Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Returning to Before the Apocalypse

Half Mountain Villa, the dim basement.

In a corner, on a single steel-wire bed, curled up a young girl with a frail and slender body.

The girl’s hair was disheveled, her skin pale, and one of her hands, covered in blood scabs, was locked in chains, making it difficult to tell if she was alive or dead.

“Bang!”

The thick iron door was pushed open, and heavy footsteps followed one after another as they came inside.

“Brother Song, if we keep her locked up like this, aren’t we inviting trouble? I’m thinking, if she still won’t agree to give up the bank card password and renounce her inheritance, maybe we should just–” said a young lad in his early twenties, stretching his hand and miming the gesture of slitting a throat.

“Her? A mere trumpet flower that can be easily crushed. Nothing to worry about! Besides, it’s only the first day. It’s normal for her to resist out of pride; let’s see if she’s still stubborn after three more months!” Coldly sneering, a middle-aged man in his forties spoke.

His hands and face were currently wrapped in gauze, which made his already somewhat sinister face look even more frightening.

“Right, Brother Song, about that jade bracelet on her wrist, why don’t we take it off and give it to my sister! I heard it was auctioned by Li Meizhen at Christie’s, a top-quality old pit variety, an antique–surely it’s worth a pretty penny!”

“That bracelet has been on her wrist for years, and now that her hand has grown, it won’t come off, not even with soap and water; we’ve tried everything.”

A glint of madness passed through the eyes of the young lad: “Well, isn’t that simple? Cut it off, and it’ll come right off!”

“…” The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment, then said, “That’s not impossible. I just gave her a sedative, so right now you could kill her and she wouldn’t react. Here’s what we’ll do: you go to the kitchen and get the thickest Bone Chopper and the heaviest solid wood chopping block, while I go run some water in the bathroom.”

“Got it!”

The iron door was closed with a loud “bang.”

Listening to the malicious conversation between her stepfather Song Deming and Zhang Kai, Jiang Yan, huddled on the bed, involuntarily shuddered, but then, she was taken aback!

Wasn’t this May 9th, three months before the apocalypse, the scene of the conversation that took place when Song Deming colluded with his mistress’s younger brother, Zhang Kai, to lock her in the villa’s basement?

But she clearly remembered that, having already lost one hand, she had died at Song Deming’s hands during the apocalypse and became fodder for Song Deming and his mistress’s family…

So, was she reborn?!

Jiang Yan’s parents, Jiang Yukang and Li Meizhen, were both orphans.

They started their careers delivering packages and built themselves up from nothing, eventually establishing the largest courier company in Anming City and amassing a fortune of over a billion.

Song Deming, originally the youngest and most promising vice-president of the company, had coveted the Li Family’s assets for a long time. He was ten years younger than Mother Jiang, Li Meizhen.

After Father Jiang died in a car accident one year, he managed to gain Mother Jiang’s trust by fair means or foul and successfully married into the Li Family.

And under his influence, Mother Jiang, who had started from scratch, quickly sold the company at a drastically undervalued price of several hundred million to the leading courier company in the country.

However, despite holding several billion in assets, Mother Jiang, who had built her wealth from scratch, only left him this villa and a few tens of millions in stocks.

It was during a drunken moment that Mother Jiang let slip in front of him that all the assets registered in her name had actually been bequeathed and notarized in a will she had prepared in advance.

And the sole beneficiary of the will was her precious daughter, Jiang Yan.

As for Song, he went from taking offense at the start to harboring a deep grudge.

A week ago, Song Deming lured Mother Jiang to country L under the pretense of celebrating their anniversary and killed her there, then reported to the police that during deep-sea diving, his wife had unfortunately fallen victim to a shark attack.

By the time the country L police arrived, there was no trace of Mother Jiang’s remains, and Song Deming, who also had numerous injuries, was released without charges after an investigation.

Once back in the country, he took the opportunity to bring the naive Jiang Yan here to collect her mother’s belongings, only to knock her unconscious with the help of Zhang Kai and lock her in the basement.

By then, Jiang Yan had been a university graduate for over a year, leading a carefree life as a travel and food blogger who flew around the world.

When she heard the terrible news of her mother’s death, she rushed back from a country far away.

Her mother’s bizarre death was a devastating blow to her, and in her desperation, she fell into Song Deming’s trap and was locked away in the basement, never to see daylight again.

But Song Deming, who had amputated one of Jiang Yan’s hands with Zhang Kai, did not wait for her to sign a statement renouncing her inheritance.

Three months later, the apocalypse had arrived.

The onset of the apocalypse had come without any warning.

Some said it was due to global climate change compounded by the rampant degradation of the environment by humans.

Others said it was due to Japan’s insistence on discharging radioactive water into the ocean.

In any case, nature’s retaliation against humanity was swift and unexpected.

On August 8, the arrival of the apocalypse began with a heatwave.

After that, there came storms, bone-chilling cold, floods, droughts, earthquakes, infestations, and more disasters in quick succession.

Following the apocalypse, Song Deming naturally made the secluded Half Mountain Villa on the outskirts into his safe house and shamelessly moved his mistress Zhang Qiqi and their illegitimate son Song Xiaofei there.

It was only then that Jiang Yan learned that Song Deming had long been covertly involved with Zhang Qiqi, and all the backstage orchestrating of those violent deeds couldn’t have occurred without Zhang Qiqi’s instigation.

Song Deming thought that if he could just survive the extreme heat, he would smoothly inherit the vast fortune left by Li Meizhen.

But then the torrential rains and frigid ice storms followed one after another.

Trapped and running out of food, he and his mistress’s family finally turned their eyes and knives toward the dying Jiang Yan…

As memories of her past life flashed through Jiang Yan’s mind like snapshots, she took a deep breath after recalling the painful experience.

Nothing would satisfy her desire for vengeance against the mother-killer Song Deming and Zhang Qiqi; even flaying them a thousand times wouldn’t be enough.

Jiang Yan yearned to eat their flesh, drink their blood, and break their tendons!

Moreover, there were still three months before the apocalypse would arrive.

Having been granted a rebirth, her life would not only be about seeking revenge against Song Deming and his cohorts but also making ample preparations for the impending apocalypse, to live for her deceased mother, to live anew for herself!

To survive earnestly and with all her might!

But for now, figuring out how to escape this man-made cage was the priority.

In her past life, she had taken great care to observe that this basement had been specially reinforced by Song Deming, walled with steel plates and boulders, completely devoid of windows.

The only way out was that heavily sealed iron door without even a peekaboo window.

Hence, unless she managed to kill Song Deming without him noticing and took the keys, escaping was impossible.

[Ding! You have activated the full series of superpowers: Vine. Cannibal Flower!]

A serene mechanical voice unexpectedly rang in Jiang Yan’s ear.

She furrowed her brows slightly, thinking she was hallucinating.

But as warmth trickled into her palm, a line of text appeared in her vision:

[Superpower name: Vine. Cannibal Flower]

[Current level: level 0, number of Cannibal Flower blooms: 1, Vines: 1 (Main Vine) + 2 (Side Vines) = 3]

[Currently unlocked skill 1: Devour; other skills pending upgrade.]

[Function and Usage:

1. Control and track living targets for devouring with intent;

2. Current allowable monthly devouring of living targets: 1;

3. Use intent to manipulate vines to morph into various forms, such as metal, wood, water, fire, earth, air, etc.]

Jiang Yan: “?!”

Could this be the rebirth superpower often written about in novels?

Yet her superpower seemed quite extraordinary.

But time was of the essence, and she decided to test her new abilities speedily before those two scumbags could return!