"Emily, sure, Mr. Sun’s old enough to be your granddad, but he’s loaded. He’s offering two million as bride price! Marry him, stick it out for a few years, and once he kicks the bucket, you’ll be rolling in millions from his estate!"

"If you say no, then how the hell am I supposed to help your cousin James buy a house and get married?"

The sharp, nagging voice yanked Emily Parker back to the present. Her blurry gaze sharpened as she instinctively looked up.

There on the sofa sat a plump, middle-aged woman in her forties, wearing bright red lipstick that was honestly kind of tacky. She took up nearly half the couch.

Laura Hayes.

Her aunt. The one who practically wanted to sell her for parts.

Next to Laura, James Parker leaned in with a smirk, clearly enjoying the show, while John Parker silently puffed on a cigarette in the background.

Wait... wasn't she dead? She clearly remembered dying in the fourth year of the apocalypse. So why were they all... here?

Emily’s eyes suddenly dropped to her hands—they were pale, unscathed, completely clean.

A horrible possibility crashed into her mind. She scrambled to pull out her phone and check the date—

2222.5.12

Two months before the end of the world started.

She was back. Reborn.

Emily’s breathing turned ragged as the truth hit her. And just as the panic started to settle in, Laura’s grating voice rang out again."You lost your mom early, and your dad just ditched you. It was me and your uncle who raised you, remember? We even agreed when you wanted to take your mom’s last name. Now that we’re in a tough spot, isn’t it time you gave something back?"

"And look, I'm not asking you to suffer—I'm helping you land a cushy life. You’ve already graduated college, time to settle down, start a family, right?"

Emily Parker's gaze turned cold, a sneer tugging at her lips.

Five years ago, Laura Hayes had pushed her husband to be Emily’s legal guardian, just so she could get her hands on what Emily’s mother left behind.

Including the house, it all added up to around three million, and over the years, Laura blew through almost all of it—buying a mini villa and financing Sophia Parker's international studies.

Meanwhile, Emily got nothing. She wore Sophia’s cast-off clothes, ate Laura’s scraps, and squeezed into the tiniest, shabbiest storage room at home. She had to juggle part-time jobs just to survive, while putting up with James and Sophia constantly picking on her like it was a sport.

She finally made it through school and thought freedom was in sight—only to be pushed into marriage.

James had dropped out early and bummed around ever since. Hitting thirty without a girlfriend, Laura panicked. Her brilliant solution? Marry Emily off to some rich geezer, grab the dowry, and use it to buy James a house and car so he could start dating.

Last time, Emily had gone on a hunger strike to fight back—it got so bad, it nearly turned into a tragedy. Only then did Laura back off.

But this time, things were different.

Emily needed that money. She needed it to survive what was coming.Boss Sun's not exactly the type to mess with, so let Laura Hayes deal with the fallout of this marriage scam.

Emily Parker hid the cold glint in her eyes. “Fine, I’ll marry Boss Sun—but I want the deed to my mom’s old place and half the betrothal money.”

Laura’s fake smile cracked in an instant. “Are you out of your damn mind? You think you can negotiate with me? Let me make this clear—Boss Sun already paid! The wedding’s set for three months from now. You’re getting married whether you like it or not!”

“Emily, don’t be ungrateful! My mom went through all this trouble to find you such a great match. You should be thanking her!”

James Parker raised his hand out of habit, ready to give her a smack—but his wrist was suddenly locked.

Bang—!

“Ah!”

In one swift move, Emily flipped James onto the floor. Before anyone could react, she grabbed the fruit knife from the coffee table and pressed it right against a very delicate spot.

She had survived three brutal years in the apocalypse. Sure, her body now wasn’t as strong, but the instinct and reflexes were carved into her bones.

James froze on the spot, not daring to twitch, terrified she'd slip and ruin his life for good.

Laura panicked too, grabbing John Parker’s arm. “Do something! Help your son!”

“Emily, let’s just talk this out, okay? Put the knife down…”

“Ahhh!!!”James Parker’s sharp scream cut right through John Parker’s words.

Emily Parker’s fruit knife was already buried in James’s thigh. “Uncle, take one more step and I can’t promise the next ‘accident’ won’t end up somewhere worse.”

John Parker froze instantly.

Blood was streaming from James’s leg, and Laura Hayes’s face twitched with fury. “You crazy brat! I’m calling the cops right now!”

“Oh? Auntie, don’t you want Mr. Anderson’s betrothal money anymore?” Emily asked calmly. When Laura went quiet, Emily chuckled. “If something happens to me, who's gonna marry him? My dear cousin?”

“No way!” Laura snapped without thinking.

There was no way she’d let her precious daughter end up with some old, ugly guy like that.

“Wire me the money now and take me to get the ownership transferred, and I’ll let him go,” Emily said casually. “But if this goes sideways and my cousin loses his ‘manhood,’ not only will no one want to marry him, but you might have to return the bride price—or worse, deal with payback.”

