Doomsday System: Reborn to Ruin My Ex-Wife

Chapter 1

The smell of rancid copper and decomposing meat lingered in Caleb Rolfe’s mouth. He could still feel the phantom sensation of cold, rotted teeth tearing through the flesh of his shoulder. He remembered the crush of his ribs caving under the weight of a dozen howling ghouls outside the barricades of the North District shelter. Julian Cross had stood on the rampart above, smiling. Evelyn had locked the reinforced steel gate from the inside.

"Don't blame us, Caleb," her voice had drifted down through the gun slits. "There is only enough food for useful people."

"Caleb! Did you go deaf? Sign the damn papers!"

A sharp slap against mahogany shattered the memory.

Caleb blinked hard. The gray skies of the apocalypse vanished. Instead, he was staring down at a glass dining table inside a sunlit, four-bedroom penthouse in Riverview Heights. Resting right beneath his trembling hands was a stack of freshly printed white paper. It was a Voluntary Asset Relinquishment and Divorce Settlement Agreement.

He looked up.

Standing over him was Evelyn Frost, his wife of three years. Beside her stood his mother-in-law, Martha Frost. Martha had her arms crossed over her floral cardigan. Her foot tapped the hardwood floor in a furious, impatient rhythm.

Caleb’s throat tightened, then burned with ice-cold clarity.

He was back.

He checked the digital wall calendar across the room. October 12th. Exactly fifteen days before the red mist descended, the world collapsed, and the undead walked the earth.

In his past life, Evelyn had wept into his chest that morning. She had spun a flawless lie about an exclusive executive fast-track program at her corporate headquarters. She claimed the board strictly forbade married trainees and required candidates to present debt-free, single-status asset profiles. She had promised it was just a temporary legal fiction.

Caleb had loved her blindly. He had signed away this very apartment, the sole inheritance left behind by his late parents. He had walked out with an empty duffle bag. By dusk, Julian Cross had moved his designer suits into the master closet. Fifteen days later, the outbreak struck. Caleb turned into a stray dog scavenging for scraps, only to be fed to a horde by the woman he had surrendered everything to save.

Caleb sat very still. The pain of being torn apart alive was still fresh. He looked at Evelyn and felt murderousness rise in his chest.

"Not one cent of my money will you touch," he vowed in his mind. "Not one crumb of my supplies will I give you. I will make you pay."

"Look at him, just sitting there staring into space," Martha snapped. Her voice grated like rusted gears. "Caleb, stop wasting our time! Toby’s future in-laws are arriving at the country club in two hours. Chloe’s family made it very clear. If Toby does not have an independent luxury property in Riverview under his name before the banquet, the wedding is off! Do you want your brother-in-law's life ruined?"

Caleb slowly lifted his head. His eyes, once soft and desperate to please, were completely dead.

"What does Toby’s wedding have to do with my parents’ house?" Caleb asked.

Evelyn frowned, clearly taken aback by his flat tone. She quickly softened her expression. She stepped forward and placed a delicate, manicured hand on his wrist.

"Caleb, sweetheart, do not be like this," she purred. She leaned down so her perfume enveloped him. "It is just temporary paperwork. You know the corporate training board will not sign off on my executive post if I am tied to family assets. We are giving the title to Toby on paper so my audit clears cleanly. Once I secure the regional director seat, we will buy an even bigger home together. Do you not trust me?"

In the past, this honeyed whisper would have made him surrender his life. Now, it made his stomach turn.

"Trust you?" Caleb asked. He pulled his arm away so sharply that her hand slapped down against the glass.

He did not yell. His voice was cold and steady.

"How long are you planning to keep lying to me?" Caleb asked flatly. "There is no corporate training. You want this house empty today so Julian Cross can move in tonight."

Evelyn froze. Her lips parted in shock. The sweet mask on her face shattered.

"You..." Evelyn's voice trembled. "How do you know that?"

"It does not matter how," Caleb said, leaning back into the leather chair. "We are getting a divorce. I know everything about your affair with Julian. If you play games with me today, I will walk straight into your corporate headquarters and expose the two of you to the entire board. Let us see how that ends for your promotion."

Evelyn stood paralyzed. She had married him to have a blind, obedient servant. She had never expected him to uncover her deepest secret.

"You want this penthouse for your brother?" Caleb continued, his voice merciless. "Fine. Give me three million dollars in cash right now, and the deed is yours."

"Three million?!" Martha shrieked. She nearly leaped out of her flats. "Are you extorting us? This is a family matter!"

"The current market value of this unit is four point two million," Caleb replied smoothly. He pulled his smartphone from his pocket. "Three million is already a family discount. If you do not want it, I will call Mark at Horizon Realty right now. A high-floor unit in Riverview Heights priced at three million for a same-day cash closing will sell before noon."

