The pain was unbearable.
Dr. Xia Yun could feel her flesh being torn apart, piece by piece, as countless rotting hands clawed at her body. The zombies surrounded her, their dead eyes gleaming with hunger, their teeth sinking into her skin with savage force.
She wanted to scream, but her throat was already ripped open.
Blood poured from her wounds, pooling beneath her as she collapsed onto the cold, cracked pavement outside the shelter walls. The very shelter she had helped build. The shelter that had just cast her out like garbage.
Through her fading vision, she could see two figures standing at the top of the wall, watching her die.
Her husband, Chen Wei, and her best friend, Liu Mei.
They were smiling.
Even as the life drained from her body, even as the zombies feasted on her flesh, Xia Yun could see the satisfaction on their faces. Liu Mei was leaning against Chen Wei's shoulder, her expression smug and triumphant.
'Why?' Xia Yun wanted to ask, but no words came out.
She knew why.
Three months into the apocalypse, Xia Yun had become the most trusted doctor in the Eastern Shelter. The refugees adored her. She had saved countless lives, worked herself to exhaustion treating the sick and injured, and never asked for anything in return.
But that popularity had made her a target.
Chen Wei, her husband of five years, had grown distant. Cold. He started spending more time with Liu Mei, who worked in the shelter's administrative office. Together, they had schemed and plotted, spreading rumors about Xia Yun hoarding medical supplies, about her accepting bribes from wealthy survivors in exchange for treatment.
None of it was true.
But in the apocalypse, truth didn't matter. Only power did.
The shelter's council had believed Chen Wei and Liu Mei. After all, Chen Wei was the head of the security division, and Liu Mei had connections with the council members. Xia Yun, despite all her contributions, was just a doctor.
So they banished her.
Threw her outside the walls to die.
And now here she was, being devoured alive while the two people she had trusted most in the world watched with glee.
'If I get another chance...' Xia Yun's thoughts grew hazy as darkness crept into the edges of her vision. 'I will make them pay. I will destroy them both. I will...'
The pain stopped.
Everything went black.
____
Xia Yun's eyes snapped open.
She sat up with a gasp, her heart pounding in her chest, her skin slick with cold sweat. Her hands immediately flew to her throat, searching for the wound, for the blood, for any sign of the zombies that had just been tearing her apart.
Nothing.
Her skin was smooth and intact.
She looked down at her body. No bites. No scratches. No blood.
"What..." she whispered, her voice trembling.
Sunlight streamed through the window of her bedroom, warm and peaceful. The room was clean and tidy, exactly as she remembered it from before the apocalypse started. Her medical textbooks were stacked neatly on her desk. Her white coat hung on the back of her chair. Everything was normal
Xia Yun's breathing quickened as she scrambled for her phone on the nightstand. She turned on the screen and her blood ran cold.
June 15th, 2024
Three months before the zombie outbreak.
Three months before the world ended.
"No," she whispered. "This can't be real."
But it was. The date was right there on her phone. The news headlines showed nothing about zombies or apocalypse, just ordinary stories about politics and celebrity gossip. Outside her window, she could hear the sounds of traffic and people going about their normal lives.
She had gone back in time.
Xia Yun sat there in stunned silence, trying to process what had happened. The memories of her death were still vivid in her mind—the pain, the betrayal, the look of satisfaction on Chen Wei and Liu Mei's faces as they watched her die.
Her hands clenched into fists, her nails digging into her palms.
'They killed me,' she thought, rage building in her chest. 'Chen Wei and Liu Mei set me up and had me killed. And I was too stupid, too trusting to see it coming.'
But now she had a second chance.
She knew exactly when the apocalypse would begin: September 15th. She had three months to prepare, three months to build her own safe haven, three months to make sure that this time, she would be the one in control.
And most importantly, three months to plan her revenge.
"Chen Wei. Liu Mei." She spoke their names aloud, her voice cold and hard. "This time, I'll make you both regret ever crossing me."
She stood up from her bed, her mind already racing with plans. But as she moved, a sharp pain shot through her arm. She looked down and froze.
There, on her forearm, was a small bite mark.
A zombie bite mark.
The same one she had received just before she died.
"What the hell?" She touched it gingerly, expecting it to hurt, but instead she felt a strange tingling sensation spreading from the wound throughout her entire body. It wasn't painful—it was almost pleasant, like warmth flowing through her veins.
Suddenly, her vision blurred. Strange text appeared in front of her eyes, floating in the air like a holographic display.
