Chapter 1
Thirty seconds before submitting her code, Violet Reed stared at the error on her screen, her heart froze in terror.
The next moment, she found herself sitting in the review meeting room, and her team leader was saying, "Your sister just called..."
Memories of her past life crashed over her like a tidal wave. Over two years, she had transferred 157,000 dollars, and when she dropped dead, her account held only 11 dollars.
"Violet? Violet?" Her team leader's voice pulled her back to reality. "Your sister said it's really urgent. She wants you to call her back."
Seven or eight pairs of eyes were fixed on her in the meeting room, some curious, some sympathetic, but most had that knowing look, like they'd seen this before.
Violet felt her throat go dry. She tried to speak, but no sound came out.
"Why don't you go call her back?" her team leader suggested kindly. "You've already finished your part anyway."
Violet nodded mechanically. When she stood up, her legs felt weak and she almost stumbled. A colleague next to her steadied her and whispered, "You look terrible. Do you want to see the nurse?"
She shook her head and nearly bolted from the meeting room.
The hallway lights were blinding. She leaned against the wall, gasping for air. Her heart was still pounding, not from the agony of dropping dead, but from the raw panic of being reborn.
Two years. 157,000 dollars. 11 dollars.
Those three numbers kept looping in her mind, like a bug stuck in endless recursion.
She pulled out her phone, unlocked it, and saw the date: March 15, 2025, 3:17 PM. There was a reminder in her notes: [Payday today. Remember to send 7,000 dollars to Emilia for an 'emergency'.]
Violet stared at the reminder, her fingers began to shake.
'Emergency.' That word had come up 89 times in the past two years. Emilia's rent was always an "emergency," Lincoln's tuition was an "emergency," her mom's medical bills were an "emergency," and even family events were all her "emergencies."
Every single time, she sent the money. It started with a few thousand dollars, then grew to seven, ten, even seventeen thousand at a time. Her salary went up, so did the amounts she transferred, but her savings never broke five figures.
On this day in her previous life, she sent 7,000 dollars. A week later, Emilia asked for another 10,000 dollars for a training course.
A month after that, Lincoln was short 67,000 dollars for a house down payment. The family held a meeting and decided, unanimously, that she should foot the bill.
She worked overtime, picked up freelance gigs, and for three months straight, barely slept more than four hours a day. In the end, at 3 AM in the office, staring at a line on her screen that read [TypeError: Cannot read property 'xxx' of undefined,] her heart stopped.
In her final moment, she wasn't thinking about her family or any regrets.
Instead, she was thinking, 'Where is this damn bug hiding?'
That was a true programmer. Her obsession lasted even beyond death.
Violet closed her notes and opened her banking app. [Balance: 29,000 dollars.] That was her just-received salary plus her quarterly bonus.
She opened her transfer history and set the time range from March 2023 to March 2025.
The screen started scrolling. Columns of numbers cascaded down like a waterfall.
[April 5, 2023: 1,700 dollars sent. Emilia's rent.]
[May 12, 2023: 3,000 dollars sent. Lincoln's living expenses.]
[June 20, 2023: 4,000 dollars sent. Mom's medical checkup.]
[July 2023... August... September...]
Violet didn't scroll any further. She took a screenshot, opened her photo album, and created a new folder she called "Leech Ledger."
Then she went back to the hallway, took a deep breath, and called Emilia.
The call connected after just one ring.
*****
"Violet. What took you so long to call back?" Emilia's voice was urgent and whiny. "I'm freaking out here. My landlord said if I don't pay the rent today, he's throwing my stuff out. Just send me 7,000 dollars, now."
Violet closed her eyes. "Emilia, you're 25 now, right?"
Emilia said, "Huh? Why are you asking that? Just send the money."
"You're 25, perfectly capable, with a college degree. Why can't you even pay your own rent?"
There was a brief silence, then Emilia's voice turned whiny and tearful. "Violet, why are you being like this? You know my job isn't steady. And this time, it's really an emergency, I..."
"Emergency," Violet echoed. "Emilia, how many 'emergencies' have there been now?"
"Violet. Are you sending the money or not?" Emilia's tears dried up in an instant, her voice turning cold and sharp. "If you don't, I'll tell Mom you're ignoring me. I'll tell everyone in the family just how heartless you are."
Violet gazed out the hallway window at the traffic below. In this city, there were countless people just like her, sitting in cubicles, writing code, fixing bugs, earning a paycheck, and then sending it all back home.
"Emilia," Violet said, her voice so calm it surprised even herself. "Starting today, I'm not your ATM anymore."
She hung up.
Her phone was silent for three seconds, then began vibrating wildly. The caller ID flashed: Mom.