It's the apocalypse again

Before reaching out to Jinhai, Qianqian focused on stabilizing her resources.

The new house allowed her to take a more structured approach. The storage shed was yet to be used. The main room of the house became her planning area, with maps, notebooks, and charts spread across a sturdy wooden table.

She also began experimenting with the garden. After consulting Echo and doing some online research, she planted a mix of medicinal herbs and fast-growing vegetables. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

Every day, she felt the weight of the approaching apocalypse more acutely. The system's presence was a constant reminder that time was running out.

"Leveling up isn't just about the house," Echo reminded her one evening. "It's about you. Your skills, your knowledge, your adaptability. The system rewards progress, but only if you earn it."

"I get it," she said, frustration creeping into her voice. "But how am I supposed to 'level up' when I'm barely keeping up with everything as it is?"

"One step at a time. The system doesn't expect miracles—it expects effort."

The decision to involve her brother wasn't made lightly. Xu Qianqian had spent weeks agonizing over the potential consequences.

Still, there was no one she trusted more to handle a crisis.

Xu Qianqian parked the car outside Jinhai's office, her fingers drumming against the steering wheel.

The mid-afternoon sunlight reflected off the building's sleek windows, but her focus was elsewhere. Her mind raced with the weight of what she was about to do.

Taking a deep breath, she slid out of the driver's seat, brushing imaginary dust off her jeans. She stepped inside the lobby, The familiar receptionist glanced up, her face lighting up in recognition.

"Miss Xu! Here to see your brother?"

Qianqian smiled, forcing a casualness into her tone. "Yep. Is he free?"

"He just wrapped up a meeting. Let me let him know you're here."

Xu Jinhai was suprised when he got the message from his secretary notifying him of his sisters arrival.

He quickly rushed out the room and straight to the elevator. He frantically pressed the button startling the employees who were waiting for the elevator as well.

They were curious as to who made their boss this angry meanwhile the elevator insisted on taking its sweet time to open.

He didn't have enough patience for that so he quickly used the stairs,it was quite the journey and stress but he didn't mind he wanted to get to his sister at once.

She had been ignoring him for months,at first he was angry,then he became worried and now it was just a mixture of both.

He felt that she was going through a phase so he wanted to give her time and finally she reached out to him.

As he quickly stormed into the lobby he caught sight of Qianqian, as she did as well.

As he came close she quickly stood up,she was slightly confused as she didn't see him coming out the elevator.

Jinhai didn't wait a single moment and began bombarding her with questions, " Are you okay? Are you sick? Or did you get into any trouble?"

Qianqian smiled and eased up a bit," No,I'm fine,how have you been?",she asked with a smile.

After ensuring that she was really safe,he proceeded to land a beautiful,well practiced smack on her head.

"Are you mad? Are you insane? Where the hell have you been,you little minx",he asked sounding very angry. All traces of worry were gone and were replaced with anger.

"Mom and Dad came back because of you and you didn't even care to visit"

Qianqian screamed in pain,"OUCH! seriously gege,easy. I'm sorry and I came here to explain okay,geez",she rubbed her head trying to lessen the pain.

They had unknowingly gathered a little bit of attention due to their little reunion.

"Let's go somewhere a little bit more quiet ",she said looking around.

Jinhai then suddenly remembered where he was," Fine,wait for me,and don't you dare move even an inch".

He then went back up to his office to grab his jacket and car keys,then after giving instructions to his secretary, he left,this time with the elevator.

As they headed out,he made a move towards his own car but was stopped by Qianqian.

"Nah,it's fine,let's ride mine",she said hinting at the car she drove to his office.

"Oh,I didn't know you called a driver,where is he?" He asked upon moving closer and not sighting anyone at the driver's seat.

Qianqian moved towards the door and pushed him out of the way," Move dumbass,the driver's coming through." She then proceeded to seat at the driver's seat and ignite the car.

"Are you coming or not?",she asked as Jinhai just stood there looking at her.

He was horrified," Wait,yo– you're driving? Since when do you know how to drive?"

Like hold up,she couldn't even drive Like a normal person in a video game and suddenly she's getting into a driver's seat...IN REAL LIFE!

And she's insisting that he enters as well,what part of him screamed,I want to die in the most painful way possible. There was no way he was getting into that car,EVER.

30 minutes later...

A car could be seen speeding on the highway heading out of the city,inside it was a man in a protective suit,helmet and all, holding on for dear life,one hand was at the door handle ready to open it and jump out if necessary.

Beside him was a young girl driving the car and trying to hold on to her laughter. Echo on the other hand couldn't,"Okay,I'm loving his energy girl,cause why not"

Qianqian was a little relieved,she kept trying to calm herself down as her mind kept drifting to the matter at hand.

Finally after sometime,Jinhai spoke up,"where are we headed to? What's going on?" He couldn't help but notice that they were moving out of the city.

Qianqian stiffed a little but quickly relaxed,"just hang on,we're close".

Jinhai's ever sharp eyes caught that of course so he decided to just keep quiet and wait,the most important thing right now is that he was there with her.

After some time they arrived at the edge of the forest. Jinhai was suprised,on the way here he had been trying to take note of everything and he quickly found out that he had been here on a project before.

But he couldn't remember seeing such a huge expanse of forest,he tried brushing it off but couldn't.

As they moved close to the forest he expected Qianqian to slow down and stop the car but instead she pressed hard on the accelerator.

He quickly turned around and caught sight of the crazy smile on her face,he screamed with terror and tried to get hold of the wheel and divert the car but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't.

He was suprised and confused as to why because there was no way she was stronger than him. He quickly reached to his side and drew down his seat horizontally to reduce the impact somewhat,he then braced himself.

Weird enough, he heard no crash only the manical laughter of his sister. He quickly sat up confused,he looked ahead of him and then quickly looked behind him and froze.

The trees were moving...they were freaking moving.He then realised that the forest had opened and let them pass and were now moving to close up that space.

He then proceeded to look at forest ahead and then at his sister who was calmly driving foward. He didn't even know how to react,he was too distracted to notice the abnormality of the girl next to him.

Qianqian on the other hand was anxiously waiting for him to say something but got nothing,instead he just lay back on the seat,not even bothering to bring it back to its original state.

He just lay there,staring at the top of the car,his hand clutching the seat belt and threatening to squeeze life out of them.

Echo looked back amd forth between the two siblings before commenting, " Oh-oh,I think we broke him,I knew this was too much,tsk tsk, you've turned your brother to an idiot"

"Shut up",Qianqian muttered. The honest truth was,she thought the same,but she didn't know what else to do.

It didn't take long for the duo to get to the clearing. When the car stopped,Qianqian turned to her brother and fortunately he was back to himself...a little.

Jinhai sat up after taking a deep breath only to come face to face with a huge clearing. It housed a moderate house on one end,and a little bit off were two warehouses. It looked pretty simple and normal but,he knew there was nothing simple and normal about this place.