I was stunned.
It was my stepsister—Lesley.
Just like in my previous life, she confidently announced the very same conclusion I had just finished calculating.
Facing the astonished crowd, she declared, “I can communicate with the dead. I heard the victim’s spirit calling to me earlier. Hurry—go now!”
Then she turned to me and dramatically fell to her knees, sobbing.
“Sis, I just couldn’t stand by and watch you delay things on purpose—extorting money from the victim’s family.”
“I swear, I’ll never sabotage your work again. Please don’t hit me this time, okay?”
I clutched the piece of paper in my hand, frozen in shock and disbelief.
Why?
Why was she still able to steal my results?
The crowd was already in an uproar.
Some bystanders even picked up clumps of mud and threw them at me.
“Tch. What expert?! Feeding off the dead like a leech—how disgusting!”
“What agency does she work for? I’m going to report her!”
Just then, Darius stepped in front of me, trying to calm the furious mob.
“Everyone, please. Let’s not jump to conclusions. What Lesley said might not be true. I believe Leizl is innocent.”
But before he could finish, the voice of a team member crackled through the walkie-talkie—excited and breathless.
“Captain! We found him! Exactly three kilometers downstream—just like the girl who said she could talk to spirits described!”
That sealed it.
To the onlookers, this was undeniable proof: Lesley could communicate with the dead.
Cheers erupted around her as she was lifted to the center of the crowd like a hero.
The captain, eyes brimming with tears, bowed repeatedly to her. “Thank you, thank you!”
The elderly woman even dropped to her knees and knocked her head against the ground in gratitude.
Only Darius turned to face me, disappointment darkening his expression.
“Leizl... were you really trying to extort money from a grieving family?”
Before I could even deny it, he continued sharply, “I get it now. No wonder you didn’t use your laptop and insisted on calculating by hand.”
“You were trying to stall for time—drag things out just long enough for the family to get desperate and agree to your price hike. Weren’t you?”
His words were like fuel to a wildfire.
The crowd, now fully convinced, clenched their fists in rage.
To them, if Lesley’s powers were real, then my crime must also be real.
They surged forward, pushing Darius aside with ease and surrounding me completely.
They wanted to beat the “soulless expert” who dared to profit off death—to release their fury on me.
The retrieval team did nothing to stop them.
The captain even shook his head at me with disgust. “Miss Leizl, I never thought you’d be this kind of person. I really misjudged you. Tch!”
Just as the first hand was raised to strike me, a police siren wailed in the distance.
The police had arrived.
Luckily, I had quietly called them the moment Lesley appeared. I knew how things would spiral.
Thank heavens they came in time—before the crowd could lay a hand on me.
I fled into the police car, disheveled and humiliated.
The crowd backed off slightly, restrained by the presence of law enforcement.
But then, just as I thought it was over, Darius pointed at me and shouted for everyone to hear.
“Leizl, I can’t believe you’d do something like this—deliberately delaying the rescue just to extort money!”
“Are you even human? You’re not worthy of being my girlfriend. I’m breaking up with you.”
“If you have any conscience left, you’ll get out of that car right now and apologize to the victim’s family!”
“If you just walk away like this, I won’t forgive you!”
His voice reignited the crowd’s fury.
They surrounded the police vehicle again, pounding on the windows, shouting for me to get out and kneel—to beg forgiveness from the grieving family.
Even the officers who rescued me, though they followed protocol and kept me safe, couldn’t hide the scorn in their eyes.
I stayed in the car, expression blank, heart cold.
I said nothing.
I only asked the police to get me out of there—as far away as possible.
