I rubbed at the skin furiously. Scratched at the numbers. Desperate to claw them off. It was all because of this thing. The moment this System appeared, my parents changed.
I scratched until my skin broke and bled, but the numbers remained, glowing beneath the crimson.
"Host." The System's voice held no emotion. "There is no need to take your anger out on me. I am merely a tool."
"I am not the cause of your suffering. The root cause is simply that your parents do not love you."
The truth I had spent years denying pierced straight through my heart.
I froze.
Then I buried my head in my hands and wept.
"Girl, are you hungry?"
I looked up. Eliana Norton, a sanitation worker, stood before me. She held a cup of steaming millet porridge, the sweet aroma wafting up like a gentle embrace.
She placed the warm cup in my hands. "Eat."
"Why are you crying out here?" Her voice was soft. Kind. "Did you fight with your parents?"
The hot porridge warmed my stomach, giving me a fraction of strength. "My parents... they don't want me anymore."
Once, I was their little princess. The apple of their eye. I thought I had the best parents under the sky.