Chapter 2

“Ahhh—I’m not going to the Philippines!!”

Jiang Henian screamed and shot upright from the bed.

It wasn’t until she saw the familiar furniture that she shakily pushed her sweaty hair away from her face, revealing a pale but delicate look of exhaustion.

That man from last night had scared her senseless, and after terrifying her, he just waved her off like he’d lost interest and told her to scram.

He was tall. Broad. Backlit, so she couldn’t even see his face. Just felt like a gangster. So fierce!

Totally terrifying!

She’d had nightmares the whole night.

One moment she was back at the auction, the next she was being chased by debt collectors with dogs, fingers chopped off and sold to some snake-infested den in the Philippines! She even dreamed of gnawing on her own fingers from hunger.

“Grrrggh—”

Her stomach growled. Jiang Henian clutched her empty belly and thought of her meat buns.

She hadn’t even had one bite. That big black dog ate all of them. Thirty yuan’s worth!

Her coworker at the milk tea shop had raved about them—three yuan each, fat and juicy, even tastier than Australian lobster, and one was enough to fill a whole meal.

If you’d told her half a month ago that she’d be living like this, she never would’ve believed it.

Ugh… so hungry.

My poor meat buns, sob sob sob…

Clutching her stomach, Jiang Henian was nearly in tears, utterly consumed by thoughts of buns.

Suddenly, something soft and heavy landed in her palm out of nowhere.

She looked down.

A meat bun—appeared out of thin air in her hand!

She instantly sat upright, staring in disbelief as she squeezed the warm, very familiar-looking bun.

Soft.

She sniffed it.

Smells amazing.

She tore it in half—and inside was a generous stuffing of meat and veggies. The fragrance hit her nose in waves.

Jiang Henian was dumbfounded. Did the bun come back to its mama??!

Three days later.

Her alarm hadn’t even gone off yet when Jiang Henian woke up.

With a serious expression, she sat up and summoned a cup of hot water into her palm—trembling slightly as she took a cautious sip.

Ever since that day, she’d gained the ability to store and summon objects from a mysterious pocket dimension. Along with that, however, came some rather disturbing dreams.

She kept dreaming of herself scavenging wild herbs in the mountains, starving like a stick figure, her hands covered in blisters.

Last night’s dream was even crazier—she got into a deadly brawl with someone over two wilted weeds.

Her heart pounded. Something felt… imminent.

Could it be—

The end of the world is coming?

The thought made her break into a weird grin.

Hehe, that means I don’t have to pay my debts!

Who cares about eight or ten million! If the world ends, the first thing she’d do is slap that dog-releasing psycho who sold her off to the Philippines in her dreams with the bottom of a shoe! And that scar-faced gang of his, too!

Puffed up with rage, Jiang Henian pounded her pillow a few times, mentally avenging herself.

Then she tossed the abused pillow aside, brushed her messy hair, downed her water, and started scheming.

If these dreams really were premonitions… what should she be preparing for?

The dreams were always gray and murky, but if she was already digging for weeds, life must be dire.

Apocalypse? Famine? Time travel to ancient times?

Either way, for once Heaven had done something decent—didn’t kill her when she jumped, and even gave her a magical storage power.

This girl’s life isn’t over yet!

With new determination, she slammed the empty cup down, reached under her butt, and pulled out her phone. Fired up, she opened her banking app.

The next second—

The balance “1948.48 yuan” stabbed her in the eyes like a dagger.

Just die. Just die already.

What a cursed balance!

Jiang “Wilted Cabbage” Henian sluggishly got ready and headed out to earn her “end-of-the-world escape money.”

This rundown duplex apartment was left by her mother, the only property her father Jiang Wenbin hadn’t managed to sell.

Half a month ago, after his company went bankrupt and he started acting crazy, he suddenly came home, acting like the gentle, loving dad from before. He made dinner, said he was going on a long trip for business, and told her to keep living well.

Then came the day she got her acceptance letter from Huada University—only for debt collectors and repo men to arrive at the same time.

That’s how she found out her dad had developed a gambling addiction. He’d borrowed from every relative possible and used her ID to secure loan shark debt—eight million yuan total with interest.

Her dad disappeared.

She couldn’t.

In tears, she sold all her jewelry, bags, and even her car. With every bit of allowance she had, she barely scraped together half a million to deal with the immediate chaos.

With her few remaining belongings and 4,000 yuan, she moved from a luxury villa to this leftover apartment.

Small, but in a prime spot—right next to Haishi’s richest neighborhood.

Once a pampered princess in an ivory tower, now a penniless debtor with no one to rely on, Jiang Henian had stumbled through various part-time jobs to survive.

She had to live, repay the debt, and still wanted to go to college.

But lately, even this kind of life felt unsustainable. The dreams were getting worse.

She was running out of time.

That man casually extended her deadline by a month. But even with ten more years, she couldn’t possibly pay it back.

She had to escape.

Lost in a swirl of thoughts, she stumbled out of her courtyard in a daze.

And just as she reached the gate—

A set of huge, gleaming white fangs lunged straight at her face!

“Awoooo—WOOF!!”

A massive black dog, taller than she was on its hind legs, hurled itself at the gate, jaws clamping onto the bars with a bone-crunching clatter.

That dog!

That flashy black vest!

“The top debt collector! Sold to the Philippines!!”

Those words flashed through her mind like an alarm siren. She wished she’d never left the house today.

Her face went pale. Legs shaking, she quickly turned around and tried to flee.

“Stop.”

A deep, rough, lazy voice nailed her in place.

In the summer morning heat, cold sweat beaded on Jiang Henian’s pale little face. Her entire body went rigid.

She didn’t dare move a muscle, sure those snapping teeth were about to bite through her neck.

He looked at her frail, windblown figure with an amused, thuggish smirk.

“Turn around.”

Hands in his pockets, the man gave a slow, languid command.

Like facing her doom, Jiang Henian turned back around, staring at the man and his dog just outside the gate.

No—dogs. Two of them!

Giant attack dogs!

Her brain was screaming, but on the surface she forced the most painfully awkward smile imaginable.

“H-H-Hi there, M-M-Master He…”

The girl wore a simple T-shirt and jeans, her long black hair tousled like seaweed, her pale skin almost translucent.

A sharp little nose, cherry lips, big cat-like eyes with a tiny beauty mark under the outer corner, and soft round cheeks that still held a touch of youthful charm.

If not for her trembling hands and twitching mouth, she’d actually be quite the sight.

“Hehe… and who are you calling ‘He’?”

The man practically towered over the gate, sunglasses hiding his expression. In black short sleeves and loose military-style cargo pants, he exuded danger—tall, brawny, and totally unruly.

His lazy, deep voice slid into her ears like a slow burn.

Jiang Henian: …

You don’t have to bully people like this!!! (*꒦ິ⌓꒦ີ)