Apocalypse Rebirth: Making Billions With My Fortune-Telling Skill

Chapter 105: Did you take a bath?

​Now, the pavilion was empty, leaving only April, the mafia lord, and the massive midnight and silver-furred beast.

​This is awkward, April thought, her deadpan eyes staring at the marble floor. How do I drive this mad dog out of my space?

​Hoping to ignore his towering presence, she watched as Nat suddenly lowered his body onto his haunches, his fingers reaching out to gently scratch the thick fur along the dog’s neck.

April paused. She had assumed he hated the animal, considering it had bitten her hand and he had been ready to execute it with his bare hands hours prior.

​"Have you thought of a name yet?" Nat asked, his deep voice unusually quiet.

​April knelt down as well, her hands joining his in the thick, silver-and-black coat. The divine beast let out a low, vibrant rumble, a strange, calming aura radiating from its skin that immediately soothed April’s remaining hangover headache.

She noticed the dog was actively leaning into Nat’s palm. If a Blessed Beast is letting a mafia boss touch its coat without ripping his throat out... does that mean it likes him? she wondered. And if a creature of divine fortune liked Nat Collins, did that mean it was subconsciously blessing him with good luck? That was the only logical explanation.

​"Well, not yet," April admitted flatly. "You seem to like him now. What changed?"

​Nat’s lips crinkled into a wide, wicked smirk behind his shades. "Well, while you were completely passed out in the backseat last night, this guy and I had a little private bonding time in the driveway. He’s got real teeth. I respect that. So... I decided on a name. If you don’t have one yet, you can use the one I came up with."

​April thought about it for a few seconds. Her creative mind was completely dry in the sense of naming; she couldn’t think of a single suitable title for a mythical creature. "What’s the name?"

​"Rufus," Nat said.

​"Hm. Rufus," April called out softly.

​The divine beast instantly let out a delighted bark, its tail violently thumping against the stone floor in absolute approval.

​"You like that?" April whispered, a rare, genuine smile breaking across her face as she scratched his chin. "Then I’ll call you Rufus. Now, Rufus... I’m going to start thinking of ways to decorate your suite in the bunker so we can have a great, uninterrupted view of the valley while the world turns to ash."

The dog barked once again.

​She chuckled softly before catching the nice scent coming off him. "Hm, you smell really nice, Rufus. Did you take a bath?"

​Nat merely stared at her, his gaze fixed on her profile. It felt like every single minute, every hour, and every day he spent around this woman, he was uncovering a completely new, breathtaking layer of her existence.

She was a cold, calculated survivalist who could spit out bitter, bloody truths about human nature, yet she could turn around and smile like a child while hugging a beast.

​His grin returned, wider this time. "Come on. Let’s go take Rufus to see a vet. I know he’s been kept in high maintenance, but you can never be too sure about parasites."

​"Oh," April thought out loud, her fingers pausing in the fur. "You’ve got a point."

​Even though Rufus was initially a divine beast, his physical form was still a canine. Checking his health and body system at a secure facility was a smart move.

Besides, she needed to head down to Xavier’s transit warehouse anyway to begin extracting the wholesale supplies Samuel had already hoarded. Stopping at a vet first could fit perfectly into the schedule.

​But as she stood up, smoothing down her sweater, a sudden realization hit her.

​Four billion dollars from Xavier and Alexander... plus her remaining billion she didn’t get to use... It sounded like an astronomical mountain of wealth, but April knew that once she started modifying her bunker and reinforcing an entire mountain ridge with automated security grids, structural barricades, and independent hydroponic systems to ensure absolutely no one could breach her home, the capital would burn away fast. It may not even be enough.

And more importantly, she had just discovered that she could spend physical earth money to purchase items directly from the system store. Before the financial institutions of the city collapsed, she needed to extract as much liquid cash as humanly possible.

Still... Robbing a bank was still out of the question. Back to what she did best.

April turned her head sharply, her gaze locking onto the underground lord—a man who was an absolute genius at generating illegal revenue streams through every dark corner of the city.

​"Nat," April called out. "I need money."

​"Hm?" He tilted his head, his dark shades glinting. "Want me to give ya a few hundred million more, sweetheart?"

​She shook her head firmly. "No. I want to generate my own capital. Will you take me to the black market?"

​Nat’s lips twisted into a sharp, intrigued grimace. "The black market? Are you trying to sell something precious? Or are you trying to start your fortune telling business formally?"

​April nodded once, her expression deadly serious. "Yes. While I might do fortune telling, there’s something I want to sell. It is a highly specialized resource that is completely unavailable anywhere else on the face of the earth. You can call it celestial water because it can instantly bring an individual back from the absolute brink of death. One single vial... will cost over one billion dollars. It is that priceless."

​"Something like a miracle water actually exists?" Nat asked, rubbing his chin as his eyes narrowed, observing her with intense scrutiny. "Look, sweetheart... I’m not calling you a liar, but I’ve got a personal rule. I need to see a trick with my own eyes before I confidently yell its value out to the underground. I’ve seen your future predictions, and seeing it once was enough to make me drop two billion on a rock. But this miracle water is something else entirely. Will you let me see it in active motion first?"

​April went completely silent, her thoughts running a little circle in her mind. Figures. There was a reason why the system hadn’t officially added Nat Collins to her Client Tab yet.

His trust level was still hovering below the necessary 80% threshold. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in her or anything; rather, he was a man who had built his entire psychological defense around absolute skepticism.