The group hurried to Silas Lancaster’s room on the top floor of the villa. Following his directions, they found a crack that had appeared on the white, window-side wall.

Seeing this, Sylvia Lancaster slapped her forehead. ’This is bad,’ she thought.

By now, the heavy snow had been falling for several hours, piling a thick layer on the villa’s roof.

If it were ordinary snow, a layer this thick wouldn’t have been heavy enough to collapse the house.

But this black snow was mixed with particles of volcanic ash, making it more than ten times heavier than normal snowflakes.

The Lancaster family’s villa was quite old. If they didn’t clear the roof promptly, it could very well be crushed by the weight of the black snow!

In her past life, Melody Summers had been there. She would have regularly climbed onto the roof to clear the accumulating snow.

In this life, Melody wasn’t with the Lancaster family, so Sylvia had almost forgotten about it!

Elaine Hughes saw the crack and asked anxiously, "What are we going to do?! Our villa isn’t going to collapse, is it?!"

Robert Lancaster was just as frantic watching a crack appear in his beloved villa. He was so agitated that beads of sweat formed on his temples.

Simon Lancaster said with a grim expression, "It must be too much snow piled up. Mom, Dad, don’t worry. I’ll go up and clear it off."

Sylvia Lancaster, wanting to score points with Robert and Elaine, quickly chimed in, "Brother, I’ll help you!"

Silas Lancaster wanted to help too, but...

Melody Summers had injured his leg before. Although he had surgery and his recovery had been relatively successful, for some reason, his leg had started to ache faintly ever since the snow began.

So, Silas could only give up the idea of going up to help shovel snow.

Simon and Sylvia got the snow removal tools ready and prepared to go up to the roof.

They cautiously opened the door, and a blast of bone-chilling wind hit them, making them shudder involuntarily.

The two of them were a pampered young master and miss from a wealthy family who had never done this kind of work before. They struggled to climb onto the roof, nearly slipping and falling off several times.

After finally making it onto the roof, Simon and Sylvia looked at the thick layer of black snow before them with a sense of helplessness. Still, they gritted their teeth, picked up their shovels, and began to clear it.

By the time they finally managed to shovel the accumulated snow to the ground, both of them were exhausted. Their clothes were soaked with sweat, and their hands and feet were numb from the cold.

Sylvia rubbed her sore wrists and glanced up at the sky.

The wind and snow had stopped for now, and a quiet stillness returned to the world.

But Sylvia knew this was only temporary. In a little while, the snow would start falling again.

’This can’t go on!’ Sylvia thought, panting. ’I have to convince Robert and Elaine to move to a new place as soon as possible!’

******

Meanwhile, taking advantage of the lull in the snowfall, Melody Summers and Grace Sutton also returned to their villa to clear the "black snow" piled on the roof.

The two of them worked quickly and efficiently. In no time, they had cleared the entire thick layer of black snow from the villa’s roof.

Melody brushed the remaining snow from her pant legs, then looked up at Grace Sutton. "Auntie, let’s head back quickly. The snow will start up again soon."

Grace thought for a moment, then said hesitantly, "If we have to, I can stay here at the villa for a couple of days..."

Grace was also worried that the villa would be crushed by the snow laden with volcanic ash.

She still remembered how, just a few months ago when the volcano had first erupted, tons upon tons of volcanic ash had caused one of the world’s tallest landmarks to collapse under the weight.

The memory still frightened Grace!

She wanted to stay here temporarily so that when the snow started again, she could go up and clear it away at a moment’s notice.

But Melody shook her head and replied, "There’s no need, Auntie. People are more important than houses. Let’s go back for now." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Melody had only come to clear the snow as a precaution and to do one last check of the surrounding area.

In her memory, she had never heard of any villas in The Metropolis Residences collapsing from snow in her past life. The construction quality of the homes in the community must have been quite good, and the property management office would also organize teams to clear the snow in a timely manner.

Grace listened to whatever Melody said these days, so after hearing her explanation, she didn’t insist.

The two of them walked back toward the residential area. Along the way, they saw many staff members from the property management office out with shovels and brooms, clearing snow during the break in the weather.

Most of them were bundled up tightly, chattering away as they cleared the black snow:

"It’s been almost two years since we’ve had any rain or snow, right? To be honest, I’d almost forgotten what snow was like!"

"I’ve forgotten what snow is like too, but I know it’s definitely not like this—who’s ever heard of black snow!"

"Yeah, when I heard the experts say there’d be a blizzard, I was actually pretty happy. I thought I could finally collect some snowmelt to take a bath. But I never expected the snow to be black! Look at this color, it’s dirtier than me, and I haven’t bathed in half a year!"

"They said on TV it’s volcanic ash from the atmosphere falling with the snowflakes. Hey, have you guys noticed? The sky seems brighter than before!"

"You know, I think you’re right. Before, the sky was pitch-black. Now it doesn’t seem so dark, and you can even make out a faint glow."

Melody looked up at the sky and also felt that the blackness had faded considerably. At this rate, Terra would soon welcome a long-awaited dawn.

******

Just as Melody Summers and Grace Sutton got home, the personnel who were there to install the garbage incineration unit arrived at their door.

’I didn’t expect Officer Roman Rhodes to be so fast,’ Melody thought. ’He just mentioned it this morning, and someone is already here to install it.’

The Summers Family warmly welcomed the installation technicians into their home, along with the state-of-the-art household garbage incineration unit they brought with them.

The machine wasn’t very large, standing a little over a meter tall.

It was an all-in-one unit, which made installation very convenient.

The technicians secured the machine, connected the exhaust pipe, and the installation was complete.

After finishing, the technicians enthusiastically began to explain the machine to the Summers Family:

"This household waste incinerator is a new product from our company. It holds a national patent for its ability to process wet waste, like kitchen scraps!"

"You just pour leftovers and other kitchen waste into the feed inlet on top, and the unit will operate automatically."

"First, it shreds and dehydrates the kitchen waste. Then, the dried food residue is spirally conveyed to the slag bucket, which reduces the overall volume of the garbage."

"The remaining oil-water mixture enters an oil-water separation chamber."

"The separated oil passes through a three-stage grease trap system. The extracted oil has a purity of over 99% and can be used directly as household fuel!"

"The remaining water is treated to meet the national Level 3 discharge standard, so it can be drained directly into the sewer without causing pollution."

"Dry waste and food residue can be incinerated directly. The combustion chamber is sealed, and the gases produced during incineration are first purified through a filter before being released through the exhaust vent."

"The filter is self-cleaning, so you don’t have to worry about clogs causing safety issues!"

Listening to the technicians’ introduction, the Summers Family grew more and more pleased with the machine.

With this machine, they would no longer have to worry about their household waste problem for the time being!

After paying the technicians, Melody Summers and Grace Sutton politely saw them out of the apartment building.

...

A short while later, the black snow outside started to fall again.

As the black snow drifted down, the sky grew brighter and brighter.

Just as Melody and Grace were standing by the elevators, waiting, they suddenly heard a voice from behind them—

"Well, look who it is!"

Melody and Grace turned around and saw a familiar face.

It was Mrs. Vance, who lived in unit 1505, right below the Summers family!