Chapter 2 – A Man-Eating Flower

With just a thought from Jiang Yan, a nearly transparent vine quickly took shape out of thin air.

At the end of the vine bloomed something that looked exactly like the man-eating plant from Plants vs. Zombies—its gaping maw lined with sharp fangs.

She tested its reach—the main vine with the flower could extend all the way to the iron door.

Experiment complete, Jiang Yan willed it to retract, then directed one of the flower’s side branches to coil lightly around the steel bedframe near the headboard. Instantly, the iron bar crumpled inward.

It seemed this vine was extremely strong, and best of all, it left no trace.

If that was the case, she could have the flower devour one of them, and use the side vines to strangle the other.

But there was one problem: the body left behind. She couldn’t possibly hide it for long.

This was still a lawful society, not yet the apocalypse.

She needed this month to frantically stockpile supplies and prepare—not to get entangled in lawsuits or, worse, risk ending up in prison because of a revenge killing.

True, given how well-hidden Song Deming’s basement was, the chance of discovery was low—but she didn’t need to take such a reckless risk.

Besides, letting those two beasts die quickly would be far too merciful.

A plan of revenge quickly formed in her mind.

After finishing her test, Jiang Yan lay back down, feigning sleep, silently waiting for Song Deming and Zhang Kai to return.

---

Bang!

A few minutes later, the iron door swung open again, and the two beasts entered one after another.

Zhang Kai placed a thick wooden chopping board by Jiang Yan’s wrist, lifted her jade-bangled hand onto it, and said, “Brother Song, I’ll hold her down. You’re stronger—how about you do it?”

“Fine.” Song Deming set his phone down at the foot of the bed and crouched.

Both men stared greedily at the jade bracelet on her wrist, oblivious to the transparent vines silently forming behind them.

Swish!
Swish!
Swish!

Three transparent vines lashed out from the void—two went straight for Song Deming and Zhang Kai’s bodies, the third coiled around the hand gripping the knife.

Both men stumbled, crashing onto their backsides.

An invisible force suddenly bound their arms and legs.

They tried to tear it off, but their hands only grasped at empty air.

“—!!” Song Deming’s breath caught, pupils narrowing sharply.

Alert, he snatched up the cleaver at his side.

“Brother Song, what the hell is this??! Damn it, am I hallucinating? It’s like Plants vs. Zombies—but life-sized!! I—” Zhang Kai, far less composed, stared wide-eyed at the monstrous flower looming in the air, its bloody tongue lolling hungrily in his direction. Terror filled his eyes; his pants grew wet as he pissed himself on the spot.

But soon his fear twisted into pain—

Because Song Deming, eyes bulging, had swung the cleaver straight at him.

Slash!

“Aaahhhh!!!”

---

Minutes later, two mangled corpses lay in a widening pool of blood.

Song Deming’s death was especially gruesome—half his skull split open.

The other half of his shattered cranium lay nearby, something Jiang Yan had forcibly pried from the man-eating flower’s maw.

Throughout, Jiang Yan hadn’t uttered a word.

When it was all over, she endured the stench and gore, curled back up on the steel bed, and forced herself to hold out for another hour until the sedative’s effects should have worn off.

Only then did she rise.

Using a corner of the bedsheet to wrap her hand, she picked up Song Deming’s phone and dialed the police.

---

Five hours later.

At the police station, Jiang Yan finished giving her statement and the necessary checks. Pale and weak, she accepted her small teddy-bear backpack from a policewoman.

Inside were her ID card, passport, phone, mask, cap, and some bank cards.

The cash and foreign currency that had been inside were long since stolen by Song Deming.

The bag itself had been recovered during the evidence sweep at the villa.

In her previous life, this bag and all her documents had been burned by Song Deming and Zhang Kai the very night she was imprisoned in the basement.

Thank goodness she had been reborn early.

Otherwise, replacing her ID and passport would have been a nightmare—

And to survive the apocalypse, she needed not only supplies but also firearms.

And firearms… could only be acquired abroad.

---

At the scene, the only weapon bore only Zhang Kai and Song Deming’s fingerprints.

The supposed motive: a dispute over Jiang Yan’s jade bracelet worth over a hundred million yuan, which escalated into mutual killing, fueled by the lure of her multibillion fortune.

The police also uncovered Song Deming’s enormous foreign gambling debts over the past year.

As for Jiang Yan—the sole witness—she had been drugged with a powerful sedative and remained unconscious, shackled by a short iron chain with barely any range of movement.

Though some details defied explanation and certain doubts remained, none of it pointed to her involvement.

And because Song Deming had dismantled all surveillance in the villa to cover his tracks, and dismissed all the servants and gardeners, Jiang Yan had lucked out—everything fell neatly in her favor.

---

Standing outside the police station, Jiang Yan finally breathed in fresh air and felt sunlight on her face again.

Her rebirth had allowed her to eliminate the first of her mother’s killers.

But now was no time to relax—the apocalypse would come in just three months. She had to start preparing immediately.

As for Zhang Qiqi, the one who had escaped—when the world fell into disaster, Jiang Yan would make sure to settle that debt.

Pulling a hat and mask from her bag, she disguised herself, turned on her phone, and hailed a ride straight back to the small villa where she had been living alone.

Three months might sound like a lot of time—but in truth, it wasn’t nearly enough.

She needed to plan carefully.

---

Ding-dong!

No sooner had she stepped inside, changed shoes, and entered the living room than the doorbell rang.

Checking the monitor, she saw it was the takeout order she had placed on her way home.

She put her mask back on before opening the door.

Her family’s wealth wasn’t much compared to the true elite of Anming City, but since her mother’s mysterious death abroad a week ago, their names had been thrust into the public spotlight.

Though Song Deming had been cleared of suspicion, gossip painted her mother’s case as a real-life version of The Vanishing.

Now, with Jiang Yan’s kidnapping and the deaths of Song Deming and Zhang Kai, the police had classified the matter as sensitive, forbidding any leaks to the press.

Otherwise, reporters would have mobbed her before she even left the station.

Not that she feared it—but such exposure would make liquidating assets and stockpiling supplies infinitely more difficult.