She attended school in Yancheng, so the Yan family had bought her a large flat not far from the school.
There was still one important thing she had to do now: seize the so-called fortuitous opportunity that belonged to the original novel’s female lead.
Of course, that opportunity had always been hers in the first place.
Yan Tingting walked straight to her bedroom, dug out her jewelry box, and dumped everything onto the bed.
All kinds of gorgeous jewels sparkled with dazzling light. Yan Tingting rummaged through them for a while before she finally spotted the crystal-clear jade bead she was looking for.
Lying among the brilliant gems, the jade bead didn’t look particularly striking, but holding it in her hand, one could feel how warm, smooth, and fine the jade was.
Her mother had picked it out for her at an auction—top-quality stuff. She had treasured it for a while, but after acquiring new jewelry, the jade bead got put away.
She lifted the chain strung with the jade bead and held it up. This was the very bead—a vessel for an Infinite Space. The reason the female lead Jiang Xinyue was adored by so many was, to a large extent, because of that Spatial Dimension.
Well, now the dimension belonged to her.
It was time to return it to its rightful owner.
[Host, according to the plot, this dimension belongs to the original female lead. We can’t deviate from the storyline.] The System had detected Yan Tingting’s actions, its tone anxious.
“So… you’re a parasite living inside my body, and your whole purpose is to help Jiang Xinyue get rid of me?” A cold gleam crept into Yan Tingting’s eyes.
What the hell—this was hers to begin with.
[No, no, I’m here to help you survive!] The System explained in a panic.
“Hah. Do you think I’d believe that? ‘Help me survive’ while not letting me deviate from the plot—meaning my death date isn’t far off, right? Besides, this jade bead was mine in the first place.” Yan Tingting clutched the smooth jade bead in her hand and headed toward the kitchen.
In the book, Jiang Xinyue unlocked the dimension because of an injury—her blood soaked the jade bead…
Well then… she might as well give it a try herself!
She hurried to the kitchen, picked up a knife, and was about to slash her own hand.
[Host, you really can’t do this!!!] An ear-piercing scream rang out, making Yan Tingting jolt.
Yan Tingting took a deep breath. “So according to your rules, is there a punishment for not following the plot?”
[A proper System won’t harm its Host. Our System…] Before it could finish, Yan Tingting cleanly cut her palm and soaked the jade bead in her blood.
The System: […] Well done, Host.
That way, it wasn’t technically defying the Main System’s rules—the Host simply wouldn’t listen!
The System: [But we do have mandatory psychological education!] The procedure still had to be followed.
The moment it finished speaking, a sutra-chanting-like mechanical drone started up in Yan Tingting’s mind, loud enough to make anyone dizzy.
Yan Tingting looked down at the jade bead in her palm, the corners of her mouth curving up into a rather wicked smile. Her System didn’t seem very bright!
A mere chanting spell? Did it not know she was a high school senior—and one who coasted on her family’s status without studying? What was this so-called psychological education but a lullaby?
[Boo-hoo-hoo, how could you do this?] The System rolled around crying in Yan Tingting’s mind. The show still had to go on, after all.
Before long, the blood in her hands was completely absorbed by the jade bead. The emerald-green, translucent bead took on a reddish tint, and suddenly it emitted a soft, pure radiance.
A look of wonder appeared in Yan Tingting’s eyes. With her other hand, she reached out to touch that gentle glow—when the world spun around her, and the scene before her eyes completely changed.
Inside the Spatial Dimension, the parched land was barren, without a blade of grass. But just as the book had said, this space truly stretched beyond sight.
Yan Tingting could sense that she was now the absolute master of this space. The space had two sides, and hidden on the other side was a Stasis Space.
Time was tight. Yan Tingting had no time to study it closely and flashed out of the space.
That phone call her brother had just made—he clearly knew something. She hadn’t paid attention at the time while reading the novel. Could it be that the country had known all along that the Apocalypse was coming?
It made sense. Otherwise, the Yan Nation couldn’t have established the four great bases so quickly after the Apocalypse arrived, and preserved so many survival resources.
The Yan Nation had also fared the best among all nations after the disaster. That explained everything.
Yan Tingting frowned, scribbling on a piece of white paper, when her phone suddenly vibrated.
“Tingting, listen to me. The plane crashed. The situation in the air is bad right now. Yanjing is far from Jincheng, and there are too many uncertainties on the road. Go to the Yan family’s warehouse right now and gather supplies.
Stock up on food and drink—enough to last you a month. We will come get you as soon as possible.
