Chapter 7

Irene did not go home straight away. Instead, she went to the nearest shopping district to buy some gold bars at a jewelry shop as she still had a few million in her card. The place she went to was a high-end shopping district, so gold bars were readily available there. At the jewelry shop, she felt as if an invisible force was pulling her in. She was going to get gold bars, but as soon as she entered the shop, a piece of jade caught her eye. She probably inherited some of her grandmother’s good taste as she could tell that the disc-shaped jade was a good item just by looking at it. She walked over and beckoned the employee to show her the jade. The store manager was clever. He noticed Irene’s attire and walked over with white gloves to take out the piece of jade carefully. “Miss, you have a great eye. This piece of jade is the most-treasured piece in our entire store…” All sales tricks were the same, so Irene did not pay much attention to him. With the help of a bright light, Irene carefully examined the color and texture of the jade. Then, she placed it on the back of her hand to feel the warmth of the jade. She was right. It was indeed good quality jade. She glanced at the price. It was 15 million. Irene took out her credit card and handed it over. “I’ll buy it.” The store manager, who had prepared a whole speech to close the sale, was left speechless. He was afraid of losing the customer if he hesitated even for a while, so he quickly swiped her card. He was about to ask Irene if she wanted to have the jade wrapped up, but he saw that she had already put it around her neck with red string. She stretched the neck of her T-shirt and put the jade inside so that only the red string could be seen from the outside. He thought that she must be some insanely rich woman. The store manager was going to let Irene pick out some gifts, but she refused. Instead, she asked the manager to sell her a few gold bars at a discounted price. When the manager handed over the gold bars, Irene put them in the space and empty-handedly went home. As soon as she walked in, she heard rustling noises coming from across the hall. Irene quietly looked through the peephole to see that Dan was smoking and chatting outside. Judging from his visible veins and frequent peeps at her door, she could easily tell that he was playing tricks on her. Irene snorted. He would just have to wait and see. She touched the jade hanging around her neck and thought that it would be a bit too eye-catching to wear during the apocalypse, so she kept it in her space. As soon as she kept it in the space, Irene trembled as if something was trickling down her chest. Then, she felt a soothing sensation that made her want to moan. She froze for a moment as a perplexing thought popped into her mind. She had obtained the space by chance because her grandmother gifted her the jade stone, and jades—in and of itself—were very spiritual items. In the past, every time she entered the space for a long time, she would get dizzy and have nosebleeds. Could it be that it was because of her lack of aura? To confirm her suspicions, she quickly entered the space. When entering the space, she quickly glanced at the time. It was 27 minutes past nine local time. It would be boring to just stand around, so Irene went to the wooden house to organize the supplies while keeping an eye on the time. All she could think about for the past few days was hoarding supplies as fast as she could, so she did not have the time to tidy things up, and when she finally did, she realized that it was quite a big project. Time quickly slipped away. She could feel that her nose was starting to itch a little, and then a bright red droplet appeared on the back of her hand. She was having a nosebleed. She did not want to stay in the space for much longer, so she quickly exited the space. When she got out, she went to look at the time. It was 31 minutes past ten. In the past, she started feeling dizzy after staying in the space for less than five minutes, but this time, she could actually stay much longer before her body started to react. That meant that her suspicions were correct. The aura from the jade could prolong her time in the space! Irene’s heart pounded. She used to think that she was lucky just for being able to survive the apocalypse. Now, if she went to get more jade to store in the space, she might even be able to stay in there forever. However, Irene never thought about how she could get more jade. The apocalypse was coming anyway, so when the world was in chaos, she could just steal it! Ever since she was reincarnated, Irene had been forcing herself to sleep every night. Tonight was the only night she slept so peacefully that she did not even hear the loud rumbling noises throughout the night. When she woke up, the joy on her face instantly faded when she saw the monstrous news on her phone. [Emergency! In a once-in-a-thousand-year occurrence, a volcano on the Danver Islands has erupted, and all communications in the area have been interrupted. [At five past three in the morning, Red Rock Volcano on the Danver Islands erupted, and a record-breaking, 13,000-foot-high plume of smoke shot straight up into the sky.] Irene clenched her fist as her heart started rapidly beating. She read the content of the news article word for word, which made the hair all over her body stand on end. Her back was wet from cold sweat. Today… Today was only the 29th of June! She remembered vividly that in her previous life, the volcano erupted on the night of the third of July. In this life, it erupted five days earlier! Irene thought that she would be able to handle the disasters well this time with the foresight of her previous life, However, the early volcanic eruption felt like a big slap on her smug face. If the volcano erupted early, what about the other disasters? Would they still happen according to her memory? All media was discussing the sudden volcanic eruption, and various comments showed the conditions of the people’s lives. The more Irene saw, the heavier her heart felt. She forced herself to look away from her phone and take a few deep breaths, only to realize that her pajamas were soaked in sweat. When she crossed her arms together, she could feel the goosebumps on them. She reassured herself that she still had supplies and weapons in her space. In this life, no one could hurt her. Irene comforted herself and remained calm. Even if the disasters this time were worse than the ones before, she did not have to panic at all. She was fully prepared. Besides, the supplies in the space gave Irene the confidence to deal with sudden disasters. She stopped reading the articles online and went to the bathroom to take a hot shower. Today marked the start of all the disasters that were to come, so from today onward, the world was going to be in chaos. Irene had no control over the situation, so she did not want to drown in negative thoughts. Although she did not feel like going out, she felt that she had to do something, like stock up on useful supplies. However, the moment she stepped out of her unit, Irene realized that it was a terrible idea. Strong smoke and ash entered her nose as soon as she left her home. Irene instinctively covered her mouth and nose, and when she looked up, the bright green residence had turned completely gray. Not only that, but she was keenly aware that today’s temperature was abnormally high. The sunlight prickled her skin like needles. This was not normal at all! Irene took out her phone and opened the weather app. 55 degrees Celcius! Her eyes widened. The disasters… started early!