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Jason was awakened by a phone call from his youngest son.

With a touch of morning grumpiness, he climbed upstairs to witness a scene he had grown accustomed to: his own son bullying his stepdaughter.

Rubbing his slightly cold arm, perhaps from drug use, Jason reluctantly brushed off some of his morning grumpiness. He cracked open the door to Sherry’s room slightly and then looked towards his son, who was squatting beside the seemingly lifeless Sherry, smoking a cigarette.

“Brian, come out for a moment,” Jason called out to his son.

Hearing his father’s call, Brian pressed the searing cigarette butt forcefully against the back of the girl nearby, extinguishing it, and eliciting a heavy groan from her.

Naturally, Jason heard the sound from the girl. Squinting, he glanced at Sherry, who was lying on the ground with disheveled hair, before coldly remarking, “Sherry, get up if you’re not dead. Clean up this place and then go downstairs to cook.”

With a bang, the door was forcefully shut by Jason. Moments later, the trembling Sherry struggled to get up from the ground, her entire body shaking.

“Ugh… sniff sniff…” She didn’t want to cry, but tears couldn’t help but flow down her cheeks, mixed with blood, dripping onto the floor.

…………………………

“Dad, what’s wrong? I thought you were going to join in on the fun today.”

After leaving Sherry’s room, Jason and his son stood face to face. Brian uttered a seemingly inexplicable sentence while gesturing towards Sherry’s room with his eyes, a message quickly understood by Jason.

“What I want to talk to you about is her,” Jason suddenly furrowed his brow. His eyelids twitched, his limbs trembled slightly, and his face turned pale; he was having withdrawal symptoms.

“Dad? It’s not time yet, why are you having another episode? I’ll go fetch…” Brian complained, about to head downstairs, but was stopped by Jason’s outstretched hand.

“No… it’s fine. I can endure it. Let me finish telling you about this first,” Jason took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

“Just yesterday, Shang’s young master from Longmen sent someone to find me…” Jason said, covering his forehead.

“Brother Shang? Does that mean he has better business for us?” Brian’s eyes lit up at this prospect.

Jason was referring to Samuel Shang, the major contact for Jason’s family’s drug imports. His uncle, Donovan, was a high-ranking member of the Longmen Gang, controlling a quarter of the underground forces in Tianzhou City, with many powerful and ruthless ability users under his command, acting as his henchmen.

However, such high-profile figures were naturally beyond the reach of Jason’s small-time drug-dealing family, so Brian was also puzzled.

“Yes and no…” Jason sighed, his eyelids still twitching. “Last time when I met with Benjamin for a deal, he unintentionally saw our family photo in my wallet, and he also noticed Sherry, that little wench.”

“Who knew, that very night, that old guy Benjamin reported to Young Master Shang, saying that I, Jason, had a stunningly beautiful daughter.”

Hearing this, Brian already guessed some of it, but he wasn’t certain. “Could it be that Young Master Shang has taken a liking to Sherry’s…”

Jason nodded slowly. “This morning, Young Master Shang’s people found me and said they will offer five hundred kilograms of Grade-A drugs and three streets’ worth of drug pipeline¹ in exchange for her.”

“Why are you so down, Dad? This is great news! Do you still care about that Sherry?” Brian didn’t care about Sherry’s well-being. What mattered was the opportunity to gain so many valuable resources! It was all about the money!

Jason gave Brian a fierce glare. Of course, he didn’t care about Sherry. He just felt that Benjamin had stolen the credit for this matter. If he had known that Young Master Shang was interested, he would have personally cleaned up Sherry and sent her to his mansion. Without Benjamin’s interference, he would have definitely gained more.

After hearing Jason’s explanation, Brian grinned. “Dad, it’s too late to regret now. Let’s just accept it. Since Sherry can bring us such good resources and merchandise, then let’s send her.”

“Moreover, Young Master Shang is not someone to be trifled with. Perhaps if we try to negotiate, he might not even bother giving us these things and would just send ability users to raid us.”

Naturally, Jason understood these issues. He silently nodded.

“Tomorrow, I’ll send her to Young Master Shang’s mansion. You didn’t injure her badly earlier, did you?” Jason squinted at his youngest son.

Usually, Jason didn’t care about Sherry. As long as Brian didn’t kill her, he wouldn’t intervene. But now it was different. Sherry was now seen as a gold mine in his eyes. She couldn’t be damaged.

“It’s fine. At most, she has a little wound on her forehead. It should start scabbing over tonight,” Brian said indifferently.

“Alright, lock her in the room tonight to prevent any accidents. These are all tons of money.” Jason finished speaking, shook his head, and quickly went downstairs to the basement.

After all, his whole body was feeling uncomfortable. If he didn’t take a sniff, he would suffer.

“Sherry, I didn’t expect you to make such a contribution to this family,” Brian muttered to himself as he watched his father’s figure. Then, he walked up to Sherry’s bedroom door, locked it, whistled to himself, and went downstairs.

………………………………

In the bedroom, Sherry heard the sound of Jason and Brian going downstairs, her body trembling uncontrollably.

The bloodstains on the floor remained untouched, and she didn’t have the mood to clean them up. She reluctantly gathered her strength to tidy up her backpack, which Brian had messed up. Then, the young girl couldn’t hold on any longer. She climbed onto the bed, curled up in the corner against the wall, and buried her head.

“Sob… Sob…” The girl’s sobbing sounded heart-wrenching, tears soaking her clothes, mingling with the blood, staining her white school uniform.

Why… Why was she born into such a family…
Why… Why did her parents abandon her in the first place…
Why…

Why, from childhood to adulthood, the only warm embrace she received, the only unconditional care she experienced, was from that snowy-haired girl.

Why…

“Who will save me… Please, someone save me…”²

………………………………

【Ding Dong, the host has initiated the redemption mission for the character Sherry, and relevant mission and rewards are now activated.】
【Mission Phase One: Understand the movements of the character Sherry. Upon completion of Phase One, the next phase of the mission will be unlocked.】
【Reward for completing Phase One: Weighted Detection Device (Temporary Model)】

Nancy, who was already in the taxi, heard the prompt in her mind, her beautiful eyes widening slightly.

Finally, the system issued a mission related to this poor girl.

At that moment, Hattori, who was beside her, noticed Nancy’s dazed expression and couldn’t help but inquire, “Miss, is everything okay?”

Nancy snapped out of her reverie at his words, hiding the excitement that had flashed in her eyes.

“No… nothing, let’s go buy a gun first.”

With that, Nancy looked at the screen in front of her, invisible to others.

【Ding Dong, Hidden Mission Completed: Interact with three heroines simultaneously and win an average goodwill value of 40 points.

Impact of Mission Completion: The host will participate in the protagonist’s storyline as a cannon fodder character, and someone has already noticed you.

Reward for completing the mission: Activation of the host’s combat module.】

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1. It refers to the routes or channels through which illegal drugs are trafficked or transported. This term is commonly used to describe the networks and pathways involved in the distribution of illicit substances.
2. Silva: Seriuosly tho, this author must have a bit of a sadistic tendency, why so many family violence…