BENEATH PERFECT SKIN

CHAPTER 3

At that exact moment, Chloe’s heart skipped a beat. A cold shiver suddenly raced down her spine, leaving her body trembling uncontrollably. The change in her expression was so obvious that even the friend standing beside her noticed immediately.

“Chloe, are you okay?”

Only then did Chloe snap out of it. Yet, the depths of her eyes remained frozen with lingering fear as she stammered, “I... I’m fine.”

For the rest of the period, Chloe moved like a ghost, utterly hollow and detached. She spilled solvents, mistakenly swapped potassium chloride (KCl) with hydrochloric acid (HCl), making mistake after mistake throughout the lab session. Her group members began to flash irritated glances at her. Still, shielded by her flawless reputation, none of them dared to voice their frustration, settling instead for forced, hollow words of comfort.

Meanwhile, Scarlett stood by the fume hood. She was heating a catalyst for a reaction between sulfur and metal, but her gaze never once rested on her own test tube.

Tucked away in a dark, obscured corner inside the fume hood, a glass jar filled with lemon-yellow powder sat beneath the stream of hot air, the remaining moisture slowly evaporating away.

It was on the verge of drying out completely.

The corners of Scarlett’s lips curled upward. Her chest throbbed with a violent thrill, her eyes gleaming with barely restrained anticipation. She had already envisioned it: the body of her enemy collapsed in a pool of brilliant crimson. The mere thought of that devastating red sent a twisted exhilaration coursing through her veins.

Today, each group had to complete five laboratory experiments. To prevent a shortage of equipment, the teams rotated through different stations.

Chloe’s group was scheduled right behind hers, and their next assignment was the reaction utilizing sulfur.

The more Scarlett thought about it, the more she felt the blood in her veins begin to boil. Clutching the glass jar containing the bone-dry poison, she nonchalantly strolled toward the chemical storage cabinet. Not a single soul suspected her movements; she looked just like any other student, clumsily searching for reagents for the lesson.

Just a little longer... wait just a little longer, and the most spectacular fireworks will begin.

“...”

“Let me go get the sulfur. Sienna, you prepare the setup. Today... I don’t feel well,” Chloe said, her voice laced with exhaustion.

She truly looked bizarre today.

Sienna studied her friend for a brief moment before nodding in agreement.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Chloe forced a weak smile and walked toward the chemical cabinet.

That's it... that exact jar. Good girl.

Scarlett watched from a distance. Every single step of her plan was moving along its perfect trajectory, a seamless progression that filled her with absolute bliss. But she hadn’t expected the person executing the experiment to switch to Sienna.

Fate truly knew how to indulge Scarlett. Fate truly knew how to amuse her. Somehow, this single move was about to destroy all three of them at once: Chloe, Sienna, and Julian. One way or another, someone was about to be torn to shreds.

Leaning against the door frame, Scarlett’s breathtaking eyes gleamed with an excitement so intense her body trembled. She held her breath, fixing her gaze on Sienna, who was smiling with pure innocence in the distance.

Sienna opened the lid of the chemical container, entirely convinced it was sulfur. Holding a metal spatula, she was about to scoop a small amount of the yellow powder into a test tube already containing iron filings.

Suddenly, Julian’s frantic voice cut through the air, a rare panic shattering his usually detached composure:

“Sienna, stop!”

The scream ripped through the quiet laboratory. The sheer terror in Julian's voice startled Sienna. She whirled around in a panic, but her trembling hand inadvertently scraped the metal spatula hard against the inner wall of the test tube, dragging the yellow powder down until it came into contact with the glossy iron filings below.

BOOM!

A sharp explosion ripped through the laboratory. No flame was needed; the mere friction of the metal spatula and the instant formation of iron picrate—an extremely unstable explosive compound—triggered the disaster. The sudden spike in air pressure shattered the glass test tube into countless shards in a split second. Razor-sharp fragments sprayed in every direction like tiny arrows, piercing through the thin rubber gloves and embedding themselves deep into Sienna’s pale skin.

“Ah...!!!”

Sienna shrieked in agony and terror, her entire body collapsing to the floor, dropping the glass container of yellow powder.

“That wasn't sulfur!” Julian growled, his voice trembling violently. His eyes were locked onto the yellow particles that were now staining the wooden bench an abnormally vibrant yellow. Through the air, he could taste a sickening, intense bitterness creeping onto his tongue.

It was dry picric acid. This substance was far more shock-sensitive and dangerous than gunpowder.

The atmosphere in the room plunged into a suffocating silence.

Standing in the shadowed corner, the ecstatic smile on Scarlett’s lips suddenly froze, slowly twisting into a grimace. The manic excitement from moments before was ruthlessly extinguished. She watched as Julian cast all danger aside, rushing forward to pull Sienna protectively into his arms.

Scarlett's chest tightened. It wasn't from the fear of her crime being exposed, but because a fresh wave of hatred was boiling up, scorching her soul. She lightly licked her lips, tasting the bitter tang of the toxin lingering in the air.

Hearing the loud blast, Ms. Anna rushed over, her face deathly pale, her voice laced with sheer terror. “Who did this?" Picric acid is supposed to be kept locked in the hazardous chemical cabinet and maintained under strict moisture levels! Who dried it out?!”

Furious, Ms. Anna whipped around, her razor-sharp gaze scanning the students who stood cowering in fear.

Only then did Chloe sink to her knees, trembling on the floor. Every drop of color had drained from her face as she sobbed, “I... I only went to fetch the sulfur. I really don't know how it turned into this... It wasn't me, I swear it wasn't...”

“Sulfur? Isn't it always kept over in the fume hood?” a female student stepped forward timidly, her face filled with suspicion as she pointed toward the fume hood—the exact spot where Scarlett had just finished her experiment.

Those words struck Chloe like a final blow, leaving her utterly cornered.

Looking at Chloe, Ms. Anna knew deep down that her student was neither clever enough nor cruel enough to orchestrate such a sophisticated attempted murder.

However, mistakenly identifying the chemical was undeniably her fault.

“Alright, get Sienna to the infirmary first. I’ll report this to the administration immediately,” Ms. Anna said, helping Julian escort the sobbing Sienna out of the lab.

The surrounding students filed out of the deadly room one by one. Even though they were dismissed early, absolutely no one was celebrating. Every single pair of eyes held the same look: fear, confusion, and shock.

Only Scarlett walked out last, her expression completely detached. Her manicured nails dug harshly into her pale skin, leaving thin streaks of crimson behind.

“Stop right there!”