Chapter 1

Crack—

The sound of bones shattering echoed through the air.

Agonizing pain shot through Lin Lu’s limbs.

She stared fixedly at the tightly sealed door before her.

Just moments ago, Pei Yanzhi, her fiancé who had sworn to love her for eternity, had personally shoved her out.

“Pei Yanzhi! Open the door! I’ll die!”

The door remained shut. From inside came voices she knew all too well.

Her stepsister, Wan Yinyin, cooed sweetly, “Brother Yanzhi, you’re so strong! You pushed Sister out with just one move.”

Her mother, Dai Ya, groveled obsequiously, “Yanzhi, about what we agreed… if you push that worthless girl out, you’ll give me half a crate of canned goods.”

Her stepfather, Wan Feng, spat, “The good-for-nothing finally served some purpose. If we hadn’t pushed her out, that mutated zombie would have broken in.”

Her stepbrother, Wan Helin, sneered impatiently, “What’s with all the wailing? It’s just a couple of zombie bites. Get over it.”

Finally, Pei Yanzhi spoke with chilling indifference, “Lin Lu, you were too greedy, trying to take what belonged to Yinyin.”

As consciousness faded, Lin Lu was left with a single thought:

If there truly are vengeful spirits, I’ll haunt these people even in death.

Huff!

Lin Lu jolted awake, her eyes snapping open.

Her nightgown was soaked with cold sweat, clinging damply to her skin.

She frantically looked around.

The bear-patterned curtains swayed gently, and the framed photo on her bedside table showed her grandmother’s kind smile.

This was her room.

The hillside villa her grandmother had left her.

Lin Lu trembled as she reached for her neck.

Her skin was smooth and unbroken, without a single wound.

A dream…?

It felt too real.

Could it be from the recent stress?

After months of overtime, had she finally had such a terrifying nightmare?

She instinctively reached for her phone to check the time.

6:12 AM.

Just then, Lin Lu noticed a new app on her phone.

The icon was a bizarre eye, half red and half black, radiating an indescribable eeriness. Below it was the name:

Doomsday Survival Diary

Doomsday?

That dream… it had also been about the end of the world.

No, what am I thinking?

How could the world end?

What kind of weird app is this? Is my phone infected?

As she was about to long-press to uninstall it, her phone suddenly vibrated.

Buzz!

Lin Lu flinched violently, nearly dropping the phone.

The caller ID showed: Pei Yanzhi.

The moment she saw his name, the dream flashed through her mind.

She steadied herself and swiped to answer.

“Hello?”

“Lu Lu, are you awake?” Pei Yanzhi’s voice came through the speaker, as gentle as ever. “Stay home tonight and wait for me. I have a surprise for you.”

A surprise?

“What kind of surprise?”

“It’s a secret. I’ll come find you after work tonight. Make sure you’re home.”

Before Lin Lu could refuse, he hung up.

****

Lin Lu clutched her phone, a sudden unease creeping over her.

Just as she was pondering this, the screen suddenly went dark.

Then, line after line of text appeared:

June 12, 2122. Weather: torrential rain.

Today’s Diary: Your boyfriend, Pei Yanzhi, has just been reborn. He will arrive at your villa at 9 PM tonight, holding roses and kneeling on one knee to propose.

He will say, “Lu Lu, I want to give you a home.”

But what he’s really thinking is: “In just one week, the world-ending deluge will begin.”

“Lin Lu’s villa is on the highest ground. I must get my hands on it.”

“Tonight, I’ll secure her with the proposal. Tomorrow, I’ll move in.”

“When the apocalypse comes, I’ll lock her in the basement. Later, when food becomes scarce, she’ll be worth at least fifty kilograms of rice, better than letting the zombies get her for free.”

Lin Lu’s hand trembled, and the phone clattered onto the quilt.

Reborn? Apocalypse?

Safe House? Trade for rice?

Even… zombies?

