"Ugh... cough, cough!"

The woman lying on the bed, her delicate features twisted in pain, suddenly burst into a fit of violent coughing.

A searing pain tore through her insides, as if her organs were on fire. Her pale skin flushed pink, and sweat, cold and heavy, rolled down her scalp, dripping onto the sheets and soaking into the fabric.

Charlotte Warren struggled against the unbearable agony, her fingers digging deep into the flesh of her thigh.

It hurt.

Wait—pain? Wasn’t she... dead? How could the dead feel pain?

Her eyes snapped open as if yanked out of a terrible nightmare. Her gaze darted around, panic flashing in her eyes.

“I’m alive?” Her voice was hoarse, trembling with disbelief.

No. That wasn’t possible. There was no way.

She clearly remembered dying.

She’d died in the apocalypse. Betrayed by her own family.

In the eighth year of the apocalypse, her uncle Richard Warren and his family had thrown her out of the safety of the shelter without a second thought.

She had fought wave after wave of zombies, her arms drenched in blood, until her strength gave out and her weapon splintered in her hands. Yet, her uncle’s family, despicable and greedy, had gambled on her life, using her healing ability as a sick form of entertainment.

The other survivors, powerless and clinging to scraps of hope, had wagered food on whether she would survive the next attack. Driven into exhaustion, they forced her to continue—until she couldn’t anymore.

Charlotte had lost.

No matter how incredible her regenerative powers had been, they couldn’t save her from the relentless onslaught.Charlotte Warren suddenly smashed her fist into the mirror, shards flying everywhere as blood trickled down her hand and onto the necklace around her neck—though she didn’t even seem to notice.

In her past life, her boyfriend Allan King had teamed up with Ivy Sykes for a food run. But Ivy never came back.

That trip was supposed to be hers. She remembered it all too well—she had bailed last minute because her period started, and the smell of blood would’ve been too dangerous. Ivy volunteered to take her place, saying she’d handle it.

For years, Charlotte thought Ivy just had bad luck and ran into a horde of zombies. It wasn’t until the very end that she learned the truth. Allan broke Ivy’s leg to save himself, leaving her to be eaten alive.

And that wasn’t all. Right before she died, the pieces clicked—Allan had been working for her uncle, Richard Warren, all along. He was a plant, inserted into her life to gain access to her shares. And later? He was just a leash, keeping her tied down and under control.

“Meowwww~” A soft little noise nudged her out of those awful memories.

Her red-rimmed eyes dropped to the ground, where Shadow rubbed against her leg. Heart aching, she scooped up the black-faced cat and buried her face in its fur, inhaling deeply.

“Don’t worry, I won’t forget you!”

In her previous life, during the third year of the apocalypse, her safehouse was overrun. She nearly got bitten that day. It was Shadow who leapt at the zombies, buying precious seconds for both her and Ivy to escape.

Shadow… Shadow had been ripped apart, devoured in front of her.

Charlotte’s throat tightened as she opened the cat cabinet. She grabbed three cans of food and opened every single one for Shadow, her hand trembling slightly.She chuckled. “Ivy, tell my uncle, one billion dollars for my shares. Not a penny less.”

“What?”

“If I don’t see the money in half an hour, I’ll put the shares up for public sale.”

“Charlotte, you’ve lost it! I mean, anything else I’d understand, but for Allan? He’s not worth it! The guy’s playing you!”

Ivy was completely dumbfounded.

A billion dollars was a lot, sure, but the Warren Group had a massive business reach and incredible profits. The shares Charlotte was holding were worth at least $1.5 billion, probably more! Selling for a billion? That’s basically giving them away!

But Charlotte hadn’t lost her mind, nor was she trying to help that jerk Allan.

The Warren Group had been her grandmother’s and parents’ legacy, with Charlotte herself owning 60% of the shares, and her uncle Richard holding a mere 6%.

Richard and his family had always been eyeing her shares. Over the years, Charlotte had to deal with their endless schemes. Fine, she thought, this time, I’ll give Richard exactly what he wants—just how he wants it: dirt cheap shares!

In her last life, Richard had scraped together a billion dollars somehow, snatching up two major supermarket chains. When the apocalypse hit, he had ample supplies, which gave him a strong foothold in power.

But this time? Charlotte was about to drain him dry. Let’s see how he’s going to buy up those supermarkets now!

“Oh, and one more thing I need you to handle for me,” she added.

“What’s that?”

“Find two guys... and break Allan’s legs for me.”Charlotte Warren hung up the phone, her mind already racing. Once the money was in her hands, the real work had to begin—getting ready for the apocalypse. The first thing on her list? Finding a couple of huge warehouses.

They needed to be nearby so she could easily access supplies, and hidden enough to avoid trouble. If someone discovered her stash, well, that could be a disaster.

Just then, the bead on her necklace lit up, flashing a piercing silver light. Charlotte raised a hand to shield her eyes, but in that moment, it was like an instruction manual had downloaded directly into her brain.

What... was this?

Did I just awaken some ability ahead of time?

Opening her eyes again, Charlotte found herself staring into something unbelievable—a massive cubic space stretched before her. Beneath her feet was soft grass, and above her was a wooden rooftop, eerily similar to a childhood drawing she'd once made. Except this time, it was huge, and covered by some kind of transparent barrier that sealed the grassy area into its own environment.

She estimated the space was as big as ten Bird's Nest stadiums stacked together. Within it, countless clear cubes floated, scattered in neat patterns.

With just a thought, Charlotte willed one of the cubes to move. It obeyed instantly, shrinking, expanding, and rearranging itself exactly how she wanted. It was like she was operating some cutting-edge storage system, and her consciousness was the control panel.

Testing an idea, she grabbed a handful of grass and let it drift into the space. The blades stopped mid-air and hung there, totally still.

No movement. No gravity. No time.

“Could it be... time doesn’t move here?”To test her guess, Charlotte Warren deliberately stayed inside for quite a while, even taking a nap.

When she came out, she checked the time.

10:30!

“It really is frozen!”

Charlotte was overjoyed.

This meant her storage problem was solved.

Now, not only could she stockpile grains, flour, and rice, but also meat, vegetables, and even cooked food.

She touched the bead on her necklace—a keepsake her grandmother had given her before passing away, saying it was a protective charm she must never take off.

Charlotte was thankful she listened to her grandmother.

Rebirth and the space—everything came from this bead!

“Ding! 10 billion dollars credited to your account.”

Hearing the text alert, Charlotte couldn’t help but curve her lips into a cold smirk.

If nothing else, Richard Warren sure had a knack for decisiveness when it came to snagging a deal!

With the 10 billion plus her personal savings, Charlotte was finally free to splurge however she wanted.

But before diving into her plans, there was still one big thing she had to take care of.