Chapter 1: Rebirth, Returning to Before the End of the World
Jiang Nuo never experienced such pain before- from her childhood to her adulthood.
The sound of bloody gnawing penetrated her eardrums. Her legs were devoid of strength. She didn't know where her hand had gone. She couldn't make a sound, her throat had been bitten through long ago.
"You crazy woman, get away! Get away!"
A man's voice vehemently pushed Jiang Nuo away.
Thick blood plastered Jiang Nuo's eyelids, so heavy that she couldn't open her eyes. She should have already died, yet there was a string in the darkled by some mysterious force that kept her clinging onto life, clinging fiercely onto the man beneath her.
This man, who killed her mother, the enemy she hated to her bones!
The mutated creature gnawing at Jiang Nuo wouldn't miss the chance to feast on the lively, writhing prey beneath her. The smell of blood attracted more beasts to swarm and savor their meal.
The man's wailing gradually faded until it was completely silenced. Meanwhile, the necklace around Jiang Nuo's neck was chewed off within the chaos...
A streak of different light passed in front of Jiang Nuo’s eyes, and the pain all over her body seemed to disappear in a warm energy. She felt somewhat dazed and newborn. Her body jolted, and she abruptly opened her eyes!
What greeted her was the sight of the internet company she used to work for, with the company's slogan— "Innovate and Strive, Infinite Future" still attached to the wall.
Over the partition, people appeared busy typing on their keyboards at their work stations while occasionally sipping coffee.
She stretched out her hand, presenting dainty, unblemished fingers, well-manicured nails, adorned with a delicate braided bracelet.
This wasn't Jiang Nuo's hand — or to be precise, this wasn't the pair of hands belonging to Jiang Nuo of the apocalypse, those stained with blood and covered in scars!
What was going on now? Had she been resurrected? Resurrected from that dog-eat-dog, bloody, and despairing world of the apocalypse?
She had struggled to survive in the apocalypse for ten years.
Prolonged high heat, torrential rains, and extreme cold had destroyed the cities that people relied on for survival, causing a 70% reduction in the human population.
Earthquakes and super volcanic eruptions not only obliterated the shelters humans relied upon but also brought acid rain down on the entire world.
Under the shroud of volcanic ash, the earth entered a long period of darkness and extreme cold weather.
Resources were scarce, animals and plants had mutated, and viruses pervaded...
Yet the most terrifying was the primal nature of humanity revealed with the collapse of law and morality.
Jiang Nuo's thoughts were chaotic. One moment, she had just been killed by a mutated creature's bite, still feeling the heart-wrenching pain, and the next moment, she was back in the past...
Was this... Before the start of the apocalypse? Had she been reincarnated?
"Xiao Nuo? Jiang Nuo? That's enough, have you heard what I've been saying?" A familiar male voice echoed in Jiang Nuo's ears, opening up a blossom of blood in her heart, overflowing with resentment!
Jiang Nuo looked up to see a handsome face that seemed bright and sunny,
"Your design is representing our group in the competition. What's the difference between you winning the prize and Yang Ning? If you insist on pursuing this, it affects us all! If things get too big, the company will be implicated, and you can't handle that responsibility."
In an instant, she remembered everything.
The man speaking before her was Wang Jian Li, four years older than her and the project team leader in her company.
And she was a novice who had just plunged headfirst into the 996 work culture. With little social experience, she was naive and foolish.
The occasional concern from Wang Jian Li had made her think, this senior was not a bad person.
She had assumed that they were secretly dating, but in reality, she was just a fish Wang Jianli kept in his pond.
This sunny and handsome young man was nothing more than a lapdog to Yang Ning.
Yang Ning was the illegitimate daughter of the company's boss. She joined the company around the same time as Jiang Nuo and spent most of the time lazing around, touching up her makeup and playing with her phone.
The colleagues, unaware of Yang Ning's identity as the boss's daughter, assumed she was his mistress and a target for flattery, and they all competed to be her sycophantic followers, including Wang Jianli.
Adding to this, Yang Ning, being too lazy to work, plotted to exploit Jiang Nuo's designs for her own benefit, tricking Wang Jianli into stealing her flash drive. This raid was why Wang Jianli pursued Jiang Nuo in the first place.
Jiang Nuo glanced at him, giving Wang Jianli a cold stare as he continued to babble.
