Reborn with Nothing but My Farm and Vengeance in the Apocalypse novel Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Rebirth

"Dad, Mom, this is Melody. She’s our biological daughter."

Melody Summers awoke from darkness. The suffocating feeling of bleeding out, of being on the verge of death, still clung to her. She opened her eyes and stared blankly at her surroundings, realizing she was standing in the living room of the Lancaster Villa.

And the elegantly dressed couple before her were none other than her biological father, Robert Lancaster, and her biological mother, Elaine Hughes.

The fake heiress, Sylvia Lancaster, was wearing a high-end white dress. She stood beside Elaine Hughes, her arm gently linked with Elaine’s, and she was looking at Melody with a hint of unease.

Melody Summers realized she had been reborn to the moment she first met her biological parents.

Melody Summers had never imagined that the cliché drama of a rich family claiming their long-lost child would ever happen to her. But a week ago, a sharp young man in a suit had found her, introducing himself as Simon Lancaster, the CEO of the Lancaster Group. He claimed to be her biological older brother and told her she was the true heiress of the Lancaster family, switched at birth twenty years ago.

After seeing the paternity test he presented, Melody Summers had spent a week mentally preparing herself before finally deciding to come to the Lancaster Family and meet her biological parents.

Melody Summers had long known she was adopted. Her adoptive parents later divorced, and her adoptive mother raised her alone. Melody had always been curious about what kind of people her birth parents were.

Before Melody Summers could recover from the shock of her rebirth, her biological mother, Elaine Hughes, pulled her into a hug. Elaine’s voice was choked with emotion as she said, "My daughter! My dear daughter!"

The scent of Elaine Hughes’s expensive perfume brought Melody Summers back to her senses. She gently pulled away from the embrace, struggling to suppress the hatred in her heart.

’This was the woman who was my mother by blood—the same woman who, in the apocalypse, had personally fed me drugged water and sold me to a sadistic black-market organization.’

’In my despair, I had taken the organization’s leader down with me. I never expected to open my eyes and find myself back here.’

"You must be Melody. Welcome home, sister." Sylvia Lancaster also stepped forward, offering a slightly nervous smile.

’Sister?’ Melody Summers sneered inwardly. ’In my last life, Sylvia Lancaster pretended to welcome me just like this, only to show her true colors after I moved in.’

’After I moved in, Sylvia would often pull little tricks, either hurting herself or cutting up her own dresses and jewelry, only to frame me for it.’

’No matter how I tried to explain, the Lancasters always chose to believe Sylvia, growing more and more disappointed with me.’

"Is this the girl I was switched with?" Melody Summers asked her parents, turning to them with a blank expression. "If I come back, does she have to leave the Lancaster family?"

Elaine Hughes froze for a second, then said anxiously, "Of course Sylvia won’t be leaving!"

"Melody, you and Sylvia are both our daughters," her biological father, Robert Lancaster, said, a subtle hint of displeasure in his tone. "Can’t the Lancaster family afford to raise two daughters?"

Before Melody Summers could speak, an angry voice suddenly boomed from the stairs. "You’re the one who should leave! What gives you the right to talk to Sylvia like that?!"

Melody Summers turned to see a young man of about eighteen or nineteen walking down the stairs. He was dressed head to toe in trendy streetwear—her biological younger brother, Silas Lancaster.

Silas Lancaster descended the stairs and turned to his older brother, Simon Lancaster, his voice full of confusion and accusation. "Simon, why did you bring this woman back?!"

"Silas!" their father, Robert Lancaster, scolded him in a low voice before turning to comfort Melody Summers. "Melody, your brother Silas is young and doesn’t know any better. Don’t take it to heart."

"Who’s her brother! Why should I let this country bumpkin be my sister!" Silas Lancaster retorted resentfully.

Melody Summers instinctively glanced down at her clothes. After graduating, she had been helping her adoptive mother manage their family’s fishpond and orchard, often running all over the mountain. She certainly wasn’t as glamorous or decked out in designer brands as Sylvia Lancaster.

But Melody Summers was in no mood to argue with Silas Lancaster. She said, "You’ve misunderstood. I didn’t say she had to leave. I didn’t come to the Lancaster family today for a reunion. I’m here to discuss transferring the contract rights for Mount Anworth."

The Lancaster family was in the tourism industry. They had their eyes on Mount Anworth in Anworth Village, wanting to develop a new type of resort project there. The contract rights for Mount Anworth were in the hands of Melody’s adoptive mother but were registered under Melody’s name.

Melody’s adoptive family had invested in a sizable fishpond and orchard on Mount Anworth. It was during negotiations with the Summers family over the transfer of the contract rights that Simon Lancaster, CEO of the Lancaster Group, had seen Melody Summers. He was stunned by her striking resemblance to Elaine Hughes, and upon learning that Melody was the Summers family’s adopted daughter, he secretly took a sample of her hair for a paternity test. The results confirmed that Melody was the Lancasters’ long-lost biological daughter.

The Lancasters were caught off guard by Melody’s sudden shift in topic. Her biological mother, Elaine Hughes, was the first to recover, saying, "Melody, today is your first day home. Let’s not talk about this. Come see the room your mother prepared for you."

But Melody knew the contract transfer agreement had to be signed today, because in three days, a massive mudslide would strike Mount Anworth.

That mudslide was the beginning of the apocalypse and the beginning of Melody’s nightmare. It was in that very disaster that she lost all her relatives, including her adoptive mother, forcing her to return to the Lancaster family.

This time, Melody was determined to stay far away from the Lancasters and ensure her adoptive family survived. To do that, she needed a large sum of money to stockpile supplies for the coming apocalypse. That was why she had to sign the contract transfer agreement today and get the payment.

"The peak tourist season starts in two months. Signing early is also beneficial for the Lancaster Group," Melody said, knowing exactly what her biological father, Robert Lancaster, cared about most.

’To Robert Lancaster, the company and its profits always came first. Real daughter, fake daughter—none of it mattered in the face of business.’

Sure enough, Robert Lancaster paused for a moment in thought, then said to his eldest son, Simon Lancaster, "Go to my study and get the contract."

Robert Lancaster had pushed hard for the Mount Anworth project. The Lancaster Group had made several poor investments in recent years and desperately needed a new, profitable venture to recoup its losses.

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