Rebirth in the Interstellar Period (4)

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November 18, 2022

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Athena was trying to remember all the people involved in her life based on the original owner's memories.

Starting from her maiden family, her family, the staff in the entertainment circle, flashy friends, and anyone in her contact list. She even included those she met by chance and those who knew of her life experience.

It wasn't enjoyable to remember them all at once, so she familiarized the operations of her lightbrain and listed every detail she could write. At first, she wanted to find paper and a pen, but she remembered that those things are rare treasures in the interstellar time.

Because of the original owner's status as a public figure, it became her daily routine to keep video recordings of her life.

She looked enthusiastic in every scene the camera captured, but Athena could only feel the tightness within her chest. It's as if the original owner loves acting to the point of hallucinating, creating a story of her own, and letting people see things full of deceit.

Athena's task wasn't so leisurely, but she had identified many people in the videos. She did not even let passersby remain unknown. She's risking her life, living as someone else, and she must prepare to be against everyone the original owner counts as enemies.

"Why does it feel like I'm performing a contact tracing for a virus-infected person?" Athena chuckled and shook her head.

She feels carefree within her spaceworld—a place of her own, silent and undisturbed.

But her stomach grumbled in hunger before she could finish listing each person's details.

Athena stopped working and stretched. She went into the kitchen room of the white mansion within her spaceworld. Athena selected some fresh ingredients and prepared to cook a bowl of ramen, sweet & spicy fish fillet, garlic rice, and an ube pie.

She chose to cook the rice first and chopped the ingredients appropriate for other recipes.

Athena created fresh noodles and boiled them in a pot of water. She prepared the essential condiments, fermented bean paste, spicy bean paste, sesame oil & seeds, homemade chicken broth, white pepper powder, and the toppings, boiled eggs, thin strips of already-cooked braised pork belly, leeks, sweet corn, green onion, seaweed, shiitake mushrooms, and bamboo shoots.

The majority of the ready-made food came from her food-preserving fridge since the apocalyptic era. She planned to reheat these foods and add more seasonings to them.

Athena used to cook a lot, even if she became the queen, because she felt satisfied seeing her siblings enjoy the food she cooked.

When Athena finished making the ramen, she put it inside the food-preserving cabinet and started cooking the fish fillet after letting the rice cool down.

She briefly washes the fish and cuts them into fillet cuttings, even and identical in size. Athena then prepared a bowl of flour, salt, and eggs to dip the fish. Then she fried the pieces till they turned into a beautiful golden color.

On the pan next to it, she prepared the sauce. Athena divided the onion into two parts. First, she poured a spoon full of cooking oil into the pan, and when it boiled, she added some onions and garlic. When they turned brownish-golden, Athena added tomato sauce, pineapple juice, calamansi extract, black pepper, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and some pineapple tidbits.

And when the sauce boiled, she added the fried pieces of fish fillets. Then she put the remaining onions and bell pepper in the pan when the fish fillet rested with the remaining heat. Additionally, the last ingredients were the sugar and the chili slices.

She only reheated some ube-pie from her previous stocks since they do not rot or expire within the spaceworld. And Athena finally fried the garlic rice she was craving and ate an early breakfast.

"It's sad that I can only hide this food within my spaceworld since food this delicious has not yet appeared in the interstellar era. Even the ingredients grown by scientists have long evolved and changed their names. Some citizens even testified that the taste is unpleasant and unpalatable."

When Athena left her spaceworld, she received an untimely call from her lightbrain.

The moment she tapped the answer button, the person on the other end of the line blew up.

"Athena, you are too great at it. Do you still recognize that you are a media personality? The company got chastised repeatedly! Do you genuinely believe that you are a queen? The video of your excessive gambling and drinking got broadcasted online last night, Athena! Do you think you are not black and red enough?"

As soon as she heard this person speak, Athena began to ponder.

The agent who has been following her should be this guy.

Athena was beautiful and came from a good family.

Athena joined the entertainment industry, and the management recognized her importance by giving her Lian Wu, an outstanding agent.

Numerous people have attempted to hack her over the years, but black and red are also red and somehow hold a spot in the entertainment society. Despite her mediocre acting abilities and haughty demeanor, Athena came from a wealthy background and possessed "a strong capital."

It seems bizarre to argue that acting was not a well-known profession in her past life since, amid the zombie apocalypse, people would rather kill than be entertained. Athena had no idea that so many people would now be vying for it in today's time.

In the past, Lian Wu would never have dared to speak to Athena this way, but the Arcana family is in danger of collapse. The stocks of the company dangerously plummeted as investors withdrew their funds.

The Arcana Group reportedly declared bankruptcy Monday night. But the firstborn of the Arcana family, Athena, has been partying and excessively gambling because she no longer holds an aristocratic capital and receives the news in advance.

Lian Wu was venting his bottled anger against Athena.

But the queen looked passive.

"Did you hear me?"

"Yeah, apparently, so please come tomorrow. I will resolve the issue myself."

Athena was experiencing a heated heartache because of her body's reaction, so she hung up her agent's call.

It's as if she is not in control of her emotions, and she dislikes this feeling.

"I need to resolve the lingering emotions that possessed this body before I can keep forward with my plans."