After my divorce, I went to the southwest mountainous regions to volunteer for rescue work, where two years passed in the blink of an eye.

One day, our daughter gets diagnosed with aplastic anemia, and her life can only be sustained through a bone marrow transplant from me.

It's only then that my ex-wife thinks of me. She heads to the mountains with a group of bodyguards and searches everywhere, but she can't find a trace of me. She thinks I have deliberately hidden myself from her.

"As long as you're willing to donate the bone marrow, I'll promise you visitation rights to see our daughter in the future."

However, the townspeople tell her that I have long since passed away.

She frowns slightly, her expression full of impatience as she says, "I never thought that, after all these years, he would still play these childish games."

In the end, she searches high and low, only to unearth my bones.

"You're saying he was buried in a landslide while trying to rescue others?"

Yvonne Larson was dressed in an expensive silk dress and high heels. She looked utterly out of place in the muddy, quaint, and rundown town of the southwest mountainous regions.

Her beautiful features were full of disgust and mockery.

"If you're going to lie to me, you could at least come up with a believable excuse. How could a selfish and self-centered man like him ever grow a conscience?

"Did his friends in Shelston tip him off that my daughter has aplastic anemia? He doesn't want to donate his bone marrow, so he's hiding and had all of you put on this act, right?"

When the surrounding residents heard Yvonne's vicious words, they clenched their fists, and their faces displayed their anger.

"Don't you dare insult Mr. Hoffman! He was the best volunteer in the world!"

"That's right! We won't be courteous to you if you keep talking nonsense like that!"

"This is Mr. Hoffman's wife. Everyone, please calm down."

The town administrator, Michael Frey, hurriedly stepped in to placate the crowd.

He then turned to Yvonne and said, "Since you're so eager to see Mr. Hoffman, I'll take you to where he lives."

Yvonne immediately showed a smug, knowing look.

Michael led her to a shabby little hut on the mountainside at the edge of town. The hut was simple, and its rickety wooden door was secured only by an old, nearly rusted lock.

"This is where Mr. Hoffman lives."

When the door opened, my funeral portrait sat in the center of an old wooden table inside.

Seeing this, Yvonne's pupils contracted sharply, and then she let out a cold laugh. She picked up my funeral portrait and, without hesitation, smashed it violently onto the ground.

The glass frame collided with the uneven ground, shattering instantly and sending up a cloud of dust. Fragments scattered everywhere.

Michael stared at Yvonne, dumbfounded.

While floating in mid-air, I was also panicked.

I knew she held a grudge against me. After all, I had done those things back then. The depth of her love for me in the past was the same as the intensity of her hatred now.

Still, I never imagined she would treat my funeral portrait with such cruelty.

Yvonne was still furious. "You've all gone to extreme lengths just so he can avoid donating bone marrow to his own daughter! How much money did he pay you? You even went so far as to make a cursed thing like a funeral portrait!"

As she spoke, she picked up a cup from the table and threw all its contents onto my portrait.

Then, she used her high heels to stomp forcefully on my portrait and the muddy ground, grinding her heels back and forth.

"Do you really take me for a fool? Look, there are clear signs someone is living here!" she yelled.

"Dad!"

Before Yvonne could finish her sentence, a frail-looking little girl with a bundle on her back ran in breathlessly and shoved her away violently.

The girl burst into tears upon seeing her treasured father's portrait being ruined like this. "You bad person! You big meanie! Who said you could destroy my dad's things?"

"You're not welcome here! Get out now!" yelled the girl.

As Yvonne looked at the girl, her expression instantly turned grim, and her emotions flared up. She bit her lip tightly.

"Devin is your dad?"

Michael quickly shielded the girl behind him. "Lulu was originally an orphan in our town. Mr. Hoffman took pity on her and adopted her. Please don't take your anger out on a child."

"I'm taking it out on her?"

Yvonne grabbed the collar of the 60-year-old Michael. Her voice was filled with intense anger, and her eyes, which were full of heartbreak, reddened instantly.

"He abandoned our daughter and is indirectly responsible for our other daughter's death, yet here he is, adopting someone else's child! How could he do this to me?

"Alright, fine! Tell him our daughter's bone marrow transplant is in one week. If he has even a shred of conscience left, he will show up immediately!

"If he dares to keep pretending to be dead, then don't blame me for tearing this hut down and leaving the girl he adopted homeless!"

Under Michael's horrified gaze, Yvonne added coldly, "Even if Devin really is dead, I wouldn't mind digging up his corpse to get the marrow for my daughter. Do you understand me?"

Michael thought she was being utterly unreasonable. He held Lucy tightly as his lips quivered, unable to utter a word.

Just then, Yvonne's phone suddenly rang. The familiar ringtone indicated it was a call from someone special.

Her previously fierce gaze gradually softened. Before leaving, she glanced at Lucy and said in an icy tone, "Make sure you relay my message. Don't leave out a single word. I'll be waiting for his response."

As I watched her retreating back that was filled with rage, it felt like a heavy blow to my heart. The pain spread throughout my entire being.

