Chapter 5: Accepting Reality

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At this moment, Qi Qi was a bit puzzled: why hadn't that man turned her in? Wasn't there supposed to be surveillance footage? How had the police not seen it?

As it turned out, Qi Qi was lucky. The part where she beat the man happened to be in a blind spot of the cameras. The man had regained consciousness just as the police arrived, but he was too embarrassed to admit that he had been beaten up by a woman, so he kept quiet about it.

While getting ready for bed that night, Qi Qi noticed a drawer left slightly ajar. She saw an empty bottle of sleeping pills inside and let out a sigh. Lying in bed, she felt no trace of sleepiness.

She wondered how Mantou was doing, and if the old-timer William would survive. Qi Qi closed her eyes, her face filled with sorrow. She knew these were just delusions. Conventional weapons had almost no effect on the Phoenix Flower; William had been run through before she even died, and even if he hadn't, no ordinary person could have walked out of that toxic gas alive. None of them even had gas masks, so it was pointless to hope.

She had returned to this world, but she didn't know if she would even survive here.

William had been with her longer than anyone else in the team. She could barely remember what the first people who joined her looked like anymore. William was the life of the team; even the English and French that everyone spoke so fluently had been taught to them by him. Qi Qi had saved William from danger more than once, and the youngest member of the group, who had been with her the shortest amount of time, had still been by her side for four years.

Even with such a hellish beginning, Qi Qi still found herself reluctant to leave this world. Such a beautiful place had once existed only in her dreams. Perhaps everything she had experienced today was just a fleeting dream before death. Qi Qi hoped that when she woke up, she would be back, and that she might still have time to save her teammates.

"Forget it. I'll know if I can go back once I wake up."

"By the way, what is surveillance?"

With that thought, Qi Qi found the phone that Zhou Ying had given her. During the apocalypse, she had once found something similar to a phone in the ruins. The screen had been mostly shattered, but it was barely functional. However, in the apocalypse, there was no signal, and electricity was only available in the base. Still, the songs inside could be played for years; after all this time, she could recite them all backward even with her eyes closed. She had used it to pass the time when bored and had treasured it like a precious jewel all these years.

She took out the phone and slowly explored how to use it. Since she wasn't sleepy, and she was afraid that if she fell asleep, she might wake up back in the apocalypse—meaning she would have missed out on all this delicious food—she decided to stay awake. Reading the explanations on the phone, she finally understood what surveillance was.

She gathered all the snacks and fruit in the house and placed them on the table, stuffing her face while she searched.

Search: #Is it a crime to kill someone?#

This point was very important to her.

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When she saw the words "self-defense," her eyes lit up.

Surely what she did today counted as self-defense? The man had tried to rob her car and then pulled a knife to stab her; fighting back had to be self-defense. Yes, that must be it. Qi Qi brainwashed herself as she thought this.

Looking at the pile of empty snack bags and fruit peels on the table, she patted her stomach, lay down on the bed feeling satisfied, and thought that even if she went back tomorrow, it wouldn't be a loss.

Qi Qi didn't even know when she had fallen asleep. When she woke up groggily and felt the softness beneath her, she sat up with a start. Looking at her surroundings, she couldn't tell if she felt disappointed or relieved.

She sat frozen on the bed for a long while, finally fully accepting that she couldn't go back. Now, she had to think about how to make money to pay the breach-of-contract penalty; she didn't want to spend the rest of her life in prison. And as for that pair of scumbags, Qi Qi would never let them off so easily.

This grudge had to be settled. Whether for her own sake or for the original owner of this body, she refused to live a life of hiding in such a beautiful world. So what if it was a hellish start? Could it be any worse than the apocalypse, where she could lose her life at any moment? Qi Qi didn't believe it for a second.

Her current priority was to find a way to clear her name and then earn money to pay off her debts.

"Feifei, breakfast is ready."

"Coming."

Hearing the word "food," she instantly pushed all her troubles to the back of her mind. The biggest surprise of coming to this world was having an endless supply of delicious food; now, her daily meals were what she looked forward to the most.

After washing up, she came out and heard Zhou Ying on the phone in the living room, her tone full of obsequiousness. After listening for a while, she understood what was happening. Seeing Qi Fei walk in, Zhou Ying hurriedly hung up the phone.

[Both apartments have potential buyers. If she gets a little more from her parents, she'll be able to scrape the money together soon.]

[Feifei is just starting to feel a bit better; I shouldn't let her worry about this.]

"Thank you, Yingying."

Qi Qi was not the type to know she couldn't pay a debt and not seek help. Since she couldn't go back, she had to find a way to pay off the debt. And she meant those words sincerely—the original owner was lucky to have a friend who was so devoted to her.

She sat down across from Zhou Ying: "What do I have that I can convert into money?"

"This debt is originally mine. Whatever isn't covered... just consider it a loan from you."

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Yesterday, through Zhou Ying's inner thoughts, she had learned that Zhou Ying was a wealthy second-generation heir. The two apartments to be sold were one given to her by her parents as a reward for getting into university, and the other bought for her by her parents when she graduated and decided to stay in Shanghai.

Zhou Ying looked at Qi Fei with a pained expression. [Feifei's cash was all swindled away by those unscrupulous parents of hers. Now, the only things she can liquidate are this apartment and the luxury jewelry in her walk-in closet.]

[Feifei's salary only went up after she became popular in the last two years, and she only made some money after taking on a few endorsements. Before that, as an intern, she had almost no income. It was she who had advised her to buy this apartment, otherwise, she would truly have nothing left and be drowning in debt.]

[She had told her that her parents might be treating her as a cash cow and urged Qi Fei to be careful, but who knew that Feifei hadn't taken it to heart at all.]

Right, there was still the apartment.

"Then sell this apartment too. Since the other side is pushing so hard, let's sell it at a lower price."

"If you sell it, where will you live?" Feifei was a celebrity, after all.

[If Feifei goes out to rent an apartment in her current situation, she might not have a single day of peace.]

[This residential complex is the only place where celebrities and wealthy merchants live; the security is better, and those paparazzi and haters can't get in.]

Rent an apartment? Good idea.

"Then let's not change complexes. Let's just rent one here."

Zhou Ying: "..."

[That's not impossible.]

"Then it's settled. And for all those clothes, bags, and jewelry in the closet, check which ones are valuable and sell them all."

"With this apartment included, will it be enough for the penalty? If not, I'll think of something else."

Qi Qi was completely clueless about current housing prices.

"It should be enough. If things go smoothly, there might even be a little left over."

Qi Qi took Zhou Ying's hand, looking serious: "You must tell me how much of your own money you put in. I must pay you back."

"Fine, I'll wait for you to make the big bucks and pay me back."

Since the matter of the breach-of-contract penalty was settled, she began to ponder other things.

"You've been investigating that pair of scumbags these past few days, right? Do you have their address? And the company boss's home address?"

"I have them, but why do you want the boss's address? Don't be impulsive. Your contract is still in their hands. If you provoke them, they'll just blacklist you."

Qi Qi: "..."

How could she have forgotten about the contract?

She really had to think this through carefully.