Chapter 1 My mother took out a $50,000 high-interest loan, governed by the rules of the "KinKeeper" app, which stipulated that the child with the lowest "Devotion Score" had to pay it back. And because I missed her calls while working overtime, because I was too awkward to sweet-talk her... my score was always dead last. The weight of her debt was suffocating me. To fill this bottomless pit, I had to work three jobs a day. Eventually, the exhaustion broke me. I collapsed at a construction site. When I woke up, a nurse was speaking frantically: "Acute bleeding gastric ulcer. You need surgery immediately! Call your family to sign the consent form!" I struggled to dial my mother’s number. To my shock, a cold sneer came through the receiver. "KinKeeper’s rules are crystal clear. It costs 1,000 Devotion Points for a parent to authorize a medical procedure for a child. Do you even have that?!" "I only have 20 points..." I whispered, my entire body trembling from the agonizing pain. "Then you have the nerve to call me?! Have you ever done a single thing to make me happy since the day you were born? Raising a dog would be better than raising you!" "Rules are rules! If you don't have the points, suffer through it yourself!" From the background, my younger sister Mia’s sugary voice drifted over: "Mom, we're just waiting for you to take the family portrait!" The call was abruptly hung up. My phone screen lit up. It was an Instagram notification from my mom. The photo showed the two of them, smiling brilliantly and hugging tightly. The caption: "Happy Engagement! My most devoted, perfect baby girl deserves the absolute best!" The next second, I opened the app and clicked "Unbind Family Connection." I didn't care about points anymore. I didn't want this family anymore. ... A pop-up appeared on the app: [Upon unbinding from your family, all privileges will be terminated, and your score will be reset to zero. Confirm?] Privileges? Staring at that word, I felt an overwhelming sense of irony. The scoring rules for this app were entirely dictated by my mother. Growing up, if Mia ran up and gave her a kiss, the system instantly updated: +500 points. If I just wanted to talk to her about my day after school, she would shove me away impatiently. The next second, the system would rule that I was "harassing the parent" and dock me 500 points. When Mia threw a tantrum in the kitchen and brought out a charred, inedible mess, my mom would gleefully input: "A meal made with love by my precious daughter! +500 points!" When I scrimped and saved for three months to throw her a lavish birthday dinner, all I got was a scowl: "Wasteful and extravagant! -500 points!" I was like a blindfolded mule walking in circles; no matter which direction I turned, the whip would always strike my back. Because of this, my score was perpetually in the negatives, and that $300,000 total family debt was naturally squeezed out of my blood and sweat. With a self-deprecating smirk, I hit [Confirm] without a second thought. [Application submitted. Awaiting processing by other family members.] "Has your family arrived yet?!" The nurse pushed the door open, her tone urgent. "Your vitals are dropping. If we delay any longer, you're going to die!" I stared at the ceiling, my voice completely calm. "I'm the only family I have. I'll sign the papers myself, and I'll take full responsibility." The nurse looked at me, her eyes filled with a complex mix of pity and gravity, before giving a solemn nod. A few minutes later, I was wheeled into the operating room. I don't know how much time passed before I regained consciousness to a dull, throbbing ache. The anesthesia was wearing off, and the surgical wound hurt like hell. Suddenly, my phone rang piercingly loud. It was my mom. "Hailey! Where the hell are you?! You're ignoring my calls and texts? Have you lost your damn mind?!" Before I could explain, she exploded. "How dare you apply to unbind from KinKeeper?! Who gave you the nerve?! Revoke it immediately!" The wound flared with pain, causing me to suck in a sharp breath. But I didn't tell her I had just gotten out of surgery. "From now on, Mia is your only child. Go ask her to pay your $300,000 debt!" "Bullshit!" my mom shrieked. "I knew you were an ungrateful little sociopath! Pulling a dirty trick like this just to dodge your debts?!" "Let me tell you something, you owe me this money! You owed me the minute you were born! Don't think you can just unbind and walk away! You just wait!" Before she could keep screaming, I hung up. The pain intensified. I curled into a ball, trying to brace myself against the waves of agony. Suddenly, the door to my hospital room was kicked open. A burly man with