Lin Jiaojiao covered her face, eyes wide in disbelief. The sharp sting left her stunned for a moment before she sharply demanded, “Ruan Ning! How dare you hit me?!”
She had never had a finger laid on her before!
Beside her, Lin Wanyun’s usual gentle mask shattered with a “crack.” She stepped forward, shielding her daughter behind her. Her gaze was like a poisoned needle, fixed tightly on Ruan Ning, though her voice still tried to maintain its usual tone, tinged with suppressed coldness: “Ningning! How can you lay hands on your sister? Why can’t you just talk things out? Jiaojiao meant well!”
The afternoon sunlight in the parking lot was harsh. Ruan Ning stood tall in the light and shadow. Her once-clear eyes were like a frozen lake’s surface, reflecting the twisted faces of the mother and daughter opposite her.
She lightly shook the hand that had just struck, as if it had touched something dirty.
“Meant well?” Ruan Ning sneered quietly but clearly enough for them to hear, full of unhidden sarcasm. “The ‘kindness’ of coveting someone else’s mother’s heirloom? Or the ‘kindness’ of treating me like a fool?”
Her gaze swept over the velvet box holding the diamond bracelet in Lin Jiaojiao’s hand, the contempt in her eyes almost spilling over.
“Lin Jiaojiao, you and your mother can keep your rotten scheming inside your bellies, but you have to put it right in front of me to disgust me?” Ruan Ning stepped forward fiercely. Her aura sharpened suddenly—that fierce energy forged from rolling through mountains of corpses and seas of blood in the apocalypse—forcing Lin Jiaojiao to instinctively step back half a step, and even Lin Wanyun’s breath caught.
“That bracelet was left to me by my mother,” Ruan Ning said coldly. “Who do you think you are, to even touch it? Trading it for that broken chain of yours? You’re trying to bribe a beggar?”
“You…” Lin Jiaojiao trembled with anger, her face flushing red and white as she pointed at Ruan Ning. “Ruan Ning, you’re crazy! How dare you talk to me like this! Dad won’t let you get away with it!”
“Oh?” Ruan Ning raised a brow, her tone calm but deadly threatening. “Then you’re welcome to tell him. While you’re at it, maybe he should know how you two have been scheming to steal away the last remnant of his deceased wife’s memory from his own daughter.”
Lin Wanyun’s expression changed drastically. Ruan Chenyang’s feelings for his late wife were complicated, but if this matter blew up, they’d be in the wrong, possibly ruining the image she’d built with him over the years.
“Ningning, you misunderstood. We just…” Lin Wanyun tried to salvage the situation.
“Shut up.” Ruan Ning cut her off ruthlessly, her eyes like knives. “Lin Wanyun, stop your hypocritical act. I was foolish before, fooled by you all. But from now on—”
Her gaze slowly swept across their shocked faces, each word weighted and sharp as a hammer:
“No one touches what’s mine. Including your disgusting schemes.”
Having said that, she no longer looked at the mother and daughter with their faces turning pale, but decisively opened her car door and got behind the wheel.
The engine started, and the car sped off, leaving Lin Jiaojiao stomping her foot in frustration with her face covered, and Lin Wanyun standing still, her gaze so cold it seemed to drip venom.
Through the rearview mirror, Ruan Ning watched their shrinking figures and curled her lips into a cold smile.
That slap was only the beginning.
The real show was yet to come.
The car entered the underground garage of a heavily secured luxury apartment in the city center. Ruan Ning carried the last batch of supplies straight to the elevator.
With a soft “beep,” the elevator took her directly to her floor. A one-elevator-one-apartment design ensured absolute privacy.
Opening the heavy security door, what greeted her was no longer the simple modern décor, but a newly renovated “safe house.”
All windows were replaced with thick bulletproof glass, reinforced inside with sturdy metal grilles. The curtains were made of heavy blackout material that could completely isolate inside from outside when drawn.
The front door had been replaced with a bank vault-grade security door, heavy and requiring considerable strength to open.
This was the other major task she had worked on in the past few days besides stockpiling supplies—turning this little-known secret base into a solid fortress.
She put down her things, locked the door behind her, and carefully checked all the reinforced doors and windows again. Only after confirming everything was foolproof did she slowly exhale.
