The bus coming from the East District stopped at a station called Wuding, and the passengers who had been waiting in line boarded one after another.
Ling Lan carried a denim backpack on her back and held her younger brother Ling Yun’s little hand as she followed the crowd onto the bus.
After finding two empty seats, she quickly sat down with her brother.
Four year old Ling Yun obediently sat by the window, his two short legs dangling as the handmade frog headband on his head swayed gently with every movement, making him look adorably innocent.
Ling Lan’s heart softened as she gently stroked her brother’s head, then took a strawberry flavored lollipop from her bag. The little boy happily popped it into his mouth.
With the backpack held against her chest, Ling Lan stared blankly out the window, thinking about everything that had happened over the past few days.
Someone sat down beside her. He was a rather burly middle aged man.
As soon as the man sat down, he let out a fart, causing the passengers around him to cover their noses in disgust and frantically wave their hands to drive away the poisonous air.
Completely unconcerned about his rude behavior, the man closed his eyes and went to sleep after sitting down.
Ling Lan looked coldly out the window without saying a word. The man across the aisle was pretending to sleep, but in reality he was secretly watching her and her younger brother. There was no way her sharp senses could be wrong.
The bus was already full, and there was nowhere else for her to move.
She clenched her fists in annoyance, feeling her adrenaline surge. She especially wanted to do something.
She opened her backpack and took out a bottle of mineral water. She first gave her brother a sip, then drank the entire bottle herself.
After barely suppressing her impulse, she thought for a moment and put a few more things into her bag.
She was severely sleep deprived, the whites of her swollen eyes filled with blood vessels, and her face was deathly pale.
The uneasiness caused by the man beside her made her so irritable that she wanted to grab something and smash it against him, like smashing a watermelon until it was completely shattered.
Her emotions were extremely unstable, and she often struggled to control the urge to explode.
On one hand, she was experiencing the devastating pain of losing her grandmother all over again. On the other hand, she had developed trauma from what she had gone through.
When she thought of her grandmother, who had died only a few days ago, Ling Lan’s heart sank further, and she felt as though something was stuck inside her chest.
Her grandmother’s final words to her kept echoing in her mind.
“Lanhua, you and Xiaoyun must live well. Grandma’s only wish is for the two of you to live well.”
Live well.
In her previous life, Ling Lan’s only wish had been to survive, but who could have imagined that simply staying alive would be so difficult?
Three days ago, she had been reborn from the terrifying apocalypse, and it happened to be the day her grandmother was buried.
She had cried herself sick, releasing all the longing she felt for her grandmother, along with the pain and fear she had endured during the apocalypse in her previous life.
After she finished crying, she began thinking about how to save herself when the apocalypse came again.
No matter what happened, she had to survive with her younger brother Ling Yun.
After her grandmother’s funeral was over, Ling Lan once again faced the situation of being driven out of her home.
When Ling Lan was in her second year of high school, her father Ling Pingfan died in a car accident. Not long afterward, her mother Xu Lifen remarried, but the man she married refused to accept Ling Lan and Ling Yun.
Xu Lifen had no choice but to leave the two siblings with their widowed grandmother, Xu Laotai.
Xu Laotai was already old, and living alone was difficult enough. Her only son, Xu Jian, had moved into a new home after getting married and rarely contacted his mother anymore.
After Ling Lan and her brother went to live with their grandmother, their uncle and aunt had even more reason to ignore the elderly woman. They did not visit Xu Laotai even once throughout the entire year.
The old woman had no retirement pension, so she sold some snacks at the entrance of S University, which was not far from home, barely managing to support herself.
Now that she had two more children to care for, she simply did not have enough money or energy. Xu Laotai had no choice but to have a huge argument with her daughter Xu Lifen and demand five hundred yuan in monthly living expenses.
Last year, Ling Lan had scored extremely well in the college entrance examination and was directly admitted to S University.
She had been overjoyed at the time because the university was close to her grandmother’s home, allowing her to take care of the family. That was why she had not chosen a university in another province and instead chose S University, which could also reduce her tuition fees.
Who could have expected that before she even had the chance to start working and supporting her family, her grandmother would pass away after reaching the end of her life.