a scarred, aggressive face stormed in and viciously dragged me right off the bed! I screamed as I hit the cold, hard floor. Agony instantly swallowed my entire body. The man towered over me, delivering a brutal kick to my side. "Playing dead, huh? Think you don't have to pay just because you're hiding in a hospital?! Susan's debt for this month is a thousand bucks, principal and interest!" "If you don't cough up the cash today, I'm going to make your life a living hell!" I used every ounce of my strength to prop myself up. "The agreement was that the child with the lowest score pays. I've already unbound from the app. You need to go find Mia..." "Unbind? Unbind my ass!" The man spat on the floor and shoved his phone right into my face. "Look closely! The first kid bound to your mother's account is you! And she just docked you fifty thousand Devotion Points!" "Your score is off the charts in the red! If I don't get the money from you, who else am I gonna get it from?!" What?! Fighting through the excruciating pain, I forced myself to look. On the member list, my name was still glaringly present, and my score had plummeted to a horrifying -50,000. Under the unbinding application, the latest status read: [Unbinding Failed. Reason: Primary Account Holder successfully appealed.] [Appeal Rationale: This daughter is grossly unfilial. Attempting to maliciously unbind to evade family debt and eldercare responsibilities is an abomination!] Chapter 2 I couldn't believe my eyes. My entire body shook. The man snatched my purse off the nightstand, pulling out the few crumpled bills I had inside. "This is all you have, isn't it?!" he glared at me. "Give it here!" "No!" I lunged forward, desperately hugging his leg, breaking down into hysterical tears. "That's my medical money! If you take that, I'm literally going to die! Please!" "Die?" The man kicked me away so hard my surgical wound instantly tore open, soaking my gown in fresh blood. "Take that up with your mother! Why does your sister have hundreds of thousands of points while you're sitting at negative fifty grand? Don't you know why?!" "Ungrateful brat, you deserve to get struck by lightning! If you don't have a thousand bucks for me by tomorrow, I'll break your arm!" With that, he stormed out without looking back. I slumped on the floor, my vision going black in waves, and completely lost consciousness. I was eventually found by a nurse during her rounds. I had lost so much blood I almost died. She woke me up, her brow furrowed tightly. "You're finally awake. We re-dressed your wound, but..." she handed me a slip of paper. "The room and treatment cost a thousand dollars a day. Your account is overdrawn. You need to pay the balance." "I don't have any money." Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably. The nurse looked sympathetic, but her tone was strictly business. "Hospital policy states we have to stop medication if the account is in arrears. You have three days to pay the balance, or we'll have to discharge you." "You need to figure out a way to contact your family, quickly!" Family? I shook my head with a bitter smile, only shedding more tears. When the room went quiet, I started making phone calls, trying to get an advance on my paychecks. I called the foremen from my two side gigs. For the first one, as soon as I said my name, the guy muttered "Bad luck," and hung up. The second one listened to my plea, then coldly dropped a single sentence: "Our operation is too small to afford an unfilial monster like you!" When I tried to call back, I was blocked. Finally, I had no choice but to call Mr. Harrison, the boss at my day job. To my surprise, before I could even ask, he cut me off. "Hailey, don't bother coming back to work." My brain buzzed as if it had been struck. "Why? Mr. Harrison, I'm just sick in the hospital, I'll be back as soon as..." "It's not about that." Mr. Harrison coughed awkwardly. "Hailey, you've worked here a long time, and I always thought you were an honest, hardworking girl. But how could you treat your own family like that?" "Like what?" My voice trembled uncontrollably. "Mr. Harrison, please tell me, why are you firing me?" Mr. Harrison was silent for a few seconds before speaking slowly. "Your mother printed hundreds of flyers with your KinKeeper score and plastered them all over the lobby of our office building. It spells out everything—evading family debts, driving your own mother to an early grave, neglecting your parents, constantly begging them for money..." "Your point deduction history is sickening to look at!" My blood ran cold. I could barely grip the phone. "Hailey, in this society, devotion to your family is everything. With a reputation