The next morning, lody Sumrs got so sports drinks, chocolate, and self-heating rice from her storage room. She also grabbed so canned beef, canned pork belly, and canned yellow peaches, packing a large box full.
Yesterday, Austin Hale had caused a scene at her door. Officer Tate and the property security guards had arrived promptly. In the end, Austin had only harassed lody from outside without getting in, but he still received a formal warning—the most severe penalty they could give under the circumstances.
Officer Tate and Officer Sean Pierce had likely dealt with Austin Hale so harshly because lody’s mother, Winnie Sumrs, and her uncle, Colin Sumrs, both worked at the supply point, and lody herself had donated a batch of special-effect dicine to the community.
lody felt a little indebted and wanted to prepare a thank-you gift for them.
Carrying the box, lody headed out. Along the way, she saw many Desert Vines by the roadside, crawling all the way onto the street.
She hadn’t been out much in the past few days. ’I can’t believe the Desert Vines have spread this much.’
lody pulled a pair of rubber gloves and a fruit knife from her storage space. After putting on the gloves, she crouched down, found a thick Desert Vine, and sliced it off with the knife. She then split it down the middle and, just as she expected, saw glistening white eggs inside.
The eggs were encased in a gelatinous substance within the vine and were still squirming slightly.
In normal tis, such grubs would only be disgusting, but in this age of disaster, they were a rare source of high-quality protein.
lody put the vine down, stowed her knife and gloves, and walked toward Crystal Mart. On the way, she saw property managent staff cutting the vines in the residential area.
They too were wearing thick rubber gloves, with cloth strips wrapped around any exposed skin on their legs and arms. Holding sharp knives, they cut down the vines and carefully placed them into woven sacks.
These harvested vines were to be packed in batches and sent to state-designated processing plants to be made into food.
To conserve electricity, the community’s streetlights were not turned on at night. To avoid accidental injuries from poor visibility, everyone could only handle the vines in the morning.
lody carried the box into the ergency office next to Crystal Mart. Only Officer Tate was on duty inside.
Officer Tate greeted lody politely. "Comrade Sumrs, thank you for the special-effect dicine you donated. It’s been a huge help. Every day, people cutting the vines get accidentally pricked by the Desert Vines. If it weren’t for your dicine, everyone would be lining up at the hospital."
In truth, the hospitals were also short on dicine now, even painkillers. Doctors were helpless and could only perform simple disinfection on wounds. After that, it was all up to the patient’s willpower to endure.
lody quickly shook her head and said, "Don’t ntion it, Officer Tate. I’m a mber of this community, after all."
Then, lody opened the cardboard box she had brought and said sincerely to Officer Tate, "Soone was harassing at my ho yesterday, and I’m so grateful you all arrived in ti. This is a thank-you gift for the office and the property security guards."
Officer Tate glanced inside. Sports drinks and canned at were long gone from the market; you couldn’t get them even if you had the money. He hurriedly declined, "We can’t accept this. It’s far too valuable. Protecting the public is our job. How could we take your things? Please, take it back."
lody replied, "Then please consider it a donation to the office and the security staff. You all are on duty here every day, unable to go ho. It’s really tough work. This is just a small token of my appreciation. Please help share it with everyone."
Seeing Officer Tate was about to refuse again, lody could only smile and say, "I carried it all the way here. Are you really going to make carry it all the way back?"
At that, Officer Tate had no choice but to accept it. He thanked lody, "Well then, thank you."
After dropping off the gift, lody went next door to Crystal Mart. Only Crystal Lynch was at the checkout counter.
"lody, what are you doing here? I haven’t seen you in days!" Crystal Lynch said happily when she saw lody approach. "Your mom and uncle went to cut vines, and so did my dad and brother, so it’s just in the store."
lody saw a few people lining up at the checkout, so she went over to help Crystal.
Just as the temperature outside began to rise, Winnie Sumrs and Colin Sumrs returned. They were wearing thick plastic gloves, and their legs and arms were heavily wrapped.
"We’ve cleared the area around the supermarket, but this stuff grows so fast. We’ll have to clear it again in a few days," Winnie Sumrs said with a sigh.
’It’s a good thing it grows fast,’ lody thought. ’Otherwise, it wouldn’t be enough to feed the billions of people in the world.’
lody glanced at the shelves. Apart from so daily necessities like soap, the food section was almost completely empty.
The wide variety of snacks that used to line the shelves were all sold out, and there were no new shipnts coming in.
There were still so big-brand cookies, bread, and instant noodles from warehouses with large inventories, but the prices were sky-high. A family’s weekly ration allowance might not even be enough to buy ten packs of instant noodles.
What filled most of the shelves was rice and flour.
It seed the supplies that factories had rushed to produce had been completely consud over the past few months.
lody sighed at the sight. Now, her only hope was that the sand vine cakes would arrive soon.
While lody was lost in thought, Austin Hale’s mother walked into Crystal Mart alone.
Mrs. Hale was not as impulsive as her son. She had done her howork before coming. lody’s mother and uncle co-ran this supermarket, which had been converted into a supply point after the disaster.
