Alexis Knight had never known such excruciating pain—not in her childhood, not in her adulthood.

The grotesque sound of flesh being torn and devoured echoed in her ears, relentless and sickening. Her legs trembled, devoid of strength, and her arm... she couldn’t even feel where it had gone. No sound escaped her lips—her throat had been ripped out long ago.

“You crazy woman! Get away! Get away!”

The desperate voice belonged to Henry Bennett. He shoved her with all his strength, his hands trembling.

Thick blood glued Alexis’s eyelids shut, so heavy she couldn’t open them. She knew she should already be dead. And yet, something in the darkness—a mysterious force—kept her tethered to life. A thread binding her to one thing: Henry.

Henry, the man who had murdered her mother. The man she hated with every fiber of her being.

The mutated beast gnawing at her didn’t hesitate to sink its teeth deeper. It would not miss the chance to savor the writhing prey beneath her. The thick, metallic scent of blood filled the air, luring more creatures to the feast.

Henry’s wails grew weaker until they faded entirely, replaced by the guttural snarls of feeding beasts. Amid the chaos, the delicate necklace around Alexis’s neck was ripped away, its chain snapping like a thread under pressure.

Then, a strange light flickered before her eyes. Warmth—unexpected and foreign—spread through her broken body, numbing the agony that had consumed her. She felt weightless, suspended in a haze of energy that seemed to wrap around her like a cocoon.

Her body jolted suddenly.

She gasped, her eyes snapping open.

What greeted her was not the nightmarish wasteland she had come to know. It was the sight of her old workplace—the internet company where she used to work. The company’s familiar slogan, “Innovate and Strive, Infinite Future,” was still plastered across the wall.

Over the office partitions, employees sat busily typing on their keyboards, occasionally pausing to sip from coffee mugs. The hum of air conditioning mingled with the clicking of keys, a sound she hadn’t heard in years.

Her gaze fell to her hands—delicate, unmarred, and clean. Her nails were well-manicured, and a small braided bracelet adorned her wrist.

These were not the hands she remembered. These were not the hands of Alexis Knight, survivor of the apocalypse. Her hands should have been rough, scarred, and stained with blood—a testament to ten years of struggle in a world gone mad.

“What’s going on?” she whispered, her voice trembling.

She stretched her fingers, marveling at how soft and smooth they felt.

Had she... been resurrected? Was this truly her?

Her mind reeled. Just moments ago, she had been dying—her body ravaged by the bite of a mutated creature. She could still feel the phantom pain clawing at her memories. And now? Now she was here, back in the past.

Was this before the apocalypse?

For ten years, Alexis had fought to survive in a world that had crumbled. The sun had scorched the land with unrelenting heat, followed by torrential rains and bitter cold that obliterated cities. The human population had been reduced by more than seventy percent.

Earthquakes and super volcanic eruptions had wiped out the few remaining safe havens. Acid rain poisoned what little was left, and volcanic ash plunged the world into darkness, trapping it in an endless winter.

Resources became scarce. Plants and animals mutated, and deadly viruses spread unchecked. But the most horrifying aspect was the descent of humanity itself—the collapse of law, morality, and trust.

It had been a dog-eat-dog world where survival meant casting aside every shred of humanity.

Her thoughts swirled in chaos. Could this be a miracle? Was she really alive—alive before the end of the world?

“Alexis? Alexis! Have you been listening to me?”

The voice jolted her back to the present. Her head snapped up, and her heart clenched. That voice was too familiar. It stirred something dark and venomous inside her, like a festering wound suddenly reopened.

She looked up to see a handsome man standing before her. His bright, sunny smile seemed out of place, masking the venom that Alexis now knew too well.

“Your design is representing our group in the competition,” he said, his tone laced with forced patience. “Do you really think there’s a difference between you winning and Vivian? If you keep pushing this issue, it’ll affect all of us. If this blows up, the company will suffer, and you won’t be able to handle that responsibility.”

It all came flooding back in an instant.

The man standing before her was Logan Hayes, four years her senior and the project team leader at the company. Alexis, by contrast, was a novice who had just been thrust headlong into the grueling 996 work culture. Naïve and inexperienced, she had once been foolish enough to trust him.

Logan’s occasional displays of concern had made her think he wasn’t such a bad person. She had even deluded herself into believing they were secretly dating. But the truth was far more humiliating: she was just another fish in Logan’s pond.

And Logan? He was nothing more than a sycophantic lapdog for Vivian Clarke.

Vivian, the illegitimate daughter of the company’s boss, had joined around the same time as Alexis. Unlike Alexis, however, Vivian spent most of her time lazing around—touching up her makeup, scrolling through her phone, and doing anything but work.

Most of their colleagues were unaware of Vivian’s true identity. They assumed she was the boss’s mistress and eagerly vied for her favor, falling over themselves to flatter her. Logan had been no exception.

