Reborn: I Will Be Queen

"Kicking the habit is hell, but you're only thirty-five. You've got your whole life ahead. Don't quit on me now, okay?" Samantha Cole's skin crawled with phantom insects. The nurse's face swam in her vision as her body convulsed – muscles spasming beneath sweat-slicked skin, fingernails carving bloody crescents into her forearms. The word tore from her raw throat like broken glass: * "...Okay."* "That's my fighter. You're crushing this, Sam." The tenderness detonated something inside her. Salty tracks burned through the grime on her cheeks. The withdrawal tremors were nothing compared to the ghosts clawing their way up: The disposable daughter. Dumped in some backwater village when the family planning enforcers came knocking. All so her parents could try again for their precious heir. Years of swallowing humiliation with her uncle's leftover congee. "Why waste good school fees on another man's future wife?" Their smiling knives twisting deeper with every bowl of rice. So she'd devoured textbooks like they were lifelines. Aced every exam. Bargained her way back to the city on a scholarship made of desperation and spite. Only to trade one cage for another. First invisibility. Then the sweet, sharp lie of the needle... She served that family like an unpaid maid, starving for crumbs of praise. Her grades crashed. College became impossible. She drowned in sorrow day after day. But she woke up in time. Escaped those bloodsucking relatives. Went out alone to work. The struggle was real: Started selling clothes in a stuffy mall Built her own online clothing store through trial and error Caught the early e-commerce wave Not rich, but comfortable. Free. Then came the trap: "Dad's dying. His last wish is to see you." Despite the bitterness, that vulnerable girl inside her still flinched. She returned. The truth hit like a knife: Her brother Su Longlong's drug addiction. His debt to a cartel boss. Their plan? Sell her to settle it. In this age of laws and order? It happened. She fought back. They forced h****n into her veins. Cut off all contact. Made her an addict and drug mule. Her turning point: Deliberately botching a deal → Becoming a police informant But raw smarts can't replace training. After multiple failed stings, they caught her. Samantha Cole... had believed herself abandoned. Just waste of oxygen. Why would the police waste resources saving trash like me? Then she saw it: Narcotics officers throwing themselves in front of bullets to shield her. One taking a fatal shot. That's when she shattered into a million pieces. A bitter hatred bloomed in her chest— Why would strangers die for me... when my own family sold me to hell? In the end, death took her. Seven years in the drug den had ravaged her body beyond repair. She fought. For the cop who gave his life. Clawing toward rehabilitation despite lungs screaming with every breath. But the damage ran too deep. Consciousness slipped away like water through broken fingers. "Ding... Host compatibility detected. Bind to Life Extension System? Refusal = immediate death." "Host unresponsive. System calculates 99.999% consent probability. Engaging!" "Loading... 10%... 50%... 99%..." "100%. SYSTEM ONLINE. New User Gift: One-Way Ticket to 20 Years Ago. Wheee! Off you go!" Darkness swallowed her... ...then dissolved into fluorescent classroom lights. Scuffed desks smelling of decades of bored teenagers. A chalkboard with peeling green paint. The unmistakable prison of middle school. This felt nothing like the Land of the Dead "Miss Cole?" The voice cut through her daze. "Have you decided? The administrators are waiting. We know our resources can't match City First High's... but we genuinely want exceptional students like you." Principal Zhao Jingyi—her homeroom teacher for three years—leaned forward, kindness etched in every wrinkle around his eyes: Full waiver of high school tuition & boarding fees Monthly $7 canteen credit (a fortune in 2005 rural China) Scholarships for every exam where she topped the school "But whatever you choose," he added gently, "I believe you'll build a brilliant life. Don’t let pressure crush that spirit." Memory slammed into her. *Post-middle school exams. Summer 2005.* She’d aced them—county champion. City First High wanted her prestige. County No.47 High wanted her salvation—their college admission rates were bleeding. Her poor family? Both schools offered aid. But only No.47 put real money on the table. "Miss Cole? Are you listening?" Samantha jerked her head in a nod. Reborn. 20 years rewound. Why? How? Didn’t matter. This second chance burned in her palms like stolen fire. "Principal Zhao, my apologies. I was lost in thought." Samantha met his gaze squarely. "Thank you for your faith in me. I accept No.47 High's offer. I won’t waste this chance." The principal blinked. Since when did Samantha Cole speak like a young CEO negotiating terms? This girl had been a ghost in his classroom for three years: Silent as snowfall during discussions Flinched when teachers offered help Her brilliance locked behind walls of suffocating sensitivity Yet now... Her eyes held the clarity of mountain springs. Her words landed with the precision of a military cadence. Who was this steel-spined stranger wearing his shy student’s face?