“Someone like Mr. Anderson, with his status and connections... no way he’d let a joke like that slide.”

Her threat was bold and clear. Laura’s heart clenched hard in her chest.

But truth was truth—she couldn’t argue. Gritting her teeth, Laura whipped out her phone and snapped, “Give me your account number.”First, calm this brat down. Once Emily Parker ties the knot with Mr. Anderson, then it’s time to really deal with her—and if we can squeeze a big chunk of money out of her, even better!

Emily could see right through Laura Hayes’ little scheme but didn’t call her out. Instead, she just gave her the bank account number.

Moments later, her phone buzzed—a text from the bank. One million, received.

Satisfied, Emily set the knife down and got straight to the point. “Let’s head out and get the documents transferred.”

Laura snapped, “What’s your hurry, you little brat? Can’t you see your cousin’s hurt?!”

She grumbled as she helped James Parker up and told John Parker to take him to the hospital, then stormed off to grab the documents.

The house Emily’s mom had left behind was this old, run-down place on the edge of town. Not worth much, and no one wanted to rent it either. Laura had already stripped it of anything valuable and sold it off, so the house had just been sitting there collecting dust.

Honestly, if Emily hadn’t brought it up today, Laura might’ve completely forgotten it even existed.

Still, she wasn’t happy handing it over. The whole time she looked like she’d just swallowed a lemon. But they managed to get the ownership paperwork sorted right before the property office closed.

She handed Emily the house keys along with the signed transfer.

As they walked out of the building, they ran into John Parker, who had just returned.

“Laura, I dropped James off at home,” he said. “Doc says his injuries aren’t serious. Just needs to take it easy for a few days.”Once she was sure her son was fine, Laura Hayes immediately turned her attention to Emily Parker: "Great, your uncle's here too. Let’s lay it all out now."

"You’ve got a place of your own now. Starting today, pack your stuff and move out. Don’t think about squatting in my house any longer."

"And if you ever wanna come back dragging your crap with you, then hand over half of that million as James’s medical fee."

Clearly, Laura still hadn’t given up on getting her hands on Emily’s money.

John Parker frowned. "Aren’t you going a bit too far…"

"Too far? Your sweet niece nearly crippled your son! And I’m just asking for a little money—what’s wrong with that?!"

Laura stood with her hands on her hips, eyes blazing as she glared at him.

John opened his mouth to speak but ended up saying nothing.

Emily’s heart twitched at the sight of his defeated, spineless look.

Truth was, he had treated her decently in her last life—bringing her treats on the sly and stepping in when her cousins bullied her.

He even helped her escape when resources were running low and Laura was about to literally eat her to survive.

If only she hadn't trusted the wrong person later… she might not have died in that inferno.

Steadying her emotions, Emily said coldly, "I’m leaving everything in the house. If you feel like tossing it, go ahead."

Tuning out Laura’s rambling, she turned to John and spoke again:“I saw online that Country Y’s been covering up a nuclear leak for years, and Country R has secretly been dumping waste into the ocean too. The environment’s already messed up—they say the weather’s gonna go haywire soon. You might wanna start stocking up on food at home, just in case.”

Emily Parker knew John Parker was too timid and scared of his wife, Laura Hayes, to ever stand up to her. She couldn't count on him for anything, so she only gave a brief reminder.

Whether he bought it or not was up to him.

Not wanting to listen to Laura’s voice any longer, Emily tucked the property deed away and flagged down a cab to the suburbs.

This city, Lincheng, had grown fast in recent years. Most people who used to live on the outskirts had moved downtown, making the area practically abandoned.

Looking around, the street was lined with run-down houses, the kind that had clearly been empty for ages.

After paying the fare, Emily walked to the end of the street, stopping in front of an old house that was still in halfway decent shape.

She unlocked the gate and pushed it open—right away, a musty, damp smell hit her nose.

Putting on a mask, she headed straight for the main house to start searching.

Last time, she'd been held captive in a basement by cannibal villagers, and ran into Sophia Parker there.

Emily had thought Sophia was just another victim. But not long after, Sophia walked out of the place completely fine—and even ended up being treated like a VIP.

Turns out she’d joined sides with those psychos and helped them torture Emily.

It wasn’t until right before she died that Emily found out—the fancy villa Laura used to live in had fallen, and their whole family came to hide in this very old house.Sophia Parker had stumbled upon a hidden treasure that could store food—it was something her mom had left behind.

Emily Parker could still remember that smug look on Sophia's face as she ran her fingers over the bracelet with that gleam in her eyes.

“Lucky me, right? If Auntie hadn’t left you this, I wouldn’t have had such a chill life after the apocalypse.”

“Too bad you’re about to lose that tongue of yours. You won’t be spilling this secret to anyone ever again.”

One day, Emily would make Sophia pay—tenfold, a hundredfold, for everything she did.

Shaking off the rising anger bubbling in her chest, Emily kept digging through the wardrobe in front of her until her hand bumped into a box that rattled.