like this, what company would ever dare hire you? Take care of yourself." The line went dead. I lay paralyzed on the hospital bed, devoid of even the energy to cry. Right then, my phone rang again. It was my mom. "Oh, you're awake?" Her voice dripped with the smugness of absolute victory. "You threw your little tantrum, but in the end, you still have to obediently pay up, don't you?!" "Let me tell you something, Hailey. Even if you die, you have to pay off every last cent of that debt before you hit the grave! Otherwise, this is never over!!" Chapter 3 Tears fell like rain as I choked on my sobs. "Can't you just let me go? I don't even have money to save my own life anymore. I'm your daughter too..." "That's a 'you' problem!" my mom snapped, her voice suddenly turning venomous. "If you dare let those debt collectors bother your sister, I'll instantly drop your score to negative one million! I'll make sure you can't turn your life around in this lifetime or the next!!" The phone was slammed down once again. Driven to absolute despair, I opened the KinKeeper app and vented all my rage at the cold, lifeless AI customer service bot. "Why am I the one paying the debt?! Why doesn't Mia have to pay a dime?! What kind of bullshit rule is this?!" I didn't expect the digital idiot to actually respond. But the keywords triggered an automated reply. [Hello. According to our records, your associated family debt has been enrolled in the Joint Family Repayment Plan. This plan stipulates: Debt is allocated based on the Devotion Scores of family members. The member with the lowest score assumes the repayment obligation.] [Records indicate that Mia has made significant contributions to the family, placing her score at the top tier. Therefore, she is exempt from repayment obligations.] I laughed out of sheer fury, my fingers shaking. "Significant contributions?! She's a parasite who hasn't worked a single day since graduating three years ago, begging for thousands of dollars in allowance every month! What the hell kind of contribution could she possibly make?!" The AI replied swiftly: [System log: Last year, Mia invested $200,000 to found the flagship 'Lumina Coffee Roasters.' Primary Account Holder Susan rated this event: 'My baby's first business venture is Mom's greatest pride.'] [This contribution has been verified and awarded Mia 2,000,000 Devotion Points.] Two hundred thousand dollars? Lumina Coffee? The blood in my veins flash-froze, a bone-chilling cold shooting straight to my skull. How could someone who spent her days partying and relying entirely on my paycheck possibly have two hundred thousand dollars?! A suffocating premonition gripped my heart. I closed the app and opened the State Business Registry database. Quickly, I found "Lumina Coffee Roasters." The LLC registration stated it clearly: Owner: Mia. There were even articles online praising her as a shining example of a young, independent female entrepreneur. The opening date was exactly the same time last year when my mother had started frantically demanding money from me. When I couldn't give it to her, she called me a useless animal and went to a loan shark. Instinct drove me to find the customer service number for that predatory lending company. I took a deep breath, mimicking my mother's tone. "Hi, this is Susan. I'm calling about the loan I took out last year for my daughter's business. How much principal and interest is left? Yes, for Lumina Coffee Roasters." The few seconds of waiting felt like centuries. I bit my lower lip hard, praying frantically: Please don't let it be what I think it is. Please! But the rep's voice utterly pulverized my last shred of hope. "Ma'am, looking at the $200,000 loan you took out for a business startup last year... the contractual interest is $100,000. Currently, the remaining principal and interest total $250,000..." I didn't hear whatever came next. I hung up the phone. And then, I laughed. I laughed until the metallic taste of blood coated my throat. So that was it. Family investments? Promoting filial piety? It was all absolute bullshit! The truth was that my mother had taken out a massive $200,000 high-interest loan to open a trendy coffee shop for her golden child, Mia. And then, utilizing the skewed rules of the KinKeeper app, she "rightfully" shifted the crushing $300,000 total debt straight onto my shoulders! Chapter 4 All hope had turned to ash. I opened KinKeeper again, attempting to apply to unbind from the family. A pop-up instantly blocked me, the bright red exclamation mark blinding. [REJECTED! Due to a history of maliciously evading family debt, your unbinding privileges have been restricted.] [To unbind, the request must be