Apocalyptic Reincarnation: Start with a 30-million Bonus

There are 179 days left until the end of the world.

The recent incessant rains have darkened the skies.

The rainfall in April and May accounts for 47% of the annual total.

The drizzling rain never seems to stop; Li Yu stands outside the train station, breathing in the slightly cool, fresh air the rain brings.

His tense muscles relax slightly.

Li Yu sees a lottery ticket booth right outside the train station and dashes over in the rain.

Getting straight to the point, Li Yu says to the lottery ticket seller, ”Hello, I’d like to buy a Double Chromosphere ticket, triple the bet, red balls 12 15 20 26 30 33 and blue ball number 16; also, keep the red balls the same and bet on every number from 1 to 15 for the blue ball.”

Crash-bang. The seller busily enters the numbers, quickly getting Li Yu’s choices down.

Li Yu pays 36 yuan by scanning a QR code. After checking the lottery ticket numbers in his hand and seeing no issues, he carefully tucks the ticket into the bottom of his backpack and turns to leave the lottery ticket center.

It’s still drizzling outside, and Li Yu buys an umbrella next to the lottery ticket center.

He hails a taxi by hand and takes a taxi straight home. Normally, there are regular buses in the county that are cheap, in contrast to a 30 yuan taxi fare, a bus ticket for five yuan is quite a bargain.

But Li Yu is eager to return home and disregards these considerations.

Raindrops streak against the window; Li Yu opens the window slightly, letting some of the rain hit his face.

Gazing out at the fields already planted with early-season rice, his vision is filled with greenery.

A thought strikes Li Yu – he must make sure to reserve a plot of land at the base for growing rice. Considering the current timing, it seems he could only plant late-season rice now.

Time flies by, and when Li Yu gets off the national highway, he sees a three-and-a-half-story house less than 30 meters away.

A sense of trepidation upon approaching home.

Li Yu opens his umbrella, dragging his suitcase and shouldering his bag, walking slowly.

Pushing the door open, Li Yu habitually calls out ’Mom, Dad’. The inertia of the body is undeniably powerful.

There are many forms of loneliness in the world, but when every time you return home, you are used to calling out to ’Mom and Dad’, only to realize that your calls will never again be answered.

That is a loneliness that cuts deeply to the heart.

Hearing his mother’s familiar response, then seeing mother Liu Fanghua coming out of the kitchen wearing an apron.

Li Yu’s eyes well up as he sees his mother’s familiar face; he can no longer hold back and tears start streaming down.

Liu Fanghua looks at her crying son, her heart aching unbearably, and wipes away his tears with a tissue, saying, ”What’s the matter, oh dear, it looks like you’ve suffered.”

Li Yu, feeling embarrassed, wipes away his tears and then goes up to give his mother a tight hug.

As Liu Fanghua hugs her child, who has not embraced her since growing up, she is filled with mixed emotions.

At the dinner table, Father Li Hongyuan looks at his eldest son and after much thought, asks:

”Are you planning on staying for good this time?”

Li Yu replies, ”Yes, I have some things I want to do this time, and I’ll be developing things at home from now on.”

Considering that his parents have their own social circle, and there are quite a few neighbors around the house, he still thinks it’s best to keep silent.

Moreover, having returned from the apocalypse, he knows all too well the truth in the saying: there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests.

Not telling his parents is for their own good; it’s not that he doesn’t trust them, but the matter is of great importance, and he fears that any slip of the tongue could bring trouble. After all, for them, such matters would be very hard to believe.

Li Yu weighs his options and plans to wait until there are signs of the impending apocalypse to brainwash them as an excuse.

Resolute in his decision, Li Yu quietly reinforces his plan.

Father Li, looking at his 22-year-old son, thinks for a bit before asking, ”You’ve grown up and have your own ideas, but what are you planning to do at home?”

Hearing this question, Li Yu tells his parents the excuse he had thought through before returning home: ”My job was originally online, and I can just work from home. Besides, I might have some other arrangements later on. Just don’t worry about it.”

Li Yu majored in Chinese literature, and after graduating, he worked in copywriting, which his parents knew about.

After hearing his son’s answer, Li Hongyuan doesn’t say much more.

This eldest son has always been independent, living at the school’s dormitory since elementary school. He insisted on attending a university far from home, against the preferred choices his parents presented him.

Father Li, in a fit of anger, had declared he wouldn’t financially support Li Yu’s education and living expenses.

Unexpectedly, Li Yu proved to be capable. He worked two jobs during the summer of his senior year in high school and managed to save up enough for his tuition and living expenses. Throughout his university years, Li Yu continued to work and study simultaneously.

Father Li later regretted his words, originally just wanting Li Yu to back down and choose an easier path, never expecting his son to solve all the problems himself.

Father Li is quite assertive, but with this son, he feels helpless. Sometimes elders do consider issues more comprehensively and think longer term, but there are also limitations to this.

But if one can earn their own money and solve their problems, all other difficulties seem to dissolve.