She watched helplessly as the diary entry ended, the screen went dark, and the phone automatically returned to its home screen.

It was that eerie app, Doomsday Survival Diary.

If this was a prank, the details were far too elaborate and malicious.

But if it wasn’t…

Could it mean that what she had just experienced wasn’t a dream?

Was that her past life?

And Pei Yanzhi had been reborn, returning with those memories to kill her!

Buzz—

Her phone vibrated again.

This time, it was a WeChat message from her mother, Dai Ya.

Are you coming home for dinner tonight? Uncle Wan and Yinyin are here. Oh, didn’t you just get your bonus?

Yinyin has her eye on a new LV bag. Pick it up on your way home.

Uncle Wan has worked so hard to raise you. We should show our gratitude.

I’m not asking for much. You can handle this small favor, right?

Looking at this matter-of-fact extortion, Lin Lu would have felt a chill in her heart and tried to argue in the past.

Her father had died a hero, but the monthly compensation from the person he saved was entirely taken by her mother to support her stepfather’s family.

From childhood, she had been her mother’s tool for appeasing that family.

It was as if her sole purpose was to satisfy the endless demands of those vampires.

Yet now, after enduring that nightmare and the shock of the diary, she had grown strangely calm.

This was not the time to get entangled with those vampires.

Her immediate priority was to prepare for tonight.

She threw back the covers, got out of bed, and walked to the window, pulling back the curtains.

The sky was oppressively dark, black clouds pressing down on the city, and distant rumbles of thunder echoed faintly.

A heavy rain was coming.

After a moment of silent observation, she turned and dragged a dusty toolbox from under the bed, rummaging through it until she found a stun gun.

She had bought it when she lived alone, but had never used it.

Zzzzt—

The switch clicked, and a blue-purple arc of electricity crackled through the air.

Grasping the heavy stun gun, Lin Lu felt a flicker of reassurance.

Whether this app was real or fake, and whether Pei Yanzhi had truly been reborn or not, she would know for sure at nine o’clock tonight.

****

Time ticked by, minute by minute.

Lin Lu prepared herself a proper breakfast and then meticulously inspected the entire villa.

The house, inherited from her grandmother, was situated halfway up Cloud Mountain.

Her mother and stepfather’s family had coveted it for years, but her grandmother’s will had thwarted their attempts.

Standing before the floor-to-ceiling window on the second floor, she watched as a torrential downpour began outside.

The villa’s high elevation offered a panoramic view, with only a winding mountain road leading up to it.

If the diary’s predictions of a rain-soaked apocalypse held true, this place would likely be one of the last to be submerged.

In all of City A, few locations could rival this villa’s strategic advantages.

She checked the storage room.

It contained some basic provisions: rice, flour, cooking oil, several cases of bottled water, and snacks.

If she were to be trapped here, these supplies wouldn’t last long.

She needed to stockpile.

As much as possible.

Even if… even if the apocalypse turned out to be a hoax, she reasoned, having extra food and supplies couldn’t hurt.

It was nearly nine o’clock.

The rain hadn’t let up; instead, it was pouring down even more violently.

Lin Lu tucked the stun baton into her belt at her lower back, concealing it beneath the loose hem of her shirt.

The wall clock ticked steadily.

20:59:50.

Footsteps approached outside the door, neither hurried nor slow.

20:59:58.

The footsteps stopped right outside the door.

21:00:00.

Ding-dong—

The doorbell rang.

Perfect timing.

Lin Lu took a slow breath, walked to the door, and peered through the peephole.

Outside stood Pei Yanzhi, impeccably dressed in a suit, holding a bouquet of red roses.

She opened the door.

“Lu Lu.”

Pei Yanzhi smiled.

His gaze lingered on her face for a few seconds, as if confirming something.

Then he stepped into the entryway, bringing with him the damp, rainy air.

“I know this is sudden,” he said, dropping to one knee and opening a box to reveal a diamond ring.

“Lu Lu, I want to give you a home. Will you marry me?”