Ficorpio
Chapter 1
You and your twin sister were bound to the Rivalry Protocol, a system determined to force you into competing for the same man.
You responded by earning a place in a Classified Government Research Program.
Four years later, you returned with a groundbreaking achievement, only to find that your sister, now one of the biggest stars in the entertainment industry, had been framed by a cheating boyfriend. Her career was in ruins, her reputation destroyed, and the entire internet was tearing her apart.
Ethan Sterling, her boyfriend and the privileged heir to one of Beijing’s most powerful families, issued a statement containing only three words:
“Barely know her.”
You logged into your verified government account and tagged him directly.
“Barely know her? Then who was the guy who stood outside our apartment for three hours, nearly freezing to death while he waited for her? A ghost?”
Ever since she was little, your sister Lily had loved makeup. She could sit in front of a mirror for an entire afternoon, experimenting with colors and studying every detail of her face.
So the moment she received System Credits, she exchanged every last one for beauty Attribute Points.
From that day on, she became the most stunning girl in the entire school. Her intelligence remained average, but she was so beautiful that people struggled to look away.
You had always preferred books.
Compared with clothes and makeup, nothing thrilled you more than solving a difficult problem. You poured every one of your Attribute Points into intelligence.
Afterward, you could remember anything you read and solve problems with almost supernatural ease. Practically overnight, you became a legendary academic prodigy no other student could hope to match.
The Rivalry Protocol panicked.
This was not how Manufactured Female Rivalry was supposed to work.
It issued a compulsory mission to both of you:
Whoever succeeded in winning over Ethan Sterling, the most sought-after boy in school, would receive a massive number of System Credits and steal ten Attribute Points from the other sister.
You rejected the mission without a second thought.
“Dating would interfere with my studies. I’m not doing it. Good luck, Lily.”
To your surprise, Lily shook her head too.
“I don’t date strangers. I’m not doing it either.”
The Rivalry Protocol suffered a complete breakdown.
Its voice shrieked inside both your minds.
“Have you two lost your minds? That’s Ethan Sterling! The heir to the Sterling family! If you win him over, you’ll never have to worry about money again for the rest of your lives! I’m handing you the opportunity to pursue a man of this caliber, so why are you refusing?”
Chapter 2
It sounded personally offended, as if the two of you had thrown away the greatest blessing imaginable.
You and Lily exchanged a smile, then went back to your own work.
She returned to rehearsing lines for her acting class, while you tackled the final and most difficult problem in a mathematics competition set.
If the Rivalry Protocol had understood either of you at all, it would have known that you and Lily had been partners in life and death since before you were born.
When Lily’s umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and deprived her of oxygen, you had kicked and punched so violently inside the womb that your mother realized something was wrong. She reached the hospital in time to save Lily’s life.
Years later, when you choked on a piece of food, Lily had panicked. Working from a vague memory of something she had once seen, she performed the Heimlich maneuver and dragged you back from the brink of death.
The day a group of thugs cornered Lily, you were studying in a library several miles away. A sudden wave of dread tightened around your heart. Unable to explain it, you grabbed a security guard and rushed to find her.
And when your leg cramped in a swimming pool and you began to sink, Lily jumped in without hesitation. You nearly pulled her under with you, but she refused to let go.
Once you were both safely out of the water, you burst into tears and called her an idiot.
She only laughed.
“So what if we died? We were born on the same day in the same month of the same year. Dying on the same day would be romantic.”
You laughed through your tears.
“Romantic, my ass. Being alive is much better.”
How could a bond like that be destroyed by some man neither of you even knew?
Occasionally, to keep the Rivalry Protocol from severing its connection with you, the two of you staged a little sisterly competition. Those performances filled it with smug satisfaction.
But neither of you had ever considered compromising when it came to pursuing a man.
If you liked someone, you would go after him on your own terms. You would never do it because a system ordered you to.
And if you did not like him, you would not go near him even if the system threatened your life.
Pretending to love someone would make a mockery of genuine feelings. You wanted no part of it.
Lily appeared to feel the same way.
The Rivalry Protocol sulked for a long time. Every day, it muttered endlessly inside your heads, trying to persuade you to accept the mission.
Unfortunately for it, you and Lily had each earned a Penalty-Immunity Card from earlier missions. As long as you held those cards, there was nothing it could do to punish you.
Ethan, on the other hand, was the first to develop an interest.
Chapter 3
He began appearing wherever Lily happened to be, always surrounded by a crowd of friends. He wore expensive designer clothes, and his dark, striking features possessed an undeniable magnetism even when his expression was cold.
Lily gave him a single glance, then turned and walked away.
Later, she whispered to you, “He doesn’t look very smart. I’m not that intelligent myself, so I want to find someone clever.”
You understood immediately.
People always wanted what they lacked.
It was the same reason you had a weakness for beautiful faces.
When the best-looking boy in your class asked you for help with a problem, you could patiently explain it five times. With anyone else, you started wondering after the second explanation whether academics were really right for them.
You had no idea how Lily’s comment reached Ethan.
But one day, he blocked her path and asked bluntly, “Lily Bennett, exactly how smart does a guy have to be?”
Lily stared at him in surprise but said nothing.
Ethan turned his face away, the tips of his ears slowly reddening. “I heard you like smart guys.”
So he had come to prove himself.
A faint smile touched Lily’s lips. “I do.”
“I’ll take first place in our year. When I do, you’ll go out with me.” His voice rang with absolute certainty.
“My sister is first in our year,” Lily said, puncturing his confidence without mercy. “You’ll never beat her.”
Ethan froze. Then he lifted his chin and gave a proud little scoff. “We’ll see.”
That evening, when Lily told you what had happened, she couldn’t stop laughing.
“I never knew Ethan Sterling could blush. He’s surprisingly innocent.”
But you remembered the information the Rivalry Protocol had given you. At this point in the story, Ethan had a notorious reputation, yet he had never actually dated anyone. Beneath all the rumors, he was supposedly completely inexperienced.
Still, reputations didn’t appear out of nowhere. You couldn’t believe he was as simple as he seemed.
You warned her quietly, “None of the people introduced by the Protocol are any good. Don’t take this seriously. Focus on your grades and get into a good university. That’s what matters.”
The moment the words left your mouth, the Rivalry Protocol, which had been absent for several days, suddenly came back online.
It roared inside your head, “Claire Bennett! You bad-mouth me the second I’m gone? You’re awful! I’m going to punish you!”
The next second, it revoked your access to the system interface.