Lydia Harrington was dead.

Dead right when she was about to hit the very top of her life.

A sedan ran a red light and smashed into her.

She was the youngest and most brilliant research academician in Huaguo. The report on the deep-space detection system she had just developed, one meant to crack black hole dark energy, had not even been handed over to the Huaguo Aerospace Research Institute yet.

And just like that, she lay alone in a pool of blood.

What made it worse was that the crash was not even some carefully planned murder.

It was just an accident caused by a middle-aged man.

The moment that man got out of the car and saw she was no longer breathing, he was so scared he nearly pissed himself on the spot.

What a rotten way to go.

She was furious and miserable, with nowhere to vent it.

So angry it felt like even a coffin lid could be blasted open.

Lydia Harrington’s soul was close to exploding with rage, yet she could not do a thing to the bastard who caused it.

Just as she floated there, grinding her teeth in ghost form, a mechanical voice suddenly rang beside her ear.

【Ding—】

【Hello. System 007 is pleased to serve you.】

【We have detected strong unwillingness on your part. You are now being offered one chance to be reborn in the 1980s. Do you accept?】

The cloudy look in Lydia’s ghostly eyes lit up at once.

【Accept! Of course I accept! I need that badly!】

In this life, she had thrown all her time and energy into research. How much had she suffered? How much had she worn herself out?

If she did not get reborn, then wouldn’t everything in her head go to waste?

If she could be reborn in the 1980s, then with everything she knew, not only could she live well herself, she might even be able to help the country ahead of time. Where else was she supposed to find a chance like that?

There was no way she would refuse.

System 007 said, 【Understood, Host. System binding is now complete. Spatial storage function has been activated.】:

The moment System 007 finished speaking, Lydia suddenly remembered the proposal she had not submitted yet, and her heart clenched tight.

She hurriedly called out, 【Wait a second, System 007. Can you give me ten days first? I still have something important to take care of here. Can I leave ten days later?】

System 007 scanned the matter tied to Lydia’s wish and found that it would greatly benefit the nation, so it did not hesitate.

【Understood, Host. I will extend your remaining lifespan by ten days.】

As soon as the words fell, Lydia felt her head buzz. The world spun around her.

She forced open her heavy eyelids and instinctively raised a hand to block the harsh sunlight stabbing down from above.

The area around her was complete chaos.

"She’s not dead! She’s still alive! Call 120, now!"

The instant she heard that shout, Lydia understood—her soul was back in her body.

She pushed herself up hard and sat upright, then shot the driver a vicious look.

Without saying another word, she stood up. Blood was still wet on her forehead, but she strode straight toward the man, who was frozen in fear, and planted a solid kick right into his shoulder.

"You ran the red light and hit me. Do you admit it or not?"

The middle-aged man was kicked so hard he stumbled to the ground. He nodded over and over in panic, tongue tied in knots.

"I-I admit it, it was my fault. I’ll pay, I’ll pay you one million. Is that okay?"

The guy had done well in business these past few years, so money had come easy. With cash in hand, he had gone and kept a mistress outside.

This morning, the whole thing blew up, and his wife had gone straight to the mistress’s door.

He panicked, stomped on the gas, and charged out without even noticing the red light.

Lydia glanced sideways at the luxury car parked by the road, her voice cold enough to chill.

"I’m definitely taking the money. But running a red light isn’t something you settle by paying me off. Whatever procedure needs to be followed, gets followed. I’m calling the police now. Save the rest for them."

After saying that, she pulled out her phone and dialed the three digits without the slightest hesitation. She had no patience to waste more words on him.

Before long, the police car and ambulance both arrived.

The police took the driver away. Lydia said a few things to them, then got into the ambulance.

The efficiency of Huaguo’s police surprised even her. In less than a day, the one million in compensation had already been transferred into her bank account.

One million to buy her life. Saying it out loud felt like a raw deal.

Still, she was about to head for the 1980s, a place short on supplies and hard on daily living. This money had come at the perfect time. She could use it to stock up.

