Chapter 1: Rebirth
"MingZhu!"
A heartrending scream rang through the room.
Lin Miao bolted upright in bed, panting heavily. Sweat soaked her thin shirt.
The deceptive Moonlight Team, in order to lighten their load, had cruelly thrown the weak her and the injured, feverish Cheng MingZhu into the crevasses left by the earthquakes.
Fear and hatred remained undiminished in Lin Miao's eyes, but the scene before her...
"What is this..."
Seeing the elegant and immaculate bedroom, Lin Miao's eyes slowly widened. The survival instinct developed in the post-apocalyptic world kept her silent, as she quickly started observing her surroundings.
As she took it all in, the wariness faded from Lin Miao's eyes, replaced by confusion.
Could it be...
Some hopeful expectation welling up, Lin Miao turned her head towards the photographs on the bedside table.
Upon seeing the picture of herself with her parents' radiant smiles, the overwhelming feeling of having survived a disaster flooded her heart.
"I'm back!"
Sitting on the soft bed, clutching the picture to her chest, Lin Miao laughed and cried.
Suddenly, she thought of something. She quickly reached for her phone charging on the bedside table and tremulously turned it on.
Capital City Time: June 20, 2210
One month before the Cataclysm!
Thank God!
Lin Miao felt her whole body relax, collapsing onto the bed, her chest heaving with labored breaths.
Having a month's time left, for someone like her who had barely survived ten full years in the post-apocalyptic world, was more than enough. It gave her just the right amount to prepare for the Cataclysm that was to occur a month later.
Suddenly, the ringtone of her phone sounded like the grim reaper's herald.
Lin Miao, eyes closed, answered the phone, and was met with a cry that could scare off both heaven and earth alike:
"AHHHHH, Miao, Miao, where are you? Are you still alive... sob, sob, sob... I swear, I will protect you, Miao, tell me where you are. Remember, the end of the world is in a month, don't you dare not to believe it! Miao, come over to my place, no, I’ll come find you right now...”
Frantic, Lin Miao yelled, “Stop! Cheng Mingzhu!”
Cheng Mingzhu on the other line sobbed unendingly and spoke gibberish in her heightened emotions, and in between the sobs, Lin Miao could tell she was probably stuffing food into her mouth as she made the call.
"Miao, Miao, I know what I’m saying sounds absurd, sob, sob, sob. You must think I have been reading too many novels. But, please don't doubt me...”
Thinking of how Cheng Mingzhu was also resurrected to the present day in possession of the painful memories from the previous ten years, having given up everything to jump off the vehicle with her at the moment of death, Lin Miao's expression softened.
Using the same tone she had used countless times in the post-apocalyptic world to comfort Cheng Mingzhu, she gently said,
"I believe you, Mingzhu."
“Sob, sob, sob, sob... Ah? Burp!” What Cheng Mingzhu was eating seemed to have fallen to the ground with a clatter, followed by a loud burp.
"You, you, you, you..."
"Enough with the 'yous!'" Lin Miao's eyes turned red.
"Mingzhu, I'm back too."
As his words died away, it seemed as if Cheng Mingzhu at the other end was choked by her food, as she did not respond.
Outside the window, everything was brightly lit. A cool wind rolled into the room, stirring up the stifling heat, providing a sense of calmness to Lin Miao's heart.
We're both back.
One hour later.
Lin Miao and Cheng Mingzhu sat at the table, devouring a pot of hot pot like ravenous beasts.
Cheng Mingzhu expertly picked up a piece of rolling tripe from the pot with her chopsticks, drenched it in the well-prepared sauce, and then stuffed it into her mouth. While still chewing, she started eyeing another piece of prawn in the pot.
In Lin Miao's bowl, it was her third serving of rice, which was topped with tomato scrambled eggs from a small diner downstairs that she had been eating since her childhood. Not to brag, but Lin Miao might have eaten an entire pot of rice with that dish!
"Whew—." Cheng Mingzhu swallowed a piece of beef, and not wasting any time, she opened a can of 'Happy Fatty's Juice', guzzling half the can before pausing.
"Miao, I feel like I've come back to life. I spent ten whole years in that damned apocalypse! Spent nearly six or seven years working for that blood-sucking shelter. We both contributed, you with your space, me with my work, and still haven't eaten a decent meal!" Cheng Mingzhu banged the table, with no less force than known by her shelter nickname, "Powerful Pig."
Lin Miao paused with her chopsticks, her other hand gently touching the jade Buddha pendant hanging around her neck.
In her previous life, this jade Buddha became her trump card after the catastrophe. Most valuable objects in the apocalypse became useless, however, this jade Buddha that she had worn since childhood, was something she couldn't bear to take off. It turned out to be a space-holding magical item after it got stained with her blood due to an injury when migrating to the south to avoid the extreme cold. Thanks to this extra space, she was allowed into the shelter while injured and weak, where she was protected.
She wondered, in this life, if this Jade Buddha would still have the capability of holding space.
