Reborn in Apocalypse

​The suffocating smell of stale chicken curry and cheap bleach was the first thing that hit Lucas Vance’s senses.

He didn't open his eyes immediately. His mind was still trapped in the frozen abyss of the apocalypse—the agonizing sensation of frostbite chewing through his toes, the raw, burning pain of his cracked lips, and the bitter taste of his own blood after his brother-in-law, Ryan, had smashed a rusted pipe across his face for half a tin of moldy p***o beans.

​I died, Lucas thought, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped beast. They dragged me into the blizzards. Chloe watched. She didn't even blink.

​"Lucas! Are you listening to me, or are you just playing dumb like always?"

​A harsh, screeching voice shattered his mental paralysis.

​Lucas’s eyes snapped open. The blinding glare of a crystal chandelier made him wince. He wasn't lying in the crimson snow outside a ruined skyscraper. He was sitting at a long, mahogany dining table. The air was warm—almost suffocatingly warm. On the table sat a feast: roasted pork, steaming white rice, expensive red wine, and savory seafood soup.

​Across from him sat Mrs. Miller, his mother-in-law, her heavy face twisted in her usual disgust. Beside her was Chloe—his wife. She was dressed in a silk designer blouse, casually scrolling through her phone, completely indifferent to everything happening around her. Beside Chloe sat Ryan, her younger brother, smirking as he picked his teeth with a wooden toothpick.

​Lucas’s hands trembled slightly as he looked down. His skin was pale, but whole. No black frostbitten patches. No open sores. He glanced at his phone resting beside his plate.

​Date: September 15, 2026. 6:30 PM.

​September 15th... Lucas’s breath hitched.

​The Great Frost—the global cataclysm that plunged the entire planet into a permanent -60°C ice age, turning humanity into monsters for a scrap of bread—was scheduled to hit on December 15th.

​He had been reborn. Reborn exactly ninety days before the end of the world!

​"Don't pull that confused act with me, Lucas," Mrs. Miller slammed her silver fork against her plate with a sharp clack. "We’re talking about serious family business here. Ryan’s startup needs capital. The bank won't release the loan without collateral. Since you're just a low-tier warehouse supervisor with no real future, the least you can do is sign over your late father's riverside villa to Ryan."

​Lucas stared at the woman. In his past life, on this exact night, he had hesitated. The villa was the only memory he had left of his parents. But Chloe had held his hand, crying crocodile tears, promising that once Ryan’s business succeeded, they would buy him an even bigger house. He had yielded. He had signed the deed.

​And what did he get in return?

​When the frost descended, the Miller family locked him out in the hallway, forcing him to sleep next to the cold elevator shaft while they consumed the food he had risked his life to scavenge. And when their supplies ran out, they traded his life to a gang of thugs for three cans of food.

​"Well? What are you waiting for?" Ryan sneered, tossing a thick stack of legal documents across the table. "The notary is coming tomorrow morning. Sign it now so I don't have to look at your miserable face all evening."

​Chloe finally put her phone down. She adjusted her diamond earrings—earrings Lucas had worked overtime for three months to buy her—and looked at him with cool, calculated impatience.

​"Lucas, don't be stubborn," Chloe said smoothly, her voice laced with familiar emotional blackmail. "Family supports each other. Ryan is my brother. If you don't support him, how can I trust that you care about me? Besides, it’s just a house. You can always earn more money later."

​Earn more later? Lucas felt a dark, cold laughter rising in his chest. In three months, paper money won't even be good enough to burn for warmth.

​"What if I say no?" Lucas asked, his voice unexpectedly calm, devoid of the submissive hesitation they were used to.

​The dining room went dead silent.

​Mrs. Miller’s jaw dropped in disbelief before her face flushed deep red. "What did you say? You ungrateful dog! We let you marry into our family! My Chloe could have married a young master from the Cross family, yet she chose a loser like you! How dare you refuse?"

​"Lucas, what is wrong with you today?" Chloe’s tone hardened, her eyes flashing with anger. "Are you throwing a tantrum over a piece of property? Don't make me regret marrying you."

