On the other end of the line, Sylvia Lancaster felt a headache coming on. It had only been a few days, and this was already the third ti Elaine Hughes had asked her for money. It was a bottomless pit!
Sylvia was starting to think Elaine was a complete idiot. She could have assessed the situation at the very beginning of the heatwave, sold her dowry, and secretly transferred the money away as personal savings.
But no, she just had to use it to pay off her husband Robert Lancaster’s debts.
And now look, it was all gone! A total loss.
Her mother-in-law, Mrs. Sutton, was much smarter in that regard. She had transferred all their assets to her second son, Elias Sutton, who was overseas. When Elias returned with the money, the Suttons would be able to use it to stage a coback.
Sylvia sighed and replied, "Mom, I really don’t have any money. The dowry you gave was all confiscated by the investigation team. Where would I get money for you now?"
Hearing this, Elaine Hughes said, "Sylvia, you’re pregnant now. If you ask your in-laws for so money, how could they refuse? We can’t even put food on the table at ho. Can you really bear to watch your father, mother, and brothers eat sand vine cakes?"
After hearing what Elaine said, Sylvia felt a flare of anger ignite within her.
Elaine always claid to dote on her most, but her actions showed zero consideration for her situation. For the sake of the other Lancasters, Elaine would gladly bleed her dry!
Besides, Sylvia’s life with the Sutton Family wasn’t easy to begin with. She spent every day walking on eggshells around Mr. and Mrs. Sutton.
Even though she was pregnant and felt unwell, she forced herself to get up at six every morning just so Mr. and Mrs. Sutton couldn’t find fault with her.
As for money, Mr. and Mrs. Sutton provided her with good food and drink, but they absolutely would not give her cash. She knew the Suttons were wary of her, that they didn’t consider her one of their own.
Thankfully, Flynn Adler would occasionally give her so money, but Elaine had already wheedled most of that away from her too.
Sylvia’s tone hardened. "Mom, I married into the Sutton Family with nothing. If I keep asking my in-laws for money, what are they going to think of ?"
Elaine knew Sylvia had a point, but she had no other choice but to ask her daughter for help. Though she felt sorry for her daughter, she couldn’t bear to see her husband and sons suffer even more.
Elaine tried to persuade her again, "But Sylvia, right now, our family..."
"Mom!" Sylvia cut her off, her voice low. "Don’t forget, the Sutton Family went bankrupt too. I can’t keep asking them for money at a ti like this. Please, try to be more considerate of my situation."
Sylvia paused for a mont before adding, "Mom, you should tell my brothers to go find jobs. Things can’t go on like this. You can’t expect , a married daughter, to support the whole family."
With that, Sylvia hung up the phone.
Listening to the dial tone, Elaine Hughes felt a pang of sadness. She had always thought of Sylvia as her gentle, understanding daughter, her sweet little girl. She never imagined she could be so heartless as to refuse her.
For so reason, her thoughts drifted to lody Sumrs. Her nose began to tingle, and she felt tears welling up. ’Neither of my daughters cares if I live or die.’
Just then, Robert Lancaster and Simon Lancaster returned. Seeing them, Elaine quickly wiped her face, got up to greet them, and asked, "You’re back. Did the job hunt go well today?"
She noticed Simon was carrying a bag filled with fresh vegetables.
Elaine took the bag in surprise. "Why did you buy so many vegetables? How much did this cost? We can’t afford to be so extravagant with our situation!"
But Simon Lancaster shook his head. "It didn’t cost anything, Mom. I got a job at Rhodes Enterprises. This is part of the employee benefits. It’s free."
Over the past two days, Robert Lancaster had exhausted all his connections, swallowing his pride to go from door to door, begging for help. He had finally managed to get Simon a position at Rhodes Enterprises, a company specializing in indoor agriculture.
Although it was just a junior managent position, the employee benefits at Rhodes were excellent. They provided staff with company-grown fruits and vegetables. If they were frugal, it would be enough to ensure the family wouldn’t have to worry about food.
Elaine Hughes was overjoyed. The good news instantly swept away all her earlier gloom and frustration.
Her son had a job at Rhodes, which ant a supply of free, fresh food for the family and a huge reduction in their expenses.
Elaine Hughes cheerfully carried the vegetables into the kitchen.
Although Simon Lancaster had found a job, he wasn’t as happy as the rest of the Lancaster Family.
He had gone from being the admired, high-flying heir of a family enterprise to a re wage-earner who had to answer to others. The psychological blow was imnse.
But Simon knew he had no other choice. Besides, if he didn’t go out and work, Elaine would just keep asking Sylvia for money. Sylvia had called him several tis recently, crying about how difficult things were for her, and it broke his heart to hear it.
The last thing Simon wanted was to see Sylvia in a difficult position. She was the little sister he had doted on and cherished for years. He had no choice but to take the job at Rhodes, bide his ti, and wait for an opportunity to rise again.
