Chapter 1

At the police station, the officer turned the tablet around and showed it to me. I stared at the screen and read it a few times.

The household registration showed my familial relationship: divorced with a daughter.

Daughter's name: Sandy Evans

Birthdate: 1st of June, 2019

However, I was a man who had been single my whole life and had never married.

"Mr. Evans," the officer began, frowning. "She got lost in the shopping mall. As the girl's parent and guardian, how can you deny she's your daughter?"

First of June, 2019.

Back then, I was flying all around the world while planning an exhibition. I had spent almost three hundred days in a year in budget hotels and the plastic chairs in airport departure halls.

During that International Children's Day, my Grab app's log also showed my tiring trip from the convention center to the Central City International Airport.

I barely had time for a girlfriend. How could I have possibly fathered a daughter?

Which begged the question: whose daughter was sitting on the bench in the police station as she sobbed?

Chapter 1

The officer was already looking at me impatiently. "The system doesn't lie."

I smiled as I said, "The system doesn't lie, but the people who input the data can."

The room went silent for a moment.

An older officer looked up at me.

I unlocked my phone and opened my Grab app's history. Then, I tapped open my company email and pulled out my travel confirmations from around the first of June, 2019. "This was my ride from the Neo International Convention Center to Central City International Airport in the morning that year. You're telling me there was a woman somewhere giving birth to my daughter on that date?"

The young officer frowned. "Sir, please calm down."

I said, "I want to see the original files."

"What original files?" The officer asked.

"The marriage registration, the birth registration, and the household registration documents. Since the system says I am divorced and have a daughter, there must be a marriage certificate, a divorce certificate, a birth certificate, proof of parentage, and other kinds of documents. Find them, and then I'll concede the girl is mine," I said.

The officers looked at one another. The older one stood up, his tone softening. "Alright, please have a seat. We'll verify this."

Ten minutes later, a scanned copy of a marriage registration appeared on the computer screen.

Groom's Name: Zephyr Evans

Somehow, my Social Security number was on there.

There was also a photo ID of me, but the one attached to the registration looked edited. The head was too large, the body too small, and the shoulders did not line up.

I stared at the photo, my palms slowly starting to sweat.

Bride's Name: Lindsay Davies

Address: Riverton

I had never heard that name, but the older officer's expression changed the moment he saw it. He lowered his voice and asked, "Lindsay? From the Davies family in Riverton?"

The younger officer whispered, "The Davies family in real estate and pharmaceuticals?"

An influential and wealthy family. My identity had been used to marry someone from such a powerful family.

The registration date was April 18, 2018, and the marriage certificate was registered at the county clerk's office in my hometown.

I opened my company's Facebook page and scrolled down to April 2018.

Oceanton.

Poseidon International Convention Center.

Closed bidding event.

For twelve days straight, I had location check-ins every day, from eight in the morning until one in the morning.

I pushed the screen toward the officers. "I was in Oceanton that day. These check-ins prove that I never went back to my hometown during this time."

This time, the officers did not say the system did not lie.

The older officer's face became stern, and he gave me a copy of the report. "Your identity information may have been stolen. We'll contact the Vital Records Office and Clerk's Office to verify this."

He glanced at the girl sitting on the bench, then looked at me. "She'll be placed with the Child Protective Service for now. You should cooperate with the investigation."

I nodded.

Then, the girl suddenly raised her head and called out timidly, "Daddy..."

The word was making my heart tremble, but it was not out of sympathy. Instead, it gave me goosebumps.

I took a step back.

I did not know whose child she was, but I knew she was not mine.

When I walked out of the police station, the night breeze hit my face. Only then did I realize my back was soaked completely.

I sat in my car and did not drive off right away. Instead, I called my mother, Jessie.

Chapter 2

Jessie quickly picked up my call and asked, "Zephyr? Why are you calling me out of nowhere?"

I asked, "Mom, why is there a daughter listed under my registry?"

