“Mingxuan, hold down her legs! Don’t let her struggle. Drain all the blood first, or the meat will taste sour!”
The fifth year of the extreme cold apocalypse.
The temperature had fallen to minus sixty degrees.
Inside a dim, freezing basement, Lin Qi was pinned to the filthy floor like a discarded sack.
The one restraining her legs was her fiancé, Song Mingxuan—the man she had once loved with all her heart.
And the one walking toward her with a rusty boning knife and greedy green light shining in her eyes was Zhao Yaqin, the stepmother Lin Qi had devoted herself to supporting for ten whole years!
“M-Mom… Mingxuan…” Lin Qi’s emaciated body trembled violently. Her voice was already hoarse and torn from exhaustion. “I starved myself trying to find food for you… my stomach was practically eaten through from hunger… how could you…”
“Shut up!”
Zhao Yaqin slapped her viciously across the face, greedily staring at the thin scraps of flesh left on Lin Qi’s arm as she swallowed hard.
“Aren’t you supposed to be filial? Don’t you love Mingxuan the most? We’re starving to death right now, so what’s wrong with sacrificing yourself for us?!”
Song Mingxuan twisted Lin Qi’s arms tightly behind her back. His normally refined and gentle face was now warped like a demon’s.
“Qiqi, don’t blame me. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being useless! You can’t even find a single bit of supplies anymore. You already ate that half-moldy piece of bread two days ago. Today… it’s our turn to eat you.”
The moment he finished speaking, Zhao Yaqin let out a savage grin and drove the boning knife straight into Lin Qi’s thigh!
Puchi—
The sound of flesh being shredded echoed clearly through the deathly silent basement.
“AAAHHH—!!!”
An indescribable agony pierced through Lin Qi’s soul in an instant. Blood gushed wildly from the wound, dyeing her despair-filled eyes crimson.
Just before her consciousness sank completely into darkness, she stared fixedly at the two cannibalistic monsters before her and swore the most vicious oath in her heart—
If she were given another life, she would skin them alive, grind their bones to dust, and scatter their ashes to the wind!!
…
“Haah—!”
Lin Qi suddenly opened her eyes.
Like someone rescued from drowning, she shot upright on a spacious king-sized bed, greedily gasping for air.
There was no biting cold.
No moldy stench.
No rusty boning knife.
Only the soft touch of luxurious velvet blankets and warm sunlight pouring in through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Covered in cold sweat, Lin Qi trembled violently as she touched her thigh.
It was completely intact!
No wound. No scar. Her skin even carried the healthy warmth of youth.
Shaking, she grabbed the phone that had fallen beside her pillow.
The screen lit up:
May 15, 202X — 10:00 AM
Lin Qi’s pupils contracted sharply, and her breathing stopped.
She had been reborn!
Reborn thirty days before the natural disasters descended!
Thirty days later, on the midnight of June 15th, the entire world would suddenly be struck by terrifying fifty-degree heatwaves. After that would come catastrophic floods that swallowed cities whole, freezing temperatures of minus sixty degrees, acid rain capable of corroding everything…
Human civilization would completely collapse within just three months.
The world would become a living hell.
Knock knock—
Just as Lin Qi’s thoughts were racing wildly, someone gently knocked on the bedroom door.
“Qiqi, are you awake?”
The door opened, and Song Mingxuan walked in wearing a carefully tailored white dress shirt. In his hands was an exquisite tray carrying a steaming bowl of chicken soup that gave off a rich and enticing aroma.
The moment Lin Qi saw the face that had once pinned her to the floor while she bled to death, killing intent nearly burst from her eyes.
Her fingers dug tightly into the bedsheets until the tips turned white. She used every ounce of willpower to suppress the urge to rush into the kitchen, grab a knife, and hack him to death on the spot.
No.
Killing him now would only earn her a bullet and decades in prison.
She wanted them alive.
Alive to suffer through the coming apocalypse.
Alive to experience a fate worse than death!
“Qiqi, why are you sweating so much? Have you been too tired lately from managing the company?”
Completely unaware that death had already brushed past his neck, Song Mingxuan walked over with a worried expression and sat beside the bed.
He picked up the steaming bowl of chicken soup, gently blew on a spoonful, and brought it toward her lips.
“Come on. Auntie Zhao specially told Wang Ma to make this nourishing chicken soup for you. Drink it while it’s hot.”
A trace of calculation flashed through Song Mingxuan’s eyes as he softly coaxed her.
“Oh, right. Auntie Zhao mentioned that the shares from the supermarket chain your father left behind must be exhausting for you to manage alone. Since everyone’s in a good mood today, why not sign the transfer agreement? Leave the company to me from now on, and you can just relax and be Mrs. Song, okay?”
Looking at the bowl of soup held before her, listening to those nauseating words, Lin Qi suddenly smiled.
In her previous life, she had drunk this very bowl of chicken soup.
It had been drugged with sleeping pills.
Half-conscious and dizzy, she had signed away the final inheritance her father left her.
“Sure.”
A cold smile curved across Lin Qi’s lips.
Without warning, she reached out and snatched the bowl of freshly boiled, scalding-hot chicken soup from Song Mingxuan’s hands.
Then, under his stunned gaze, she raised it and—
Splashed it directly onto his face!
Crash!
The boiling soup mixed with hot oil splattered perfectly across Song Mingxuan’s carefully maintained handsome face!
“AAAHHH—!!!”
A pig-like scream instantly echoed throughout the entire villa.
Song Mingxuan clutched his face and leaped backward from the bedside, rolling around on the floor in agony. Large blisters rapidly formed across his once-fair skin.
“Lin Qi! Are you insane?!” he roared in disbelief while covering his scalded face.
Lin Qi slowly rose from the bed and looked down coldly at Song Mingxuan writhing on the ground like a maggot.
She casually threw the empty bowl at his feet, shattering it into pieces.
Her voice sounded like a demon crawling out from the depths of hell.
“What are you screaming for? My hand just slipped.”
She tilted her head slightly, her eyes icy.
“You’re yelling so loudly… do you want me to pour the rest of the pot straight down your throat too?”