Seeing the bizarre reaction, Fu Qingdai's face drained of color. She opened her mouth to scream.

"Cousin— hk! urgh!"

Before the shout could leave her lips, Su Jin thrust a trembling hand forward to muffle her.

But his motor skills were shot. His hand slipped, and a finger jammed straight down her throat.

She shoved him away instantly, doubling over in a fit of violent dry heaving.

When she looked up, Su Jin was waving frantically. Catching on, she clamped her mouth shut and dragged him onto the mattress.

Su Jin pitched forward, collapsing face-first into the soft, perfume-scented sheets.

His expression was a mask of sheer terror. His eyes bugged out, thick blue veins bulging against his temples.

He thrashed and convulsed against the bedding, twisting like a salted slug.

Poison! Toxic! That damn chocolate was lethal!

"Ugh... hurk!" Total panic seized Su Jin. He shoved his fingers down his own throat, digging frantically.

Fu Qingdai scrambled to snatch the trash can off the floor, holding it out like a lifeline.

Ten agonizing minutes of purging later, Su Jin lay flat on his back. He gasped for air as the vicious symptoms finally ebbed like a receding tide.

"Cousin... are you alright? What just happened?" Fu Qingdai whispered, her voice trembling with lingering dread.

"I'm... heh... I almost just clocked out." Su Jin waved a limp hand, his racing heart finally slowing down.

Food poisoning. He’d treated every meal in this parallel world with maximum paranoia since day one.

And he had still stepped on a landmine.

Fortunately, the local chocolate hit like a freight train but cleared the system just as fast.

He gave himself a few more minutes to reboot. Once his motor functions felt somewhat normal, Su Jin forced himself up.

Fu Qingdai quickly asked, "Cousin, are you allergic to chocolate? Have you ever eaten it before?"

"Yeah... I've had it. Just not the stuff from your dimension." Su Jin’s voice was a gravelly rasp. He pushed himself off the bed, grabbed his briefcase from the table, and snapped it open.

He fished out a cheap chocolate bar he'd bought from a convenience store back on Earth.

He scraped off a pinch of brown powder with his fingernail. "Give me your hand."

Without hesitation, Fu Qingdai extended her pale, delicate hand. He smeared the Earth-brand chocolate dust directly onto her skin.

"Hss!" A violent, burning red rash flared up almost instantly. She snatched her arm back, clutching it to her chest. "Cousin, what are you doing? What is that?"

"Just running a quick diagnostic... wipe it off." Su Jin tossed her a pack of wet wipes.

It was a two-way street. Chocolate from either reality was a lethal bioweapon to the other.

Even superficial skin contact triggered a rapid immune response.

Anaphylactic shock, respiratory swelling, severe gastrointestinal burning—swallowing more than a single piece would guarantee an agonizing death.

He packed his things. "I'm heading out," he said, turning toward the door. "Get some rest. And remember, come out the night after tomorrow."

"I'll remember!" Fu Qingdai nodded vigorously.

After exchanging a few hollow pleasantries with Fu Hu and his wife outside, Su Jin hurried back to his own apartment.

The second he locked the door behind him, he mixed two glasses of heavy saltwater and chugged them.

He spent the next half hour hunched over the toilet, inducing vomit until there was absolutely nothing left but bitter bile and sheer exhaustion.

Slumped against the bathroom doorframe, he tried to stand. His legs gave out, and he crashed hard onto the cold tiles, a pathetic, shivering mess.

Wiping away the acidic tears streaming from his eyes, a wave of profound bitterness washed over him.

Almost assassinated by a damn piece of chocolate. How had his life devolved into this?

Fuck this. This wasn't a life fit for a human being.

Every waking second felt like trying to hit a KPI with a guillotine hovering over his neck.

But the deadline was looming. He didn't have the luxury of resting yet...

After monitoring his vitals for an hour, a physically and mentally drained Su Jin dragged himself downstairs.

His scheduled drop with the wholesale grain supplier was coming up. A truckload of bulk rations and cooking oil was en route.

He waited by the residential gate for ten minutes until a battered box truck slowly pulled up to the curb.

Su Jin flagged them down, directing the heavy vehicle right up to his building's entrance.

The truck idled. Two burly men hopped out of the cab and immediately started unloading the cargo.

Every bag of rice, flour, and drum of oil had been meticulously sealed in unmarked cardboard boxes. Completely anonymous.

Lugging a heavy crate, one of the deliverymen grunted, "Boss, gotta say, never seen anyone buy stock like this. Sealed up tight, midnight delivery... you running some kind of special op here?"

