Chapter 1: I am Chris
An unfamiliar ceiling came into view.
Then, a cacophony of sounds flooded his ears, and only after a moment did he gradually make out what the people nearby were saying.
"Oh my God, Peter! Chris is awake, our baby is awake!" a shrill female voice exclaimed.
Then, an obnoxious male voice replied irritably, "I can see that, Lois! What a shame—the insurance policy I took out on Chris hasn't kicked in yet. They won't pay out!"
"What! When did you buy insurance on Chris?"
Chris, lying in the hospital bed, shifted his gaze toward the voices and finally saw the two people arguing.
A heavyset white man, so obese he had to be pushing three hundred pounds, and a stunning redheaded woman. The two were currently screaming at each other about something.
A classic dysfunctional American family.
The moment he saw them, various thoughts flashed through Chris's mind, and he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity with the two.
But before Chris could think any further, the redheaded woman punched the fat man square in the face, and instantly, a bright red mark bloomed on his cheek.
Looking at the broken glasses that had flown onto his chest and the pathetic state of the fat man, a strange feeling of satisfaction welled up in Chris's heart.
It was as if he'd wanted to do that for a very long time.
And he could clearly sense that this feeling of satisfaction came from two different consciousnesses: one from the original owner of this body, and one from himself—the newcomer.
This surprised Chris. He didn't understand why seeing the fat man get slugged brought him such joy.
"You bastard! You actually tried to commit insurance fraud using Chris's accident, you son of a bitch!"
The fat man was knocked to the ground by the redheaded woman, but she, with her explosive fury, didn't stop there. In fact, she was just getting started.
She raised her sharp high heel and viciously kicked the man, beating the seemingly large and intimidating figure until he was completely helpless, able only to curl up and whimper.
"Stop, Lois, stop! I know I screwed up, okay? I shouldn't have lured Chris up to the roof. I just wanted to make some quick cash! How was I supposed to know the insurance company doesn't pay out until after three months? I jumped the gun!"
However, hearing the fat man's explanation only made Lois angrier, and her kicks grew even more vicious.
And Chris, lying in bed, was completely stunned by these words.
This fat man is absolutely despicable!
Using his own son's life for insurance fraud—is this really something a human being would do?
Chris felt that "despicable" wasn't even strong enough to describe this man. He wondered if the world he'd been transported to was cursed or something, because how else could such a father exist?
Just as Chris was wracking his brain trying to figure out what world he'd landed in, the hospital room door burst open, and two people and a dog walked in.
A chubby girl wearing a pink knit cap, her face covered in freckles and acne.
And a baby with a football-shaped head, accompanied by a white Labrador slightly larger than him—and the dog was walking upright on two legs.
What a bizarre world!
The girl was carrying two bags of fast food, deliberately ignoring the full-blown brawl happening in the room, and went straight to set out the food, speaking loudly to drown out the fat man's wails. "Mom, they were out of Dad's usual Pawtucket Patriot Ale, so I grabbed a different six-pack."
It was the baby and the dog who first noticed the bruised and battered Peter, but Chris could swear he only saw expressions of pure schadenfreude on their faces, completely devoid of any concern or intention to intervene.
Especially the dog. Chris even thought he was hallucinating, because he actually heard the dog talking to the baby.
"Oh yeah! Stewie, remember our bet? I told you Lois would lay into Peter once she found out the truth."
The football-headed baby shook his head and replied, "Yes, yes, but you bet Lois would beat Peter to a pulp. But now? This fat idiot only has superficial injuries. So our bet isn't over yet!"
This left the dog speechless. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, then stubbornly continued, "Fine, let's keep watching! I guarantee Peter won't have a single unbruised spot on him by the end, and he'll be spitting out teeth!"
"Heh heh!" The baby didn't argue, just let out a cold laugh.
Then the baby noticed Chris staring at him, and his eyebrows shot up, clearly surprised by Chris's current expression.
That bewildered look didn't resemble his brother at all. Instead, it was like looking at a complete stranger.
Meanwhile, Peter, still being pummeled, saw the others return, especially his daughter, and screamed desperately, "Meg! Come save me! Your mother's gonna kill me! Help!"
This cry for help finally broke through Meg's indifference. She sighed in frustration, her sense of familial duty finally awakened by Peter's desperate wails.
"Mom, please stop! If you keep beating him like this, Dad's really gonna die, and then Chris and I won't be able to finish school."
Persuaded by Meg's practical reasoning, Lois remembered that their family still needed Peter's brewery paycheck to survive. But thinking about Chris nearly falling to his death, she was still furious.
Seeing that Chris, who was lying quietly on the bed, wasn't in mortal danger, she vented her remaining anger by delivering one final vicious kick to Peter's face, then finally let him go and turned to embrace Chris.
"My little meatball, thank God you're okay."
Feeling the genuine affection from the woman holding him, Chris felt something stir deep in his soul, and then he spoke the words this body had said countless times before.
"Mom!"
As Chris spoke that word, the gap in his soul that had needed time to integrate instantly healed, and the newcomer's consciousness perfectly merged with this body.
However, while mother and son were having their tender moment, Peter, finally released by Lois, grimaced and rubbed his face, then gave his daughter a thumbs-up.
A gesture of gratitude.
But Meg didn't appreciate it, looking at Peter with complete disgust before nestling beside Lois.
And the little baby, seeing that his bet with the dog had concluded, proudly extended his small hand and said with a smile, "Twenty bucks. Cash only, no IOUs."
The white dog's jaw dropped, and his paw gestured at Meg, then at Lois and Peter, encompassing all the things he wanted to say.
Unfortunately, facts were facts. He'd lost their bet fair and square.
So, facing the baby's devilish grin, he could only reluctantly pull out a twenty-dollar bill and hand it over.
"Excellent!" The baby took the twenty, snapped it taut, then looked at his oddly behaving brother. After that word of satisfaction, he continued, "Looks like my life won't be lacking in entertainment from now on!"
With his head resting on Lois's shoulder, Chris clearly saw and heard the exchange between the baby and the dog. And through this series of absurd events, he finally realized which world he'd landed in.
An American animated sitcom, primarily focused on satire and parody, known to most as "Family Guy."
Often jokingly referred to by fans online as "The Most Dysfunctional Family in Quahog," simply because its characters had committed countless outrageous acts.
And he was one of the main characters of this animated series—Peter Griffin's eldest son.
A good-natured, somewhat slow-witted, practically innocent teenage boy.
Chris Griffin.
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