Chapter 11: Goals, the Farm, and Abilities

Bian Changxi was renting an apartment in Xinfeng Community, a newly built residential area on the edge of the city. There weren’t many residents, so after the apocalypse, there wouldn’t be many zombies here either. The location fit perfectly with Bian Changxi’s plans.

After saying goodbye to Bian Kuang, she pushed her modified knockoff motorbike to the bottom of Building 5, parked it, and took the stairs up to the third floor.

The third floor wasn’t too high, but not as vulnerable as the first floor—just right.

Each floor had four small apartments facing each other, separated by a central corridor. Bian Changxi lived in 303. She took out her key to open the door, glancing at 304 across the hall. Besides her, 304 was home to a family of four. Since they were right across from each other, if anything happened over there, she could easily observe through the peephole.

She entered, turned on the lights. It was a one-bedroom apartment, fully furnished, but the living room was a mess, cluttered with things she’d bought earlier. She gave it a quick look, set down her three knives, dug out a bottle of mineral water, and sat on the sofa as she drank.

From her pocket, she took out a small wooden box. Inside was a white jade bracelet, smooth and lustrous under the chandelier’s light. This was a keepsake from her mother, said to be quite old.

In her previous life, Bian Changxi had never figured out the bracelet’s secret, treating it only as a memento. It wasn’t until three months into the apocalypse that she accidentally discovered a storage space inside it.

After the apocalypse, some humans developed supernatural abilities, among them spatial powers. These were rarer and more valuable than the elemental abilities, so those who had them kept them secret. Naive as she was, Bian Changxi thought she was just a spatial ability user. Later, she accidentally discovered she could use her mind to plant seeds in the soil inside the space, though the growth rate was painfully slow, and she never researched it further.

It wasn’t until she met Zhu Yunhua that things changed. A girl in Zhu Yunhua’s group, who possessed some strange treasure for exploration, discovered her secret. After they became close, Zhu Yunhua’s old classmate and tech fanatic, Qu Yi, proposed to study the jade bracelet’s space…

Thanks to Qu Yi’s research, the bracelet’s space gradually expanded. Fertile land, rivers, houses, warehouses appeared. The efficiency of farming and livestock raising improved, and it became a real farm. Eventually, the owner (her) could even enter and exit the farm freely.

Because of this, although the farm technically belonged to her, anyone could use it. Maybe that’s why Zhu Yunhua became greedy? But Qu Yi never figured out that she and the bracelet were deeply connected—if she died, the bracelet would be destroyed, and the farm and warehouse inside would collapse and disappear.

She really wanted to see Zhu Yunhua’s face at that moment—it must have been quite a sight…

Bian Changxi gave a cold, faint smile, then sighed and pulled herself from her thoughts.

Her gaze fell back on the jade bracelet, her brows furrowing.

She didn’t know how Qu Yi had done it, nor could she recall what had triggered her discovery of the bracelet’s space.

She turned the bracelet over and over, fingers rubbing it, trying to activate some hidden mechanism. She even pictured the farm from her previous life in her mind, silently willing herself to enter…

Nothing happened.

She thought for a moment, then went to the kitchen, cut her index finger with a knife, and dripped blood onto the bracelet. The blood was absorbed, and she was overjoyed—but still, nothing happened.

Bian Changxi couldn’t help but give a wry smile.

In her previous life, before discovering the space, she’d been injured plenty of times, and her blood had dripped onto the bracelet, but the space never appeared. Clearly, this wasn’t the way. According to Qu Yi, at most this meant the bracelet had recognized her as its owner, but it wasn’t enough to open the space or unlock the higher-level farm.

“What do I need to do?” Bian Changxi fell into deep thought.

The farm would be her greatest asset in the apocalypse. It would determine whether she struggled to survive like everyone else or had an extra layer of security, living safely and comfortably. It was practically a cheat device, a plug-in, a paradise.

Just imagine: while others agonized over carrying a few supplies, she could stash everything in the farm, carrying only a backpack for show; when others entered a base and felt heartbroken over handing over supplies, no one would know she was secretly wealthy; in battle with zombies or humans, she could pull out the best weapons from her farm at any time; when others were surrounded by zombies, struggling in filthy, dangerous conditions, she could hide in her farm, eating and drinking her fill in peace—even a flood outside wouldn’t touch her…

So many benefits—the farm was just too important. She had to find a way to unlock it!

