She jumped into a hot shower and lathered away her mental fatigue, but lessened the strenuous stress accumulated from her line of work in the name of justice.
She came out of the shower naked but did not shy away from the sunset. With the curvaceous figure she owns, the afternoon sun seemed to set quicker as if to hide away from the act of such shamelessness from this mortal being. She aimlessly stood in the living room, not caring if the water droplets from her wet hair could soak the expensive rug. At the arrival of the evening twilight, she made her way back into her room to get comfortable.
Feeling refreshed, she decided to face the reality of her past life. Cozying up to the chaise lounge, she picked up the first book of the cheesy love trilogy. Ah! 'The Manipulative General Si' is it? Let's see what good things the author has in store for the lovebirds and the dire fate that awaits the vain villains, according to the author's perspective.
10 hours later .....
She fell silent for a while after reading through the love life of her fiancé and his mistress. She was contemplating throwing the books in a fit of anger. Still, she halted to mentally note down every critical event that happened after her death. She couldn't name the complexities of feeling surging inside her, wave after wave. At this moment, she just felt that life was unbearably unfair.
It's life after all; it's supposed to be unfair if heaven does not favor you. She accepted the reality, but life shouldn't be this bitter. But, according to the author, it is justified. For the villain she was, the one who fought for what she wanted and loved, was killed off by the author because the reader thought she was annoying?
She was described as arrogant and selfish. Living her whole life as an heiress to her father's rapidly expanding wealth, she was surrounded by the same kind of hypocritical faces that came from the upper echelon. Which family's young daughter doesn't have a bone of arrogance in their skeleton? Behind their poise and elegance lies the almost unbreakable empire built with blood and tears.
She believed she had every right to be selfish and arrogant to get what she wanted. Her existence is a roadblock for the lovebirds, isn't she? Now she understood why he did what he did. Oh, her dear fiancé! The unfaithful fiancé. Oh, she couldn't label him as unfaithful, could she? It's a universal law; for all fair in love and war, isn't it? Because General Si wasn't in love with her, he could do what he wanted, and no one should dictate his choice of romantic partner. No one could stop him from conquering the things he set his mind to, could they? In that conclusion, the love he felt for the heroine wasn't true love, as he thought. Gu Meilin is but one of his prizes to solidify his alter ego.
She pulled an all-nighter to read this cheesy romance novel and didn't realize the tensions she had felt since last night had gone away. Despite the complexities she felt toward everything she read, Lu Jiangfei no longer felt the need to seek every unanswered question. The sudden mental clarity made her lifelong turmoil seem so insignificant that it's almost laughable.
Ah, what a night! She was worn out and checked the time to see that it was almost a quarter to ten. She glanced at the books on the floor and paid no heed to the damage she might have caused to them after tossing them away. She returned to her bedroom and, with two snaps, the floor-to-ceiling window turned pitch black. With the absence of light and warmth, 55°F of chilling air seeps through the AC. The sound of rain and thunder filled the room as she crawled under the cozy blanket for a restful sleep.
She woke up after ten hours of sleep, and she felt as light as a feather. After she did her usual morning routine, she messaged her trainers and peers to prepare for an extra-intense workout. She felt ecstatic and full of energy. She didn't want to call it quits even after getting patches of bruises from her sparring partners.
One of her peers was slowly retreating to the back of the training room to nudge the trainer.
"What got into Lucy's pants today? Who injected chicken blood into her vein?" He whispered to the trainer.
"Do you have a death wish? Go away before she notices you complaining-" Before the trainer finished speaking, he felt the chills run down his spine.
Looking at the rest of the trainers sprawling on the floor like a dead rat, he swallowed a lump of nervousness. He slowly backed up as Lu Jingfei approached him, her chilling presence enveloping him.
"B-Boss boss..." He stuttered.
"Let's continue sparring. So much energy, you can still stand." She urged the trainer.
"Y-you! Even though I'm your trainer, you've long surpassed me. What's the use of my existence!? Spare me this one time, okay!?" He replied with a shaky voice as she reached closer and closer to him.
"You ditched me twice to go on a mission last month, remember!? If you spar with me until I'm satisfied today, I'll erase all our accounts. How's that sound?" She suggested.
Looking at Lu Jingfei's not-so-innocent smile as she slightly tilted her head to the side, the trainer felt like his soul had been sucked away. Not because of how captivatingly beautiful she looks, but because of how scary her stamina lies behind her sweet smile. The trainer contemplated her words, and no matter what she said, it still sounded unconvincing. Die once today or die twice in the future. He still has to die, nevertheless. But he still doesn't want to get beaten up to a pulp by her.
"I-i.... How about I owe you three sparring sessions now?" The trainer dashed to the exit even before she reached him.
Lu Jingfei shook her head in amusement and let him be. He always finds a reason not to spar with her. After dismissing all the trainers and peers, she continued to drain her stamina on a treadmill. These crooks only remembered her when they couldn't deal with a difficult mission, but refused to spar with her when the time called for it. Oblivious to her peers' opinion, they'd rather go on a few more difficult missions than spar with her in her fiendish state.
After showering, she dressed comfortably and headed to her home office. She reviewed the recent complex crime cases, and her mission was to find new evidence in an ethical way that didn't violate the state law. So much work, now she regretted reading that lame love novel. She should have expected it to be a challenging effort to understand her own character in her past and why she had done what she did. She should have known better; her existence in the book was nothing more than the tip of the author's imagination. She was nothing but an obstacle to their forming stronger bonds. What a waste of time to spend on learning the vain FL and ML romantic lives after her death.
If only she could transmigrate back to her past life and ruin the author's plan. Ahh, how wonderful would that be? Such an unrealistic dream would only soiled her mood for the day. Therefore, she went on with her internal ranting about her unfair life. The love birds wouldn't get this far without her meddling in their relationship, wouldn't they? Her meddling was a first step toward their excellent love lives. Her? Hopeless cannon fodder. This realization made her want to dig up every bit of dirt on the author and make their life a living hell. Ah, what's the point of doing that? It won't change the fact that her past life was just a figment of the author's imagination. She quickly got over her nonsense wishful thinking and went on with her work.
After reviewing her documents, she contemplated how to spend the rest of her day, and then she called Ben to inquire about the progress of his tracking. After talking to him for a good 10 minutes, she got ready to head out to meet Detective Jim. Based on the information Ben provided, if her plan is effective, they can finally close the case after the team catches him in the act. It's about time to put that bastard where he belongs and present a gift to Miami streets, one less monster among kind people who don't really deserve the devil's wrath.
She then went to meet Detective Jim at his office to discuss potential strategies for apprehending the criminal. After two hours with Jim, they decided on a perfect plan that they both were content with. All that was needed was to wait before proceeding with their initial plan after submitting their classified document to the higher authority. She bid farewell to Jim and headed home.
Before she got to cross the street, something fluffy crashed into her suddenly.
'Pretty doll,' she thought as she saw what crashed into her.
Little did anyone know that this little accident would result in the loss of two lives.