Chapter 1: Rebirth

Jiang You never dreamed she would survive the claws of zombies only to be betrayed by the very family she protected.

Years later, she destroyed the experimental facility that imprisoned her.

Those who sold her out? Dead!

The base that betrayed her? Obliterated!

Who waits for the next life to settle their scores?

With her revenge complete, Jiang You exhausted her powers and self-detonated, but unexpectedly, she was reborn—half a month before the apocalypse broke out!

This time, she vowed to take back everything that was hers...

Stock up on food first, guns later—when the apocalypse comes, stay calm.

But just as she was ready to live quietly and hoard supplies forever, a tiny bottle cap fell from the sky. That’s when she learned her world was actually a book, and she was the villain who tragically died in the story?

If that’s the case, don’t blame her for being ruthless!

Sacrifice the heroine, unleash unlimited power!

...

When zombies erupted, other survivors were frantically fleeing.

Jiang You: “Hey, zombie up front, wait a second. Is that brain of yours ripe yet?”

While other survivors fought tooth and nail over scraps of food:

Jiang You: “Hotpot, BBQ, river snail rice noodles, roast duck, fried chicken, or Buddha Jumps Over the Wall… What should I eat today?”

When other survivors tried to use moral blackmail:

Jiang You: “Sorry, I don’t have morals. You can’t blackmail me.”

Chapter 1: Rebirth

"Boss, heh, heh, you know, girls just feel different to the touch. After you’ve had your fun, how about letting me, uh, try too?”

“What kind of talk is that? We’re brothers in the game—brothers are limbs, women are just clothes. Once I’m done, every one of you here will get a taste! Haha, share the good times, share the bad! Hahaha!”

“Hey, girl! Why are you looking down? Lift your head and look at me!”

A pair of rough hands grabbed Jiang You’s hair, yanking her head up in a humiliating posture.

As her head was forcibly raised, the terror in the young girl’s eyes was momentarily replaced by confusion.

“Heh, this little dark-skinned girl’s complexion is a bit rough, but her looks aren’t bad,” sneered the leader, a man with yellow-dyed hair. His lecherous smile curled further as he licked his lips.

His breath, hot and nauseating, sprayed onto Jiang You’s face.

Jiang You stared in disbelief at the scene before her. The yellow-haired man and the few scrawny street punks behind him were her worst nightmare, come back to life.

She was sprawled on the cement floor of an abandoned chemical plant, her body covered in footprints and bruises.

This place...

What’s going on?

Wasn’t she dead?

She distinctly remembered joining the other experimental subjects to destroy Forbidden Island, massacring the entire base. She had depleted her powers and perished in a final, self-destructive explosion.

How could she be here now?

Being dragged to the chemical plant by these thugs had happened half a month before the apocalypse began.

The sharp pain from her scalp where the yellow-haired man gripped her hair was a stark reminder—this was neither a dream nor an illusion.

This was real.

She had been reborn.

Reborn to half a month before the apocalypse.

Back to when everything had yet to begin.

She was alive again. She had survived!

A grin involuntarily crept onto Jiang You’s lips, one she couldn’t suppress no matter how hard she tried.

The yellow-haired man frowned, pausing as his hand stroked her delicate cheek. He suddenly noticed that her eyes didn’t show fear but rather a peculiar excitement.

His gut tightened.

Damn it, is this chick some kind of masochist?

But a second later, he dismissed the thought. What did it matter? Masochist or not, as long as he enjoyed himself.

He patted Jiang You’s cheek and puckered his lips, moving closer.

The gang members behind him burst into cheers and jeers.

“Go for it, boss! Make it count!”

“Boss, you’re the man!”

As his chicken-lipped mouth moved closer, Jiang You felt her stomach churn.

In the apocalyptic world, someone like him would be child’s play—she could take out three of him single-handedly. But this was before the apocalypse.

Her rebirth brought back only her soul, not her powers. She was still the malnourished girl she had been.

Keeping her expression neutral, Jiang You discreetly grabbed a handful of dust from the ground. Her lips curved into a dazzling smile, and for a brief moment, the man hesitated.

