"Yaoyao? Xu Yao, stop pretending to be asleep!"

"This design competition represents our entire team. What difference does it make whether you win or Shen Yun does?"

A familiar male voice jolted Xu Yao awake. Her eyes flew open, and the moment she recognized the man standing before her, her pupils constricted sharply.

Cheng Feng?!

That handsome, sunlit face overlapped in her memory with the man who had caused her mother's death. Before she could think, her hand lashed out reflexively—

*Slap!*

Cheng Feng staggered back, stunned, staring at her in utter disbelief.

"Xu Yao, have you lost your mind?!"

Only then did Xu Yao realize something was wrong. Sunlight streamed in from outside, the skyscrapers stood tall and intact, and all the wounds on her body had vanished… This wasn’t the apocalypse!

Trembling, she looked down at her own fair, delicate hands, her mind reeling.

What… is going on?!

She had struggled through ten brutal years in the apocalypse—her hands should have been scarred and rough. How could they be this pristine?

Those ten years had been a nightmare. Extreme heat, acid rain, deadly cold—each disaster had ravaged the cities humanity once relied on. The world had plunged into endless darkness. Plants and animals mutated, deadly viruses spread unchecked, and worst of all, law and morality had collapsed entirely. People no longer bothered to hide their darkest instincts…

She had suffered every imaginable torment. But now… was this… a second chance? Had she somehow gone back in time?

Cheng Feng was still rambling on: "What's the big deal about the authorship when we're winning awards anyway? You're jeopardizing the entire team's reputation—the company's image is at stake too. Think carefully—can you really shoulder that responsibility?"

He had dismissed that earlier slap as just Xu Yao acting out in frustration over losing credit for her work.

"Can't you be more reasonable?"

Xu Yao slowly emerged from her painful memories, piecing together fragments of a past she hadn't revisited in ten years.

The man standing before her was Cheng Feng, the project team leader at their company.

Before the apocalypse began, she had been just another naive, fresh graduate—easy prey for manipulation. A few casual words of concern from Cheng Feng had been enough to make her heart flutter.

She had genuinely believed there was something mutual between them. In reality, she was merely one of his many backup options.

Cheng Feng, this well-groomed scumbag, was actually Shen Yun's devoted lapdog.

Shen Yun was the boss's illegitimate daughter. She had joined the company around the same time as Xu Yao but never lifted a finger—spending her workdays idly scrolling through her phone.

Most colleagues assumed she was the boss's kept mistress and bent over backward to please her.

But Shen Yun wasn't content with just being lazy. She wanted to take credit for Xu Yao's work and bask in the spotlight.

Case in point: this design competition. She had sent Cheng Feng to swipe Xu Yao's USB drive!

"Yao Yao, you wouldn't want to see me stuck in the middle like this, would you...?" Cheng Feng was about to lay on more persuasion when she cut him off.

"Then why don’t you redo the entire project and gift it to Shen Yun yourself?" Xu Yao replied with a mocking half-smile. "That way, no one has to feel 'stuck.'"

Cheng Feng fell silent, utterly speechless.

He inexplicably felt that Xu Yao's entire demeanor had changed. Just moments ago, she had seemed like an easy-to-bully little lamb, but now she suddenly radiated the commanding presence of a queen.

The current Xu Yao appeared to be a gentle and lovely office worker on the surface, but inside, she had already transformed into a ruthless demon.

Without even glancing at Cheng Feng’s reaction, she turned and walked away.

The surrounding colleagues, shocked that she had dared to hit Cheng Feng, huddled together, whispering among themselves.

Xu Yao couldn’t be bothered with their gossip. She opened her browser to check the latest news and the calendar, finally realizing the truth—she had been reborn.

It was now June. The apocalypse was two months away. In two months, temperatures would soar past 50 degrees Celsius, and countless people would perish in the scorching heat.

Heaven had given her a second chance at life, and she was determined to make the most of it.

She had to prepare thoroughly in advance—and the first thing she needed was money.

But she was just an ordinary person. The most she had in her bank account was 60,000 yuan—nowhere near enough to stock up on sufficient supplies.

Her top priority now was to get her hands on cash.

Xu Yao opened her notebook and meticulously drafted a list, detailing everything she would need for the apocalypse. When it was time to clock out, she left the office without hesitation.

She hadn’t taken more than a few steps before she spotted Cheng Feng blocking the elevator.

"Yao Yao, don’t be mad. I spoke too harshly this morning, but I only had your best interests at heart. Shen Yun has connections—why go head-to-head with her?"

"Fine," Xu Yao had no patience for this scumbag’s excuses. "Enough with the empty words. Show me some real sincerity!"

"What do you mean?" Cheng Feng was taken aback. Since when did she stop playing by the rules?

"300,000 flat. Wire the money directly to me." Xu Yao glared at him coldly. "Hand over the design, and I'll keep my mouth shut about your little affair with the boss's illegitimate daughter. Pretty sure he doesn't know yet, does he?"

"You stole my work. Pay up or I'm calling the cops. Unless you want this to get ugly, transfer the money now."

With just a few words, she had Cheng Feng completely cornered.

He'd prepared an elaborate speech full of sweet nothings, but now the words died in his throat.

"H-how did you know about me and Shen Yun—"

Xu Yao cut him off impatiently. "Don't care how I know. Yes or no? The boss is upstairs in a client meeting right now. Happy to walk in and tell him everything."

Cheng Feng's face flushed with rage. "Are you insane? 300,000 for some shitty design?"

Xu Yao looked at him like he was an idiot, then slapped him hard across the face. "Shitty design? You think you can trash my work after I pulled all-nighters for it? Pathetic gold-digger, who the hell do you think you are?"

"Xu Yao!" Cheng Feng clutched his swollen cheek, teeth gritted. "You've lost your damn mind!"

Seeing him tense up like he might retaliate, she kicked him square in the stomach, sending him flying backward. He crumpled to the floor, gasping for air.

"300,000. Not a cent less." She enunciated each word slowly.

Groaning in pain, Cheng Feng curled into a fetal position. Since when had Xu Yao become so ruthless?

She used to speak so softly, never raising her voice. Now she was throwing punches—and damn hard ones at that. That kick nearly knocked him out cold.

His mind raced. Shen Yun was the boss's secret love child, a bona fide heiress who'd been generous with him—loaning him luxury cars worth millions.

If he could marry her, he'd be set for life.

As the elevator arrived, Xu Yao said coldly, "You have until tomorrow to get the money together. Otherwise, you'll lose both the person and the fortune."

With that, she stepped into the elevator and descended gracefully.

The streets outside looked just as she remembered. Her steps light, she made her way home, cutting through two narrow alleys before reaching her front door.

Her hands trembled as she fumbled with the key, struggling several times to fit it into the lock.

Xu Yao’s heart pounded wildly. In her past life, her entire family had perished in the apocalypse, leaving her alone to scrape by. Now that she had been reborn—were they still here?

The more anxious she grew, the harder it became to open the door.

After five or six failed attempts, the door suddenly swung open from the inside...