My Family's Regret

My father looked at me, a hint of reluctance flashing in his eyes, but he still hardened his heart and said, "Jasmine, I spoiled you too much in the past. Carrie has suffered far more than you have. Consider this the payback. Don't worry, I've had a word with them so they won't go overboard."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the grooming team surrounded me.

They scrubbed the gory wounds on my body with metal brushes used for bathing large vicious dogs!

The strong corrosive cleaning agent seeped into my wounds, cutting into my flesh like countless burning knives.

My skin was being scrubbed away in large patches, revealing bright red tender meat, which then became corroded and turned pale.

I was in so much pain that I nearly lost consciousness but was repeatedly sprayed awake by their high-pressure water guns.

My father spent a hundred thousand dollars to wash me clean.

He held Carrie and pointed at me who was in agony in the bathtub. With a gentle smile, he said, "Sweetheart, look, isn't she much cleaner now?"

Carrie clapped her hands, laughing like an innocent child.

The cold liquid enveloped me, and the artificial heart in my chest, burdened beyond bearing, made a strange, strained sound.

I desperately tried to swim to the surface but a hand ruthlessly pushed me down.

Just when I thought I was going to die, the system's prompt echoed in my mind.

[Condition 2 met. Reclamation of your father's wealth initiated.]

Just a second before my artificial heart emitted a warning sound and was about to shut down completely, a pair of strong arms pulled me out of the bathtub.

It was my brother, Egor Langford.

At first, I thought he saved me because he still had a trace of affection left for me.

But after he dragged me out, he merely looked at the portable monitoring device connected to me with a frown and said coldly, "Under extreme low temperatures and highly corrosive liquid environments, the shutdown threshold of the artificial heart is 17.3% lower than I expected. Truly a failure of a specimen."

My entire body was covered in festering skin, but in order to complete the quest, I forced myself to speak to my brother, "Egor... perform an experiment… named after me... please..."

Egor scoffed. "Jasmine, I saved you out of kindness, yet you still want to steal Carrie's naming rights? Aren't you being a bit too greedy?"

Staring at my cold-hearted brother, my mind drifted to the past.

Egor was just an ordinary student with mediocre grades, often bullied and mocked for his stupidity.

He would stay up late every night to study but still could not shake off the "stupid" label.

My heart ached for this brother who had always cared for me, so I sacrificed over 90% of my brain cells' activity, turning my intelligence mediocre.

I became the "pretty but useless" girl, and in exchange, he obtained a super brain and was hailed as a "generational genius".

He loved me deeply. All research results had to be named after me, and he would pass over all potential collaborators who disagreed.

But now, he just stared coldly at the data on my chest.

Right then, Carrie came running over with a robot pet dog, looking like she was on the verge of tears.

"Egor, Sparky won't move. Its battery is dead."

"This pet dog is a global limited edition. The battery is custom-made and its production has discontinued a long time ago."

She clung to Egor's arm and pleaded pitifully, "Egor, you're so smart; there must be a way, right?"

My brother's gaze fell on the gory scar on my chest that had just been violently torn open. "I remember now. This heart uses a micro nuclear power battery with extremely high energy density; theoretically, it could run forever."