In recent years, due to environmental pollution, natural disasters have become frequent across the globe. In mid-June of 2025, a worldwide blizzard began. It would last for two years, officially marking the beginning of the apocalypse—
In 2032, after surviving in the apocalypse for seven years, Stella Sterling died!
...
「May 2025」
In a deserted warehouse outside the city, several bare-chested goons surrounded a woman and took turns kicking her.
Not far away, a bald goon sat on a dilapidated sofa, puffing out clouds of smoke while his underling waited on him hand and foot.
"Boss, are we being too rough? What if we kill her?" the underling asked quietly, a hint of worry in his voice despite his fawning smile.
"What's to be afraid of? The client's orders were to teach her a harsh lesson. If something happens, someone will be there to clean up our mess!"
"If we don't get rough enough, the client will complain we didn't do a thorough job and hold back the final payment. *That's* what we should be worried about."
The bald goon blew out a puff of smoke, his tone nonchalant.
He looked at the woman quietly begging for mercy in the distance as if he were staring at cash flying right into his pocket.
The client had said it: the rougher the beating, the higher the pay!
His voice grew excited. "Hit her! Hit her harder! Just make sure she's still breathing!"
No one noticed the woman had already passed out. Hearing the bald goon's command, they all struck even harder.
After some time, the bald goon finally waved his hand, signaling the others to back off. He looked at the woman collapsed on the ground—filthy, her face covered in footprints and bloodstains—and smiled in satisfaction.
'She won't die from this,' he thought, 'but she'll probably be paralyzed. The rest of her life is ruined.'
'This should be enough to satisfy the client!'
He walked over, took out his phone to snap a few pictures of her, then turned to make a call.
The next moment, Stella Sterling, who had been unconscious for some time, suddenly opened her eyes. For a moment, her gaze was full of confusion, but as she took in her surroundings, it instantly turned sharp as a blade.
With no time to wonder why she was alive again after having died, she snatched up an iron rod someone had dropped nearby. Her once-timid eyes now stared coldly at the bald goon in the distance. Without hesitation, she gripped the rod, rushed forward, and smashed it down on his head.
The force of the blow sent the bald goon crashing to the floor.
The sudden turn of events startled the other men in the warehouse. They looked over, and their faces twisted in rage. "Son of a bitch! Playing dead to launch a sneak attack? You're asking to die! AARGH—"
The man's voice was cut short as Stella Sterling rushed him, swinging the rod. It crashed down on his head. THUD! Another man hit the floor and didn't get up.
This time, before the remaining men could react, Stella Sterling went on the offensive, swinging the rod toward her next target—
"AAAHHH!"
"Bitch! You dare to hit us?!"
"You should be dead! We should've killed you before!"
"AAAHHH, it hurts! Stop! Stop hitting me!"
"I was wrong! Please, let me go!"
The more viciously they cursed, the more viciously Stella Sterling struck. She remembered who these men were.
In her past life, these were the men who had kidnapped her on her way home from work, brought her here, and beaten her so badly that she'd been hospitalized for a month, her body riddled with lasting injuries.
Before she'd had a chance to get revenge, the apocalypse had arrived, and she never saw them again.
She didn't know why she had been reborn at this specific moment, but the hatred from two lifetimes fueled her, and she showed no mercy.
Eventually, all their curses turned into pleas for mercy.
Stella Sterling ignored them all. The rod in her hands never faltered for a second. Soon, even the begging stopped. All the goons had passed out, lying limp on the floor.
Her expression was blank. "In my last life, I never got my revenge before the apocalypse. To think you'd be the first people I meet in this new one... This must be fate."
Her current body was too weak. Just that short burst of fighting left her panting with exhaustion. She had to rest for a while to catch her breath.
Staring at the man closest to her, Stella Sterling decided to finish them off for good. She raised the iron rod high—
But just an inch from the man's temple, she stopped. Tossing the rod aside, she sneered, "Consider yourselves lucky. Besides, letting you die like this would be too easy."
A sliver of reason pulled her back from her bloodlust.
'If I remember correctly,' she thought, 'the apocalypse is still a month away. For now, the world is still peaceful.'
'I can't kill these men. Not yet.'
'This is still a civilized society. If I get caught, I'll go to prison, and I don't want to welcome the apocalypse from behind bars.'
With that thought, she glanced at the men on the floor and decided to let them go—for now.
Stella Sterling wasn't in a hurry to leave. Spotting the takeout food the men had brought, she walked over, sat on the filthy sofa, and began to eat, her mind racing to process everything that had just happened.
'I died, but now I'm alive again.'
'This time, my twenty-two-year-old self didn't survive the beating. The one who woke up in her place was my twenty-nine-year-old self.'
'My rebirth is probably related to the portable space I acquired in my past life.'
At that thought, she placed her hand over the food in front of her and concentrated. The food vanished into thin air.
'Just as I thought! My five-thousand-square-meter space is here too!'
For the first time since coming back to life, a smile touched Stella Sterling's lips. With a single thought, the food reappeared. She grabbed a chicken leg and took a huge bite, her mind already sorting through her memories of her past life to establish a timeline.
'In my memory, this attack happened around May 2025. The first blizzard that signals the start of the apocalypse will be on June 28th of this year. That means I have one month.'
'So, I have one month to prepare.'
'Food, weapons, medicine... everything needed to survive the cold and heat. I need to gather it all this month. This time, I won't be caught unprepared.'
'But all of this requires money. At least, before society collapses, I have to play by the rules, at least on the surface.'
'So, the first priority is getting money. I need to get my hands on a lot of it, fast!'
Her eyes narrowed. After finishing her meal, Stella Sterling wasted no time. She dusted off her hands and walked over to the thugs sprawled across the floor.
She found that the bald goon was already awake and was trying to quietly reach for the rod to ambush her.
Stella Sterling slammed her foot on his head, and the man passed out again. She fished a phone out of his jacket, nudged his head to the side with her foot, and held the phone up to his face.
Facial recognition unlocked the phone.
She quickly checked his bank balance, her voice filled with delight. "Not bad, you're pretty loaded! Two million, three hundred fifty thousand!"
'Two million of that was just deposited!'
She patted his cheek. "And now, all this money is mine."
She transferred the money to her own account. Then, she repeated the process, draining the accounts of all the other men.
They weren't as wealthy as the bald goon. The other seven or eight of them only had two or three hundred thousand combined.
Still, even scraps are worth taking. Stella Sterling wasn't picky.