Doomsday System: Reborn to Ruin My Ex-Wife

Chapter 2

Thirty cubic meters of pristine, vacuum-sealed storage space hummed quietly in Caleb’s consciousness. With a single thought, he could sense the leather sofa floating motionless in the dimensional void. He willed it to manifest, and the sofa reappeared in the living room; he willed it away, and it vanished back into the system storage without a sound.

Instant retrieval. Zero friction. Total preservation.

Caleb checked the ticking timer: 00:58:12.

“They told me to clear my things out before tonight,” Caleb muttered under his breath, his eyes gleaming with cold amusement. “I’d hate to leave behind anything that belongs to me.”

He moved through the penthouse like a hurricane.

First were the small, high-density valuables. Caleb went into the study and touched his custom liquid-cooled workstation, the dual monitors, his smartphone backup units, and his sound system.

[High-End Workstation & Peripherals extracted. Assessed Value: $8,000. Storage capacity +8 m^3.]

He opened his late mother's vintage cedar jewelry box in the master safe, extracting her pure 24-karat gold bangles, platinum rings, and jade brooches.

[Family Heritage Gold & Platinum Jewelry extracted. Assessed Value: $62,000. Storage capacity +62 m^3.]

Next, he walked into the kitchen. On the marble island sat a basket Martha had brought over earlier that morning, proudly announcing it as a gift: a carton of generic whole milk and two bruised pears.

Caleb placed two fingers on the milk carton.

[Target identified: Expired Grade-B Pasteurized Milk. Assessed Value: $10.]

Caleb let out a dry, incredulous scoff. “Ten dollars. That greedy old viper brought ten dollars’ worth of expired milk as a peace offering to steal my four-million-dollar house.”

He extracted it anyway. Every penny counted toward space.

[Storage capacity +0.01 m^3.]

Now came the heavy extraction. Caleb didn't hold back.

He walked into the dining area and touched the solid black-walnut dining table, the eight hand-carved chairs, the crystal chandelier hanging overhead, and the wine cabinet stocked with vintage Bordeaux.

[Solid Walnut Dining Set extracted. Assessed Value: $15,000. Capacity +15 m^3.]

[Austrian Crystal Chandelier extracted. Assessed Value: $22,000. Capacity +22 m^3.]

[Fine Wine Collection extracted. Assessed Value: $18,000. Capacity +18 m^3.]

From the master suite, he extracted the imported memory-foam king mattress, the mahogany frame, the nightstands, the sixty-five-inch OLED TV, and the bespoke wardrobe units.

By the thirty-minute mark, the living room and bedrooms were entirely hollowed out, leaving behind only the bare concrete and drywall. But Caleb was far from finished.

He found a toolbox in the utility closet, grabbed a wrench and a heavy pry bar, and went to work on the fixtures.

He unbolted the industrial kitchen range hood, the multi-burner gas range, the built-in double oven, and the stainless-steel double sink. He moved into the laundry room, extracting the front-load washer and dryer set. In both bathrooms, he dismantled the tempered glass shower doors, the Hansgrohe shower heads, the vanity mirrors, the custom marble sink basins, and unbolted the smart Toto toilets from the floor.

[Kitchen Appliances & Fixtures extracted. Assessed Value: $34,000. Capacity +34 m^3.]

[Sanitary Ware & Smart Toilets extracted. Assessed Value: $16,000. Capacity +16 m^3.]

Countdown: 00:08:45.

Caleb looked around. The penthouse was stripped down to the subfloor. He looked at his feet. The flooring was premium imported Brazilian teak hardwood, laid with tongue-and-groove precision.

He jammed the crowbar beneath the edge near the hallway, popped the first board, and laid his palm against the exposed wood.

[Solid Brazilian Teak Hardwood Flooring (220 sq meters) extracted. Assessed Value: $45,000. Capacity +45 m^3.]

With a deafening rustle of shifting matter, the warm wood vanished across the entire four-bedroom apartment, exposing the cold, gray, unpolished concrete slab beneath.

Countdown: 00:00:15.

Caleb unscrewed every LED recessed bulb from the hallway ceiling, extracted the copper wiring harnesses from the main breaker, and finally reached the front entrance. Standing on the exterior landing, he laid his hand on the reinforced steel security door with its digital biometric lock.

[Grade-4 Reinforced Steel Armored Security Door extracted. Assessed Value: $12,000. Capacity +12 m^3.]

Pop. The massive door disappeared.

[Beginner Space Extraction Buffer has ended. Total Storage Space unlocked: 312 cubic meters.]

Caleb stood in the exterior corridor, looking into the gaping, pitch-black maw of Unit 1801. There was no door. There was no flooring. There were no lights, no toilets, no sinks, no wires hanging from the ceiling—nothing but bare, dusty concrete walls and cold window panes. It looked worse than a bombed-out construction site.