The other end of the line went quiet for a moment before Jessie's laughter came through. "What daughter? Are you exhausted from work and reading things wrong?"

I laughed as well as I said, "Turns out I also have an ex-wife called Lindsay Davies."

This time, her breathing became heavy. "You... where did you hear that name?"

"The police station," I said.

Then, the call ended as soon as I finished speaking. When I called again, her phone was already switched off.

I stared at the screen. Over the past few years, she would always urge me to go back to my hometown and even asked for copies of my ID, pitifully claiming she needed them for health insurance verification. Everything that I had not been paying attention to now had an answer.

I did not text her to question her. Instead, I opened the Trip app and changed my ticket to the earliest flight.

The next morning I was standing in the airport departure hall with my luggage.

My name was Zephyr Evans. I was thirty, unmarried and childless. Yet the household registration system had created an entire life for me. I had gotten married, had a daughter, and then divorced. My daughter was even five years old.

I suddenly laughed out loud.

My mother was quite something.

While I was working overtime, she had stolen my life and sold it to the rich.

If that were the case, I would go back. I would go back to see who had written such an absurd script.

-

The neighborhood in my hometown still looked the same.

As soon as I opened the door, the living room was quite lively. Seafood, wine, and cake were laid on the table.

Jessie sat at the head of the table, her face red from drinking. Meanwhile, my younger cousin, Lex Taylor, was wearing a silk shirt, and the watch on his wrist appeared to blink brightly under the lights.

Several relatives sat around him, praising him.

"Lex has really made something of himself. He bought that luxury apartment without blinking."

"Your luck is so good. Marrying well matters more than anything."

Lex covered his mouth and laughed. "Not at all. I worked hard for it."

I stood at the door, and the wheels of my suitcase hit the doorway with a dull thud, making everyone look over. The wineglass in Jessie's hand fell before hitting the floor and shattering.

Lex's smile froze for a moment before saying, "Zephyr? Why did you come back without telling us?"

I ignored him as I walked to the dining table and slapped the police report onto it. "Explain this."

The room went silent at once.

My second uncle extended his neck for a look, and he quickly pulled back as his expression darkened.

Jessie reacted quickly as she stood up and said, "Zephyr, why are you doing this?! You came back in the middle of the night just to show everyone your attitude?"

I stared at her and said, "I'm asking you about my supposed marriage and daughter on my household registry."

Her voice rose. "Family matters should be discussed behind closed doors. Do you have to make a scene in front of everyone?"

"A scene?" I scoffed as I took out a printed copy of the scanned marriage registration and threw it in front of Lex. "You used my ID to get married, used my degree for matchmaking, and used my name to register a child."

Lex put down his glass and slowly stood up. "Zephyr, you don't have to act like the victim."

He went on, "Back then, the Davies family's matchmaking required at least a bachelor's degree and a clean family background. Your education was sitting there unused. So what if I borrowed it?"

No one in the living room spoke, which meant they had all known.

Jessie immediately picked up where he left off and said, "Your cousin did not have the same advantages you had growing up. You're his older cousin. What's wrong with helping him?"

"Helping?" I asked as I looked at the woman I had called my mother for thirty years. "You stole my identity, forged a marriage registration, and put someone else's child under my name. You call that helping?"

Jessie slammed the table. "Aren't you doing alright now? Did you get maimed somehow? You have a good education and a good job. But life is different for Lex, and he has had a particularly hard life! So what if I helped him?"

I had heard that line for over twenty years.

In the past, I thought she was simply favoring Lex more. But now I knew. Playing favorite was only a cover.

Lex raised an eyebrow. "Besides, I'm already divorced. I didn't hold you back. You can just remove the record now, right?"

"What about the child?" I asked.

He froze before mumbling, "What child?"

"Sandy," I said.

His expression finally changed. But soon, that indifferent look returned. "What does she have to do with me? The household registry already stated it, right? She's your daughter."

