Chapter 1
When I got locked in the lab again by my parents' adoptive daughter, Nina Carter, I pushed some chairs together to make a bed and crashed there for the night.
In my previous life, I had mild claustrophobia. I threw a fit, which finally got the attention of a passing colleague.
But I ended up catching my childhood friend Michael Hayes and my brother James Carter with Nina in the lab's side room, all in a compromising position.
Nina became a joke to everyone, got kicked out by my parents, and ended up taking her own life out of shame.
Because of that, Michael and James started hating me. They kicked me out of the project team and used their connections to blacklist me from the industry.
In the end, they even bundled me onto a boat and threw me into the sea.
They said, "Nina was just messing with you, but you got her killed. You should pay with your life!"
So in this life, I just played dumb, acting like I didn't know anything.
After all, the project was almost done. With this research, I could finally join the national project team.
*****
Nina sneered at me. "Damn it. Eleanor, it's all because of your experiment that I lost my spotlight
"Enjoy your little timeout here. You're not getting out until I'm in a better mood."
Then she slammed the door shut, locked it from the outside, and killed the power.
In my previous life, I panicked, frantically pounding on the door, desperate to escape.
I had mild claustrophobia. It was not severe, but being locked in here all night could really kill me.
I pleaded and broke down sobbing, nearly throwing myself out the window. It was the noise that caught the attention of a passing colleague, who pulled me back from the edge.
But being saved once didn't mean I'd be saved again.
The terror of the deep was way worse than claustrophobia. The cold and suffocating agony felt like a thousand arrows piercing through me.
So after crawling out of hell, these cramped spaces didn't scare me anymore. I pushed some chairs together to make a bed and lay down comfortably.
My parents were totally biased. In my previous life, after Nina was kicked out, James bullied and suppressed me in every way he could, and they turned a blind eye.
Even when James dragged me onto that boat, they brushed it off, saying it was just a little spring outing and I shouldn't overthink it.
In the end, to clear his name, they told the cops I had mental problems and had wanted to kill myself for a long time.
My death was ruled an accident. James faced no consequences at all. They couldn't even be bothered with my ashes and tossed them into the ocean.
Everyone said parents always loved their kids, but mine were living proof that that was not true.
Since fate gave me a second life, that so-called family love was meaningless to me
From now on, I'd live only for myself.
*****
I woke up when the sky was just turning pale.
In my previous life, I always felt like I didn't deserve anything good. I lived timidly, always bending over backwards to please others.
But now, watching that small sun break through the clouds, I felt my heart begin to burn.
A second life was a one-in-a-billion chance, and I got one. So I should be like the blazing sun, bold and unstoppable.
Soon, a coworker opened the door. She was stunned to see me there.
"Eleanor, were you locked in the lab all night?
"I'm pretty sure I didn't lock the door last night. But when I came back in the middle of the night to grab something, Nina stopped me and told me to sleep and come back tomorrow.
"It had to be her! She locked you in. No signal in the lab, no way to call. And you've got claustrophobia. Was she insane?" my coworker ranted.
I just smiled and said, "I'm fine, really. Just don't tell anyone. I'll go home and sleep it off."
She sighed with sympathy.
"Eleanor, you're too good to your siblings. That kind of kindness will only get you nowhere."
I nodded seriously. I'd heard the same thing in my previous life.
Back then, I was so brainwashed by all that "family is everything" talk that I kept telling myself—just hang on, and the bitterness will sweeten.
But now, as soon as I left the lab, I went straight to the security room and pulled the footage showing Nina locking me in.
After grabbing some breakfast, I thought about taking a nap, but I was way too energized, so I headed back to the lab.
After dying once, it hit me how amazing and precious it was to breathe fresh air.
Not long after I started my experiment, I heard Nina and Michael laughing and messing around, with James's low chuckle joining in from time to time.
My hand holding a vessel trembled. I forced down the furious rage rising in my chest.
I told myself to hold on a little longer. In a couple of days, this experiment would be a success, and I'd finally get into the national project team. I wouldn't just be some ordinary researcher anymore.
My parents, James, Nina, and Michael, I'd make sure none of them get off easy.
I'd just slipped my phone into my pocket, already recording, when Nina's smug voice cut in.
She sneered, "Well, well, Eleanor, still kicking, huh?
"Don't they say a claustrophobic person will die if locked in a dark room all night? Guess you were faking it the whole time, hoping Mom, Dad, James, and Michael would feel sorry for you.
"Heh, too bad for you. They don't care about you. They only care about me."
Michael snorted.
"The more she pulls this, the more we hate her.
"Who knows what dirty things happened to her when she was trafficked all those years? If she really died in the lab, it was just her bad luck, no one to blame but herself," he said.