Because Si Ye was very familiar with the underground laboratory, all Nan Muran had to do was follow the route he gave her, use her psychic ability to sense the surroundings and avoid pursuers.

And Si Ye, with his metal-type power, could easily unlock all the specially made locks on the doors. So that escape went very smoothly for them.

Until they reached the final door that led from the lab to the outside world.

A surge of powerful life force suddenly erupted, instantly locking their abilities—no matter what they did, they couldn’t activate them.

They could only watch helplessly as the researchers and camo-clad soldiers with thermal weapons caught up to them.

Without hesitation, Si Ye shoved Nan Muran toward the exit and told her to run. Then he charged forward with a short blade to hold them off.

That was the first time she realized Si Ye wasn’t an ordinary person. His moves were sharp and calm, every strike deadly.

Unfortunately, his body had already been hollowed out by the lab’s experiments. In that sterile, white space, she couldn’t find any trace of life energy to save him. All she could do was watch him fall.

She remembered his smile, remembered how his emaciated but unyielding body shielded her.

She didn’t hesitate. She ran back and held him tightly in her arms.

In that moment, Nan Muran’s seaweed-like hair flew upward, glowing with green light from the roots. That overwhelming power began to surge back through her, and excruciating pain tore through her body.

She would never forget the looks in those researchers’ eyes—fear, euphoria, and disbelief.

Until she exploded completely, obliterating the entire lab with her.

“Si Ye…” Nan Muran was drenched in sweat, her face twisted with distress as she woke up from her nightmare.

She never fully understood what had happened in that underground lab, what the “vines” they spoke of were, or who those cold-blooded researchers really were.

But she wasn’t in a hurry. This life, she had time to find out everything.

Now that she’d calmed down, Nan Muran could clearly feel something was off with her body and mind. People who survived the apocalypse all had issues. In five years, she’d seen plenty of people who broke down and committed suicide.

But her condition was different—besides random nerve responses, she was overly sensitive, irritable, quick to anger, consumed by bloodlust, and even had the occasional urge to destroy everything.

These were classic symptoms of PTSD.

The tank-sized dog had woken up while she was struggling in her nightmare. Now that she seemed okay, it nudged her arm with its nose and curled back up in her arms for a nap.

Nan Muran wasn’t surprised by her state. She glanced at her phone—3 a.m. She’d only slept for two hours. Not surprising, after more than a year in that underground lab, being able to sleep for a full hour uninterrupted was already a luxury.

She gently laid the dog’s head on a soft pillow and went into the bathroom.

Standing under the warm shower, water cascaded over every inch of her skin, washing away the tension.

In the mirror across from her, a perfectly shaped body appeared. Her skin was flawless like fine porcelain. Her waterfall-like curls draped over her shoulders—she looked like a fallen goddess. Stunning.

Nan Muran leaned in toward the mirror, quietly examining this unfamiliar face, this unfamiliar body. So this was what she looked like now.

Gone were the bald head and flushed, sun-darkened skin of the apocalypse. No more grotesque scars, no more ruined body.

She didn’t snap out of it until her smart bracelet gave her a reminder.

Back in the living room, Nan Muran had no desire to sleep anymore. She immediately started stockpiling “mental food.” Phone, tablet, laptop—she fired up all her devices and began downloading like crazy. She didn’t even bother to be selective, just downloaded everything in order from the platform lists.

At dawn, the rental car company delivered the van she had reserved the day before.

She’d also ordered a bunch of food, including plenty of breakfast items, so the pickup time was scheduled for the morning. First, she picked up ten baskets of steamed buns. The shop owner treated such a big customer very well and helped her load them into the van.

After storing the buns in her spatial dimension, she went on to collect fried dough sticks, soy milk, noodle soup, rice noodles, hot rice rolls, spicy soup, tofu pudding, scallion pancakes, beef pancakes, sauce pancakes, porridge, and Hong Kong-style dim sum, among others.

One glance at the eighth floor of her storage space—it was piled high with packaging bags. For someone with OCD, this was unbearable. But the shelves she ordered yesterday wouldn’t arrive for five more days, so she had to put up with the mess for now.

After two hours of running around, Nan Muran drove the now-empty van back home.

At the door of her apartment, Guo Fei, dressed in a formal suit and exuding calm seriousness, was about to ring the doorbell.

“Fei-ge.”

“You’re up this early?” Guo Fei was surprised. She was someone who always slept in.

Nan Muran smiled as she opened the door. “Felt like getting up early for once.”

Once they were seated in the dining area, Guo Fei handed her a thick stack of documents. “Other than your shares in the Nanqiao Group, all your remaining assets—if fully liquidated—should be worth about 2.5 billion yuan. But since you’re rushing the sale, you probably won’t get that much.

I’ll liquidate all the properties, vehicles, stocks, funds, gold bars, fixed deposits, collectibles, and jewelry as fast as I can. As for the companies, industries, and your father’s patents—that’ll take more time.”

Seeing Guo Fei again stirred up some emotions in Nan Muran. “Fei-ge… thank you.”

Guo Fei paused, thinking she was thanking him for not stopping her plan this time. “All of this is yours. You have every right to decide what to do with it. But once you get the money, you must guard it carefully. Don’t trust anyone too easily.”

Nan Muran didn’t explain further. She simply flipped through the documents and picked out the ones that needed her signature, ready to sign.

A large hand suddenly pressed down on the papers, stopping her.

Nan Muran looked up, confused. “Fei-ge, what’s wrong?”

“Silly girl, are you really going to sign all this without reading it first?” Guo Fei was exasperated.

Nan Muran chuckled. “Why would I need to read papers you gave me? If you had any bad intentions, you’d have sold me out long ago.”

She would never doubt Guo Fei. In her past life, if he hadn’t acted quickly and liquidated her assets before the apocalypse, she wouldn’t have made it through the early days.

But back then, jewelry, collectibles, and real estate were almost worthless. So even with billions in hand, she still lived miserably.

Guo Fei smiled knowingly, remembering how she used to follow the professor around calling him “big brother.” “You…”

“I was wrong before—let others influence me, said some terrible things, did a lot of stupid stuff… Fei-ge, I’m sorry.” Thinking about how she used to act made Nan Muran truly ashamed, and the apology was heartfelt.

Guo Fei didn’t take it to heart. “You were just a kid. You’ve grown up now. And besides, how could I ever hold a grudge against you?”

After signing all the documents, Nan Muran told Guo Fei that the Nan family planned to give her Shenghui.

Guo Fei didn’t believe the Nan family was being that generous. Just to be safe, he made a few calls and arranged everything.

Then he stood up. “I’ll go with you.”

“Okay.” With him around, Nan Muran could save herself a lot of trouble.

On the way there, the two of them roughly discussed their approach to the Nan family.

It was simple: cold-faced Lawyer Guo would take the lead, and Nan Muran would play the obedient little quail.

At the same time, an accounting firm long associated with their law firm was also en route—heading to Shenghui Group’s headquarters to deal with the finance department. After all, with the Nan family’s track record, not setting traps for Nan Muran would be highly unusual.

Minor tricks Guo Fei could tolerate. Major ones? Absolutely not.

Once they arrived at the villa, both of them immediately sensed something was wrong with the atmosphere inside.

Nan Muran frowned. At such a critical moment, hopefully nothing unexpected had happened.