*
"Miss Sumrs, the caras are all reinstalled," the technician said, wiping sweat from his brow. "Don’t worry, I added protective casings. Unless they climb over your electric fence, there’s no way they can damage them!"
lody Sumrs inspected his work and was very satisfied. The technician was skilled; he had secured the surveillance equipnt firmly with steel plates.
lody paid him, saying, "Thank you, sir. I appreciate you coming all this way in this heat."
"Not at all! Thank you for the business!" the technician replied with a smile. He was thrilled to get this job from lody. The extra inco ant he could buy more rice and flour.
His wife and kids at ho couldn’t get used to eating sand vine cakes, but the price of rice and flour kept rising. With no inco, he had been on the verge of breaking.
Even though tis were chaotic, he hardly got any orders to install security caras. After all, break-ins and muggings were rampant, people went missing every day, bodies were found on the roadside, and police resources were severely strained.
With these break-ins, if you could catch the robbers on the spot, that was one thing. But if they got away, it was nearly impossible to find them again.
So, security caras were useless. People would rather save the money to buy more rice and flour.
lody then rembered that the caras around Crystal Mart had also been destroyed by that gang of robbers. So, she took the technician to the supermarket and had him install new ones there as well.
When Crystal Lynch saw lody arrive, she rushed over and grabbed her arm. "lody! I’m so glad to see you! You have no idea how chaotic it was here yesterday. I was bagging rice for a custor when suddenly, one of the property managent security guards ran over, shouting that a gang of robbers in a truck had forced their way through the checkpoint!"
"The guard led , my dad, and my brother away. We ran all the way to the property managent center to hide. They said the robbers showed up here not even two minutes after we left and even took two residents hostage! And they had guns! Can you believe it? This is supposed to be one of the strictest countries for gun control!"
Crystal Lynch described the previous night’s events to lody, still shaken by the mory. She had no idea that lody’s ordeal had been even more intense.
To protect lody Sumrs, Officer Pierce and Officer Tate had ordered the security guards present to keep what happened last night a secret and not to ntion that lody had killed two of the robbers. As a result, Crystal still didn’t know that lody had been at the very center of the storm.
lody asked with concern, "So you, Mr. Lynch, and your brother are all okay?"
Crystal shook her head. "We hid in an office on the second floor of the managent center the whole ti. I held a knife in my hand, thinking that if any robbers broke in, I’d do my best to take one of them down with . That way, it wouldn’t be a total loss. ’Even if I can’t kill them, I’ll at least poke out an eye. There’s no way I’m dying for nothing!’"
"Later, a guard ca and told us the robbers had all been caught, so we finally ca out. I heard they slashed several residents who didn’t make it ho in ti. One of them didn’t make it—died this morning from blood loss and infection."
lody’s heart sank. She couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow for the victim. He had endured the natural disaster for so long, only to fall to a man-made one.
Crystal sighed and continued, "Yesterday’s incident really scared my dad. He and my brother don’t want staying at the supermarket at night anymore, they’re afraid sothing else will happen. But if I’m the only one at ho, I can’t stop worrying about them! If sothing happened to them, could I even go on living alone? What would be the point? We argued about it all night, and neither side could convince the other. Ugh."
Just then, Officer Tristan Tanner walked in. He overheard their conversation and reassured them, "To prevent vicious incidents like ard gangs forcing their way into residential compounds, an order just ca down from above. The municipal bureau is to coordinate with the ard police and the military to conduct unscheduled patrols in all compounds on a rotating basis. If they encounter any criminals, they are authorized to use lethal force on the spot."
After speaking, Officer Tristan Tanner glanced at lody Sumrs and added, "Of course, you young ladies should still be careful. If you run into danger, get behind cover imdiately."
Crystal Lynch frowned at his words. "Officer Tate, when facing an ard robber, does a bullet swerve just because a man is standing in front of it? Danger doesn’t distinguish between n and won."
"Besides, we had a hundred thousand female soldiers during the War of Resistance! Even though they answered the nation’s call to lay down their arms and return to their families afterward, their contributions will last forever. Their spirit must not be forgotten. We have to carry on the will of our predecessors!"
"The more dangerous it gets, the more I need to stand with my family, not just hide behind them! We have to unite. We can’t be like those brothers in the old cartoon, trying to save their grandpa one by one. That just gets you picked off one at a ti. Don’t you agree, Officer Tate?"
Hearing this, Officer Tate didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ’What’s all this about cartoon brothers saving their grandpa? This girl has a whole speech prepared.’ He was about to argue, but then he rembered how lody Sumrs had single-handedly infiltrated the warehouse and killed two robbers. He couldn’t help but marvel internally. ’These young won really are much braver than I imagined.’
lody, anwhile, was silently considering whether she should leave a dium Crossbow with the Lynchs, just in case.
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