Chef in the Apocalypse - Chapter 1: Prologue

She, has always refused to let go of her childhood pride.Initially, he forced her into submission in the harshest way possible, which made her despise him to the bone.At twenty, she abandoned her husband, followed a man she thought was worthy of her, only to end up being violently mistreated.Yet, it was he who raised her from the rain when she was at her most helpless moment.Fate brought her back to her eighteenth year, for a do-over. She emerged from her cocoon, when hate was replaced by regret, she shed her thorny exterior, but does she still have the right to pursue happiness?But why does he always remind her in the coldest voice, “He Zhilan, I don't want the He Family to raise an ungrateful wretch.”Or menacingly warn her, “He Zhilan, don't force me to take away your freedom!”

“There is no greater sorrow than to recall happiness in times of misery.” — Dante AlighieriThis is a quote that dictates my life perfectly. Ever since I was a young boy, I enjoyed playing games, so much so that I carried that passion even into my sophomore years, all the way to my death.My story in life isn't all that tragic compared to the more unfortunate out there. I am your typical game creator. I made indie games and visual novels for a living.Naturally, being out of passion and an unknown solo developer, I tried my best to get my work out there, working additional jobs, doing side hustles, both online and locally, all just to survive, and all just to sponsor my work.However, in a world where competition is vast in the game industry, everything I make only ends up at the bottom rank. Because of this, I never gave up, but as I went into my thirties, this passion of mine separated me from my family.These days they don't even talk to me anymore. Depressed, alone, and on the verge of a mental breakdown, I lost all hope, and it didn't help that I had two months of rent due and bills that needed to be paid.But all that changed one night when I got a mysterious message that suddenly appeared on my laptop screen:“You who despair! Would you like a second chance at life? If yes click and offer up your life worth's negativity to me, if no forget this message completely!?”At that time, I clicked Yes by accident.But as the message said, I died due to a heart attack and reincarnated into the World of Purgatory. This was the greatest mistake of my life, as it changed it forever. However in this world I came with the power called the Administrator — a power I gained as a newborn Negative Spirit.With this power I exist as an Entity of Dreams, but even without a physical body, I was determined to make my wish come true: to be a game creator. But unlike other devs, my dreams are different. I can create scenarios in the dreams of men, forcing them to play my game. If they win, they walk out of here as an Awakened Spirit Warrior; however, if I win, the abilities they would have gained in my trials go to me. In this game of mine, anything could be wagered. In reality I have nothing to lose as the Administrator. But to the players, what they wager could be a matter of life or death.

Yu Zhengdu joined a small start-up company that claimed to offer “life management services”……as a programmer.

Her revenge required his resources. His price was her surrender.She ran from a gilded cage. He’s the only man who can give her the keys to her revenge—and the one who knows how to make her beg for his touch.Her only weapon is a job at Daki Tech, where she finds herself at the mercy of her childhood rival, the ruthless billionaire Reomen Daki.He offers her a deal: his resources for her vengeance, in exchange for her absolute submission in a brutal professional war that bleeds into nights of white-hot tension.Their every clash is a battle of wills laced with searing attraction, a dangerous game where the lines between hatred and hunger blur.To burn her family's world to the ground, she must first play with the one man who knows how to make her burn.