When the college admission notice arrived, I suddenly developed a high fever and was bedridden.

My sister encountered a kidnapping on her way to help me collect the notice, and her life was uncertain.

My parents hated me deeply. After tearing up my admission notice, they forced me to give up my studies and work in a factory.

Later, I experienced a kidnapping as well. After narrowly escaping, I hid in an abandoned factory and sent them a message for help.

My dad called me and shouted at me without restraint, “Lena, are you even human? How could you play such a joke on us on Jessica's memorial day!”

“Do you have any idea how much your mom and I wished it had been you who died back then?”

In my last moments before death, their insults echoed in my ears.

I was tortured and killed, turned into a monster, and my body was thrown into a stinking ditch for three full days.

Even my father, the most experienced forensic expert, couldn’t recognize me.

When my sister returned home with the guy she eloped with years ago, my dad had just restored my appearance through technology.

They knelt before my decaying corpse and cried until they fainted.

The heavy rain had been falling for three days, and the entire city seemed soaked, appearing gray everywhere.

When my waterlogged corpse floated out of the stinking ditch, it startled many onlookers.

An eight-year-old child was so frightened that he cried loudly and hid in his mother’s arms, who was soothing him softly.

I felt my eyes redden at the sight.

It had been a long time since I had felt a mother's embrace.

Ever since my sister went missing six years ago, my parents had only disdain for me.

They hadn’t even given me a smile, let alone a hug.

Soon, the scene was cordoned off with police tape. I stood among the crowd, quietly watching my rotting body.

A police car stopped in front of me, and when the door opened, my eyes lit up.

“Luke, the preliminary estimate is that the body has been submerged in water for three days. Given the heavy rain these days, any evidence at the scene may have been washed away. We’ll need you to put in more effort on the body.”

“The forensic department has extracted the victim’s DNA, and we will be notified as soon as we have results.”

My dad’s colleague, Capt. Lister, jogged over to update him on the situation.

The moment he saw the body, my dad frowned, and his eyes reddened.

He clenched his fists, so angry that his teeth began to chatter.

“This is just inhumane!”

I followed his gaze and indeed saw my tragic fate.

Both my hands and feet had been severed, my face was unrecognizable from the cuts, and my eyes had been gouged out, leaving only hollow sockets.

The terror from my last moments could still be faintly discerned in my features.

My mouth was exaggeratedly agape, a result of my desperate cries before I breathed my last.

My tongue had been cut out, making my dark, gaping mouth quite terrifying.

Just one look, and my dad began to cry.

I cried along with him. It had been six whole years since he had shown any emotion for me.

He squatted in front of my body, trembling as his hand traced the scars all over me.

He murmured with a catch in his voice.

“The facial features of the deceased are unidentifiable, but the preliminary conclusion is that she was a young woman around 25 years old. She had been severely abused before death. God, she was so young. How heartbroken her parents must be!”

I silently shed tears behind him. ‘Dad, if you knew that the person in front of you was me, would your heart ache?’

After all, I was the person he despised the most in this world. Countless days and nights, he had screamed for me to die.

Now, his wish had come true.

My broken body was placed in a body bag and sent to my dad’s office.

Soon, my severed limbs were discovered and immediately brought to him.

Capt. Lister stood at the autopsy table with a frown, pointing at my fingers.

“Luke, look, the deceased’s fists are tightly clenched, but her right middle finger was forcibly broken. Could it be because she was wearing an identifiable piece of jewelry there?”

“It’s possible,” my dad confirmed with a nod.

Capt. Lister hesitated as he looked at him.

“I remember Lena always wore a ring on her right middle finger…”

My dad raised his eyes, glaring at him with dissatisfaction.

“There are so many people who wear rings. It’s not just her. A troublemaker like her wouldn’t die so easily!”

Capt. Lister looked anxious, reaching out to grab him without even removing his gloves.

“Luke, do you still remember that serial killer from years ago?”

My dad trembled all over.

That incident had always been his inner demon.

Six years ago, my dad was the city’s most renowned forensic expert, while my mom was the youngest chief of detectives. At that time, Capt. Lister was just one of my mom’s subordinates.

During that period, they tirelessly pursued a serial killer who had harmed eight young girls, working so hard that they hadn’t returned home for an entire month.

They caught the suspect, but unfortunately, the evidence in hand was insufficient for a conviction.

In the final moments, my dad locked himself in the forensic lab for three days without sleep, finally finding the crucial evidence to convict him.

But no one had anticipated that he had a twin brother.

The serial killer was executed on the very day my sister went missing.

It had been raining heavily that day, and the surveillance footage captured her being dragged away by a man in a black raincoat, after which she disappeared without a trace.

Everyone suspected that the person who took my sister was the killer’s brother, but no one dared to voice this cruel truth.

A year later, my mom chose to resign due to her overwhelming grief, while my dad continued to serve in the police force.

Now, suddenly recalling this, my dad’s expression changed drastically.