After her grandmother’s funeral arrangements were completed, her uncle Xu Jian and aunt Li Wanhua began discussing what to do with Ling Lan and Ling Yun.
The couple searched the entire house but could not find anything valuable, so they began plotting to take the house for themselves.
Xu Laotai had been widowed at a young age and had raised one son and one daughter by herself. After her son married, he became completely controlled by his wife, while her daughter remarried and abandoned even her own children. Neither of them was willing to take the old woman in, and neither had ever given her any money.
Everyone in the neighborhood knew that Xu Laotai had struggled to raise her granddaughter and young grandson. The only thing of value was the old house facing the street.
Her uncle and aunt had already put the house up for rent on the very day her grandmother died, planning to consider selling it after a few years.
Although the old house was very old, its location was excellent, so there was no shortage of people interested in renting or buying it. A commercial street was less than five hundred meters away, and the city’s best S University was also nearby.
Yesterday, Xu Jian directly told Ling Lan and Ling Yun to move out.
“Ling Lan, you and Ling Yun have lived here for so long, and as your uncle, I have never said anything. Now that your grandmother is gone, this house cannot continue to be occupied by people who are not part of the Xu family.
I just called your mother and asked her to come over. Say something nice to her and have her figure out how to arrange a place for the two of you.”
Ling Lan stood by the door and looked at her uncle, whom she had not seen for a long time. Her eyes were filled with coldness.
“Fine. I can move out whenever you want.”
Seeing how obedient Ling Lan was being, Xu Jian nodded in satisfaction.
This girl was just like her father Ling Pingfan, honest and timid.
“I will go home first. Wait here for your mother to come over. Remember to pack your things as soon as possible.”
Xu Jian picked up the briefcase from the table and stood in front of the mirror hanging in the living room, arranging his greasy hair. There was not the slightest trace of sadness on his face.
Ling Lan narrowed her beautiful almond shaped eyes, clenching and unclenching her hands.
“Uncle, do you know Teacher Wang from Little Bell Kindergarten? I heard she has a three year old son who looks remarkably similar to my cousin Xu Tian. Don’t you think that is strange?”
The moment Xu Jian heard the words Teacher Wang, the expression on his face changed. He stared at Ling Lan in disbelief.
“I do not know her.”
Ling Lan smiled.
“You don’t know her? Last time, I happened to see someone who looked a lot like Uncle going to a hotel with Teacher Wang. I happened to take a photo. Should I show it to Aunt and Teacher Wang’s husband?”
How could Xu Jian possibly let his wife find out about this? He was so frightened that sweat appeared on his forehead.
“Ling Lan, don’t cause trouble. Your uncle and Teacher Wang are just friends.”
Ling Lan burst out laughing.
“Uncle, I don’t mean anything by it. I just want to stay in this house for another month. Is that okay?”
“Of course. You are my own niece. You can stay as long as you want.”
Xu Jian nodded repeatedly. How could he dare say no now? He was furious and resentful. How had this girl caught him?
Just look at that disgusting face. His attitude was completely different from the way he had been trying to drive them out earlier.
“Then can my dear uncle give me some spending money too?”
He was wrong. How could this brat be like her father? She was clearly more like his slippery younger sister.
Before leaving, Xu Jian took more than a thousand yuan in cash from his briefcase and transferred another three thousand yuan from his private savings to Ling Lan electronically. He also said a great many things asking her not to cause trouble.
Ling Lan assured her uncle that he could relax. She would keep it a secret for him.
She did not actually have a photo. She had only seen the two of them meeting, and had merely been bluffing him.
Not long after Xu Jian left, her mother, Xu Lifen, entered the house with an impatient expression.
Xu Lifen had originally arranged to have skincare treatment with a friend, but her younger brother Xu Jian had called her and asked her to come over and deal with her two burdensome children.
After marrying her current husband, she had been mistreated by her mother in law and stepdaughter, and her life had been unpleasant. In the second year, she gave birth to a son, and because of that, her mother in law’s attitude toward her changed completely. Her husband also doted on her. Aside from that stepdaughter, her life was quite comfortable.
Therefore, there was no way she would bring two burdensome children into her home and disrupt her current life.