Cheng Mingzhu's strength was not innate. Even before the apocalypse, Cheng Mingzhu had been a great fighter with years of experience in Sanshou, standing a little short yet capable of beating a strong 6-foot man till he pleaded for mercy. However, it was only after the catastrophe that she mistakenly ate an odd plant. This significantly enhanced her physical constitution - which led to her being tricked into research facilities multiple times. She even boasted an impressive record of killing a bandit with one punch.
But the strength that Cheng Mingzhu exhibited just now...
This thought made Lin Miao hurriedly stop Cheng Mingzhu, who was about to have her fifth bowl of rice. In the face of Cheng Mingzhu's reproachful gaze, Lin Miao unapologetically said,
"Mingzhu, why don't you test your strength?"
Cheng Mingzhu mumbled nonchalantly, "What about my strength? I'm the sort of woman that can kill a boar with a single punch... Let me have one more bowl."
Lin Miao then turned around and brought back a baseball bat – just as she had loved sports before the apocalypse as a carefree university student.
"Here, Mingzhu."
Cheng Mingzhu casually took the baseball bat, easily bending and twisting it into a 'U' shape.
Lin Miao's eyes widened in shock and delight. She eagerly grabbed the deformed baseball bat from Cheng Mingzhu's hands and put all her strength into straightening it. Despite her efforts, the baseball bat didn't budge at all. It even made Lin Miao's hand a bit sore.
Cheng Mingzhu was puzzled.
“Lin Miao, you see? Didn't I break this baseball bat with ease? Ever since I fortuitously ate that grass, I've been enormously strong..."
As she spoke, Cheng Mingzhu's eyes lit up, and her voice trembled slightly. It was evident that the ten-year ordeal in the apocalyptic world had made her much savvier than before the apocalypse -
"But! But I haven't eaten that plant yet now!"
Lin Miao was also delighted. The hand that stroked the jade Buddha hanging around her neck heated up. If her spatial function of the jade Buddha could be activated in advance, their chance of survival in the apocalypse would significantly improve!
Even though they had barely survived in the post-apocalyptic world for almost ten years, they didn't dare to guarantee survival in the face of the impending harsh disaster. Only those who have truly gone through darkness would understand how insignificant human power is when facing the apocalypse, where everything becomes uncertain.
Lin Miao's eyes flashed with determination. In this life, she would never repeat the same mistakes, nor would she entrust their lives to a refuge that only exploited its survivors. In this life, they must live for themselves!
After meal, Lin Miao eagerly pricked her finger and dripped a few drops of blood onto the jade Buddha. At first, only a few drops were dropped, the jade Buddha showed no signs, which caused Cheng Mingzhu to anxiously stamp her feet beside her. Lin Miao was also a bit flustered in her heart, hurriedly clenched her heart, and cut her palm with a fruit knife, squeezed her fist with her five fingers together, and dripped fresh blood onto the jade Buddha. Soon, under the nourishment of fresh blood, a milky white glow slowly emerged from the surface of the jade Buddha. Seeing this, Lin Miao was also overjoyed.
She quickly extended her other hand to touch the jade Buddha, and silently said “enter” in her heart.
A vast white space immediately appeared in her mind, with a size of about ten football fields and a height of about 20 meters.
This space is three times larger than the one in her previous life!
Surprised and delighted, Lin Miao was also a little puzzled. Perhaps because of the reincarnation, Cheng Mingzhu's power could be brought back, and her own space was enlarged?
Cheng Mingzhu, who was waiting on the side, looked at Lin Miao eagerly.
Lin Miao smiled and said, "The space has been activated! This time the space is much larger than the last one. It's enough for us to hoard the necessary supplies!"
"Really?" Cheng Mingzhu also grinned and said quickly, "I will make a list of supplies. You also go…… I was so greedy during the last few years of the end in my past life, dreaming every day to eat some snacks. So, I will take out my savings later, it should be a few hundred thousand. That's enough for us to buy supplies."
Lin Miao shook her head, "Far from enough, Mingzhu. I plan to store more than just food and water. Before you came, I had already thought about it. My parents also left me a courtyard house in Kyoto and some shares of the company. I plan to sell all these to buy supplies."
Cheng Mingzhu was stunned, "But Miao, that courtyard house is your ancestral home! It's the last memory left by your uncle and aunt!"
Lin Miao laughed understandingly, "I was reluctant to sell that courtyard house in my previous life. As a result, we suffered a lot in the early days of the apocalypse because we didn't have supplies. Objects are dead, and in the face of natural disasters, no matter how many assets we have, only food and water are the hard currency. Our parents in heaven would definitely hope that their daughters can live a better life after the disaster."
At this point, Lin Miao's nose was sour, "So even for our parents' sake, we can't let others slaughter us anymore."
Their parents used to be close friends. They died in a plane crash while traveling abroad together. At that time, Lin Miao was only 10 years old. She lived in the ancestral house with Cheng Mingzhu, who was nine years old, and was taken care of by the old butler her parents had left. They lived together until they went to university in Qingcheng. A few years ago, the old butler passed away due to old age. Now they are alone in the world and can only trust each other.
Thinking of her parents, Cheng Mingzhu's head also slowly dropped, but then she looked up again and smiled. "I'll listen to you, Miao!"