"Have you considered the repercussion? I'm fully responsible for this project. If this blows up, I will also get dragged into the mess. Can you bre.."
"To hell with you." Jiang Nuo cut him off abruptly.
Wang Jianli stood there, speechless.
Somewhere between the conversation, the vulnerable woman ready to burst into tears seemed to have completely changed - her tone, her gaze, everything.
Suddenly, Wang Jianli felt an inexplicable chill crawl over him.
What he didn't know was that, at that very moment, he had played with death too many times to count.
Having survived the darkness of apocalypse for a decade, Jiang Nuo, was constantly teetering on the edge of life and death, her hands stained with blood uncountable.
Now, she was leading a dreary life of an average office worker on the outside.
But within her, she was a devil, mercilessly bathing in bloodshed.
With a quick sweep of her gaze, whether it was the metal keyboard off to the side, the thermos kettle in her hand, or the chair, the thermal cup, or the fruit knife, Jiang Nuo was entirely confident that she could pick them up and crack this detestable person's skull.
In the apocalypse's end, with her last breath, she would strangle Wang Jianli's throat and drag him to be devoured clean by mutated beasts.
But not now. The apocalypse had not yet arrived, social order had not yet collapsed. If she killed him now, she'd likely end up in prison toiling on a sewing machine, which is hugely inconvenient.
She would deal with him later.
Thinking up to here, disregarding Wang Jianli's shock, Jiang Nuo turned and left.
Upon reaching her workstation, she closed her eyes to clear her mind.
The colleagues around her saw that she had argued with Wang Jianli and avoided her, whispering to each other softly.
Of course Jiang Nuo knew, Yang Ning was their office goddess, and only Jiang Nuo was ignorant and foolish, these few days crazily seeking truth from Yang Ning.
"I'm speechless, I really hope she won't drag us down and make Yang Ning look down upon us…"
"At that time, just ignore her. She's just jealous, she can't compare with Yang Ning’s prettiness and good family, as well as her gift and aura, she can produce a piece as soon as she arrives."
"What's the use of blaming Yang Ning, she herself didn't get a good start."
Jiang Nuo pretended not to hear. She opened the browser to read the latest news, calendar over and over again to confirm, she really did reborn.
It’s June now, there are still two months before the apocalypse. Two months later, the current sizzling hot weather would escalate dramatically, with temperatures rising non-stop, from forty-five degrees to over fifty degrees. Countless people would die in the extreme heat, and yet, this was only the beginning.
Seeing as heaven had given her a do-over, she absolutely would not be as weak as in her past life.
She wanted to prepare early, and so, she needed money.
Jiang Nuo is just an ordinary person, she couldn't hoard billions in her account, her savings are only about 50,000.
So at present, the most important goal is to make money!
Make money at all costs!
Jiang Nuo opened her laptop, created an encrypted spreadsheet, and began planning what she needed to prepare.
After work, she packed up her laptop and left the company directly.
Just as she got to the elevator, as expected, she was blocked by Wang Jianli.
"Little Nuo, are you angry?"
Different from the threat in the afternoon, he had a smile on his face, talking gently, the kind that young girls take to.
"I may have been a bit too abrupt earlier, did I scare you? I am doing all this for your own good...Yang Ning is a relation's household, why do you have to confront her, how about we drop this matter?"
"Alright," Jiang Nuo didn't want to waste a second with him, "You can settle this with money."
"What do you mean?" Wang Jianli was again totally dumbfounded.
"A fixed price of 250,000, you give me the money, and I won't tell the boss about you and his daughter being together and helping her steal, framing it all on me. I have plenty of evidence in hand."
Jiang Nuo thought for a moment and added, "And besides, you stole my things; I am certainly going to call the police, you figure it out yourself."
Wang Jianli opened his mouth, speechless for quite a while, he was completely dumfounded.
"You...how did you know about me and her..."
Jiang Nuo was getting impatient. "Are you going to pay or not? Just give me a simple answer. I know that the boss is meeting with a client in the conference room. I don't mind giving him a big surprise right now."
Wang Jianli's face darkened. "Have you gone mad? Is it worth it for a simple design?"
Seeing him turning hostile and menacingly approaching her, Jiang Nuo took a step back and then fiercely kicked his kneecap with the tip of her shoe.
