Apocalyptic Reincarnation: Start with a 30-million Bonus

Building 19, 2nd floor.

Mr. Wang looked at the scattered supplies on the ground, the spacious room illuminated only by the feeble light of a flashlight.

The silence around him was absolute, not a sound to be heard, and an infinite sense of loneliness crept over him.

After closing the door, Mr. Wang dusted off the sofa, tidied up a bit, then spread out the bedding he had brought with him. Without removing his clothes, he lay down fully dressed.

The flashlight was turned off, and the room plunged into darkness in an instant.

”Finally... sigh...” Mr. Wang opened his eyes, his gaze flickering in the darkness.

Thinking of how he ended up in such a predicament, all because of those people in Xin City, the escape has left him utterly exhausted.

Now reduced to living in a place like this, those people were to blame.

Soon, in the quiet surroundings, he could no longer resist the drowsiness and fell into a deep sleep.

...

Outside Safe City, in a dilapidated house, the man with the missing tooth who had luckily escaped clutched his injured arm and returned to the entrance of where he was temporarily staying.

His right arm, shot by a bullet, hung limply like a noodle.

As the sky dimmed, the man with the missing tooth released his left hand from his arm, steadied his emotions and knocked on the door, three long and two short.

Creak~

The door opened and a girl under ten years old threw herself at him: ”Dad, why are you only coming back now?”

The man with the missing tooth smiled indulgently, stroked the little girl’s hair and said, ”Tuantuan, Daddy went to find some food.”

Bearing the pain in his arm, he felt the soda crackers in his pocket, four pieces in total.

After a pause, he handed one to the little girl. As she caught the scent of the biscuit, she hastily took it, barely biting down when she suddenly looked up and said, ”You eat first.”

The man with the missing tooth said with a smile, ”I have more here.”

He pulled out another biscuit, thought for a moment, broke it in half, and put one half back in the bag.

The little girl bit off a small piece of the biscuit gently, the hard-won nature of food made her extraordinarily treasured, she nibbled softly, letting the biscuit swell slowly as saliva softened it, and waited a bit before swallowing it down.

Bit by bit, she ate away at the biscuit, until, in the end, the little girl still left half of it.

She hadn’t had her fill, such a small biscuit could hardly satisfy, at most it was just a tide-over, but she feared the moment when there would be no food again, she wanted to save it for when there was nothing left to eat.

Watching this, the man with the missing tooth’s heart felt as if it had been sliced with a knife, such was his discomfort: ”Eat it all, I have more here, you have it, then I’ll give you another piece.”

Hearing her father say this, the little girl’s face showed a struggle.

”Okay.” The little seven or eight-year-old girl finally couldn’t resist the urge to eat up, and gobbled down the remaining bits of the biscuit.

In the darkness of night, the man with the missing tooth suppressed the pain, tore two strips of cloth, and bandaged his injured arm. Now that it was dark and without a source of light, he could not tend to the wound, only wait until the next day.

Given the current circumstances, he didn’t even know how to deal with the wound, just hoping... that he could make it through...

Tightening the worn cotton wadding, he tucked the blanket around his daughter to make sure she was well covered. The man with the missing tooth wondered what his daughter would do if he was no longer around...

This damned apocalypse, the man with the missing tooth cursed in his heart.

...

The next day.

Mr. Wang woke up from his sleep. The sunlight spilled onto the floor, reflecting and shining onto his face as he sat blankly on the sofa.

The sleep was a bit disorienting, but at least it was a good rest.

It was the best sleep he had in days.

He was on the second floor, looking out the window to see very few pedestrians outside.

Yesterday, he only had a cursory glance, and he was in Zone C; it seemed there were a few more zones behind his.

It’s worth taking a look, thought Mr. Wang as he descended the stairs, planning to walk around.

Just as he reached the ground floor, at the entrance of the first floor, he saw a skinny man with scars on his face coming out of the door, expressionless upon seeing Mr. Wang.

Without any change in expression, Mr. Wang walked straight out of Building 19.

It was officially December now, glanced Mr. Wang at his mechanical watch on his wrist.

It was somewhat cold.

After walking a distance forward, he saw a row of villas. Perhaps this was the brightly lit place he had seen yesterday.

A wall fenced off these villas from the adjacent buildings, giving a strict sense of hierarchy.

Mr. Wang chuckled at himself, then walked further into the deeper areas behind, where he hadn’t seen the day before.

The cold wind rustled, drilling into one’s neck, taking away the body’s warmth.

When he arrived at Zone D, he saw nothing different. Under one of the buildings, the walls were marked with pink peach blossoms.

Mr. Wang didn’t take a closer look and left the place immediately; he wasn’t very interested in these things.

There were very few people on the road; with such cold weather, hardly anyone came out. Mr. Wang felt it rather uninteresting after walking around.

This Safe City wasn’t much different from an ordinary neighborhood, the biggest difference being a taller, more solid wall than typical neighborhoods and a slightly more luxurious setting.

Several rivers run through the neighborhood, all of which had already frozen over.

Just about to return to Building 19, he saw a corpse by the road, looking like a mummified skeleton, extremely emaciated.

Beside it were some people who looked like Patrol Team Members, dealing with the body.

”Another starved to death?”

”Yeah. They don’t go out to search for supplies earlier, waiting until they’re completely out of strength to go, damn it.”

”In such cold weather, probably wanted to go out early in the morning, then took a fall...”

”The first one this month.”

”Yeah, don’t worry, there are always newcomers.”

...

Listening to the Patrol Team Members’ chat, Mr. Wang eavesdropped for a while on the side. The Patrol Team Members didn’t seem to mind his eavesdropping at all; they seemed to not care whether Mr. Wang overheard them.

After all, their job was only to ensure their own safety, to prevent brawls and robberies within Safe City.

Whether people starved to death without food was not within their responsibility.

Mr. Wang returned to Building 19, looking at the bright room and the supplies piled on the ground, his eyes flickering.

Relying on these supplies, he could survive for a while, but what about after these supplies were consumed? Even if there were more stored outside, just consuming them was not a long-term strategy.

As someone who had been a boss and also a base manager, his way of thinking was always about how to leverage a situation, how to achieve a certain position, and then make others work for him.

According to the toothless man, there were four forces in Safe City, each with its own conflicts.

Perhaps, this was his opportunity.

As for the people from Xin City... A trace of resentment flashed in Mr. Wang’s eyes.

Reduced to a state of a homeless fugitive.

Those people in Xin City, that grievance, will have to be repaid sooner or later.

...