I yanked my arm free. "Get out of my way."

"I'm not moving!" Melissa dropped to the ground, stubbornly throwing a tantrum. "Everyone, look! The murderer is trying to run away. My dog Max was killed because of her!"

She yelled loudly, but I noticed her gaze flicking toward me, gauging my reaction.

Greg immediately blocked my path, clenching his fists and cracking his knuckles menacingly. "Lauren, Melissa asked you to go into the woods to look for Max. Are you deaf? If you refuse, I'll make sure you never leave this campsite."

I pulled out my phone. "Fine. I'll call the police right now. Let them decide who's really the one causing trouble."

I had just pressed 911 when a large hand suddenly snatched the phone away.

"What police?" Mr. Woodruff gripped my phone, his face darkening. "This is a company team-building trip. How will it look if you call the cops over? Do you want the entire industry laughing at us?"

Staring at my empty palm, I finally understood—they weren't just trying to force me to search for the dog.

"Mr. Woodruff, are you restricting my freedom?"

"I'm teaching you discipline!" he snapped, shoving my phone into his pocket. "Until Max is found, I'll be holding onto this. You'll get it back when the dog returns."

In my last life, this was how it had started too.

Melissa climbed to her feet and walked up to me, a smug smile playing on her lips. "Did you hear that, Lauren? Now, get into the woods and find my dog! If you don't find him, you can die in there for all I care."

"I'll say this one last time. I'm not going."

Melissa's smile froze.

"Lauren, don't push your luck!" Greg immediately butted in. "Mr. Woodruff gave you an order. You dare defy him?"

I shot him a glare. "I don't know if the company can or cannot survive without me. But I do know this—if I die in that forest, every single one of you here will be guilty of murder."

My eyes swept across the group of colleagues who had been watching. Those who had been cheering Melissa on earlier now looked away guiltily.

Melissa raised her voice again. "Stop trying to scare everyone! Max is a good boy. If he's fine in there, you'll be fine too. You're just selfish and cold-blooded!"

As she cursed me, her eyes scanned the campsite until her gaze finally locked onto my tent, which stood at the edge of the site. I had pitched it alone the day before.

Melissa strutted over. "You won't go search, huh? Then don't even think about staying here either!"

She yanked hard on the guylines. The stakes ripped out of the ground.

"What are you doing?" I rushed forward.

Greg blocked me like a wall, shoving me back. I slipped and crashed onto the gravel. My palm split open, blood oozing out.

"Melissa can do whatever she wants. Who are you to stop her?"

In those few seconds, Melissa had already torn my tent apart. She threw my waterproof mat into the mud, stomped dirty footprints across my sleeping bag, and finally dug through my backpack, pulling out a wooden safety charm.

My dad had gotten that charm for me from a church. In my last life, I had clung to it during my time in prison.

"You're still carrying around this crappy old thing?" Melissa sneered disdainfully at the charm, dangling it in the air. "You won't even save a dog. What's the point of having this? God isn't going to protect someone as cruel as you."

"Give it back!" I scrambled to my feet and lunged toward her.

Startled, Melissa stepped back, but she still hurled the charm with all her strength. It flew through the air and dropped straight into the blazing campfire.

"No!" My mind went blank. I reached into the flames without thinking. The fire singed my hair, and the back of my hand seared in pain.

By the time I pulled the charm out, half of it was already charred. The word "peace" that my dad carved on the back was now blurred.

I clutched the scorched wood against my chest, tears streaming down my face.

"Oh, come on. It's just a piece of wood. Is it really worth crying over?" Melissa folded her arms and laughed. "If you'd just agreed to search for Max earlier, this wouldn't have happened. See, this is all your own fault."

I slowly lifted my head. The fire roared, and inside me, flames burned just as fiercely.

"Melissa." My voice was hoarse. "You'd better pray your dog comes back alive. If not, I'll make sure you pay for this."

Melissa flinched, but quickly straightened her posture. "Who are you threatening? Mr. Woodruff, look at her. She refuses to help, and now she's trying to intimidate me!"

Mr. Woodruff frowned and waved his hand dismissively. "That's enough, Lauren. Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough? If you won't search for the dog, then stop getting in the way.

"When we're back at the office, I'll dock your entire month's performance bonus. Now, pack up your junk and leave the campsite."

I stared at them, then suddenly laughed. "Fine. I'll go."

I kept the burned charm carefully, ignoring my dirty backpack scattered on the ground.

