A dead silence fell over the villa’s living room. Everyone was stunned by Melody Summers’s words.

Elaine Hughes’s eyes filled with tears. She shook her head, murmuring, "No, no, Melody. Please don’t throw another tantrum just because you’re jealous of Sylvia..."

Robert Lancaster slammed his hand on the table. "You brat! How dare you speak to your own parents like that! Is this how your adoptive mother raised you? Do you have any idea what filial piety is!"

Melody Summers ignored them, turning directly to Mr. Sutton. "And as for some people, why are they so obsessed with these arranged marriages based on bloodlines? We already have two girls here who turned out not to be biologically related to their parents. Are certain people so sure their own children are their flesh and blood? Are they so sure their children’s children will be, too?"

Upon hearing this, Mr. Sutton’s eye twitched violently. He glared at Melody Summers, his face instantly turning beetroot red.

With that said, Melody Summers ignored the palette of colorful faces in the room and turned to leave without a backward glance.

Silas Lancaster, who was at the door, was also left dumbfounded by Melody’s speech. But he quickly snapped out of it and reached out to grab her hair. "How dare you talk to Mom and Dad like that? Are you trying to hurt them just because you’re jealous of Sylvia? Apologize to them right now!"

Before his right hand could touch Melody Summers’s long hair, he suddenly felt a piercing pain shoot through his entire right arm and down the right side of his body, as if he were being stabbed by countless needles. Then, that entire side of his body went numb, followed by a wave of excruciating pain.

"Aaaah—"

Watching Silas Lancaster collapse to the side, Melody Summers expressionlessly tucked the taser back into her pocket. She briefly observed his condition. ’Looks like this taser is pretty effective on people.’ With that, Melody quickly strode out of the Lancaster Villa.

*

On the way home, Melody Summers silently reviewed the relationship between Sylvia Lancaster and Ethan Sutton in her mind.

In her past life, the couple had been madly in love at first. Ethan Sutton had wanted nothing more than to announce to the whole world the tragic, beautiful, and angsty love story of how he and Sylvia were star-crossed lovers, destined to never be together.

However, during the extreme heat of the apocalypse’s first year, the Lancaster Family, whose business was in the tourism industry, went to the brink of bankruptcy. Seeing that the Lancasters were beyond saving, the Sutton Family stopped funding the Lancaster Group and pulled out just in time. Consequently, the engagement between Melody Summers and Ethan Sutton was thus annulled.

Later, the Lancaster Family’s assets were liquidated. Nearly all their property was seized, leaving them with only two houses and the small dowry Elaine Hughes had hidden away from before her marriage.

Although the Sutton Family didn’t suffer as miserably as the Lancasters, several of their real estate projects also went under due to the natural disasters. Having already exhausted a significant amount of cash flow to support the Lancaster Group, they were unable to repay their bank loans. Mr. Sutton, seeing the writing on the wall, preemptively filed for bankruptcy upon hearing rumors of government-mandated liquidations. It was a desperate move to save what they could, but it preserved some of the assets held in his family members’ names.

By the time the extreme heat subsided, both families had been kicked out of the circle of the ultra-wealthy.

Freed from the shackles of family interests, Sylvia Lancaster and Ethan Sutton still didn’t end up together.

Sylvia Lancaster began to ignore Ethan Sutton and instead actively pursued another wealthy heir, Flynn Adler.

Before the apocalypse, Sylvia Lancaster had looked down on Flynn Adler; after all, the Adler Group was just a small company. But during the apocalypse, with its extreme heat and water shortages, the Adler Family made a fortune with their seawater desalination technology, their prominence quickly eclipsing that of the Lancaster and Sutton Families.

So, Sylvia began fawning over Flynn Adler, but he was mostly indifferent to her, treating her as just another fish in his sea.

It wasn’t until Sylvia accidentally acquired a dimensional space, developed a cure for the pandemic, and brought the Lancaster Family back from the brink of ruin that Flynn Adler finally acknowledged her as his official girlfriend.

Sylvia Lancaster despised Melody Summers. To get revenge on Sylvia’s behalf, Flynn Adler had Melody delivered to the bed of a gang leader.

Lost in thought, Melody Summers arrived at her front door.

’My family should be asleep by now.’ Melody quietly pushed the door open, only to find Winnie Summers sitting on the living room sofa.

"Mom, why are you still up?" Melody Summers asked, surprised.

"I, I... I was just about to go to bed," Winnie Summers answered, flustered.

A pang of sadness suddenly hit Melody. She closed the distance in two steps and hugged Winnie. "Mom, were you waiting up for me? Were you afraid I wasn’t coming back?"

Winnie Summers shook her head. "Melody, I’ve been thinking a lot. The Lancaster Family’s circumstances are so much better than ours. They can give you so many resources and connections that I can’t. If you go back to them, it would be the best thing for your future..."

"Mom, I’m not going to the Lancaster Family," Melody cut in. "I didn’t actually go there for dinner today. I went to tell the Lancasters that I am absolutely not going back. I want them to write a formal statement severing all ties, because I truly want nothing to do with them."

Winnie Summers hadn’t expected her to be so resolute. "But going back to the Lancasters really would make your future easier," she said, surprised. "And besides, they are your biological parents, after all. You share their blood..."

"They are not my parents," Melody said firmly. "I have my own mother. I don’t want someone else’s."

"Besides, they’re horrible to me. Mom, do you know why they asked me over today? They wanted to sell me off, to marry me to a man I don’t even know. They didn’t even tell me beforehand; they just had the man’s parents come to inspect me. In their eyes, I’m just a piece of cargo."

"Mom, with a mercenary family like the Lancasters, do you really think anything good would come of me going back there? You think they can give me resources, but in their eyes, *I* am the resource. I’m the bargaining chip they use to trade for their own benefit. They couldn’t care less about the future or fate of a bargaining chip."

Seeing the shocked and fearful look in Winnie’s eyes, Melody’s tone softened, becoming almost wheedling. "Mom, I haven’t had a single bite to eat today. And you know, I’ve never eaten a single grain of rice from the Lancaster family in my entire life. By what right do they get to be my parents?"

"You haven’t eaten? Are you hungry?" Winnie asked with concern. "I’ll go make you something."

She then stood up and headed for the kitchen.

A short while later, Melody was eating a bowl of steaming hot noodles. The broth was clear, topped with tender greens, fragrant pan-fried meat rolls, and a soft-boiled egg with a runny yolk. Melody was already starving, so she devoured it.

Hearing the noise, Miss Lowell also came downstairs.

She quietly pulled Winnie aside. "The bonds between parents and children are decided by fate. What’s yours is yours. No one can take it away, and even if they try, it’ll find its way back to you. You need to put your heart at ease. If you keep overthinking things like this, it puts Melody in a difficult position, too."

Winnie wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and nodded gently. "Miss Lowell, I understand. I won’t overthink things anymore. Please, don’t worry."