He unlocked the phone and deliberately began dialing the digits.

"Wait! Stop!" Martha lunged forward. She slapped her palm over the screen.

Her mind raced frantically. Riverview Heights was the most sought-after district in the city. If Caleb sold it to an outsider, Toby would have no home. Chloe’s wealthy family would cancel the wedding, and Martha would become the laughingstock of her social circle. Buying a four-million-dollar penthouse for three million meant they were instantly profiting by an entire million on paper.

"Evelyn, pay him!" Martha hissed. She tugged her daughter’s sleeve. "We have the family savings and your father’s insurance payout sitting in the high-yield account. Pay him three million! Once the deed is in our hands, he has nothing left!"

Evelyn glared at Caleb. Her chest heaved with resentment. She had not anticipated this cowardly dog showing his teeth. "Fine. Transfer the deed to me first, and I will send the funds to your account within three business days."

"No," Caleb cut her off. He tapped the glass. "Immediate wire transfer to my personal account. The second the bank notification dings on my phone, I sign the quitclaim and hand over the deed. Otherwise, get out of my house."

Furious and running out of time before the wedding banquet, Evelyn pulled out her mobile banking token. Her fingers trembled with venomous rage as she authorized the interbank priority wire.

Two minutes later, Caleb’s phone vibrated.

[Union National Bank: Wire transfer of $3,000,000.00 confirmed. Current Available Balance: $3,014,250.80.]

Caleb picked up the pen. He crossed out the asset forfeiture clauses, signed the divorce papers and the deed transfer cleanly, and slid the folder across the table.

"Here," he said.

Martha snatched the deed like a hungry vulture. Evelyn was not finished. Her eyes dropped to Caleb’s chest, where a delicate, antique silver chain rested beneath his collar.

"Give me the jadeite necklace," Evelyn demanded. She held out her palm. "You promised to give it to me on our anniversary. It belongs to me."

Caleb’s eyes darkened.

In his past life, Evelyn had demanded this exact heirloom after throwing him out. Later, during the apocalypse, she had unlocked an astonishing dimensional storage ability from the heirloom. She used it to hoard mountains of food, fuel, and clean water while trading rations for power inside the safe zone.

"I promised to give it to my wife," Caleb said. He tucked the chain deep into his shirt. "You are no longer my wife. This is my mother’s relic. Touch it, and I will have the police remove you for trespassing."

"You miserable bastard!" Martha yelled. "We paid you three million! Pack your garbage and clear out within twenty-four hours! If I see a single trace of you when Toby brings Chloe here tonight, I will throw your things into the dumpster!"

"You have until tonight," Evelyn added coldly. She grabbed her designer handbag. "Enjoy your money, Caleb. A peasant with cash is still a peasant. Let us see how long you survive without me."

"Out," Caleb said quietly.

He did not wait for them to answer. He opened the front door, watched the two women hurry toward the elevator with the deed clutched in their hands, and slammed the heavy security door shut.

The apartment fell dead silent.

Caleb leaned his back against the timber door. He exhaled a breath he felt like he had been holding across two lifetimes. He reached into his shirt and pulled out the teardrop-shaped jadeite pendant. The deep emerald stone felt cold against his skin, yet a subtle warmth pulsed within its core.

Suddenly, a crisp, mechanical sound echoed directly inside his mind.

[Ding! Host has reclaimed the ancestral blood vessel. The Infinite Shelter Extraction System has successfully awakened.]

[System Rule Initialized: For the next 60 minutes, the Beginner Space Extraction Buffer is active.]

[Rule: Every $1,000 worth of physical property extracted and recycled permanently grants 1 cubic meter of Sub-Dimensional Storage Space.]

[Countdown remaining: 00:59:59.]

Caleb stared at the translucent, dark-blue interface floating before his retinas. His heart hammered violently.

He did not hesitate for a single second. He turned toward the living room and placed his palm squarely on the Italian imported leather sectional sofa.

[Target identified: Minotti Italian Top-Grain Leather Modular Sofa. Assessed Value: $30,000.]

[Extract and recycle for storage capacity? Y/N]

"Extract!" Caleb commanded.

A faint ripple of spatial light swept over the fabric. In an instant, the massive sofa vanished into thin air.

[Extraction successful! Sub-Dimensional Storage Space increased by 30 cubic meters. Current Capacity: 30 m^3. Item stored in dimensional inventory.]

A corner of the living room was left completely bare.

Looking at the remaining sixty minutes on the countdown, a cold, ruthless smile spread across Caleb Rolfe’s face.