Too lazy to contribute, Vivian had devised a plan to exploit Alexis’s designs for her own benefit. She had manipulated Logan into stealing Alexis’s flash drive, which was the real reason Logan had ever pursued her in the first place.

Alexis’s cold, calculating stare bore into Logan as he continued to prattle on, oblivious to the storm brewing within her.

“Have you considered the repercussions? I’m responsible for this project too! If things spiral out of control, I’ll get dragged into the mess. Can you—”

“To hell with you,” Alexis cut him off abruptly, her voice sharp and unyielding.

Logan froze, stunned into silence.

The Alexis before him—timid, vulnerable, always on the verge of tears—had vanished. Her tone, her gaze, her very presence had shifted into something cold and impenetrable.

An inexplicable chill ran down his spine.

What Logan didn’t know was that the woman standing before him had played with death more times than she could count. Having survived a decade of the apocalypse, Alexis had lived a life teetering on the edge of survival, her hands stained with the blood of countless enemies.

On the surface, she was now just an average office worker, seemingly meek and ordinary. But beneath the façade lay a devil—a cold, merciless force who had bathed in blood and chaos.

Her gaze flicked over the room. The metal keyboard on the desk, the thermos kettle in her hand, the chair, the thermal cup, the fruit knife—each was a potential weapon. Alexis was confident she could pick any one of them up and shatter Logan’s skull without hesitation.

In her previous life, during her final moments, she had strangled Logan with her dying breath, dragging him to be devoured by the mutated beasts.

But not now. Not yet. The apocalypse hadn’t begun. Society hadn’t collapsed. If she killed him now, she would end up in prison, her life wasted sewing uniforms for the rest of her days.

No, Logan could wait.

With that thought, she ignored the look of shock on his face and turned to leave without another word.

When she reached her workstation, Alexis closed her eyes, forcing herself to calm down. Around her, coworkers whispered, avoiding her as though she were a ticking time bomb.

Of course, Alexis knew why. Vivian was their so-called office goddess. In their eyes, Alexis was the foolish, jealous coworker making waves. Over the past few days, she had repeatedly challenged Vivian, desperately seeking the truth.

“She’s so reckless. I really hope she doesn’t drag us down and embarrass Vivian…”

“At this point, just ignore her. She’s jealous. She can’t compete with Vivian’s beauty, her family background, or her natural talent. Vivian can produce amazing designs in no time!”

“What’s the point of blaming Vivian? Alexis is the one who messed up her own start.”

The snide remarks floated through the office, but Alexis ignored them. She had no time for petty gossip.

Opening her browser, she scanned the latest news and double-checked the date. Over and over, she confirmed the truth: she had been reborn.

It was June now. Two months remained until the apocalypse.

Two months from now, the already sweltering summer heat would intensify. Temperatures would soar from 45 degrees Celsius to over 50. Countless people would perish in the unbearable heat, and yet that would merely mark the beginning of humanity’s descent.

Alexis clenched her fists. Heaven had given her a second chance, and she would not squander it. She refused to be weak this time.

She would prepare. She would survive.

And to do that, she needed money.

Alexis was no billionaire. She was an ordinary person, her savings barely amounting to $50,000.

Her first goal was clear: she had to make more money. As much as she could, as fast as she could.

No matter the cost.

Alexis opened her laptop, created an encrypted spreadsheet, and began meticulously planning everything she would need to prepare.

When the workday ended, she packed up her laptop and left the company without hesitation.

Just as she reached the elevator, Logan blocked her path—just as she had expected.

“Alexis, are you angry?”

Unlike his earlier threatening tone, Logan now spoke gently, his voice laced with a charm that young, naïve girls might find alluring. A practiced smile graced his face as he continued, “I may have been a bit too abrupt earlier. Did I scare you? I’m doing this for your own good. Vivian is connected to the boss’s family—why would you want to confront her? Let’s just drop the matter, okay?”

“Alright,” Alexis replied flatly, not wanting to waste a second on him. “You can settle this with money.”

Logan blinked in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars,” Alexis said, her voice calm but firm. “You give me the money, and I won’t tell the boss about you and Vivian conspiring to steal my work and framing me. I have plenty of evidence in hand.”

She paused for a moment, then added, “Oh, and since you stole my designs, I’ll be reporting it to the police too. You can figure it out from there.”

Logan’s mouth fell open, and for a moment, he was utterly speechless. “You... How do you know about me and her?”

Alexis sighed, growing impatient. “Are you going to pay or not? Just give me a simple answer. I know the boss is meeting a client in the conference room right now—I wouldn’t mind giving him a little surprise.”

Logan’s face darkened, and his voice took on a menacing edge. “Have you gone mad? Is it worth it for a simple design?”

