“Scarlett Timmons never imagined that after just one night’s sleep, she’d wake up back before the apocalypse—back to the moment when everything was still intact.

“In her last life, her parents died right at the beginning of the end times, and the fiancé she thought she could rely on had already hooked up with her cousin. They betrayed her, tormented her for three whole years, and in the end shoved her straight into a pack of zombies…”

Jasper Hector read the novel out loud, voice stiff and overly serious.

“As if remembering something, Scarlett dug out the bracelet her ex‑fiancé once stole and gifted to her cousin. She cut her finger and let a drop of blood fall onto it…

“Sure enough, the jade bracelet her family passed down wasn’t ordinary at all. Inside was a whole space—mountains, rivers, everything. Basically another world!”

“The bracelet vanished, leaving only a faint mark on her wrist. Thinking about the ‘space ability’ her cousin had in her past life, Scarlett gritted her teeth. This time, she absolutely had to…”

Serena Pemberton lifted a hand to stop him.

She spat out a cherry pit and tossed another cherry into her mouth, her voice muffled as she spoke, “Just summarize it. My head’s starting to hurt.”

Honestly, it was a miracle someone like her was sitting here forcing herself to listen to a webnovel.

Jasper Hector hurriedly flipped a few pages and summed it up:

“Later, Scarlett ruthlessly got her revenge on her ex and the mistress cousin. The cousin’s life went downhill hard and she eventually got tossed into a zombie horde. The ex regretted everything until he broke, and his ending was just as miserable.

“And then Scarlett met this super handsome ability‑user. In the finale, the two of them hid away from the world with their space ability, never worried about food or anything. They lived happily ever after and even had a kid.”

Serena Pemberton: “…”

Something flickered across her face. After a long moment, she asked, “And then?”

Jasper Hector blinked. “That’s it.”

Serena Pemberton: “?”

Seeing her expression darken, Jasper asked carefully, “Sister Serena… you don’t like it?”

Serena’s mouth twitched. Then she suddenly straightened, sounding all serious: “Stop reading this romantic fluff. It’s not good for you.”

Jasper Hector paused for a second, then tried again in a careful tone. "But this site’s pretty wholesome, you know? All green, no shady stuff. Looks super healthy?"

Serena Pemberton let out a tiny smile. "I mean it messes with my mental health."

She’d been reborn. The world was about to collapse.

And someone out there had a whole pocket dimension with mountains and rivers—basically a parallel world—something big enough to reshape a scorched‑earth apocalypse… yet all the owner cared about every day was relationship drama. Nothing but love issues, zero ambition.

For someone like her, it was honestly headache‑level annoying.

Serena took a vicious bite of her cherry and forced herself to stay put, pretending she still had patience.

Jasper said nothing, just kept scrolling through the site.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Oh! Different site. Same apocalypse‑rebirth thing, but this one’s all about career grinding!"

Serena’s interest perked up a bit. She spat out the cherry pit and popped another one into her mouth. "Alright, summarize it for me."

Jasper speed‑read through the page. "Celine Greenwood gets reborn. Last lifetime when the world ended, she went from rich second‑gen to dirt‑poor basically overnight. Her bank balance evaporated, her house, car, company—poof—instantly worthless…

"She swears she’ll hoard supplies like crazy this time, no way she’s starving again.

"Then boom, she realizes she’s got a cheat—space ability.

"She sells her house and her car, ends up with like ten billion. Then she goes all out stockpiling food—rice, flour, grain, oil—just converting every cent into goods so she can live comfy in the apocalypse…"

Serena froze mid‑bite, shot Jasper a weird look. "Hoarding?"

Jasper nodded seriously. "Yep. Rebirth‑hoarding genre. Super popular on this site. First half is basically her going wild shopping nonstop.

"Then doomsday hits, chaos everywhere, but the heroine? Never short on food or water. She hides up in the mountains, occasionally drops by human bases to smack down the side characters—living the life."

Serena frowned hard. "And what about the country? The government? The military?"

Buying ten billion’s worth of supplies in one go—yeah, no way that doesn’t set off alarms.

Jasper Hector hesitated for a moment before explaining, “The disaster hits, the country falls into chaos, order collapses… that’s why they call it the apocalypse.”

In other words, everything basically stops working.

Serena Pemberton said nothing.

After a brief pause, she asked, “Then what about the ten billion worth of supplies in her space?”

Jasper replied, “The heroine just eats and drinks her way through life, and by the end, most of it is still sitting in her space?”

Serena stared at him, her expression completely blank.

She didn’t even need to say anything—Jasper instantly got the message.

We’re talking ten billion in supplies!

If Sister Serena had that much stocked up, even in that kind of chaotic wasteland, she could pretty much unify the whole world.

Sure, in novels it’s all just for fun.

