Chapter 1

Early in the morning, my neighbor from next door, Lily Monroe, suddenly tagged me in the building's group chat:

"That whore from 1101! Have you no shame? Calling my husband to fix your pipes in the middle of the night---can't find somewhere else to throw yourself at men?"

"If you dare seduce my husband again, I'll kill you!"

I was completely stunned.

I didn't even know her husband, had never spoken a single word to him!

I explained over and over, but she acted like she'd lost her mind, refusing to listen, just kept cursing at me.

I had no choice but to block her and ignore this lunatic.

But a few days later, she somehow snuck into my apartment.

The moment I opened my front door, she lunged out from behind it and stabbed a knife straight into my chest.

"This is all your fault! My husband doesn't want me anymore! You'll pay with your life!"

My vision grew blurrier and blurrier. Even as I died, I never understood when I'd ever stolen her husband.

When I opened my eyes again, I'd returned to the day she cursed at me in the group chat!

Looking at those vicious insults, I couldn't hold back anymore and fired right back:

"Stop your crazy rambling! Your husband ran off with his mistress three years ago!"

1

The notification sounds from the building's group chat suddenly went crazy. I opened it and my heart sank.

Lily Monroe from apartment 1101 next door was tagging me in the group chat, cursing at me hysterically.

"You whore from 1101! Get out here!"

"I've been married to my husband Lucas Gray for over ten years, and we love each other dearly! You slut, just because you don't have a husband, you try to steal someone else's, secretly seducing my husband!"

"Calling him to fix your pipes in the middle of the night---what are your intentions? Running out of places to spread your legs, so now you're trying to steal someone else's man!"

A few gossipy neighbors in the group immediately chimed in:

"How can our community have people like this? Shameless! So young and instead of behaving properly, she has to be a homewrecker and destroy other people's families!"

"People like this should be kicked out of the community. What a disgrace!"

Seeing people backing her up, Lily became even more smug, her insults growing more vicious, one filthy message after another flooding the screen:

"You slut who's been screwed by every random man, you think you're worthy of eyeing my husband?"

"Give my husband back right now, or I won't let you off!"

Looking at these twisted accusations on my screen, I felt nothing but absurdity.

My pipes were fine. Why would I call someone to fix them for no reason?

Let alone call her nonexistent husband.

But Lily gave me no chance to explain, just kept flooding the chat with curses:

"You bitch, let my husband come home! If anything happens to him, I'll drag you down with me!"

The neighbors who'd been cursing at me earlier joined in:

"Exactly! People need to have some moral boundaries. Let the woman's husband go home. Stop being so shameless!"

Looking at these accusations without any attempt to understand the truth, memories from my previous life suddenly came flooding back.

In my previous life, I explained repeatedly in the group that I didn't even know her husband, had never called him to fix anything.

But not a single person in the group believed me. They all thought I was making excuses.

Even more terrifying, Lily later snuck into my apartment while I was taking out the trash.

She ransacked my place, searching everywhere for her so-called husband, and of course found nothing.

Blinded by rage, she took it out on me, grabbed a knife from my kitchen, and stabbed me right in the chest.

"This is all your fault! My husband doesn't want me anymore! You'll pay with your life!"

Her screaming from my previous life, and the searing pain in my chest---even thinking about it now made my whole body run cold.

I died without ever understanding what I'd done wrong, why I had to suffer such an undeserved disaster.

Pulling my vision back from the memories, Lily's curses in the group chat continued.

This time, I couldn't hold back anymore. The anger and resentment bottled up inside me exploded instantly, and I sent a voice message directly to the group:

"Stop your crazy rambling! Your husband ran off with his mistress three years ago. Where's this husband you're talking about?!"

2

The moment I sent that message, the frantically jumping notifications in the group chat came to an abrupt halt.

I stared at the screen for half a minute. No new messages appeared, and Lily's stream of vile curses finally stopped.

Looks like I hit a nerve. I let out a breath of relief, feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over me.

The fear from my previous life mixed with the anger of this one, leaving me with no desire to look at my phone anymore.

I'd already said what needed to be said. Whether people believed me was their business. At least it was better than the last life where I explained myself to deaf ears.

I casually turned off my phone screen, got up to wash up and go to bed, just wanting to turn the page on this miserable day.

But just as I reached the bathroom door, a sharp, frantic roar suddenly came from outside, instantly shattering the silence of the night.

"Lucas Gray! Get out here! I know you're in this slut's apartment, stop hiding in there!"

It was Lily's voice!

She actually came to my door?

