Had she… been reborn?
Was it not an illusion? Not the final hallucination before death?
She turned her head and nearly lunged toward the bedside. Like someone grasping a lifeline, she snatched up the phone lying quietly there.
The cold metal casing touched her palm, making her tremble uncontrollably.
Her fingertips turned slightly pale from the force as she pressed the power button on the side with a fierce determination.
The screen lit up instantly. The soft yet piercingly clear light illuminated her face—one filled with shock, confusion, and utter disbelief.
The time and date appeared clearly. Each number felt like a red-hot iron branding itself mercilessly into her retinas—
June 5, 2055.
Saturday.
7:15 AM.
“2055… June 5…”
Lin Wan muttered the words under her breath, her voice hoarse and dry as she read the simple combination of numbers aloud.
Less than a month remained before the super natural disaster erupted—the catastrophe that had swept across the globe, tearing human civilization apart like paper and plunging her into a frozen hell.
At that moment, the bedroom door was gently pushed open a crack.
“Wanwan? You’re awake?”
Mother Li Shulan’s gentle voice drifted in, carrying the softness of early morning and a trace of concern.
“I thought I heard a lot of noise from your room just now. Did you have a nightmare?”
Lin Wan’s body stiffened as if frozen in place. She suddenly lifted her head, her eyes fixed on the doorway.
That face…
That face which had once turned gray and lifeless in the freezing cold, the one that had held a final, desperate message—now appeared vividly alive behind the door, filled with concern for her.
A surge of overwhelming joy at regaining what had been lost clogged her throat like a solid lump.
She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Only tears rapidly spilled from her eyes.
Seeing her daughter crying, Li Shulan was startled. She quickly pushed the door open and hurried to the bedside, sitting down. Her warm hand touched Lin Wan’s forehead.
“Oh my, what’s wrong? Did it really scare you that badly? Look at all this sweat… What kind of dream made you cry like this?”
Her voice was full of concern.
As the familiar scent of soap and warmth approached, Lin Wan could no longer hold back. She threw herself into her mother’s arms, hugging the warm body tightly. A suppressed sob escaped her throat, and tears instantly soaked her mother’s shoulder.
“Mom… Mom…”
She called out again and again, her voice broken and choked with sobs, filled with bone-deep fear and overwhelming grievance.
“Alright, alright, stop crying. You’re already grown up—still crying like a little kid, aren’t you embarrassed?”
Li Shulan felt a little helpless at her daughter’s sudden outburst, but mostly she felt heartache. She gently patted Lin Wan’s back, just like she had done when comforting her after nightmares as a child.
“Nightmares aren’t real. Once you wake up, it’s over. Don’t be afraid. Mom’s here.”
Lin Wan only shook her head desperately, burying her face deeper into her mother’s neck, greedily absorbing the warmth and scent that truly existed.
This was real.
Her mother was warm. Alive.
Not that silent statue slumped against a freezing wall.
“Oh, right,”
Li Shulan suddenly remembered something. She gently pushed Lin Wan back a little and wiped the tears from her face, her tone carrying a hint of helplessness.
“Your dad went drinking with those old buddies of his again last night. Said they were celebrating the ‘start of a bull market.’ He came back completely drunk.
“I mentioned wanting to buy some nutritional supplements for your maternal grandmother, and he immediately glared at me and said, ‘What do women know? When the stock market opens today, I’ll put the money in and let it roll—double the profit in one go. Then we can buy whatever we want!’ Our little savings… sigh…”
She sighed and didn’t continue, but a layer of worry lingered between her brows.
Savings… the stock market…
Those words struck Lin Wan like icy needles, instantly piercing through the haze of warmth she had been immersed in.
“The money… has it all been invested?” Lin Wan asked, her voice trembling slightly as she looked at her mother with tear-blurred eyes.
“Not yet. He said he’ll invest when the market opens.” Li Shulan’s worried expression deepened.
