At a Burger shop, Rover stood before a fat man with a belly so large it looked like he was pregnant. The man wore the fast-food chain's signature red uniform.
"Sorry, you..."
The man reacted instinctively, about to ask Rover for his order, but Rover interrupted him.
"Excuse me, I'm here to retrieve my item." Rover smiled politely.
The man frowned. "Your item?"
"That's right." Rover nodded with a friendly expression. "It's a wooden box, about this big. I was going to use it to propose to my girlfriend. But it was raining heavily yesterday, so I had to cancel. When I came back for it, the box was gone."
"I already reported it to the police and checked the security cameras. I saw that you picked it up, so I came here personally to retrieve it. I hope you can return it to me."
The fat man flinched. When he heard Rover mention the police and security footage, panic flickered in his eyes.
"I... I didn't intend to steal it. I just... found it."
"Ah!" Rover immediately reassured him. "Don't worry, I know you only picked it up, which is why I didn't bring the police with me."
"Of course..." Rover pulled out five paper bills, each worth 100 credit points, and placed them on the counter, pushing them toward the man: "This is a thank-you gift for keeping something so important safe for me."
The man's eyes widened at the sight of 500 credit points. His heart wavered, but caution made him ask:
"Wait! You say it's yours... then what's inside the box?"
"Of course, I can tell you." Rover shrugged casually. "The outside is a red box with golden carvings of an angel blowing a trumpet. The lock has a three-digit combination. Inside is a gemstone called 'Tear of the Sea God'. I bought it at last month's auction for 300,000 credit points."
"Oh! And one more detail. To make the box look more authentic and romantic, I had someone cover it with moss, as if it had been underwater for a long time."
Hearing all that, the fat man confirmed without a doubt that the box he had picked up last night belonged to Rover.
But... he also felt an inexplicable sense of reluctance, as if the box should have been his. As if something deep inside urged him to keep it.
Rover saw the hesitation on his face and added calmly, "Don't worry. I didn't bring the police because I believe you're a decent person. If you doubt me, you can call the police station or the auction house to verify everything."
The moment he heard the word "police" again, the man's entire body jolted.
He clenched his teeth, retrieved the box from his bag, and placed it on the table with clear reluctance in his eyes.
Rover slowly picked up the box. It was still covered with moss, proof the man hadn't even cleaned it after picking it up.
"Thank you," Rover smiled gently, nodded, and walked away.
The fat man watched Rover's back as he left, feeling a strange sense of loss, as if he had just given away something incredibly important.
...
"YAY!!!"
Rover sat in his old car, screaming with excitement. His face was flushed with joy. He slammed his palms against the steering wheel out of pure exhilaration, his hands reddening, but he didn't feel any pain.
He lifted the box, staring at it for a long time, unable to suppress the thrill coursing through him.
"Pandora's Box... I never thought I could actually get my hands on it." Rover held the box, his hands trembling with excitement.
In his previous life, right before the internet collapsed, he had seen a fat man boasting online that he possessed a System.
Yes, he truly owned a System.
The moment he said it, the internet exploded. People bombarded him with questions about how he had gained such a thing, and he revealed every detail, from how he found Pandora's Box to how he activated it.
In truth, the only reason he dared speak publicly was because he needed residents for his base.
That man, the one who had owned the System in his previous life, was the same fat man from the Burger shop earlier.
His System required him to build a base, and the base needed residents. That was why he used the internet to lure people to join his settlement.
Rover had wanted to bring Karen there as well, but she refused, terrified of the dangers on the road.
Later, from scattered survivors' accounts, Rover learned the fat man's base had developed so rapidly that even the military became uneasy.
But he wasn't just greedy and stupid, he was arrogant. And because of that, the government easily brought him under control.
In the end... the entire base fell into the government's hands, and the fat man was hypnotized by an Awakened with mind-control abilities, turning him into a puppet of the state.
A person holding a System, someone destined to become one of the greatest figures of the apocalypse, ended up with such a tragic fate.
This proved one thing:
Even if you have a System, you aren't necessarily the protagonist.