But Serena is a government employee. The apocalypse‑rebirth stories she wants to understand… definitely aren’t *this* kind.

“Next book,” Serena said flatly.

Then she added, “And try a different site.”

Jasper nodded, quickly pulling up another title.

“As the apocalypse descends, Adrian Thornfield awakens a powerful dark ability. He slaps the faces of everyone who once looked down on him and climbs from nobody to top dog. He takes in underlings, builds a harem, and rules the entire—”

Serena couldn’t even keep eating her cherries. She tossed the paper bag behind her, pushed open the car door, and stepped out.

She looked about twenty‑five, tall and lean, around one‑seventy in height. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail, and she wore no makeup. Her features were clean and sharp, her skin not the trendy porcelain white but a healthy wheat‑tone that gave her a vibrant edge.

A simple softshell jacket on her, she moved like the wind. Every step carried an unmistakable authority, and a single sweep of her striking phoenix‑shaped eyes brought a natural chill into the air.

Jasper hurried to pack up the laptop, tablet, and the stack of files, then rushed after her.

“Serena, aren’t you gonna keep digging into that whole rebirth thing?” Jasper Hector lowered his voice, sounding half curious, half gossipy.

He was actually older than Serena Pemberton, but that casual “Serena” slipped out like second nature.

Serena replied, her tone calm and crisp, “No more reading those rebirth stories. Let’s get straight to the point.”

Jasper’s expression tightened, his eyes instantly sharpening. The two of them picked up their pace as they headed toward a residential building.

Jasper spoke in a hushed voice, giving his report. “Marina Riverstone, lives in Jiaqingwan, Building Three. Yesterday we got complaints from some residents. Starting five days ago, she’s been acting super weird. First she replaced all her windows, then installed this insanely thick security door, and even bought an iron gate…”

He paused before adding, “And she’s got a bunch of other suspicious stuff going on. Highly suspected to be an outlier.”

Outlier — someone with supernatural anomalies.

Serena asked, “She’s the fifth one?”

Jasper nodded.

Their newly built Doomsday Special Affairs Division really was something else — highest authority, top‑secret cases, and inevitably tied to outliers.

Serena said, “Alright, let’s talk to the people who filed the complaint.”

Jiaqingwan was an old neighborhood, but the greenery was nice. A bunch of older ladies were sitting around, either sunbathing or cooling off in the shade.

The complainants were two of those ladies.

Jasper took out a police officer’s ID.

When dealing with regular civilians, acting as a normal cop always worked best.

Sure enough, the two ladies who had been eyeing them with suspicion glanced at the ID photos, then immediately warmed up to them.

Serena gave them a friendly smile and asked, “May we ask you two aunties a few questions about the situation?”

"Of course we can. Cooperating with the country is just basic civic duty!" one of the aunties replied without hesitation.

Serena asked, "That girl in Building Three who installed the iron door—you all remember her, right?"

*

Meanwhile, upstairs.

Marina Riverstone was sorting through her stuff, movements quick but a little shaky.

Ever since she came back reborn, the first thing she’d done was dump that scummy ex.

But the jerk had slunk off with her family’s heirloom jade bracelet. Marina felt something was off, so she took it back.

And sure enough—the bracelet had a pocket dimension inside.

She was thrilled at first, then suddenly hugged her own arm and started crying like her heart cracked open.

So the space really belonged to her.

Everything Joanna Sterling enjoyed in her previous life because of that space had actually been stolen from her.

Their “happy life” had been built on her bones.

"Heaven really didn’t forget me,” she whispered, voice trembling. “Gave me one more chance… a chance to take revenge on that jerk, and a chance to stock up so I won’t end up pathetic like before…”

Who would’ve thought?

In twenty‑one days, this perfectly normal world would flip into the apocalypse.

Good thing she was reborn. No way would she let herself end up like last time.

Just thinking about her previous life made Marina shiver hard.

Thank God there were still twenty‑one days left—but also only twenty‑one days to get ready.

The very first thing she did for doomsday prep was replace all her windows and doors.

In her last life, their complex had become a survival zone, one of the few that stayed standing when disaster hit.

She wasn’t changing the doors and windows for her own comfort. What she really wanted was to keep her parents’ old place safe from anyone who might trash it later.

She even went and bought metal grilles.

Once doomsday hit, she planned to fix them up along the hallway so no one could even get near her door.

And the reason she waited until right before everything went to hell? Simple—she didn’t want people staring.

Just swapping out some doors and windows wouldn’t get anyone’s attention.

Honestly, who still cares about other people’s business these days?

*

Downstairs.

Serena Pemberton and Jasper Hector were listening carefully, while Mrs. Thornfield and Mrs. Whitmore were talking with all kinds of excitement.

A group of old men and women who’d been out dancing came back right then.

