Chapter 372: Chapter 372: A New Business Opportunity

Many buyers who failed to get anything flocked to the comments to wail in despair:

[Buyer xxx: Are you kidding me? It sold out in seconds?]

[Buyer xxx: Can’t you stock more? Rhodes puts up at least 100,000 every time. Why is your production so low?]

[Buyer xxx: How did it sell out so fast again?? Even I couldn’t get one, and I’ve never failed at snagging concert tickets! I bet you anything the people who got one were using bots!]

[Buyer xxx: It was sold out in the blink of an eye. Are there any more? Please restock! I’ve been waiting forever for you to list something!]

[Buyer xxx: Hello, I bought a chicken from you before, and my kid can’t stop talking about it. If you have any more in stock, could you send me a few? I’ll pay you directly.]

[Buyer xxx: My boss has had me watching your store for over half a month. I finally saw something get listed, and I was just about to place an order. How did it sell out so fast?]

[Buyer xxx: I can’t seem to get one. Can I preorder from you? I’m willing to pay extra for 30 chickens.]

[...]

Looking at all the people begging for restocks and preorders, Melody Summers felt a little helpless.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to make money; she just didn’t have a choice.

She only had so many adult chickens and ducks on the farm. The rest were all little chicks and ducklings running around everywhere. It would be a while before they were grown.

Melody Summers planned to butcher some fragrant miniature pigs, cattle, and sheep in a couple of days to make it up to the buyers who missed out.

Several sows had given birth recently, and little piglets were now oinking and squealing all over the place.

The cattle and sheep had also given birth twice, and several cows and ewes were pregnant again.

With several new calves and lambs, the daily feed cost was enormous. Melody Summers had already used up more than half of the corn and soybeans she had stockpiled.

Without letting them out to graze from time to time, the corn and soybeans in the warehouse probably wouldn’t be enough to feed them.

Butchering a few now would also help save on feeding costs.

Melody Summers continued to scroll through the buyer comments, calculating things in her head.

While the buyers who missed out were wailing, those who succeeded had their own worries:

[Buyer xxx: I managed to get 5 chickens and 5 ducks. Can you really deliver them to my door? Other stores I bought from said they couldn’t deliver. With this weather, even heavy-duty drones can’t fly.]

[Buyer xxx: Is it still drone delivery? My family moved to a high-rise, and all our windows and doors have security bars. We can’t get out right now, so how are you going to deliver?]

[...]

After reading these messages, Melody Summers replied to them one by one in order:

[Arcadia: No problem, we can deliver. Please open a window, and the items will be delivered through it. If all your windows have security bars, we will place your order at your front door. Please retrieve it promptly. We are not responsible for lost items.]

After replying, Melody Summers started packing and had Albus handle the shipping.

This time, they couldn’t be bothered with flying the drones back and forth. They simply had the drones carrying the packages flash into existence above the buyers’ windows or in front of their doors, drop the packages, and then teleport back.

The person and cat worked in perfect sync, and the 600-plus chickens and ducks were soon all sent out.

As for whether this method would expose them, Melody Summers couldn’t be bothered with that anymore.

She muttered to herself, "We’re already in a natural disaster. Instantaneously delivering a package isn’t too over-the-top, is it...?"

Processing this batch of chickens and ducks took all morning. In the blink of an eye, it was lunchtime.

Melody Summers picked up Albus and walked out of her room to the dining room. A dish of glistening, braised pork ribs was already on the table.

Just then, Grace Sutton came out carrying a plate of sweet and sour carp. Seeing Melody Summers standing at the table, she said with a smile, "Go wash your hands. We’re about to eat!"

Melody Summers was taken aback. "Aren’t we waiting for Mom and Uncle to get back before we eat?"

Winnie Summers and Colin Summers had gone to the community boiler room this morning and hadn’t returned yet.

Grace Sutton shook her head and replied, "They’re still at the boiler room figuring out the heating. They won’t be back for lunch. They just called and told us to eat first."

Today’s lunch was quite lavish. Besides the braised pork ribs and sweet and sour carp, there was also stir-fried water spinach, stir-fried pork with chili peppers, and braised prawns in oil.

Melody Summers gave Albus a piece of the sweet and sour carp. Seeing it eat with great relish, she couldn’t help but smile faintly.

Then, she picked up a piece for herself. The sweet and sour flavor instantly filled her mouth. The fish was tender and fresh, a perfect combination with the sauce that left a delightful aftertaste.

Melody Summers couldn’t help but exclaim, "This sweet and sour fish is delicious!"

Grace Sutton chuckled and placed a piece of fish into Melody Summers’s bowl. "Here, have some more," she said. "I hear the oceans are all frozen over now. They say the ice is several meters thick, and a lot of countries have sent icebreakers, but it’s no use. The fact that our family can still eat fish and shrimp like this... other people probably can’t even dream of it!"

When the Summers family moved, they had scooped up a lot of fish and shrimp from the pond in their villa’s backyard and were keeping them in bathtubs and fish tanks. Because they were filled with water from the Arcadian Stream, the fish and shrimp were still alive and kicking.

Melody Summers chuckled at her words and said teasingly, "Aunt Grace, carp don’t live in the ocean. Whether the seas are frozen or not has no bearing on whether we can eat carp."

Hearing this, Grace Sutton made a "Hmph" sound and replied, "I was just making a point! During the heatwave a while back, the news was always reporting that rich people were spending fortunes on deep-sea fishing just to eat seafood. Now that the oceans are frozen, they can’t get any!"

The rich couldn’t get seafood, but the Summers family could. Grace Sutton felt a little smug about that.

Hearing her aunt say this, Melody Summers’s eyes suddenly lit up—the frozen oceans...

The oceans in the real world might be frozen, but the sea in the Arcadian Space wasn’t!

Melody Summers thought to herself, ’Now that the rich can’t get fish and shrimp, if I could catch some seafood and sell it in the shop, I could probably get a great price for it!’

At this thought, Melody Summers started eating faster. She decided to go to the Arcadian Sea to catch seafood right after lunch!

Just then, Grace Sutton, who was sitting beside her, said, "Quick, look at the community group chat! They’re saying the heating seems to be on in our complex!"

The other three looked up, exchanged glances, and saw confusion in each other’s eyes. ’The heating is on?’

The Summers family was using their own wall-mounted boiler, which burned natural gas for heat, so they had no idea if the community heating had been turned on.

Melody Summers quickly pulled out her phone, opened the residents’ group chat, and started reading:

"6-702 The Lover: ...Am I so cold I’m hallucinating? ...Why do I suddenly feel a little warm in here?"

"4-1009 Lowell On Deadline: @6-702 The Lover Maybe you are."

"6-702 The Lover: @4-1009 Lowell On Deadline I’m serious, I’m not kidding. It really does feel a bit warmer now!"

"4-1009 Lowell On Deadline: @6-702 The Lover I’m serious too. Haven’t you read the science?"

"4-1009 Lowell On Deadline: Before freezing to death, a person’s thermoregulatory center becomes paralyzed. This causes hallucinations of feeling very hot, leading them to take off all their clothes. It’s called paradoxical undressing."

"6-702 The Lover: ..."

"6-702 The Lover: @4-1009 Lowell On Deadline Forget it. I can’t explain it to you."

"6-702 The Lover: Hey neighbors, doesn’t anyone else feel it? It doesn’t seem as cold as before. Did the temperature go up?!"