2: Chapter 2 countdown begins

The cold sensation spread from her fingertips; it was the chill unique to the metal frame of a mobile phone.

Qi Yin gripped the phone tightly. For an entire day, she had locked herself in her room, finally accepting the fact of her rebirth.

"One month!"

Qi Yin looked at her pale reflection in the mirror, her voice hoarse yet unusually calm.

"There is only one month left."

Compared to the ten years of the Apocalypse, this short month was suffocatingly urgent.

If nothing goes wrong, the Apocalypse will still arrive suddenly on July 18, 2050. An unknown and mysterious terrifying virus will spread rapidly along with a horrific blood rain.

During this blood rain, 95% of everyone who comes into contact with the rainwater will be infected.

In a very short time, the infected will quickly lose their sanity and turn into walking corpses that only know how to gnaw on raw meat and devour living creatures.

Civilized order will cease to exist, and the world will descend into purgatory.

However, fortunately, 5% of people will awaken a Supernatural Ability after contact with the blood rain.

These Supernatural Abilities are either physical enhancements, or even better, powers derived from nature; just like how she awakened her Water Element Ability in her previous life.

Qi Yin shook her head, shaking the memories out of her mind. These were not things to consider right now.

Now, she had a full thirty days of preparation time.

This was the only chance for survival she had exchanged for with her own death!

Intense hatred surged in her heart again, almost crushing the hard-won calmness.

The image of being pushed into a horde of zombies by her own flesh and blood without hesitation tore at her nerves like the claws of an evil spirit.

What are they doing right now?

Her father, whom she respected the most, Qi Mingyuan, is probably sitting at the dining table, watching the morning news while criticizing the breakfast Lu Yingman made for not being to his taste.

He is likely taking the opportunity to hint, both openly and covertly, that Lu Yingman should whisper in Qi Yin's ear to transfer the 20% stake in the Lu Group left to her by her grandmother to Qi Mingyuan's name, so that he can have more say in the company.

And Lu Yingman, still the same lovesick fool, clearly worth over a hundred million, yet she complains every day about vegetable prices rising, or hints that Qi Yin should marry the eldest son of the Xiao family who is about to die of illness.

Qi Ming and Wang Hui have likely not woken up yet; without any sense of being heirs to the Lu Group, they spend their days indulging in debauchery and squandering money...

This family, regarding her final cry — "For us!"

"Ha!"

Qi Yin let out a very faint sneer, the coldness in her eyes intensifying.

So it was "for us," only this "us" did not include her.

With the escape time she bought with her life, how long could they really escape?

Not to mention the appearance of that mysterious man who sent them to the afterlife with a single strike.

Even that makeshift, dilapidated city wall could not withstand such a large-scale zombie horde!

Qi Yin did not like the ending of the story. This time, she would definitely create a "happy ending" for this family that would satisfy her.

The most urgent priority was not to wallow in hatred, but to take action!

Qi Yin wiped her face, walked to the window, and gently pulled back a corner of the curtain.

Outside was a scene of peace, with elderly people doing morning exercises and children playing.

No one knew that in one month, the countdown to destruction would end.

This huge contrast made Qi Yin feel a wave of dizziness and nausea.

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.

Her gaze, like a precision scanner, began to examine this world that was about to be destroyed.

Money, she needed a large amount of money.

Stockpiling supplies was a massive project that required an astronomical amount of capital.

At this time, she was just an ordinary girl who had just graduated from college and didn't even have a stable job. All her savings combined probably couldn't even fill a small warehouse in the space.

Don't ask why she was so poor despite being the eldest daughter of the Lu Group. It was because Qi Mingyuan and Lu Yingman claimed it was to train the child's independence. Apart from basic tuition, they only gave her a meager living allowance of 2,000 yuan a month, which was barely enough to get by.

After graduation, they even sent her to a nameless small company, claiming it was to start from the bottom.

Originally, Qi Yin thought everything her parents did was for her own good.

It wasn't until her grandmother passed away that she realized their family rules only applied to her alone.

Qi Ming had everything he wanted; despite having poor grades and indulging in debauchery, he had joined the company to gain experience with Qi Mingyuan during his university days.

And her? On the surface, she was the eldest daughter of the Lu Group, but she had nothing.

Fortunately, she still had her grandmother who loved her, who left all the shares she held to her when she passed away.

It was also fortunate that she had kept her guard up and didn't give those 20% shares to Qi Mingyuan early.

As of now, based on the current market value of the Lu Group, these shares could probably be worth about 2 billion in cash. Plus the two villas she bought with money she earned from stock trading, it should be enough to stockpile supplies and fight in the Apocalypse again.

Action speaks louder than words; Qi Yin took out her phone and posted a share transfer notice in the Lu Group shareholders' group.

"Selling 20% of Lu Group shares. Starting bid is 2 billion. Uncles and cousins, first come, first served. Highest bidder takes it!"

Watching the red dots constantly refreshing on her phone, Qi Yin sneered.

Qi Mingyuan only entered the Lu Group by relying on Lu Yingman, that eldest daughter. If it weren't for the fact that the Lu Group was founded by her grandmother, and she only had one daughter, Lu Yingman, there was no way the Lu Group would have fallen into Qi Mingyuan's hands.

At the very least, the Lu Group was still named Lu. With Lu Yingman being useless, how could her grandmother's brothers and nephews just watch their company fall into the hands of an outsider?

The 20% stake in her hands had been coveted by many for a long time.

One month later, civilization would collapse. At that time, supplies would be king, and all money would be worthless, of no use at all.

Qi Yin's gaze fell on the jade pendant. As her fingertips touched its warm texture, the strange burning sensation between her brows seemed to emerge again.

What secret was hidden in this jade pendant?

Why did her grandmother say it was her only hope, and why did she say it might even be the hope of all humanity?

In her memory, in her previous life, this jade pendant was just an insignificant storage space. Although it grew larger as her Supernatural Ability increased in the later stages, why did it erupt with such powerful energy at the end?

Was its protection mechanism merely to let her be reborn?

One question after another swirled in her mind.

But Qi Yin had no time to study it carefully now. This jade pendant was her greatest reliance and secret in this life, and she absolutely could not let anyone discover it.

Thinking about how the jade pendant suddenly disappeared after she accidentally bonded with it in her previous life, Qi Yin seemed to understand something.

Without hesitation, she picked up a fruit knife and cleanly sliced a long cut across her palm!

Bright red blood dripped onto the jade pendant, flowing along the intricate dragon pattern.

Even though it was a small piece of jade, it absorbed nearly three times the amount of blood as it did in her previous life before stopping.

Finally, the blood droplets condensed on the emerald gemstone in the center of the jade pendant.

"Clang!"

The bright light emitted by the jade pendant filled the entire room...