Reborn, I Let Them Take the Cursed Graduation Photo Chapter 09

Reborn, I Let Them Take the Cursed Graduation Photo Chapter 09

The apocalypse of extreme heat pushed temperatures past 180°F.

At that kind of heat, ordinary air conditioners were useless. Most systems failed long before they could make any difference.

I’d already figured out where I was going.

An abandoned subway station buried beneath the city.

The tunnels ran nearly a hundred feet underground, where the temperature stayed around 68°F year-round. It was damp, dark, and miserable.

But it was survivable.

On the third day, the phone inside the subway supply station rang again.

I immediately tensed and picked up.

Ethan’s voice burst through the receiver, panicked and frantic.

“Katherine! Are you there? Are you still alive? Say something!”

I let out a quiet breath.

“I’m here.”

“Then come help us!” he shouted. “Something’s wrong with this underwater shelter! There are sharks around us!”

A scream echoed in the background.

Ethan’s voice shook.

“Four people have already been dragged into the water! What the hell are we supposed to do?!”

I frowned.

“How exactly am I supposed to help? It’s over one-eighty outside. The second I leave shelter, I’m dead.”

“Can’t you think of something?” he snapped irrationally. “There are more than a dozen of us here! If we all die and you’re the only one left alive, what kind of life is that?”

I wanted to tell him it sounded pretty good to me.

But I kept that to myself.

Then another voice came through the line.

Isabella.

“Katherine, your luck is unbelievable.”

Her tone turned icy.

“You found another shelter less than an hour after leaving the last one.”

A pause.

Then she said coldly,

“Why is it so hard to kill you?”

Every alarm bell in my head went off.

“Isabella, what exactly did I ever do to you? We weren’t friends, sure. But you’ve wanted me dead

since day one.”

A low laugh escaped her.

“You’ve committed a much bigger crime than you realize.”

“The Hidden Scenario was activated because of you.”

“Everyone else got dragged into this because of you.”

Something finally clicked.

Isabella had a mission.

Her mission was to trigger the Hidden Scenario inside the Rules Horror Game.

In my previous life, she’d failed.

That was why she’d been erased on the plane.

This time, she’d succeeded and brought everyone here.

But clearly, that wasn’t enough for her.

She wanted me gone too.

The phone changed hands.

Ethan spoke again.

“You heard her, Katherine. You’re the reason all of this happened.”

I listened without feeling much of anything.

“So?”

He froze.

“Well… I mean…”

His voice stumbled.

“If you just kill yourself… then maybe the rest of us can live…”

Looks like Isabella had thoroughly gotten inside their heads.

I didn’t bother explaining.

“I won’t.”

The answer came instantly.

No hesitation.

No apology.

Ethan sounded stunned.

“You’d really watch all of us die? How can you be this heartless?”

Isabella laughed.

The sound was cold enough to send chills through the phone.”

“You heard her. She’s not going to save anyone.”

Then the others started shouting.

Their voices overlapped in panic.

“Katherine, please save us!”

“If one person dies and everyone else lives, isn’t that worth it?”

“We’ll never forget your sacrifice!”

“Yeah! When we get home, we’ll take care of your parents for the rest of their lives!”

“We’ll treat them like our own family!”

People could say anything when death was staring them in the face.

In my previous life, when my parents had begged these same people to tell the truth about my death, they’d done nothing.

Just stood there and watched

Cold.

Silent.

Indifferent.

[The truth is Katherine fell to her death herself.]

[Are you seriously trying to make us lie?]

[Your daughter is dead and now you’re trying to drag everyone else down with her? Have some shame.]

Back then, they hadn’t cared.

Now that they were the ones trapped, suddenly they expected mercy.

The truth was, I couldn’t save them.

And even if I could…

I wouldn’t.

I wasn’t a saint.

I was just a Survivor who had managed to stay alive by following the rules.

I spoke calmly.

“Did all of you forget what the rules said?”

“The survivors have their memories erased when this ends.”

“How exactly are you planning to remember my sacrifice?”

Silence.

Then I continued.

“If you’re curious about who I am, ask Ethan what happened to me in the previous cycle.”

“My advice?”

“Good luck.”

I hung up.

When they called back, I ignored every single attempt.

Seven days into the Extreme Heat Apocalypse, I finally emerged from the subway station

The sky lit up once again.

Words appeared among the clouds.

[EXTREME HEAT APOCALYPSE COMPLETE]

[46 DECEASED]

[4 SURVIVORS REMAIN]

[NORMAL MODE UNLOCKED]

[RETURN TO REALITY IN 48 HOURS]

I stared at the glowing text.

But I felt no relief.

Because I knew something they didn’t.

The most dangerous forty-eight hours had only just begun.