The economic base determines the superstructure, and this saying is not without reason, at least for Li Yu, it grants him a measure of freedom.

Hearing his son’s answer, Father Li doesn’t press further, thinking that if the boy encounters problems later on, he could find him a job, given his own connections after many years in his hometown.

....

In the afternoon, Li Yu didn’t go out, as he had been on a train all night, and rested at home.

The next day, Li Yu set out from home to visit Grandma. It had been a long time since he last saw her, and another aspect involved the most crucial part of Li Yu’s base construction: the land.

Li’s family is a large clan with three uncles and one aunt. Along with the younger generation’s children, the entire family totals around twenty-some people. However, apart from the youngest uncle, they mainly developed their careers outside and were usually migrant workers, only returning home for the holidays and festivals to reunite.

Grandpa and Grandma had been home all these years, and although they were older, they still couldn’t stay idle. They still had a considerable amount of land allocated to them from earlier times.

Additionally, in the past two years, Li Yu’s father contracted Mountain Pond and two mountains that belonged to their family. Now, Chengzi trees are planted there.

Li Yu’s trip to Grandma’s house wasn’t far, just a 10-minute walk. A cement road stretching straight from the national highway led directly there.

One could not deny the benefits of living in a small town in the Southern countryside: beautiful scenery, clear streams, and fresh air. Grandma’s house was like a secluded paradise in the woods.

It was hard to find their house if you didn’t pass by the concrete road.

Moreover, it was only a twenty-minute drive from the county. So, to Li Yu, this place was simply too good.

Firstly, there were mountains, water, and plains. The conditions for planting were good and sustainable for development.

Secondly, the place was conveniently located, hidden but not remote. If someone came out from the city, they would hardly notice this rural road.

Thirdly, Grandma’s family alone had dozens of acres of land and a few small ponds. And the largest patch, over ten acres, was right next to the mountain contracted by his father.

After Li Yu arrived at Grandma’s house, he found that she wasn’t home, so he went straight to the field to find her.

Grandma was delighted to see Li Yu, her hair silver-grey and at the age of 65, her body was still very robust.

Grandma broke off a cucumber from the field and told Li Yu to wash and eat it.

Seeing Grandma still so healthy and cheerful, Li Yu felt boundless joy in his heart.

So he said to Grandma: ”Grandma, I’m not going out this time. I plan to set up a tourism ecological farm at home.”

Grandma looked at her eldest grandson with confusion and asked, ”What’s a tourism ecological farm?”

Li Yu didn’t elaborate much, just talked to Grandma about wanting to use the family’s land to start a business at home.

Grandma was very happy and said, ”When I gave land to your uncles, none of them wanted it; they all insisted on moving out and living in the city. But my eldest grandson is different. Okay, I’ll talk to your uncles when the time comes.”

With the land issue resolved, the biggest problem became construction.

Time flew by.

.....I am the separator line

May 28th, there were still 177 days until doomsday. Zero days left until the lottery draw.

Li Yu checked the information on his phone after the lottery draw and found that as a butterfly, he had not affected the lottery numbers.

According to his purchased tickets, the first prize was 11 million, tripled to 33 million, plus the second prize of 400,000, 15 times, totaling 39 million yuan. After deducting 20% tax, the total was 31.2 million yuan.

Early the next morning, Li Yu took a taxi to the Provincial City to claim his prize money.

In a hurry, Li Yu didn’t dress up too much but bought a hat and a pair of sunglasses from the roadside on top of wearing a mask.

When receiving the prize money, the staff hinted several times at Li Yu to donate. Originally, Li Yu didn’t want to donate. Who knows where the donated money would end up?

But after several repeats from the staff:

”Look sir, getting this prize is a blessing. That’s why many winners donate~” The speaker was a sharp-faced, monkey-cheeked 30-year-old man in a suit, looking sleek but somewhat balding.

A seemingly senior staff member also spoke up, ”It’s for your own good, sir. To donate a little, to help the welfare cause~, don’t you agree, Mr. Li?”

Li Yu’s eyebrows narrowed - what does this mean, if I don’t donate, are you going to reveal my information?

Li Yu, unafraid, stared fiercely at the official. Such a stare could only be honed from killing countless people in the apocalypse.

Cold as ice.

The lottery center official was startled and dared not meet Li Yu’s gaze.

However!

There were many people around, and the atmosphere was heated. It seemed hard to leave without donating.

He wasn’t afraid of trouble, but was too lazy to deal with such annoying trifles.

Constructing the base was what was important!

He was truly reluctant and impatient, symbolically donated 50,000 yuan. The staff seemed to look down upon this amount as too low and wanted to fuss over it further.

Li Yu spoke harshly, ”If you hassle me further, I won’t donate a single cent.”

With that, Li Yu pushed through the surrounding staff, and nobody stopped him again.

Li Yu, holding the transfer cheque, directly took a taxi to the designated bank 2 kilometers away. Seeing the arrival of 31.15 million yuan in his account, Li Yu felt an undeniable excitement.

Stable!