“Miss Tang, you’re awake! President Gu said that as soon as you wake up, you should return to work at the company.”

 

Tang Xiaoman jolted awake to find herself lying in a hospital bed. A nurse was standing beside her, urging her to get back to work.

 

A cold light flashed in her eyes. She yanked the needle from the back of her hand, ready to throw herself into battle.

 

Four years in the apocalypse had hardened her. She was no longer the weak, easily bullied girl she once was.

 

They wanted to harvest her kidney? She would fight them to the death. If she had to bleed, she’d make them bleed with her.

 

“President Gu” referred to Gu Heng, the CEO of the Gu Corporation—and Tang Xiaoman’s fiancé.

 

Just thinking about the man’s hypocrisy and cruelty made her eyes turn red with hatred. She wanted nothing more than to tear him apart limb by limb.

 

For four years after the apocalypse began, she had stayed by Gu Heng’s side without ever leaving him. To protect their supplies, she had fought through countless battles, blood soaking her clothes again and again.

 

Using her spatial ability, she had stored food and materials for him, keeping them safe from looters.

 

But once the supplies in her space were finally exhausted, he had shown his fangs without hesitation.

 

She became a living blood bank for his beloved Su Rou—his so-called “white moonlight.” In the end, when she refused to donate a kidney, she was killed in battle…

 

Wait.

 

Wasn’t she dead?

 

Then why had she opened her eyes again? Why was a nurse urging her to return to work?

 

The apocalypse had lasted four years already. What work could possibly still exist?

 

The nurse stared at Tang Xiaoman in shock. The woman had just woken up, yet murderous intent radiated from her like a storm. Thinking the patient must have suffered some mental trauma, the nurse hurried out to call someone.

 

A moment later, the door opened and an assistant walked in.

 

“ Tang Xiaoman, you’re finally awake. President Gu has asked about your condition several times. Since you’re conscious now, please return to work immediately.”

 

Shu Jia’s face showed undisguised impatience and disdain.

 

Tang Xiaoman’s pupils shrank sharply.

 

Shu Jia had died in the first year of the apocalypse. Why was she standing here again?

 

The scene before her felt strangely familiar…

 

Then it came back to her.

 

One month before the apocalypse began, she had pushed herself too hard at work and collapsed from exhaustion at the company.

 

Gu Heng hadn’t shown the slightest concern. Instead, he complained that her illness delayed the project schedule.

 

The moment she woke up, he had sent his assistant Shu Jia to rush her back to work.

 

Could it be…

 

She had been reborn?

 

Tang Xiaoman decisively jabbed the needle she’d pulled out straight into the back of Shu Jia’s hand.

 

This woman had always looked down on her and constantly sabotaged her behind the scenes.

 

“Ahh!”

 

Shu Jia screamed, clutching her bleeding hand as tears of pain streamed down her face.

 

“ Tang Xiaoman, what kind of mental breakdown did you have?! President Gu doesn’t even like you, so you’re taking it out on me? Do you have any sense at all?!”

 

She was furious, shocked, and in pain—almost ready to throw herself at Tang Xiaoman in a fight.

 

Tang Xiaoman let out a long breath.

 

This wasn’t a dream.

 

She had truly been reborn.

 

Heaven had given her another chance. This time, she would never repeat her mistakes. Anyone who had betrayed her would repay their blood debt in blood.

 

Calming down, she looked at Shu Jia’s terrified and furious face and gave her a chilling smile.

 

“Work? Sure. I’ll head there right now.”

 

---

 

Tang Xiaoman returned to the Gu Corporation headquarters.

 

As she walked through the office building, a few employees greeted her. Everyone had grown used to her relentless work ethic.

 

Tang Xiaoman sneered inwardly, hating how foolish she had been in her previous life.

 

Lost as a child and raised in an orphanage, she had grown up starving for affection.

 

Her father, Su Cheng, didn’t find her again until she was fifteen. By then, her mother had long since passed away.

 

Her father doted on his stepdaughter Su Rou. Her scheming stepmother constantly stirred up trouble, and even her half-brother bullied her. There was no warmth or family love waiting for her in that house.

 

So when her fiancé Gu Heng showed her a little kindness, she mistook it for the only light in her life and chased after it like a moth flying into a flame.

 

Tang Xiaoman had never known Su Rou was Gu Heng’s true love—the woman he had always kept in his heart. She believed his lies, never imagining that he would prove even colder and more vicious than her so-called family.

 

But now she had a second life.

 

There was no way she would be that foolish again.

 

She locked the door to her office, then used her key to open the desk drawer and take out a jade bracelet.

 

It was the only thing her mother had left her.

 

Because the jade was of poor quality and practically worthless, no one else had bothered to take it.

 

Two days earlier she had removed it while working and left it in the drawer. After collapsing, she hadn’t worn it again.

 

In her previous life, she never realized the bracelet held a hidden secret.