Su Jin slapped on his best corporate smile, his tone impeccably casual. "Nothing dramatic. Our agency handles local charity logistics, and our main warehouse got flooded. This batch is earmarked for underprivileged kids. We boxed it up to make slapping the sponsor logos on easier. I'm stuck at the office all day, so night shifts are my only option to sort it."

"Ah, say no more! You've got a tough gig too. Tell you what, we'll waive the delivery fee on this run. Consider it a donation from the two of us."

Visibly moved, the two men kicked their efficiency into high gear. Barely ten minutes later...

"Alright boss, everything's unloaded. We're heading out!"

"Hold up!"

"Something wrong, boss?" They paused, turning back.

Feigning a brief hesitation, Su Jin lowered his voice. "It's... well, just a heads-up. I got an internal memo about a toxic leak at the municipal chemical plant. The particulates are drifting high up. Usually fine, but if it rains? Do not let that water touch your skin. And stay away from the tap water for a bit. Heavy carcinogens."

"Shit... seriously? It's not even on the news yet, first we're hearing of it... Thanks for the tip, boss!"

Forty-eight hours until the apocalypse arrives!

After a fitful, feverish night of half-sleep, Su Jin woke up with severely bloodshot eyes.

The bone-deep exhaustion etched into his features was now impossible to hide.

Snatching his notebook from the nightstand, he skipped the morning routine entirely. Unwashed and unbrushed, he threw on clothes and headed straight out for the final supply runs.

He didn't stop moving, not even when he finally dragged himself back to his apartment at dusk.

Every single gap in the fourth-floor windows was aggressively sealed with heavy-duty tape, the thick blackout curtains pulled tight.

He rigged a makeshift awning over the fifth-floor balcony window, designed to deflect any incoming rain as far from the glass as physically possible.

The outer ledges of the balcony were capped with thin iron sheeting, slathered in a thick, frictionless layer of industrial grease.

The first and second floors already had security grilles installed. A Zombie might try to scale the wall.

But it wouldn't matter. Even with razor-sharp claws, anything trying to climb over his grease-slicked barricades was taking a one-way trip back to the pavement.

Defense grid established. Su Jin walked over and knocked on the Fu family's door.

Fu Hu answered the door, sporting the exact same sycophantic smile.

"Director Li..."

"Is the requisition order complete?" Su Jin’s voice was gravelly, weighed down by total fatigue.

He tried to plaster on his fake bureaucratic smile, but his facial muscles simply refused to cooperate. His expression remained dead.

Catching the grim vibe, Fu Hu nervously licked his lips. "Y-yes, sir, it's all here. Please, come in and inspect it."

Stepping inside, Su Jin surveyed the living room floor. Three modern compound bows, over a hundred carbon-fiber arrows, and a pile of tactical accessories were neatly laid out.

Stacked beside them was the off-grid power setup: high-yield solar panels, deep-cycle batteries, and heavy-duty inverters.

Seeing his requested hardware, a fraction of the tension left Su Jin's shoulders. He gave a curt nod. "Solid work. Keep this inventory secured here. I have to step out the day after tomorrow to finalize our departmental affairs."

"Director... has there been an operational hiccup?" Fu Hu probed cautiously, clearly spooked by Su Jin's haggard appearance.

Su Jin shook his head grimly. "Negative. I just received a comms update. One of my field operatives was KIA on an external task... I apologize, but I won't be able to administer Qingdai's treatments for the next two days. I'll resume the schedule the day after tomorrow."

The following night.

All Supplies were meticulously inventoried and categorized. Every single water barrel was topped off to the brim.

Su Jin sat alone at his dining table. Large patches of his skin stung—a raw reminder of how violently he’d scrubbed himself clean in the shower.

But right now, he was simply staring blankly at the wire cage sitting on the table.

His eyes were haunted, bleeding a mixture of absolute exhaustion and sheer terror. Despite the sweltering heat, an uncontrollable chill gripped him, leaving his hands and feet trembling.

Inside the cage, twenty-odd white mice scrambled over each other, desperately clawing at the wire mesh to escape their prison. Looking at them, he realized he wasn't much different—just another rat trapped in a cage, struggling to survive this twisted world.

Are my preps enough? Am I actually going to survive this performance review?

Slowly, Su Jin shifted his gaze to the wall clock. The minute hand clicked into place. Exactly 11:00 PM.

Midnight was coming. And with it, the end of the world...

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