...

Meanwhile, Melody Summers was helping to cook rice porridge.

After two years of natural disasters, the earth yielded nothing. Granaries across the globe had been depleted, making every single grain of rice exceptionally precious.

Winnie Summers was carefully pouring a bag of rice into the pot when she suddenly heard the sound of footsteps and shouting—

"Help! Something’s wrong!"

A few people from the emergency office looked up at the sound and saw a man in a white down jacket running toward them.

His face was a mask of anxiety. "Something’s wrong!" he said to the staff. "There’s a fight in the secondary bedroom! You can hear them wailing and screaming through the door. You have to go check it out, quickly!"

Melody Summers was startled. Winnie had just told her about a commotion caused by a resident in another room who complained their stove wasn’t hot enough. ’And now there’s more trouble!’

Melody followed the emergency office staff to apartment 2305. As soon as they neared the secondary bedroom, they heard waves of screams coming from inside.

A crowd had gathered at the door. Not only the residents staying in the living room, but even those from the master and guest bedrooms had come over to see what the commotion was about.

Seeing the crowd, Winnie Summers hurried forward. "Everyone, don’t just stand here! Disperse, now!"

Colin Summers added, "That’s right, don’t crowd around. You could get accidentally hurt!"

The Lynch father and son, along with two other staff members, quickly dispersed the residents, preventing them from crowding the doorway. Winnie stepped forward and opened the door to the secondary bedroom.

The moment the door swung open, the scene inside left everyone stunned—

A group of people were tangled in a brawl. Or rather, it was a one-sided beatdown.

The room was in complete disarray. Two suitcases lay open on the floor, their contents strewn everywhere.

Two men were rummaging through them for food. Like starving wolves, they tore through the bags and ate as they searched, leaving wrappers from compressed biscuits and food scraps all over the place.

In a corner, a man with glasses had Ivy Draper pinned beneath him, trying to rip off her fur coat. Ivy struggled with all her might, but the difference in strength was too great. All she could do was let out desperate, choked sobs.

Meanwhile, a long-haired man and another in a black down jacket were holding Jim Sheffield against the wall, repeatedly punching him in the head. Jim’s bald head was covered in blood—a shocking sight, as if his skull had been cracked open.

Maisie Lynch, who had been cowering and trembling in a corner, instinctively looked up when the door opened, her eyes meeting Melody Summers’s.

Melody gave Maisie a subtle wave. Understanding the signal, Maisie immediately got up and slipped out of the room, hugging the wall.

Seeing their chance, Chloe Sharp and Frank York also scrambled out, clutching a camera. The situation was out of control, and they had no intention of sticking around to get caught in the crossfire.

When he saw the emergency office staff arrive, Jim Sheffield cried out, "Help me! These people are trying to rob and kill me! You have to save me!"

The words had barely left his mouth when the long-haired man landed a vicious punch on his face. A spray of blood and spittle flew from Jim Sheffield’s mouth.

Winnie Summers, Colin Summers, and the Lynch father and son rushed forward. They pulled the long-haired man and the one in the black down jacket away, rescuing Jim Sheffield.

The other emergency staff took the opportunity to subdue the two men who had been looting for food. Even as they were pinned down, the pair remained completely unfazed, continuing to chew mouthfuls of food with a defiance that seemed to say, ’If I’m going to die, I’ll die on a full stomach.’

The man with glasses saw his accomplices being subdued and two more emergency staff members approaching him. "Don’t come any closer!" he snarled. "Get out!"

With that, he pulled a kitchen cleaver from his clothes. To everyone’s horror, he pressed it against Ivy Draper’s neck and shouted, "Stay back! One more step and I’ll kill her!"

With the cold, gleaming blade pressed firmly against her throat, Ivy Draper’s face turned white as a sheet. Tears welled in her eyes, but she didn’t dare move a muscle. Even her screams were trapped in her throat, terrified that the slightest movement would make the blade slice into her.

Winnie Summers’s expression changed. She silently slipped a hand into her pocket, her fingers inconspicuously finding the pistol within. "What do you think you’re doing?" she said in a low, firm voice. "Don’t be reckless!"

Colin Summers added urgently, "Don’t do anything crazy! If you dare to kill her, you won’t get away either! Think about what you’re doing!"

The man with glasses snorted, glaring at the emergency office staff. "All of you, shut the hell up!" he roared. "I’ve had enough of this! Why do these people get to eat and drink their fill while I’m stuck eating those damn sand vine cakes? It’s not fair!"

Although his words came out of nowhere, the scattered food wrappers on the ground made the situation clear to everyone.

Colin Summers quickly said, "You’ve already eaten their food, is there any need to hurt anyone else? Let her go!"

Harvey Jennings, standing nearby, chimed in, "That’s right! I’m warning you, if someone dies, this whole situation changes! Think carefully and don’t do something you can’t take back!"

The man with glasses tightened his grip on the cleaver and roared at Harvey, "You shut your mouth!"

Then, he turned to the crowd of residents watching from outside. "Neighbors, look at these cans on the ground! And these compressed biscuits and pickled vegetables! This couple brought all of it with them!"

He then pointed a finger at Harvey Jennings and shouted, "We all saw it just now! This couple knows someone in the emergency office! That’s why they get to live the high life!"

"Don’t you get it, neighbors? Why do they get to eat so well? It’s because the disaster relief supplies the government sent for us have been embezzled by the people in the emergency office!"

Hearing this, Harvey Jennings panicked. ’I just know Director Sheffield, so I arranged a decent room for him to do him a favor. I never embezzled any supplies!’

’This guy is just spreading rumors to incite the crowd!’

Sure enough, the man’s words caused an immediate uproar.

The long-haired man, still pinned down by the Lynch father and son, seized the chance to shout, "He’s right! I can vouch for him! Neighbors, we’ve all been fooled by the emergency office! They’re holding back our supplies and only giving us sand vine cakes!"

His words were like a bombshell dropped in the quiet living room. The residents were shocked and immediately began whispering amongst themselves—

"Is that true? Did the emergency office really hold back our supplies?"

"No way... The people from the emergency office in our complex have always been good to us. They wouldn’t do something like that..."

"Why not? Think about it! The emergency office staff received all the government supplies this time. None of us saw what was delivered, so none of us knows what was in there... If they wanted to skim a little off the top, how would we ever know?"

"Now that you mention it, I remember a few of the emergency staff don’t even live here. You think they stole a bunch of coal to take home and live it up?"

"Do you have any proof, or are you just talking nonsense?"

"..."

Arguments broke out in the crowd, with voices saying all sorts of things.

Seeing his chance, the man with glasses decided to strike while the iron was hot. "Brothers! There are so many of us! Why should we let these corrupt bastards push us around?! Let’s unite! Take down the emergency office! Take back the supplies that belong to us!"