Chapter 2

more than a month until the end of the world .

For the next forty-eight hours, I drove Cooper around the city's outskirts in a rented pickup truck, searching for a safe haven that offered both seclusion and protection—I trusted Cooper's animal instincts.

We found an inconspicuous gray brick building on the edge of the industrial area.

It had only two floors above ground, and its exterior was dilapidated, looking like an abandoned small processing plant. But when the real estate agent pushed open the heavy metal bottom door and led us down, a cold draft rushed out. It was an extremely spacious and solid basement, with reinforced concrete walls half a meter thick on all sides.

Cooper immediately broke free of the leash with excitement and sniffed around the empty basement, his amber eyes gleaming.

"Safe , safe ." Its clear voice echoed in my mind, filled with the peace of mind that comes from finding the perfect nest.

To buy and completely renovate this place, I sold all my properties, including the luxury villa my parents left me. The buyer demanded an immediate transfer of ownership.

When that huge sum of money was deposited into my account, I didn't hesitate at all . I immediately poured a large amount of money into this brand-new "doomsday fortress," hiring a professional team to install bulletproof steel plates, a hidden surveillance network, and an independent solar power system. But all of this takes time. Before the fortress is completely completed, I can't leave the villa that is about to change hands. I still have a lot of scattered supplies that need to be transferred in batches, and I can't arouse suspicion from the people around me.

On the day the renovation project was nearing completion, in the evening, I returned to the villa and was stuffing several boxes of high-grade military antibiotics and water purification tablets into my suitcase. Suddenly, Cooper, who was lying on the sofa, sat up abruptly, his neck hairs standing on end as if electrified.

It growled dangerously in its throat, "Bad guy ! "

The next second, the sound of a door lock turning and a heavy object being dragged came from the entryway.

“Good heavens, the air conditioning here in Ian is really strong,” Aunt Martha’s high-pitched, slightly boastful voice rang out in the lobby. “The weather outside is absolutely awful.”

I stood at the top of the stairs on the second floor, coldly watching Aunt Martha, Uncle Thomas, and my cousin Carl, dragging two large suitcases, swagger into the living room. They still kept the spare key to the house—a key I had handed over to them myself out of some pathetic sense of family responsibility when I became an adult.

When Carl unceremoniously kicked off his shoes and slammed himself onto the sofa, the suffocating feeling of being locked out in his past life and having his lungs burned by the heatwave surged back uncontrollably into his heart.

Uncle Thomas cleared his throat and put on a hypocritical elder's face: "The news has been reporting extreme heat warnings lately. The air conditioner in our apartment is broken, so we were thinking of coming to your big villa to escape the heat. After all, we're family, you won't mind, will you?"

“Bite them , chase them away.” Cooper scratched my leg impatiently with his claws, his voice filled with hostility.

With only ten days left until the end of the world , I took a deep breath and forcefully suppressed the violent urge in my heart to kick them down the stairs immediately.

I can't afford to clash with them here . My doomsday fortress is still a little bit of work to be done. If I turn against them now, these parasites will definitely pester me relentlessly, and they might even follow me and expose my biggest trump card. I can only try to keep them calm for now.

"Of course I don't mind." I casually pushed the bag full of medicines against the wall and covered the tags with the toe of my shoe.

Upon hearing this, Aunt Martha immediately beamed with joy, as if she had become the new mistress of the house.

"I just saw you packing your things. Are you moving?"

I smiled and said, "I just booked a tour and am planning to take Cooper to another city to escape the summer heat. I'm packing now and we 'll be leaving in a few days. It might be a long trip. Since you're here, please stay here and make yourselves at home."

"Go on a trip?" Martha couldn't even be bothered to contain her smugness at having usurped the house. "Go have fun, we'll take care of the house!"

I went back to my bedroom, opened the door a crack, and observed their actions. They were still immersed in the ecstasy of having taken over the mansion.

Enjoy the air conditioning ; soon, this house will no longer belong to me.