Chapter 380: Chapter 380: Attack the Community

"3-1007 Kiki, Mom of Two: @4-1209 GoofingOff Why do you say that?"

"4-1209 GoofingOff: @3-1007 Kiki, Mom of Two Just check what’s trending and you’ll know. Netizens are saying it’s unfair that only our complex has heating, so they’re all protesting about it online."

"3-1007 Kiki, Mom of Two: @4-1209 GoofingOff They’re just jealous of us, right?"

"4-1209 GoofingOff: @3-1007 Kiki, Mom of Two It’s more than that. Some psychos are even saying they’re going to come and invade our complex!"

"3-1007 Kiki, Mom of Two: @4-1209 GoofingOff Huh?! Invade?!!"

"..."

Reading this, Melody Summers was also a little surprised.

’Invade The Metropolis Residences?!’

What was all this nonsense?

She quickly switched apps and started checking the trending topics:

[NetizenXXX: Did The Metropolis Residences next door really get its heating turned on? Why hasn’t our Garden Community gotten ours yet?]

[NetizenXXX: To the person above, I’m also in Garden Community. I heard our complex won’t get heating until next month.]

[NetizenXXX: Huh? On what grounds does The Metropolis Residences get heating a month earlier than us? I could tolerate it if they were in another province, but we’re all in Anworth where the outside temperature is the same. It’s too unfair to only give them heating!]

[NetizenXXX: Heh, what’s fair these days? You guys probably don’t know, but all the rich people are living in luxury hotels downtown, kept at a constant 26 degrees Celsius.]

[NetizenXXX: I can let the hotel people slide, since they’re spending hundreds of thousands a night. But why does The Metropolis Residences get heating early? Are their property values really high or something?]

[NetizenXXX: High? What’s high about it? The property values at The Metropolis Residences don’t even rank in Anworth. It’s one of the rock-bottom developments in the entire city, just an unsold ghost tower in the suburbs.]

[NetizenXXX: I know that complex. Its initial sale price wasn’t even as high as

[NetizenXXX: That’s so unfair. I live in one of the most expensive complexes in Anworth, and we don’t have heating. Why should they?]

[NetizenXXX: To the person above, haven’t you figured it out yet? Some high-ranking official must be living in The Metropolis Residences.]

[NetizenXXX: Haha, what kind of high-ranking official would give up a luxury complex downtown to live in the suburbs? I don’t believe it.]

[NetizenXXX: Sigh, I have so many regrets... A while ago, when we were planning to move, we initially considered The Metropolis Residences. But my dad thought a complex in a remote area would have poor resource supply, so we chose a more expensive one. I can’t believe we missed out just like that!]

[NetizenXXX: The government needs to come out and explain this. Why the preferential treatment? Are we people who bought expensive homes now getting worse treatment than those in a suburban ghost tower?]

[NetizenXXX: Exactly! We paid a fortune to support the downtown real estate industry, and now the people in suburban housing get to reap all the benefits. Is there any justice in this world?!]

[NetizenXXX: Everyone stop arguing. From what I’ve heard, The Metropolis Residences is providing its own heating.]

[NetizenXXX: Providing their own heating? That’s even more impossible! Is this a joke? Where would they get that much coal?]

[NetizenXXX: Exactly, where would the coal come from? The government has extremely strict control over energy resources right now. Our complex tried to pool money to buy some energy before, and even after pulling a lot of strings, we couldn’t get any!]

[NetizenXXX: Forget all that. Since The Metropolis Residences has heating, why don’t we just team up, rush in, and take over the complex!]

[NetizenXXX: Haha, great idea from the poster above. Tell us more, how do we take it over?]

[NetizenXXX: If you ask me, instead of taking over the complex, we should just steal their coal.]

[NetizenXXX: Too bad the snow outside is too heavy for us to get out, otherwise this idea might actually work.]

