportunity to start over was already an enormous gift—she shouldn't ask for more.

She was puzzled about where the initial 10 points of Affection Value came from.

Her adoptive parents had long passed away, and she had completely severed ties with the Wilson family.

These 10 points were most likely contributed by Primrose.

Given their close relationship, this was probably the maximum a single person could contribute.

Gathering the remaining Affection Value within a week wouldn't be easy.

Even without knowing the ultimate consequence of failure, she had to give it her all.

Only by staying alive could she wait for everyone who had hurt her to pay the price.

She absolutely could not die here.

The most critical issue now was finding channels to obtain Affection Value.

The cello was her greatest skill. Her talent and professional ability far exceeded her peers in the field.

If she posted her performance videos online, she might gain public recognition and affection.

A glimmer of light appeared in Elizabeth's eyes.

There was no better option right now. She could only try this approach to fight for a chance at survival.

She immediately took out her phone to register a new social media account, but a message notification popped up first.

The sender was Claire.

Messages from Claire never came with good intentions—mostly veiled boasting and probing.

Elizabeth still opened the conversation.

Everything was exactly as she expected.

[Elizabeth, I'm sorry. Lonnie just told me that the orchestra management has officially decided to have me serve as principal cellist.]

[I really didn't want to compete with you for this position, but Lonnie said you've been having conflicts with your family recently and your emotional state is unstable, so you're not suitable to be principal.]

[Please don't blame Lonnie, and don't blame me either, okay? Once your emotions stabilize, I'll proactively ask Lonnie to give the principal position back to you.]

The message ended with a crying emoji.

Looking at the deliberately submissive emoji on the screen, Elizabeth felt nothing but disgust.

Claire was best at this kind of false concession act—pretending to be innocent while monopolizing everything that should belong to others.

She was expert at gaining others' sympathy.

No one in the Wilson family could see through her disguise. Whenever she showed the slightest weakness or shed tears, someone would step up to support her and suppress others.

Elizabeth recalled her experiences in her previous life.

In her past life, under pressure from both the Wilson family and Lonnie, she was forced to give up the principal cellist position.

Shortly after Claire secured the principal position, Steven arranged for her to participate in a highly popular music variety show.

The show had top ratings, and Claire gained a huge fanbase with her persona of someone with a difficult background but exceptional musical talent.

And she, because of her special relationship with Claire, was repeatedly criticized and compared by netizens.

Soon, a flood of anonymous haters maliciously smeared her online, accusing her of being jealous of Claire and using her status as the real daughter to steal others' opportunities.

The rumors continued to ferment. Some even fabricated stories, claiming she had improper dealings with orchestra management to obtain resources.

Overnight, she became the target of internet-wide condemnation.

No matter how she tried to explain publicly, no one was willing to believe her.

The Wilson family and Lonnie not only failed to help her clarify, but kicked her while she was down, accusing her of behaving inappropriately and bringing shame to the entire family.

That was the darkest and most oppressive period of her life.

The endless cyberbullying made her shut herself indoors, afraid to touch her phone, and she even had thoughts of ending her life.

And the mastermind behind all this tragedy was Claire.