Suddenly, Bian Changxi remembered something: once, after a bumper harvest of rice in the farm, the grain filled the base’s first warehouse. Everyone was so excited they threw a celebration. Qu Yi got drunk and told her, “What a waste! You really wasted it before! If only you’d used the farm earlier… If I had the chance to go back before the apocalypse, I’d find you, steal the bracelet, and unlock it as fast as I could.”

“You know how to unlock it?”

“Not sure, but I’m pretty confident.” Qu Yi suddenly got serious, looked around, and whispered, “The first three days! Did you know, I’ve researched this—the top ability users in the apocalypse all awakened in the first three days! Those three days were magical: zombies were non-toxic and weak, mutant plants and animals hadn’t appeared, and the strongest ability users emerged one after another… It was like God gave humanity a buffer, a chance to reclaim their gifts. The farm’s opportunity should be in that window, but what’s missing is the activation energy.”

“What energy?”

“Zombies! Five—no, ten zombies, maybe more. Kill them, and their energy will be absorbed by the bracelet… But who can say for sure…”

“Who can say for sure…” Bian Changxi murmured. She’d never taken Qu Yi’s words seriously. Turning back time and starting over was pure fantasy—if it couldn’t happen, why dwell on it? She’d always been someone who looked forward. But now, the impossible had happened.

“No matter what, I have to try!”

First goal for the apocalypse: Kill ten zombies in the first three days.

Compared to the uncertainty of unlocking the farm, awakening an ability in the first three days was much simpler—thanks to Qu Yi, she knew exactly how.

So, second goal: Awaken an ability within three days.

This life, she was determined to become strong!

Tonight was destined to be anything but peaceful. Because of a post called “The Apocalypse Is Coming,” people were arguing online, cursing online, some were indifferent and clueless, some were joking and making plans to wait together.

Under the city lights, in a luxury villa complex on the outskirts, seven or eight young men and women gathered in one villa, directing trucks loaded with goods into the garage. Two of them were carefully taking inventory. A red-haired guy ran over and punched Bian Kuang on the shoulder. “Hey, Kuangzi, you really believe that bullshit post? You got a fever or something?”

Bian Kuang kept writing, smiling. “I’ve got nothing better to do, might as well have some fun. Don’t you think it’s interesting? Oh, did you bring your car?”

The red-haired guy cursed, “I brought both the Land Rover and the big Dongfeng truck. My old man almost killed me for it in the middle of the night. You owe me a big meal!”

A scholarly-looking young man pushed up his glasses, glancing back from the truck. “That might be tough. Kuangzi spent all his savings and pulled a lot of family strings for this. If the apocalypse doesn’t come, he’ll get a beating at home. If it does, we’d better stick close to him—forget about free meals.”

Bian Kuang finished his list, raised an eyebrow, and said, “That’s about it. Let’s head inside. Who knows what’ll happen at midnight? Let’s wait and see.”

As the clock ticked closer, somewhere on Earth, in a room with the curtains tightly closed, a computer glowed blue in the darkness. A slender, elegant hand moved the mouse, habitually opening the email inbox—only to find a new message.

The owner of the hand was surprised, hesitated a moment, then clicked it open.

“Aheng, you must be surprised to get an email from me.”

The hand on the mouse trembled, as if in shock, then quickly scrolled down.

“These past three years, you changed your number, your name, your identity—vanished from the world. Our only link seems to be this email. I’ve wanted to write to you so many times, but always held back. But this time, I know if I don’t write, it’ll be too late.

“What you’re about to read will shock you, maybe even make you laugh and think I’m delusional, but every word is true. I thought about telling people around me, but I couldn’t. Call me cold or cruel, but if anyone let this slip, it would bring disaster. But with you, I can’t and won’t hide it.

“Since I’m being so serious, if there’s anyone with you, please ask them to leave, and please keep the contents of this email strictly confidential.

“Remember when we watched Resident Evil together? I was so scared, I told you that if the world ever turned out like that, I’d rather end things before it got that bad. But now, I have to tell you—the world we live in really is about to become like that.”

******

Received the site’s contract message, so I’m posting this chapter early to celebrate!

Since I started this story, the click rate has been better than my last two books~(@^_^@)~ But why hasn’t anyone given me a recommendation vote! Data is super important for new books—please vote for me, pretty please…"