Free Web NovelChapter 467: Chapter 467: Confrontation
Hearing the edge in Melody Summers’s voice, Sophie Thorne quickly tried to soothe her. "First, don’t panic. Let’s get the video taken down to minimize the impact. Otherwise, once public opinion starts to snowball, I’m worried it’ll cause unnecessary trouble for Miss Winnie..."
Some people are just so strange. They’d rather believe their own conspiracy theories than an official police announcement in black and white.
This was especially true for someone in Winnie Summers’s sensitive position. As a public official, she was a prime target. Some people are easily swayed by public opinion; they’ll ignore right and wrong and automatically stand in opposition to her.
Sophie continued, "Since that’s the case, we should just report them to the police. This is slander, and with the video as evidence, that’s enough to get them in a world of trouble! And as for those people in the comments section, the ones saying all those horrible things, I’ll have my family’s legal team help you sue them!"
Melody Summers nodded silently. "Okay, I get it. Thank you so much for this."
It was a good thing Sophie Thorne had found the video and handled the public relations so quickly. Otherwise, once the situation blew up, Winnie Summers herself would have probably seen it, not to mention the other consequences.
If Winnie Summers saw those vile, lewd comments with her own eyes...
At the thought, Melody Summers took another deep breath. If that happened, she felt like she could blow up Terra on the spot.
On the other end of the line, Sophie Thorne replied, "Don’t say that. We’re practically family, so don’t be so formal with me!"
Worried that Melody Summers was still anxious, Sophie tried to comfort her again. "You don’t have to worry too much. The internet and power were just restored, so the trending topics are a total mess of crazy news right now. Compared to all that, this video is nothing. Plus, the view count is limited, so it shouldn’t have too big of an impact."
Sophie Thorne had a point. After the chaos of the Great Freeze, the trending topics were now filled with all sorts of unbelievable news about current events.
In one residential complex, all the supplies had been embezzled by staff from the emergency management office, causing tens of thousands of residents to freeze to death.
In another complex, a few homeowners had formed a gang. They went door-to-door through their building, robbing people of their supplies and killing every other resident. They threw the bodies outside, where they piled up into a small mountain, staining the snow red.
The emergency management office of one complex tricked all the residents into going outside under the pretext of distributing supplies. Then they locked the building doors, leaving the residents to freeze to death while they seized all the supplies and property in their homes.
Even more outrageous, one city intercepted supplies meant for another, causing hundreds of thousands of casualties.
Stories like this were flying everywhere, each one so cruel it was hard to believe they had happened in a civilized society.
To avoid upsetting the public and to maintain a semblance of harmony, network administrators had been working overtime for the past two days, constantly taking down trending topics to prevent public opinion from spiraling and inciting negative sentiment.
But they couldn’t take things down nearly as fast as people could post them. All sorts of unbelievable, negative stories were flying onto the trending lists like snowflakes.
Compared to these events, the video about Winnie Summers was completely dwarfed by comparison.
If Frank York and Chloe Sharp hadn’t been major internet celebrities with millions of followers, the incident wouldn’t have attracted nearly as much attention.
Melody Summers understood what Sophie meant. "Okay, I get it," she replied. "I’m going to report it to the police now."
After hanging up, Melody Summers didn’t waste any time and headed straight for the emergency management office.
Officer Tanner and Officer Sean Pierce were still processing the backlog of cases that had piled up. Seeing Melody Summers arrive, Officer Sean Pierce greeted her cheerfully, "Long time no see, Summers."
Melody Summers forced a smile and greeted Officer Sean Pierce back. Then, she pulled out the video she had downloaded, her expression turning serious. "Officers, I need to file a report!"
After Melody Summers explained the whole story, both Officer Tanner and Officer Sean Pierce were shocked and furious.
Officer Sean Pierce slammed his hand on the table. "This is outrageous!" he said with a frown. "They’re deliberately trying to smear public servants!"
Officer Tanner’s expression was grim as well. He looked up at Melody Summers and said, "You can head home for now. I’ll go investigate the witnesses who were there. Rest assured, we will handle this matter with the utmost seriousness!"
Melody Summers nodded and headed home.
To Melody Summers’s surprise, she ran smack into Saul Archer and Jay Lowell in the hallway right as she reached her front door.
The weather had been warming up, and Saul Archer had switched to a lighter jacket. Without a bulky down coat to hide it, his broken arm was glaringly obvious.
Seeing Melody Summers approach, Saul Archer offered a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. "We were just heading to your place," he said. "Fancy running into you... You’re a relative of Cameron Summers, aren’t you?"
He phrased it as a question, but his tone was one of certainty.
Melody Summers felt her brow twitch. Looking at Saul Archer and Jay Lowell blocking her path, she asked coldly, "...What do you want?"
Saul Archer nodded, that same humorless smile fixed on his face. "Cameron Summers and his son, Clark Summers, owe us a ton of supplies."
The moment Saul Archer finished speaking, Jay Lowell, standing beside him, pulled a stack of papers from his pocket. He held them out to Melody Summers. "These are the IOUs they signed themselves. You can take a look."
Melody Summers frowned slightly. She shook her head and said, "This has nothing to do with me. I’m not looking at them. Now, if you’ll excuse me, please get out of my way."
Jay Lowell scoffed. "Don’t want to look, huh? Fine. I’ll just read them to you!"
Jay Lowell began flipping through the stack of IOUs in his hand. "This one," he said, "a loan of 50 pounds of rice, with a monthly interest of 18 pounds of rice."
"This one, a loan of 200 pounds of coal, with a monthly interest of 72 pounds of coal."
"This one, a loan of 300 pounds of rice, with a monthly interest of 108 pounds of rice."
"..."
Listening to the staggering amounts, Melody Summers felt her head start to spin.
’With principal and interest, that adds up to thousands of pounds!’
’How could Cameron Summers and Clark Summers have been so reckless?!’
"Enough! Stop reading."
Melody Summers cut Jay Lowell off, her face a mask of irritation. "Why are you telling me all this? I already told you, Cameron Summers’s business has nothing to do with me, and I don’t want to hear it!"
Saul Archer snorted. "Now that’s not right, little lady," he said, his voice low. "You’re his relatives. Now that Cameron Summers and his family have skipped town, who else are we supposed to collect the debt from?"
Melody Summers almost laughed in anger at his words. She waved a dismissive hand and replied resolutely, "Dream on. What law says I have to pay his debts? I wouldn’t give you a single grain of rice for him! Like I said, go find the person who actually owes you!"
At that, Saul Archer’s eyes narrowed, a dangerous glint flashing in their dark depths.
Melody Summers met his gaze without flinching. "Did you hear me?" she said in a low voice. "If you did, then get lost!"