My heart skipped a beat. The terror from my previous life when she broke into my home and attacked me instantly surged up, making my hands and feet go cold.

"You won't even come home for this woman? You've really got some nerve!"

Her voice grew closer and closer, filled with hysterical madness.

"You think I can't find you just because you're hiding in here? Open the door! Open this door right now!"

Then came the sound of pounding on my door---"bang bang bang"---so forceful it seemed like she wanted to tear the door off its hinges.

The commotion woke up the surrounding neighbors. Soon, chaotic footsteps and whispers came from outside.

"What's going on? Why all this noise in the middle of the night?"

"Looks like Lily from 1101 is banging on Mia Watson's door in 1102?"

"Didn't the group chat say Mia was seducing her husband? Is he really hiding in there?"

Several nosy neighbors had already gathered at my door, craning their necks in the hallway light, their gossiping becoming more direct.

"I bet it's true. Otherwise why would Lily be this worked up? That cheating bastard and homewrecker must be hiding inside, too scared to come out!"

"Absolutely shameless, hiding someone else's husband in her apartment in the middle of the night!"

"Got the guts to do it but not the guts to open the door? What a disgrace!"

These words pierced my heart like needles, identical to the accusations in the group chat from my previous life.

I clenched my fists, nails digging deep into my palms, anger overwhelming fear.

Lily kept pounding on the door, her screams growing more shrill:

"Mia Watson! You bitch, stealing my husband---I'll kill you! I'll skin you alive today!"

Her voice was especially bone-chilling in the quiet early morning, every word dripping with murderous intent.

My mind instantly flashed to the searing pain of being stabbed in the chest in my previous life, her twisted face at that moment, and my body began trembling uncontrollably.

But the next second, a nameless rage suddenly rose in my heart.

What right did she have?

What right did she have to divorce three years ago but still imagine a husband to slander me with?

What right did she have to take my life in the previous life and still come to ruin my life in this one?

"Screw off!"

I couldn't hold back anymore and yanked the door open.

The hallway light flooded in. Lily was raising her fist, ready to pound on the door again. Seeing me suddenly open it, she froze for a moment, her eyes full of hostility.

I didn't give her a chance to react. I raised my hand and slapped her hard across the face.

The crisp smack echoed through the hallway.

The surrounding chatter instantly stopped. The neighbors were all stunned, not expecting the usually quiet me to suddenly strike.

Lily's head jerked to the side from the slap, a clear red mark immediately appearing on her face.

She was dazed for a few seconds, then like a lit firecracker, lunged at me with claws out:

"You dare hit me? I'll kill you!"

I was already prepared. I quickly dodged into my apartment and stuck out my foot lightly.

Lily, already out of her mind with rage, lost her footing and fell hard to the ground with a heavy thud.

Looking at her sprawled on the floor, the hatred from being stabbed to death in my previous life surged up instantly, rage consuming me.

I quickly stepped forward, sat down hard on her back, pinned down her struggling body, then grabbed her hair and yanked it in opposite directions.

"This is for your screaming! This is for banging on my door! This is for slandering me!"

I roared with red eyes, the pent-up grievances and anger from both lives erupting completely in this moment.

"Let's see what you've got! Today I'll show you what happens when you slander people!"

"Ahhh---! Mia Watson, you shameless homewrecker! There's no justice! I'm calling the police! I'll have them arrest you!"

Lily, pinned under me and unable to move, could only tilt her head back and scream shrilly, her voice full of venom and unwillingness.

The surrounding neighbors finally snapped out of it and rushed over to pull me off:

"Stop it! Stop it! Let's talk this out!"

"Why are you hitting people? Someone's going to get hurt if this continues!"

"I already called property management. They're coming to handle this!"

Some grabbed my arms, others tried to pull me off Lily.

I stared at Lily still cursing from the floor, my chest heaving violently.

In my previous life, this lunatic stabbed me to death in my own home based purely on her delusions, leaving me to die without understanding why.

In this life, she wanted to pull the same trick again. How could I possibly let her succeed?

After the neighbors pulled me away, I continued glaring at Lily, but those neighbors turned around and started scolding me instead.

"Mia Watson, you're in the wrong here. Even if Lily said harsh things, you can't hit people!"

"Being a homewrecker and still so self-righteous, even attacking people---you're too vicious!"

"This can't just end here. If property management can't handle it, we're calling the police to sort this out!"

Call the police?

I let out a cold laugh.

Of course we should call the police.

Even if they didn't, I would.

I shook off the neighbors holding me and, right in front of everyone, pulled out my phone and dialed 91