It hurts!
A crushing, unbearable pain consumed Rover's entire body and mind.
This wasn't an illusion—this was his harsh reality.
Right now, Rover was being pinned to the ground by the very people he had once helped, the friends he had once trusted. They punched him, kicked him, and swung metal baseball bats down onto his body again and again.
This was the apocalypse.
Supplies were scarce, food was precious, law had collapsed, and humanity had withered away. These bastards no longer cared about everything Rover had done for them. For the sake of the few supplies he kept in his home, they chose to attack him with brutal ferocity.
"You bastard! You hoarded all these supplies and didn't share them with everyone!"
"Yeah! You stingy asshole! Kill him! Kill this miser!"
"Damn it! So many instant noodles—and he only gave me five packs!"
"Kill him!"
"Rover, don't blame us. You brought this upon yourself for being so stingy."
They didn't just beat him—they hurled insults at him, calling him selfish and tight-fisted.
Rover felt the pain slowly fade, which only meant one thing: he was about to die.
As his life neared its end, he let out a bitter, self-mocking laugh.
How laughable.
When the apocalypse arrived, he hadn't just stockpiled supplies—he had helped everyone around him. Yet now, in their eyes, he was nothing but a selfish miser.
"Move aside! I'm the one who tricked him into opening the door—you all better give me a share of the supplies!"
A familiar voice rang out.
Rover turned his gaze toward the sound. His vision was clouded with blood, but he could still clearly make out that figure, that face.
The person he loved most. The person he trusted most.
His fiancée, Karen.
She was the one who had tricked him into opening the door, allowing everyone to rush in and kill him.
In his final moments, he could no longer hear anything. He could no longer feel anything.
His dying gaze locked onto Karen—filled with regret and hatred, as though he wanted to drag her down into hell with him.
But he couldn't.
All he could do was blame himself for being too foolish, too trusting, for letting himself become a stepping stone in this apocalypse.
Darkness gradually swallowed his vision, and his consciousness drowned in shadow.
...
"AGH!!!"
Rover's eyes flew open. He saw the familiar ceiling, felt the stifling heat that made sweat trickle down his skin, heard the fan spinning overhead—and he even saw something he thought he would never see again: sunlight.
Seeing all of this, disbelief washed over his face... then pure joy.
He slowly sat up and realized he was lying on the sofa in the living room—inside his own home.
"This is... my house?" He looked around, as if he still couldn't believe it.
His gaze fell upon the digital clock hanging on the wall.
9:37 a.m., November 17th, 2035.
"I... was reborn?" Rover whispered. "And I've returned to ten days before the apocalypse begins."
Exactly.
On the morning of November 27th, 2035, a strange meteor suddenly appeared more than one billion kilometers from Earth.
It manifested out of nowhere. No telescope or advanced instrument had detected it beforehand.
By the time scientists noticed it, it was already too late.
The meteor exploded. Even though the blast occurred a billion kilometers away, its impact still reached the entire planet.
Invisible rays collapsed the ecosystem, the sky was smothered by bizarre clouds, and black fog engulfed the world.
The age of darkness had arrived. Under the influence of the fog, living creatures mutated into monsters.
A tiny mouse could grow to gigantic proportions, its jaws strong enough to bite through steel.
A simple potted plant could transform into a terrifying plant monster that not even tanks or artillery could destroy.
The whole world fell into chaos and despair.
Although Rover had done everything he could to survive, he had made one fatal mistake... his humanity was too great.
He had helped everyone around him. He had even ensured that the girl he secretly loved lived comfortably amidst the apocalypse.
In the end, all he gained was betrayal and death.
Rover took a deep breath, exhaustion weighing heavily on his chest. But a moment later, excitement surged through him as he muttered: "If I've been given a chance to start over, then I won't walk down the same path again."
"Ten days left. Enough time to stockpile supplies and obtain that item."
He prepared to stand up and, following his memories, retrieve the item he had yearned for in his previous life.
Suddenly...
"Ack!" Rover grabbed his head as a sensation like his skull was about to explode overtook him.
