That evening, when they got home, Melody’s uncle, aunt, grandma, and Miss Lowell had also heard about the murder in Building 3.

"How terrifying. To think a young girl was driven to kill someone with a knife... What has this world come to," Grandma lamented, shaking her head.

"Unemployment is high, and everything’s so expensive. Who knows what the future holds," Miss Lowell added with a sigh.

"In that case, we have to be careful to hide our things from now on. We can’t let anyone know how many supplies we have," Melody’s aunt said nervously. With the Summers Family’s stockpile, not to mention the fresh fruits and vegetables in the yard, who wouldn’t be green with envy?

Her uncle scratched his head. "We’re in a luxury neighborhood, it should be fine, right? The rich people around here don’t seem to lack anything. I see supply trucks discreetly making deliveries every day."

His wife rolled her eyes at him. "Are you an idiot? We’re not like them. They have bodyguards!"

Her husband let out a hearty laugh and puffed out his chest. "Then I’ll be our family’s bodyguard! Starting tonight, I’ll sleep in the living room downstairs. I’d like to see anyone dare try to get in!"

The family laughed. "Enough about bodyguards," Grandma said. "Come and help me with the roast pork. I saw half a side of pork in the freezer today, so I decided to roast it. The pig may have been small, but the meat is excellent. The whole house smelled amazing while it was cooking."

Melody’s spirits lifted. "I’ll help! I’ll help! I’m the one who took that out of the freezer today. I can’t believe we’re already eating it tonight!"

The pork was roasted to a perfect golden-brown, with very little fat. The first bite was filled with a rich, savory flavor, completely free of the unpleasant gaminess that some pork has.

Melody cut off a tender piece and fed it to Albus. The white cat looked utterly content after finishing it.

The Summers Family ate with great relish, unable to stop praising the pork. Melody even started to regret selling the other three sides.

After dinner, Melody checked her phone. All three sides of pork had been purchased, and the offal had sold out as well.

On top of that, she had also sold dozens of fish and a good amount of produce in just the past half-day. Melody diligently packed everything, getting it ready to ship out first thing in the morning.

*

Early on the morning of the third day, a shipment of supplies arrived at Crystal Mart.

This delivery included food from various factory warehouses, along with national reserves of grain and meat.

The residents were buzzing with excitement at the news. Those who had been hesitant about stockpiling before now had no doubts. After the chaos of the past few days, they had finally grasped the reality of the situation: Stockpile! They had to stockpile!

Just as people were getting their money ready to hoard supplies, a new set of shopping rules was announced.

The government was now centrally managing all factory inventories. Supplies sent to residential complexes were rationed based on the number of residents.

Residents had to present their IDs to make a purchase. Each person was limited to a certain monetary value and quantity of goods per week, with the specific quota varying by product category. For example, if someone only bought staples like rice, flour, oil, and dried noodles, they were limited to a maximum of four kilograms per week.

As for prices, most goods had temporarily stabilized at around ten times their pre-disaster cost. Staples like rice and flour were about five times higher.

The announcement caused another uproar among the residents:

"4-2009 Nina: Why are they starting to ration now? Weren’t we told the reserves were plentiful?"

"2-1908 Coco: They’re probably thinking long-term. Who knows when this awful weather will end? The harvests were a total failure this year. Besides, if you’re not wasteful, the rationed amount is enough to get by."

"2-1408 Bella Grant: Ugh, whatever. I’m buying first, worrying later. We’re completely out of rice at my place. I had to trade milk with my neighbor for some rice just to cook yesterday’s dinner."

"4-1209 SlackingOff: Yeah, for real! They have meat from the reserves! That’s amazing! I’d almost forgotten what meat tastes like. I’m using my entire quota on meat!"

"4-2009 Nina: The quota for meat is too small. I’m just going to use all of mine on rice. As long as you have rice, you won’t starve."

"5-1107 Azure: You can’t spend your whole quota on just rice. You need to buy some canned goods or something to go with it. Everyone in my family has a big appetite. This quota is probably just enough to keep us from going hungry. Luckily, we still have some food stockpiled at home, so we’re not worried for now."

"4-605 Cozy: To the person above, don’t announce that you have supplies! Have you already forgotten about all the home-invasion robberies lately?"

"5-1107 Azure has retracted a message."

"..."

*

Inside Crystal Mart, everyone was scrambling to organize the new supplies. It was the first day of the new regulations, and Melody, worried that things might get chaotic, had come to the supermarket to help out.