That sentence chilled my heart.

A five-year-old child meant no more to him than old clothes he wanted to throw away.

Chapter 3

Jessie glared at me as I looked at Lex in disbelief. "Zephyr, listen to me. This ends here. This kind of drama stays in the family. If this gets out, it will be bad for everyone."

I asked, "Bad for whom?"

She avoided my eyes.

I answered for her. "Bad for Lex, and bad for you. As for me, the life you stole apparently didn't count as mine."

Humiliated and furious, Jessie rushed over to snatch my phone. I stepped back and lit up the screen.

The recording had already been running for fifteen minutes. I held up the phone and said, "Keep talking. I'm recording all of it."

Lex's face finally went pale.

I looked at them and said, "You forged official documents, using another person's identity to register a marriage. And then, you claimed marital assets through deception. If false materials were used to register Sandy, things will only get worse for you. I'm going to the police to file a report first thing tomorrow morning."

Jessie pointed at me, her hand trembling violently. "You dare?"

I dragged my suitcase. "If you dared steal my identity, why wouldn't I dare report it?"

Just as I reached the door, Lex suddenly called out to stop me. "Zephyr, don't forget. Before your father died, he asked my father to take care of you."

I stopped. That sentence was even filthier than his theft of my identity. I turned back and looked at him as I said, "Then you shouldn't forget that the dead won't take the blame for you."

-

At six the next morning, Jessie was standing at the hotel entrance.

I had stayed at a budget hotel the night before. She did not know my room number, so she had waited on the lobby couch.

The moment she saw me, she rushed over. "Zephyr, I was mistaken. I simply did not think things through!"

She blocked my way and refused to let me leave. "Your cousin is still young. He can't go to prison. I'll find a way to give whatever compensation you want."

I looked at her.

Compensation?

What could she possibly offer to compensate me?

I walked around her and headed out as she panicked and grabbed my arm. "Zephyr, don't force me to do this!"

I shook her hand off and said, "From today on, every time you stop me, I will submit one more piece of evidence."

She froze.

I took a taxi straight to the clerk's office.

The office had just opened at half-past eight in the morning. I handed over my ID, the police report, and my company check-in records.

The clerk glanced over them without much expression. "We need to retrieve the file. It will take a long time."

"How long?" I asked.

"Hard to say. The system is old, and some records aren't logged online," she said.

I asked, "Since when was 2018 considered old?"

She looked up at me. It was clearly written on her face not to cause trouble. "Being anxious won't help. Go home and wait for the notice."

I did not leave.

I stood in front of the counter and called the country administrator's public hotline.

Then, I spoke into the phone, "Hello, I am filing a formal complaint under my real name regarding abnormal marriage registration file management at the clerk's office. I was not present in 2018, but I was registered as married. The counter staff refused to retrieve the file because it was not logged online."

The clerk immediately stood up. "What are you doing?! Who refused you?"

I turned on the speaker.

"Sir, may I have your name?" The staff on the other end quickly took the report.

Five minutes later, the head of the archive department ran out. "Mr. Evans, right? Please calm down. We'll check immediately."

I followed him into the archive room. When the physical file was pulled out, sweat appeared on his forehead. On the registration application, the signature read Zephyr Evans. However, the handwriting looked nothing like mine. The photocopied ID came from an old driver's license I had lost six years ago and had already been reported missing at the time.

I asked, "Where is the facial recognition record?"

The department head searched for a long time but could not find one. "At that time... The system was not fully online yet."

I stared at him. "Then where is the video showing I was present?"

He said nothing.

I continued, "Who handled the application?"

The last page of the file had a stamp on it, and the assigned clerk was Howard Brown.

The department head swallowed. "Howard has already retired."

I photographed the documents one page at a time. "Retirement does not mean immunity."

The department head finally lowered his voice. "Mr. Evans, this registration does have serious flaws. We will start the cancellation procedure."

