LOGINChapter 2
“Jake! Scarlett slapped Janet and me! She’s crazy! Help me, help!” It did not even take a second before Jake’s furious roar erupted from the speaker. “What?! Scarlett, are you insane?!" Seeing that Jake had fallen for Rachael’s tears, Janet rushed over too. “I only asked to borrow a little cash, and she suddenly flew into a rage and attacked me!” The other end of the line went dead for a few seconds. Then, Jake’s panicked roar exploded back, louder and shriller than before. “How dare you put your hands on my mother?! After all my family has done for you, taking you in when you were a penniless orphan—” “I guess your family is so poor that you all have to depend on a poor orphan for support,” Scarlett replied in her calm tone. She was not even sure why she bothered to reply to him. “Jack, I have decided to divorce you. I will have a lawyer send over the paperwork before the end of business today.” "Scarlett—" Jake barked again. Then, forcing his anger down, he tried to sound reasonable. "Don't do something stupid. Divorce isn't a joke. What about Ethan? Are you just abandoning him?" Ethan. The boy she had poured her heart and soul into for four years. Scarlett let out a bitter, mocking laugh, her eyes full of scorn. "How long did you think you could keep up the lie, Jake? Ethan isn't my son. He’s the bastard child you had with Rachael. You rushed to marry me back then because she was pregnant but wanted nothing to do with marriage. I was just a random nanny you picked out to raise your kid legally, wasn't I?" "Y-You... how do you know that?!" Jake’s voice crumbled, shaking violently. "It doesn't matter how I know. Remember what I just said, otherwise I will let everyone on the earth know about how ugly you and Rachael are." Silence stretched on the line. Realizing Scarlett held a deadly weapon against him, Jake completely broke. "Do you really think you can live without me, without my family?!” “Ethan's custody stayed with you. The house we bought after we got married stayed with you too. I didn't want any of it. I just wanted a divorce,” Scarlett said coldly. “Huh! Fine!” Jake roared, his anger almost bursting through the phone. “You've completely lost your mind! Go ahead and divorce me if you think you can. I'd like to see where you'll go after you leave this house. When you end up sleeping on the streets, don't come crawling back and beg me!” Hearing Jake’s words, the tears on Rachael and Janet’s faces dried up. Their faces turned pale with a strange sort of panic. They had only wanted to bully Scarlett into submission, like they always did when they threatened her with Jake’s name or outrightly reporting her to Jake. The last thing they wanted her to do was leave. Scarlett worked for a very good company that paid her a whopping nine thousand dollars a month. If she left, their thousands-dollar allowance would vanish. For years, she had handed her entire paycheck over to Jake who turned a blind eye as Janet and Rachael squandered Scarlett’s money like pocket change. Janet took a step forward, her hand reaching for Scarlett. Before she could utter a word, Scarlett stormed out the front door and slammed it behind her so hard that it rattled on its hinges. As soon as she got into her car, her phone rang with the ID from an unknown number. Scarlett’s smile returned easily. The lawyer. That was quick. In her past life, she had been in the kitchen when the call came in and answered it in front of Rachael and Janet. What a disaster that had been. “Am I speaking to Mrs. Scarlett Morrison?” Scarlett instinctively sat straighter as though he could see her? “Yes, you are, sir. How may I help you?” “I am Trevor Johnson, the lawyer representing the Morrison family, your biological parents. At the moment, they are deceased and have named you the sole heir of their estate.” He paused for a moment and Scarlett stayed silent, waiting for him to keep speaking. The lawyer did not comment further on Scarlett’s reaction and went on to answer her question. Sixty million dollars worth in multiple properties in several locations and twenty million dollars in cold hard cash. “You can claim your inheritance at any moment. We will arrange a meeting and I will sign over the documents to you—” “That would be perfect. Thank you very much.” She needed her divorce finalized before she could touch the money. “I can come in tomorrow but before then, I need you to help me draft something.” “What would that be, ma’am?” “A divorce agreement. I will send you the details now.” Trevor worked very fast and had the document ready for Scarlett within the hour. Scarlett immediately drove to the nearest department store to print out the paperwork. Just in case, she printed multiple copies of the documents and signed all of them before packaging the first one into an envelope and heading to the post office. In front of the doors of the post office, she scribbled Trevor’s firm address on a sticky note along with the instruction: Sign this and return it immediately. When the package was mailed out to Jake, Scarlett was finally able to relax. The next things were to wait for Jake’s signature, cash out on her massive inheritance before going on a shopping spree. But first, the pocket space. She drove to a motel and checked in for the night. Though the motel staff had looked at her weirdly for not having any luggage with her, Scarlett was unbothered. Her mind was hovering around the pocket space and what could be waiting for her. However, it did not take long for her to be disappointed. “Just a storage feature,” she muttered as she fell back onto the bed. Before she could sulk about it, her hands lifted and clapped her cheeks. “But it is already much better.” It was already a miracle that she could be sent back in time. Now, she wanted to start complaining that her pocket space did not have any other function besides storing items. What other thing was necessary for the apocalypse? Once the weather ravaged the Earth, the supplies she saved would be more valuable than gold. Even more so, she had firsthand knowledge of the future. With her resources added to this, she would rule the post-apocalyptic world like a queen. She continued testing her pocket space for a few more hours until she ran out of things in the motel room to put into the pocket space and bring out. Every object in the living room had worked. She would have to diversify her training options so she could test the limits of her space. Eventually, she succumbed to exhaustion as the sun was setting. She drifted into a deep sleep. When the sun rose again, she would begin a true new life.Ronald stared down at Lily like she was a bug clinging to him.