Honestly, it was a little embarrassing to say. She was a top research academician, yet most of the salary she had earned over the years had gone straight back into scientific work. She had barely any savings left on hand, let alone any real property.

She had been raised by her grandparents since childhood. A few years ago, both of them had passed away from cancer one after the other.

There was no one here she could not let go of.

Lydia steadied herself, and the very first thing she did was rush over to deliver the report to the institute director in person.

Then she casually asked for ten days of annual leave and, without looking back, started hoarding supplies.

First stop, the supermarket. Anything edible got shoved into her space.

Pork, lamb, beef, fish, seafood, eggs, milk, rice, flour, cooking oil...

Convenience food did not get left behind either. Self-heating hotpot, hot-and-sour noodles, self-heating meal boxes in every flavor, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, pork tripe chicken soup, pickled fish stew, braised pork with preserved vegetables, plus all kinds of salty side dishes that went great with rice...

Everything needed in the kitchen too—soy sauce, black vinegar, MSG, thirteen-spice seasoning, every kind of spice packet—she bought them all...

She stocked up on plenty of fruits and vegetables as well.

She had asked System 007 about it before. Her space could hold a ridiculous amount of things. It was so big she could even clear land and farm inside it if she wanted.

Even better, the space came with refrigeration and freezing functions. So for now she stored all the fresh ingredients in there first. Once she got settled later, she could start growing food herself and slowly become self-sufficient.

With that thought, she also picked up all kinds of high-yield, non-GMO seeds and tucked those into the space too.

The supermarket staff looked at Lydia as if she were some kind of lunatic, while she calmly bought enough goods to fill five whole pickup trucks without even changing expression.

She had the staff deliver everything to one designated location, then waited until night, when nobody was around, before putting each item away into her space.

After spending the whole day running herself ragged, Lydia was so exhausted her arms and legs felt weak. So she went straight to a five-star hotel she normally would never have been willing to step into, ordered a full table of good food, and gave herself a proper reward.

After all, once she got to the 1980s, there was no chance she would be eating any of this again.

The next day, she went out shopping again. First she headed to a big pharmacy and swept up nearly every over-the-counter medicine on the shelves.

Cold medicine, painkillers, fever reducers, anti-diarrheal tablets, cough syrup, quick-acting heart pills...

Medical alcohol, iodine solution, medical cotton, bandages, blood glucose meters, blood pressure monitors—she bought piles of those too.

Once she had the usual medicine covered, she made another stop at a traditional Chinese medicine clinic. She asked through every expensive herb they had. If it was available, she took it all.

Cordyceps, seahorse, deer antler, saffron, notoginseng, ginseng, deer whip, Tibetan fritillaria, angelica, dogwood fruit, ulacao grass...

Back in the 1980s, medicine and treatment would be in short supply. In a critical moment, these things could save lives. None of it could be skipped.

By the time she got this far, there was barely any money left in her pocket.

With the last hundred thousand, Lydia opened Pinduoduo and specifically shopped for things that looked right for the era.

—Red Double Happiness thermos flasks, enamel basins, enamel cups, sewing machines, radios, big 28-inch bicycles, electric fans...

She also prepared several sets of fabric, quilt covers, and all kinds of period-style clothes.

Of course, she did not forget Great Unity bills and all sorts of ration coupons either. She bought a thick stack of them.

Before leaving, she stuffed the computer, phone, and tablet from her rental apartment into the space, along with every book sitting on the shelf.

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

When Lydia opened her eyes again, she was already sitting inside a police station thick with the feel of another era.

The enamel mug on the table across from her, the Chairman Mao quotations pasted on the wall, the thermos standing in the corner—every bit of it was silently telling her that she had crossed over.

The woman sitting across from her was dressed well and wearing neat makeup, but right now she was staring at Lydia in disbelief, her voice full of rejection.

"Officer, there must be some mistake, right? You’re saying she... she’s my biological daughter?"

The instant those words landed, a flood of unfamiliar memories surged into Lydia’s head, dense and chaotic, all at once.

So she had entered a novel.

And not just that—she had become the real rich daughter in one of those true-and-fake heiress stories, the vicious female supporting character at that.