Yu Xifeng had studied very hard throughout her three years of high school, always keeping to herself at school and burning the midnight oil.

But her grades were always at the very bottom, far worse than Yang Sizhu’s average grades.

Yang Sizhu never really took her seriously.

In fact, because Yu Xifeng studied so hard but still couldn’t surpass her, Yang Sizhu felt superior.

Stupid people simply can’t understand things.

Until the mock exams right before the college entrance exam, Yu Xifeng’s grades were still near the bottom.

Xu Qingrou and Yang Sizhu thus felt relieved to let her take the college entrance exam; the worse Yu Xifeng did, the more it highlighted Yang Sizhu’s excellence.

But unexpectedly, that wretched girl actually became the top scorer in the entire province.

It wasn’t until two universities started calling their families, competing to offer Yu Xifeng admission, that her family realized her true grades.

She had been pretending all along.

Yang Sizhu nearly bit her own tongue in frustration.

She was an ungrateful white-eyed wolf, wasting her mother’s kindness.

Xu Qingrou leaned against Yang Rong’s shoulder, looking sorrowful.

She maintained good health and appearance, showing no signs of having given birth to two children, which made Yang Rong quite fond of her.

Xu Qingrou lowered her eyes slightly and cast a cold glance at Yang Sizhu where Yang Rong couldn’t see.

Yang Sizhu hurriedly adjusted her expression, putting on a look of indignation.

“Sis took all the things from home. In that box, there seems to be property deeds and jewelry.”

The exquisite jewelry—at least a dozen pieces—were all things she had never seen before.

Especially the beaded bracelet; every time she thought of it, her heart skipped a beat.

When Xu Qingrou heard about the property deeds, a gleam flashed in her eyes.

Yang Rong was shocked and couldn’t comfort Xu Qingrou: “That’s impossible, she can’t open that lock.”

The key—he hadn’t even let Xu Qingrou touch it.

Over the years, most of their family fortune came from selling the jewelry in that box.

Just selling two pieces was enough for him to live comfortably for more than a decade.

They were his family heirlooms, meant to be passed on to Yang Silong.

“Sis… sis opened the box,” Yang Sizhu said in a low voice.

Yang Rong sprang up, pointing at Yang Sizhu.

“You were at home, right? Why didn’t you stop her? She’s stealing! Why didn’t you call the police?”

Those were antiques!

Xu Qingrou quickly smoothed things over.

“Zhu Zhu did try to stop her. She always respects her sister, otherwise she wouldn’t have been beaten by Yu Xifeng and not dared to fight back.”

Yang Sizhu’s head was still bandaged. She held her head, tears filling her eyes.

Her expression was shaky. “Dad, should we call the police now?”

Yang Rong glared harshly. What police? No one could explain where that box came from!

If Yu Xifeng found out, she might turn things around and bite back—it wouldn’t be worth it.

And the property deed—it was a storefront in the city center. Just thinking about it made Yang Rong’s heart ache.

Damn it!

Damn it all!

Xu Qingrou saw that Yang Rong didn’t want to call the police. Thinking about what Yang Sizhu said, a dark gleam appeared in her eyes.

“She’s your sister. No matter what she does wrong, we’re family. Arong, I didn’t give birth to her, so she feels distant from me.

You’re her biological dad. Talk to her properly. She’s always wanted to be close to you. She’ll listen to you.”

Yang Rong thought it over and agreed Xu Qingrou had a point.

He was Yu Xifeng’s biological father; how could Yu Xifeng rebel against him?

Yang Rong searched for Yu Xifeng’s number for a while and called. The phone rang a long time with no answer.

He refused to give up and kept calling.

Forty minutes later, Yang Rong’s face shifted through shades of red and blue like a painter’s palette.

Yu Xifeng had blocked him.

Cokoya County.

Yu Xifeng returned to her mother’s old house, which had already changed a lot.

The glass was replaced with thick bulletproof glass—solid and reassuring.

The renovation team told Yu Xifeng the door lock couldn’t be pried open, and the key was hard to copy. They warned her to keep the key safe.

A new heating system was added to the rooms.

