Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My parents dragged me to the Family Tribunal, accusing me of being an ungrateful son.

If the charges stuck, I would face ten years behind bars. My parents and younger brother would inherit every dime I owned, blessed with good fortune and long lives.

If I was proven innocent, my brother Landon would be imprisoned for a century, while my parents would be cursed with endless misfortune and debilitating illness. Meanwhile, I would walk away with a ten-million-dollar reward and eternal youth.

All our friends and relatives begged me to plead guilty. In their eyes, my parents had always showered me with love and care, so they assumed my parents must have had no choice.

What none of them knew was that I had been reborn.

This time, I was going to rip off their hypocritical masks.

The courtroom was packed with familiar faces, almost entirely our extended family.

In this parallel world, hyper-advanced AI technology reigned supreme, and the Tribunal was the highest authority.

My parents sat nearby with Landon, looking at me with heartbreaking sorrow, as though I were some irredeemable monster.

"Once the trial begins, no one may withdraw. Any withdrawal results in immediate termination," the Presiding Judge announced in a cold, synthesized monotone before turning to me.

"Defendant, Gavin Ross, do you submit to the trial?"

Staring at the familiar surroundings, a flood of memories rushed through me.

Yes, I had returned to the past.

In my previous life, I could not understand why my parents hauled me into this brutal court. I assumed I had caused some terrible misunderstanding, and because they were the parents who raised me, I could not bear to see them suffer the horrific penalty, so I pleaded guilty on the spot.

After all, once you entered the Tribunal, there was no turning back.

I had thought ten years in prison and forfeiting my assets was a fair way to repay them for raising me.

It was only upon my death that I learned the ugly truth. Landon had wanted to study abroad and buy a luxury penthouse, but our family lacked the funds, so they set their sights on my wealth.

When I contracted tuberculosis in prison and called my parents, begging them to save me, my mother had only scoffed coldly over the receiver.

"You ungrateful brat, you only think of begging us now? You deserve to rot and die in there!"

In the end, no help came, and I died a miserable death in that cold cell.

After my death, my spirit drifted back home, only to find my parents throwing a lavish housewarming party for Landon.

That sprawling, two-thousand-square-foot luxury condo had been bought entirely with my money.

Landon sliced into the celebratory cake with a smug grin, his eyes gleaming with malicious delight. "Are we really just going to leave Gavin there? What if he miraculously survives and comes looking for payback after he gets out?"

My mother let out a sneer. "Everything he had belonged to us anyway. What right does he have to settle scores? If he dies, it's because he's weak. Everyone else survived in there, so why is he whining?"

My father chimed in with a cruel nod. "Being able to contribute to this family before he kicked the bucket was his greatest blessing. Even if he crawls out alive, we'll never acknowledge him. Besides, with the ungrateful brand stamped on his name, how could he ever show his face in public again?"

I closed my eyes in total despair. They had never cared whether I lived or died; all those years of affection and warmth were nothing but a sick, calculated lie.

Now that I had been given a second chance, I would drag every single one of them straight to hell with my own hands.