Chapter 2 Totally Lost It

• Hearing the incoming call, Asher looked over curiously too.
• Sylvia patted his shoulder and softened her voice. “I need to take this call. I’ll come back and keep you company later, okay?”
• Asher nodded hard and watched her leave.
• With a hopeful look on his face, he whispered to the robot beside him, “Sis talked to me today. She even touched my head first. Does that mean... she doesn’t actually hate me?”
• Before Bai could answer, Asher clenched his little fists and made a silent vow.
• “I’ll be more obedient. I’ll do better. I’ll be a good boy. Then Sis will like me even more!”
• Sylvia walked into the garden and accepted Mike’s call.
• A tired middle-aged man appeared on the holographic screen at once. His face was worn, his jaw covered in stubble, and exhaustion seemed to cling to him from head to toe.
• “Sylvia...” Mike looked at her, clearly startled by how bad the original owner’s condition had gotten. “Are you okay? Have you not been resting?”
• “I’m fine, Uncle Mike,” Sylvia replied calmly. “I’ve just been thinking about the company.”
• As far back as the original Sylvia could remember, Mike had always worked beside her parents.
• The Austens’ company had already started losing money before they died, and Mike had been the one holding everything together so Sylvia could continue living a carefree life.
• He was loyal, kind, and worked himself to the bone for one reason only: to make sure she and Asher could live well.
• Sadly, the original Sylvia had never appreciated any of it. She had spent recklessly, pushed the company to the edge of bankruptcy, and let liquidation notices flood her personal terminal.
• Sylvia guessed that was one of the main reasons Mike was calling now.
• “Really?” Mike studied her face, his brows drawing together with worry. “Sylvia, none of this is your fault. I’ll think of another way. Don’t blame yourself too much...”
• No, Sylvia sneered inwardly. This mess was absolutely the original owner’s fault.
• Mike was probably the only person left who would feel guilty over the company’s bankruptcy and even try to take all the blame onto himself.
• In truth, the original owner had already disappointed the company’s business partners so badly that they no longer wanted anything to do with the Austen family.
• But to Sylvia, that was not necessarily bad news.
• For someone who had survived the apocalypse, one company going under was nowhere near the end of the world.
• Especially not when a loyal and capable person like Mike was still around.
• In fact, she already had a rough idea of how to fix their financial situation.
• “Actually, I want to talk to you about starting a new company,” Sylvia said. “Our tech company depended on outside partners for key support. Now that they’ve pulled out, there’s no point pouring more money into the old company. It can’t be saved anymore. But a fresh start might change everything.”
• Mike’s eyes widened slightly.
• He had never expected Sylvia, the girl who used to show zero interest in company matters, to speak so clearly about the future.
• “If you have time,” Mike said carefully, “maybe you’d be willing to talk it through with me first—”
• “Of course I have time. Tomorrow?” Sylvia cut in smoothly. “Why don’t you come to my house tomorrow? We can go over the idea together.”
• “Of course.” Mike finally let out a breath of relief. Hearing how calm she sounded eased some of the weight on his heart. “There’s one more thing. Tell your uncle the truth... I won’t blame you. I heard you were expelled from school. Is that true?”
• “...I can’t lie to you. Yes, it’s true.”
• At the mention of it, Sylvia almost wanted to laugh coldly.
• This trouble, too, had come from the original owner’s confession to that campus prince.
• One of his admirers came from a powerful family. The moment she saw the original Sylvia dare confess to the boy she liked, she flew into a rage and used her connections to pressure the school into expelling her.
• The original Sylvia’s grades were terrible to begin with, and she had a bad reputation on campus.
• The school had more than enough reason to throw her out.
• “Actually, that may not be a bad thing,” Sylvia said, changing her tone when she sensed Mike’s tension. “I need to prepare for the new company now. My old school environment doesn’t really suit me anymore.”
• Seeing the calm, controlled look on Sylvia’s face, Mike finally smiled.
• “If that’s your plan, then I’ll help transfer you to another school,” he said. “It may not be as prestigious as your old one, but it’s still a very good school.”
• Maybe that unfortunate incident had forced her to grow up.
• No matter what, he would stay by her and Asher.
• Sylvia had no objection to that. Staying involved in school life would help her learn more about this era.
• Mike asked a few more questions about Asher and made sure the two siblings were doing fine before ending the call.
• Leaning back against a garden bench as if she were sunbathing, Sylvia fell into thought.
• She really did have a plan.
• According to the original owner’s memories, the history books of the Starry Sky Empire recorded that all recipes had been lost in a war long ago.
• Without recipes, even if people had the ingredients, their attempts at cooking would only end in failure. That was why nutrient injections had become so common.
• Real food in this world was painfully rare now.
• Only the rich could truly enjoy it.
• If Sylvia could use the recipes she had carried over from the apocalypse world to build a food company, wouldn’t she become the richest woman in the world?
• And really, who didn’t love money?
• But the massive amount of memory she carried from the apocalypse required equally strong mental power to support it.
• Sylvia reached out and flicked a cabbage leaf in the garden.
• Of course, she did not expect this body to possess the same strength she had in her previous life, but she still planned to check this body’s status panel first.
• [Name: Sylvia Austen]
• [Gender: Female]
• [Age: 15]
• [Combat Power: E]
• [Mental Power: F]
• [Contract Beast: None]
• Sylvia opened her personal terminal and glanced at the data with a blank expression.
• ...She was way too weak.
• Sylvia had always lived by one rule:
• Only when you are strong enough can you truly protect yourself.
• The apocalypse had taught her many lessons, and this one was carved deepest into her bones.
• The weakness of this body made her deeply uncomfortable.
• With only E-rank spiritual power, there was no way she could recall that many recipes.
• At this point, there was only one way to change the situation.
• The original owner had once spent an outrageous amount of money to buy a beast core from an SSS-rank giant beast, all just to please the campus prince.
• The only problem was he had never accepted it.
• The original owner really had been an idiot.
• How could anyone think of giving something that precious to some so-called campus celebrity?
• Beast cores contained the power of the beasts they came from.
• Absorbing one could raise a person’s level.
• And the power an SSS-rank core could bring was almost impossible to imagine.
• Sylvia hurried back to her room and found the exquisitely wrapped gift box.
• But the moment her fingers closed around the beast core—
• The core she had been about to absorb crumbled into dust in an instant.