​​Chapter 06

The Finance Director’s phone had a six-digit passcode. Luckily, we'd worked together for three years—and were close. I had tried her birthday, her husband’s birthday, and finally, on my last attempt, entered her son’s birthday.

Unlocked.

Inside the hidden notes app, I found the vault combination. During a supply run break, I sent Xiao Chu back first and climbed through the vents into the Finance office.

The moment the vault swung open, bundles of cash stared me in the face.

Hah. Cash had flowed freely here before everything collapsed.

crawled back into the ducts—only to find Xiao Chu still waiting.

“Why didn’t you go back?”

“Sister alone… I was worried.”

Me: “…”

My chest warmed unexpectedly.

As I touched down, the rumble of engines broke the silence outside.

On the monitor screens, six panel vans careened into the parking lot.

thunderous crash—followed instantly by gunfire echoing sharply inside the supermarket.

"Hell yeah! They’ve got guns!"

"Shit! They’ll empty our food, won’t they?!"

"Dai Mei! Stop them! They can't take our supplies!"

spun toward the armchair critics. "You do it then?"

Silence fell.