Chapter 441: Chapter 441: Bullying
Winnie Summers’s heart went out to May Sherman after hearing her story.
She softly comforted May, saying, "Don’t you worry. Just wait here a moment. I’ll go coordinate things and find a room for you with people who don’t mind dogs."
After Winnie Summers left, the Lynch father and son gave the man with glasses and the long-haired man another harsh lecture.
Terrified at the prospect of being kicked out of the shelter, the man with glasses and the long-haired man promised repeatedly that they would never cause trouble again.
As Melody Summers helped May Sherman pack her things, she looked curiously at the well-behaved little white dog lying nearby and asked, "What kind of dog is this? Why does it look so much like a little fox?"
May Sherman smiled gently at her words and replied, "He’s an American Eskimo Dog! His name is Snowball. You can hold him, he’s very good."
Snowball was a long-haired dog with two big ears and large, round, jet-black eyes. His entire body was snow-white, making him look like an oversized little fox or a small-sized Samoyed.
Melody Summers carefully scooped Snowball into her arms, and then she discovered—this Snowball was much, much heavier than she had imagined!
Feeling the hefty weight in her arms, Melody was half-amused and half-impressed by the survival skills of these little dogs. She remembered Mrs. Vance’s Chihuahua, which, despite eating only a little sand vine cake each day and being skinny as a rail, was still full of life.
Then, Melody’s thoughts drifted, and she began to think about the wild animals outside.
’The natural disasters had persisted for two years now—first extreme heat and water shortages, then a prolonged night and an arctic blizzard. Under such harsh conditions, could those wild animals still survive?’
’Humans could stay indoors, surviving with technology like air conditioning and water desalination, but what could the animals do? Could they survive by eating Desert Vines?’
’Have many species gone extinct already?’
’When the disasters are over, will humans be the only ones left on this planet?’
These thoughts weighed heavily on Melody’s mind. It wasn’t until Snowball licked her hand that she snapped back to reality.
Melody struggled a little to heft the dense Snowball in her arms. She asked May Sherman curiously, "...I thought he just looked fluffy because of his long fur, but he’s a solid little guy! How did you manage to get him so chubby?"
With supplies so scarce, the fact that May Sherman could keep Snowball so well-fed showed how much effort she had put in.
May Sherman smiled gently and replied, "Snowball is very smart. Back during the extreme heat, he found many small animals on the back mountain that were near death from the heat, even a small deer. I dried them all into jerky for him and stored a whole balcony full. It lasted until the end of last month. Lately, he’s just been eating sand vine cakes with me. He’s very good and not a picky eater at all."
Feeling Snowball’s solid build, Melody sighed in admiration. "You’re so good to him."
May Sherman took Snowball back from Melody’s arms and said softly, "Actually, it was Snowball who saved me..."
"Ever since it started snowing, I’ve been freezing every day. I only made it through by holding Snowball. Especially after the heating was shut off, if it weren’t for Snowball, I probably would have frozen to death long ago."
Snowball licked May Sherman’s hand, his big tail wagging cheerfully.
American Eskimo Dogs come from Northern Europe. Their double-layered coats are thick and long, making them extremely cold-resistant. They can survive and even reproduce in temperatures of forty to fifty degrees below zero. For May Sherman, holding him was like cuddling a warm little furnace.
Just then, Winnie Summers returned. She said to May Sherman, "I’ve sorted it out for you. You can go to the secondary bedroom in 2304. A few girls are living there now, and they can squeeze in one more person. I asked them, and they all love dogs. They were actually excited to hear they could have a dog in their room!"
May Sherman was overjoyed. Her eyes welled up with tears as she bowed repeatedly to Winnie Summers. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"
After watching May Sherman leave, Winnie Summers turned to Melody Summers. She adjusted Melody’s scarf, her heart aching as she looked at her skin, red from the cold. "It’s so cold here. You should hurry home," she said. "You’ve always been sensitive to the cold, ever since you were little. Don’t go running around!"
Melody beamed and nodded. "I was just worried about you and Uncle, so I came to check. I’m heading back now!"
Chloe Sharp and Frank York, who were huddled in a corner trying to be invisible, witnessed this scene. A hint of jealousy crept into Chloe’s large, almond-shaped eyes.
She turned to her boyfriend, Frank York, and said, "No wonder that woman is so arrogant. Turns out she’s related to someone from the Emergency Management Office..."
Recalling what had happened in the 15th-floor hallway earlier, Chloe grew worried again. She lowered her voice and whispered in Frank’s ear, "Honey, we just pissed her off. Do you think she’ll have her family make things difficult for us...?"
Chloe’s fear wasn’t unfounded. The government’s entire supply distribution was in the hands of the Emergency Management Office. The staff members were gods here—they were the ones who made the rules and enforced them. If they wanted to target someone, there were countless ways they could do it.
Chloe was afraid Melody would hold a grudge and have her family find an excuse to kick them out of the temporary shelter. If that happened, they’d be screwed...
Hearing Chloe’s words, Frank patted her head reassuringly and whispered back, "Babe, don’t worry. You saw it yourself. There are only a handful of people from the Emergency Management Office in this building, but there are hundreds of us residents!"
"A few people managing hundreds? It’s not that easy. We’re in a special period right now. One wrong move and they could end up dead with no one to bury them... If they dare to come after us, we can trip them up, too..."
Stirring up emotions and manipulating public opinion—this was what Frank, who had started out as a social media influencer, did best.
’If the Emergency Management Office people really dare to target us,’ he thought, ’I’ll incite the other residents to ’rise up in rebellion’ and kill all of them!’
’The law doesn’t punish the masses. Even if the police came knocking after the blizzard, what could they do? Would they really arrest everyone in the entire building and execute them?’
’Besides, the building has been in constant turmoil since the blizzard began. Every day, I hear shouts and cries for help from upstairs and downstairs. People are constantly dying. The authorities probably won’t have the energy to deal with this stuff by then anyway.’
After saying his piece, Frank paid Chloe no more mind and started fiddling with the camera and portable battery pack in his hands.
Because of their work in social media, Frank and Chloe had a portable battery pack. It still had some charge, and thanks to their good insulation measures, the battery wasn’t damaged.
Frank tinkered with it for a moment, and the camera screen finally lit up.
Frank was ecstatic to see the long-unseen glow of the camera screen.
He excitedly clenched his fists, made an ’OK’ sign at the camera, and said in a deliberately breathy voice, "Hey family! It’s Finn and Bonbon here, and we’ve moved into the temporary shelter! The temperature inside is a bit warmer, so our camera can finally turn on~"
"Today is our first day at the temporary shelter. It should have been a happy occasion, but we never expected to be bullied by a staff member from the Emergency Management Office..."
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