Chapter 488: That’s a Real Mother for You

What the two of them discussed afterward is unknown. All anyone knew was that about half an hour after they added each other as friends, Justin Donovan used his group admin privileges to pull the outsider, Caspian Rhodes, into the large family group chat that had been specially created because of Arabella Donovan.

When the Donovan family saw Caspian Rhodes suddenly appear in their family group chat—and brought in by the eldest son, no less—they all started private messaging Justin Donovan. They seriously suspected he was either possessed or his account had been hacked. Their messages were fierce, each one demanding that he return their son’s (or big brother’s) body or account immediately.

Justin, who was utterly speechless, could only reply with: “…”

Fortunately, the commotion didn’t last long. After joining the group chat, Caspian Rhodes quickly organized the information he had and sent his first message.

[There might be a problem on Serena’s end. If none of you mind, why don’t we pool our efforts and figure out a way to help her?]

As soon as he said that, the Donovan family members who had been relentlessly harassing Justin in private messages instantly went silent, like ducks with their necks stepped on.

Arabella Donovan was completely unaware of the turmoil brewing in the family group chat.

After donating a sum of money to accumulate some Merit for herself, Arabella Donovan felt she had a slightly better chance of survival. She was finally able to calm down and analyze the information revealed during her previous conversation with her master.

According to her master, her family being able to hear her thoughts and the library that suddenly appeared in her mind after she came down the mountain were all preparations to deal with everything that was happening now.

The only one capable of such a miraculous feat had to be the Providence he spoke of. However, the new Providence that had since emerged wanted nothing more than to wipe out the entire Donovan clan. It would never create a bug like this that would allow her to know the future, change the plot, and save her family.

Therefore, this library was most likely a gift left to her by the previous Providence.

Having lived with him for over a decade, Arabella also understood that her master’s claim about otherworldly beings being unable to interfere in mortal affairs wasn’t just an excuse. His non-interference before was probably because the time wasn’t right, and he was worried about attracting the new Providence’s attention too early, which would be disadvantageous for him. His non-interference now was likely also due to rules related to the Providence.

But no matter what, she definitely couldn’t count on him for this. She had to rely on herself.

The new Providence was trying to control the male and female protagonists it had chosen, pulling events back on track to harvest enough fate for its own use. What Arabella could do now was to further confirm the current situations of these “children of Providence.”

This was no easy task for Arabella. Since coming down the mountain, she had met too many people and consumed too much gossip. If she had to summarize it all now, she wouldn’t even know where to begin.

Then, she remembered her incredibly capable big brother.

If it weren’t for the recent round of confessions, Arabella would probably never have imagined that her mature, steady, intelligent, and reliable big brother was a master at making gossip PowerPoints!

The first time she found out, Arabella was so shocked she nearly turned into a meme.

‘I knew you were versatile, but I never imagined you were *this* versatile!’

And so, at this critical moment, Justin Donovan became Arabella’s one and only choice for outside help.

Late at night, in the silence and solitude, Arabella stealthily reached out her “sinful little hands” to her big brother.

SpareTheRod: Big Bro, care to… gossip a little?

BigBroIsReliable: ?

BigBroIsReliable: …I’m in.

Like two members of a secret organization making contact, they hit it off immediately and began their selfless, all-night endeavor of saving the world via PowerPoint.

「The next morning」, sporting two dark circles under her eyes, Arabella took the PowerPoint her brother had made and went to find Ron Cole. The presentation contained a character relationship tree and a collection of all the gossip-related incidents, all drawn from the original text she had provided.

She couldn’t be sure about other things, but when it came to surveillance and intelligence gathering, Ron Cole’s department had absolute authority and the final, accurate word.

Thanks to everything that had happened before, Arabella had already earned enough trust and respect from the relevant departments. After understanding the gravity of the situation, Ron Cole decisively had his people investigate the current status of these individuals.

Of course, after finding them, it was best to leave some people behind to monitor them closely. With Summer Vance’s case as a precedent, Arabella was genuinely worried that these people could lose control of their bodies at any moment and hurt or kill someone without warning.

Besides these unsuspecting individuals, there was a prominent anomaly among the Donovan relatives: her fourth aunt’s son, Cousin Hugh Donovan, and his wife, Sabrina Donovan.

In a large family full of vicious supporting characters, cannon fodder, and background extras, these two truly stood out. Through their own efforts, they had become the male and female leads of a melodramatic, angsty “secret pregnancy and runaway” novel. Not only were they tortured physically and emotionally to the point of nearly missing their chance to be together, but they also caused their only child to develop a genetic disease after mistakenly receiving a blood transfusion from a direct relative, forcing them to live a lifetime of guilt.

After Arabella vaguely explained the current situation to the family, the young couple instantly became the primary surveillance target for the entire clan.

Fourth Aunt: “Serena, don’t you worry! I’ll keep an eye on these two 24/7, without even blinking. The second I see anything off about them, I’ll knock them out with one blow and drag them away!”

Hugh Donovan and Sabrina Donovan: “…” ‘What a dear mother she is!’

Fifth Aunt, who was already on good terms with Fourth Aunt, chimed in enthusiastically, “You’re not made of iron. How can you watch them for 24 hours without a break? Just you wait, my husband and I will be right over to back you up. We’ll work in three shifts. I refuse to believe we can’t watch them to death!”

Fifth Aunt’s son, Cousin Kyle Donovan, rubbed his temples with a headache. “Mom, Dad, and Fourth Aunt, could you please calm down?” he said helplessly. “Your combined age is over 150, and you’re talking about working in shifts to watch people. Just leave this to us younger folks. If something really goes wrong with those two, could you even win in a fight against them?”

The three elders: “…” ‘That… seems to make sense.’

Because of this, the family group chat descended into utter chaos. As the subjects of the discussion, Hugh Donovan and Sabrina Donovan remained as timid as quails, not daring to say a word, their hearts filled with immense sorrow and resentment.

‘Are there any main characters in this world more unlucky and oppressed than us? Can we just quit being the protagonists? Is that not an option?’

Arabella was moved by her family’s spirit. Far from being scared by the situation, they were united, determined, and ready to fight that unseen, intangible evil force at a moment’s notice. Seeing this, she felt herself relax considerably.

But she didn’t forget the important stuff. Once their discussion had more or less wrapped up, she reminded them, “Um, even though my cousin and his wife are the main characters of the plot, this is a melodramatic, angsty novel. They’re the ones who get tortured in it. In the early stages of the plot, my sister-in-law suffers. In the middle stages, my cousin suffers. And don’t even get me started on the end. The child’s accident is physical torture, and the couple’s anguish is emotional torture. So, there you have it. The whole family, all neat and tidy. Not a single one escaped.”

Uh…

The group, which had been in a heated discussion just moments before, fell instantly silent.

The young couple, whose sore spot had just been brutally poked, wanted to just hold their heads and cry: ‘It’s too tragic, just too tragic! WAAAH…’