She had not left the compensation money from her first husband’s car accident to her children. Every month, she only gave her mother five hundred yuan and ignored everything else.
As for those five hundred yuan every month, Xu Lifen had originally been unwilling to give it.
If her mother, Xu Laotai, had not become furious for the sake of her grandchildren and threatened to cause a scene at her current husband’s workplace if she refused, Xu Lifen would never have obediently taken the money out of her private savings.
When her mother died, she had already made up her mind. Her eldest daughter was already an adult and did not need to be cared for, while she had also found somewhere to send her four year old son.
She glanced at Ling Lan, who was sitting in the corner with her head lowered. In her eyes, Ling Lan still looked as timid and submissive as before, which made her unpleasant to look at.
Little did she know that hatred was surging in the lowered girl’s eyes as she thought about how to deal with this mother she had not seen for a long time.
“Lan’er, your grandmother is gone, so from now on you have to take good care of yourself. You know your mother’s difficulties. It isn’t that I don’t want to raise you, it is just…”
Xu Lifen covered her mouth and began crying as she spoke, making it look as though she truly had some unspeakable difficulty.
Ling Lan raised her head, hiding the emotions in her eyes. She stretched her legs forward, crossed them, and looked at Xu Lifen with a mocking expression.
“It’s just that you have a husband and a son, so you cannot bring two burdensome children with you, right?”
Xu Lifen paused in the middle of pretending to wipe away her tears, momentarily stunned.
“Xiaolan, how can you talk to your mother like that? You are a university student, after all.”
“You are already nineteen years old. I have no obligation to raise you. As for Xiaoyun, I have found somewhere for him to go. You don’t need to worry about him.”
Ling Lan stood up from the stool, casually picked up the glass bottle on the table, and smashed it against the wall. Glass fragments flew everywhere.
“Ahhhhh! What are you doing?”
Xu Lifen was startled and jumped up from the stool.
“Xu Lifen, don’t even think about taking Xiaoyun away. Xiaoyun can only stay with me. Transfer his living expenses and tuition to me all at once.”
At that moment, Ling Lan’s eyes were like those of a wolf, staring at Xu Lifen until her scalp went numb.
Her daughter had always been gentle and obedient. How had she suddenly become a completely different person?
Xu Lifen touched her heart and stubbornly began making a scene.
“Ling Lan, just look at yourself. Look at what your grandmother turned you into! How can you talk to your mother like this? I think all those years of studying have gone to waste. You don’t understand anything.”
Seeing Xu Lifen becoming more and more hysterical, Ling Lan curled the corner of her lips, stood up, and kicked the small stool in front of her with all her strength. It crashed loudly against the floor again.
The noisy shouting stopped.
“My brother Ling Yun and I lived with Grandma, and you only gave us five hundred yuan every month. You never paid a single cent of our tuition, and you never cared when we got sick. I am already nineteen years old, so I don’t need you to raise me, but as his guardian, you have an obligation to raise Ling Yun. If you want to give Xiaoyun away, you will have to do it over my dead body.”
Ling Lan walked up to Xu Lifen and suddenly changed her tone.
“Mom, my stepfather Zhang Tianming has a very good reputation at S University. I don’t mind going back to school tomorrow and telling everyone about our family situation.”
The moment she heard this, Xu Lifen immediately wilted.
Her husband Zhang Tianming was a famous professor at S University. He was highly respected at the university for his professional expertise and refined image.
If this girl caused trouble there, her comfortable life would come to an end.
“Fine, fine. I will still transfer five hundred yuan in support money to you every month, and Xiaoyun can stay with you too. Is that enough?”
The coldness in Ling Lan’s eyes deepened, while the smile at the corners of her lips became even wider.
“Stop wasting time. Transfer one hundred thousand yuan to me all at once.
After that, my brother and I will have nothing to do with you.”
Before Xu Lifen could speak, Ling Lan’s next words directly silenced her.
“Not giving it to me? Then I will go to the university with a loudspeaker and tell everyone that Zhang Tianming used the compensation money from his wife’s former husband to mistreat his stepchildren. How does that sound?
Should I also explain what you did with Zhang Tianming while you were still married to my father?”
