1: 1

While I was viewing a two-hundred-fifty-thousand-dollar dump with the agent, my cousin came storming in with her fiancé to snatch the place out from under me.

"Ceci, I'm taking this apartment. You two can get lost."

Looking at the excitement she didn't even bother to hide, I knew in an instant. She'd been reborn too.

Because in our last life, she and I had both been shown this same run-down unit by our agents.

She'd sneered at it, said a dog wouldn't live in a place like that, then turned around, took out a loan, and bought a unit in some trending complex instead.

But a month later, when our renovation crew broke open the wall of the master bedroom, they hauled crate after crate of gold and tens of millions in cash out of the hollow lining.

Her trending complex, meanwhile, went bust when the developer skipped town, leaving nothing but an abandoned shell.

She was buried under millions in debt, and her fiancé cleaned out what little savings she had left overnight and married someone else.

She went mad with jealousy. The night my birthday dinner ended, she shoved me off the thirtieth floor.

"Why do you get to strike it rich while I get nothing?"

"If I can't live well, then neither can you!"

When I opened my eyes again, we were both back on the day of the viewing.

What she doesn't know.

This time, she isn't the only one reborn.

I've also been bound to a wealth-transfer system.

So what if she grabs the apartment?

The moment she breaks open that wall, the gold and cash inside will land in my pocket, every last piece of it.

……

The familiar voice rang out, and I turned toward the door on instinct.

It wasn't my imagination.

My cousin Ida Barnes really had been reborn, and she'd swaggered in with her fiancé Fergus Lawrence to snatch this run-down unit.

In our last life, she and I had each been shown this same place by our separate agents.

Not only was she buried under millions in debt, her fiancé Fergus cleaned out what little savings she had left overnight and married someone else.

She went mad with jealousy.

The moment I wasn't looking, she shoved me off the thirtieth floor.

The shattering, bone-deep agony felt like it still lingered in my body even now.

I clenched my fists tight, and the cold crept up into my eyes.

Right then, Ida had already walked up to the agent, chin lifted.

"We're taking this apartment!"

My face went cold on the spot.

"On what grounds? We saw it first!"

Ida gave a contemptuous little laugh.

"So what if you saw it first? As long as the contract isn't signed, anyone's got the right to buy it!"

"Exactly!"

Fergus stepped up too, slapping his bank card down hard on the table.

"We'll sign today. Full payment, cash on hand, money's no object!"

The agent's eyes lit up, but he still glanced our way out of habit.

After all, we'd come through a personal referral.

"Miss Fox, Mr. James, what are you thinking?"

Dean James's expression turned ugly, his knuckles cracking with how hard he was clenching.

"We want this apartment too!"

"You?"

Ida reached out and tapped the bank card on the table, laughing so hard she was practically shaking.

"If I remember right, you two need a mortgage, don't you? An eighty-thousand down payment, scraped together from whatever your families could spare."

"A two-hundred-fifty-thousand-dollar place, and you think you can fight me for it? By the time you scrape the money together, it'll be long gone!"

Then she made a point of patting my shoulder and leaning in close to my ear.

"Just accept it, Ceci."

"This apartment is mine. In this life, it belongs to me."

The greed in her eyes was almost spilling over.

As if the gold and cash inside the wall were already hers.

But I couldn't help laughing to myself.

She didn't know I'd been reborn too.

And she certainly didn't know that the moment she stepped into this apartment, a cold, mechanical voice had already sounded in my mind.

【Ding! Host rebirth detected. Wealth-transfer system bound successfully!】

【Current target available for binding: the hollow lining in the run-down unit's master bedroom. Wealth quantity: three hundred gold bars, fifty million in cash.】

【Bind now?】

I fought down the grin threatening to break loose, swept a glance over the master bedroom, and answered without hesitation.

【Bind!】

【Ding! Binding successful!】

【Target wealth locked.】

【Current status: not yet unearthed. Transfer unavailable.】

【Note: once the target is exposed to the outside world, the host may complete the transfer at any time.】

Reading that last line, I finally let myself relax completely.

In other words, even if Ida snatched the apartment, all she'd done was pay two hundred fifty thousand for a ticket on my behalf.

The moment she broke open that wall, every ounce of gold and every dollar of cash inside would drop straight into my system's storage space, not a piece missing.

In that case.

I didn't want this apartment anymore.

I lifted my head, looked at Ida's smug face, and suddenly smiled.

"You're right, Vivi."

"This apartment really isn't meant for us."

"We don't want it."

2: 2

Dean panicked at once.

"Ceci! We only needed one thing for the wedding, a place to live, and this is the apartment we finally settled on after half a month of looking!"

"If we hand it over to them now, where are we ever going to find another one this perfect?"

I closed my hand gently over his and gave him a small shake of the head.

"Trust me. When have I ever let you down?"

Dean paused.

He looked into my steady eyes, and even though the reluctance was written all over his face, he chose to believe me.

"Fine."

"We're the ones who were going to live in it anyway. If you say we don't want it, then we don't want it."

Seeing that we really were giving it up, Ida grinned so wide it nearly split her face.

"Now you're being smart, cousin. The most important thing in life is knowing your place."

"Someday when I'm living in a mansion and driving a luxury car, I promise I won't forget how you stepped aside for me today."

As she said it, she dug a fifty out of her bag and shoved it into my hand.

"Take it."

"Consider it me buying you two a drink."

The contempt and the insult in her eyes were barely hidden.

But I wasn't angry. I smiled and tucked the money away.

After all, the two and a half million she was paying was nothing more than a ticket to open my treasure box for me.

And now she was throwing in fifty dollars on top.

A sucker like that, I'd welcome a few more.

"Thank you, cousin. I won't say no to the money."

My reaction froze the smile on Ida's face in an instant.

