Let Them All Burn

Sabrina Whitmore's voice was bell-like, but each word sounded like shards of glass stabbing into my ears. I could still feel the bone-deep cold lingering in my limbs.

I snapped my eyes open as I felt the soft lighting above my first-class seat and the warm leather seat beneath me. I mechanically looked out the window and saw clouds outside the window like cotton candy. I was alive again.

I lowered my gaze to my hands. My fingertips were still faintly bluish-purple, but blood flowed through them.

I felt warm… Alive.

"Lucia, what do you think? This way, everyone can practice emergency response in a real scenario." Sabrina tilted her head, looking at me with an innocent smile.

I knew that face all too well.

In my previous life, she had used that same harmless expression to dress up a deliberate poisoning as the whimsical idea of a genius girl.

My idiot ex-boyfriend, Cedric Gray, had been sitting right beside her, indulgently brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Professor William Calloway stroked his beard, smiling kindly. "Sabrina's always had a quick mind."

Quick mind? Mixing internationally banned neurotoxins into the drinks of competing teams was what he called clever? Very well, then.

The chief flight attendant approached at the mention, her professional smile tightening slightly. "Excuse me, did someone just mention something about a highly toxic substance?"

Sabrina instantly switched to a playful tone, sticking out her tongue at her. "Don't be nervous, we're medical students discussing a case study. It's just a joke."

William took the opportunity to hand over his business card. "I'm a specially appointed professor at Sinoria Medical University, leading a team to the finals of the World Healthcare Competition. The students got a bit carried away discussing cases. I'm sorry for the disturbance."

The attendant glanced at the title on the card before nodding politely and leaving.

Cedric turned to me and grabbed my wrist. "Lucia, this is just a field exercise. Don't you even think about blaming me if you ruin Sabrina's plan by being as rigid and meddlesome as usual."

I lowered my eyes to the hand gripping my wrist.

In my previous life, it had been this very hand that pressed the freezing switch in the cold storage while watching the surveillance feed.

I gently pulled my wrist free. "Don't worry. I won't do anything."

I took an eye mask from the seat pocket and put it on. Then, I pulled out a sealed bottle of mineral water from my bag, twisted it open, and took a sip.

It was warm.

Sabrina excitedly took out several unlabeled test tubes from her bag and held them up like trophies in front of William. "Professor Calloway, look! This is a colorless, odorless neuro-agent I synthesized myself. I've already mixed it in."

Matt Lewis, one of our teammates, leaned over, giving her a thumbs-up. "Awesome, Sabrina. If the foreign teams get hit by this, they won't even know how they died!"

Laughter broke out among them, but my eyes were squeezed shut under my eye mask.

In my last life, I had fought desperately to stop this disaster, only to end up disgraced and frozen to death in that cold storage. This time, these lunatics were more than welcome to leap to their deaths.

…

The plane settled into a smooth cruise. Flight attendants pushed carts down the aisle, the aroma of coffee drifting through the cabin.

William lifted a cup of Americano and took an elegant sip. Cedric ordered a latte and didn't forget to get Sabrina a strawberry mousse as well.