The family worked together, all lending a hand to move a dozen or so huge shopping bags into the living room, covering the floor.
Grandma opened one of the bags and took out two fluffy white blankets.
Miss Lowell felt the blankets, marveling at the fine, velvety texture in her hands. "This is velvet-grade mink," she exclaid. "I can’t believe you can still buy this stuff these days, let alone made into a blanket. It’s so extravagant."
Grandma also shook out a quilt. It had a satisfying weight to it, unlike the shoddy products common in stores. You could tell it was packed full of cotton, every bit as good as the quilts she used to make at ho. She nodded in satisfaction. These kinds of quilts were the most comfortable for winter.
With everyone pitching in, the family moved the dozen or so bags into the storage room. The weather wasn’t at its coldest yet, so they wouldn’t need these things for a while.
After they finished tidying up, lody Sumrs sprawled on the sofa, casually pulling out her phone to scroll through her group chat.
"4-1009 Lowell On Deadline: Have you guys heard? Sothing happened over at Building 12!"
"4-1209 Slacking Off: @4-1009 Lowell On Deadline What happened now?"
"4-1009 Lowell On Deadline: It’s a murder, I hear."
"4-1209 Slacking Off: Huh? For real? The police haven’t issued a notice. Any residents from Building 12 online? Spill the details."
"12-1803 AAA Lawson’s Supplies (Closed): Probably true. I saw cops going in and out this afternoon. They carried two body bags downstairs."
"2-1408 Bella Grant: No way. Soone died again? Was it suicide or homicide?"
"12-1803 AAA Lawson’s Supplies (Closed): Not sure. I just heard it from soone else."
"4-1209 Slacking Off: If it really is a murder, why haven’t the police released a statent?"
"12-1803 AAA Lawson’s Supplies (Closed): Who cares? If there’s no official notice, it ans we don’t need to know."
"12-1803 AAA Lawson’s Supplies (Closed): By the way, the temperature’s dropping hard. Anyone need quilts or down jackets? Six-pound cotton quilts, 50,000 each. Unisex down jackets, one-size-fits-all, 30,000 a piece."
"2-1408 Bella Grant: @12-1803 AAA Lawson’s Supplies (Closed) You’re sothing else. I rember you were selling electric fans during the heatwave last year, and now that it’s getting cold you’re selling quilts and down jackets. You must be making a killing since the disaster, huh?"
"12-1803 AAA Lawson’s Supplies (Closed): @2-1408 Bella Grant Hey, I’ve got no choice. My kid’s a growing boy, can’t have him eating sand vine cakes every day. Prices are so high now, I’m just trying to make enough for so calcium supplents for him."
"3-1007 Kiki, Mom of Two: 30,000 for one jacket! That’s so expensive!"
"12-1803 AAA Lawson’s Supplies (Closed): Can’t be helped. Cold-weather supplies are sold out everywhere. I had to pull a lot of strings just to get these. A lot of experts are predicting a blizzard, and the temperature will drop even more. It’ll be even harder to buy them then!"
"..."
lody Sumrs read through the chat log, thought for a mont, and typed:
"B16 Sumrti: Besides quilts and down jackets, you can also stock up on fuel in advance. Bamboo and wood charcoal are still available, and so are things like solid fuel tablets."
"3-1007 Kiki, Mom of Two: Burn charcoal? Isn’t that too dangerous? It’s easy to get carbon monoxide poisoning. I think I’ll just use an electric heater."
"4-1209 Slacking Off: But what if they ration electricity, like they did during the heatwave?"
"3-1007 Kiki, Mom of Two: That’s true... In that case, I’d better buy so fuel! I can’t just freeze to death!"
"..."
Putting down her phone, lody Sumrs thought to herself, ’I bought a lot of warm clothes and quilts before the disaster, and now Ronan Rhodes has brought over another huge pile of stuff.’
If she couldn’t use it all, she planned to donate the surplus to the ergency managent office and let them distribute it to those in need.
******
As the temperature dropped day by day, ti flew by, and soon it was the end of the month.
Today was the day of the celebration party for Paige Walsh’s research institute, held at the Nimbus Hotel.
lody Sumrs and Sophie Thorne had been invited to the banquet by Yuri Walsh, and they had agreed to leave together at 7 PM tonight.
As 7 PM approached, lody Sumrs had finished getting ready and was sitting in the living room, waiting to leave.
When she heard the villa’s doorbell ring, she thought it was Sophie Thorne and hurried to get the door.
Unexpectedly, the people standing outside weren’t Sophie Thorne, but Roman and Ronan Rhodes.
lody Sumrs was a little surprised to see them. "Officer Rhodes? What brings you here?"
Before Roman Rhodes could speak, Ronan stepped forward with a smile and handed her a bag. "These are self-heating patches. They’re supposedly the latest in long-lasting heat technology. Give them a try and see how they work."
lody Sumrs quickly thanked him as she took the bag.
Ronan Rhodes had been bringing over a lot of things recently, all sorts of cold-weather supplies. At first, lody Sumrs had tried her best to refuse, feeling it was improper to accept gifts for no reason.
But Ronan was unusually insistent, always acting as if he wouldn’t leave until lody accepted.
So, lody had no choice but to accept, keeping his kindness in mind and planning to repay him when she had the chance.
lody Sumrs accepted the heat patches, then said to Ronan and Roman Rhodes, "Please, co in and sit down. Officer Rhodes, when were you discharged from the hospital? Are you recovering well?"
Roman Rhodes had been discharged a while ago. As soon as he was out, he had urgently implented an investigation plan targeting the Hayes Family, using swift and decisive asures to root out two moles hidden within the police force.
The investigation revealed that the Hayes Family was connected to all three of the Advent Sect’s previous terrorist attacks.
The police now had concrete evidence and were formulating an arrest plan. If all went well, they would close the net tomorrow night.
Only then did Roman Rhodes find the ti to co over to the Sumrs’ ho.
Roman Rhodes didn’t answer lody Sumrs’s question. He just looked at her with a half-smile and held out his hand. "I won’t co in. Let’s just talk here. The guns you had before? Hand them over."
lody Sumrs froze. ’Crap,’ she thought.
lody Sumrs guiltily averted her gaze and mumbled, "What guns? I don’t know what you’re talking about."
Roman Rhodes almost laughed in exasperation. Shaking his head helplessly, he said, "The guns you have... you got them from the Crestview Hotel, didn’t you?"
When lody Sumrs remained silent, Roman Rhodes sighed.
He pulled Ronan Rhodes inside the villa, gently closing the door behind them. Then he took out two pistols and a few magazines of ammunition and said to lody, "Take these two pistols. Give the ones you got from the Crestview Hotel."
Seeing lody’s dumbfounded expression, Roman Rhodes continued, "The guns you got from the Crestview Hotel were all homade by those criminals on machine tools. The craftsmanship is shoddy, and they’re extrely dangerous. They could misfire or blow up in your hand at any mont. It’s too risky for you to have them..."
"I know you’re worried about safety. And since your mother works at a supply distribution point, I was able to apply for these on your behalf. They have serial numbers and are much safer than those two defective pieces you got from a shady source."
It took a mont for lody Sumrs to process, but then she was overco with joy. She gleefully took the pistols and magazines from Roman Rhodes, weighing them in her hands, reluctant to put them down. Then, she quickly jogged back into the house.
A mont later, she returned with the two guns she had found at Findback Peak and handed them to Roman Rhodes. "Thank you, Officer Rhodes!" she said with a smile.
Roman Rhodes took the two guns and weighed them in his hands. He hesitated for a mont before asking, "...Is your mother ho right now?"
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