Chapter 1: Rebirth
"Ah..."
Jiang Ning woke up abruptly from her bed, sweat trickling down her forehead. She looked around in amazement and despair.
Her hazy consciousness was shocked by the scene in front of her. Wasn't this the apartment she lived in before the apocalypse?
"Ding dong, ding dong..."
A series of text message alerts rang out - she picked up her phone from the bedside table. The date read: September 14, 2029, at 9:32 AM.
There were over a dozen unread messages, all about the upcoming super typhoon "Caidao". It was expected to make landfall in the coastal areas on the morning of the 17th. The forecasted wind speeds ranged between level 16 and 19, predicting days of torrential rain.
Jiang Ning was stunned. Wasn't she dead? Died in this horrific, cannibalistic post-apocalypse!
Could it be that her unwillingness to accept her death went so deep that she's plunged into a nightmare at the brink of death?
"Ding dong."
Another new text warning message came in. The time on the message was 9:37 AM.
Gritting her teeth, Jiang Ning pinched her arm hard. The intense pain served as a reminder - this was not a dream. She had really been reborn.
And she'd been reborn only three days before the onset of the super typhoon that marked the beginning of the apocalypse. No, to be more precise, it was just two and a half days away.
Contrary to expectations, Jiang Ning was not elated. Instead, an immense sense of weariness welled up within her.
Typhoon, torrential rain, flood, extreme cold and heat, earthquake... Each trial was a purgatory, what was worth reliving?
Yet she came back, was it just to wait for death? No, never!
She washed her face with cold water. The girl in the mirror was young and beautiful, her face full of collagen, untouched by the desperation of the apocalypse, everything seemed so beautiful.
Her weary eyes fell on the jade pendant worn around her neck. It had been with her since she was abandoned at the hospital at birth, later Yang Wei Cong claimed it to give to the school beauty Su Meng Yao.
In the three years of the apocalypse, Su Meng Yao remained delicate and translucent, her clothing remained spotless, her skin was radiantly white and tinged with red, as if she was still living in the prosperous time.
Once, famished to fainting, she saw Su Meng Xiao take an ice cream stick from the pendant and lick it.
As if remembering something, Jiang Ning took a blade, cut her finger and allowed a drop of blood to fall onto the pendant.
The pendant emanated a blinding light. When she opened her eyes again, she was in an apartment without a front door. Apart from running water and electricity, there was no furniture, the two-bedroom apartment was roughly 80 square meters, with a ceiling height of about 3 meters, next to the balcony was a 10 square meter black soil garden.
A holographic clock was floating in the living room: 01 hour 56 minutes 13 seconds.
Was this the secret to Su Meng Yao's refined living, or was it swindled from her?
Leaving the space, she had an extra house in her mind, she could sense everything inside it as long as she focused.
To understand the function of the space, she used boiling water for testing. Apart from the balcony and the garden, other areas had preservation functions.
The timer stopped when items were stored or retrieved with her consciousness. It would automatically countdown when she entered.
She didn't have time to ponder the mystery due to time constraints.
Now that she got a second chance at life and had the SPACE in hand, she should seize the opportunity to reverse her dismal fate.
In her previous life, Jiang Ning only lived for three years. Since she was unaware of the disasters that would happen in the future, she decided to look up different types of natural calamities on the internet using her phone. Seeing the long list of potential disasters, she nearly passed away on the spot.
Living was truly hard.
Putting aside her excess emotions, she took out a pen and paper to list needed supplies.
Jiang Ning grew up in an orphanage. Despite the outward appearance of tranquility, the competition within was fierce, which gradually cultivated her character of being selfish and not allowing herself to be taken advantage of.
She had a deep-seated insecurity, working tirelessly selling and collecting wastepaper while in elementary school, and doing part-time jobs in junior high, such as tutoring, completing homework for others, and cleaning toilets. As long as she was paid, she would do it.
She ranked top in both high school and university exams. Even when she made it into medical school and was already in her second year, she still tutored five high school seniors, charging 200 yuan per class.
