Melody Summers didn’t say this just to get revenge for her past life by making things up. It was because, in that life, Gene Young and Yvonne York had been up to no good.

In her past life, the couple had taken advantage of their official positions to commit many illegal and corrupt acts.

They used the convenience of their roles to privately hold back government supplies, which they then sold on the black market.

Gene Young had gone completely insane. He used the supplies under his control to coerce and bribe many women, using them to entertain people he wanted to curry favor with. He had openly organized a prostitution ring.

Melody only knew about this because Robert Lancaster had also patronized Gene Young’s prostitution ring. Elaine Hughes found out, and the two had a huge fight.

Later, after an investigation by the head of the reconstruction department, the couple’s dealings were exposed. They were expelled from the community, and those two cancers were finally dealt with.

In this life, the couple had lost their chance to get an official position, but they still dared to openly scam people for winter coats. When their scam failed, they even threatened arson.

Melody was certain that couple was still up to something shady.

After more than a year of knowing each other, Officer Sean Pierce’s trust in Melody Summers had reached an unprecedented level.

Hearing her say this, he immediately nodded. "Alright, I’ll arrange for an investigation into that couple."

At his words, Melody finally felt relieved.

******

Leaving the emergency management office, Melody Summers slowly ambled home.

In the plaza, the panic caused by Gene Young and his wife had been quelled. The crowd had returned to an orderly state, and everyone was quietly lining up to receive their supplies.

Just then, Melody’s phone rang.

She picked it up and answered, "Hello?"

Sylvia Lancaster’s slightly panicked voice immediately came through the phone. "Melody Summers! My brother’s high fever won’t break! You need to bring us some fever medicine right now!"

Melody froze at her words. ’Simon is running a fever again?’

Melody thought back to her past life.

In her past life, when Simon had a fever, the Lancasters were at their wit’s end. It was Melody who had run out into a blizzard to find him fever medicine.

And what was the result?

Because the blizzard was so severe, Melody came down with a fever too after she got back.

After Simon took the medicine, his temperature dropped. The first thing he did when he woke up was thank Sylvia for taking care of him, completely ignoring Melody, who had braved the blizzard to get him the medicine.

Seeing Melody, who was delirious with a high fever, Simon even cursed her out for dragging the family down by getting sick.

Thinking of her past life, Melody gave a cold laugh and replied, "No. Figure it out yourselves."

Hearing this, Sylvia’s voice immediately shot up into a shriek on the other end of the line.

She demanded in a shrill voice, "Melody Summers! Did you not hear what I just said?! My brother is in serious danger right now! How can you just ignore him?!"

Melody just snorted coldly and said nothing.

When Melody didn’t respond, Sylvia continued anxiously, "Do you have any idea that he’s been running this fever for a whole day and night? We’ve tried everything to bring his temperature down, but it won’t break! If this goes on, he won’t make it!"

The ice packs worked a little at first, bringing the fever down a bit, but it shot right back up again.

Simon’s fever is at 40 degrees Celsius now. Without any medicine, he’s just been lying in bed, moaning in pain.

The more Sylvia spoke, the more frantic she became, the words tumbling out as she blamed Melody. "Melody Summers, this is all your fault!"

"If you hadn’t refused to give up the house, my brother and I wouldn’t have been forced to go up on the roof to shovel snow."

"And if we hadn’t shoveled snow, he wouldn’t have caught a chill and gotten a fever!"

"Melody Summers, you’ve done this to him! Doesn’t your conscience bother you at all?"

Listening to Sylvia’s hysterical accusations, Melody just found her noisy.

So Melody just gave a flat "Oh," and said with a shrug, "Say whatever you want."

Hearing Melody’s reply, Sylvia’s eyes widened in disbelief.

’Melody really doesn’t care if Simon lives or dies?!’

’How could this be?!’

Sylvia remembered that in their past life, when Simon had a fever, Melody had risked her life, braving a blizzard to find him medicine.

Melody was someone who valued family ties immensely. Sylvia couldn’t understand why she would refuse this time around.

Sylvia’s tone became accusatory again. "Melody Summers, no matter what, he’s still your own brother! How can you just abandon him?!"

Melody scoffed at that. "My own brother? Simon said he only has one sister—you. Whether he lives or dies has nothing to do with me."

Sylvia said in disbelief, "How can you say that?! You’re too cold-hearted!"

Melody replied, "If I’m cold-hearted, what’s it to you?"

With that, Melody ignored Sylvia on the other end and hung up the phone.

’Simon is sick, and the Lancasters don’t know how to find fever medicine, so why are they calling me?’ she muttered to herself.

’Go ask a neighbor, buy it on the black market, find a scalper... There are so many options, why come to me?’

’And then there’s Sylvia. Ever since she fell off that building and hit her head, her behavior has gotten stranger and stranger.’

’Last time she came to my door demanding the house, and now she’s calling to demand fever medicine.’

’The way she’s acting... it reminds me of the Sylvia from my past life... ’

Melody shook her head, pushing the strange thought to the back of her mind.

...

After hanging up, Melody, bored and with nothing to do, casually scrolled through The Metropolis Residences’ homeowner group chat.

"7-901 Adventurous Lawson: So happy! I finally got my cold-weather supplies, I’m ecstatic! The padded jacket and snow boots are so thick! Government-issued, top-quality stuff!"

"7-901 Adventurous Lawson: I also used my supply allowance to get two thick quilts and a blanket. Each quilt weighs a full five kilograms, so we should be able to get through the winter safely now!"

"7-408 Gone with the Wind: We still have quilts at home, so I redeemed a small stove and some solid fuel tablets."

"12-1803 AAA Lawson Building Materials - Closed: @7-408 Gone with the Wind That solid fuel isn’t worth it! One tablet only burns for a few dozen minutes."

"7-408 Gone with the Wind: @12-1803 AAA Lawson Building Materials - Closed I know. The solid fuel is just to help get the fire started. We still have some charcoal we stockpiled earlier."

"4-2009 Nina: @7-408 Gone with the Wind But burning charcoal is really dangerous! You should just use the AC!"

"7-408 Gone with the Wind: @4-2009 Nina That’s what I was about to say. My AC won’t even start anymore. It just gives a defrosting error as soon as I turn it on."

"4-2009 Nina: @7-408 Gone with the Wind Huh? How come? Is it broken?" 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"7-408 Gone with the Wind: We checked the manual later. It says that when the outdoor temperature is minus ten degrees Celsius, the AC’s low-temperature protection kicks in and it can’t produce heat."

"2-1908 Coco: @7-408 Gone with the Wind That’s right. The AC’s performance depends on the outdoor temperature."

"2-1908 Coco: As long as it’s not below minus five Celsius, the heat pumped in by the compressor is still decent. Below minus ten, the compressor will heat for five minutes and then defrost for ten. If the temperature gets any lower, it runs entirely on auxiliary electric heat, and there’s really no point in turning it on."