​In the past, the mere threat of Chloe’s anger would have sent Lucas into a panic, apologizing profusely. But now, looking at her sharp, superficial beauty, Lucas felt nothing but profound disgust.

​He slowly stood up.

​"You're right, Chloe," Lucas said, reaching out and picking up the stack of legal documents.

​Ryan smirked, thinking Lucas had broken as usual. "That's more like it. Just sign on the last page—"

​RIP.

​Before Ryan could finish his sentence, Lucas tore the contract straight down the middle.

​RIP. RIP.

​With calm, deliberate precision, he shred the thick document into tiny pieces and tossed them into the air. The white scraps rained down over the roasted pork and Mrs. Miller's wine glass.

​"Hey! Are you insane?!" Ryan leaped out of his chair, his chair clattering backward onto the hardwood floor.

​"Lucas! Have you lost your mind?!" Mrs. Miller shrieked, clutching her chest as if having a heart attack.

​Chloe stood up, her eyes wide with shock and humiliation. "Lucas Vance! Apologize to my mother right now! What is wrong with you?"

​"I am completely sane," Lucas looked at them, his eyes dark and abyssal, carrying the icy chill of someone who had already died once. "The villa belongs to me. Not a single brick of it will ever belong to Ryan. And as for marrying into your family..."

​Lucas leaned forward, resting his hands on the table, staring directly into Chloe’s eyes.

​"Tomorrow morning, we are going to the civil affairs office. We’re getting a divorce."

​Chloe froze as if struck by lightning. "D-Divorce? You’re divorcing me over a house?"

​"No," Lucas smiled, a cold, terrifying smirk that sent a shudder down Chloe’s spine. "I’m divorcing you because I’m tired of feeding parasites."

​"You... you bastard!" Ryan roared, his face contorting with rage. Raised as the golden child, he had never been talked to like this by Lucas. He raised his fist and lunged across the table toward Lucas’s face. "I'll kill you!"

​In his past life, Lucas was frail and untrained. But after surviving three years in the apocalyptic wasteland, fighting off scavengers and wild dogs, his instincts were razor-sharp.

​Before Ryan’s fist could even reach halfway, Lucas grabbed a heavy glass wine bottle from the table.

​BANG!

​He slammed the thick glass base directly into Ryan’s nose.

​Blood exploded instantenously. Ryan let out a pathetic, high-pitched scream as he fell backward, clutching his broken, bleeding nose, rolling on the floor in agony.

​"My son! Oh my god, my son!" Mrs. Miller screamed hysterically, rushing over to Ryan.

​"Lucas! You hit my brother?!" Chloe screamed, pointing a trembling finger at him.

​Lucas didn't answer. He picked up his coat from the back of his chair, grabbed his phone, and turned toward the front door. He didn't care about his clothes or personal belongings in this house. Everything here was worthless compared to what was coming.

​As his hand touched the doorknob, a strange, burning sensation suddenly bloomed at the center of his palm.

​A faint, golden light flashed in his vision, invisible to everyone else. A translucent black space, vast and boundless like an empty cosmic void, suddenly opened up in his mind!

​An internal space...? Lucas’s breath hitched in realization.

​A robotic, clear prompt echoed inside his consciousness:

​[Dimensional Sanctuary Activated.]

[Current Capacity: Infinite Non-Living Storage.]

[Special Effect: Absolute Time Freeze (Items placed inside will maintain their exact thermal and physical state forever).]

​Lucas’s heart leaped into his throat. A spatial dimension with a time-freeze capability!

​In ninety days, when the world turned into an icy hell, while others fought to the death for a frozen piece of stale bread, he could store mountains of hot meals, endless gallons of fuel, weapons, and medicine!

​He looked back one last time at the chaotic dining room—at Ryan crying in a pool of blood, Mrs. Miller screaming, and Chloe staring at him with a mix of shock and rage.

​Enjoy your luxury while it lasts, Lucas thought, a icy grin spreading across his face as he stepped out into the cool autumn evening, shutting the door firmly behind him. Because in three months, I will watch you all drown in despair.