[System Activated]
[Welcome, Host]
[Special Ability Unlocked: Spatial Storage]
[Current Space: 100 cubic meters]
[Merit Points: 0]
[Skills: Medical Knowledge (Master Level)]
Xia Yun blinked, and the text disappeared. She blinked again, and it reappeared.
"A system?" she murmured. "Like in those novels?"
She had read enough web novels during her spare time at the hospital to recognize what was happening. Somehow, the zombie bite from her previous life had given her a special ability in this new timeline—a spatial storage ability.
A smile slowly spread across her face.
This changed everything.
With a spatial storage ability, she could hoard supplies without anyone knowing. She could prepare for the apocalypse without raising suspicion. She could build her safe haven in secret and gather loyal followers who would actually appreciate her efforts.
"Perfect," she said softly. "Absolutely perfect."
Her phone buzzed with a text message. She glanced at the screen and her expression darkened.
Chen Wei: "Yun, don't forget we have dinner with Liu Mei tonight. She's been asking about you."
Xia Yun stared at the message, memories flooding back.
In her previous life, this dinner had been the beginning of Chen Wei and Liu Mei's affair. Liu Mei had cried about her recent breakup, and Chen Wei had comforted her. Xia Yun, being the good friend she was, had encouraged them to spend time together, thinking it would help Liu Mei get over her heartbreak.
How naive she had been.
She typed out a reply with steady fingers.
Xia Yun: "Something came up at the hospital. You two go ahead without me."
Almost immediately, her phone rang. It was Chen Wei.
She answered, keeping her voice neutral. "Hello?"
"Yun, what do you mean something came up?" Chen Wei's voice sounded annoyed. "You promised you'd come."
"I'm sorry, but there's an emergency patient. You know how it is." The lie came easily to her lips. "Just go with Liu Mei. I'm sure she'll understand."
There was a pause on the other end. Then Chen Wei sighed. "Fine. But you're always putting work first. We barely spend any time together anymore."
'That's rich coming from you,' Xia Yun thought bitterly, remembering how Chen Wei had spent all his time with Liu Mei in her previous life. But she kept her voice sweet and apologetic. "I know, I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you."
"You better," Chen Wei said, then hung up.
Xia Yun set down her phone, her expression cold.
In her previous life, she had been a devoted wife, always trying to please Chen Wei, always putting his needs before her own. She had ignored the warning signs of his affair, made excuses for his increasingly distant behavior, and trusted him completely.
Never again.
This time, she would divorce him before the apocalypse even started. She would cut both him and Liu Mei out of her life completely. And when the zombies came and the world fell apart, she would make sure they got exactly what they deserved.
But first, she needed to prepare.
Xia Yun opened her laptop and started making a list. She had three months and a spatial storage ability. She needed to gather supplies—food, water, medical equipment, weapons, everything necessary to survive the apocalypse and build her own shelter.
She also needed to recruit people she could trust. In her previous life, she had saved many lives at the Eastern Shelter. Some of those people had remained loyal to her even when the false accusations started. This time, she would find them early and bring them to her side before the apocalypse began.
As she typed, her mind wandered to one person in particular.
Bai Yunxian.
He had been one of her patients at the Eastern Shelter—a mysterious man with incredible combat abilities who always kept to himself. She had treated him multiple times for various injuries, and he had been one of the few people who openly defended her when the accusations started.
But according to her memories, she shouldn't meet him until after the apocalypse began. He would show up at the Eastern Shelter two weeks after the outbreak, already infected but somehow still retaining his sanity.
'Why am I thinking about him?' Xia Yun shook her head, pushing the thoughts away. She had more important things to worry about right now.
She spent the rest of the day researching and planning. By evening, she had a comprehensive list of supplies to purchase and a rough plan for finding a location to build her shelter.
Her phone buzzed again. This time it was Liu Mei.
Liu Mei: "Yun! Chen Wei told me you couldn't make it tonight. I was really hoping to see you! 😢 Are you okay?"
Xia Yun stared at the message, rage bubbling up inside her. The fake concern, the excessive emojis, the manipulative tone—it was all so obvious now. How had she not seen through this woman before?
She typed out a short reply.
Xia Yun: "I'm fine. Busy with work."
Liu Mei: "You work too hard! You should take better care of yourself. Chen Wei is worried about you, you know. 💕"
That last emoji made Xia Yun's jaw clench. Even now, before their affair had officially started, Liu Mei was already testing the waters, already inserting herself between Xia Yun and her husband.
She didn't bother replying.
Instead, she opened her browser and searched for divorce lawyers.