As he stepped forward aggressively, Alexis took a step back and, without hesitation, delivered a sharp kick to his kneecap.

“Alexis!” Logan fell to his knees, clutching his leg in pain. He gritted his teeth and shouted, “Are you crazy?”

Alexis gazed down at him coldly. “Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

Despite the pain and anger seething within him, Logan forced himself to think clearly. The timid, shy girl he once knew seemed to have disappeared. He couldn’t understand why she had suddenly changed so much.

To him, Alexis had always been a quiet, unassuming girl—someone who blushed in meetings and stumbled over her words. This bold, unyielding version of her was completely unexpected.

Logan’s mind raced. Vivian was the boss’s illegitimate daughter, and she had always been generous with him—letting him borrow luxury cars worth millions and showering him with gifts. If he kept her favor, his future would be secure.

He couldn’t let Alexis ruin everything.

Logan clenched his teeth. “I don’t have that much money right now.”

“Where you get the money is your business,” Alexis said with a slight lift of her chin. “I’ll delete the evidence once the deal is done. But this offer is only valid until tomorrow.”

Without waiting for a response, Alexis turned and walked away, leaving Logan kneeling in pain and fury.

Once outside, she inhaled deeply, savoring the fresh air as she slowed her pace. She watched the bustling city around her—the tall buildings, the brightly lit shops, the steady hum of car horns and chatter.

Though it had been ten years since she’d last walked these streets, her memories guided her home. She took the bus, stopping at familiar stations, crossing tangled streets and twisting alleys until she reached the building she used to live in.

As the elevator ascended floor by floor, her heart began to race with nervous anticipation.

When the doors opened, Alexis’s knees felt weak, and she fumbled in her bag for her house keys. Standing before the door that had haunted her memories for years, her hands trembled. She tried again and again to align the key with the lock, but she couldn’t manage to insert it.

“Calm down, calm down,” she murmured, forcing herself to breathe.

Tracing the outline of the keyhole with her fingers, she finally steadied her hand. With a soft click, the key slid into place, and she turned it.

The door opened.

“Woof, woof!”

A loud, excited bark greeted Alexis as a scruffy black-and-white Husky bounded toward her.

Her dog—Lucky!

She had lovingly raised Lucky since he was a pup. His sapphire-blue eyes sparkled with life, and his clean, soft fur gave him an almost regal appearance. Yet, after the apocalypse began, Lucky had gone missing.

It wasn’t until Alexis had kicked Logan out and had a falling-out with him that she learned the truth.

“That damned dog always barked at me. I disliked it from the start!” Logan had sneered.

“Although its temper was bad, its meat was very fragrant.”

“It was just a bit thin! You used to fatten it up so well.”

He was human, yet the words he spoke were utterly inhuman.

Now, kneeling on the floor, Alexis wrapped her arms around Lucky’s head, tears streaming silently down her face. Lucky, sensing her distress but not understanding the reason, stood perfectly still. He let her bury her face in his fur, his body warm and comforting.

“Oh, you’re home from work early today.”

The familiar voice made Alexis look up. Standing in the doorway of the kitchen was a middle-aged woman wearing a short-sleeved shirt and an apron. It was Morgan Knight, her mother. A delighted smile spread across her face.

“Alexis, you’re just in time to taste my soup.”

“Mom…” Alexis’s voice cracked. She could no longer hold back the flood of emotions, and tears poured freely from her eyes.

In the apocalypse, her mother—who had never been particularly strong—had been her protector. When danger loomed, Morgan would fiercely brandish a kitchen knife to drive away intruders.

In the very end, when a group of people came for them, it was Morgan who stood her ground, yelling, “Alexis, run!”

And Alexis had run. She had run for ten long years.

Through garbage-filled streets, rotting food, and dirty water. Battling mutated beasts, covered in wounds, and barely resembling a human being. Every time Alexis thought she wouldn’t survive, her mother’s words rang in her ears, urging her to live.

But Morgan knew none of this.

Seeing Alexis crying so hard, Morgan rushed to her side, gently closing the door before helping her to her feet. “What’s wrong? Did you not get selected for that competition? You look so anxious…”

Morgan assumed her tears were because of the designs Alexis had spent sleepless nights working on. She thought the results hadn’t turned out as expected.

Alexis didn’t correct her. Wiping her tears, she gradually calmed herself down.

“Don’t be upset anymore. I’ll get you a bowl of bone soup to warm your stomach,” Morgan said warmly as she headed back into the kitchen.

Lucky, who had been following Alexis closely, now lay on the sofa, watching her with worried eyes. He licked her fingers gently.

Alexis looked at him, a small smile forming on her lips as she patted his head. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”

Her gaze shifted toward the kitchen.

And I’ll protect Mom too, she thought, a steely determination in her heart.

This time, I’ll protect our home!