“Why are you saying all this?
Why tell me this?”
Caleb Grant had only one thought at this moment: Ginny Jarvis wanted to recruit him.
Otherwise, there was no reason for her to seek him out.
According to what she said, he must have trusted her deeply in her previous life, or else he wouldn’t have brought her to his private lab.
With this thought, the suspicion in Caleb’s eyes faded significantly.
“I need weapons, but I don’t have the channels.
In my past life, I didn’t awaken my Space Ability until a day after the zombie virus outbreak, so I couldn’t buy weapons from abroad.
You, on the other hand, had amassed a massive arsenal within the first year of the apocalypse.
So…”
Ginny’s voice trailed off.
She was feeling genuinely guilty; after all, it was her own fault for trusting the wrong people in her past life.
“But what if the zombie virus doesn’t break out in this life?
Have you considered that possibility?”
“I have.
I’ve even wondered if this so-called ‘past life’ of mine is just a dream.
But the memories of that life are too vivid.
I have to prepare in advance.”
Caleb lowered his head, lost in thought for a long time.
Finally, he looked up at Ginny and said slowly, “I’ll handle the weapons.
Let’s just hope the zombie virus actually breaks out, or else we’re both going to end up dead meat.”
“I actually hope it doesn’t break out.
I’d rather be sent to King Yama for arms trafficking.
Truly, Caleb, the apocalypse is beyond anything you can imagine.”
After a moment of silence, Ginny spoke again.
“The movies only show a tenth of it, maybe even a hundredth.
I survived five years in the apocalypse in my past life.
Right up until the moment I died, research on the zombie virus had barely made any progress.
There were even scientists who deliberately let zombies bite them just to test the efficacy of experimental drugs, leaving the others to observe the results on their bodies.
Caleb, in this life, I want to do everything in my power to change things.”
“Even if you end up changing nothing and losing your life?”
Ginny nodded firmly.
Perhaps moved by her sincerity and resolve, a voice in Caleb’s head told him that he could trust her for now.
“Alright, I understand.
I’ll take care of the weapons, but I don’t have the funds.”
“I’ll provide the money.
You just need to find the suppliers.”
“Deal.”
“Aren’t you afraid I’m just making up a story to trick you?”
Caleb scoffed.
“No one knows about this place except me.
If you’re truly capable enough to investigate me this thoroughly and concoct such a story just to deceive me, then I’ll accept my loss.”
Ginny couldn’t describe her current mood.
She didn’t even dare to look Caleb in the eyes, allowing a long silence to linger between them.
Ultimately, it was Caleb who broke the quiet.
“What kind of weapons do you need?
Give me the specifics.”
After hashing out the remaining details with Caleb, Ginny left.
Watching her go, Caleb suddenly realized that he might have trusted her too easily.
Had they really just agreed to a partnership just like that?
“I hope things are exactly as you say.
We’ll touch base in a week then.
I really hope you’re right.”
Caleb recalled the three events Ginny claimed would occur over the next week before she left: the police would finally catch a murderer who had been on the run for over a decade, the Breven municipal government would undergo a massive leadership reshuffle, and an ancient tomb would be unexpectedly unearthed in Cromwell.
He figured that, with the exception of the last one, there was no way Ginny could have found out about these matters in advance.
He decided to wait and see; if these events actually came to pass, he would start contacting suppliers.
Either way, the best-case scenario was the apocalypse arriving right after he secured the goods.
Otherwise, he couldn’t guarantee he’d successfully smuggle all that contraband right under the government’s surveillance network.
On her way back, Ginny kept pondering how to gather the top rankers from her past life’s Ability leaderboards.
After all, she had hired a private investigator to look into them right after she was reborn.
It had been quite a while, so there should be results soon.
She quickly descended the mountain and headed back to Breven.
On October 28th, Ginny received an update from the private investigator.
They had found the evidence, but it would be rather difficult to bring the culprits to justice.
The siblings fell silent as they looked at the files and photos sent by the investigator.
Neither of them had expected that it was their father’s secretary of over a decade who had ultimately betrayed him, leaking his whereabouts to Xander Kane and his accomplices.
