Her voice was shrill and venomous. "Vivian Young, is this how you raise your daughter? You’ve raised a shameless creature who got pregnant out of wedlock and still dares to strut around! If you ask me, she needs to be taught a lesson. We should have thrown her out and cut all ties long ago, saved ourselves the disgrace of having her around. And now she dares to make veiled insults about her elders!"

"And another thing," Pamela Sutton added, as if that wasn’t enough, fanning the flames with a voice full of malice. "A young girl fooling around with some bum, having a baby without even knowing who the father is. Who knows what shady things she’s been doing on the side! And now what? She has the nerve to spread rumors about me? Today, I’m going to teach her how a woman should behave, so she doesn’t run off with another good-for-nothing and disgrace generations of the Lawrence Family’s ancestors!"

"Shut your mouth!" Vivian Young’s anger flared. Her earlier panic was instantly replaced by rage as she shrieked, "It’s not your place to lecture my daughter! I know what kind of person she is ten thousand times better than you do!"

Her chest heaved violently. "If you have so much free time to bad-mouth my daughter, why don’t you hurry to the supermarket and fight for your rotten cabbages? Move slow and you won’t even get the scraps!"

Before Pamela Sutton could react, Vivian Young slammed the phone down. She threw the phone onto the sofa, her chest still heaving and her eyes blazing with fury. "That bitch! Who does she think she is, cursing my daughter? She should take a good look in the mirror and see what kind of trash she is!"

Vivian Young was trembling with rage. Even Leo instinctively tightened his grip on Sue Lawrence’s hand, his own face a mask of anger.

Pamela Sutton was just that kind of person—she couldn’t stand to see others happy and loved nothing more than to spread rumors. When Sue’s scandal first broke, Pamela Sutton had been a major source of the gossip. Much of what circulated had originated with her. She just never had the guts to say it to Vivian Young’s face. Now, though, she was holding nothing back, and her words were utterly vicious.

Vivian Young fumed, "She used to grovel at our feet for money, and at least she knew to show some restraint then. Now that she knows the apocalypse is coming, she’s decided all bets are off? How dare she talk about my precious daughter like that! Who the hell does she think she is!"

"Mom, calm down. Don’t let a piece of trash like her make you sick."

Sue Lawrence stood up. "But this call came at the perfect time. Everyone is out there panic buying. We have to go too. If we don’t, it will only make those hungry wolves more certain that we have plenty of food and don’t need any."

’In my last life, it was Donovan Lawrence and his family who broke into our home to rob and kill us. Although I don’t know exactly how it happened, I’m certain my uncle’s family was involved.’

’And then there are Jason Sterling and Tiana Lynch. Neither of them is to be trifled with. I have to handle this carefully and avoid raising any suspicion.’

"Dad and Elliot, you’ll split up. Dad, you go to the supermarket near Uncle’s house. Elliot, you go to the biggest one downtown. Make sure you’re seen. Let the neighbors see us fighting for supplies. Mom, you go to the grain and oil shop at the fresh market. The bigger the scene you make, the better. I’ll take Leo to the supermarket near our place to wander around and put on a show."

She looked at Jenny Norris. "Jenny, you’re pregnant, so you stay here and watch the house. If anyone actually breaks in, don’t hide your Superpower. Just hide yourself first. Your safety is what’s most important."

’I used Skill 3, ’I can do whatever I want with my things,’ to give part of my Superpower to Jenny, which included the C-class Self-defense Technique. But since she’s pregnant, it’s best if she doesn’t use it. It’d be much better for her to use Gecko Disguise and find a good hiding spot.’

After giving her instructions, the family mobilized.

Elliot Lawrence was still uneasy. As they entered the garage, he couldn’t help but ask, "What if someone breaks in while we’re gone?"

"Not yet," Sue Lawrence said, pulling open a car door, her voice chillingly calm. "For one, it’s not complete chaos out there yet. For another, we’ve already moved our core supplies to the mine. All that’s left here are a dozen or so emergency boxes. Even if those get stolen, it won’t be a major blow."

Vincent Lawrence had already started the car. "I’ll contact someone later to install cameras. We’ll also put up a fence of thorns and run a current through it." The mine’s defenses were already maxed out; he never thought they’d have to fortify the house as well. ’The apocalypse hasn’t even arrived, and people’s hearts are already this black.’

The four of them went their separate ways. Vivian Young, still simmering with rage at Pamela Sutton, practically stomped on the gas as she sped off.

The snow on the roads was deep enough to cover their shoes. A snowplow struggled to clear a path up ahead. Pedestrians, bundled up like burritos, rushed toward the supermarkets, their faces etched with anxiety.

The scene in the supermarket parking lot was one of utter chaos.

People staggered toward their cars clutching bags of rice. Others nearly tripped while shouldering large jugs of cooking oil. Some were red in the face, screaming at each other over products. The ground was a mess, littered with torn packaging and trampled vegetables.

Vivian Young tightened her grip on her small shopping trolley, took a deep breath, and plunged into the human tide.

The supermarket was a sea of people. A wave of hot air, thick with the smell of sweat and produce, washed over her. Her ears throbbed from the cacophony of shouting and bickering.

The shopping carts had all been taken long ago; not even a single plastic basket remained. Her little trolley was squeezed so tightly between people that its wheels never touched the floor, propelled forward only by the surging crowd.

The rice, flour, and oil aisle had been picked clean. The shelves were bare except for a few lonely bags of absurdly expensive imported rice.

A man in a fur coat next to her was frantically stuffing items into his arms. Vivian Young’s eyes and hands were quicker. She snatched two fifty-kilogram bags of grain and a large jug of peanut oil and shoved them into her trolley. The cart groaned under the immense weight, but she paid it no mind, turning to push her way toward the produce section.

’Sue said we had to make the act convincing.’

Just as she squeezed into the produce section, she heard a shrill stream of curses. Vivian Young looked up, and her anger immediately flared anew.

Pamela Sutton was wrestling with a middle-aged woman, the two of them desperately tugging on the same head of napa cabbage, their faces flushed from the effort.

"You damn hag! Let go! I saw this cabbage first!" Pamela Sutton’s hair was a mess, and her fur scarf had slipped, revealing the creases on her neck. Her glare was murderous.

"My ass, you did!" The middle-aged woman was no pushover, clutching the cabbage for dear life. "I had it first! You just ran over and tried to snatch it. Have you no shame?"

"That’s robbery! I’m calling the cops!" Pamela Sutton shrieked, but her eyes darted to the last good head of cabbage on a nearby shelf, her hand twitching to grab it.

The sight made Vivian Young sick. Without breaking stride, she took advantage of their squabble to reach out and sweep that very cabbage into her own trolley, quick as a flash.

"Hey! That’s mine!" Pamela Sutton’s sharp eyes caught the movement, and she panicked. While still tugging on her cabbage, she tried to reach toward Vivian Young with her free hand.

The middle-aged woman seized the opportunity to give a final, mighty yank, wrenching the cabbage free. She spat viciously at Pamela Sutton. "Crazy hag!" With that, she vanished into the crowd.

"My cabbage!" Pamela Sutton trembled with fury. She turned and saw that the one who had snatched the other head was none other than Vivian Young.