“Sophia, I’m saying this for your own good! With your health, it’s better to quit school while you’re still young and get married. If you miss out on Frank Connor, you’ll regret it!”

One second she was torn to shreds by zombies, and now—just like that—she was back in her old room before the world fell apart. Completely unscathed.

Sophia Jennings glanced at the digital calendar on the wall. Her pupils shrank the moment she saw the date—

May 4th, 30XX.

She was back.

One month before doomsday!

“If you weren’t just 19 and still in college, who do you think would even consider someone as sickly as you?”

Alice Jennings’ face twisted with contempt, her nagging relentless.

Sophia suddenly remembered—this was the very day her aunt’s family tried to force her into marriage to steal her parents’ inheritance.

Her researcher parents died when she was five, leaving behind a decent estate.

Since she was underage back then, her father's younger sister, Alice, got custody—along with full control over her parents’ assets.

In her last life, Sophia died without ever knowing how much the inheritance was. Didn’t even see a dime of it.

Alice’s family? Come the apocalypse, they were living large thanks to those assets.

Peter Duncan used her parents’ legacy to become someone important at the base—people looked up to him, treated him like a VIP.

And her? She was sick, starving, fighting people over a rock-hard piece of ration the size of a thumb.

For just a sip of murky water, she went head-to-head in brutal brawls.

Alice, seeing Sophia unmoved, slammed the table hard. The crack echoed sharply.

“Sophia Jennings, Frank Connor is someone your uncle and I picked carefully! Don’t be so ungrateful!”

Sophia took a deep breath and spoke slowly, “So your ‘perfect match’ is a twice-divorced guy with a history of domestic violence. That’s who you want your niece to marry?”

Who would’ve thought her own blood relatives had been scheming from the start—planning to marry off her weak, sickly self just to get rid of her and secure the inheritance.

“That’s enough! Who taught you to talk back to your elders?”

Peter Duncan snapped, face darkening.

The usual dullness in Sophia’s light amber eyes was gone—replaced with a chilly sharpness that shot straight through the well-dressed, well-groomed older man in front of her.

Flashbacks from her previous life—being trampled and humiliated by Peter—overlapped with the current scene. Her stare was ice-cold.

Peter felt a jolt under her gaze, a strange chill crawling up his spine.

His scolding caught in his throat, swallowed with a cough to cover up his unease.

“We’re doing this for you. We’re your family. How could we possibly want to hurt you?”

Sophia exhaled slowly, eyes fixed on the still-human Peter. The killer intent bubbling inside her was forcibly tamped down.

It wasn’t time for revenge yet.

Right now, getting back what was hers mattered more.

This time, no one was going to push her around.

She’d make everyone see—even if she was sickly, she could live better than all of them.

【Apocalypse Dungeon – Spark System: Initializing】

【Newbie mission: Take back what’s yours!】

【Complete the task to earn reward – Genetic Potential Booster!】

Sophia’s heart skipped a beat. She quickly steadied herself, keeping her emotions in check.No matter what this thing was, as long as it gave her a shot at surviving the apocalypse, she was all in—even if that meant paying the price.

Besides, this mission... was laughably easy.

Sophia Jennings took a sip of water to soothe her dry throat, eyes cold with scorn as she glanced up.

"People like you think you're fit to be called my elders? This is all about stealing my inheritance, right? Spare me the fake kindness—it's disgusting."

Alice Jennings was clearly stung by the sarcasm, her voice getting shriller by the second.

"Sophia! That inheritance from my brother should’ve been mine to begin with. And we raised you all these years! You're so ungrateful!"

"Don’t hit me with the whole 'we raised you' guilt trip. I don’t owe you anything. Want me to break down exactly how much of the support money my parents left for me actually ended up being spent on me?"

Her parents had left a trust account that delivered 50,000 yuan monthly for her care. And yet, over all these years, the most she ever saw from it at once was two grand.

"It’s all family, what yours is mine..." Alice mumbled, voice dying in her throat.

Then—BAM! The front door slammed open.

"Mom! Take me to the mall right now! That brat showed off her brand-new 10k phone! I want one too—today!"

Sophia narrowed her eyes and looked at the pudgy boy who barged in shouting—the ten-year-old Kevin Duncan, her cousin.

She recalled how, during the beginning of the apocalypse, she was stuck at home sick with a fever when it all began. Alice had taken that chance to raid her stockpile of food and meds while she was barely conscious.

They told her there was no food left, let her starve on scraps of bread and stale water, all while the rest of the family lived it up behind her back.

When rescue vehicles finally rolled around, she was almost skin and bones—with only her hollowed-out eyes staring back from the mirror.

