Chapter 1
On the exquisite bedroom floor, not a single human was in sight. Instead, a fluffy little hamster was diligently trying to cross his stubby legs. With one tiny paw propping up his cheek, he impatiently dragged snacks—items much larger than himself—from the coffee table, slowly piling them up by his side.
The little hamster was only eight centimeters tall, but the bag of Lay’s potato chips he had secretly dragged over was a massive, thirty-centimeter-long, 135-gram package.
His dark, beady eyes stared at the violently shaking door. The original owner of this body had given up his chance at reincarnation. Using the good karma his ancestors had earned by saving a virtuous person, he made an exchange, allowing his little monster—this little hamster—to live out the rest of his life for him. His dying wish was to protect his beloved uncle and older cousin so they could survive the impending apocalypse.
And so, the little hamster, who came equipped with two massive dimensional warehouses and the ability to thrive even at the end of the world, had arrived!
The little hamster twitched his ears, sighing involuntarily at the thought of the days ahead. An apocalypse with no food or supplies would be so tough!
In just half a month, when the disaster officially broke out, the four people currently outside the bedroom would openly storm in. They would occupy the house they had coveted for so long, and when food inevitably ran short, they would mercilessly beat the original owner and throw him out.
The little hamster crossed his small paws over his chest, habitually stuffing the unopened snack packets from the coffee table into his mouth, one by one. These delicious treats would be incredibly precious soon. After all, food would become desperately scarce while zombies ran rampant. Outside the Safe City, the world would be reduced to abandoned ruins crawling with countless, unkillable monsters.
The climate would also become devastatingly harsh. A streak of scorching fifty-degree days could instantly plunge into a freezing hell of minus thirty or forty degrees, burying everything in ice. Occasionally, torrential rain would pour for seven days and seven nights, instantly swallowing entire high-rise cities.
Facing these endless natural disasters, the few surviving humans would endure unimaginable trials. With severe food shortages, polluted land, evolving zombies, and mutated plants and animals, humans—once the absolute rulers of the planet—would become agonizingly small, struggling just to stay alive.
Thinking of all this, the little hamster collapsed in despair, grabbing his round ears. “Squeak, squeak, squeak!”
Why, oh why, did he have to come to such a hellhole?
“Squeak, squeak!” And more importantly, where did all the supplies he had painstakingly hoarded for hundreds of years go?
Heartbroken, the little hamster reached up with two pink paws to rub his cheeks. The storage pouch on his left side? Empty. The storage pouch on his right side? Nothing.
Oh, wait, there were two packets of cucumber-flavored Lay’s he had just stuffed inside.
Heretics! The original flavor was clearly superior!
“Squeak, squeak, squeak!” But his grand warehouses were entirely empty! Tears welled up in his dark eyes, but he refused to give up. He rolled back into a sitting position and aggressively rubbed his cheeks.
Accompanied by the furious pounding on the door, the heartbroken little hamster rolled around on the floor. He looked just like a fluffy, golden-fried sesame ball dropped on the ground.
The milk-tea-colored little hamster sniffled aggrievedly. He went limp, his snow-white belly facing the ceiling, resigning himself to his fate.
“Squeak, squeak.” This was going to be the death of him.
He picked up a fallen chocolate bar and casually stuffed one end into his mouth. He thought indignantly: a little bit here, a little bit there. He had to work hard to fill up his space again before the apocalypse actually hit!
With his confidence renewed, the little hamster clenched his tiny paws. “Squeak, squeak, squeak!” He was going to deal with those bastards outside who dared to hinder his hoarding!
Just moments ago, the original owner had been violently shoved by his father and the son he had with his stepmother. He had slammed his head against the wall, fleeing back to his room before passing out.
Now, that little bastard was still outside, screaming wildly. “I’m only thirteen! I’m still months away from being criminally responsible! I could stab you to death right now and not see a day in jail! Be smart and clear out of this house right now!”
A gentle voice chimed in, pretending to soothe the vicious boy. “Brother, our older brother is a kind person. He surely couldn’t bear to see our family of four squeezed into a tiny apartment. He will give this big house to us. Don’t get so worked up. Let’s talk nicely, and older brother will listen.”
The little hamster rubbed his head. “Squeak…” Is this the supposed protagonist? So manipulative…
The racket outside was giving him a massive headache.
Suddenly, he tilted his fluffy little head. His dark eyes darted around, and a brilliant idea struck him!
The plump little furball leaped onto the bedside table. Sticking his bottom in the air, he let out tiny grunts of effort as he pulled the drawer open with his paws. He promptly shoved the property deed and bank cards straight into his mouth.
Next, he bounded over to the safe. Standing on top of the cabinet, he stood on his tiptoes and reached out a pink paw to press the keypad. Then, he leaped onto the heavy handle, wrapped his two front paws around it, and kicked off with his hind legs, using his entire body weight to swing the heavy door open.
Hopping inside, he stuffed all the expensive jewelry, cash, and bankbooks into his mouth.