“Once it’s invested, we’ll only have enough left for daily expenses. No matter what I say, he won’t listen. He keeps insisting that Old Wang has insider information and that it’s guaranteed profit…”
Seeing her daughter’s pale face, her heart softened again.
“Alright, alright, let’s not talk about these troublesome things anymore. Go wash your face and wake up properly. I made the millet porridge you like, and I even added red dates.”
Her mother stood up and closed the door behind her as she left.
The room was left with only Lin Wan—and the pounding of her heart echoing in her chest.
In her previous life, the family savings had vanished… the stock market… Old Wang’s insider information…
All the clues connected instantly in her mind, pointing to one cold and unmistakable truth—
Her father had been a victim lured into a trap by “insider information,” and that so-called Old Wang was very likely connected to the mastermind behind it.
Lin Wan suddenly threw off the blanket and stepped barefoot onto the warm wooden floor. In a few quick strides she rushed to the window and yanked the heavy curtains open with a sharp swish.
Outside was the bright June morning sunlight, almost blinding in its intensity.
In the residential garden below, lush greenery thrived. Several elderly people were slowly practicing tai chi, while birds chirped endlessly. The scene was peaceful and tranquil.
Who could have imagined that in just over ten days, this place would become a scorching hell?
At that moment, the crisp ringing of a bicycle bell sounded from below, followed by a woman’s cheerful call.
“Wanwan! Lin Wan! Come down quickly!”
Lin Wan’s back instantly tensed like a bow drawn to its limit.
Slowly—inch by inch—she lowered her head, her gaze turning cold as it fell toward the ground below.
At the entrance of the unit three floors down, a woman wearing a floral dress stood beside a bicycle. Her hair was carefully styled, and she was looking up with the same sweet, flawless smile that Lin Wan remembered clearly even in the moment before her death in her previous life.
It was Zhou Qing—her childhood friend and coworker.
Zhou Qing casually swung a bottle of mineral water in her hand. It was chilled, faint wisps of cool mist clinging to the surface, reflecting dazzling light in the morning sun.
“Wanwan!”
Zhou Qing raised her voice slightly, deliberately sounding affectionate.
“They forecast another orange heat warning today! I saw your curtains open, so come down! Look what I brought you—ice-cold! Perfect for cooling off!”
She shook the water bottle, her smile still impeccable.
“Come down quickly! I’m waiting for you!”
Lin Wan remembered that bottle from her previous life.
That bottle of water…
During the extreme-heat apocalypse, Zhou Qing had handed it to her with fake concern—poisoned water that ultimately made her collapse in agony and lose her supplies.
The bone-deep pain from that moment…
Her younger brother’s frozen body after they lost their last supplies…
Her father and mother’s desperate figures frozen beside the window…
All the memories exploded at that instant.
A cold, murderous intent erupted in her chest like volcanic magma, instantly flooding her limbs and shattering every trace of reason.
Lin Wan suddenly pushed open the window. The early-summer breeze rushed in, lifting the sweat-damp strands of hair on her forehead.
She looked down at the sweet-smiling woman below, her eyes filled with hatred.
“Get lost!”
The single word crashed down clearly and coldly, filled with blood-soaked hatred and undisguised killing intent.
The smile on Zhou Qing’s face froze instantly. The hand holding the bottle stopped mid-air, and a flash of shock and disbelief passed through her eyes, as if she had never expected such a reaction.
Lin Wan’s gaze locked onto the swaying mineral water bottle reflecting the sunlight, as though she could see her past self collapsing in agony through it.
She suddenly raised her hand and pointed straight at Zhou Qing. Each word burst from her teeth like shards of ice.
“Zhou Qing! Take your filthy bottle of water and get the hell away from me!”
Her voice was not loud, but it carried a chilling determination that pierced the air.
After shouting at Zhou Qing, Lin Wan turned around and slammed the window shut.
A cold, merciless curve slowly formed at the corner of her lips as she spoke word by word:
“What you owe me… sooner or later, you’ll repay it all.”