The next second, Jiang You flung the dust into his eyes with lightning speed.

“Ah! My eyes!”

As he let go of her hair, Jiang You lunged forward, tackling him to the ground.

Her body, weakened from years of malnutrition, didn’t have the strength to overpower a grown man. She had to rely on cunning and precision.

Caught off guard, the man recovered quickly, reaching to choke her throat.

The other gang members rushed to surround them.

“Little b***h…” The man’s grip tightened, and he raised his hand to strike her.

But Jiang You, catching a glimpse of something nearby, acted swiftly. While struggling, she snatched a small keychain from his belt, flipped open the attached nail clipper, and extended the nail file.

In a fluid motion, she stabbed the nail file into his neck with all her strength and tore it sideways.

The file wasn’t sharp, but Jiang You used every ounce of her strength to carve a deep gash.

Blood spurted out as the man collapsed to the ground, clutching his neck in disbelief.

The warmth of his blood splattered across her face, staining her vision red.

The other gang members froze, stunned.

“Damn it, what’s with this chick? She’s insane!”

“Should we call the cops? Someone’s dead!”

“Are you stupid? Calling the cops would land us in jail too!”

“Get her! Avenge the boss!”

The three men charged at her.

Jiang You quickly assessed the situation. With her current physique, she couldn’t win in a direct fight against three of them.

No matter. Killing didn’t require brute force—it was about skill and strategy.

She turned and bolted without hesitation.

“Don’t let her get away!”

The gang chased her into a pitch-black warehouse. At the end of the room, there was no exit.

“Haha, little b***h, you’re trapped now!”

Holding makeshift weapons, they entered cautiously, only to find the space cluttered with discarded metal barrels.

“She’s hiding. Let’s split up and find her!”

“Once we do, I’ll strip her and string her up! Stupid girl!”

Before they could fan out, the warehouse door slammed shut, plunging the space into darkness.

The men panicked.

“Who closed the door? I can’t see a thing!”

“Not me! It wasn’t me!”

“Bull****! You were the last one in! Unless…?”

Suddenly, a gurgling sound echoed in the dark.

“Who touched my back?! What the hell!”

“Aaaah!”

Panic-stricken screams pierced the silence as one by one, they fell.

By the time the door reopened, Jiang You stood silhouetted in the light, holding an iron bar. Her eyes burned with cold disdain as she gazed at the last man standing.

Dragging the bar on the ground with a nerve-wracking screech, she approached slowly.

He crumbled to his knees, trembling.

“Who sent you?” she demanded icily.

“It—it was Li Wei! She paid us to ruin you, to record it and send it to her!”

The man spilled everything.

Jiang You’s eyes turned even colder.

Without hesitation, she silenced him and disposed of the bodies in the chemical pool.

Revenge was only beginning. She had plans. Half a month before the apocalypse was plenty of time.

Secrets are safest when kept by the dead.

The warehouse door behind them suddenly slammed shut.

With the only source of light gone, the entire space was swallowed by darkness.

Panic set in.

"F***! Lao Er, why the hell did you close the door? I can’t see s***!"

"Bro, it wasn’t me!"

"Bull****! You were the last one in! If not you, then who… shhk!"

"F***! Who just touched my back?!"

"AHHHHHH!!"

"San Ge? San Ge, why aren’t you saying anything?!"

The last thug standing, the one they called Xiao Er, collapsed to the ground, his legs giving out beneath him. His hands landed in something warm and wet.

"W-what is this?! What the hell is this?! AHHHHH!!"

He shrieked and tried to get up, but the floor was slick. He slipped twice before finally managing to stand.

And then—he felt something creeping up behind him.

THWACK!

A heavy blow struck his kneecap, bending his legs backward unnaturally.

"AAAHHHHH!!!"

A bloodcurdling scream tore from his throat.

At that moment, the warehouse doors creaked open again.

Against the blinding light, a thin girl stood at the threshold, gripping a square iron rod.

She stepped forward, the rod dragging against the concrete floor with a screech that sent shivers down his spine.

