Chapter 1 Rebirth

My head was throbbing, as if I were being pierced repeatedly by countless red-hot steel needles.

Even more terrifying is the excruciating pain of broken bones, which explodes from every part of the body, accompanied by the teeth-grinding sound of flesh being torn apart.

"Well……"

Ruan Ning suddenly opened her eyes, her violent breathing caught in her throat, turning into a broken sob.

Instead of a horde of zombies wreaking havoc and emitting a foul stench, what came into view was a familiar yet unfamiliar princess bed canopy adorned with delicate gauze curtains.

She was enveloped in a soft down comforter, and the air was filled with the faint scent of gardenia incense, a fragrance she used to love.

Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the off-white curtains, casting a blinding patch of light on the floor.

Warm, clean, and safe.

Wasn't she already dead? Wasn't she already a spirit? Wasn't she only supposed to stay by Lin Jiaojiao's side?

The last images before her death clung to her like maggots, relentlessly binding her nerves—Lin Jiaojiao's twisted yet triumphant face, as clearly captured in a close-up shot as she was grabbed by several rotting hands and thrown backward into a horde of stinking zombies.

Those eyes were filled with the smug satisfaction of a successful scheme and the contempt of trampling her underfoot.

"My dear sister, a useless person without any superpowers should just die..."

That sentence, amidst the roars of zombies and the terrified screams of her companions, slithered into her eardrums like a venomous snake.

Hatred, like boiling magma, instantly washed away the dazedness and confusion of rebirth.

Ruan Ning suddenly sat up in bed, threw off the covers, stepped barefoot onto the cold floor, and rushed to the dressing table.

The mirror reflected a pale but young face, about eighteen or nineteen years old, with a clear look in the eyes that still belonged to that age and had not been completely erased by the apocalypse.

But at this moment, his eyes were churning with a fierce and icy aura that was completely out of character for his age, almost solidified into a tangible force.

Her gaze was fixed on her left wrist.

There, quietly rested, was a jade bracelet of vibrant green. Its texture was warm and smooth, its color translucent; it was a keepsake left to her by her mother.

In her past life, it was this bracelet that, after her death, allowed her soul to stay by Lin Jiaojiao's side, and she only then discovered that it contained a huge personal space.

And it, without her knowledge, was tricked away by Lin Jiaojiao, becoming the other party's greatest asset in the apocalypse, allowing her to pretend to be a precious space ability user and live a prosperous life!

Ruan Ning, however, was kept in the dark and, like a fool, struggled to survive because she had not awakened any special abilities. In the end, she was pushed into hell by her trusted "sister"!

It was only after spending three years by Lin Jiaojiao's side that Ruan Ning realized how vicious and hypocritical Lin Jiaojiao was beneath her gentle and harmless face.

It turns out she had long hated Ruan Ning.

Because of Ruan Ning and her mother Ji Wan, Lin Jiaojiao and her mother Lin Wanyun have been able to continue their clandestine existence.

It wasn't until Ji Wan passed away from illness that Lin Jiaojiao and her mother were allowed to move in.

However, in front of Ruan Ning, she was always seen as Ruan Ning's father Ruan Chenyang's stepdaughter, not his biological daughter. Her good father Ruan Chenyang wanted them to keep it a secret from Ruan Ning, so that Ruan Ning wouldn't know that Lin Jiaojiao was actually an illegitimate child.

After her death, Ruan Ning finally learned the truth, but as a spirit, no matter how angry she was, she could not take revenge or seek justice for her mother.

Thinking of this, Ruan Ning's heart pounded wildly due to the intense emotional turmoil, pounding against her chest with a drum-like sound.

Ruan Ning took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. She remembered that Lin Jiaojiao had told her mother, Lin Wanyun, in her previous life that the bracelet was bound to its owner by blood.

Thinking of this, she quickly used an eyebrow razor to cut her index finger, dripping a drop of blood onto the bracelet.

Blood slowly seeped into the bracelet, and then the bracelet suddenly transformed into a stream of light and entered Ruan Ning's wrist.

When Ruan Ning looked again, she saw a bright green four-leaf clover pattern on her wrist, like a tattoo.

Ruan Ning stroked the four-leaf clover, "Go in..." she murmured to herself, "Let me in!"

The moment I focused my mind, a slight feeling of dizziness washed over me.

When I opened my eyes again, everything around me had completely changed.

She stood in a gray, hazy space, with damp, dark brown earth beneath her feet, an area about the size of a football field.

In the center of the space, there is a spring bubbling with fresh water. The clear spring water gathers into a small pool, and a light white mist hangs over the edge of the pool, exuding a refreshing atmosphere.

Beside the spring stands a quaint little bamboo building that resembles a warehouse.

Ruan Ning walked quickly to the bamboo house and pushed open the door.

It was empty inside, but the space was enormous. After she died, Lin Jiaojiao mentioned that the space had the function of preserving time by stopping it.

It's true! My mother's bracelet really is a space! And it even seems to have a magical spring inside!

A wave of ecstasy washed over her, but it was quickly overwhelmed by a deeper sense of hatred and urgency.

She clearly remembered that the apocalypse would arrive a week later.

On that day, the sky will turn an ominous blood red, then meteorites will fall from the sky, a virus will infect more than 60 percent of the world's 10 billion people, causing persistent high fevers and hospitals to be overcrowded.

In an instant, electricity, water supply, and communications were all paralyzed, plunging humanity into panic.

Three days later, some of the feverish humans mutated into monsters that only knew how to devour flesh and blood.

Order collapsed, civilization fell, and the human world was turned into a purgatory.

One week! She only has one week!