Chapter 2

When people came to watch the commotion, I grabbed onto them, wailing and rolling on the ground.

“Ma’am, will you give me some water? Sir, what about you?”

“No. Go ask someone else.”

I went door to door, begging the other neighbors for scraps of supplies.

But every single one said they could barely take care of themselves.

Only one person was “kind” enough to tell me to try the reservoir on the outskirts.

By the time dusk fell, my lips were cracked and bleeding.

Muttering that I was about to die of thirst, I staggered toward the outskirts.

“Damn it. Everyone knows the water out there’s already been taken. They just want me to die out there. What a bunch of beasts.”

The moment I stepped out of the building, the sorrow vanished from my face.

“Good thing I hid some water. Now I get it all to myself.”

In my past life, who among them hadn’t benefited from me?

Yet when Brian imprisoned me, every one of them stood by and watched.

Later, just to fight over a piece of skin that could “produce water,” they tore me apart like mad dogs.

This time, I wouldn’t save a single one of them.

I headed straight for the wastewater treatment plant in the west of the city.

In the corner of my vision, a shadow flickered past.

When I arrived, I switched on my flashlight and climbed down into the trash filtration grate.

Soon, I hauled myself back up, clutching a bottle of water.

I twisted it open and gulped it down greedily, letting out a long, satisfied breath.

“Idiot, Brian. I just stirred Francie up enough to drag you away. Did you really think I’d ever like you?

“Filthy creep. If he awakens his lightning ability, I’d be the one suffering. No… I have to kill him early, ah—!”

A sudden scream tore from my throat as I collapsed, my body convulsing violently.

“Who’s there?!”

A man with a dark expression stepped slowly out of the shadows.

“Brian? Y-you… what are you doing here?!”

Dragging my numb body, I scrambled back in terror.

“You bitch. You dare look down on me? I’ll kill you right now!”

Brian seized my throat with a vicious grip, clawing at my clothes like a madman.

My face flushed red as I choked.

“Let go—cough—I know… I know the secret behind your ability!”

Brian’s eyes darkened. His filthy shoe came down hard on my chest.

“Talk! How do you know I’ll awaken a lightning ability?”

I changed my expression instantly, coughing violently as I spat back, “You filthy freak, you bald pig! You make me sick just looking at you. Keep dreaming. I’d rather die than tell you, ah—”

Another surge of electricity slammed into me. I writhed on the ground, screaming in pain as I begged,

“I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you! Just stop shocking me!”

“Too late!”

Enraged and humiliated, Brian yanked at his belt and lunged at me.

In that split second, already rolled to the edge of the grate, I grabbed his leg and heaved with all my strength.

Brian vanished into the opening.

Before I could even feel a flicker of relief, a hand shot up and clamped onto the spiked metal grate, already hauling itself back out.

I turned and ran.

“I’ll kill you!”

Brian roared in fury as another bolt of lightning struck toward me.

But I pressed my hand against the railing and smiled—a strange, twisted smile.

Realizing something was wrong, Brian tried to pull back, but it was too late.

The high-voltage current passed through me and struck the control switch of the grate mechanism without missing.

The machine roared to life.

Clinging to the opening, Brian was dragged in instantly, leaving behind only a twitching hand.

“Ahhh—!”

A bloodcurdling scream tore through the night.

“Hah… hah…”

When the machine finally stopped, I curled on the ground, gasping as I waited for the searing pain of the electric shock to fade.

At the same time, my skin began pulling in the moisture suspended in the air, channeling it through my palms into an empty bottle.

No one would have guessed that the clear water filling the bottle had once been Brian’s blood.

Brian’s lightning ability was devastating—an ordinary person would have died from a single strike.

But I was different.

From the moment I awakened, I had possessed powerful regenerative abilities.

Still, remembering how I couldn’t even die when I wanted to in my past life, I let out a bitter laugh and twisted the cap tight.

Suddenly, faint footsteps broke the silence of the night.

“Where are you, honey?”

“Son, are you in there?”

My heart skipped.

I kicked Brian’s severed hand back down into the pit and turned, clutching the water.

“Apple! Stop right there!”

Several beams of flashlight snapped onto my face.

Francie, leading seven or eight members of the Lane family, surged forward and surrounded me in an instant.