Chapter 1

In my past life, I desperately tried to stop my boyfriend, Ryan, and his childhood friend, Chloe, from attempting a perilous extreme cave dive.

But Chloe wouldn't listen. She dove down, touched the bottom, and got stuck in the silt.

To save her, Ryan pushed me into the mud with his own hands, so Chloe could use me as a stepping stone to escape.

"Christiana, don't be so selfish. Chloe is scared; save her first. You're a professional diving instructor, I know you'll be fine."

He took Chloe's hand and swam to the surface without looking back.

And I died in that murky silt.

When I opened my eyes again, I had been reborn.

As Chloe prepared to dive further, I didn't stop them. Instead, I slowly gave them a thumbs-up.

Chloe looked at me triumphantly.

But they didn't know that this signal meant "danger, abort dive."

"Christiana, are you chicken?"

Chloe's provocative voice reached my ears through the bone conduction headset.

"I told Ryan that if we succeeded in this challenge, our live stream viewership would hit top 1. What's your problem with that?"

The cold water enveloped me, but it was nothing compared to the chill in my heart.

Before me, Ryan impatiently fiddled with his full-face mask, his eyes full of disgust.

"Christiana, don't bring your professional paranoia here. Chloe wants to see the sights down there, so I'm taking her. If you're scared, go back to the surface."

This scene was all too familiar.

In my past life, it was at this very depth, at this deadly dive site called "Skull Cave."

I earnestly tried to dissuade them, explaining that the area ahead was an unexplored silt zone, highly prone to "silt out," which would lead to dangerously low visibility.

And what happened?

Ryan forced the dive, and Chloe, due to her poor technique, touched the bottom and was sucked into the silt. In her struggle, she kicked up a massive cloud of mud, obscuring our vision.

In a panic, she clung to my leg.

And Ryan, my boyfriend of many years whom I deeply loved, brutally kicked my regulator to help Chloe push off and escape.

He pressed my shoulders, forcing me beneath, letting Chloe step on me to get out of the mud.

I sank deep into the silt, my lungs filling with mud, dying a suffocating, agonizing death.

Until my very last breath, I saw them kissing through their masks.

Ryan's voice came through the bone conduction headset:

"After that crisis, I realized Chloe is the most important person in my life."

"Thank you for your sacrifice to save Chloe. We'll make sure to teach our child about you."

In this moment of rebirth, the phantom pain of suffocation still lingered in my lungs and throat.

I was underwater, and I quickly regulated my breathing to avoid any signs of carbon dioxide poisoning.

I watched Ryan give the dive signal again.

It was Chloe's invitation to challenge the hundred-meter abyss.

This time, I didn't act like a maniac, trying to yank open their tank valves.

I adjusted my buoyancy in the water, steadying myself.

Then, facing the live stream camera, I slowly raised my right hand.

And gave them a clear thumbs-up.

In diving, a thumbs-up means 'end the dive, ascend.'