- 2.
I felt someone moving me and struggled to open my eyes.
My vision was too blurry. I could only grasp onto the person in the uniform, whoever it was.
“Alright, young lady, just let go for a moment. Let the paramedics check you over.”
I didn’t want paramedics, and I didn’t want to go to the hospital. I wanted to stay under their* surveillance, here at the facility.
Someone was prying my fingers open. It hurt so much.
2:13 pm P PP.
<
Tears streamed down my face. I clung on with all my might, refusing to let go.
“She’s probably just startled, nothing serious, just low blood sugar. If she won’t let go, let’s carry her to the duty room for now.”
I stopped struggling, letting them carry me through the gates. I looked up at the security cameras above the entrance–such solid evidence.
Someone put a piece of candy in my mouth, and I slowly regained some strength, enough to sit up.
A group of people surrounded me. None of the harsh, cold faces from my past life. Their expressions of concern made tears well up in my eyes.
“Feeling a little better, miss?”
Seeing the light return to my eyes, Captain Miller, a man with two stripes and one bar on his uniform, asked with genuine concern.
A wave of injustice and sorrow surged within me, like floodgates bursting open, and I couldn’t stop it
anymore.
I began to sob uncontrollably.
The clock on the wall seemed to be counting down, bringing me closer and closer to safety.
9:50 PM. Dr. Silas Vance must be in the lab copying my data by now, right?
I had considered calling the police beforehand to catch him red–handed, but then I realized: he not only faked my access card but also tampered with the university’s surveillance data. This wasn’t something a professor, who had only returned to teach here for less than a year, could do alone.
9:53 PM. I was crying so hard I started to hiccup. The people around me, initially flustered, had calmed down, passing me water and tissues.
Dr. Silas Vance must have already left, locking up behind him. I wondered how he started the fire. Logically, the lab had excellent power cut–off and fire safety measures. How could it catch fire so easily, and even spread to cause the entire building to explode?
9:54 PM. My emotions slowly stabilized. Captain Miller couldn’t suppress a chuckle. “Young lady, you’re the most impressive crier I’ve ever seen”
2:13 pm P
<
I pouted, embarrassed. I was terrified of what I’d endured, and ecstatic about my rebirth.
Heaven knows, the sheer joy that erupted when I realized I’d been reborn an hour before the fire almost drowned me.
“I can’t stay in the dorm!” That was my only thought.
I grabbed my essentials and fled immediately.
It wasn’t until I was in the taxi that I came to my senses and started thinking about what else I could do.
I usually recorded faceless videos to share study tips and methods. Now, I decided to go live, face and all, to have all my followers bear witness.
Collapsing at the facility gates was a sheer coincidence.
When I was reborn, I had been up for over twenty hours and was finally ready to sleep. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have slept so soundly that I was oblivious to the fire.
The dual pressure of mental exhaustion and physical strain had simply overwhelmed me. In this situation, the timing of my low blood sugar was perfect.
“Do you want me to call an ambulance?” Captain Miller’s smiling eyes met mine. “You still look frightfully pale.”
9:55 PM. The second hand on the clock seemed to tick directly on my heart.
“Yes, please. Thank you so much.” I stopped my sobbing and said gratefully.
- 3.