This was reality, not a webnovel.
Rover shook his head, unwilling to waste more thought on it. He immediately took a clean cloth and wiped away all the moss covering the box.
Now, the box's exquisite craftsmanship was revealed. Palm-sized, it was carved all over with tiny angels holding various instruments and weapons.
The lock had three numbered slots and a small rotary knob. Following his memories, Rover turned the knob.
When the digits aligned to 6-6-6, a faint sound echoed.
Click!
Hearing that sound, Rover's chest surged with excitement. He inhaled deeply and slowly opened the box.
Inside, a gemstone the size of his thumb glowed with a murky, sinister light, sending a chill through him.
He could feel the ominous glow calling to him, urging him to touch it.
Rover steadied his breath and extended his hand toward the gem.
The moment his fingertip touched it, the stone dissolved into a streak of black light, burrowing into his finger before vanishing completely.
Rover stiffened. He looked at the box, then at his finger, bewildered.
At that moment, a mechanical voice sounded in his mind:
[Ding! Congratulations, you have successfully activated the Pandora System.]
[Ding! All functions of the System are temporarily frozen. Please wait 10 days for System features to unlock.]
"Ten days?" Rover frowned, then realized that ten days later was exactly when the apocalypse would strike.
Softly, he murmured, "So... this System really is connected to the apocalypse."
But he quickly dismissed further speculation. The only thing that mattered now was survival.
He had to live through the brutal, hopeless apocalypse first.
Only after that, depending on his own strength, would he decide his next path.
Confidence surged within him.
He had a Spatial ability, an unlimited storage space.
He had a System, its functions still unknown, but in his previous life, that foolish fat man had managed to build a base powerful enough to make the government anxious. There was no way this System was useless.
And most importantly, he was a Reincarnator.
He still held all the memories and knowledge of his past life.
The advantage was enormous, so huge that even a pig could thrive in the apocalypse with such blessings.
Rover forced himself to calm down, then drove to the nearest supermarket.
He wasn't picky, he bought everything: canned food, instant noodles, sausages, biscuits, even snacks.
After filling thirty shopping carts, he realized the supermarket no longer had much of what he needed. So he rented a truck and transported everything to a warehouse he had reserved beforehand.
He repeated the process at another supermarket. Many people found his actions strange, though only a few bothered to ask him.
Rover half-joked, half-seriously told them an apocalypse was coming and he needed to stockpile supplies.
People looked at him like he was an idiot.
In truth, cases like his weren't rare. Occasionally, supermarkets had customers suffering from paranoia or extreme anxiety, those who hoarded supplies for World War III, zombie outbreaks, and so on.
Over time, everyone concluded it was just marketing tricks from big food companies trying to stimulate panic buying.
Because of that, people merely sneered at Rover before ignoring him.
After clearing out three supermarkets, and once the sun finally set, Rover stood in the warehouse and looked at the mountain of goods, feeling genuinely satisfied.
He locked the warehouse securely, then began transferring everything into his Storage Space.
But then a problem surfaced.
After storing everything he had bought today, he suddenly felt dizzy, on the verge of fainting.
"Damn it! This ability consumes mental energy like crazy. Looks like I can't continue today." Rover clutched his head, his tone full of frustration.
He had originally planned to hit more convenience stores, but he had no choice but to abandon that idea.
He was exhausted, so tired he could collapse and fall asleep right there.
Rover felt a wave of discomfort.
If things continued like this, he wouldn't be able to stockpile enough supplies in ten days, nor could he immediately store everything in his spatial ability.
'Looks like... I really need to find a base location soon. Otherwise, everything I've stockpiled but haven't stored yet will be looted the moment the apocalypse hits.'
Rover shook his head, forced himself outside, hailed a taxi, and returned home.
The moment he stepped out of the cab, he immediately saw a familiar figure standing in front of his house.
A black Maybach. A woman in a suit leaned against the car door, holding a slender lady's cigarette between her fingers. A faint trail of white smoke curled from her lips.
Her beautiful face was filled with exhaustion and worry.
"Director?!"