One of them asked, “Hey, Mrs. Thornfield, Mrs. Whitmore, what are you two chatting about?”

Mrs. Thornfield blurted out, “These two are police officers. We were talking about the folks in Building 3, unit 605!”

The dancing crew perked up immediately and swarmed over.

Retirement was basically about finding new entertainment, and for their generation, this wasn’t gossip—it was enthusiasm.

“Is it that young girl?”

“Aye, that one. She used to seem totally normal, but lately something’s off. She even broke up with her boyfriend out of nowhere.”

“That’s because the boyfriend cheated.”

“How do you know that?”

“A couple—one guy, one girl—came looking for her to argue a few days ago. I heard it. Something about a bracelet or whatever.”

“She really is acting weird. Even changed all her doors and windows. Is she guarding herself from that couple? But still, no need to replace everything with such high-end stuff, right?”

"She ordered it from that building materials market up front?"

"Yeah, from the shop run by that young Zhao guy."

...

Old Mr. Zhao added, "She didn’t just replace the doors and windows. She even ordered an iron grille, custom‑made to fit our hallway. Asked for the strongest one they had, like ‘blast‑proof’ level. My nephew’s shop couldn’t make it, so they contacted the manufacturer. Even the manufacturer was confused by her request."

"Did she get spooked by some end‑of‑the‑world rumor online or something?"

"Could be. Young folks these days come up with all sorts of weird ideas."

*

Upstairs.

Marina Riverstone thought of her space again, and that spark of excitement shot right back up.

Having a spatial ability was just ridiculously convenient.

Take that iron grille, for example—heavy as a small tank. She had them drop it off in a camera‑free corner of the basement. The moment no one was paying attention, she just slipped it straight into her space. Zero effort, like tapping a button.

Sometimes she even caught herself thinking, if danger popped up out of nowhere, she could just throw that thing out and probably flatten someone with it.

Talk about the ultimate life‑hack superpower.

And as long as she stayed cautious… who on earth would ever guess she had a space?

*

Downstairs.

"Then how come she never installed the grille?"

"Who knows? Haven’t even seen her touch the thing."

Mrs. Thornfield leaned closer to Serena Pemberton, lowering her voice:

"The guys from the market dropped it in the basement. Took several men to haul it in—huge and insanely heavy. But the moment they left, the thing just vanished. Didn’t see the girl go down to move it or anything. Creepy, if you ask me."

Serena Pemberton’s eyes flickered a little, one brow lifting ever so slightly.

*

Upstairs.

Marina Riverstone stared at the supplies packed inside her space.

These days, buying stuff was ridiculously easy. She just placed orders online, waited for the delivery guys to drop everything off, and the moment they left, she slipped everything straight into her space.

Ordering from several different shops kept things low‑key. No fuss, no attention, yet her stash grew like crazy.

A small smile tugged at her lips. “Thank god for this space. Otherwise, where on earth would I put all this? My apartment would be bursting, and people would start poking their noses in. With the space, even if something goes wrong later, I can just clap my hands and disappear…”

She had seen firsthand what happened to people in her last life—those with a ton of supplies but zero ability. Their endings were… not pretty.

When she needed to leave someday, all she had to carry was a simple backpack.

Not eye‑catching at all, yet the space could cover everything she needed.

And honestly, who would ever guess how much she had stashed away?

*

Downstairs.

Another old man leaned close to the “police officer,” Serena Pemberton, his voice full of disbelief.

“Officer, you have no idea. That girl bought a mountain of stuff. Just rice alone—she ordered 135 bags yesterday, all fifty‑pound ones!”

A middle‑aged auntie in a dance outfit chimed in immediately.

“Yeah, yeah, I saw it too! A bunch of delivery guys were taking turns hauling things up. It was like watching a moving truck unload!”

“She also bought 120 bags of flour yesterday, plus five boxes of salt, five boxes of sugar, and…”

“And Old Chen delivered a hundred barrels of water to her place! A hundred!”

“Who buys like that? How’s she supposed to finish all that?!”

"There's no way all that stuff fits in her room, right?"

*

Upstairs.

Marina Riverstone muttered under her breath, her eyes flashing with impatience. "What, they think someone can just sneak into my space and do a headcount?"

Downstairs.

Mrs. Thornfield stood with her hands on her hips, voice loud enough to shake the hallway. "I saw it clear as day! She’s bought, what, 160 bags of rice, 120 bags of flour, 100 packs of salt, 100 packs of sugar, and then all those star anise and bay leaves, altogether…"

Upstairs.

Marina let out a soft scoff, leaning back like she had everything under control. "Even if the world ends tomorrow, no one’s gonna pin anything on me."

Downstairs.

Another neighbor, breathing heavily from outrage, pointed straight at the door. "Officer, we seriously suspect she’s a spy!"