I think Giselle Foster, the fake heiress of my family, has gotten reborn.

Not only does she stop my parents from choosing one of us to stay with them, but she also secretly tells my mom that the apocalypse is coming, and that the zombies will take over the world.

My biological parents choose to believe Giselle. Soon, they start borrowing money from all sources and stock up on everything as much as possible.

As Giselle stands in the indestructible safe house, she looks at me smugly.

"You didn't just fail to win Mom and Dad over—you'll always be inferior to me as well!"

I merely smirk at her in return. After that, I pass the antidote for the zombification virus to the military.

Idiots will forever be idiots even after they get reborn.

Now that the apocalypse is no longer coming, I'd like to see just how these idiots are going to pay off the loan sharks.

"Mom, Selena has suffered so much over the past ten years. Just let her in."

My head throbbed, and my neck still ached from the zombie bite.

Giselle Foster stood at the doorway. In my last life, she had made Mom and Dad choose between us, but this time, she showed no trace of resentment at my claim to the family. I instantly knew she had also been reborn.

In my last life, I came to my family with a DNA report that exposed the daughter they had nurtured for years as an impostor.

Giselle feared losing Mom and Dad's attention to me and refused to give up the family fortune, so she coerced them into choosing her.

"If you pick Selena, I'm leaving, and you'll never see me again," she had threatened.

Since she was the apple of their eye, she carried their love like a suit of armor.

Mom and Dad chose her without hesitation and sent me away. The very next day, the apocalypse arrived, and the world was overrun by zombies.

I had awakened a fire-based ability and even saved Giselle and my parents during a mission. Mom and Dad played the family card, while Giselle wept, apologized, and pleaded with me to let her stay.

I had never felt true family love before, so I believed them without hesitation. I welcomed them into the base and shared the precious food I had scavenged.

However, Giselle wasn't thankful at all. She resented the position I held in the base. "Why? She's just a nobody from the slums. Why should she be better off than me?"

In the midst of a zombie attack, she pushed me from the edge of the fortress.

In my final moments, I saw the worry on my parents' faces, but none of it was for me. They were only trying to figure out how to get Giselle out of trouble.

In a world without laws, why would getting Giselle out of trouble even matter? Even after I was reborn, my parents still chose Giselle without hesitation.

"Giselle, you really don't mind?" Mom asked, studying every subtle change in her expression.

After making sure Giselle had no objections, she opened the door just enough to let me in and promptly laid down the rules. "Selena, now that you're back, don't cause trouble. You're only here because Giselle decided to be lenient. From now on, you're the older sister. Take care of her and make sure no one bullies her."

I ignored her completely and headed for the bedroom.

Mom shook her head. "How rude. Who raised her in some backwater place? She's nothing like Giselle…"

"Mom, don't mind her. I have something important to tell you," Giselle said, pulling Mom aside.

My curiosity piqued, I slipped after them quietly.

"Mom, Dad, don't be afraid. Everything I say is true…"

After they nodded, she continued, "I've actually been reborn. In just a few days, zombies will appear, and the apocalypse will arrive. Many people will awaken powers, but our family won't be so lucky. Almost none of us will develop abilities."

Mom touched Giselle's forehead. "You're not running a fever. Why are you talking nonsense?"

Dad's face was red with anger. "Giselle must be upset because of Selena's return, and now she's completely lost it. I'm sending her away immediately!"

Giselle grabbed his arm desperately. "Dad, don't make things worse. There isn't much time. First, we need to buy lots of food for the house, then some essential daily supplies…"

Though skeptical, Mom and Dad still nodded. After all, this was their cherished daughter. They reluctantly sold the storefront to get money for supplies.

At their hesitation, Giselle decided to prove her point. "It's May now, but it's going to hail tomorrow."

We lived in South Norlandia, where hail in May was unheard of, and snow in winter was rare.

As it turned out, her prediction was correct. By morning, hail had battered the cars across the parking lot.

This time, my parents believed her completely. Other than the house we were living in, they sold the storefront and the car in a rush, converted everything into cash, and started stockpiling supplies.

They ordered tens of tons of flour, bought several large freezers to store chicken, beef, fish, and pork, and hauled truckloads of daily necessities, clothes, underwear, and bathroom supplies into the house.

"In the late stages of the apocalypse, anti-inflammatory medicine will be the hardest to find. We should stock up now. Later, a single pill could be worth a cow."

Mom bought a large supply of medicine from dealers—anti-inflammatories, cold and flu remedies, painkillers, antibiotics, bandages, disinfectants, thermometers, and more.

I silently reviewed my chemistry formulas for the exam, paying no mind to the ridiculous stockpiling.

Giselle reinforced the doors and windows and even installed solar panels on the balcony. Zombies later would chew through power lines, and the city would experience massive blackouts. Still, idiots would remain as idiots no matter how many times they were reborn.

She never considered how conspicuous such a large solar panel would be in an apocalypse. Its reflective surface would immediately give away her location to other survivors looking for food. Even though my parents had money, they lived in a townhouse, not a mansion.

