[Target male lead will now be erased.]

The moment the notification chimed, my mind went completely blank. Before I could even process what it meant, Zhou Heng’s pupils dilated. His body went limp, and he collapsed straight into Ning Luo’s arms.

Ning Luo had no idea. The man she had just successfully stolen away… was already dead. She wrapped her arms around him, a triumphant grin plastered across her face.

“I knew it,” she murmured softly. “I knew that if I just turned around, you’d still be right here waiting for me.”

She leaned down to kiss him, her eyes sweeping over his shoulder to lock onto mine. They were full of smug, petty satisfaction.

I got it. In her mind, Zhou Heng was her loyal lapdog, and I was Zhou Heng’s. But Ning Luo… the thing you’re holding right now is a corpse.

Down by the stage, Zhou Heng’s circle of close friends was whistling and cheering. Someone even set off party poppers. Pop! Pop! Confetti rained down on a scene that would have been deeply touching—if you completely ignored the fact that the groom had stopped breathing. It was practically picture-perfect.

I hadn’t invited my mother to the wedding. I was terrified she’d have to watch her own daughter die on what was supposed to be her wedding day. The only person I had invited was my personal lawyer, who was currently holding up his phone, recording every single second of the spectacle.

I had actually prepared a contingency plan. If I died, the video would immediately be blasted to every major news outlet in the city. I’d even pre-written the headline: Married Home-Wrecker Crashes Wedding to Steal Groom; Groom Partners Up with Mistress, Shocking Bride to Death at the Altar.

Turns out, the plan itself was solid. The System just killed the wrong person.

A few moments later, Ning Luo finally noticed how unnaturally pale Zhou Heng’s face was. Panic seized her, and she gave him a hard shove.

Zhou Heng fell backward onto the marble floor, the back of his head striking the hard surface with a sickening crack. Blood immediately pooled out beneath him.

The System’s icy voice chimed in my head: [Well, now he’s definitely dead.]

I watched as Zhou Heng’s soul slowly detached from his physical body. He stared in dazed confusion at his own corpse, then at Ning Luo, who was dry-heaving, her face drained of all color.

The entire venue instantly erupted into utter chaos. People were frantically dialing emergency services, attempting CPR, screaming, and crying. Meanwhile, I just sat calmly beside his body in my wedding dress.

Zhou Heng’s spirit floated right in front of me. Seeing that I hadn’t shed a single tear, his face darkened instantly.

“Vivi! I’m dying, and you’re not even crying?” he snapped, his voice tight with outrage. “I can’t believe twenty-five years of friendship meant so little to you. Just wait until I wake up—our friendship is officially over!”

I almost burst out laughing. The man who had literally abandoned his bride at the altar to run off with his ex was now turning around and lecturing his bride for not weeping over him. Even in death, his double standards remained unmatched.

Nearby, Ning Luo was weeping hysterically, her eyes red and swollen. Seeing her like that broke Zhou Heng’s heart. Well, not literally—he was actually dead, so it just made him feel deeply sympathetic.

“Without me… how is Ning Luo going to survive?” he murmured, distressed.

“…”

A phone suddenly rang, its shrill chiming cutting through the chaotic hall so sharply that everyone froze for a beat.

With trembling hands, Ning Luo pulled out her phone. She stared at the screen for a long moment, clearly waging a fierce internal war, before reluctantly hitting answer.

A deep, authoritative male voice resonated from the speaker, laced with familiar arrogance: “Weren’t you demanding a divorce? I’m waiting at the registrar’s office.”

What little color remained in Ning Luo’s face drained away completely. A flash of pure panic flickered in her eyes. She hurriedly took a few steps away, seeking privacy.

Beside me, Zhou Heng’s soul went stiff. Instinctively, he reached out to pull her back.

Unfortunately, his fingers passed straight through thin air. He was, after all, nothing more than a ghost now.

Ning Luo took a deep breath. In a matter of seconds, every trace of her frantic grief vanished. When she spoke, her tone turned impossibly soft, dripping with sweetness.

“Tianling… I’m so sorry. I don’t want a divorce anymore.”

“I only said those things to get a reaction out of you,” she cooed softly. “I just wanted you to be jealous, to care about me a little more… I never actually meant it.”

Zhou Heng stood frozen in place, utterly paralyzed.

The woman he had cherished like a delicate treasure for years—the woman he had abandoned his best friend, ruined his own wedding, and literally given up his life for—was currently cooing into her phone, soothing her husband with sweet nothings.

“No… That can’t be right,” Zhou Heng muttered, shaking his head in denial. “It can’t be… Ning Luo must have her reasons. She has to.”

Sitting next to his corpse, I genuinely wanted to give him a standing ovation. Love really is blind. Usually, when people die, they gain ultimate clarity about the mortal world. But Zhou Heng? Even in death, he automatically appointed himself as Ning Luo’s personal defense attorney.

No matter what she did, his brain could process only one single answer: Ning Luo was innocent. If something was wrong, then it was definitely the rest of the world that was in the wrong.

Zhou Heng frantically chased after Ning Luo, reaching out again and again to grab her arm. But every single time, his ghost hands passed harmlessly through her body, like someone trying to catch the wind.

“Ning Luo!”

“Don’t go!”

“Look at me!”

“I’m literally dying here!”

He screamed until his ghostly vocal cords rasped. Unfortunately, the living can’t hear the cries of the dead. Ning Luo kept walking, not bothering to spare a single backward glance.

Realizing he couldn’t stop her, Zhou Heng tried to run after her. But after barely a few yards, he slammed face-first into an invisible wall, the impact rebounding him right back to where he started.

He tried again. And again. The result was the same.

Finally, the helpless truth crashed down on him: his soul was tethered directly to me.

He could only watch in sheer despair as her retreating figure disappeared into the distance.

The venue was located in a relatively remote area, and it took nearly twenty minutes for the ambulance to arrive. By the time Zhou Heng’s body was loaded onto the gurney, his close friends suddenly all found themselves extremely busy.

One claimed an urgent work emergency; another said he needed to take care of his family; a third suddenly developed a crippling stomachache. Long story short, everyone had an excuse, and not a single one was willing to ride along in the ambulance.

The guy Zhou Heng considered his closest brother stepped up, closing the ambulance doors with a look of deep apology.

“Sister-in-law, call me if you need anything, okay? We’re family.” With that, he turned on his heel and beat a hasty retreat.

On the way to the hospital, Zhou Heng sat beside his own lifeless body, unnaturally quiet for once. Perhaps even he hadn’t anticipated that the men who constantly bragged about “riding or dying together” would run away faster than the EMTs the moment he actually died.

I closed my eyes and summoned the System in my mind.