lody was startled and quickly asked, "Mom, are you okay?"
Winnie replied, "We’re hiding in the property managent center, so we’re safe for now. But the robbers took two residents hostage inside the complex. They’re holed up in the supermarket warehouse in a standoff with the police outside. I heard so of their accomplices went into the apartnt buildings behind us to rob people’s hos. Whatever you do, don’t go outside!"
After hanging up, lody quickly steered the yacht back to the dock. Cradling Albus, she erged from her dinsion and rushed downstairs.
Her grandmother, aunt, and Miss Lowell were watching TV in the living room. They jumped when they saw lody rushing down the stairs and asked, "What’s going on?"
lody said frantically, "There’s trouble outside! Robbers broke into the complex! Grandma, watch the security feed. If you see anything suspicious, hide in the basent imdiately and lock the door. I’m going over to the supermarket to check things out."
Their villa had been reinforced, and the walls were topped with an electric fence, so lody wasn’t worried about its security. The priority was the property managent center and the supermarket; she was worried about Winnie and Colin’s safety.
Her grandmother quickly blocked her path, saying anxiously, "lody, you can’t go out there!"
lody said reassuringly, "Grandma, my mom and uncle are still at the property managent center. I have to go check on them. Don’t worry, the robbers are holed up in the supermarket warehouse, and the police are standing guard outside. I’m just going to the property managent center to see them."
Her grandmother tried to protest, but lody knew that every minute spent arguing added to the danger outside. She quickly told her aunt to lock the doors and bolted.
*
lody ran under the cover of darkness toward the property managent center. The grounds were practically deserted. Even the residents who usually hunted Sandvine Worms were nowhere to be seen. Everyone had heard about the intruders and retreated into their hos.
lody ran into the property managent center. The lobby was deserted. Following a prompt from the dinsion in her mind, lody walked to the office area and knocked on one of the doors.
A tense voice called from inside, "Who is it? Go ho! Don’t wander around out there, it’s not safe right now!"
lody recognized Colin’s voice and called out, "Uncle, it’s ."
Colin recognized the voice and hurried to open the door. When he saw lody, he asked in astonishnt, "What are you doing out here, kid?! It’s dangerous!"
Winnie quickly pulled lody inside, saying with concern, "Didn’t I call and tell you not to leave the house? What were you thinking, coming out here on purpose!"
lody quickly tried to calm them. "Mom, Uncle, I was just worried about you, so I ca to check. Don’t worry, it’s quiet outside. There’s nobody around."
Inside the office with Winnie and Colin were two of the property managent’s security guards. lody asked, "Mom, Uncle, what exactly is going on?"
Winnie sighed and explained. The robbers who broke into the complex today were career criminals. They had been operating all over the city, mugging people who were alone or staking out the hos of those living by themselves to steal supplies.
It had been over six months since the cataclysm, and most households had run out of stored food. Since their recent ho invasions hadn’t yielded much, they decided to target the governnt’s disaster relief supplies.
With the new year approaching, and after enduring almost a full year of scorching heat, many people were at their breaking point.
To lift public morale, the governnt decided to open up its few remaining granaries. They planned to distribute frozen at, rice, and flour to the supply points, hoping everyone could celebrate the New Year properly and find the strength to persevere and break through the current crisis together.
When they heard these New Year’s supplies were being distributed, the robbers decided to take a huge risk and hijack them.
The shipnts were escorted by the army and ard police, so they didn’t dare to touch them en route. Instead, they decided to wait for the supplies to be delivered to the community supply points and rob the points directly.
The tropolis Residences was remote and guarded by only two ard officers, making it their pri target.
lody frowned, her voice tense as she asked, "How many of them are there?"
Colin replied, "About ten of them, reportedly. Most went into the apartnt buildings in the back to commit ho invasions. When we evacuated to this office, the community security guards and the resident patrol were tangling with them. Two others, ard with guns, forced their way into the supermarket and took residents hostage."
lody sucked in a sharp breath. ’They actually have guns?’ Everyone knew how strict the nation’s gun laws were. These robbers were dancing with death.
