Is Self-Preservation 3 The Best Survival Skill?

An apocalypse driven by natural disasters. Survival of the fittest. Typhoons, floods, deadly cold, scorching heat, earthquakes, tsunamis, insect plagues, acid rain… After struggling through three years of the apocalypse, Nicole Floyd met a brutal death. Miraculously, she woke up and found herself three days before it all began. Nicole seized the advantage to reclaim her storage space, flipping the switch on full-on stockpiling mode. She shopped until she ran out of money, and her storage was packed tight. She also looked for the dog that had saved her life once before. She sharpened her knives, stacked her supplies, and took care of unfinished business. She paid back every debt, whether owed in blood or in kindness. And then, disaster struck. Her right hand gripping a knife and her left stroking the dog, Nicole pressed on through the ruins of a world without order or morals.

After I was caught in a dockside explosion, I was bound to a Survival Program. It gave me twenty-five years and four designated targets. If even one target’s Love Score or bond score reached 100%, I could wake up in my real world. But I failed all four. Because every target I tried to reach eventually turned toward Sophia Lane, the heroine of this world. They called my pain a performance. They called my tears manipulation. They said I was only pretending to break down so they would choose me over Sophia. But if they never loved me, why did they lose control when my mission failed and I chose to leave this world for good?

When the apocalypse came, she lost everything. Starving, hunted, and desperate, she trusted the one man she loved… only for him to betray her in the cruelest way possible. He stole her last supplies to please another woman and left her to die in a sea of the undead. But death wasn’t the end. She woke up days before the world collapsed. After cutting ties with her ungrateful ex and his parasitic family, a mysterious voice awakens in her mind, LUS, a Level-Up System designed to help her survive the coming end. With knowledge of the future and a system guiding her every move, she begins to prepare. She stockpiles resources, builds a base, and learns how to fight back against the horrors that once destroyed her. And when the apocalypse arrives again… she’s ready. But survival isn’t the only thing waiting for her in this new life. A silent killer who watches her like prey. A manipulative genius who wants to unravel her secrets. A gentle protector who sees the girl she hides. And a dangerous man who thrives in chaos. As the world burns and power shifts, they’re all drawn to her, each with their own motives, each with their own darkness. Even her past refuses to stay buried. Because now, the man who once abandoned her is back, broken, desperate, and begging for a second chance. Too bad she has no time for regrets. Not when she’s busy rising to power… and building a kingdom in the ruins of the world.

The entire company was on a team-building trip when a storm decided to crash our party and wash us ashore on an abandoned island. I was a survival expert, but everyone insulted me and left me behind. My boyfriend's secretary, a self-proclaimed Elf Queen who had the power to commune with nature, held my hand and asked me to stay. Her eyes were red rimmed as she begged, "You barely have the skills to survive in the wild, Ms. Titania. Going alone is risky. I can't let that happen. Your safety's on the line here." I sneered and refused her invitation. Everyone called me an ungrateful bitch, but that didn't sway me at all. I walked right into the tropical forest, where pests and venomous creatures alike had set up homes. In my previous life, my colleagues blamed me for getting stranded on a deserted island. They blamed me because they thought I wanted some spice on our trip. I understood where they were coming from. It was only natural to be scared out of their damned minds now that they were stranded, so I didn't argue. I wanted to do my best and find enough food for us to live until rescue came. However, my boyfriend's secretary would announce the location before I could inform them of the food source I'd found, and her method was identical to the ideas that could only be found in my head. Then, she told everyone she was actually an Elf Queen who could communicate with nature, and it was all thanks to the critters and plants that she managed to find sustenance so quickly. I didn't buy that crap even for a second, so I picked up the pace and tried to get the food as fast as I could. Alas, that secretary would steal my credit every single time. My apparent redundancy and repeated questioning of the Elf Queen lit something underneath my colleagues, and they burned me with their fury. All of them pushed me to hell. Just as the last of my breath left my lungs, my eyes snapped open once more. I was back to the moment that the secretary proclaimed herself as the Elf Queen.

Emily Carter once believed love could overcome anything. For two years, she devoted herself completely to Jason Walker, sacrificing her dreams, savings, and happiness to build a future with him. When the zombie virus suddenly plunged the world into chaos, Emily never hesitated to protect him. She scavenged dangerous streets for food and medicine, fought countless zombies to keep him alive, and repeatedly placed herself in mortal danger so he could survive another day. Three months into the apocalypse, everything she believed shattered. Cornered by an overwhelming zombie horde, Jason abandoned Emily without hesitation, choosing to save his secret lover, Vanessa Kane, instead. As Emily lay dying, surrounded by the undead, she realized that every sacrifice she had made had been for someone who never truly loved her. Instead of dying, Emily awakens exactly one month before the outbreak begins. She remembers every horrifying detail of her previous life—the collapse of society, the rise of mutant zombies, the betrayal of trusted allies, and the locations of future safe zones and supply caches. At the same moment, a mysterious voice echoes inside her mind. “SSS-Level Survival System Activated.” The system grants Emily missions, rewards, powerful skills, and access to a limitless storage space, allowing her to prepare for the coming apocalypse far better than anyone else. Unlike her first life, she refuses to waste her second chance chasing love or relying on others for survival. Her only priorities are staying alive, protecting those who deserve her trust, uncovering the truth behind the virus, and building a secure settlement capable of surviving the end of the world.

The city was overrun by zombies. My girlfriend, Callie Bernson, the team leader, had taken my best friend, Dan Harrington, and fled in our only armored vehicle, leaving me behind in the shelter to die. Outside, the scratching of claws against metal echoed through the corridors. The defensive barricades were already starting to fail. My heart sank into despair. I raised my gun to my temple, ready to end it quickly, when a stream of floating text suddenly appeared in front of my eyes. [It’s hilarious. That cheating couple thinks they’re heading to Paradise, but that place has fallen. It’s packed with high-level zombies now.] [Don’t die, PC! The person in a coma in the shelter—the one your so-called best friend called dead weight and abandoned—is actually the only S-class ability user. Once she wakes up, she’ll wipe the floor with everything!] [Just you wait. When your buddy crawls back here in disgrace and finds the big boss awake, he will go to step in and steal the credit for saving her.] [Hurry up and die already, cannon fodder. I can’t wait for the tragic apocalypse romance between the best friend and the big boss.] I lowered the gun and sprinted toward the quarantine room. Inside, a woman lay on the bed, sleeping peacefully. I strode over and slapped her hard across the face. “Honey!” I shouted. “Time to get to work!”