Xu Lifen’s face instantly turned pale, and her head began to buzz.
Has this girl been possessed? How had she changed so completely?
Why did everything she said sound exactly like the things her mother had said before she died several years ago?
Xu Lifen nervously glanced at the photograph hanging on the wall. The moment she looked at it, she was startled. Her mother seemed to be glaring at her.
After frightening herself badly, Xu Lifen rubbed the corners of her eyes and softened her voice.
“Lanlan, of course I want to give you more money, but I am really short of cash right now. How about I transfer ten thousand yuan to you first, and then I will find a way to give you more later?”
Ling Lan looked at Xu Lifen as though she were asking whether she was trying to fob off a beggar. Her fake smile made her look both vicious and crazed.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Zhang Tianming also has a daughter at our university, right?
Her name is Zhang Jing. What do you think would happen if I told her classmates all about the things you and her father have done? Wouldn’t that be interesting?”
When Ling Lan mentioned Zhang Jing, she saw Xu Lifen instinctively avert her eyes.
Knowing that she had no choice but to pay a heavy price today, Xu Lifen felt her heart ache.
“Fine, fine. I will transfer one hundred thousand yuan to you. But let me tell you, this is all I have. Don’t ask me for more because I won’t have any.”
With that, Xu Lifen reluctantly transferred one hundred thousand yuan to Ling Lan’s bank account.
She did not want to give it to her, but she had no choice. If these burdensome children caused trouble, she would have no choice but to divorce.
Seeing the look on Xu Lifen’s face as she transferred the money, as though someone were cutting flesh from her body, Ling Lan’s eyes were icy cold.
Someone like this worthy of being called a mother?
If she had not needed money to stock up on supplies, she would have told this woman to get as far away as possible.
She had originally wanted twenty thousand yuan more, but she was also afraid that pushing Xu Lifen too far would make her refuse to give anything at all.
She had too little time to stock up, so she compromised and asked for one hundred thousand yuan.
“It’s getting late. You should go home too. From now on, we are strangers. If we meet, we don’t know each other.”
After saying that, Ling Lan drove Xu Lifen out of the house and closed the door.
Xu Lifen, furious beyond words, grabbed her handbag and left without looking back. This hateful girl was just like her short lived father, equally annoying. If she had known what she would become, she would have strangled her at birth.
After thinking about it, she called her younger brother Xu Jian.
Ling Lan took a plastic bag from beneath the kitchen sink. She pulled a handkerchief out of the bag and brought it into the room before opening it.
Inside were scattered pieces of cash, wrinkled and crumpled, with both bills and coins. There was no need to count it. There was a total of two thousand five hundred and sixty two yuan and sixty cents.
In her previous life, her uncle had also tried to drive the siblings out. Her mother Xu Lifen had told her to support herself and had only taken Xiaoyun away.
At that time, she had not dared to ask for money or resist because she had been timid, cowardly, and pitiful.
She had watched helplessly as Xiaoyun was taken away by Xu Lifen and given to someone else. Only later did she learn that Xiaoyun had died, and that his death had been especially tragic.
Ling Lan took out an old iron box, placed the cash left behind by her grandmother inside it, and put the box into her interspatial space.
That was right. When she was reborn, she had also brought back the spatial ability she had possessed in her previous life.
The space was not very large. It was a cube with an area of roughly one hundred square meters.
She had awakened her spatial ability only after the apocalypse began.
Food that could be eaten during the apocalypse was extremely scarce, so how could she possibly have had a large stockpile of supplies?
People could not enter the space to hide from zombies either, so this ability had been rather useless to her in her previous life.
Inside the space, there was only a Tang sword, along with a small amount of expired compressed biscuits and mineral water.
She threw away the compressed biscuits and mineral water, then took out her Tang sword and carefully ran her fingers over it.
This precious blade, sharp enough to cut through iron as though it were mud, had finally returned to her hands. She had relied on it to survive in the apocalypse.
Now, her spatial ability was no longer useless. It was practically an invincible super cheat.
If she awakened another ability, her chances of survival would be even higher.
However, there were less than three days left before the apocalypse arrived, so she had to hurry and stock up on supplies.