He wiped the dust from his palms, pocketed his keys, and took the elevator downstairs without looking back.

Two hours later, an upscale silver Mercedes pulled into the Riverview Heights underground garage.

Martha Frost stepped out, adjusting her jade earrings, followed by her son Toby, who was dressed in a tailored suit, and Toby’s fiancée, Chloe, who was clutching a designer handbag with an expression of critical arrogance. Behind them walked Chloe’s mother, Mrs. Rolfe, scanning the garage with an appraising eye.

“I’m telling you, Mrs. Rolfe, my Toby has provided only the finest,” Martha bragged, leading them proudly toward the high-speed elevator. “Four bedrooms, panoramic floor-to-ceiling river views, and fully outfitted with top-tier Italian furnishings. It’s worth over four million dollars! We made sure Caleb handed over the keys cleanly.”

“Well, we shall see,” Chloe said with a prim sniff. “If the aesthetic doesn't match my standards, Toby will have to pay for a full interior redesign before we register the marriage.”

“Whatever my sweet Chloe wants!” Toby beamed, holding up the spare key card Martha had given him.

The elevator dinged at the eighteenth floor.

Toby strode down the carpeted hallway with his chest puffed out, turning toward Unit 1801—only to freeze dead in his tracks.

“What’s wrong, Toby?” Chloe asked, walking up behind him.

The key card in Toby’s hand slipped, clattering against the hallway tile.

Where the majestic dark-oak double-armored security door of Unit 1801 was supposed to be, there was only an empty rectangular opening framed by exposed mounting holes and raw concrete.

“What... what is this?” Martha gasped, rushing past him.

She stepped through the empty doorway into the apartment. There was no light. She clicked the switch on the wall, but there was no switch—just a hollow plastic junction box with snipped copper wires.

Natural sunlight streamed through the panoramic windows, illuminating the apartment in horrific, undeniable detail.

There was no Italian leather sofa. There was no dining table. The kitchen had no counters, no stove, and no sink—only capped PVC pipes sticking out of the floor like severed arteries. The bathrooms were completely gutted, devoid of vanities, mirrors, or toilets. And beneath their shoes was not the gleaming Brazilian teak flooring, but rough, chalky gray industrial concrete covered in dust.

It wasn't a luxury home. It was a stripped concrete carcass.

Chloe shrieked in horror, pulling her heels back from the dust. “Toby! Is this your idea of a luxury Riverview penthouse?! There isn’t even a front door! It smells like raw cement!”

“Chloe, wait! Let me explain!” Toby stammered, his face pale as paper.

“There's nothing to explain!” Chloe’s mother hissed, grabbing her daughter’s arm. “You dragged us here to show off an abandoned construction site? If you think my daughter is marrying into a family of swindlers, think again! Don’t you dare call Chloe until this place is fully renovated with five hundred thousand dollars in luxury decor!”

Chloe ripped her engagement ring off her finger, threw it squarely at Toby’s chest, and stormed toward the elevator.

“Chloe! Auntie! Please!” Toby chased after them in tears.

Inside the hollow apartment, Martha dropped to her knees on the cold concrete, clutching her chest as her vision swam with rage. “Caleb... that filthy, ungrateful beast! He took the doors! He took the toilets! Evelyn! Call your sister! Call the police! I’m going to kill him!”

Meanwhile, on the northern outskirts of the city.

A sleek black rental sedan wound up the forested hillside of Mount Sterling, pulling up before a secluded estate surrounded by tall stone walls and wrought-iron fencing: The Pinecrest Sanctuary.

Caleb stepped out of the vehicle, breathing in the crisp mountain air. A middle-aged real estate leasing agent in a crisp suit hurried over with a tablet.

“Mr. Rolfe! Welcome,” the agent said respectfully. “As requested on the phone, this property is completely isolated from the main suburban developments. It's a custom-built fortress villa, built by an eccentric mining magnate who spared no expense. The construction alone cost over ten million dollars.”

Caleb followed the agent through the heavy perimeter gates.

The villa featured reinforced concrete walls nearly eighteen inches thick, triple-glazed shatterproof laminated security glass, and an independent electrical breaker system. More importantly, Caleb inspected the rear courtyard: a deep-well pumphouse drawing directly from an subterranean mountain aquifer, completely disconnected from the municipal water grid.

In fifteen days, when the municipal water supplies across the country were poisoned by mutated viral pathogens, this independent mountain spring would be liquid gold.

“The rent is one hundred thousand dollars per month, with a six-month minimum deposit,” the agent said, watching Caleb’s reaction cautiously.

Caleb didn't blink. He pulled out his bank card.

“I’ll pay twelve months upfront right now,” Caleb said calmly.

“Give me the master keys and the gate codes. I'm moving in today.”