 

Only after the apocalypse began—when she was injured and a drop of her blood accidentally fell onto the bracelet—did she awaken the space within it.

 

Now that she had been reborn, the first thing she did was come back for the bracelet.

 

While no one was around, she needed to claim the space as soon as possible.

 

She pulled a thumbtack from the drawer and pricked her finger.

 

A drop of blood fell onto the jade bracelet.

 

The blood bead was instantly absorbed, and the dull jade became noticeably clearer and more translucent.

 

Tang Xiaoman closed her eyes and focused her mind.

 

Soon, she smoothly entered the space inside the bracelet.

 

Just like in her previous life.

 

A virtual screen displayed the interior—a two-bedroom apartment with a floor area of eighty square meters.

 

The rooms were fully renovated. Though there was no furniture, the gas, water, and electricity were already connected.

 

A calendar clock hung on the wall, perfectly synchronized with time in the real world.

 

Outside the balcony stretched a vast white expanse—a suspended space. The virtual display indicated it measured one hundred and fifty cubic meters.

 

It was a stasis zone.

 

Not only was time frozen there, but the condition of everything stored inside remained unchanged.

 

Whatever state an item was in when placed inside was exactly the same when taken out.

 

She could move items with her mind, though relocating large objects consumed a considerable amount of mental energy.

 

Tang Xiaoman had personally tested all these functions in her previous life.

 

The moment she entered the space, a timer lit up above her head.

 

She knew what it meant.

 

It counted down the amount of time she could remain inside each day.

 

She was allowed only one hour in the space daily. When the time was up, she would be forcibly ejected. However, retrieving items with her mind had no such restriction—she could do that anytime.

 

After confirming everything was exactly the same as before, she finally relaxed.

 

Leaving the space, Tang Xiaoman returned to her office and turned on her work computer.

 

For the past two years she had worked tirelessly for Gu Heng—enduring hardship, demonstrating strong capability, remaining absolutely loyal, and never asking for anything in return. Because of this, he had entrusted her with many key responsibilities and confidential matters.

 

Tang Xiaoman quickly copied more than a dozen critical business secrets.

 

Gu Heng had worked her like a beast of burden. In her previous life, he had squeezed every last ounce of value out of her before sending her to her death.

 

Now she would collect a little interest first.

 

The rest she would repay—with interest multiplied.

 

---

 

Holding up her bandaged hand, Shu Jia complained bitterly to her boss.

 

“…That’s what happened! The moment she woke up she acted like she’d gone insane and stabbed me with a needle!”

 

Gu Heng frowned, but only cared about one thing.

 

“Did she return to work?”

 

Tang Xiaoman had been overseeing their current project. Her sudden collapse had severely disrupted the progress of their business partnership.

 

He was a businessman. Profit and efficiency were all that mattered.

 

Seeing that her boss showed no concern for her injured hand—only for the work—Shu Jia awkwardly replied,

 

“Uh… she’s already back at the company…”

 

Before she finished speaking, the secretary pushed the door open and walked in.

 

“President Gu, Miss Tang left again shortly after returning to the office.”

 

Gu Heng’s eyelid twitched.

 

“Left… again? Did she say anything?”

 

“No, she didn’t say a word.”

 

Gu Heng rubbed his temple and picked up the office phone to call Tang Xiaoman.

 

“What exactly are you—”

 

Before he could finish speaking, the call was disconnected.

 

He froze for a moment and dialed again. This time it went straight to a busy signal.

 

Unable to believe Tang Xiaoman would hang up on him, he tried calling from his personal cellphone.

 

“Sorry, the number you have dialed cannot be reached.”

 

His eyes widened in shock.

 

She had actually blocked his number.

 

---

 

After leaving the office building, Tang Xiaoman hailed a rideshare.

 

She sent a message to Gu Heng’s business rival, Huo Kai.

 

“I have something you want.”

 

Then she sent him the address of a meeting place—a café not far from the Huo Corporation headquarters.

 

She was certain he wouldn’t be able to resist.

 

Huo Kai had tried more than once to buy her loyalty with both money and charm, hoping to use her to pry open the supposedly impregnable defenses of the Gu Corporation.

 

In her previous life, Tang Xiaoman had never been tempted.

 

Even now she wasn’t interested in Huo Kai’s good looks.

 

But she was very interested in his money.

 

When the true apocalypse arrived, the only places left for humanity to survive would be disaster shelters and fortified bases.

 

In that lawless world, those bases would gather heroes, elites, and survivors from all over the globe. The strong ruled, the weak died. Every day was soaked in blood and violence.

 

In such a world, a lone wolf would be torn apart in an instant.

 

When the apocalypse came, she wouldn’t just need to hoard supplies.

 

She would also need to build a team—a fighting force capable of standing together against the dangers of the end of the world.

 

And all of that required money.

 

A lot of money.