Mrs. Hale was delighted to learn this. A supply point! It controlled the entire community’s provisions. The manager of the supply point in her own neighborhood was always strutting about, and everyone had to suck up to them.
If Austin married lody, her family would have in-laws working at the supply point. They would never have to worry about food again.
Mrs. Hale made up her mind. For the sake of the supplies, she would tolerate lody’s temper and help her son bring her ho as his wife.
Mrs. Hale knew that if she went to lody’s villa unannounced, lody wouldn’t open the door. So, she planned to start with lody’s mother and uncle first.
She hadn’t expected to run into lody herself right in the supermarket.
Mrs. Hale stood still, carefully sizing lody up. She saw that lody’s skin was fair, her clothes were clean, and her hair was fresh and dry. ’Looks like my son was right,’ Mrs. Hale thought. ’lody really is doing well for herself now.’
At this thought, Mrs. Hale couldn’t help but snort inwardly. ’lody is only living well now because she sold that school district apartnt to my son! That being the case, I have to move in with my son into her villa. That villa was bought with the money we mother and son scrimped and saved for years!’
Mrs. Hale straightened her clothes, put on a benevolent smile, and walked over in a few steps to grab lody’s hand, calling out affectionately, "Daughter-in-law!"
Startled by Mrs. Hale’s action, lody frantically shook her hand off. "You’ve got the wrong person."
Mrs. Hale wasn’t angry about being pushed away. She just kept smiling and said, "No mistake, no mistake at all. It’s you, lody. You are my daughter-in-law!"
lody shivered. The term "daughter-in-law" was starting to give her a stress reaction. ’How many is that now? Why do people keep trying to force into a marriage? What cri have single girls committed these days to be targeted by a bunch of leeches for no reason?’
lody frowned and took a closer look at Mrs. Hale’s face. It was obvious the woman hadn’t washed her face properly in a long ti; it was covered in dry, flaky skin. Her collar was yellowed, from either dirt or sweat, lody couldn’t tell.
lody confird again and again that she didn’t know this woman and found it strange that the woman knew her na.
Seeing this, Winnie Sumrs and Colin Sumrs rushed over, shielding lody protectively behind them as they watched Mrs. Hale with suspicion.
Winnie frowned and said to Mrs. Hale, "Ma’am, watch what you’re saying. My daughter is single!"
But Mrs. Hale grabbed Winnie’s arm and said affectionately, "You must be her mother, my dear in-law! My son, Austin Hale, and your daughter, lody, have been boyfriend and girlfriend since college. I’m not making things up. If you don’t believe , ask your daughter."
lody was stunned. She had been worried this woman was from the Lawson or Adler families, but she never expected her to be Austin Hale’s mother.
She had seen Austin on the surveillance footage looking all dapper and thought he’d really managed to turn his life around with the help of the Adler Group. But seeing the state his mother was in, their family must still be struggling financially.
Crystal Lynch ca over as well. She frowned and said, "Boyfriend and girlfriend? You’ve got so nerve. The whole school knew your son Austin Hale cheated on her! I can testify that they broke up a long ti ago."
Colin Sumrs quickly stepped forward, pulled Mrs. Hale’s hand off Winnie, and stood in front of his sister. "So you’re that punk’s mother, huh? Get lost, get lost! Your son has nothing to do with my niece. Stop trying to force a connection."
lody also let out a cold laugh. "Ma’am, don’t talk nonsense. Austin Hale and I were over ages ago. His next girlfriend was Joanne White. Don’t go around claiming random daughters-in-law."
Seeing the unfriendly looks from the Sumrs family, Mrs. Hale didn’t panic. She kept her smile and said sweetly, "Oh, Austin and that Joanne White broke up a long ti ago. That Joanne White is just a gold digger. She was always throwing herself at my son, but I never approved. I kicked her right out of our house!"
Then Mrs. Hale looked back at lody with a sincere expression. "lody, you’ve always been the only daughter-in-law our family recognizes. And Austin has never forgotten you. You two should get back together. Don’t worry, with watching him, he’ll never dare to do anything to wrong you again."
Hearing this, Colin’s expression changed instantly. He cursed, "What nonsense are you spewing, you old hag! Our lody isn’t a garbage collector, so why should she take your son off your hands?!"
With that, he lunged forward, grabbed Mrs. Hale’s arm, and started trying to drag her out.
Seeing that the soft approach had failed, Mrs. Hale imdiately switched tactics. She wrenched free from Colin’s grasp, threw herself on the floor, and started screaming, "Everyone, co and be the judge! This woman was with my son in college! To marry her, my son gave her four million to buy a villa! Now she’s taken the money and wants to break up with him! Is there any justice in this world?!"
The custors in the supermarket saw the commotion and crowded around to watch the show.
Seeing that she had drawn a crowd, Mrs. Hale was secretly pleased. She shouted at lody again, "The money for your villa was all from my son! What right do you have to break up with him?! I’m telling you, you have to marry my son and let us move in with you! If you don’t, I’ll sue you!"
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