"Jiang Nuo!!" Wang Jianli fell, kneeling on the ground in acute pain. He gritted his teeth and yelled, "Are you nuts?"
Jiang Nuo looked at him coldly. "250,000."
Despite the pain and anger, Wang Jianli tried to regain his composure, his mind racing.
He didn't understand why Jiang Nuo had suddenly changed so much. He had thought she was just a nondescript, shy girl who spoke softly and got nervous around groups of people. He had never expected her to behave so outrageously.
Wang Jianli weighed his options. Yang Ning was the boss's illegitimate daughter, a wealthy woman who was also quite generous to him, even lending him luxury cars worth millions. If things go well with Yang Ning, he would never have to struggle in his life.
He can't let this woman ruin everything!
Wang Jianli clenched his teeth. "I don't have that much money at the moment."
"Where you get the money is your business," Jiang Nuo said, lifting her chin slightly. "I will delete the evidence when the deal is done. Of course, this offer is valid only until tomorrow."
Jiang Nuo coldly watched Wang Jianli leave in a huff. She didn't linger, and left the company.
Breathing in the fresh air outside, she slowed her pace, watching the comings and goings of people among the tall buildings, the various shops, and the noisy horn sounds on the street.
Even though it had been ten years since she had left, Jiang Nuo still remembered the way home. Following her memory, she took the bus and got off from stop to stop, crossing tangled streets and twisting alleys.
As the elevator ascended floor by floor, Jiang Nuo's heart began to beat in wild unease. "--[D,,
When the elevator doors opened, Jiang Nuo felt her knees weaken. She fumbled to retrieve her house keys from her bag. Standing in front of the door that remained in her memory, she lined up the key repeatedly with the keyhole but couldn't insert it.
"Calm down, calm down..."
Murmuring to herself, she traced the keyhole with her fingers until finally, with a click, she gripped and turned the key.
The door opened.
"Woof, woof!"
A loud, excited bark was the first sound that met her ears, and a scruffy black and white Husky scampered over to Jiang Nuo.
Her dog!
The Husky puppy she'd lovingly raised since it was a pup, with beautiful sapphire-blue eyes and clean, soft fur, had gone missing shortly after the end of the world.
Only when Jiang Nuo kicked Wang Jianli out, and they had a falling out, did he reveal the truth.
"That damned dog would always bark at me, I disliked it long before!”
"Although its temper was bad, its meat was very fragrant.”
"It's just a bit thin! You used to fatten it up well."
It was a human, yet he was speaking such bestial words.
Jiang Nuo knelt down and held the dog's head, crying silently. The husky didn't understand why its owner was upset and stood still, perplexed, allowing Jiang Nuo to bury his face in its fur.
"Oh, you're home from work early today."
Jiang Nuo looked up to see a middle-aged woman wearing a short-sleeved shirt and an apron coming out of the kitchen. She had a delighted look on her face: "Nuo Nuo, you're just in time to taste my soup."
"Mom...." Jiang Nuo could no longer contain himself, and tears burst forth from his eyes.
In the end of the world, he, who had never lifted a finger, was protected by his mother. Whenever the bad guys came, his mother would fiercely brandish a kitchen knife to drive them away.
In the very end, it was his mother who blocked a group of people, shouting, "Nuo Nuo, run!"
And he ran... He ran for ten years!
Eating garbage, rotting food, drinking dirty water, fighting with ferocious mutated beasts. Covered in wounds, he barely resembled a human being, every time Jiang Nuo thought he was going to die, he remembered his mother's words, knowing she wanted him to stay alive.
Yu Ruohua knew nothing of this. Seeing her daughter crying, she was startled and quickly closed the door and helped Jiang Nuo get up.
"What's wrong? Did you not get selected for that competition? You look so anxious..."
Mom thought the designs she'd been up all night working on for months yielded no good results. Jiang Nuo didn't explain, wiped away his tears, and gradually regained control of his emotions.
"Don't be upset anymore. I'll get you a bowl of bone soup to warm your stomach." Yu Ruohua went back into the kitchen.
The husky had been following its master around the whole time, but now it lay down on the sofa, worriedly licking Jiang Nuo's fingers.
Jiang Nuo looked at it and patted its head, "Don't worry, I'll protect you."
Then, looking toward the kitchen, he thought, I will protect mom.
This time, I will protect our home!