"Wait!" Melissa called after me.

She pulled a document and a pen from her bag. "You can leave, but you have to sign this first."

It was a handwritten disclaimer that read, "Lauren Brooks deliberately destroyed the search equipment, causing Max's disappearance. Therefore, Lauren Brooks agrees to bear full responsibility for compensation."

I laughed in exasperation. "Have you lost your mind? I'm not signing that. What are you going to do about it?"

Melissa smirked and gave Greg a look. Greg immediately stepped forward with several male colleagues and surrounded me.

Melissa leaned close and whispered in my ear, "If you don't sign today, I'll strip you naked and throw you into the woods. Let the wild boars have a taste of you."

I looked at the men circling around me. Some avoided my gaze, others watched with amusement.

We were in the middle of the jungle, where there were no surveillance cameras.

I forced myself to stay calm. My hand reached into my pocket, pressing the switch on my voice recorder. It was the one I usually used for meetings.

"Melissa, this is extortion," I said with deliberate slowness. "I kicked my own drone into the lake. Your dog ran off on its own. Why should I be responsible?"

Melissa laughed like I had just told a joke. "Extortion? Go ahead and report me! You've got no evidence. Your phone's in Mr. Woodruff's pocket. Who's going to prove that I forced you?"

She leaned in smugly, jabbing her finger into my shoulder.

"Let me tell you something, Lauren. In this company, whatever I say goes. Be smart and sign it, or I'll ruin you completely."

I took the pen. "Fine. I'll sign."

I deliberately signed my name crookedly across the page, then slapped the paper against her chest. "Now, can I leave?"

Melissa flicked the paper with satisfaction. "Get lost. And don't forget to prepare the money. Max is a purebred Mastiff. With your pathetic salary, it'll take years to pay me back."

I ignored her and walked out of the campsite. The sky was darkening—the mountain wind cut like daggers, chilling me to the bone.

I didn't go far. Instead, I stopped at a sheltered spot not far from the campsite, high enough to overlook the entire site.

I sat on a rock, wiping the blood from my hand. The wound still hurt. But after what I suffered in my last life, the pain only sharpened my patience.

Lights flickered on in the camp. Melissa sat by the fire, laughing as Greg handed her a piece of roasted meat. She laughed and smiled, looking nothing like someone who had just lost her "beloved" dog.

Night fell completely. The signal in the mountains was weak, cutting on and off. I pulled out my backup phone and slipped in an anonymous SIM card.

As soon as the internet connected, my WhatsApp exploded. In the company group chat, Melissa had posted a long message, accusing me of cruelty.

The message read, "Everyone, please judge for yourselves. I only wanted to borrow her drone to find Max, but she kicked it straight into the lake. Max is still lost in the forest, probably dead, and she just walked away. How can someone be so cold and vicious?"

On top of that, she attached several photos—the sinking drone, her tear-streaked face, and my back as I left camp.

Greg was the first to respond. "Lauren isn't even human! Keeping someone like her in the company is a ticking time bomb. Who knows when she'll stab us in the back?"

Mr. Woodruff chimed in. "Lauren's behavior is a serious violation of team discipline. I've already punished her. Let this be a warning to everyone."

Other colleagues joined in.

"She's terrifying. She's always so quiet, but actually so scheming deep down."

"I strongly suggest the company fire her!"

I stared at the screen, reading their cruel words.

In my last life, I had fought desperately to explain myself and prove my innocence. All it had earned me was harsher online abuse.

They didn't care about the truth. They only wanted a scapegoat.

But this time, I wouldn't explain.

I opened Melissa's Instagram feed. Her latest post, posted half an hour ago, mirrored her message in the group. The only difference was that she added a screenshot of the location.

I sneered, saving every piece of evidence.

Just then, commotion rose from the camp. I leaned forward to see.

Melissa was in the center, holding up a selfie stick, livestreaming. "Hey, everyone. It's Melissa. My dog Max is missing. I'm so scared…" She squeezed out a few tears for the camera, her voice trembling.

I muted the sound and watched her performance.

Go ahead and make noise. The bigger, the better.

Early the next morning, the mountain mist had yet to clear. I leaned against a tree trunk, sleepless and freezing. Checking my backup phone, I saw that Melissa's livestream had run all night.

The livestream title was designed to grab attention.

"Cold-Hearted Coworker Refuses to Help. My Mastiff Remains Lost in the Wilderness, Fate Unknown."