Chapter 71
Leonard felt like he had just seen a ghost.
He had only gone to retrieve his phone, yet when he returned, he found Suzy and Thomas locked in an embrace.
Well, more precisely, Suzy was the one hugging Thomas.
Had he missed something important while he was gone?
No, that wasn’t even the main point.
The real question was: why had these two progressed so quickly?
Under Leonard’s intense stare, Suzy’s face flushed hot.
She hurriedly stepped back, putting some distance between herself and Thomas.
"Special circumstances!" she blurted.
Leonard narrowed his eyes. "Special circumstances? Go on then—explain."
"Let’s talk about it when we get home. It’s too hot out here."
Suzy grabbed Leonard’s arm and pulled him toward their building, with Thomas following a step behind.
On the way back, Suzy explained what had happened—how she had spotted Wendy earlier and panicked, hugging Thomas to hide her face.
Leonard listened with a few skeptical hums before finally replying with a simple, "Alright. I get it."
The three of them parted ways at the small park in the center of the complex.
Suzy and Thomas lived in units on opposite ends of the community, so their paths diverged there.
"I’ll head back now," Thomas said first.
Leonard nodded. "Send us a message when you get home."
Soon after, Suzy and Leonard returned to their apartment.
The moment Leonard collapsed onto the couch under the cool blast of the air conditioner, he sighed with bliss.
"This... this is heaven."
Meanwhile, Suzy sat down and quietly checked Thomas’s favorability score toward her.
It had increased by five points today.
So fast!
His favorability had now reached fifty. Just ten more points and she would unlock another reward.
This was the perfect opportunity—she had to press her advantage.
A thought flashed through Suzy’s mind.
She turned to Leonard. "Uncle, can I talk to you about something?"
Leonard paused mid-sip of his drink. "What is it? Go ahead."
Suzy spoke in a serious tone. "How about letting Thomas come over for dinner during this time? He’s been eating instant noodles alone at home every day—it’s kind of pitiful."
In Suzy’s mind, the plan was simple.
If Thomas came over to eat, she could increase his favorability—and at the same time earn resource rebates, since everything he consumed would be returned to her tenfold.
Two birds with one stone.
Leonard didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he narrowed his eyes at her.
"Suzy, tell me honestly—what exactly is going on between you and Thomas?"
Just a short while ago, they had been hugging outside, and now she was inviting him over for meals.
Leonard wasn’t buying the idea that nothing was going on.
"So... you’ve taken a liking to Thomas?" Leonard asked bluntly.
Suzy hesitated.
...Should she just admit it?
After thinking about it, she realized her actions had already been far too obvious. Even if she denied it, Leonard probably wouldn’t believe her.
So she simply nodded.
Leonard didn’t react as dramatically as she expected. Instead, he only asked one more question.
"What about that Richard guy?"
"Richard?"
"The man sitting at the table behind us earlier during dinner."
Leonard thought to himself: If Suzy was interested in Thomas, did that mean she wasn’t interested in Richard anymore?
In Leonard’s opinion, Thomas was far better than Richard. If Suzy could see that clearly, it would be a huge relief.
Suzy couldn’t help laughing. "I don’t have that kind of interest in Richard."
Only then did Leonard finally relax. "That’s good. I also think Thomas is much better than Richard. I’ll talk to Thomas about the dinner idea myself."
After confirming Suzy’s feelings, Leonard contacted Thomas.
No one knew exactly what he said to him, but a few minutes later Leonard returned, smiling broadly.
"All settled. Thomas agreed."
From that day forward, Thomas began coming over to Suzy’s place for dinner.
Not only did Suzy not lose any supplies—she actually made a profit.
After all, every bit of food Thomas consumed was returned to her tenfold.
If things continued like this, Suzy realized she could practically "support" Thomas without spending any supplies at all. On the contrary, everything he consumed would return to her with generous rewards.
Peaceful days continued for about a week.
For now, the internet had not yet collapsed.
Suzy and Leonard rarely went outside. Their home was stocked with abundant supplies, so there was no need to venture out to buy anything. Besides, more and more stores had begun shutting down. Only a handful of basic grocery markets were still open.
Cases of heatstroke were increasing day by day.
The relentless heat frayed people’s tempers and eroded their rationality. Conflicts between neighbors were becoming more frequent.
Assault cases were appearing in the news almost daily, and the looming crises of food and water shortages were growing more severe.
It was said that in some already-arid regions in the north, the water supply had completely run dry. Even the reservoirs had been drained.
"Uncle, want some ice cream?" Suzy called.
She stepped out of her room and saw Leonard standing by the window, staring into the distance.
"Sure. Bring me one," Leonard replied.
"Just grabbed one for you."
Suzy pulled a cherry popsicle from her storage space and handed it to him, while she unwrapped a strawberry-flavored one for herself.
She walked over and followed his line of sight.
"What are you looking at?"
Leonard took a long, satisfied lick of the popsicle before pointing toward the distance.
"Something seems to have happened over there. A bunch of people ran that way earlier."
It was afternoon.
By now, people’s schedules had completely flipped—resting during the day and going out at night.
Suzy looked surprised. "It’s this hot outside and people are still going out?"
"Yeah. I don’t know what they’re thinking." Leonard shook his head.
At that moment—
BOOM!
A thunderous explosion tore through the quiet of the city.
The sound startled both Suzy and Leonard.
They both turned toward the source of the noise.
Several kilometers away, a massive sphere of light suddenly appeared. The brilliance was blinding, lasting only a fleeting second.
Then, rising slowly into the sky, a towering mushroom cloud formed on the horizon.
Both of them froze in place.
The popsicle in Suzy’s hand nearly slipped to the floor.
"...W-What just happened?"
Snapping out of her shock, Suzy quickly pulled out her phone and snapped photos of the mushroom cloud in the distance.
"It looks like something exploded," Leonard said, clearly shaken.
The scale of the blast was unmistakably enormous.
Something serious had happened.
"Do you recognize what’s in that direction?" Leonard asked her.
He had only recently arrived in A City and hadn’t had the chance to explore much. He wasn’t familiar with what facilities were located there.
Suzy shook her head. "Let me check."
She opened the map on her phone to pinpoint the location of the explosion.
Just then, a message notification popped up from the building’s resident group chat.
[3-901]: Holy crap, did you see that explosion?!
[3-702]: Why would something explode out of nowhere? Is it because of the heat?
[3-901]: Wait... I think that direction is where the water treatment plant is. Could it have blown up?
[3-202]: The water plant exploded? Does that mean we’re losing water supply?!
[3-201]: Damn it, the water’s already cut off! What do we do?! I barely stored any!
After the message from apartment 201, the group chat fell silent for a moment.
Then, residents who saw the message hurried to check their faucets.
Suzy and Leonard did the same.
They watched as the flow from the tap gradually weakened... until finally, it stopped completely.
The two exchanged a glance.
If nothing unexpected happened, from today onward... A City would be completely without water.
At least until the next disaster arrived.