Capt. Lister observed him cautiously. After hesitating for a moment, he continued, “If it really is him, I’m afraid Lena will be in danger…”

“Enough!” My dad interrupted impatiently.

“I’d be glad for Lena to die. I clearly warned her to keep an eye on Jessica and not let her go outside, but she still sent Jessica to get her admission notice! It was pouring that day, and Jessica was so small. The terror on her face when she was taken away nearly broke my heart!”

I had heard this countless times. Every so often, I would receive calls from my parents.

They would endlessly accuse me, repeating how cold-blooded I was, hiding at home while pushing my sister to her doom.

I helplessly defended myself, telling them I hadn’t known, that I had been unconscious from a high fever that day and hadn’t realized my sister was going out.

But they didn’t believe me. In their eyes, I was just a cold-hearted liar.

Amidst their endless insults and accusations, I even wished that I had been the one to go missing that year.

If I hadn’t fallen ill that day, if I had managed to stay conscious, if I could have disappeared in her place, it would have been better.

At least I wouldn’t have to live on as the greatest sinner, enduring a fate worse than death.

Capt. Lister sighed, wanting to continue persuading my dad.

But my dad no longer looked at him. He lowered his head to carefully examine my teeth.

When he checked the broken incisor in my mouth, he frowned slightly.

Then, with an indifferent face, he said to his assistant, “The deceased is missing an incisor. From the break, it appears to have been broken a long time ago. Make a note of it in the autopsy report and suggest they pay special attention to it. It might become a clue to identify the deceased.”

I looked at my dad with tears in my eyes.

He had probably forgotten that his most hated daughter was also missing a tooth—one he had broken with his own hands.

My sister went missing for six years, and no one saw her alive or found her body. In the hearts of my parents, she had long been considered dead.

They erected a tombstone for her and designated the day she disappeared as her death anniversary.

I was only allowed to return home on that day, so I could kneel before her grave to apologize.

Last year, I suddenly fainted on my way to the train station. A passerby took me to the hospital, causing me to miss my train home.

By the time I rushed back, it was already three days later.

My furious father grabbed my hair and dragged me to my sister's grave. He held my head down and forcefully smashed it against the tombstone.

I felt dizzy from the impact, but he was still unsatisfied and viciously slapped my face.

Again and again, he struck me until my lips split and one of my front teeth was knocked out.

But now, he seemed to have forgotten.

Perhaps he had never cared.

To him, no matter what injuries I suffered—even if it cost me my life—I deserved it.

Tears fell from my eyes, and I thought, ‘Father, I really am dead now. I wonder if this counts as atonement in your heart.’

My father remained focused on examining the body, but suddenly, his phone rang.

He irritably took off his gloves and pressed the answer button.

My mother’s angry voice came through the receiver.

"That wretched Lena still hasn't come back! I think she just doesn't want to visit Jessica!"

I forced a bitter laugh. Was it me who didn't want to come back?

I had already died, killed by a cruel man's cold blade.

My father scoffed, "It would be best if she never came back, dying out there is better. Just looking at her disgusts me!"

As I listened to their exchange of insults, my heart felt as if it had been crushed by a heavy stone.

Clearly, I had sent a message asking for help that day, but they didn’t care.

Perhaps my death was a kind of relief for them.

In fact, even if I hadn’t been brutally killed, I wouldn’t have lived long anyway.

A year ago, after I fainted, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

I had told my parents, but they thought I was just trying to elicit their sympathy.

"Lena, if you want to die, just hurry up and make it happen. Don't expect us to feel sorry for you."

I just couldn't bear to die. I was afraid that when they grew old, no one would take care of them.

But now, seeing the disdain in their eyes as they talked about me, I felt a bit relieved to have died in this way.

They had always hoped for my miserable end, and once they discovered how tragic my death was, they would surely be satisfied.

After hanging up, my father’s gaze refocused on my body.

His eyes slowly began to redden.

It was indeed a sight too tragic to bear, and his voice trembled.

"There are stab wounds on the deceased—eight in total—but they all missed the vital organs."

"Preliminary assessment suggests the cause of death was excessive bleeding."

"The killer is truly perverse. He made the girl bleed out slowly. How painful it must have been."

I felt even more bitterness inside; it was indeed very painful.

I trembled all over from the pain, but there was nothing I could do except cry helplessly.

Yet my crying annoyed the killer. He grinned and gouged out my eyes.

My father’s hand holding the scalpel trembled. He took a deep breath and reminded his assistant to prepare for a craniotomy.

I hoped that when he saw the tumor in my brain, he might remember me, who was the one diagnosed with a brain tumor.

As I was thinking, the door of the forensic room was pushed open.

A young detective stood outside, looking like he was in a panic as he stared at my father.

My father frowned and looked at him in displeasure.

"What are you doing rushing in here? Young people nowadays just can't keep their cool."

"Just say what you need to say. Can’t you see I'm busy?"

The young detective gritted his teeth and said slowly, "Capt. Lister, Luke, the DNA report for the deceased has come out... she... she is Luke’s daughter!"