Jiang Ning was a money-maker; she sold insurance, was a businesswoman, and would do anything legal. Over the past decade, she had saved up 200,000 yuan in her bank account, with plans to put down the first payment on a house after graduation. But now, all that seemed meaningless.
She had a major course in the afternoon at school, and had to conduct tutoring classes at night, but neither mattered now.
She sent a WeChat message to the parents, informing them that she was hospitalized due to sickness and would be unable to tutor for a long period of time. She suggested they find a replacement in time and also asked them to settle the fees.
She would normally settle the tutoring fees every half month and the parents were all quite well-off. Two of them even sent her a 500 yuan "get well soon" red packet, so she had an additional 6,000 yuan in her account.
Jiang Ning didn't forget to remind the parents that a strong typhoon was coming, and urged them to stock up on food and medical supplies. There were numerous natural disasters, and the list of necessary medical supplies spanned three pages. Many of the drugs on the list were not only expensive, they were also hard to find in drugstores.
Jiang Ning took a picture of the list and sent it to her childhood friend who was also a pharmaceutical salesperson, coupled with the message, "A wealthy new customer needs these urgently. The delivery needs to be made tonight. Please give me a discount."
Zhang Chao replied instantly, "Received."
Within five minutes, he called, "Ah Ning, this batch of medicines listed is quite odd, are you sure you're not fooling around?"
"The money has been transferred, they have only one condition, they need to see the products tonight."
Without wasting time, she hung up the phone and transferred 50,000 yuan, "If there's any difference, we can reconcile it later."
The amount of supplies she needed to prepare was too much. Jiang Ning picked up her keys and headed out, accidentally spotting the limited edition AJ sneakers resting on the table. She was so frustrated that she wished she could hit her head with a block of tofu.
She had always been a practical person, so it was baffling how she had fallen so deeply for Yang Weicong.
For the sake of pursuing him, she even gave up her dormitory and rented an expensive place in the school district, queuing up at the specialty store in the wee hours to buy him AJ sneakers.
Her own shoes never exceeded 300 yuan, but she was able to spend over 8,000 yuan on a limited edition pair for him without balking. And what was the result?
He accepted her gift but kept her hanging, neither accepting nor rejecting her confession. What's worse, on a typhoon day, he had a meal with the campus beauty using her stockpiled food.
During the three years of natural disaster, he did nothing to help; when she was attacked and brutalized by demons, he simply watched with cold eyes.
If she knew this would happen, she would rather feed those AJ shoes to a dog than give them to him.
But this time she'd like to see, without her stockpiled food and space, how well he and Su Mengyao can live!
After half a month of intense typhoon followed by three consecutive months of heavy rainfall, the entire city was submerged.
Jiang Ning lived on the 18th floor, and although not inundated, she was living quite miserably.
......
After leaving the residential area, she had a full meal at a breakfast shop by the street.
She hurriedly rented a van from a car rental shop and immediately went to the AJ boutique. The store assistant was surprised at her request to return the goods. This was a new limited edition design, which everyone was vying for. There was no concern about not being able to sell it.
She returned goods worth more than 8,600, a sum that could stockpile enough rice and oil to last two to three years. Who needed a man?
She drove to a street known for its doors and windows shops, and custom ordered two heavy-duty stainless steel doors, equipped with robust triple latch locks that even a sledgehammer could not break. Including installation, the total came up to 6,000 yuan.
To save time, Jiang Ning had already measured the dimensions before stepping outdoors.
The shopkeeper was worried about the measurements' accuracy, but upon learning the location, readily accepted the task. He'd done lots of business from the same residential area, so he was confident. "If it's urgent, we can get it done the day after tomorrow."
Across the street was a glass shop. Jiang Ning chose the thickest bullet-proof glass, priced at 600 Yuan per square meter, also arranged for installation on the day after tomorrow.
Let them knock, let them smash it. No one would dare enter her place with a knife and bully her in this life.