I watched as Lucy picked up my funeral portrait, crying. She held it tightly against her chest as she sobbed heart-wrenchingly. My own heart felt unbearably heavy, as if it was blocked.

I wasn't deliberately hiding from Yvonne. I desperately wanted to save our daughter too.

But… I really was no longer among the living.

…

For some reason, my soul left the place I once guarded and followed Yvonne.

After she left the town, her tears didn't stop. However, she had always been stubborn, wearing sunglasses to shield her eyes from anyone's searching gaze.

Only I knew how her hands were gripping her own thighs as she suppressed her anger toward me.

"What an absolute bastard! How dare he use death to trick me! A leopard can't change its spots!"

She frantically dialed my phone number, but each time she only heard the message that the number was out of service, which made her even more frustrated.

"Devin, I'd better not catch you around!"

After the plane landed, a tall and handsome figure holding a bouquet of flowers waved at Yvonne from the arrivals gate.

I was all too familiar with that figure—it was Louis Floyd, Yvonne's childhood sweetheart.

The moment they met, Louis eagerly asked, "Did you find Devin? Is he willing to donate bone marrow for Selene?"

Yvonne let out a snort, her emotions having stabilized somewhat. "He's always been selfish. He probably got wind of it from somewhere, because the moment I arrived, he pretended to be dead and went into hiding.

"He doesn't even care how bad an omen it is. He even prepared a funeral portrait in advance."

Louis' eyes flickered slightly as he tentatively asked, "What if it's true? What if Devin really is dead?"

"Impossible! How could he be dead? He's so young!" Yvonne immediately denied it. "Even if he is dead, he still has to donate his bone marrow to my daughter!"

Upon hearing these words, my ears buzzed as if I had been suddenly pricked by a sharp needle.

I never imagined that Yvonne's hatred for me had grown so deep. But now that I was truly dead, would she be happy if she knew?

Yvonne drove Louis home. Louis lowered his head and gently kissed the corner of her lips, tenderly stroking her long hair as he whispered, "Once Selene recovers, let's get married."

Yvonne looked at the man who had stayed by her side through the most difficult times, her gaze somewhat stunned. After a moment's hesitation, she said, "Okay, it's a promise."

"Should we invite Devin then?" Louis asked.

Yvonne's eyes filled with hatred. "Of course, we should invite him! He has to come! I was once his wife, and I'm the one he wronged the most. Shouldn't he come and witness me being happy?"

Louis pressed his lips together and tried to lean in to kiss her again, but she hugged him instead. "Thankfully, you were by my side during these tough years. Thank you."

My face instantly turned deathly pale when I saw this. Even though I was already dead, the anger in my heart hadn't diminished in the slightest. I rushed over recklessly, wanting to pull them apart.

No, Louis couldn't be with my wife! He was the one who caused our daughter harm! He's the one Yvonne should hate the most!

How could she bear it if she ever found out the truth?

Unfortunately, I was now just a transparent spirit. No matter how I screamed or tried to pull at them, it was useless.

I was filled with regret and hate for my own powerlessness.

As she got out of the car, Louis asked casually, "What if Devin still doesn't show up when the time comes?"

"He adopted a child. If he doesn't show up, don't blame me for taking action against the girl named Lucy."

As she spoke, intense loathing surfaced on Yvonne's face again. She said with a snort, "How ironic. He caused his own daughter's demise, yet he ran off to adopt an orphan."

Watching her hate-filled eyes felt like a knife twisting in my heart, and those painful memories from the past made me feel suffocated.

I remember how deeply Yvonne used to love me, and how she was willing to give me everything she had.

Back when I got injured saving her, I was immobile and had to rest at home.

Yvonne was busy with work, but she was so worried that she put her work aside and stayed home with me every day. She would hold me tenderly in her arms.

"Honey, I love you so much. I can't bear to be without you for a single moment. If I'm ever in danger again, please don't risk yourself so desperately to save me. You can't live without me, so how could I live without you? Thank goodness it was just your leg this time, otherwise I wouldn't know what to do."

I kissed her cheek. "You and our daughter are my most precious treasures. If there is a next time, I will protect you without hesitation."

"You're so annoying," Yvonne said as she lightly punched my arm and coyly buried her face in my chest.

I stroked her four-month pregnant belly, feeling my heart swell with sweetness.

It was then that Louis offered to take care of me, preparing nutritious meals for me and Yvonne every day.

At first, I was full of gratitude toward him. But gradually, I started to notice something was wrong.

My health was deteriorating—I often had headaches, and my memory was gradually failing.

A fracture shouldn't have caused symptoms like this, and I became suspicious. One day, I took some leftover food to Ava Hill—a friend who was a doctor—for testing.

The results showed that the food contained large amounts of chloramphenicol.

Ava called me into her office. She handed me a form and asked me to sign it in preparation to perform an abortion on Yvonne.

I looked at that form, but I couldn't bring myself to sign it.

That was the daughter Yvonne had been longing for. She had been almost desperate to have a second child. If I told her we had to abort this baby, could she accept it? She would surely have a breakdown, wouldn't she?