In my previous life, when everyone else thought I was crazy, only Vermont had looked pensive after hearing my story.

He said, “Human physical capabilities are limited. Eira’s condition does defy common sense.”

Although he did not help in the end, that glimmer of doubt was my only hope.

Early the next morning, I dragged my still-weary body and found Vermont supervising training on the field.

“Sir, I have an important matter to report!”

Vermont turned around. When he saw that it was me, he frowned slightly. “You again? Are you feeling better?”

“Sir, I’m not here to ask for time off.” I took a deep breath and met his piercing gaze.

“I’m here to report an extremely unusual situation regarding Eira.”

I switched my approach and described in detail the strange changes in my own physical condition and Eira’s physical performance, which far exceeded human limits.

“Sir, you’re a soldier. You should know that an ordinary female college student, one who’s never received professional training, shouldn’t possibly be able to carry a 110-pound load for 30 miles without even breaking a sweat. Her performance defies logic.”

Vermont listened in silence. He looked deep in thought.

I continued, “I suspect there’s something amiss here, but everyone thinks I’m just jealous of her. I want to verify a hypothesis, so I’d like to request that you file a special report with the school on my behalf to arrange a one-week leave of absence.”

Vermont stared at me for a full minute, as if trying to gauge the truth in my words.

Finally, he said in a deep voice, “The reason sounds absurd, but you really are in terrible shape. It doesn’t look like you’re faking it.

“I can talk to the school, but you only get three days.

“After three days, if your hypothesis doesn’t hold up, you must return to continue orientation training.”

“Thank you!” I felt a surge of joy. This was the first step in my plan.

That afternoon, I finished the paperwork. Then, I dragged my suitcase out of the school and went straight home.

I wanted to see if my health would improve once I left the school and put some distance between us.

As soon as I got home, I practically collapsed onto the bed.

Seeing my face so pale, my parents were terrified. They rushed to make me some food and give me massages.

I felt that familiar exhaustion. It felt like it was tearing me apart. My heart grew heavier and heavier.

It did not go away.

Even though I had left school and left Eira behind, that pervasive fatigue still clung to me like a maggot to a bone.

Distance was not the solution.

That night, as I tossed and turned in bed, my phone suddenly rang nonstop.

It was my high school alumni group chat, which included a few classmates who had gotten into the same university as me.

[Oh my god, you guys haven’t seen our school’s goddess, Eira! It’s been almost a week of orientation training, and we’re all sunburned to a crisp, but she’s still glowing white! She looks like a fairy!]

[You’ve got to be kidding! Her stamina is off the charts! This afternoon, she ran a 30-mile weighted armed cross-country race for our entire college. When she finished, she looked like she’d just gone for a stroll! I heard she wasn’t like this in high school, was she?]

Another classmate wrote.

[Yeah! I remember Eira as a dark-skinned, short, and chubby girl in high school. She was totally unremarkable. How did she turn into a completely different person after just one summer?]

[Speaking of which, do you guys remember Sophie Clark, the class belle who used to be in Eira’s class? I saw her at the mall a couple of days ago. Oh my god, she’s so short and chubby now, and her skin is a mess. She’s practically unrecognizable! She’s a completely different person from her high school days!]

Reading this, I sat bolt upright in bed!

But the feeling of my body falling apart made me slump back down. I coughed up a mouthful of blood. I had to find a way to break this curse immediately!

‘Eira Yard… Sophie Clark…’

A thought surged through my mind. Eira used to be short and chubby in high school, yet she had turned into a goddess.

Meanwhile, the original class belle, Sophie, had turned short and chubby.

How could there be so many coincidences in this world?

I immediately dug out my high school yearbook and found Sophie’s number. With trembling hands, I called her.

The phone rang for a long time before someone picked up. A hoarse, weary voice came from the other end. “Hello? Who’s this?”

“Hello, is this Sophie Clark? It’s Raine Sherry. We went to the same high school.” I tried my best to keep my voice steady.

“Raine Sherry?” Sophie seemed taken aback for a moment. “Oh… I think I vaguely remember you. Is there something you need?”

I took a deep breath and got straight to the point. “I want to ask you something. Did you experience any health issues this summer? Did you feel inexplicably exhausted, and… have you noticed any significant changes in your appearance?”

There was an instant, deathly silence on the other end of the line.

It took almost a minute before Sophie’s response sounded on the other end. It carried a barely perceptible tremor. “You… how do you know?”

My heart sank. It was just as I feared!

“I’m going through the same thing right now.” I laid out my entire story, including Eira’s startling transformation and the strange deterioration of my own body.

As I talked, the breathing on the other end of the line grew rapid.

By the time I finished, Sophie was sobbing uncontrollably.

“It’s her! It has to be her!” she cried and completely broke down. “After the SATs, she didn’t come to our class reunion. She said she was going on a trip.

“Ever since, something’s been wrong with me! I feel so exhausted every day, and no matter how long I sleep, I can’t wake up rested. I eat very little, yet I gain weight like crazy!

“My mom took me to see so many doctors, but they all said I wasn’t sick. They said I was just lazy! My life… my whole life’s been ruined!”

It turned out I was not her first victim.

Eira had already begun using her evil ability since the summer she graduated from high school.

She stole Sophie’s beauty and vitality. Then, she transferred her own obesity and listlessness onto her. Just like that, she completed her first transformation.

She was using the same method to drain my life force to maintain her glamorous facade as a “goddess.”

As I hung up, I felt the blood in my veins run cold.

This was a sinister scheme through and through. A vicious curse that fed on the lives of others to sustain itself!

Over the next two days, my health took a sharp turn for the worse.

The exhaustion grew more serious. I began experiencing intermittent shortness of breath, and I kept coughing up blood.

My parents were panicky and rushed me to the best hospital in the city that very night.

However, the test results showed that my body was perfectly normal.

The doctor looked at me with a gaze filled with helplessness and suspicion. “Does this young girl have some kind of psychological issue?”

My parents were frantic. They sweated profusely as they begged the doctor to find another solution.

I lay in the hospital bed. I was too weak to even lift a finger.

I could clearly feel the life force rapidly draining from my body.

My phone was flooded with news about orientation training. Eira had become the undisputed “goddess of orientation training” across the entire school.

In just one week, the orientation training’s grand closing ceremony would take place. There would be a school-wide cross-country race with weighted gear.

Eira, as the student representative, would once again run for the entire school.

I remembered that it was at that race that everything would end for me.

Time was running out. If I could not find the source soon, I would die all over again.

Seeing how frail I had become, my parents wiped away their tears behind my back as they discussed taking me home from the hospital to recuperate.

Just as the nurse was pushing my wheelchair out of the ward, I passed by an operating room next door.

Outside the door, a middle-aged woman stood with her hands pressed together. Her eyes were closed as she murmured prayers with an expression of profound and helpless devotion.

She was praying for a loved one inside the operating room.

A bolt of lightning suddenly split through my chaotic thoughts! I suddenly understood!

I knew how she had managed to transfer her exhaustion to me!