Chapter 1 | The Apocalypse Landlady

I've been played...

Su Wan dragged her suitcase, standing at the foot of the mountain.

Looking at the destination displayed on her phone's navigation and then up at the dusty, grey building before her, only this one thought remained in her mind.

The rental information on her phone screen was still visible.

“Jiangcheng Mountain View, one bedroom, one living room. Fully renovated, private bathroom, utilities included. Monthly rent 300 yuan, one month's deposit and one month's rent upfront.”

The accompanying photo showed a cozy little bedroom with beige wallpaper, wooden floors, and a potted plant on the windowsill.

The reality before her was a twelve-story unfinished building standing at the foot of a mountain on the outskirts of Jiangcheng.

The area in front of the building was overgrown with weeds, littered with rusted construction materials and torn woven bags.

“Are you sure this is the place?” Su Wan asked the person on her phone.

The agent on the other end of the video call, wearing a cheap suit, immediately broke into a wide grin.

“Of course, Miss Su! This is a bargain price! The whole building is just missing a few finishing touches, but the room you rented is already completed. It's absolutely perfect for an exquisite woman like yourself!”

An exquisite woman.

Su Wan looked down at the dress she had been wearing for three days straight and let out a bitter laugh.

Three months ago, she was still the famous heiress of the Su family in Jiangcheng's social circles.

A month ago, her lawyer told her that the debts left behind by her deceased parents were far more than she had imagined. Her bank accounts were frozen, and her friends' phones either went unanswered or were hung up hastily after being picked up.

Yesterday, her last place of refuge—a small apartment she had bought on a whim—was also seized to pay off debts.

She was at a dead end and just wanted a place to stay. Even though she knew a house this cheap must have some catch, she couldn't afford to care.

“Which floor is the room on?” Su Wan asked.

“Room 102, the one on the far left of the first floor. The key is under the doormat; you can go right in!” The agent hung up immediately after finishing, fearing Su Wan would change her mind.

Su Wan dragged her suitcase into the first floor of the unfinished building. A mixture of damp mildew and dust hit her face.

The floor was rough concrete, and construction debris was scattered everywhere.

Most of the rooms didn't even have doors installed; she could see the raw concrete floors through the doorframes.

When she reached the end of the corridor, Su Wan saw a plain white wooden door with “102” clearly written on the room plate.

She found the key and opened the door.

A puff of warm, dry air greeted her, carrying a faint scent of lemon cleaner.

The interior of the room was exactly like the photos on her phone, perhaps even better.

Su Wan's long-tensed nerves finally began to relax slowly.

She hadn't expected that by some strange twist of fate, she would actually end up in the kind of place she wanted most.

Cheap and remote.

Living here, the debt collectors shouldn't be able to find her for a while.

Exhaustion washed over her. Su Wan could no longer hold herself up and let herself collapse onto the comfortable small bed.

Her mind was a mess, thinking about her plans for tomorrow.

She needed to get some durable and comfortable clothes first—jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers would be best.

Then she had to find a job as soon as possible. Waitressing, handing out flyers—anything would do, as long as it put food in her mouth.

And then there was...

The massive debt left by her parents, the suspicious car accident on the highway that rainy night, her brother who was now in prison...

“Ring, ring, ring...”

The sudden ringing of her phone startled Su Wan.

Lately, there had been too many debt collection and harassment calls. Facing unknown numbers, Su Wan didn't dare answer any of them. Eventually, she had simply adjusted her settings so that unknown numbers couldn't get through.

The name “Sister Xin” flashing on the screen made Su Wan's heart tighten.

It was her sister-in-law, Liu Xin!

After her brother Su Zhuo was imprisoned, Liu Xin's world had suddenly collapsed.

Her own family shunned her, seeing her as a burden. Her parents-in-law had passed away, and her former friends and relatives had all scattered.

She was left alone with her four-year-old son, Lele, moving from a luxury villa to a damp, dilapidated rental in an urban village.

For Liu Xin, who had lived a life of luxury for over twenty years, life had plummeted from heaven to hell.

Su Wan and Liu Xin were more like sisters who shared hardships than just sisters-in-law.

When Liu Xin married into the Su family, Su Wan hadn't even graduated from university. Her sister-in-law's gentle and inclusive nature had filled the emotional void left by her busy mother during her adolescence.

Before the bankruptcy, they were best friends who went shopping and had afternoon tea together. After the bankruptcy, even though Liu Xin was struggling herself, she had insisted on stuffing her last bit of private savings into Su Wan's hands.

Lele was the apple of Su Wan's eye, someone she had watched being born and held as he grew up.

Now, her parents were just cold names on a tombstone, and her brother was trapped behind high walls, his news hard to come by.