“Get off,” he said, shaking his leg but she held on tighter, pressing her face into his calf as she sniffled.When she sneezed right onto his pant leg, Ronald let his head fall back, his eyes fluttering shut in irritation. “You little brat,” he muttered before bending down to pick her up.Lily let out a small cry as he placed her in the large bucket that he was carrying and then took her back to his tent with him.“Stay here,” he ordered. “I have to go get water.”Lily nodded, sniffling. Ronald stared at her for a moment longer. “There is food under the bed…don’t eat too much,” he said before closing the door of the tent.Lily remained in her position for a minute and then reached under the bed to grab the warm plate of food hidden there.It looked like the food they had had for lunch. Why was he giving his meal to her?As Lily was still thinking about it, her stomach growled. She opened the plastic container gently and to
Violeta snapped her arm from Leon’s grip. “You do not get to talk to me,” she spat, eyes burning with fury. “Do you hear me?”“And when will you learn to behave yourself?” Leon retorted. “Picking a fight with Scarlett!”“She hurt Lily!”“You know damn well that Scarlett cares more about Lily than you ever have.”Violeta sucked in a sharp breath at the direct words. “I am Lily’s mother,” she spat. “Her family.”“No, you are not,” Leon spat. “Neither you or your sister gave a damn about the three year old you left in the rain. If not for the neighbor back then, Lily would have died from her cold!”Violeta fell silent for a long moment and then finally let out a small scoff. “Well, unfortunately for you and your darling, the little girl wants me.”A smug smirk slid onto her lips. “What?” she spat. “You two cannot face the truth and want to take it out on me? Lily loves me and there is not a damn thing you can do about it.”Violeta even stepped closer, her finger trailing along Leon’s che
The thirty minutes of lunch time were painfully uncomfortable.For the past few days, the residents had not had Scarlett amongst them and the difference was obvious.Their gatherings, conversations and instructions always revolved around her. Though their lives went on and the work continued, it felt like something was missing.Now, she was back but she sat so far away that it was as though she was not there at all.The residents knew better than to talk and laugh like Scarlett was not present so everyone simply remained silent and ate their food.Scarlett scarved down the meal, set the plate down beside Janice and thanked her with a polite smile.In her haste, as she turned around, she ran into someone.Lily fell to the ground, rubbing her nose with a frown. When she looked up and realized it was Scarlett that bumped into her, all her grievances dried up.Lily immediately shot to her feet, mouth flapping open and close as she tried to think of what to say.Scarlett opened her mouth t
“Ecological development?” she muttered out loud.The features read like an almost overpowered passive skill. A possible fifty percent enhancement to any system feature.For now, it might not be particularly useful to her but as more people joined her base, she would get more system features.“Did anything new happen inside the base?” Scarlett asked, wondering what could have prompted the system to give her the feature.White’s head tilted as he hummed in the negative. “Not that I know of. Why?”Scarlett pursed her lips. The system never gave her things at random.“Don’t worry about it. I’ll figure it out later,” Scarlett said and they both started to walk back to the beach.Suddenly, White exclaimed. “Right! I forgot about that!” he said, smiling at me. “Old man Woods made a breakthrough recently. His radishes sprouted and they don’t look strange.”Perhaps it really was a mistake for Scarlett to rely on White for updates on what was happening in the settlement.Such important news and
Violeta blocked Scarlett’s path, her arms crossed over her chest. She glared down pointedly at the large box of food and water in Scarlett’s hands.Scarlett scanned her from head to toe and side-stepped her easily. “White, have one of the workers hold onto this for me to guard against anyone with sticky hands. And come with me to get the others—”“White said we were going to be using a work-points based system. Why does Scarlett get all the supplies she wants when she does not do anything?”All the chatter on the beach stopped and everyone turned to Violeta like she was sick in the head.She flushed slightly but did not back down. “We could easily move elsewhere and elect someone else as our leader. The heat is gone. It’s not like we won’t be able to find somewhere else.”Violeta looked around, searching for someone that would support her but no one moved an inch from their position.Scarlett could not help but let out a small snort.It was months deep into the apocalypse and Violeta
“You are enjoying your isolation far too much. Should you not pretend to miss us even a little bit?” White said as he walked towards Scarlett with Jessica on his shoulders.Scarlett pulled down her sunglasses and grinned. “Stress for breakfast. A little argument and girl drama for dinner. No thank you.”True to his word, White had not revealed where she was exactly to anyone.No doubt, some of them had tried to search but somehow, White was acting as her buffer and she could only thank him for being in her corner in a time like this.She grabbed the cup of clear liquid beside her and raised it up to him. “Wine?” she asked and he shook her head.“Janice does not let me drink in front of Jessica. Says it teaches her bad manners,” White said.Scarlett was sure by now that White knew that she had secrets of her own, particularly on the source of her supplies.When she was moving from the cabin, he had not asked her what she would eat and drink because he knew that she would be able to tak