After a mont’s thought, lody asked, "What about Crystal Lynch and her family?"
Graham Sumrs shook his head. "I don’t know. The police started evacuating people the mont they saw soone force the gate. We all fled to the property managent center. The Lynch family is probably hiding in another office."
lody thought for a second, then said, "Mom, Uncle, I’m going to go check on Crystal and her family."
Winnie grabbed lody’s hand, her brow furrowed. "Absolutely not! You’re not going anywhere!"
lody said reassuringly, "Mom, don’t worry. The police are right outside. I’ll be fine."
Ignoring their worried looks, lody turned and left the office.
*
lody didn’t go looking for the Lynch family. Instead, she went straight to the area around Crystal Mart.
A crowd had gathered at the supermarket entrance, led by Officer Sean Pierce. Behind him stood more than a dozen community security guards, all of them staring tensely at the store.
Officer Sean Pierce was on a gaphone, negotiating with the two ard robbers inside and trying to keep them from getting agitated.
From their conversation, lody gathered that only the two ard robbers in the supermarket remained. Their eight accomplices had already been subdued by Officer Tristan Tanner, who was leading the security guards and the resident patrol.
lody considered this, then slipped around to the back of Crystal Mart.
High on the supermarket’s back wall was a small window fitted with security bars. On the other side of it was the warehouse.
Confirming that the robbers had destroyed the security caras both inside and out, Albus leaped out of the dinsion. He jumped up to the window, peered quietly inside, then hopped back down to report to lody:
"One robber is in the main store, negotiating with the police outside. The other is in the warehouse in the back, guarding two hostages. They’ve knocked both hostages out; they’re still unconscious."
Hearing that the hostages were unconscious, lody breathed a sigh of relief. ’That ans I can go straight in. Otherwise, this would have been a lot more difficult.’
lody took a deep breath. She absorbed the entire aluminum window fra, security bars and all, into her dinsion. Then, using her dinsion’s teleportation ability, she appeared inside the supermarket’s warehouse.
The robber in the warehouse was standing anxiously by the door, listening to his partner negotiate with the police outside.
The two hostages were bound and unconscious, tossed in a corner of the warehouse.
’He was getting more and more frustrated. He’d never expected that a complex with so few people would have such ferocious security guards. They chased them like their lives depended on it. He just couldn’t figure it out. Did these guards really need to go that hard?’
’On top of that, they’d even ford a resident patrol, and they were all ard. Most of his crew had been taken down not long after breaking in.’
’If I’d known, I never would have picked this complex!’
’The robber ran a hand through his hair in frustration. They’d been pulling heists for months with perfect teamwork, never ssing up once. They’d even hit high-end supermarkets, forcing those fancy stores to move their operations online. To think they’d finally get tripped up in this backwater complex.’
’He stood up, deciding to rummage through the warehouse for supplies. Even if he couldn’t escape, he might as well eat his fill first. And if it really ca down to it, he’d take those two hostages down with him.’
But as he turned, his vision swam for a second, and a woman materialized out of thin air right inside the warehouse!
The robber froze, and before he could even react, the woman lunged forward and seized his arm.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
The robber instinctively reached for his gun, but in the next instant, it felt as if he’d been plunged into a sea of fire. He felt his very soul being ripped apart, and then his consciousness faded to black.
lody absorbed the robber into her dinsion. She walked over to the wall and checked on the two unconscious hostages. Finding that they were still breathing, she let out a sigh of relief.
lody transferred the now thoroughly dead robber out of her dinsion and dropped him on the floor. Then she took out a taser and zapped the body a few tis.
With the scene set, lody turned her attention to the robber out in the main store, still negotiating with the police.
He was shouting nonstop, demanding the police release his eight accomplices and load all the warehouse supplies onto a truck. If they didn’t, he scread, they would kill the hostages.
While the robber’s attention was focused entirely on the police outside, lody pulled the crossbow from her dinsion. She aid for his torso and fired!
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