The countdown to the end of the world: eleven hours and twenty-three minutes remaining.
After seeing off that disgusting bunch, Yan Tingting studied a map of Yanjing for a while, cleared out everything in the house, and left the residential complex.
Then she found a health resort villa in the southern outskirts of Yanjing with few residents nearby, and paid the rent.
After the Apocalypse, Yanjing, with its huge population, became a major disaster zone. Escaping from the city center would be too difficult, so once the Apocalypse arrived, she planned to hide out in Yanping City—which made the southern outskirts the most suitable choice.
It was nearly a two-hour drive from the southern outskirts to the city center. Yan Tingting didn’t go look at the villa. She picked up the cooked food and various snacks she’d ordered the day before, then called the manager of the Yan Family, instructing them to restock as usual and fill up the Yan Family’s supermarkets, stores, and warehouses.
After that, she went to a factory that supplied clothing and equipment exclusively to rescue teams and bought out everything inside.
Then she visited several other nearby factories. Regardless of what they made—cold-weather clothing, heat-resistant clothing, daily necessities, water, milk—she had it all delivered to the Yan Family’s warehouse.
With the money paid in full, all the supplies arrived at the Yan Family warehouse in just five hours. During that time, Yan Tingting also went to the largest local 4S dealership and had more than twenty off-road vehicles and ten RVs modified with the best, toughest materials available.
Six hours until the end of the world.
“Yanjing Express has received news: all citizens, please hurry and stock up on essential supplies at home.
The authorities will begin movement controls at 5 p.m…. Please hurry, citizens…”
Yan Tingting sat in the 4S dealership reading the news on her phone and raised an eyebrow.
“Miss, all your vehicles have been fully modified,” the salesperson said, bending slightly toward Yan Tingting.
“Good, I’ll pay by card!” Yan Tingting had the cars driven to the warehouse, then drove herself to the nearest Yan Family warehouse.
By the time Yan Tingting had stored all the prepared supplies in her Spatial Dimension, it was already 4 p.m.
Only one hour remained before the official controls began. She wasted no more time and sped toward the villa in the southern outskirts.
Just as she left the city, fierce winds suddenly rose. Yan Tingting floored the accelerator just as Yan Fufeng’s call came in. She spoke first, “Big Brother, are you all ready?”
“Don’t worry. What about you? Why are you stockpiling so many supplies? What if someone targets you? Stop worrying about supplies—just focus on staying alive, you hear me?”
Then a woman’s voice came on the line. “Give me the phone… Tingting, don’t get into conflicts with anyone. I promise, Big Sister, within ten days, I will come get you. You must protect yourself, do you understand?” It was Yan Zhaozhao’s voice.
“I know. I’m not in the city center right now. I’m heading to the Lanshan villa district in the southern outskirts. Don’t come looking for me… um… Chen Xuan will take me back. Don’t come!” After thinking it over, this was the only excuse Yan Tingting could come up with to keep the Yan Family from coming to Yanjing.
“What? Yan Tingting, you’re really with Chen Xuan??” Yan Zhaozhao exclaimed in shock, then quickly calmed down. “Lanshan villas are fine too—the security there is top-notch, no worse than your previous place. But I don’t trust that Chen Xuan. You…”
The phone was snatched away by Yan Tingting’s father, Yan Sheng. “Tingting, if it comes to it, you can also go with the Nan Family. The Chen Family has a good reputation, but the Nan Family controls the military—either way, they’re safer. Understand? If Daddy doesn’t hear news from you, I’ll go to the shelters to put up missing person notices. You must come back safe.”
“Dad, I will. Don’t worry—you all stay safe and wait for me to come home.” Tears welled up in Yan Tingting’s eyes.
After another round of instructions, she hung up, gathered her emotions, and kept driving forward.
[Host, don’t worry. As long as you’re alive, the Yan Family will be fine according to the plot.] Seeing Yan Tingting like this, the System softened a little.
Yan Tingting said nothing. She knew, of course—in the original story, the Yan Family only went after Jiang Xinyue after learning the cause of her death, and were then destroyed by her.
At that time, Jiang Xinyue’s power was immense; the great villain was already dead, and the Yan Family’s actions were like an egg striking a stone. But they did it anyway, without hesitation.
In her past life, she had been born into privilege, but her parents divorced when she was young. She owned countless assets, yet had little family affection.
Whether this was the real world or a world inside a book, no one would be allowed to endanger the Yan Family.
The villas on Lan Mountain had few residents, and Yan Tingting barely ran into anyone on her way in. She drove into the villa’s private underground parking spot, stowed the car into her Spatial Dimension, and entered the villa.
That afternoon, she had arranged for people to reinforce the villa. Its walls were lined with electric fencing, the windows had been fortified, and the interior was cleaned out and furnished with high-quality furniture of all kinds.
After inspecting the villa thoroughly, Yan Tingting relaxed and lay down on the sofa, turning on the TV.
There was still over an hour until the apocalypse, and the sky hadn’t fully darkened yet.
On TV, the anchor was still urging the public to stockpile supplies. Videos full of speculation flooded the internet, people were frantically looting every kind of shop, and the supermarkets were packed to bursting.
Meanwhile, Song Jian’s comings and goings at the police station had been captured on video and posted online, along with footage of Jiang Xinyue covering her face the entire time.
She remembered clearly that in her past life, Song Jian hadn’t survived the high fever and had turned into a Zombie right at the start. Jiang Xinyue—good luck to you!
“System, you want me to save the world—so what use are you? Don’t I get any cheats?” Yan Tingting probed the System while organizing the supplies in her Spatial Dimension.
[But the System knows everything! And if the Host completes her missions, the System can apply for generous rewards for you!] the System chirped cheerfully.
“Will I get a Supernatural Ability, then?” Yan Tingting asked lazily.
Surely she wasn’t going to turn into a Zombie right off the bat!
[Of course! How could a vicious female supporting character be useless!] the System declared with full confidence.
“What’s the first mission?” For the first time, Yan Tingting felt genuinely curious about the missions this System kept mentioning.
[Survive after seven o’clock tomorrow evening.] The System was moved to tears of joy—finally, the Host cared about the missions!
“Mm!” Yan Tingting stared at the TV screen with an unreadable expression, the man’s lonely face flashing through her mind.