The townhouse had two units per floor, and the heavy construction added its own problems. In an apocalypse, clean water was the most scarce resource, and it was especially hard to store because it couldn't be compressed.

Giselle hadn't stored much water, likely assuming that rainwater would be enough. She also failed to plan for trash disposal. Leaving garbage in the courtyard would alert other survivors on the first day.

In a world overrun by zombies, the greatest danger came from people's greed and jealousy. I didn't warn her. Instead, I stayed home, quietly going over my worksheets.

In my past life, I went back home a month before the college entrance exam to meet my parents. They claimed Giselle's exam was too important and had me stay elsewhere, overlooking that I was in the same grade and needed to take it too.

After Giselle predicted several extreme weather events, my parents were fully convinced the apocalypse was real. Dad sold the company, Mom quit her job, and Giselle took an extended leave from school. If she hadn't needed to be there in person to withdraw, Giselle might have dropped out completely.

As I worked on the last math problem, Giselle mocked, "Choice matters more than effort. Even if you ace this problem or have the top score nationwide, it won't matter. I wouldn't be surprised if the exam doesn't happen at all."

I feigned surprise, covering my mouth. "Giselle, what are you talking about? The exam is less than a month away. How could it not happen?"

She scoffed coldly, looking at me with a mixture of pity and disdain.

Before her rebirth, Giselle had been an ordinary survivor, and even after being reborn, she hadn't accomplished anything remarkable. Her apocalypse was never going to come.

That weekend, I staked out the entrance of the military academy and successfully found Shawn Decker—the leader of the survivor base in my past life.

Although he had been an ordinary college junior before the apocalypse, he came from a military family. Both his parents were district commanders, and his grandfather was the legendary second-in-command. As a natural leader, he awakened three types of abilities after the apocalypse and built the survivor base with an iron hand.

Before I died, his base had grown to be the largest in the country, sheltering a hundred thousand people and even developing a zombie vaccine. Sadly, I never lived to witness it.

He glared at me and asked, "What do you want from me?"

In my past life, the zombie outbreak happened while I was on my way to take the exam. I hid in a car, surviving two days without food or water, until Shawn rescued me.

Even though Shawn was scared, he had already gathered a small team to search for survivors. I had awakened fire-based abilities, specialized in offense, so I stayed by his side as one of his most trusted allies.

Over time, Giselle grew jealous of my position in the base, my close bond with Shawn, and the respect I had earned from everyone. What she failed to see was that it had all been hard-earned through my own efforts and sacrifices.

Over the years of fighting alongside Shawn, I knew exactly how he thought. I told him straight, "In 13 days, the zombies will appear. The serum from the Westfound lab has leaked, and the world is about to face a crisis."

As expected, Shawn looked at me like I was crazy, but he didn't outright call me insane.

"You're Shawn Decker. Your parents are district commanders, and your grandfather is…"

I raised my finger, pointing to the top. "He's the second-in-command."

Shawn's expression darkened, and he finally met my gaze seriously.

He soon took me to his house, closed the door, and asked, "Where did you hear this?"

I said, "You told me yourself."

Shawn was blunt and slightly stubborn, so I saw no point in lying. I told him about my rebirth openly.

"You don't have to believe me, but I know your deepest secret," I said, meeting his puzzled gaze. "When you were six, you wet the bed and tried to cover it with a lavender essence. When you were ten, you accidentally went into the wrong bathroom…"

Shawn quickly stepped up and covered my mouth. "Okay, stop. I believe you."

In our past life, we weren't just comrades covering each other's backs. We shared a connection that went beyond friendship.

At first, I was too scared to fight zombies. Even after I forced myself to fight, I was still terrified. Shawn was always by my side, quietly encouraging me.

He told me that when he first saw me, his heart had stirred. This time, I was counting on him falling for me again the instant he saw me.

As he placed his full trust in me, I held up a small vial of serum. "This is the antidote we worked on in my past life."

The Westfound lab was top secret, unknown even to his parents. When he mentioned it to his grandfather, a team was dispatched right away. As I had predicted, the serum was real and it prevented a major lab accident.

Of course, that was all later.

After my rebirth, I didn't go to find Shawn right away. Partly, I needed time to prepare the antidote, and partly, he was at the military academy, which was off-limits to outsiders.

Shawn asked me a few questions about my past life before sending me home.

At the entrance to my neighborhood, I ran into Giselle.

Her eyes narrowed with malice when she saw me with Shawn. "Selena, why are you with him?"

Giselle had met Shawn before. In our past life, she had been captivated by his looks and influence, even going so far as to strip in an attempt to seduce him. Unfortunately for her, Shawn had thrown her out, and several people had witnessed it.

"You're not…"

Her gaze burned with resentment as she looked at both of us.

I quickly said, "I was just out buying books today when someone tried to steal my bag. He helped me catch the thief."

Giselle visibly relaxed and smiled brightly at Shawn. "Mr. Charming, you probably don't know, my sister here has never told the truth since she was little. Maybe that thief was part of her plan to get your attention."