Manager Cao said, “With this, it feels like summer inside. Even when it snows, you can eat ice cream at home, though it does use a lot of electricity.”

Lin City was in the south, where heating was rare.

Yu Xifeng explained, “I’m naturally cold, really sensitive to the cold.”

The second bedroom was converted into a gym with a treadmill, stationary bike, dumbbells, and a pull-up bar.

The alloy door was clearly extremely sturdy; even a kitchen knife couldn’t leave a mark.

Following Yu Xifeng’s instructions, smart surveillance was installed at the door, corridor, stairwell, and even outside the balcony.

There was a screen at the entrance to view the footage.

Videos would also sync to her phone and send text alerts when human movement was detected nearby.

After the inspection, Yu Xifeng was pleased and promptly paid the remaining balance to the renovation team.

She also bought five extra cameras as backups.

After this, Yu Xifeng had only 20,000 yuan in cash left.

She slept a nap in the bedroom.

She dreamed of her mother, who gently held her and hummed lullabies.

She could have sold the house.

Maybe found a better place.

But the jewelry was gone, and this house was her mother’s only legacy.

She hoped her mother was watching over her.

She slept very well.

When morning came, the sky was not sunny but overcast, with large raindrops falling.

Yu Xifeng quietly watched from the balcony.

The rain wasn’t heavy and looked no different from any previous rain. The roads remained busy with cars and people.

Only Yu Xifeng knew this was the prelude to a catastrophe.

In her previous life, she had struggled to survive until the seventh year. What would happen next?

Would human civilization be rebuilt on this land, or would it collapse, becoming dust in history?

Yu Xifeng didn’t know.

But she knew she had to survive—by any means necessary.

Her phone rang—it was an unknown number. Yu Xifeng thought it was a delivery and answered.

It was Xu Qingrou, her stepmother.

“Xiao Yu, has work been going well lately?”

Xu Qingrou said, “Have you run into any difficulties? It’s not easy working alone. If anything happens, you can talk to Dad and Auntie.”

Yang Rong’s voice came from the other end.

“Get your ass back here. How dare you steal from the family? You’re a shameless girl. Who would want you in the future?”

Then Xu Qingrou tried to calm Yang Rong.

Yu Xifeng said, “You two are playing good cop, bad cop. Try something new for a change.”

Yang Rong furiously shouted, “If you dare take my stuff, I’ll beat you to death. If you’ve got guts, stay out there and die.”

“No need to worry about you. You never cared about me all these years. Letting Xu Qingrou play the good person with me? I’ve long treated Dad as dead.”

Yu Xifeng’s tone was indifferent.

“And that’s not your stuff anyway. Mom’s property was all premarital. The will names me the heir.

I should have gotten that stuff when I turned eighteen, but you held onto it all these years.

I haven’t asked you for interest—that’s already counted as money I’m giving you to bury me.

This lifetime, until you’re in a coffin, I owe you nothing.”

But Yang Rong probably wouldn’t be getting into a coffin anytime soon.

Whether he survived the floods, whether he lucked into a shelter, whether he had enough food or medicine when sick, whether he froze to death from cold—

What did any of that have to do with her?

Yang Sizhu and her mother would surely take good care of him.

A strange smile curled on Yu Xifeng’s lips.

Xu Qingrou sounded very sad: “Xiao Yu, how can you talk to Dad like that? He’s your real dad.”

“You also know you’re not my real mom,” Yu Xifeng replied.

Xu Qingrou was stumped.

She couldn’t understand how normally silent Yu Xifeng had become so sharp-tongued.

Over the phone, she couldn’t gauge Yu Xifeng’s true feelings.

She said, “Xiao Yu, you’re my eldest daughter. To me, you and Yang Sizhu are the same.”

“That’s just to soothe my cheap excuse for a husband. If you want to soothe someone, soothe him; no need to call me specially.

I’ve known what kind of person you were since you gave me diarrhea medicine before your high school entrance exam.”

Yu Xifeng hung up and immediately blacklisted Xu Qingrou.

Also Yang Sizhu and Yang Silong—the whole family was a bad omen.

She had no time to waste on people who didn’t matter.