"I want a written acceptance notice," I said.

He hesitated.

I then placed my phone on the table. "Should I call the county administrator hotline again?"

Chapter 4

Ten minutes later, the department head of the archive department handed me a stamped request acceptance notice.

When I walked out of the clerk's office, the sunlight was glaring.

I had just put the papers into my bag when three tattooed men surrounded me.

Lex stepped out beside a white SUV and pushed his sunglasses up onto his head. "Zephyr, do you really have to go this far?"

I glanced at the street thugs. "Did you switch careers and start filming crime dramas?"

His expression darkened. "Don't get smart with me. If you cancel the record, I'll go to the entrance of your company and hang banners."

"And what will they say?" I asked.

He smiled. "That you forced your cousin to marry in your place so you could marry into a rich family. About how you stole the child shamelessly and how you were a kept man."

I nodded. "Quite a vocabulary."

He came closer and lowered his voice. "It's not easy for you to get where you are today, isn't it? A big company in Oceanton, a respectable position. Once this blows up online, what will you have left?"

My eyes moved over the limited-edition watch on his wrist. "How much did the Davies family give you in the divorce?"

His eyes flickered.

I continued, "Five million dollars?"

He took a step back.

Lex had signed a divorce agreement using my identity and taken five million dollars. This was more than simply a case of identity theft. I said, "This is pure fraud."

Lex's lips began to tremble.

I stepped forward. "Negating the marriage record is only the first step. The second step is recovering the money you took. The third step is to make you explain where the child came from."

One of the tattooed men behind him cursed and reached out to shove me. I grabbed his wrist with one hand and held up my phone with the other.

The screen showed 911. "Touch me at all, and this stops being a civil dispute. It becomes an assault."

The tattooed man froze.

Then, I walked past them.

Lex screamed from behind me, "Zephyr! You will regret this!"

-

That afternoon, I sorted the documents in my hotel room. In identity theft cases, the hardest part was not proving who I was. It was proving that the other person was not me.

I arranged my 2018 check-ins, flight records, hotel stays, and project contracts in a timeline, then turned them into a table.

At seven that night, someone pounded on my door.

I looked through the peephole and saw Jessie kneeling at the door, holding a bottle of pesticide. People had already gathered in the hallway.

She cried and shouted, "Zephyr! You ungrateful son! Are you trying to drive your mother to suicide?!"

I did not open the door.

She kept wailing. "I raised you all these years, and now you want to send your cousin to prison over a little money! Your father will never forgive you from the grave!"

The onlookers began whispering.

I stood inside the room, my heart calm.

The day my father died when I was little, Jessie had cried like this too. She held me and said that from then on, all she had was me. The next month, she brought Lex to live in our home, saying my uncle and aunt were too busy and had no one to care for him. Back then, I truly believed she was a good person who cared about family.

Outside the door, Jessie twisted open the pesticide bottle cap, and a sharp smell drifted in. "If you don't agree to withdraw the case today, I'll die at your door!"

I opened the door.

Jessie immediately said, "Zephyr, I know you're someone soft-hearted. Hurry and sign this. Tomorrow, tell the clerk's office this was all a misunderstanding..."

I took out my phone and called 911 in front of her. "Hello, someone here is holding what appears to be pesticide in a hotel hallway, causing a commotion. There is a risk of self-harm. The address is..."

Jessie's sobbing stopped.

I stared at her and said, "If you want to die, do it at the hospital. Don't dirty the hotel carpet."

The people in the corridor gasped.

Jessie stood and was about to curse me when the elevator dinged and opened. Four men in black came out, and they quickly separated the people on both sides of the hallway.

Then, a woman stepped out of the elevator.

She wore a tailored suit with a coat draped over one arm. Her presence was so cold that everyone instinctively fell silent.

I only needed one glance to guess who she was.

Lindsay.

The ex-wife in my household registration system.