Her gaze—cold, filled with disgust—was like looking at a rat crawling in the gutter.

Terrified, the thug frantically looked around. That’s when he finally realized what he had touched earlier.

Blood.

A thick pool of it.

His two companions lay lifeless. One had a gaping wound across his throat, blood still gurgling out as his mouth formed silent gasps.

The other had the back of his skull caved in, his dead, venomous eyes locked onto him.

This woman…

She wasn’t bluffing. She was really going to kill him.

Terror gripped his body, sending violent tremors through his limbs. His bladder failed, and warm urine trickled down his leg.

Jiang You frowned. "Who told you to do this?"

She recognized this man. He was in her class, always playing tough, hanging out with street punks.

But they had no personal grudges.

"You—you can’t kill me! I-I’m not even nineteen yet!"

"I-I…"

Chen Ren shook his head frantically, but when he saw Jiang You raise the rod to smash his skull, he panicked and blurted out,

"It was Li Wei! She made me do it!"

"Li Wei gave me twenty thousand yuan to round up some guys to ruin you and record the whole thing for her. She wanted to destroy you!"

"It’s true! I can show you the transaction records if you don’t believe me!"

"She said once she had the video, you’d be her dog. That you’d have to do whatever she told you!"

"She planned to use it to force you into applying to the same university as her—so she could keep you as her servant!"

Chen Ren sold Li Wei out in an instant.

Li Wei…

Of course, this was exactly the kind of thing she would do.

She had always used the dirtiest tricks to torment other girls.

Disgusting.

"I-I told you everything! Please let me go!"

"I know I was wrong! I’ll never do anything like this again! We know each other, right? Let me go just this once!"

"I swear on my life, I won’t say a word about any of this!"

This b****!

The moment I get a chance, I’ll kill her myself!

But a wise man knows when to back down.

He had to endure for now.

Jiang You, however, didn’t respond. She simply brought the rod down on the back of his skull.

Crack!

She searched his body, took his phone, and opened his social media.

Sure enough, there were transaction records and chat logs with Li Wei.

She also found a private group chat filled with sickening videos—Chen Ren and his crew appeared in many of them.

In her past life, Jiang You had fought desperately to escape.

She had broken Yellow Hair’s nose with a kick when he tried to pull her pants down, then ran with everything she had.

But there was nowhere to run.

In the end, she had chosen to dive into a chemical pool, willing to die rather than let them defile her.

She could swim. She held her breath and stayed underwater until they assumed she was dead and left.

By the time she climbed out, her skin was raw and burning from the corrosive chemicals.

She had reported the attack to the police, but it was already too late.

The thugs had fled the city.

Chen Ren, being underage, had only received a slap on the wrist and was made to pay compensation.

At the police station, he had cried like a baby, claiming he was "forced" by older gangsters.

But the moment he walked out, he had laughed in her face.

"Hahaha! I’m not even nineteen! The law can’t touch me! What can you do, b****?"

"If I ever catch you alone again, I’ll make sure you can’t walk afterward!"

…

This scum.

The lowest of the low.

Thinking of this, Jiang You raised the rod and swung again. And again.

Then, one by one, she dragged their bodies to the chemical pool and dumped them in.

She overturned barrels of corrosive waste, letting them spill over the bloodstains.

And then—

She set the entire warehouse ablaze.

An abandoned chemical plant catching fire?

Even if the police investigated, the ground would be soaked with chemicals, making it impossible to distinguish blood from the residue.

And no one would be foolish enough to drain the chemical pool to check.

That pool was deep.

Only someone who had fallen in would know just how deep.

There were still two weeks left until the apocalypse.

Everything needed to be handled cleanly.

The world hadn’t collapsed yet—she couldn’t afford to leave any loose ends.

She had too much to do in the next fourteen days.

And secrets?

A secret is only a secret if no one else knows it.

Not a single one of those four scumbags could be allowed to walk out alive.

She had spent years imprisoned in the Forbidden Tower, lying on an operating table as they skinned her alive and tore her body apart piece by piece.

That hell had turned her into a demon, too.

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