“Ow~” Wait. He froze. Should he put these in the left pouch or the right pouch?
“Whoosh~” The chubby little hamster stared blankly at the overflowing loot, the tuft of hair on his head popping up in confusion.
“Squeak, squeak…” He had put snacks on the right earlier, so inedible things should definitely go on the left. But he would need to take these out again soon anyway.
Once he finished clearing the safe, he sent a quick text message to his older cousin. Finally, he hopped up to the bedroom’s emergency alarm button. As a law-abiding little monster, he chose to “call the police with one click!”
This was the beauty of living in a high-end apartment. The chubby hamster mumbled a quiet “squeak” to himself, sticking his bottom out as he squeezed through the crack beneath the bedroom door.
Flattened into a mouse-pancake, he scanned left and right. While the terrible foursome was distracted, he launched himself straight into the stepmother’s handbag, ready to deposit the jewelry he had just emptied from the safe!
Sitting at the bottom of the bag, he rubbed his cheeks. Out popped a diamond necklace with matching earrings and a ring, followed by an imperial green jade pendant. Finally, he let out a tiny burp, rubbed his chubby face, and produced five or six chunky gold bracelets!
These were the very gifts his uncle had bought for his mother with his first real paycheck!
Content with his handiwork, the little hamster hopped to the rim of the bag, poking his fluffy head out to sneak a peek.
He needed to see what this first wave of boss villains looked like, and if they were truly as despicable as the original owner remembered. He knew that if he didn’t use this golden opportunity to get rid of these terrible people, they would entangle him for the next half month. He would either have to hide to hoard food or be constantly bogged down by them, making preparation impossible.
Anyone who hindered his food hoarding was his mortal enemy!
A pretty, gentle-looking girl was currently pacifying the scumbag father. “Dad, don’t be angry. Little brother will come to his senses. He knows you had your reasons for not coming to see him all these years.”
The little hamster pursed his fluffy mouth in contempt, his tiny whiskers twitching fiercely.
“Squeak~” What reasons? Wasn’t it just so you could take his family’s money to support your own wife and daughter?
“Yu Xiaoyuan doesn’t share my surname, which means he’s not close to me.” The father sighed, acting deeply distressed. “I never should have let him take the Yu family name! He has absolutely no upbringing.”
Ah, the little hamster couldn’t stand listening to this garbage!
He swiftly bounded out of the handbag and darted straight into the girl’s coat pocket and small crossbody purse, depositing several valuables inside. When the scumbag father sat down on the sofa, the little hamster bravely scurried through the cushions and slipped a few small gold bars right into his pant cuffs.
Dusting his paws off, he clapped them together. “Squeak, squeak!” This was more than enough evidence to ensure this family of four could love each other dearly behind bars. They wouldn’t be getting in the way of his hoarding anymore!
He hurriedly stuck his bottom in the air, retracing his steps back to the bedroom. In the exact moment he transformed back into his human form, he yanked the door open in a feigned rage.
“I took my mother’s surname because you, a good-for-nothing parasite, married into our Yu family!” Yu Xiaoyuan shouted. “My mother died early, and you—who only knew how to sponge off her—took a massive payout for selling yourself out, gave up my child support, and ran back to your hometown! You make it sound so noble, but you’re just greedy and pathetic. When my mother and grandfather were alive, all you did was put on an act and deceive people!”
“You! You little beast!” Exposed and humiliated by the truth of his most shameful past, the father flew into a rage. He grabbed a wooden stick and lunged forward to strike Yu Xiaoyuan.
“How can you speak to Dad like that? Dad isn’t that kind of person! Little brother, is there some kind of misunderstanding?” The girl cried out defensively, but her actions betrayed her words; she lunged to grab Yu Xiaoyuan’s hand, intentionally trying to hold him in place so the blow would land.
Yu Xiaoyuan simply backhanded her, shoving her head straight into the nearby Arowana fish tank. His strength was so great that she couldn’t even resist, helplessly gargling and swallowing several mouthfuls of fish water.
Without missing a beat, he bolted out the front door, screaming at the top of his lungs. “Murder! Help! My poor relatives broke into my house to demand my property, and when I refused, they tried to kill me!”
He wailed and shouted all the way down the stairs, running quite literally into the community security guards, the police officers, and his older cousin, who were all rushing to the scene.
Right on his heels were the scumbag father and the beloved stepbrother—one wielding a meat cleaver and the other a wooden stick—screaming threats and wildly hacking at the air.
What a perfect coincidence!
The weak, helpless, and utterly pathetic Yu Xiaoyuan collapsed weakly at the feet of the police officer. “They broke into my room… they stole my mother’s relics from my safe, and they tried to force me to transfer this thirty-million-yuan house into their names…”
“Save me…”
After delivering this flawless performance, he didn’t forget to discreetly hand the printed inventory list of the safe’s contents to his older cousin. Only then did he finally allow himself to slump over and dramatically faint.
When he woke up, the little hamster decided, he was going straight to the supermarket to buy three massive cartloads of food!