Two police officers had arrived with the shipment. They had been assigned by the government to maintain order at the supply point and oversee the distribution of goods.

Starting today, the two officers, together with the community’s property management department, had formed The Metropolis Residences Emergency Response Office. The office itself was set up right next to Crystal Mart.

Crystal Mart was now the officially state-certified supply point for The Metropolis Residences. As the owners, Winnie Summers, Colin Summers, and the three members of the Lynch Family were designated as the supply point’s distribution coordinators, earning them an extra few thousand dollars a month in government subsidies.

Everyone at the supermarket recognized the two officers assigned to stand guard. They were the same two who had investigated the attempted robbery. The older officer was named Officer Sean Pierce, and the younger one was Tristan Tanner.

Officer Tanner still remembered the incident. After all, it wasn’t every day you came across a thief that dumb. Seeing that he was among familiar faces, he nodded a greeting to everyone and said earnestly, "You can all rest easy. We’re armed, so we’ll be able to stop anyone who tries to cause trouble."

"Armed?" Finn Lynch was taken aback. "Is it really that serious? We’re just a normal neighborhood supermarket."

Officer Pierce said with a grave expression, "Your community may be relatively stable for now, but you can’t let your guard down. There have been murders in several of the downtown complexes recently, and organized robbery gangs are starting to emerge. The government is taking the security of every supply point very seriously."

Hearing this, the supermarket staff all nodded, taking the issue of security to heart.

As evening approached and the sun began to set, people started trickling into the supermarket with their ID cards. When they saw the shelves and freezers piled high with grain and meat, they couldn’t help but exclaim:

"So this is the reserve meat! After all this time, I’m finally seeing meat again! I’ll take a kilogram to start!"

"I’ve been thinking, and instant noodles are the best value. For the same quota, they have the most calories, and they even come with a vegetable packet."

"It’s got to be rice. Rice is the staff of life, plus the quota for it is higher. As long as you have rice, you won’t panic."

"What’s the fun in eating plain rice? I’ll go with crackers."

"..."

A middle-aged man registered using his and his wife’s IDs. He first grabbed five packs of cigarettes from the counter, then made a beeline for the shelves and picked up two bottles of liquor. He then ran excitedly to the register and said with a grin, "Just these. Ring me up."

"...If you buy these, you and your wife will have used up your entire weekly quota. Are you sure this is what you want to buy?" Crystal Lynch asked, her expression complicated.

"Absolutely," the man replied with a chuckle. "I’ve been going crazy these past few days."

Crystal couldn’t say anything more to that, so she simply scanned his items and completed the transaction. It was his choice, after all, and no one else had the right to interfere.

Just then, a young man finished registering and headed for the grain and oil section. He picked up a bag of rice and was about to check out.

"Hold on, sir," Winnie Summers said, stopping him. "You’re not a resident of this community. You can’t shop here."

The young man scratched his head. "I just moved in a couple of days ago. My girlfriend lives here."

Winnie shook her head. "Everything is networked in a central database now. You’ve already used up your weekly quota at the Garden Community, so you can’t buy anything else here." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

The young man looked like he was about to argue, but then he caught sight of the armed officer nearby. His face paled, and he quickly put the rice down and hurried away.

Throughout the evening, a steady stream of residents came to shop, each one buying up to their weekly limit and leaving fully loaded.

Around 8:00 p.m., when the store had emptied out, Melody and the others cleaned up, locked the supermarket doors, and got ready to head home.

A few of the storefronts next to Crystal Mart had been repurposed. One was converted into the Emergency Response Office, while a few others were turned into dormitories. The two police officers and several of the community’s security guards moved in and would be taking shifts over the next few days.

"Officer Pierce, Officer Tanner, thank you for your hard work," the group from the supermarket said. "We’ll be heading home now."

Officer Tanner smiled. "We’ve got it from here. You all go home and rest easy."

The Summers Family said their goodbyes to the Lynch Family, and each family headed home.

*

When they got home that evening, Grandma and Miss Lowell had already prepared dinner. They had caught two fish from the backyard pond and made two different sweet and sour fish dishes. Melody ate with great relish.

’Seeing how things were at the supermarket today put me at ease,’ Melody thought. ’With two police officers on site, it’s unlikely anyone will cause trouble. I’ve decided that starting tomorrow, I’ll focus on my work in the Arcadian Space: planting vegetables, picking fruit, catching fish, and shipping orders. I’m going to earn that one hundred million as soon as possible!’