Chapter2

The nauseating chewing sounds echoed in the quiet apartment, completely extinguishing the last vestige of warmth in my heart.

I didn't turn on the kitchen light, nor did I disturb her. Instead, I retreated silently into the shadows of the bedroom like a ghost.

About ten minutes later, the biting sounds outside finally stopped. Immediately afterward, I heard deliberately soft footsteps as Elena walked straight to the terrace, followed by the sound of the glass sliding door being carefully closed.

Elena's deliberately lowered voice, tinged with a neurotic fervor, clearly reached my ears through the cracks in the balcony glass.

“David, you have to believe me! I’m not crazy or on drugs! On the 10th of next month, deadly corrosive acid rain will fall from the sky, and the whole world will be finished! Have you forgotten how we ate each other’s belts and nails in that damned bunker and starved to death?!”

David on the other end of the phone was clearly still questioning things, and Elena's voice became more agitated and vicious:

“Shut up! Listen to me, ignore all that bullshit logic! From the first light of tomorrow morning, drive to the edge of the Mojave Desert, rent an abandoned, sturdy military warehouse, and reinforce it to the highest standards I’ve described! Also, buy up all the canned goods, bottled water, and weapons from the nearby Costco!”

"Money? You don't need to worry about any money! You know how much that idiot Ethan loves me. Tomorrow I'll find the perfect excuse to get him to transfer all the company stocks and his offshore trust funds to my name. I'm going to empty his bank accounts!"

"That's right, I'm going to make him our bottom-tier idiot and ATM, just like in our past life! Once we get the money and build the shelter, we'll kick him out like trash and let him taste what it's like to be turned into mincemeat in strong acid!"

Listening to this extremely vicious plot, I clenched my fists tightly while hiding in the darkness, and then couldn't help but let out an extremely cold and cruel laugh.

A bitch and a dog, forever bound together.

Having been given a second chance at life, these two people who had experienced the hell of hunger not only showed no remorse, but actually planned to use my money to build their doomsday love nest, and then kill me again.

Trying to use me as a stepping stone? That's wishful thinking.

The next morning, the California sun was as blinding as ever. I dressed and came out of the bedroom to find Elena sitting at the kitchen island. Apart from the heavy dark circles under her eyes, she had put on that sweet and innocent smile that I knew all too well.

“Good morning, darling,” she pushed a cup of black coffee toward me, her eyes gleaming with barely concealed greed. “Last night I heard about a highly promising, sure-fire money-making project from a friend in Silicon Valley, but it requires a large initial investment. How about… you hand over your stocks and most of your liquid assets to me to manage? I guarantee you can double your money.”

Looking at her utterly hypocritical face, I resisted the urge to throw the hot coffee at her and scald her. I took a sip of coffee and nodded expressionlessly: "Okay, sounds good. I'll go to the Wall Street office today to handle the assets and transfer them to you as soon as possible."

"Really? Ethan, you're so good to me!" Elena was so excited she almost jumped off the bar stool. The way she looked at me was as if she were looking at a rotting corpse.

I didn't look at her again, grabbed my car keys, and walked out of the apartment.

The moment I got into the car, I immediately dialed my personal financial advisor and real estate agent.

"Sell all my US stocks and funds as quickly as possible, and empty my trust accounts. Yes, at any cost, I just need to see all the cash within three days."

"And this penthouse apartment I'm currently living in on the edge of Beverly Hills, put it on the market immediately! As long as it's a cash buyer, I don't mind if it's 20% below market price, as long as the money is in my account right away."

For the next three days, I was running around like crazy all over Los Angeles.

Ultimately, my offshore account amassed a massive sum of nearly thirty million US dollars in cash.

Having experienced death once, I know better than anyone that acid rain is just an appetizer in this apocalypse. If we only build bunkers on land, when the acid rain stops and true despair arrives, the land will still be a dead end.

So, instead of looking for refuge on the American continent, I contacted a top-tier private island brokerage firm. I bought an island in the open ocean deep in the Pacific Ocean!

The island already had impregnable bunkers, and I invested heavily to urgently install high-polymer acid-resistant domes that could withstand the highest levels of corrosion. Furthermore, the island is equipped with state-of-the-art seawater desalination equipment, an independent solar power grid, and a massive hydroponic temperature-controlled greenhouse farm.

I exchanged all the remaining US dollars for military MRE rations, medical supplies, a large amount of crop seeds, and several powerful AR-15 rifles and ample ammunition, which were then transported to my sea fortress overnight via a covert heavy cargo ship.

On the last evening after all the assets had been transferred and preparations for boarding the ship were completed, I returned to the apartment that I had already sold at a low price.

Elena was sprawled on the sofa, excitedly choosing a ventilation and filtration system for the safe house with David. Seeing me enter, she immediately hung up the video call and greeted me with that sweet, cloying expression.

"Honey, how's the asset liquidation going? They're really pushing us for it in Silicon Valley..."

Before she could finish speaking, I slammed several bank statements with their balances reduced to zero, along with a copy of a legally valid property ownership transfer document, hard into her chest.

"Save your investment for hell and work with the devil," I said coldly, looking down at her.

Elena froze, frantically grabbing the papers. When she saw that every bank card had a glaring "$0.00" balance, and that the luxury apartment had changed hands, she screamed, her facade crumbling completely:

"Ethan! Where did you put all the money?! Are you crazy?! You even sold the house! Don't you know the end is just around the corner..."

She abruptly covered her mouth, almost blurting out the secret of her past life.

“I gambled all my money in Las Vegas, I’m broke, and I’m now drowning in debt to the Mafia.” I interrupted her cruelly, looking at her like she was trash on the street. “Oh, by the way, Elena, we broke up.”

"Wh...what?" She stared at me in disbelief, her eyes still bloodshot, as if her worldview had collapsed.

"Do you need me to translate this again in Spanish?" I pointed to the door, my voice completely flat. "This apartment now belongs to someone else. The new owner's legal team will be here with security guards in half an hour to forcibly take possession. Now..."

Get out of my sight immediately.

I turned around, ignoring her thunderous, near-collapse screams, and strode out the door.