However, that person had already fled abroad.
Pressed for time, the siblings simply couldn’t afford to go overseas to catch him.
“The main culprit, Xander Kane, definitely won’t get away,” Sean Kane said, gnashing his teeth as he glared at the photos in his hands.
Ginny frowned.
“We don’t have enough evidence, and our time is limited.
Sean, we’ll wait for the apocalypse.”
“I…
alright.” Sean tossed the documents aside.
“Jarvis, we’ve been changing our disguises every day to hoard supplies lately, but it’s not safe in the long run.
We might have to take a risk with the remaining goods.
We’ll have the deliverymen send them straight to the warehouse.
We can’t show our faces anymore.”
“We’ll find a good excuse to fool them for now.
Tomorrow, we’ll go pay a visit to our dear Uncle Xander.”
The next day.
Ginny and her brother arrived at the Kane Group early in the morning.
The company was currently being managed by Xander Kane, so the two headed straight to his office.
“Oh my, Shannon, what brings you two here?
Have you been having fun lately?”
Sean irritably ran a hand through his hair.
“Uncle Xander, don’t even mention it.
It’s so frustrating.
Can you give us a little more of the money from our shares?
A while ago, I listened to a friend’s nonsense about Bitcoin being a sure thing.
I dumped half our money into it, and now it’s all gone.
Ugh.
Thank goodness Jarvis used the remaining funds to buy some pork and stuff.
Word is that pork prices are going to skyrocket by the end of the year, so we’re hoping to recoup some of our losses.
What a massive headache.”
Standing to the side, Ginny looked at Sean with a wronged expression.
She muttered, “At least I exchanged it for actual goods.
You just lost it all, and yet you’re still lecturing me.
Hmph.”
At those words, the siblings watched Xander’s face twist into an expression of utter agony—most likely because his heart was bleeding over the lost money.
Indeed it was.
Xander and Shane Dawson had previously discussed their plans: they intended to wait a while before telling Sean that the company was having cash flow issues.
They planned to borrow one or two billion from him, repay it with a bit of interest to build trust, and then borrow an even larger sum later.
Who could have known this idiot would actually squander so much money on his own?
“How much money is left?”
Kicking the floorboards, Sean said impatiently, “A few hundred million.
We bought an overseas estate.
Uncle Xander, lend me a billion for now.
I’ll turn this around quickly, I swear!
I can even pay you back two billion when the time comes.
Uncle Xander, trust me on this.”
Sean played the part of a hopeless, degenerate gambler to absolute perfection.
As expected, Xander’s eyes filled with disdain.
He then feigned bitter disappointment, pretending to be frustrated by their failure to meet his expectations.
“Shannon, how did you siblings end up like this?
I won’t give you a single cent.
Figure it out yourselves.”
“Uncle Xander, you can’t just—”
Before Sean could finish, Xander cut him off.
“Leave.
I have a meeting to attend.
Don’t make a scene and force me to call security.
It’ll just be ugly for all of us.”
Sean viciously kicked the coffee table.
“Fine!
If you won’t lend it to me, I’ll go to a loan shark!
I refuse to believe my luck won’t turn around…”
With that, he stormed out in a huff.
Ginny scoffed at Xander and followed right on Sean’s heels.
The moment they left, Xander called Shane Dawson.
“I told you!
How could those two brats possibly be hatching a conspiracy?
You overestimate them way too much.
They just came here begging to borrow money!
Hahaha, you can rest easy.”
“Alright.
But just to be safe, keep a close eye on them.”
“Fine, fine, I know.” Hanging up the phone, Xander’s face turned livid.
“Hmph, like I need you to teach me what to do?
Pah…
You’re nothing but a kept man.
What right do you have to lecture me?
‘Keep an eye on them’—what’s there to watch?
Typical shortsightedness.”
Having left the office, Ginny and her brother reached the ground floor.
They exchanged a glance and instantly burst into laughter.
“Alright, let’s go.
The crisis is temporarily averted, but we’ll need to be extremely careful from here on out.
We’ll let them gloat for another half a month,” Sean said, before grabbing Ginny’s arm and leading her away.