Chapter 1She Cut AC Cables For Her Environmental Crusade

My roommate was a self-proclaimed eco-savior.

In the dead of a sweltering hundred-degree summer, she locked the thermostat cover and hid the key.

"Everyone sweats in July. Just suck it up and consider it your contribution to saving the planet."

That night, not a single breeze cut through the stifling air. Our dorm room was a literal oven.

My head throbbed, sweat pouring off me in waves.

When I tried to find the key, she climbed onto a chair and snipped the power cord to the AC unit.

"Can't you see Mother Nature is burning up? You selfish brat, constantly spewing greenhouse gases."

In my past life, that night was the beginning of an endless nightmare. The entire campus hounded and vilified me.

They claimed I was pampered, unable to empathize with the environment, while praising her noble sense of mission.

In the end, I suffered a fatal cardiogenic shock, dying before I could even dial 911.

She wept bitterly in front of the cameras, telling the media my heart gave out because I consumed too much processed junk food.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very first day of the semester.

She was sliding the key to the thermostat cover into her drawer, looking at me with tear-brimmed eyes. "Gloria, a little heat won't kill you, right?"

I grabbed my phone and my medical records, heading straight for the resident dean's office.

"I'd like to request a single room, please."

If anyone wanted to play the martyr, they were welcome to it. I was busy keeping myself alive.

* * *

Dean Gable looked up, only halfway through the freshman roster.

"Gloria? You just checked in and you're already asking for a single?"

I placed my acceptance letter, ID copy, triple-A hospital diagnostic report, and the housing transfer form neatly on her desk.

"Dean, I have a history of severe myocardial ischemia. Extreme heat triggers cardiogenic shock almost instantly."

"Right now, my roommate, Sienna, is refusing to let us turn on the AC or even use box fans."

The office fell dead silent.

The student assistant sorting papers nearby paused, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead, looking completely bewildered.

"It's nearly a hundred degrees out there today. No AC?"

Gable frowned. "Gloria, roommate conflicts should be resolved through communication first. Single room approvals don't just go through in a single day."

A soft, sorrowful voice echoed from the doorway.

"Dean, it isn't a conflict. It's a spiritual discipline."

Sienna stood by the door, clutching our dorm's thermostat key tightly to her chest.

She wore a faded, scratchy linen dress, her forehead dripping with sweat, her eyes red and puffy as if she were the victim of some unspeakable cruelty.

"She wants to bleed the planet dry."

The student assistant's hand froze mid-wipe.

Gable eyed the key in Sienna's hand. "Why do you have the thermostat key?"

Sienna instantly pressed it closer to her heart, guarding it like a sacred relic.

"This machine is monstrous. Every breath of artificial cold it spews drafts a death warrant for our rivers and forests."

"Mother Nature is crying."

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"I know everyone thinks I'm crazy. But I just want to stop our world from being poisoned by modern industrialism."

A few passing freshmen had gathered outside the doorway.

Someone whispered, "It's a bit extreme, but her intentions are good."

Others glanced at me, their gazes shifting.

That familiar, suffocating weight pressed down on my chest.

It was the exact same script from my previous life.

The moment Sienna cried and invoked her grand eco-narrative, everyone lined up to pity her.

When I mentioned my heart condition, they called me high-maintenance.

When she unplugged the fans, they claimed natural air was healthier anyway.

When she turned our room into a sauna, they praised her boundless empathy.

In the end, as I lay on a hospital bed hooked up to a ventilator, unable to speak, they were still debating whether I lacked social responsibility.

This time, I didn't waste my breath explaining.

I looked straight at Gable.

"Dean, I have no interest in debating her beliefs."

"I just refuse to live with her."

Sienna’s sobbing faltered.

She looked up, tears clinging to her lashes. "Gloria, are you really that addicted to material comfort?"

"I have a heart condition," I replied flatly.

She looked thoroughly devastated by my lack of enlightenment, taking a step back with deep sorrow in her eyes.

"But children in impoverished regions don't even have electricity, and they survive. Why can't you try?"

I flipped my medical folder open, pointing to the bolded doctor's orders: Avoid extreme heat and high-stress situations.

"Because I'd like to survive too."

The room went completely quiet.

Gable scanned the medical report, her brow furrowing as her expression grew serious.

"A single room requires checking vacancies, and we need approval from both the department head and housing services."

Sienna quickly sniffled, stepping forward.

"Dean, there’s no need to go to all that trouble."

"I will do my best to guide Gloria with love. Once she experiences the joy of detoxifying through sweat, nature will heal her heart."

I looked at her cold.

"I don't need nature to heal me."

"And I certainly don't need your guidance."