She'd been waiting to watch me flare up in humiliation, and instead her fist had landed in a pile of cotton.

"Broke loser," she muttered under her breath.

That only made me smile wider.

A moment ago I'd caught a glimpse of the text popping up on her phone.

To scrape together that two and a half million, my aunt and Fergus's parents had each mortgaged a property.

They were all counting on the gold and cash in the walls to turn their lives around.

When that hope came to nothing, when someone was hounding her to pay it back, let's see if she could still spit out a line like that.

The thought decided me. I took Dean's hand, ready to go.

But we'd barely taken two steps when Fergus sidestepped into our path.

"Hold on. You're not leaving until we've signed the contract."

Dean's face darkened.

"Says who?"

Fergus folded his arms and let out a cold laugh.

"Says who? Says us, keeping an eye on you two, obviously."

"Who's to say you aren't just pretending to back off, waiting for us to let our guard down so you can quietly go sign with the landlord?"

Dean actually laughed, he was so furious.

"The landlord's almost here, the agent's standing right there. What are we going to do, fly back and steal the place out from under you?"

But Fergus wouldn't give an inch.

"Hard to say."

"A second ago you had to have it, and now all of a sudden you don't. Who's going to believe that?"

"What if it's all an act?"

Ida jumped in at once, nodding smugly.

"That's my man, thinking of everything."

She looked at me, guarded all over.

"Cousin, you've loved snatching things away from me since we were kids."

"Today, until that contract's signed, don't even think about leaving."

Then she turned to the agent and threatened him outright.

"Keep them here. If they walk out, we're not buying the place either."

The agent was caught in the middle, sweat beading on his forehead.

"Miss Fox, Mr. James, why don't... the two of you sit for a bit?"

"The landlord's on his way anyhow. It won't take long."

Dean's face went livid, and he'd already pulled out his phone to call the police.

"Stealing our apartment is one thing, and now you're holding us here against our will?"

"You really think there's no one who can rein you two in?"

But I reached over and pressed my hand down on his phone, smiling softly.

"Let it go, Dean."

"Since they're so worried..."

"...then we'll keep them company and wait."

I raised my eyes to Ida, and a slow, knowing smile curved at the corner of my mouth.

After all, I was looking forward to the moment she signed for this apartment too.

3: 3

Dean was frowning.

"Cece, they're obviously just trying to walk all over us."

I gave a small shake of my head.

"There's no point squaring off with them. It won't cost us more than a few minutes anyway."

And with that, I pulled Dean over to the sofa in the corner of the lobby, and we actually sat down.

Seeing how agreeable I was, the smugness on Ida's face faded a little.

She narrowed her eyes and kept looking me over, her gaze full of probing.

I knew right away what she was thinking.

In our last life, the two of us had fought over this very apartment until we were both red in the face, neither willing to give an inch.

Yet this time, I was handing it over on my own.

Too out of character.

She was starting to wonder whether I'd been reborn too.

Sure enough, before long she came clicking over on her heels to stand in front of me.

"Cecily, weren't you dead set on buying this place before? So why is it suddenly no big deal to let it go?"

As she spoke, she stared hard into my eyes, as if trying to catch some crack in my expression.

But I acted like I noticed nothing at all and asked back with a smile,

"What? Don't tell me you don't want it anymore?"

"That works out perfectly. Just hand it over to us, then."

And I waved a hand at the agent.

"Hey, Louis, my cousin says—"

"Shut up!"

Ida bristled in an instant.

"Who said I don't want it!"

She glared at me, vicious.

"Cecily, not in this lifetime. Don't you dare take anything of mine again!"

I spread my hands, helpless.

"It's really hard being a person."

"I want it, you're not happy. I don't want it, and you're suspicious. What exactly do you want from me?"

Ida was left with nothing to say.

She stared at me for a long moment, and the wariness in her eyes finally began to drain away, bit by bit.

Of course.

If I really knew there was gold and cash hidden inside those walls, how could I possibly hand the apartment over to her so easily?

At that thought, she let out a quiet breath of relief.

Then she pulled Fergus off to the side at once and started conferring with him in a low voice.

"The second the contract's signed, I'm calling my cousin's renovation crew."

"Tomorrow's Sunday, no work then, so we smash the walls first thing the day after."

Fergus nodded.

"Right, no more dragging it out. The longer we wait, the more can go wrong."

Ida dropped her voice further.

"And another thing—we move in tonight, take turns guarding the master bedroom, and don't let a single soul near it."

The two of them thought they were being discreet, never realizing I could hear every word.

I almost laughed out loud.

They actually planned to take turns keeping watch through the night.

Genuinely terrified someone would carry the gold off.

Pity.

They could guard against people. They couldn't guard against the system.

Dean noticed the corners of my mouth kept curving up and couldn't help leaning in.

"Cece, you've been really off today."

"Come clean. Are you sitting on some scheme?"

I shook my head, smiling.

The secret of the system, I would never tell a soul.

Even though, after I died in my last life, Dean had nearly thrown everything away trying to get justice for me.

But with something like this, the fewer people who knew, the safer it was.

"What scheme? I just suddenly realized there's a better place out there."

Dean's eyes lit up at once.

"Where? Let's go see it right now."

I pulled up the map and pointed at that stretch of run-down old houses in the old east-side district.

Dean took one look and just froze.

"Babe, you sure? That place is even more of a wreck than the one back there. Can people actually live in it?"

"If your mom finds out we're using it as our marriage home, she'll break my legs."

I smiled and pressed a finger to my lips.

"So don't tell them yet."

"When the demolition comes through, we'll give them a surprise."

Dean's eyes went wide.

"Demolition?"

He was about to press further when I reached over and covered his mouth.

"Shh. It's a secret. Don't ask so many questions!"