The pain of acid burning through me pulled my mind back to the present. As soon as Danny finished speaking, Ruby gave him a shy smile, and they exchanged a look right in front of me.

The next second, Danny reached out and patted her head. "Once you finish covering this story, you'll be confirmed full-time."

Ruby's eyes lit up, but before she could say anything else, I stopped them. "So, you don't need me anymore? Should I resign now and leave you two to do it together?"

I wasn't going to just let it go this time. I didn't want to let them get away with this, and I definitely didn't want innocent people to die for this.

My bluntness turned the mood in the office heavier in a heartbeat.

Ruby's eyes turned red, just like a scolded child, making Danny yell at me immediately. "Watch your tongue, Janice! Ruby and I are just coworkers! I stepped in because I saw you picking on a newcomer. As your husband, I couldn't just stand by and do nothing! Instead of reflecting on yourself, you're even refusing to change for the better?!"

I couldn't help but smile coldly internally. Coworkers? It looked more like something else entirely to me. He was already fooling around, yet he still wanted to act like he was doing nothing wrong!

"No means no. This breaks company policy. An intern can't go to a scene without a senior reporter!" I said.

At the mention of company policy, Danny scoffed instead. "Are you trying to push me out, Janice? Unfortunately, as long as I'm your superior, you'll have to listen to my orders! Ruby is going, and that's final!"

He then took Ruby's hand and left.

I had expected Danny to use his authority to suppress me. What I didn't expect was for him to drive her there himself. He made it clear to everyone in the company that anyone who tried to stop her would be fired.

I tore off my badge and drove after them, but not before going to the security room.

When I arrived, Ruby was already talking with the firefighters. There was absolutely no guilt on her face as she treated their lives as though they were nothing!

"Alright. We'll start the evacuation right away. Thank you for the information." I ran over and managed to hear that line, and my anxiety overtook me. I didn't know how to stop all of this.

I ran toward them, but Danny stepped in front of me.

He glared at me and said, "What are you doing here, Janice? You wanted a senior reporter present, right? That's why I'm here. What else do you want?!"

Time was running out, so I tried to run past him nervously, but he grabbed my arm. "Stay right here! I'm not letting you delay Ruby!"

His tone was full of righteousness. If I weren't his wife, I probably would have even offered him a round of applause.

It was almost too late, and the lead firefighter had already entered the factory.

I shouted in horror, "Stop! There are explosive materials inside!"

Luckily, I was loud enough, and the firefighter at the rear heard me and immediately pulled the others back.

The heat from the flames fed my urgency, and I knew that if I were any slower, the people inside would die from the smoke or from the explosion caused by the explosive materials.

The team leader walked over, his expression stern. "What did you say? How do you know there are explosives?!"

Ruby stood there in her work attire while I was in casual clothes, so I knew she looked more credible.

Still, I didn't care anymore.

As my mind raced, I suddenly pointed at a woman kneeling nearby who was sobbing uncontrollably. "She knew about it! She said it just now!"

In my last life, she was one of the workers who worked in that factory. Her husband was also one of the men who had died in the explosion.

Before the firefighters could check anything, Ruby yelled and sobbed. "Why must you keep targeting me, Janice? There's a fire! Why are you still trying to stop me when there's something as urgent as a fire?!"

The firefighters looked confused and kept glancing between us.

Danny also stepped in front of her and pointed at me. "Let them go in for the evacuation! How long are you going to keep this up?!"

I was furious. They could target me all they wanted, but the people in that factory were innocent. They did not even care enough to perform basic fact-checking.

I ignored them and ran over. After a quick explanation, I brought the woman over.

"Please save my husband. He's still inside!" She cried.

I cut her off gently and put a hand on her shoulder, calming her. "He'll be alright. But you have to tell me how many people are still inside, and if there's anything flammable or explosive stored in there."

Her sobbing eased before she nodded repeatedly, then pointed with a shaking hand toward the far side of the plant. "Yes! There's a truckload of metallic sodium stored inside. The fire spread too fast, and they're all still stored in the back."

Metal sodium would react explosively with water, which meant that they did not have much time left.

I had already done everything I could, so the rest was up to the firefighters.

However, there was still one person who could not let it go.

When Ruby saw that the firefighters were starting to believe me, she tugged at her sleeve and said, "Who knows if you just hired an actress to lie for you because you can't stand me."

She raised her voice just enough so that everyone could hear her.

Danny's expression hardened as he raised his head. "Exactly! Ruby already checked, and I trust her! This woman is obviously working with you, so don't think you can fool me."

Ruby kept her head down, but I still caught that faint smile on her face.

The fireman in charge frowned and sternly asked, "Which of you is telling the truth? You're the person in charge here, so you'd better think it through carefully!"

