The property management office staff were scared out of their wits when they heard a building had collapsed. They rushed over to assess the situation and breathed a collective sigh of relief upon learning no one was injured. They had already reported it to the relevant authorities and were now chattering all at once about how to handle compensation and repairs.

Melody Summers gasped and quickly pulled out her phone to check the group chat:

"4-1209 SlackingOff: That scared me to death! It felt like an earthquake just now. I was just sitting in my room and felt the whole building shake a few times. I can’t believe the balcony is gone!"

"12-1803AAA Lawson’s Building Supplies: Does that family have no common sense? Don’t they know balconies have a limited weight capacity? Why would they stack all their supplies in one spot? If they had just spread them out across the rooms, this wouldn’t have happened."

"4-2009 Nina: I’m on the 20th floor and I still felt the ground shake. It was terrifying. Good thing it was the balcony that fell and not a bedroom or living room, otherwise imagine the casualties! Speaking of which, how much stuff did they hoard to break right through the floor?"

"4-1209 SlackingOff: I heard they had hundreds of cases of mineral water alone, plus a ton of other drinks. It was all stacked up to the ceiling. Of course it was going to collapse."

"2-1908 Coco: Say what you will, but 4-1009 must have some serious connections. Mineral water is sold out everywhere right now—you can’t buy it even if you have the money—but they managed to hoard so much in one go."

"6-702 The Lover: Sigh, I’m all out of the mineral water I bought. If I had known, I would have stocked up on more."

"12-1803AAA Lawson’s Building Supplies: So many floors collapsed at once. How much is that going to cost in damages?"

"4-1209 SlackingOff: It probably won’t be too bad. After all, it’s just the balconies, which are easier to repair. Plus, several of the affected units are vacant. I snuck downstairs to take a look, and a lot of the owners have already agreed to accept the supplies from the 10th floor as compensation. The property management is already distributing the goods to those families."

"..."

Melody Summers scrolled through the messages as she walked. When she reached Crystal Mart, she saw two police officers inside the store.

"Mom, what’s going on?" Melody asked in surprise.

"Crystal came to open up this morning and found signs that the lock had been tampered with," Winnie Summers said, her voice tinged with worry. "We called the police right away."

Crystal Lynch nodded. "We checked the surveillance footage and saw two people trying to pick the lock last night. Thank goodness we reinforced the door and installed a security lock before. They tried for a long time but couldn’t get it open, so they left. If they had..." A shiver went down Crystal’s spine just thinking about it.

The young police officer taking notes looked up at them and said, "You’re lucky your lock is secure and the door is reinforced. On top of that, the two thieves last night weren’t professionals, which is why they couldn’t get it open. You have no idea how many supermarket security doors are being smashed in every night these days."

The older officer added, "We’ve already received several reports from supermarkets this morning. Yours is the only one that wasn’t broken into. The others were completely cleaned out."

With the community’s surveillance cameras and the fact that the two clumsy thieves hadn’t even tried to hide from them, the police quickly identified the suspects. To their surprise, it was the owner of unit 1706 in Building 5.

Melody Summers and Crystal Lynch went with the two officers to handle the matter.

The police knocked on the door of 1706. A young man and woman answered.

An officer addressed the young woman. "You’re Diana Warren, the owner of 1706, correct? You and your male companion are suspected of attempted burglary for trying to break into Crystal Mart last night. We’re here to ask you a few questions."

"No, it wasn’t us! We don’t know anything!" Diana Warren said frantically.

"Yeah, we don’t know. It wasn’t us," her boyfriend chimed in, shaking his head.

"The surveillance footage is perfectly clear. It was you. You didn’t even change your clothes, and you still dare to deny it! I’ll give you one more chance. Confess now and you’ll be treated with leniency. Otherwise, you can come explain it down at the station," the officer said, his expression stern.

Diana Warren crumpled to the floor, sobbing. "We can barely afford to eat. It was just a moment of greed, we weren’t thinking straight. Please, let us go. We’re honest people, we’ve never done anything bad before. Please believe me."

