Reborn Before the Apocalypse I Built a Fortress to Save My Village

Seeing that I didn't respond, Uncle Raymond's confidence surged. He looked at me like he was granting me one last chance. "You say you were reborn—where's your proof?"

Proof?

I frowned, then my mind lit up.

"I remember now. On this day in my past life, Derek got fired for a work mistake."

Uncle Raymond was about to explode when Derek's call came through.

"Dad, some items went missing from the warehouse I manage. I got fired..."

A knowing smile spread across my face. "So Derek isn't an executive—he's a warehouse clerk!"

Uncle Raymond's face turned green. "You just got lucky," he spat. "Like a blind squirrel finding a nut. Doesn't count!"

I thought for a moment, then turned to Linda. "Linda, your husband has a mistress. He's transferring assets as we speak. Check your balance if you don't believe me."

In my past life, her husband had demanded a divorce a week from now. Linda hadn't gotten a single dollar.

She fumbled for her phone. Sure enough—the balance was half what it should be.

She called her husband directly. The mistress answered, smugly telling Linda to hurry up and sign the divorce papers so she could move in. Linda went pale.

I'd nailed two predictions in a row. Surely they'd believe me now—but my dad still refused and insisted on making the transfer.

The door burst open again.

"I can prove my brother's telling the truth."

Every head snapped toward the doorway. My younger brother, Ethan Larson, rushed in, panting hard.

"Dad, everything he said is true. In a month, animals worldwide will mutate. Listen to him—buy explosives!"

The office went silent for a few seconds, then cold snorts rippled through the room.

"Both brothers are insane. Poor Mr. Larson—can't even make enough money to treat his two sons."

"Mr. Larson, want me to call a psychiatric hospital?"

Uncle Raymond burst out laughing. "Big brother, you always said the main account was a bust, so you trained the backup. Turns out the backup's no better! And he even graduated from grad school—just as useless as your eldest!"

Dad's face darkened like a storm cloud. He grabbed both of us and dragged us to his office.

After the door closed, I braced for an explosion—but instead, Dad's expression turned anxious.

"Ethan, tell me quickly—what's going on?"

My brother and I exchanged a glance, and he gave Dad the short version.

Dad's voice trembled. "So... you were reborn too?"

Ethan nodded. "I got scared to death by a caterpillar. A three-foot-long one."

I gave him a mocking thumbs-up. "You really are my brother."

He flushed with embarrassment. "Bro, just buying explosives won't cut it. Those animals are way too strong. We need a place to hide." He pulled out some papers. "I drew up blueprints before coming back—we can remodel our warehouse."

Ethan had studied architectural design. He'd designed our family's newly built warehouse himself.

Unlike other small workshops, our warehouse sat on a reinforced concrete foundation, with solid brick walls—the kind even a ton of explosives couldn't breach.

His plan was to weld a ring of steel around the exterior, with the sharpened edges pointing outward and upward. The whole thing would look like a giant hedgehog. That way, it could fend off attacks from mutated animals.

Cost for this phase: one million dollars.

In my past life, the mutation had lasted two weeks before militaries worldwide slowly regained control.

But in a backwater like ours, rescue would take far longer than two weeks. We'd also need to stockpile enough food and daily necessities to survive.

I did a rough calculation—at least five million dollars, minimum.