[NetizenXXX: Workable? More like ’bookable.’ Have you all forgotten that the Adler and Hayes Families were completely wiped out just a few months ago? Do you have a death wish?]

[NetizenXXX: Ever heard the phrase ’the law doesn’t punish the masses’? If we get everyone in our complex to rush in and steal the coal, are the police really going to kill all of us?]

[...]

After reading through the comments, Melody Summers rolled her eyes in exasperation.

’So this is what they mean by "it’s not scarcity people hate, but inequality,"’ she thought. Everyone could accept freezing together, but they couldn’t accept freezing while another complex had heating.

However, these people were all talk and no action. Melody Summers didn’t take them seriously.

She decided to head to the livestock farm to take care of the miniature pigs, cattle, and sheep. Tomorrow, it was back to making money!

******

The collapsed section of the Lancaster Villa had yet to be repaired. In fact, due to the extreme weather, the damage had even spread, and now the living room was drafty.

Of the entire sprawling, three-story villa, only the master bedroom and the small tea room next to it remained intact.

The rest of the Lancaster Family was crammed into the master bedroom, leaving Sylvia Lancaster to live alone in the tiny tea room.

Lying on a small, single folding bed, Sylvia Lancaster scrolled through the trending discussions about the heating at The Metropolis Residences, so jealous she could have ground her teeth to dust.

The tea room was heated by only a small charcoal basin, and the temperature was frigid. Sylvia Lancaster’s hands were trembling from the cold, but she still gritted her teeth and typed a comment: "The government should step in and confiscate all the coal The Metropolis Residences is using for their private heating! @Anworth Government Mailbox."

The comment was instantly buried by new ones the moment she posted it, making no ripples whatsoever.

Frustrated, Sylvia Lancaster frowned and spammed the comment several more times by copying and pasting it until her account was temporarily frozen for flooding the chat. Only then did she stop.

She turned her head, staring at the weak glow of the charcoal basin and feeling the biting chill in the air. The thought of Melody Summers living in the warm Metropolis Residences at this very moment made her pound furiously on the bed frame!

’This is all Melody Summers’ fault!’

’If Melody Summers hadn’t stolen that apartment, she would be the one living in that warm, spacious home right now!’

Just then, the bedroom door opened. Sylvia Lancaster looked up and saw her older brother, Simon Lancaster, walk out.

Simon Lancaster was bundled up in a thick, padded jacket, wearing a hat and earmuffs. Only his face was exposed.

After being unconscious with a high fever for so long, Simon Lancaster had visibly lost a great deal of weight. His already lean cheeks were now deeply sunken, and his eye sockets had hollowed out, making him look utterly gaunt.

He looked at Sylvia Lancaster and managed a gentle smile, saying softly, "Sylvia, you must be hungry. Have a sand vine cake. It was just heated up."

With that, he handed a steaming sand vine cake to Sylvia.

Sylvia looked at the sand vine cake in Simon’s hand, her brow knitting in subconscious disgust.

’In both of her lives combined, she had never eaten something like this!’

In her past life, even during the harshest times in the third year of the apocalypse, she had lived lavishly with the Lancaster Family. Sand vine cakes... a food so disgusting that the only person in the entire family who would eat it was that Melody Summers!

Sylvia had no desire to touch the stuff!

She wanted to tell Simon that she wouldn’t eat it, but her body betrayed her as she couldn’t help but swallow. She hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday and was famished.

With the cold weather burning through her calories, she was indeed nearing her limit...

Seeing Sylvia’s reluctance to take the sand vine cake, Simon couldn’t help but urge her, "Sylvia, hurry and eat. The cake is warm now, but it will get cold again in a little while."

Sylvia hesitated for a moment before silently taking the sand vine cake. She gritted her teeth, held her breath, and prepared to swallow it down whole.

But the moment she took the first bite, the texture, slimy as a slug, filled her mouth. Then she looked down at the glistening white eggs inside the cake...

She couldn’t take it anymore and spat it out with a loud, "BLEGH—!"