Chapter 1: Transmigration
Moira Lynch, who had been working overtime, dropped dead at her desk without any warning. When she opened her eyes again, she found she had become an eighteen-year-old girl.
Moira Lynch took this sudden change remarkably well.
She had always been the go-with-the-flow type. Besides, her previous life hadn’t been wonderful in the least. Now that she’d inexplicably taken on a new identity and become several years younger to boot, she couldn’t be happier.
Over the past two days, Moira had managed to sort out the new body’s situation.
The body’s original owner shared her name and was a recent high school graduate of eighteen. Not long ago, her parents had both perished in a plane crash, leaving her an orphan.
But unlike most orphans, the original owner’s parents had left her a massive inheritance.
As this memory surfaced, Moira fell silent. ’This setup feels so familiar,’ she thought. ’It’s just like those novels I used to read.’
Thinking of those novels, Moira was struck by a sudden inspiration. She shouted into the empty air, "System? System?"
’Alright, guess I was overthinking things.’
She continued to sort through the original owner’s memories. The girl had suffered from mild autism since she was a child. She had a withdrawn personality, disliked interacting with people, and always kept to herself. Her only family had been her parents.
With her parents’ sudden death, the blow was devastating.
The girl’s parents had been orphans themselves, self-made people who only had this one daughter in middle age. They doted on her completely, treating her like the most precious thing in the world.
For a girl who had grown up so cherished to suddenly have her family life turned upside down, with no older relatives to guide her through it, it was inevitable that she would sink into a deep depression, which only worsened her autism.
No family, no friends—she was utterly alone. No one could get close to her, and she didn’t want to let anyone in.
Having seen her memories, Moira felt the thick despair emanating from the young girl, a despair so strong it was starting to affect her.
From the girl’s memories, Moira knew she had been planning to take her own life. It was only that she, Moira, had transmigrated over before the girl had the chance to go through with it.
Moira sighed. She couldn’t really understand the original owner’s mindset. ’How can someone unafraid of death be so afraid of living?’
’I don’t get it, but I respect her decision.’
Stepping in front of a mirror, she looked at the reflection and whispered, "May you be reunited with your parents on the other side."
She wasn’t sure if it was just a trick of the light, but Moira felt that after she spoke, the person in the mirror smiled back at her.
’Whatever,’ she thought. ’My eyes must be playing tricks on me.’
"Since I’ve taken your body, I will live a good life for you."
After all, her body in the other world was already dead, and there was nothing left for her there.
The old Moira Lynch was dead. Now, she was a brand-new person.
Stepping outside, she took in her current residence: a villa. The original owner’s parents had used it as a vacation home, and to ensure their privacy, they had even bought the entire mountain it stood on.
Moira marveled once again at the insane extravagance of the wealthy. To buy an entire mountain just for a vacation home...
Looking around, she noted that while the scenery was beautiful, it was far too quiet. There was no sign of human life. It was no wonder someone would get depressed living here for too long.
Back in the room, a university acceptance letter sat on the desk.
After a moment of thought, Moira decided to attend the university.
In her past life, she had gone to college solely to get a good job after graduation. Her entire university experience had been a blur of part-time jobs and studying. This time, however, she was determined to truly enjoy college life.
First things first, Moira decided to move. This mountain villa was nice, but being here alone at night felt too empty and was frankly a bit creepy.
The original owner didn’t have many belongings, so Moira was able to pack up quickly and get ready to leave.
But her movements stopped when she saw the black jade bracelet.
The jade was of excellent quality; one glance was enough to tell it was incredibly valuable.
According to her memories, the original owner’s father had bought this bracelet at an auction.
She thought about how calling for a "System" earlier had yielded no response.
’If there’s no system, it’s not too much to ask for a pocket dimension, right?’
With that thought, Moira decisively cut her finger with a knife.
She had only been trying it on a whim, but as blood dripped from the cut onto the bracelet, it vanished instantly.
Before Moira could even feel happy about this, her vision went black.
When she opened her eyes again, the scene before her had completely changed.
There was a stream, a lake, and even a small ocean in the distance. Other than that, there were vast tracts of land stretching out from her feet as far as the eye could see.
Looking at the fertile black earth, Moira’s first instinct was to plant something.
Wait!
Moira’s heart suddenly lurched as a bad feeling washed over her. ’A pocket dimension has appeared... does this mean the apocalypse is coming?’
At that moment, her mind flooded with scenes from all the apocalypse novels she had ever read.
Perhaps it was a transmigrator’s intuition, but Moira felt increasingly certain of her suspicion.
If that was true, wouldn’t her plan to live a lazy, carefree life be ruined?
She suddenly felt it might have been better not to have transmigrated at all. Her previous world might have been a grind, but at least there was no impending apocalypse. She might be rich now, but in the end times, money would be nothing more than scrap paper.
Moira left the dimension and threw herself onto the soft bed, staring blankly at the white ceiling. ’Sure enough,’ she thought, ’there’s no such thing as a free lunch.’
Three seconds later, Moira shot up in bed, the fighting spirit rekindled in her eyes.
’So what if it’s the apocalypse?’ she thought. ’As long as I have this dimension, I can survive. Giving up is not an option. Not in this lifetime.’
In that case, however, her original plans would have to change. First and foremost, she needed to gather supplies.
She looked at the long string of zeros in her bank account. The original owner had already liquidated all the assets her parents had left her, except for this remote villa.
She had even left a will stating that upon her death, all her assets would be donated to charity.
But now, that just saved Moira a lot of trouble and time.
With over a billion in cash, she wouldn’t have to worry for the rest of her life, even if the apocalypse did come.
Moira grabbed a blank sheet of paper and began writing furiously, quickly creating a long list organized by categories: food, clothing, shelter, and transport.
She was thankful for all the survival novels she had read over the years. Their protagonists had already thought of everything she had and hadn’t considered. All she had to do was distill their best ideas.
However, Moira didn’t plan on starting her collection efforts domestically. She decided to go abroad first.
Hoarding supplies on a massive scale domestically would likely attract attention. If the wrong people noticed, her situation could become very dangerous.
She wouldn’t have the same worries abroad. Besides, she could buy weapons there.
She lifted her right hand. The black jade bracelet was gone, replaced by a faint mark on her wrist that was practically invisible unless you looked closely.
Still, just to be safe, Moira planned to buy a wristband to cover the mark.