Be careful not to let anyone discover you. Stay in that apartment and don’t go anywhere. Wait for us to come get you…” Yan Fufeng’s voice was anxious.
Crashed? It seemed those extreme weather events were already showing signs.
When the Apocalypse arrived, extreme weather would follow—scorching heat, cold waves, hurricanes, tsunamis, countless zombies, mutated animals and plants, or even some kind of insect…
The living space for humanity would shrink smaller and smaller, and with humanity’s infighting, who knew what would be left of this world after the male and female leads conquered it?
“Hello? Yan Tingting, are you even listening to me? If I’d known, Mom and Dad never should have agreed to break off your engagement, otherwise…”
Yan Tingting snapped back to her senses and quickly cut off Yan Fufeng. “Brother, I’ll do as you say. You and Sister take good care of Mom and Dad. I’m heading out to gather supplies.” With that, she hung up briskly.
She glanced at the time on her phone. It was 12:38 PM on May 28th—more than thirty hours until the Apocalypse erupted.
Yan Tingting grabbed her wallet from the table and hurried out.
Although the Yan family was based in Jincheng, the Yan family owned many businesses, including quite a few large shopping malls and supermarkets in Yancheng—six or seven of them, big and small.
Having received instructions, the Yan family’s businesses had already closed. Yan Tingting went to each one and emptied the malls and supermarkets completely, not even skipping the attached warehouses.
These businesses sold a rich variety of goods—essential grains, meats, fruits, cooked foods, seafood, cooking oils, seasonings, pastries, purified water, daily necessities, appliances, protective equipment, all kinds of tools, medicine, and more. Everything was there.
After emptying the supplies from the Yan family’s businesses, Yan Tingting headed to the largest live poultry market in the area. Although the land in her space was cracked and dry, living creatures could still stay there, in any case.
In her Spatial Dimension, she was the absolute ruler anyway—raising these things wouldn’t take much effort.
She’d get some lambs, chicks, beef cattle, dairy cows, ducks, and so on. Yanjing was the capital, so all kinds of livestock were readily available.
After leaving the live poultry market, she went to the vegetable market. By then it was already six in the evening. Yan Tingting drove her off-road vehicle and made a phone call, calling in a few favors from the Yan Family’s connections to get her hands on quite a lot of gasoline.
Then she headed to the seed market, buying out the merchants’ entire stock without the slightest hesitation. In the first few years of the Apocalypse, hardly anyone bothered collecting these seeds.
Besides, Yan City wasn’t a major agricultural province. While the variety of seeds was complete, the stock wasn’t large.
So in the years after the Apocalypse began, the bases would only send people to the major farming provinces to search for high-yield grain crops.
The dry soil in her Spatial Dimension couldn’t grow anything, but she remembered that after the Apocalypse, some wood-element ability users could accelerate seed growth.
Reselling them later didn’t sound like a bad idea.
As expected, everyone in the Yan Family was a business genius.
By the time she left the seed market, it was already nine-thirty at night. Most shops were closing around this time, but… the night life on the snack street was just getting started!
She then hired some people to help her reserve the inventory of all the major snack streets and famous hotels’ food supplies, as well as everything they could prepare by tomorrow, to be picked up at noon the next day.
After all this was done, only twenty-two hours remained until the Apocalypse. The chanting in Yan Tingting’s mind kept droning on, making her already somewhat dizzy head feel even heavier.
But it wasn’t time to sleep yet. Yan Tingting rested one hand on the steering wheel and rubbed her temple with the other. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a pack of cigarettes in the passenger seat.
Yan Tingting’s gaze froze for a moment. It was left behind by that person. Moments later, a flame flickered to life, and a faint bitter smell of smoke spread through the car as her thoughts drifted away.
[Host, your body is beyond its limits. Aren’t you going back to rest?] The System’s voice cautiously spoke up again.
This host is so difficult, waaah!
Yan Tingting let out a scornful laugh. “So it’s the System, huh? Instead of putting on this fake concern for me, why not just stop this so-called mental education? That would be more sincere, don’t you think, you little piece of trash?”
[I can’t stop it—it has to run for ten hours. Waaah, you really are a vicious female supporting character, such a venomous tongue… But where are you going now? If you make too much noise stockpiling supplies, you’ll get noticed.] Even while wailing, the System couldn’t help asking.
“To eliminate the threats to me, of course!” Yan Tingting tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. She had no intention of leaving any hidden dangers behind.
[Oh… hic… You’re going to kill the female lead!!!] The System finally caught on and let out a sharp shriek.