Chapter 41 — No Matter What, Debbie Has to Go In This Time
"I don't know," Lip replied casually, brushing it off.
Everyone in the Gallagher family came and went like ghosts—
even the kids disappeared without warning.
Not wanting to babysit the family's chaos, William said goodbye to Fiona and left 2119.
"So… you two together now?"
Lip watched William's retreating figure, then shot Fiona a scrutinizing look.
Whether it was male intuition, jealousy over Karen getting close to William,
or the simple fact that Lip hated everything right now—
he was clearly hostile.
Even though he was now officially diagnosed with functional erectile dysfunction,
Lip's resentment toward William hadn't decreased one bit.
That day—
getting punched by Karen in the morning,
then staring at his diagnosis letter that afternoon—
Lip's rage meter had hit MAX.
At this point, he disliked everyone.
Fiona paused at his question.
Truthfully, she didn't know what she and William were.
Boyfriend and girlfriend?
They weren't that intimate.
Friends-with-benefits?
But who sleeps over at a friend-with-benefits' house?
She couldn't make sense of their relationship at all.
---
Outside — just a few steps from his motorcycle
William stopped.
He had just spotted Debbie.
And not just Debbie—
she was pushing a stroller.
Inside sat a blonde toddler.
William: "???"
Frank had been kicked out early,
and Fiona had definitely stopped helping him with the fake dementia scam.
The old woman pretending to be Aunt Ginger should not have come to the Gallagher house.
So how the hell did Debbie still manage to steal a baby!?
"Debbie… who is this?" William asked, stepping toward the stroller.
One glance at the kid—
Yep.
He was 90% sure:
This was Casey, the missing child from the original plot.
Debbie froze when he asked.
"T-This is… my new friend. Casey!"
Any normal adult could tell she was lying instantly.
In the original timeline, the only reason police didn't catch her was pure dumb luck.
"Alright then. Enjoy playing with your new friend."
William said nothing more.
He simply reached out and ruffled Debbie's hair.
Using [Disease Transfer], William shifted Ian's bipolar disorder onto Debbie.
Without bipolar disorder, Ian would definitely function more like a sane, normal human being.
Debbie, on the other hand—even without a mental condition—had already inherited half of Monica's chaos by default.
After saying goodbye to Debbie, William didn't return to school immediately.
Instead, he rode his bike to Karen's street.
But this time, he wasn't here for Karen.
His eyes were locked on the house directly across from hers—
the very house where little Casey had disappeared during a party.
Right now, the place was chaos.
People ran around anxiously; parents panicked.
Tony, one of the South Side cops, was patiently questioning guests for details.
[Ding!
New Mission Detected:
Stealing a child is unforgivable in any society.
Host must make Debbie understand her mistake.
Give Debbie a lesson she'll never forget.
Reward: Russian Language Mastery.]
Tsk.
A mission.
Honestly, even if the system hadn't triggered, William was planning to screw Debbie over anyway.
How else would Fiona come begging him for help?
And if she didn't come begging, he'd have no excuse to continue… refining her.
Once Fiona was "fully upgraded,"
he'd gain [Bullet Time], a completely broken superpower.
Basically the supernatural version of Stannis Stan.
So no matter what, Debbie needed a lesson she would remember for life.
William twisted the throttle and sped out of the neighborhood.
---
Illinois Institute of Technology — Public Phone Booth
William guessed Fiona and the others were probably inside right now,
desperately trying to come up with some ridiculous excuse to cover Debbie's kidnapping.
Too bad for them—
They had him to deal with.
He dialed:
9-1-1.
"911, what's your emergency?"
"Hi, I want to provide a tip…"
A few minutes later, he hung up.
He stepped out of the phone booth, stretched lazily—
And spotted Amanda walking toward him.
A lollipop in her mouth.
Oversized sweater.
Cute as ever.
"Hey, Amanda."
Rich girl she might be, but in front of someone like William—
handsome, confident, solid background—
she instantly reverted to a soft, shy little kitten.
"H-Hi, William."
Her face even turned slightly red.
At this point in the story, Amanda was still single.
Probably the only genuine virgin in the entire series.
William paused for half a second.
Honestly, if he could tweak Amanda's personality a bit,
she'd be way better girlfriend material than Bianca.
While William chatted and built rapport with Amanda—
---
Gallagher House — Complete Chaos
"You stole a baby… why!?" Fiona stared at Debbie, utterly speechless.
Her life had barely started becoming stable for two days—
and Debbie was already detonating bombs again.
"I… I was lonely…" Debbie mumbled.
Fiona rubbed her temples.
Of course.
Of course that was the reason.
"Well, whatever the reason, we need to fix this now.
If the cops show up, Debbie is definitely going to juvie."
Lip looked at the blonde little boy in the stroller, exhausted just by existing.
"Should we sneak the kid back?" Fiona asked, staring at the boy wearing a Superman costume.
Her head felt like it was splitting.
"That won't work—there are cops at the house now.
We'd get caught instantly."
Lip shook his head.
"It's better to build Debbie a story.
Like… the kid wandered off, she found him alone, and brought him back out of kindness.
The police might buy that."
Lip's intelligence had a miraculous way of appearing only when committing crimes.
"Good. Let's go with that."
Fiona sighed.
"First, we need to fake a believable scenario—
like the boy got bored at the party and wandered off on his own.
To pull that off, we need multiple people giving matching statements from different angles."
Lip paused.
"So we'll need Kevin and V.
And maybe even your 'boyfriend.'
More witnesses make it more believable."
Fiona nodded.
"Alright, I'll call them."
Then Lip turned to Debbie.
"Debbie, listen carefully.
Whatever I tell you next—
you must repeat it the same way when talking to the cops.
Understand?"
Debbie nodded quickly.
She finally understood the gravity of the situation.
But just as Lip was about to start the training session—
Knock, knock, knock.
A voice followed:
"Fiona? You home?"
It was Tony.
The cop.