Chapter 28: Transformation

That night, when Zai Xinyuan and his group went upstairs to the 24th floor looking for trouble, many people took notice. They secretly watched for the outcome, harboring schadenfreude. But when they saw Zai Xinyuan and his group stumbling down the stairs in a sorry state, supporting each other, a trace of fear toward the 24th floor arose in their hearts.

The dark thoughts that had just started to sprout in their minds were instantly crushed. No one dared to act recklessly anymore.

With Yan Mo’s decisive show of force, at least on the surface, the building had quieted down. In contrast, the building where Ye Yu’an, the heroine of the novel, resided was in constant turmoil, with trouble knocking on her door again and again.

The protagonist’s aura not only brought them miraculous advantages but also an endless stream of trouble.

Everyone who came looking for trouble had one thing in common—they saw a lone woman living by herself and assumed she was easier to bully than single men or families staying together.

Every single one of them, without exception, was brutally taught a lesson by Ye Yu’an.

Constant disturbances disrupted her life, and with the changes in her personality after her rebirth, the anger she had been suppressing continued to build up. She refrained from outright killing anyone, using this as an opportunity to temper her own temperament. She was well aware of the shifts in her personality—traits that could be both beneficial and detrimental in an apocalypse.

With time to herself in this second life, Ye Yu’an found clarity.

In her past life, she had been manipulated by Du Hanxu and Wang Yayun, deceived so thoroughly that she never saw through their scheme until the very end—when they pushed her into a horde of zombies, leading to her tragic death. Looking back, she realized that she was partly to blame for her own fate.

If she hadn’t been so naive, so quick to trust and give away her genuine feelings, she wouldn’t have been played so easily by their not-so-sophisticated tricks. She had even sincerely believed that their close relationship was because of her.

Now, reborn, she refused to let her past grudges and suffering dictate her new life. The painful days of her previous existence were behind her. Heaven had given her a second chance, and she was determined to live differently.

However, she would never forgive Du Hanxu and Wang Yayun. She would make them pay the price for what they did—everyone must bear the consequences of their actions.

As the water level continued to rise, it had now reached the 13th floor. More and more people were forced to evacuate their homes, carrying their bedding and meager supplies, cramming into the hallways of higher floors. The corridors became increasingly packed, and with space so limited, conflicts erupted daily.

Living in such an environment for an extended period, people’s emotions visibly deteriorated. Once well-dressed elites, who had roamed high-rise offices with charm and elegance, now bore nothing but disheveled appearances and vicious expressions. Tempers flared easily, and vulgar outbursts became the norm—far from the dignified personas they once maintained.

In her rushed preparations before the apocalypse, Ye Yu’an had only managed to renovate her apartment’s interior. She had overlooked the need to reinforce the stairway, neglecting to install an iron gate. As a result, the only barrier preventing outsiders from reaching the higher floors was the building’s standard fire escape door—an inadequate defense.

And today, someone finally decided to break in.

A group of people pried open the fire escape door using an axe taken from a fire safety box. Hearing the sound of hacking outside, Ye Yu’an remained calm. She didn’t go to check. Instead, she quietly dressed, picking up the weapon she had placed beside the sofa, and waited for them to reach her door.

As expected, about ten minutes later, after breaking through the stairwell, they banged forcefully on her front door. The rage of the person leading them was evident from the furious knocking alone.

Unfazed, Ye Yu’an rose, gripping her knife, and walked toward the door. The moment she opened it, before anyone could react, the man at the front was sent flying backward. He skidded across the floor and crashed into the wall, coming to a stop.

The shocking display of strength left everyone in the corridor dumbfounded, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

How could a woman possess such terrifying power? She had just effortlessly kicked a full-grown man across the hall, shattering their preconceived notions of female strength.

The man who had been kicked groaned in pain but was quickly helped up by his companions. His face twisted uncontrollably from the agony, his confidence visibly shaken. Still, he stubbornly shoved aside the person supporting him and lunged forward, intending to punch Ye Yu’an.

The next second, his entire body froze in place, locked in an almost comical posture. A cold sensation against his throat extinguished his blind rage, instantly replacing it with an icy clarity—an awareness that he was now standing at death’s door.