Diana Warren wailed, and her boyfriend stood beside her, bowing his head and admitting fault over and over.

"You’re that ’Ah Dian’ from 5-1706 in the group chat, aren’t you?" Crystal Lynch suddenly realized.

Melody also had a vague memory of this Ah Dian. ’Isn’t that the owner of 1706? She used to stir up trouble in the group chat all the time, complaining about the prices at Crystal Mart. I can’t believe she’d actually try to steal from it.’

Terrified, Diana Warren just kept crying and apologizing to Melody and Crystal. She tearfully explained that she had been laid off in April. The water and electricity bills were too expensive now, and with prices rising constantly, she was barely getting by on her savings.

Her boyfriend had been working in a factory, but he lost his job after the factory had its power rationed. He couldn’t stay in the company dormitory anymore, so he had come to The Metropolis Residences to live with her.

With both of them unemployed, the financial pressure was immense. The current price hikes had left them in a constant state of panic. So, they hatched a plan to sneak out at night, pick the supermarket lock, and take some food.

But neither of them had any experience with lockpicking. After trying for a long time without success, they had no choice but to slink back home empty-handed.

After hearing them out, the officer said, "Burglary normally carries a sentence of up to three years. However, considering this was an attempted theft and your first offense, you should give the shop owners a sincere apology. As long as they forgive you, we won’t detain you this time. But if you do it again, we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law!"

"Yes, yes! We’ll never do it again! Please, forgive us! We really weren’t in our right minds!" Diana Warren and her boyfriend cried.

Melody and Crystal exchanged a look. ’Things are chaotic right now, with thefts and robberies happening frequently. Police resources are stretched thin, and the detention centers probably don’t want to waste food on more inmates. For a minor first offense like this, they usually don’t detain people.’ So, they accepted the outcome.

Seeing that Melody and Crystal weren’t going to press charges, Diana and her boyfriend thanked them profusely, promising they would never dare to do it again.

The group returned to Crystal Mart, and the case was closed. The officers had to hurry back to handle other cases.

As they saw the two officers out, the older one advised, "Prices have been soaring lately, and unemployment is high. Burglaries are happening everywhere, and this kind of thing is bound to happen again. You’d best take precautions."

After the police left, both the Lynchs and the Summers Family were deeply worried.

"I’ll sleep at the store from now on. That way, I’ll notice right away if anyone tries anything," suggested Crystal Lynch’s brother, Shawn Lynch.

"That would be too hard on you. How about our two families take shifts?" Winnie Summers said.

"No, no, it’s fine. Your family is always bringing us fruit and taking such good care of us. It’s the least I can do," Shawn said, quickly waving his hands.

"Don’t be so modest, dear. Business is business. It’s exhausting for you to stay at the store alone all the time. If two people stay overnight each day, they can watch out for each other," Winnie replied with a smile.

After some discussion, they decided to go with Winnie’s suggestion. Tonight, Colin Summers and Shawn Lynch would sleep at the store.

Although prices had risen sharply, many people still came to stock up. The more chaotic the world became, the more conscious everyone was about hoarding supplies.

Of course, there were also many who were waiting and watching, believing that prices would eventually return to normal.

That evening, Melody Summers returned home with her mother and aunt. Her grandmother and Miss Lowell had already prepared dinner. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

There was sweet and sour pork, sliced pork belly with garlic sauce, squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, two stir-fried vegetable dishes, and a fruit platter. The fruit came from the apricot and peach trees Colin Summers had planted in the yard. Irrigated by the Arcadian Stream, they had borne fruit. Though not plentiful, the fruits were large, sweet, and bursting with juice.

"Where’s your uncle? Why didn’t he come back with you?" Grandma asked.

Melody told them about the attempted robbery at the supermarket last night.

Her grandmother and Miss Lowell were both shocked. Miss Lowell sighed and said, "It’s only been three months of extreme heat, and society is already falling into chaos. It looks like things won’t be peaceful from now on."

Melody bit into a peach. ’Miss Lowell is right,’ she thought. ’First the building collapse, then the attempted robbery at the supermarket... It seems things are only going to get more chaotic.’