Cold water clawed at Su Ning's lungs. Her arms thrashed uselessly against the suffocating darkness as her body sank deeper into the school's swimming pool. Every kick, every gasp only filled her chest with more icy pain.
Above the shimmering surface, laughter rang like cruel bells.
"She really can't swim!"
"Look at her struggle—like a drowning rat."
Shadows leaned over the pool's edge, watching with glee as Su Ning's vision blurred. Her chest screamed for air, but what filled her was only bitterness.
'I don't want to die like this…'
Her mind spun back to moments before.
It was supposed to be an ordinary day in the school gym. But for Su Ning, "ordinary" meant standing cornered against the wall while Shen Luoluo and her clique tightened the noose around her.
"Where's the ten thousand yuan?" Shen Luoluo's voice was sharp, mocking, her fingers playing with the strap of her expensive designer bag. "Don't tell me you don't have it."
Su Ning's hands trembled around her schoolbag. Her throat was dry, but she forced the words out. "I… I don't have it."
Smack!
Her head whipped to the side from the force of Shen Mixi's slap. Pain seared her cheek, hot and humiliating. Shen Mixi sneered, her perfect makeup unshaken. "Do you think a poor charity case like you has the right to delay us?'
'Right Cousin?' she turned to look at Shen Luoluo who was leaning against the wall close to them, playing with her expensive manicured fingernails.
Shen Luoluo and Shen Mixi were cousins. Shen Mixi's dad owned a five star hotel in City F.
Laughter exploded around her.
"Of course" Shen Luoluo smirked.
<Lu Shasha's eyes glinted, cruel and amused. "Look at that pitiful uniform. Even a beggar wouldn't wear it. And to think it costs four hundred and fifty thousand yuan."
Her father was the director of one of the top hospitals in City F, her arrogance was carved into every syllable.
Tu Ling'er flicked her glossy nails, her smile sugar-coated venom. "Honestly, Su Ning, if ten thousand is too much, you should consider becoming someone's mistress."
Her mother owns a big fashion boutique and earns tens of millions every month.
Each word stabbed deeper, but the final blow came when Shen Mixi lunged forward and tore Su Ning's uniform. The fabric split with a vicious rip, exposing her pale skin beneath.
"Disgusting," Lu Shasha giggled.
"Cheap," Tu Ling'er echoed.
Then Shen Luoluo's voice, colder than the others:
"And your parents—pathetic, nameless nobodies. Even the dirt that buried them is worth more than they were."
That broke something in Su Ning. Tears stung her eyes, but fury blazed hotter. Her voice shook, yet it rose:
"Don't you dare insult my parents!"
The gym fell silent. For a heartbeat, only her ragged breathing filled the air.
Shen Luoluo's expression hardened. Her smirk twisted into venom. "How dare you raise your voice at me?"
Before Su Ning could retreat, Shen Luoluo shoved her with a forceful push.
Her body toppled backward over the railing. The world tilted—then the pool swallowed her whole.
Darkness closed in. Her body grew heavy, her lungs burning. The last thing she saw before her vision faded was their retreating silhouettes, leaving her to die.
Is this… the end?
Hatred coiled in her chest like fire. But instead of fading into oblivion—
"Hahh!"
Su Ning bolted upright, gasping. The musty air of her tiny rented room filled her lungs. Her body was drenched in cold sweat, not pool water. Her chest rose and fell as if she had just been dragged from the abyss.
She blinked at the cracked ceiling, the peeling wallpaper, the dim light of a single bulb. The air smelled faintly of mold. This was her home—her miserable, forty-yuan-a-month shelter.
Her thin quilt slipped, revealing the scars crisscrossing her arms. Marks from cigarettes, from curling irons, from endless torment. Her ribs jutted out beneath her worn shirt.
On the rickety table sat her last pack of instant noodles. Her stomach churned with hunger.
This… this can't be," she whispered, her voice trembling.
She stumbled to the calendar nailed to the wall. Her eyes widened. The date glared back at her.
The day before my death.
Her hands shook as she touched the faded ink. Her heart pounded violently.
"I… I've been reborn?"
As disbelief clouded her mind, a sharp ding echoed in her ears.
'Ding! Overpowering Tycoon System Activated.'
'Does Host want to bind?'
Su Ning froze. Her pupils shrank as the cold, mechanical voice resonated in her mind.
The silence of her shabby room was broken by the promise of something terrifying—and powerful.