In this vast world, the only blood relatives she had left who cared for each other were Liu Xin and Lele.

After the Su family's downfall, she and Liu Xin had agreed not to contact each other unless there was something urgent...

Su Wan took a deep breath and pressed the answer button.

“Hello, Sister-in-law? Did something happen?” Su Wan's voice was a bit dry from tension.

The voice coming from the other end was not her sister-in-law's gentle tone, but a coarse, oily, and clearly malicious male voice.

“Oh, Eldest Miss Su, you finally deigned to answer the phone?” the man drawled. “It really wasn't easy finding you!”

The blood rushed to Su Wan's head. She gripped her phone tightly, her knuckles turning white. “Where is my sister-in-law? Let me talk to her!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, don't be in such a hurry.” The man spoke unhurriedly.

“Your sister-in-law? And that little nephew of yours? They're both doing just fine right now. We've come to your sister-in-law's house as guests, but she doesn't seem very welcoming toward us, hehehe...”

“What do you want?” Su Wan's boiling emotions miraculously calmed down at this moment.

“What do we want?” He let out a sneer, his tone suddenly turning sharp. “Su Wan, stop playing dumb with me! It's only natural to pay back what you owe!”

“You took one million from us a month ago. The deadline has passed. With principal and interest, it's a total of 1.2 million. It's time to pay up!”

“What? 1.2 million! Why don't you just go out and rob someone!” Su Wan knew the interest was high when she borrowed the money, but she hadn't expected it to be this outrageous!

The man's tone was full of mockery. “It's there in black and white; you put your thumbprint on the contract! What, does Miss Su want to go back on her word?”

Su Wan was practically penniless now; she could barely afford to eat.

Whether it was 1.2 million or 1,200, she couldn't afford to pay it back.

“I don't have the money right now...” Su Wan's voice remained calm. “I need time...”

“Time?” The man interrupted her crudely, his voice filled with humiliation and threats.

“Su Wan, do you still think you're some pampered heiress? Give you time? Who's going to give us time?”

“Listen, I don't have the patience to waste on you!”

“Sell your body, go steal, go rob—I don't care, I just want the money!”

“I'll give you three more days. In three days, if I don't see the money, or if you dare to disappear again...”

A clear sound of a slap came from the other end of the phone, followed immediately by a child's terrified wail and a woman's suppressed cry of pain.

“That was just a fraction of the interest! Did you hear that clearly?” The man's roar made Su Wan's eardrums ache.

“Stop! I'll find a way! Don't touch them!” Su Wan almost screamed. Tears burst from her eyes, mixed with endless humiliation, anger, and panic.

“Beep—beep—beep—”

The call was hung up abruptly, leaving only a string of cold dial tones.

The debt-collecting demons had found her last hidden weakness and gripped it tightly.

But how did those people find Liu Xin?

She had been so careful, putting in so much effort to hide Liu Xin and Lele in an inconspicuous urban village on the edge of Jiangcheng.

No one would have thought that the wife of the Su Group's president would live in such a place.

Three days, 1.2 million.

What was she going to do?

Su Wan didn't know how she managed to fall asleep.

When she suddenly woke up, it was near midnight.

The room was pitch black, with only a bit of unusual faint light filtering in from the window.

The empty feeling in her stomach made her feel waves of panic.

Only then did Su Wan remember that she hadn't eaten all day.

She couldn't get sick, she couldn't collapse; she had to fill her stomach.

She remembered that when she arrived during the day, there was an urban village night market across from her. It was just across the road from this unfinished building, and she planned to go there to buy something to eat.

Su Wan got up, picked up a piece of dry bread, took a bite, and opened the door to Room 102.

On the far left of the corridor was a heavy fire door, less than five meters away from Room 102, which served as the exit to the outside.

Walking up to the fire door, she gripped the cold metal handle and pulled it open with force.

An extremely cold wind, carrying dust and an indescribable scent of decay, rushed into Su Wan's nose, making her shiver.

The world outside the door made Su Wan freeze in place. The extreme cold seemed to freeze her blood.

This was absolutely not the unfinished building construction site from the daytime!

Before her was a wide but broken and dilapidated street. The original streetlights were now just twisted and broken metal poles, pointing diagonally toward the lead-grey night sky.

None of the silhouettes of the buildings in the distance were complete; large sections of the walls had peeled off, exposing the rusted steel skeletons inside.

Further away, she could vaguely see the skeletons of abandoned vehicles that looked as if they had been kneaded by a massive force, half-buried in the sand and soil.

More importantly, snowflakes were actually fluttering down from the sky!

It was clearly the peak of summer in July, so how could it be snowing!

Su Wan took a sudden step back, her back slamming hard against the cold fire door frame. A piece of bread was stuck in her mouth, forgotten as she failed to swallow.