Jasmine turned and looked around.
People in white coats were spilling out of the corridor ahead. Black uniforms—same as Oleander’s—moved faster as the alarm climbed. A few just stood frozen, staring at the noise as it might eventually explain itself.
She followed their eyes to the big screen above the corridor.
EVACUATE ZONE LEVEL 1: WILD ANIMAL RESEARCH ROOM
Jasmine flinched.
For a second she just stared. Her heart did an unpleasant little jump. Finally, the first familiar thing since she woke up in this body.
"Jasmine... come on. We can’t take that corridor. There’s—"
"Wild animal attacking a researcher, right?"
Oleander stopped.
She was still looking at the corridor.
"How do you know?"
She pointed at the screen. The message didn’t actually say anyone had been attacked. But in her world, Level One meant exactly that. Someone got bit or clawed. Area sealed. Then sterilized before the problem could crawl somewhere else.
She shook her head when he asked if her memory was coming back.
Same zone levels. Same numbers.
Same world, different timeline?
A small chill slid down her spine. Whatever dumped her here, she sincerely hoped it would at least let her get rich first.
Let’s die rich this time. Her thoughts felt like a solid goal.
"Jasmine..." Oleander reached for her arm.
She knocked his hand away on pure reflex. Harder than she meant to.
His arm tensed.
She turned, mildly surprised at herself. Old habit. Unannounced contact ranked just below being shot at on her personal threat list.
Oleander looked at her.
"Did that hurt?" She asked.
He rotated his wrist once. "No. It’s fine."
"Good."
She glanced at her own hand. If this body weren’t stuck at E-Rank, she might have actually injured him. Her core was already starting to fill again. Slow, but it was there.
She looked back at him. "Don’t touch me without warning. You’ll get hurt."
Oleander sighed the sigh of a man who had already accepted the day was going to be complicated.
"We need to go this way. Come on."
She gave the warning screen one last look. The alarm was still screaming. Part of her really wanted to know what was happening inside that room. The other part wanted the examination finished so people would stop treating her like the main attraction at a murder exhibition.
She followed him down a different corridor.
"Oleander!"
A deep voice cut through the noise.
An older man with gray hair, glasses, and a thin mustache hurried toward them. White coat. Lab type. The permanent stress lines around his eyes looked familiar—every researcher she’d ever known eventually grew the same ones.
"Professor Hatthon. We were heading to the examination room," Oleander said.
"That will have to wait." The professor looked properly stressed. "I need your help."
"What kind?"
"Follow me."
Oleander glanced at her. She went with them.
Free demonstration, apparently. Good. She needed something to look at that wasn’t another person explaining why she belonged in prison. Action was better than standing still especially when she wasn’t near a kitchen.
They reached a curved hallway and stopped in front of a heavy door: WILD ANIMAL RESEARCH ROOM.
Researchers and a few Sentinels crowded around the glass window, all staring inside as if whatever was in there needed their full attention.
Jasmine pushed forward.
"Wait... that’s Jasmine. The killer."
The voice carried. Heads turned. Whispers started almost immediately.
"What’s she doing here?"
"She said she lost her memory. They’re checking her brain."
"Does she even have a brain?"
Someone laughed.
Jasmine’s ears went hot. She ignored it. Curiosity was currently stronger than her ego.
She leaned closer to the glass.
If even one term matched her old world, maybe there was a way back.
She didn’t particularly want one.
Here she could get paid. Build something she actually wanted.
A food truck.
People around her gradually stopped watching the research room. Their attention drifted to her instead, like she had become the more entertaining exhibit.
One man in a white coat looked especially annoyed. Rosalie fan, probably. He stepped in, and his hand reached for her shoulder.
She felt the movement before his fingers landed.
Old reflexes didn’t care about ranks.
The second his fingers brushed her shoulder, she caught it, twisted, and locked his arm behind his back in one clean motion.
He yelped.
People scrambled backward.
"I would apologize," Jasmine said evenly, "if you had reached for me without bad intentions."
"What—argh! You bitch! How dare you hurt a civilian? You’re not supposed to be here! You belong in Ravenrock!"
He tried to yank free. That only made the angle worse.
Jasmine listened to his tone and decided her first judgment was correct. She applied a little more pressure.
Her core was draining fast again. But she didn’t care. Might as well use what little she had left to teach this rude man some manners.
"Jasmine! Stop!" Oleander’s voice cut in.
She shoved the man forward. He stumbled into his colleagues.
Oleander only spared the annoying man a brief glance before stepping in front of Jasmine. She rolled her wrist, frowning as she caught her breath. Her energy had clearly dropped again after that attack. Yet the technique she had just used caught him off guard. It was too clean for an E-Rank Guide. If he hadn’t interrupted, that man’s wrist would have broken.
He turned to the crowd.
"Everyone. Listen."
The hallway went quiet.
"Jasmine is under my supervision. I will not allow anyone under my protection to be bullied. Consider that a warning."
Heads dropped. The whispering died almost at once.
Apparently, Oleander’s protection was enough to make them back off. Yet, Jasmine still didn’t like all the staring.
She shook out her hand, frowning.
Is there any way to boost this energy faster? How do I even reach my mental space in this body?
Don’t tell me it vanished just because my body died.
No... no... That wasn’t how my contract with the chef God worked.
A loud bark exploded from inside the research room.
Everyone recoiled. The glass actually trembled.
Jasmine spun toward it. Her frown deepened. Then her mouth fell open.
Inside the room stood a giant rabbit.
Nearly the size of a cow. It had already destroyed a research table; equipment lay scattered across the floor. Long, sharp front teeth. Saliva dripping. Three eyes. The third one sat in the middle of its forehead, glowing an ugly red.
The thing paced and snarled like it was looking for something specific.
Jasmine stepped closer to the glass. Her fingers brushed the surface.
Her eyes went wide.
The name left her mouth before she could stop it.
"Rabbibi? Is that you?"