Danny's shoulders slumped immediately while Ruby's eyes darted away, unable to meet the firefighter's gaze.

I let out a cold snort. "Actors? You two are the ones acting! Don't you care about those lives out there?!"

The female worker, who had been sobbing, snapped out of it and lunged at Ruby, wanting to scratch her as she recovered from being accused of being a hired actress by Ruby. "Are you really a reporter?! There are over a thousand people inside, yet you lied! Are you trying to get them all killed?!"

Ruby ducked behind Danny and acted soft and fragile. "I didn't mean to... I really didn't..."

Then, her eyes darted around before adding, "But… I'm still new! Janice inspected the scene! I just repeated what she told me!"

With one sentence, she threw me back into the pit in front of everyone.

This time, even the worker glared at me.

Without solid information, the firefighters could not go in. They had already sent someone to check as soon as they realized the report might be wrong, but time was too short. There was still no evidence of who was telling the truth.

They were at a deadlock.

Ruby had too many tricks, and Danny kept on defending her by using the fact that she was new.

Unfortunately for her, that was exactly what I had been waiting for.

I smiled and stared straight at her. "Ruby, are you really saying you didn't inspect the scene?"

Danny jumped in before she could answer. "Of course, you inspected it. Otherwise, why are you even here?"

The two of them were practically announcing that I wanted the workers to die.

I pulled my phone from my bag and tapped open a video.

"Ms. Janice, let me cover the scene."

"Let Ruby handle it..."

Their voices played back, one after the other. In the footage, you could see Danny leading Ruby away at the end.

I raised my eyebrow and looked at Ruby's pale face. "So, who did the inspection? Don't tell me you have no idea who did that!"

In my previous life, I wondered if I had been too forceful when Danny accused me of trying to push him out.

He said I bullied newcomers, and I really did reflect on it. I realized I had only trained her by the book.

When I was suspended and thrown in prison, I asked to see Danny once.

He never came. He had asked someone to bring me the divorce papers instead.

This time, I finally saw it clearly.

He and Ruby had been sneaking around even before she joined the company.

The only reason he framed me was not only because it would make Ruby a full-time staff member, but also because it would allow him to leave me and take all of our assets.

He was killing two birds with one stone… However, he was not the only one who could play that game! This time, I would send them into the burning fires of Hell myself!

Boom!

There was a deafening explosion, and smoke and dust immediately filled the air.

Then came a chain of explosions.

Nearby buildings started to collapse, and the firefighters shielded us as they dragged everyone back. When the explosions finally stopped, we realized that the explosions were from the gas tanks, not the sodium metal.

The explosions were quite serious, but since there were only a few of them, the firefighters managed to move fast and clear the area. The remaining ones that hadn't exploded were also moved away.

"And this is what you meant when you said there are no explosive materials here?!" The leading firefighter pointed at the factory and roared at Ruby. He looked sick with disbelief at how cold-blooded she was.

He questioned the female worker again and started planning for an evacuation.

Without Danny and Ruby getting in the way, the workers began evacuating in an orderly line.

Then, everything changed again. The firefighters suddenly shouted at everyone to leave. "It's going to blow! Run!"

Because the evacuation had been delayed, the container holding the sodium metal had been baked by the heat until it was starting to fail.

Due to that, the factory's fire system kicked in, and water sprayed down from the ceiling.

Sodium metal would explode when it came into contact with water, and taking into account that there was a whole truckload of it present, no one wanted to gamble their lives on it.

I was already far, far away by then, at least around five to six miles away. However, the burning blast wave hit me anyway, slamming into me and throwing me to the ground.

Rocks cut my palm, but it was nothing compared to the acid eating at me from my last life.

I waited nervously as ambulances passed me by, one after another.

I knew it was not going well.

Meanwhile, Ruby and Danny were nowhere to be found by this time.

-

The next morning, the boss's roar shook the entire office. "Do you even understand that truth is the first rule of journalism?! No explosives and no casualties? Who told you that?! You can't even make this up in your dreams!"

Documents were hurled to the floor with a bang after they struck the door.

Danny was hunched inside the office with a pale face, and all I could feel was satisfaction.

So, he knew fear, too.

Even then, he still protected Ruby as he said in a dark voice, "I'll get to the bottom of this. It must be Janice! Ruby is just an intern. She would never do anything like this."

Originally, I did not want to be dragged into their mess again, but Danny refused to let it end.

He brought the boss straight to my office.

I had heard everything he said, but I cared little. Before they could throw the accusation at my face, I handed over my work ID. "I resign. Since my supervisor thinks he should train the new staff himself, I won't get in the way of your sweet daily lives."

Ruby's eyes looked at me slyly. "Janice, are you scared? You signed the final assignment roster. It's right there in black and white."