Inside Gu Ziming’s villa.
Gu Ziming was also watching the lottery numbers being announced. Although 200 million was not a significant sum to him, the fact that Lin Fan had failed to secure it was an enormous victory.
Gu Ziming did not know exactly how much money Lin Fan had, but it would not exceed 10,000.
After Lin Fan’s parents passed away, he had relied on student loans to attend university. He had only recently started working and had very little cash. The only valuable asset he possessed was the apartment his parents had left him.
When the apocalypse arrived, a cash-strapped Lin Fan might even resort to online loans.
As long as both avenues were blocked, Lin Fan would not be able to accumulate many supplies, let alone renovate any kind of safe house.
Financial pressure was only the appetizer. Once Lin Fan had neither supplies nor shelter, even if Gu Ziming did nothing, survival would be nearly impossible for him.
[Ding! Host has intercepted 200 million in development funds from protagonist Lin Fan. Destiny +18,888.]
Looking at the surge of destiny points, Gu Ziming could not help but sigh. This strike had cut straight into Lin Fan’s main artery.
He looked forward to seeing Lin Fan’s expression when he went to claim the prize the next day.
The next morning.
Lin Fan had been so excited that he barely slept, yet he still woke up energetic.
Wearing a T-shirt printed with an exploding sun and a Pinocchio long-nose mask, Lin Fan walked into the provincial lottery office to claim his prize.
“What?”
A furious roar shattered the quiet of the lottery office.
“You’re saying I only won one ticket? 2,000 yuan?” Lin Fan bared his teeth like a lion ready to devour prey, glaring at the staff member in front of him.
“Yes, sir. There were a total of 100,001 winning tickets for the grand prize. You received approximately 2,000 yuan,” the staff member replied calmly. He did not seem to notice Lin Fan’s anger. Instead, he found the Pinocchio mask amusing and joked, “At least you don’t need to pay tax, sir. If you had won the whole amount, the tax alone would have been 40 million.”
Lin Fan did not hear the joke. When he learned that there were 100,001 winning tickets, his mind buzzed violently.
“How could this happen? How could this happen? That’s not right! Could my rebirth have been a dream?”
He muttered to himself as he completed the claim process, remaining in a dazed state.
It was not until he stepped out of the lottery office and felt the sharp glare of sunlight pierce his eyes that he regained clarity.
No. It was not a dream.
Those six months of suffering had been real, every second etched into his memory.
The scorching heat burning his skin. The agony of being stabbed over a piece of spoiled meat. The fury of being betrayed by the woman he loved.
Everything in his memories told him that the apocalypse was real.
The anomaly lay with the lottery. Perhaps someone had insider information. With such a massive prize, temptation was understandable.
Lin Fan clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and steadied his gaze.
…
Meanwhile.
Gu Ziming did not overthink it. After taking certain precautions, he claimed the prize in batches.
The lottery shops in the neighboring city experienced a surge in business due to the jackpot. Whenever a customer entered, the shop owners boasted endlessly about how someone had bought tickets there and won big.
After collecting his winnings, Gu Ziming returned to his villa estate and carefully calculated his assets.
There were 28 days left before the apocalypse. It was time to begin constructing a shelter and stockpiling supplies.
The location for the shelter had already been chosen: within his own villa estate.
The Gu family estate sat on East Mountain along the city’s second ring road. The entire mountain was a luxury villa district, but the Gu family occupied the largest portion. Everything above the mountainside belonged to them. The estate covered over 4,000 square meters, and the villa itself occupied more than 800 square meters.
Gu Ziming’s plan was simple. First, reinforce the villa to ensure it was livable and secure. To truly shield against intense ultraviolet radiation, extreme heat, and other dangers, he would build an underground shelter connected to the villa’s basement, extending it deeper and wider for additional protection.
This alone would take about a month.
At the same time, he needed to accumulate sufficient supplies. Although he could not store everything in space like the protagonist, he could build warehouses within the estate. He also had his Villain’s Space, measuring 20 meters in length, width, and height.
And it could be upgraded.
“System, what are the conditions to upgrade the Villain’s Space?”
[1,000 destiny points may be exchanged for 1,000 cubic meters of space. 1,000 destiny points is the minimum exchange unit.]
Looking at his current total of around 20,000 destiny points, Gu Ziming calculated. Clothing, beds, electrical appliances, most weapons, and other non-perishable industrial goods, along with domestic water supplies, could be stored within the estate. Meat, grains, drinking water, and medicine could be placed in the Villain’s Space.
As for vegetables, he would store only enough for backup. He planned to build a hydroponic cultivation room dedicated to growing vegetables for personal consumption. In this way, vegetables could be self-sustained, allowing the storage space to prioritize grains and meat, which offered higher utility.
“System, exchange for 12,000 cubic meters of space.”
Adding that to the original 8,000 cubic meters, he would have 20,000 cubic meters in total. That would be more than enough for food and water storage.
The remaining destiny points would be reserved.
[Ding! Exchange successful. Congratulations, Host. Villain’s Space upgraded to 20,000 cubic meters.]
With the space ready, all that remained was to start buying aggressively.
…
At Lin Fan’s home.
Lin Fan lay weakly on the sofa.
Now he faced a real problem.
Money makes the man. Without money, even a hero struggles.
Just as Gu Ziming had guessed, Lin Fan had only a little over 6,000 yuan in cash.
He had just received last month’s salary.
Lin Fan and Qin Feifei had been in the same academic year but attended different universities. Lin Fan enrolled in a second-tier university next to Donghai University.
That was typical. Protagonists rarely had excellent grades before rebirth or transmigration. Unfortunately, Lin Fan had been reborn too late. He had not returned before his college entrance exams.
After graduating with his bachelor’s degree, he entered the workforce, while Qin Feifei continued to pursue a master’s degree.
Deep in Lin Fan’s heart, he held a secret belief. He felt that he had been supporting Qin Feifei’s graduate studies because he frequently treated her to meals.
Wasn’t eating and drinking on his money a form of support?
That was why Lin Fan had been so enraged when he believed she had betrayed him.
In reality, Lin Fan had been the one constantly inviting Qin Feifei out. She found it difficult to repeatedly refuse a childhood neighbor and friend, so she occasionally agreed. Feeling guilty about not reciprocating directly, she asked her mother to often send food or daily necessities to Lin Fan, hoping to repay him in that way.
But in Lin Fan’s reborn perspective, it became proof that her family had been trying to use small favors to seize the apartment his parents had left him.
As Lin Fan rose from the sofa to prepare a packet of instant noodles, he said through clenched teeth, “In this life, I swear I will repay all the harm you caused me tenfold. And that rich second-generation bastard too.”