This place would be her most important stronghold in the early days of the apocalypse.
She would never return to that so-called “home” again.
Thinking of her father, Ruan Chenyang, any last bit of warmth in Ruan Ning’s heart had completely frozen over.
In her previous life, as a wandering soul after death, she saw with her own eyes that after discovering Lin Jiaojiao had pushed her into the zombie horde, her father’s initial shock and anger lasted only a moment before reality’s cruelty and his own cowardice crushed it.
Not only did he not seek justice for her, but under Lin Jiaojiao’s hypocritical tears and promises of “I’ll take good care of Dad from now on, and my space ability will make his life comfortable,” he chose silence and acceptance.
How ridiculous. So-called parent-child love was as thin as paper when faced with survival and interests.
Because Lin Jiaojiao was his illegitimate daughter, those years of “treating her as his own” were merely his guilt and a show to maintain surface harmony. Once his own safety and comfort were at stake, this legitimate daughter could be discarded anytime.
So selfish, so cold.
Ruan Ning walked to the window and peered through the metal grille slats at the bustling, neon-lit city below. This prosperity would last less than forty-eight hours.
Her gaze was icy, without a trace of emotion.
Turning, she entered the bedroom, locked the door, and with a thought, entered the jade bracelet’s space.
The space remained tranquil, with moist earth and a bubbling spring. The white mist around the spring seemed thicker than before, and with each breath, a faint warm current seeped into her limbs, easing the fatigue of recent days.
She walked to the spring, scooped a handful of water. It was cool and refreshing. She carefully took a sip, and a warm current spread instantly, dispelling physical fatigue and invigorating her spirit.
“This spring water… is indeed special,” Ruan Ning said with a flash of surprise in her eyes.
In the previous life, Lin Jiaojiao used this space to fake her ability and lived in glory, but Ruan Ning vaguely felt that Jiaojiao hadn’t fully uncovered the secrets of the space, at least no news of any special use of the spring water.
Perhaps, because she was the true heir of her mother’s bloodline, she could perceive and use the space’s power more deeply?
Without hesitation, she took off her coat, sat cross-legged by the spring, closed her eyes, and began trying to guide the warm current to circulate within her body.
She didn’t understand any cultivation methods and could only rely on instinct, using her mind to sense and direct.
Time seemed to flow more slowly in the space.
After an unknown length of time, when she opened her eyes again, the world felt much clearer. Her body was light, senses sharp. She could even faintly catch snippets of conversations from distant streets outside the window.
She raised her hand, clenched her fist, and felt a power surging through her muscles far stronger than before.
“Not enough yet,” Ruan Ning whispered.
She knew that in the early apocalypse, zombies moved slowly and were relatively weak. With her current physical condition and knowledge of the future, she could survive carefully.
But in the late apocalypse, evolved zombies with greater speed and strength, and even mutants with special abilities, would appear. Human ability users would also gradually grow.
To truly control her destiny, stockpiling supplies and prophecy alone were insufficient. She had to become strong herself.
She glanced at the mountain of supplies in the space and then at the growing power within her body, her gaze resolute.
There was still more than a day left.
She decided not to go out before the apocalypse officially broke out. Instead, she would stay in this safe house, use the space’s spring water and this time to improve her physical and mental strength as much as possible.
She ate some high-energy food quickly, then opened her phone and started ordering takeout—a big pile of dishes, snacks, milk tea, and so on. While waiting for delivery, she returned to the spring in the space to continue her clumsy but effective “training.”
Resting when tired, eating when hungry, and continuing to guide the warm current once her spirit recovered.
A cycle.
Outside, the sky changed from bright blue to dusk yellow, then pitch black, before gradually turning to dawn gray.
The city still slept or, more accurately, enjoyed the last calm before the storm.
Ruan Ning stood by the reinforced window, looking at the faintly lit horizon, her eyes sharp like a drawn blade.
She knew that when the sun rose again, the bloody disaster sweeping the globe would arrive on time.
And she was ready.
This time, she would no longer be the Ruan Ning who was slaughtered and betrayed by her loved ones.
This time, she would watch those who owed her struggle—and pay their dues—in the apocalypse.