initiated by the Primary Account Holder, Susan. Please fulfill your filial duties and strive to improve your score.] Looking at those two lines of text, another wave of coppery blood rushed up my throat. Was I really going to be chained to this $300,000 debt until the day I died?! Just then, a nurse came in for her routine rounds. As she was leaving, a stack of medical charts slipped from her hands, the top one sliding near my bed. I instinctively leaned over to pick it up and saw the pathology report for the patient in the next room: Stage IV Gastric Adenocarcinoma. Stomach cancer. As I opened my mouth to call the nurse back, a sudden thought struck my brain like a bolt of lightning. The next second, I opened my camera, snapped a picture of the pathology report, and photoshopped my own name onto it. Then, I reopened KinKeeper. This time, I didn't click unbind. I went to the "Family Mutual Aid" section, which featured a "Critical Illness Relief" option. I uploaded the fake medical report and added a message: "Mom, the hospital just diagnosed me with stage IV cancer. The doctor says I need to be admitted for chemo immediately, and it's going to be incredibly expensive! I have no other options, please, I'm begging the family to help me..." I attached a photo of the hospital's overdue payment notice. Next, came the waiting. Minutes ticked by. Finally, a familiar, booming voice echoed from outside the room, thick with undisguised fury. "Hailey! Get your ass out here! Begging for cancer money during the holidays?! What kind of sick game are you playing?!" "Your sister just got engaged, and you're intentionally bringing bad luck to ruin our mood, aren't you?!" The hospital door was kicked open, and my mother stormed in, breathing fire. Behind her trailed Mia, dressed to the nines, a look of pure disgust on her face. I coughed weakly, my voice barely a whisper. "Mom, I didn't want this either, but the doctor said if I don't get treatment, I might only have two months left..." Mia crossed her arms and let out a scoff. "Sis, where exactly is this family supposed to get the money for you to burn through? Mom needs to save up for me, to give her real grandchild the best of everything! Isn't that right, Mom?" Hearing this, my mom glared at me with pure venom. "Let me tell you something, Hailey. This family isn't giving you a single dime! Give up that pipe dream!" Mia immediately chimed in, her voice sickeningly sweet yet brutally cruel. "Yeah, Sis, can't you just be a little understanding? Your score is already so far in the negatives anyway, keeping you alive is just an embarrassment to this family!" Watching them play off each other, my heart sank into an icy abyss, but my face displayed an even more profound sorrow. "Mom, I'm your daughter too. How can you be so heartless..." "Bullshit! I only have one daughter!" Susan snapped. "Hurry up and unbind! Whether you live or die has nothing to do with us from now on!" I struggled to speak. "Mom, my app restricted my unbinding feature. I need you to do it from your end..." Hearing this, Susan grew even more impatient. She quickly pulled up her app and navigated to "Remove Family Member." A confirmation prompt popped up on her screen: [Upon removal, all of this member's points will be reset to zero, they will no longer enjoy any family privileges, and they will automatically be absolved of all family debts. Confirm removal?] "Mom, are you really throwing me away?" I looked up through teary eyes, my voice trembling. "Shut up!" Susan's finger slammed down on the screen without a millisecond of hesitation. [Removal Confirmed.] [Success! Member "Hailey" has been removed from the family group.] In that exact same second, the blood-red KinKeeper app on my phone turned gray. It displayed: Not bound to a family. The invisible shackles that had bound me for so long were finally broken. My tense nerves relaxed, and the corners of my lips curled into a slight smile. That expression didn't escape Mia's notice. She shrieked, "What are you smiling at?! You're about to die, and you're smiling?!" Before I could answer, the hospital door was violently slammed open once again. The vicious loan shark from yesterday was back. "Hailey! Did you think what I said yesterday was a joke?!" "I meant what I said! I'm breaking your arm right now!" I lay back against the pillows, facing the man's murderous glare, and smiled radiantly. "Hey man, you've got the wrong person. My mom just officially removed me from the family app!" "Right now, the person who owes you money..." I raised my hand and pointed straight at Mia, whose face had instantly drained of all color. "Is her."
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