Chapter 001 The Eleventh Year After Death
Elara Thorne died at 18.
On the viaduct, the brakes failed out of nowhere. To avoid mowing down innocent people, Elara Thorne wrenched the steering wheel with all her might.
The car shattered through the guardrail and plunged into the river. As the icy water swallowed the entire vehicle, in her final, gasping moments, she tumbled into a dream.
In that dream, her world was a novel, and her three younger brothers? All villains.
The second brother: a ruthless CEO, obsessed with the female lead, locked in a bitter clash with the male lead, and destined for a tyrant - like downfall.
The third brother: a controversial top celebrity, picking fights left, right, and center, constantly targeting the leading man Kai Voss on variety shows. Driven to depression by merciless cyberbullying, he ultimately took his own life.
The fourth brother: a school bully, ditching books to brawl in school daily. He brutalized Kai Voss’s academic - genius younger brother, sending him to the hospital, and ended up rotting in prison.
And her role? She was the male lead’s first love, snuffed out young in high school. Her sole reason for existing was to sow misunderstandings between the male and female leads. Learning this, Elara Thorne was so enraged she clawed her way back to life.
When she opened her eyes, she stood before a colossal shopping mall. On the massive billboard, bold letters proclaimed “2025 Year of the Snake, Good Luck”. Only then did Elara Thorne realize she’d been reborn—into the eleventh year after her death, the white - hot c****x of the plot.
She sprinted into the mall, zeroed in on the restroom, desperate to see her own reflection. In the mirror, the girl still had that delicate, drop - dead gorgeous face, clad in the black dress she’d chosen for a date all those years ago. For a heart - wrenching moment, a whirlwind of emotions crashed over Elara Thorne. She’d time - traveled eleven years into the future, yet her body remained 18! Penniless, phone - less, and stranded. Sure enough, Year of the Snake—from the moment she arrived, she felt smothered, as if coiled by a giant python!
Twisting on the faucet, the frigid water seeped into her fingers. Elara Thorne forced herself to accept reality. She had one killer strength: a mindset of steel. Back when her parents died in that tragic accident, leaving three young brothers— the youngest a mere two—she’d accepted the harsh truth in the blink of an eye.
Shutting off the faucet, Elara Thorne snatched a tissue from under the mirror to dry her hands. Then, two girls, decked out like salesclerks in white shirts and black skirts, sauntered in. Clearly work besties, they held hands, ditching their posts to slack off in the restroom.
“Did you hear? The mall’s shutting down in half an hour. They’re kicking out customers already!”
“Oh yeah! Word is the CEO’s coming and wants to book the whole damn place!”
Juicy, delicious gossip. Elara Thorne’s ears perked up like a fox’s. A perfectly good mall, clearing out customers on a wild whim. So typical of a trashy novel—the CEO’s always so over - the - top and brain - dead!
“Must be for Lena Hart’s shopping spree. The CEO doesn’t want her bothered by random strangers! I saw on Douyin he even bankrolled a movie for her!”
“So freakin’ cute! Bet Kai Voss is kicking himself now! Their CP was fire back then. Can’t wait for the ‘chasing the wife till it all burns’ drama!” The chatter that followed left Elara Thorne thoroughly unamused.
Lena Hart—wasn’t she the female lead of this godforsaken novel? And mentioning the leading man—so that made him Kai Voss, the male lead. Which meant this clueless CEO was none other than her own second brother! She’d been plotting to track down her second brother first anyway. Now, fate was serving him up on a silver platter!
Still, what she really craved right now was to take out a loan and buy something—anything. She turned to the salesclerks, still gossiping like excited magpies, and asked, “Excuse me, is there a Seven Wolves store in this mall?”
Only then did the two clerks notice another girl in the restroom—she looked young, impossibly so. Her tiny, exquisitely beautiful face outshone many female celebs on TV. One clerk, a total sucker for beauty, gawked like a lovesick fool. The other replied, way too****, “Yeah, it’s on the second floor. You buying a gift for your dad?”
Elara Thorne smirked, sharp and wicked. “Nope. Buying it to whack people.”
The two clerks: “……”
Elara Thorne had already scoped out the mall—top - notch decor, all that glitz. It was peak shopping hour, lunchtime, and the place was packed. Clearing out customers like this would cost a mountain of money in lost revenue for the afternoon. But that wasn’t even the worst of it—this bone - headed move would tank the mall’s image with shoppers. Imagine: you’re halfway through lunch, get kicked out. Who’d ever darken this place again? No wonder her second brother ended up a fallen tyrant—running a business this way, bankruptcy was as sure as death!
When she was 18, her second brother was 15, stuck in junior three. Back then, he was a straight - A student with a razor - sharp business mind—raking in tens of thousands flipping game consoles, even splurging on a little Chanel bag for her. Their family had owned a real estate company before their parents died, so the mall being his property made sense. What didn’t make sense? How his brain seemed to have been devoured by zombies!
Under the two clerks’ stunned, bug - eyed gazes, Elara Thorne stormed out of the restroom—only to collide with a security guard.
“Sorry, miss. The mall’s closing this afternoon. Please get out ASAP.”
Elara Thorne forced a polite smile. “I need to speak to your manager. Can you contact him?” With the CEO lurking around, the manager would definitely meet her—right?
The guard had no clue what this girl was up to, but customers begged to see the manager all the time. “Sure, I’ll call him.”
He whipped out his phone, dialed the manager. The manager picked up in a flash: “What’s the damn problem?”
The guard babbled, “There’s a girl on the first floor asking for you. No idea what she wants.”
The manager snapped, “No time today. Tell her to come tomorrow.”
The guard turned to Elara Thorne, sheepish. “Manager says he can’t make it.” Elara Thorne smiled sweetly, deadly so. “Hand me your phone. I’ll talk to him.”
Manager Zhao was busy schmoozing with the man in the office’s boss chair—a man oozing commanding presence, fingers lazily twirling prayer beads. Just as he was about to hang up, a pleasant yet razor - sharp female voice sliced through the line:
“Manager, hello. Are you with Silas Thorne? Put him on. Now.”
Manager Zhao’s heart did a backflip. Who the hell was this? Polite to him, but ballsy enough to call the CEO by his full name! Another crazy admirer? Silas Thorne was young, ripped, loaded—plenty of women threw themselves at him. But with the CEO in the mix, Manager Zhao didn’t dare play god.
He hit mute and bowed like a servant. “Mr. Thorne, there’s a girl downstairs begging to speak to you. Should I…?”