Kevin had shoved her out of the evac truck during a joke gone wrong.

She remembered the smug little grin on his chubby face as chaos swallowed her whole.

“You again?! What are you doing in my house?! Get out! You don’t belong here!”

Still the same disgusting little brat.

Sophia’s lip curled into a strange smile.

"You're right, Kevin. I don’t belong here. But soon enough, you might not either."

She tilted her head slightly, voice sweet but laced with something sharp. "Hey Kevin, guess what? You're about to get a stepmom. You excited?"

Alice and Kevin both froze, looking confused. "What are you saying?"

Peter Duncan's heart skipped a beat. A bead of sweat trickled down from beneath his thick hair. Did this damn girl find out something?

Sophia turned her gaze toward Peter, just in time to catch his nervous flicker.

"Funny thing, I happened to pass by your office the other day, Uncle. You were having quite a cozy moment with a young lady—"

"Sophia!" Peter snapped, cutting her off.

She remembered the scene all too well—Peter sitting with a young, pretty office girl at a café, whispering and laughing like no one was watching. That was when she started keeping tabs.

Sophia shot a mocking, almost sympathetic look at Alice.

Seriously, this guy? With his background and all... and you're still treating him like some kind of treasure? What kind of sense does that even make?

Alice frowned, clearly confused and irritated by the vague exchange between them. When she caught Sophia's mocking look, her anger flared.

"Sophia, what are you getting at?”

“What is it you want?!"

Peter's face was already turning grey. The way Sophia was looking at him—it confirmed his worst fear.

She knew. Now the only question was: how much?

"Spit it out already!"Sophia Jennings said firmly, "Give me back my parents’ inheritance."

"No way!"

"Tch, don’t blame me then."

She pulled out an old black cell phone, its screen clearly showing—Recording in Progress.

The moment Sophia realized she had been reborn, she’d secretly turned on the recording feature. When dealing with snakes like them, you could never be too careful.

Peter Duncan clenched his fists, forcing a calm tone. "Sophia, come on. We’re family. No need to be like this."

"You’re an adult now. That cure your parents left behind…" The veiled threat in his tone was obvious.

Sophia sneered inwardly.

That fake cure lie was exactly what they used to control her all these years.

And now, they still wanted to use a non-existent item to blackmail her? Dream on.

She wasn’t going to let anyone push her around in this life.

Still, she put on a show of hesitating.

"The house can stay. That’s my last compromise. Otherwise, we’re calling a lawyer."

"And I wonder how your colleagues would feel… if they heard certain recordings..."

Peter’s jaw tightened. He could feel the walls closing in. Pushing any further would only backfire badly.

"Fine. You can have everything else. I’ll get the house transferred now."

Alice Jennings was stunned by his response. "What are you thinking?! Are you out of your mind?"

"Drop it."

Seeing Peter’s dark expression, Alice shut her mouth despite the words on the tip of her tongue.

The sour taste of defeat settled in Peter's chest. He felt like something precious was slipping away, but he couldn’t afford to let Alice find out about his affair.

Hooking up with someone like Alice, who came from money and had blind trust in love, had taken effort. That stability he enjoyed? It came at a cost he couldn’t let her question.

Yeah, the inheritance was a lot, but so was the value of that property. It was free money in the end—still a win.

"Deal," Sophia said with a smile.

The moment was heavy with tension as she accepted a bank card loaded with ten million, and a note with an address—33 Qingshui Road, on the west side.

Her brow lifted slightly. Ten million was nothing to the filthy rich, but to someone like her, basically dead broke, it was life-changing.

And that address? She vaguely remembered Peter mentioning it once before—it had something to do with supplies that helped him rise to power in the apocalypse.

There had been so much chaos last time around, she’d barely scratched the surface. Good thing her instincts were sharper now.

Outside of that house, her parents’ inheritance was a total mystery to her.

So, she’d led with the affair, banking on Peter’s pride and greed for the Jennings’ name to make him back down without asking too many questions.

Then she’d played the part, pretending the cure still held her back, so they’d lower their guard.

Now Peter probably thought she already knew everything and just wanted to protect his secret and keep the house.

He fell right into her trap.

In those clear amber eyes of hers, something dark flickered.

This family was just getting started—they still owed her plenty.

Step one after rebirth: Time to make them pay.

——

The next morning, at the Yunlanyuan community.

"Got it!" Sophia beamed, holding a red property certificate in her hand.

[Ding! Test Mission—Retrieve What’s Rightfully Yours: Complete!]

[Beginner Reward Issued. Please check your system inventory to view.]