By December, Gu Mian estimated that the first batch of modified vehicles would begin to arrive.
However, November had already come to an end, and her stay in D City was officially over.
Before leaving, she settled all accounts cleanly.
She paid her trainer in full and added an extra fifteen million yuan as thanks, along with a few sincere words of advice.
"Stock up on long-expiry food and medicine," she told him calmly. "Always prepare for a rainy day."
The man accepted the money with complicated emotions.
He had trained countless wealthy heirs before, but none like Gu Mian—decisive, generous, and frighteningly forward-thinking.
At the same time, the books she had ordered in bulk finally began arriving.
Gu Mian immediately instructed Li Qiao to coordinate with Qin Yao and assign him a warehouse.
Everything was completed within the day.
Bai Ying also returned around that time. He had traveled both domestically and overseas, purchasing plants from multiple markets.
After settling accounts, he generously paid off the friends who had assisted him, leaving not a single loose end behind.
The moment he returned, Gu Mian swept all the plants directly into her space. She then spent another entire week carefully arranging them.
By now, all her subordinates had noticed a strange but consistent pattern: their boss would enter a warehouse, remain inside for a period of time, and when she exited, the warehouse would be completely empty.
No one questioned it. Not because they were ignorant—but because trust had already taken root.
Since Li Qiao had finished his main assignment, Gu Mian gave him a new task: to prepare detailed maps of every street, district, and city in Hua Country. Li Qiao estimated he could complete it by January. Gu Mian agreed without hesitation.
Bai Ying was then sent to F City to assist Huo Xu in managing the ranch.
Gu Mian calculated the timeline carefully. She wanted to finish all apocalypse preparations by February.
After that, she would devote herself entirely to cultivation—dumping all the jade into the spring within her space. With the density of spiritual energy involved, she was certain she would be unconscious for at least two months.
It was December when she suddenly realized she had overlooked something critical.
Fish.
Winter clothing.
Fuel.
She immediately contacted Bu Tong, Mu Xia, and Xu Qian.
Mu Xia was assigned full responsibility for winter clothing, while Xu Qian and Bu Tong were tasked with securing fuel—coal, gasoline, diesel, liquefied gas, and anything that could burn. After transferring the funds, Gu Mian set out the next day for W City, a coastal city.
This time, she didn't want ordinary water in her space.
She wanted seawater.
It was early winter, so there weren't many fishermen at sea. As she stood on the deck of the yacht she had rented, cold wind brushing against her face, memories from her previous life surfaced unbidden.
The apocalypse had begun with an unreasonable fever—runny noses, mild coughs, nothing alarming. Then came an unnatural winter that lasted three months in the middle of the year. After that, years of relentless heat without winter, followed by six months of scorching temperatures, two months of rain, and four months of toxic smog.
By the time she died, the weather had finally stabilized again.
She sighed deeply.
That period had been hell.
At least she had killed that bastard ex-boyfriend of hers. No more hatred. No more unfinished resentment.
Now, she could live however she wanted.
If she wished, she could even find herself a boyfriend later. Someone who wouldn't betray her. Someone who couldn't.
After settling matters in C City remotely through her phone and computer, Gu Mian booked a hotel in W City for two weeks. During the day, she rested or made arrangements. At night, she worked.
Inside her space, she dug.
At first, it was meant to be just a pond.
Then she decided a pond was too small.
So she expanded it.
She dug out an entire district's worth of land and turned it into a miniature sea basin. Only after that did she head far out into the open ocean.
She planned to buy fish a few days later. She had originally thought filling the basin would take no more than two days.
She was wrong.
After nearly exhausting her mental power, she examined the space with her consciousness and froze.
What she had transferred—after hours of effort—was barely a basin's worth of seawater.
She tried again.
And again.
Only then did she realize that when seawater entered her space, it was compressed. A bucket outside became barely a cup inside.
To fill the entire basin would take more than a week.
But she also discovered something unexpected.
Exhausting her mental power actually strengthened it.
Although there were still no clear signs of breaking through to Level Three, she could feel it—she was close.
So she persisted.
For over a week, Gu Mian shuttled back and forth, drawing seawater again and again. By the time she finished, not only was the basin filled, but several fish had also followed the water inside.
When she finally stopped, she realized something shocking.
Her mental power had doubled.
And she hadn't consumed a single piece of jade.
It was a worthy trip.
After returning the yacht, she rented a truck and began purchasing live fish in massive quantities—both edible species and ornamental ones. Each time, she drove to a secluded area, transferred the fish into her space, and returned to buy more.
She liked what her space had become.
The bamboo forests had grown dense and tall. Trees bore fruit rich in spiritual energy, sweet and nourishing. Though only her consciousness could enter the space for now, she still spent time arranging everything carefully. Between this and continuing jade gambling between C City and D City, her days passed quickly.
But something else weighed on her mind.
The New Year was approaching.
She was going home.
And she had no idea how to tell her father that the apocalypse was coming.
On December 22nd, Gu Mian headed to F City to collect the animals from the ranch. She spent several days there, generously compensating the workers before laying them off. On the third night, she transferred all the animals into her space, placing them in the area she had prepared.
The space felt crowded now—houses, forests, ponds, animals—but she wasn't worried. She knew that once she broke through Level Five, it would expand again.
After that, she set off for the capital—H City—her heart filled with both excitement and unease.
What she didn't know was that she wasn't the only one feeling this way.
Two days earlier, her father—Gu Yunchen—had been reborn.
Why him?
A simple reason.
Resentment.
In their previous life, the institute that had experimented on Gu Mian was destroyed by his own hands—along with the entire capital. He hadn't cared who died.
When he awoke two days ago, he found himself working overtime in his office, alive, fifty years old, and breathing.
He broke down and cried.
After confirming the date, he realized he had eight months before the apocalypse.
There was much to prepare.
But something didn't match his memories.
Gu Mian.
She had asked for money. Started a business. Earned billions. Hoarded jade.
She had never done any of this in his last life.
He decided he would see her soon.
If she was reborn too, then… he would truly be happy.
And if this was a parallel world—he only hoped the apocalypse wouldn't end his family again.
In his last life, when Gu Ruisheng had gone to the institute searching for someone, he saw Gu Mian's corpse by chance. That single moment shattered everything.
The institute claimed she had volunteered.
Gu Yunchen didn't believe them.
He investigated.
And hell truly broke loose.
He discovered that her team had sold her off. That her mutated ability made her "valuable." Worse still—his ten missing children were all dead, victims of the same institute.
That night, the institute sent people to capture the Gu family.
Only Gu Yunchen and Gu Ruisheng escaped.
And so, he destroyed the capital.
Now, looking at his children's photos, Gu Yunchen cried—then smiled.
They were alive.
This time, he would protect them.
Meanwhile, Gu Mian arrived at the ancestral Gu Mansion in the most expensive sports car her people could arrange.
The mansion was already lively. Children ran about. Elders chatted. Schemes brewed quietly beneath polite smiles.
Gu Mian didn't care.
She stepped out of the car gracefully.
And when she saw her father—
She walked straight into his arms and hugged him tightly.
She had missed him.
. 💫