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While I was viewing a two-hundred-fifty-thousand-dollar dump with the agent, my cousin came storming in with her fiancé to snatch the place out from under me.
"Ceci, I'm taking this apartment. You two can get lost."
Looking at the excitement she didn't even bother to hide, I knew in an instant. She'd been reborn too.
Because in our last life, she and I had both been shown this same run-down unit by our agents.
She'd sneered at it, said a dog wouldn't live in a place like that, then turned around, took out a loan, and bought a unit in some trending complex instead.
But a month later, when our renovation crew broke open the wall of the master bedroom, they hauled crate after crate of gold and tens of millions in cash out of the hollow lining.
Her trending complex, meanwhile, went bust when the developer skipped town, leaving nothing but an abandoned shell.
She was buried under millions in debt, and her fiancé cleaned out what little savings she had left overnight and married someone else.
She went mad with jealousy. The night my birthday dinner ended, she shoved me off the thirtieth floor.
"Why do you get to strike it rich while I get nothing?"
"If I can't live well, then neither can you!"
When I opened my eyes again, we were both back on the day of the viewing.
What she doesn't know.
This time, she isn't the only one reborn.
I've also been bound to a wealth-transfer system.
So what if she grabs the apartment?
The moment she breaks open that wall, the gold and cash inside will land in my pocket, every last piece of it.
……
The familiar voice rang out, and I turned toward the door on instinct.
It wasn't my imagination.
My cousin Ida Barnes really had been reborn, and she'd swaggered in with her fiancé Fergus Lawrence to snatch this run-down unit.
In our last life, she and I had each been shown this same place by our separate agents.
Not only was she buried under millions in debt, her fiancé Fergus cleaned out what little savings she had left overnight and married someone else.
She went mad with jealousy.
The moment I wasn't looking, she shoved me off the thirtieth floor.
The shattering, bone-deep agony felt like it still lingered in my body even now.
I clenched my fists tight, and the cold crept up into my eyes.
Right then, Ida had already walked up to the agent, chin lifted.
"We're taking this apartment!"
My face went cold on the spot.
"On what grounds? We saw it first!"
Ida gave a contemptuous little laugh.
"So what if you saw it first? As long as the contract isn't signed, anyone's got the right to buy it!"
"Exactly!"
Fergus stepped up too, slapping his bank card down hard on the table.
"We'll sign today. Full payment, cash on hand, money's no object!"
The agent's eyes lit up, but he still glanced our way out of habit.
After all, we'd come through a personal referral.
"Miss Fox, Mr. James, what are you thinking?"
Dean James's expression turned ugly, his knuckles cracking with how hard he was clenching.
"We want this apartment too!"
"You?"
Ida reached out and tapped the bank card on the table, laughing so hard she was practically shaking.
"If I remember right, you two need a mortgage, don't you? An eighty-thousand down payment, scraped together from whatever your families could spare."
"A two-hundred-fifty-thousand-dollar place, and you think you can fight me for it? By the time you scrape the money together, it'll be long gone!"
Then she made a point of patting my shoulder and leaning in close to my ear.
"Just accept it, Ceci."
"This apartment is mine. In this life, it belongs to me."
The greed in her eyes was almost spilling over.
As if the gold and cash inside the wall were already hers.
But I couldn't help laughing to myself.
She didn't know I'd been reborn too.
And she certainly didn't know that the moment she stepped into this apartment, a cold, mechanical voice had already sounded in my mind.
【Ding! Host rebirth detected. Wealth-transfer system bound successfully!】
【Current target available for binding: the hollow lining in the run-down unit's master bedroom. Wealth quantity: three hundred gold bars, fifty million in cash.】
【Bind now?】
I fought down the grin threatening to break loose, swept a glance over the master bedroom, and answered without hesitation.
【Bind!】
【Ding! Binding successful!】
【Target wealth locked.】
【Current status: not yet unearthed. Transfer unavailable.】
【Note: once the target is exposed to the outside world, the host may complete the transfer at any time.】
Reading that last line, I finally let myself relax completely.
In other words, even if Ida snatched the apartment, all she'd done was pay two hundred fifty thousand for a ticket on my behalf.
The moment she broke open that wall, every ounce of gold and every dollar of cash inside would drop straight into my system's storage space, not a piece missing.
In that case.
I didn't want this apartment anymore.
I lifted my head, looked at Ida's smug face, and suddenly smiled.
"You're right, Vivi."
"This apartment really isn't meant for us."
"We don't want it."