Fortunately, the pain didn't last long. After only a few seconds, it vanished. Rover slowly opened his eyes and realized something was different.
"This is..." He sensed an enormous new space inside his mind.
Rover lightly waved his hand, and the sofa in front of him vanished instantly.
"Ah!" He jolted in shock. But then, a wild idea surfaced in his mind.
He immediately began experimenting. One household item after another disappeared, only to reappear inside the strange space he now possessed.
He inhaled sharply, thinking to himself: "Could it be... I awakened a superpower when I died?"
Yes. At humanity's darkest moment, a small number of people received a special gift: Superpowers. Those who possessed such abilities were called Awakened.
Unfortunately, in his previous life, Rover wasn't so lucky. He wasn't Awakened—he was just an ordinary man.
"Not only have I been reborn, I've even awakened a superpower before the apocalypse begins." Rover laughed—a manic, ecstatic laugh: "Hahaha... hahaha...."
He laughed for a long time before taking a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
"I have everything now... Ten days to prepare for the apocalypse, and a Spatial-type ability... If I die again like last time, I'd be worse than a dog."
His teeth clenched, killing intent flashing in his eyes, but it quickly faded as he composed himself.
Rover resumed his experiments. After a while, his mind felt fatigued, and he sat down on the floor. But his expression was full of elation.
The test was successful.
The space he possessed had four properties:
One: It was limitless. It could contain as much as his mental strength allowed.
Two: Time was frozen inside it. No matter how much time passed, anything he removed would be in the exact state it was when he stored it.
Three: It could not contain living creatures.
Four: Its current operating range was about three meters. Meaning, anything within three meters could be placed into the space without him having to touch it.
"With this, I can store almost unlimited supplies."
Rover's heart surged with overwhelming excitement.
"However..." Rover suddenly frowned, rubbing his chin as he muttered, "I can't use it carelessly. Right now it's still an era of peace. There are security cameras everywhere. If anything strange shows up, my face will be all over the internet."
He thought for a moment, then took out his phone, created an entirely new account on a webnovel author community, and posted a question.
...
[Apocalypse]:
Hello everyone, I'm about to write a novel about apocalypse and rebirth. I hope you can help me refine this story.
Initial concept: After the apocalypse, black clouds cover the sky, monsters and zombies appear. Thirty days after the apocalypse, electricity and water will be cut off. Communication signals will disappear after forty days.
There will be Awakened with superpowers, but they are extremely few in number. Their evolution rate cannot match that of the monsters mutated by the black fog.
If the protagonist is a reincarnator with an almost limitless storage space, what supplies should he stockpile? What kind of base would be the most suitable?
I hope everyone can help. Sincere thanks.
...
After posting, Rover nodded in satisfaction.
He wasn't a genius, nor was he meticulous. In his previous life, he had survived mostly on instant noodles and a few canned goods he'd scavenged from nearby stores.
But in this life, with an unlimited spatial ability, he wanted to truly live well.
Whatever he couldn't think of, he would let the internet think for him. He believed the suggestions from the online community would prove useful.
Rover headed into the bathroom, enjoying the warm bath—something he could scarcely dream of in his previous life.
He lifted his head, staring at the bathroom light overhead, reminiscing about the past.
It truly had been humanity's darkest era.
A box of instant noodles could make a beautiful woman willingly climb into your bed.
A single bottle of water could drive people into a frenzy, fighting and clawing at each other until someone died.
In the Apocalypse, humanity shattered. Law collapsed. Food and water became the highest form of currency.
Soaking in the tub, he pondered:
"If my memory is correct, that person found Pandora's Box at the beach. Now, I need to find that person."
"Are there other items in this world like Pandora's Box? Could it be that the apocalypse wasn't a coincidence, but a conspiracy?"
Countless thoughts tangled in his mind. While he was thinking, his phone suddenly rang.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Rover frowned and stepped out of the tub.
When he saw the caller ID on the screen, his gaze instantly turned cold, filled with resentment.
[Karen]