Soon, property management posted an official notice in the group chat.
Starlight Towers
had its own independent water supply system. Because the explosion had happened so suddenly, they had not been able to adjust in time.
At present, staff had been dispatched to activate the backup system. It was estimated that the complex would have water again within half an hour.
When Brian Dahn saw the notice, he immediately felt vindicated. He forwarded the message straight to Pamela.
"See that? I told you the property management would restore the water soon! You just refused to believe me. You had to make such a scene over a little bit of waterâarenât you embarrassed?"
Pamela had locked the bedroom door from the inside, so Brian shouted through the door.
In his mind, Pamela was being completely unreasonable.
It was just water. Was there really any need to panic like that? Lookâhadnât the water supply already been restored after such a short time?
When Pamela saw the message, she let out a cold laugh.
She was sitting on the edge of the bed with her luggage already packed, waiting for her brother to arrive.
Their daughter, Annie, sat quietly beside her without saying a word.
Her phone rang.
It was her brother.
"Pamela, come down. The carâs waiting at the gate."
She hung up, took Annieâs hand, and opened the bedroom door.
Brian was still standing outside. When he saw the door open, he was about to say somethingâbut then his eyes fell on the luggage in Pamelaâs hand.
His expression changed instantly.
"Pamela! What do you think youâre doing?!"
Pamela gave him a calm glance and walked past him without another word.
Watching the backs of the mother and daughter disappear down the hallway, Brian cursed loudly.
"Damn it! Iâve been too nice to you! If you walk out that door, donât even think about coming back!"
He truly couldnât understand her reaction.
It was just a brief water outage. Did she really need to make such a fuss?
Sooner or later, the supply would be restored anyway. When that happened, they could simply fill the bathtub again.
Going back to her parentsâ houseâwhat unnecessary drama.
After Pamela left, Brian lit a cigarette and pulled out his phone.
When he saw the constant stream of gratitude pouring in from neighbors in the group chat, the little annoyance he had felt earlier vanished completely. In his mind, Pamela had simply been overreacting.
Half an hour later, water service was restored to Starlight Towers.
The group chat immediately became lively again.
This time, everyone had learned their lesson. Households began dragging out every container they could find to store water.
Suzy had already warned Thomas in advance, and Leonard even ran over to Thomasâs apartment to help him fill containers.
Across the entire complex, everyone silently prepared to store waterâyet oddly, not a single person mentioned it in the group chat.
Brian, seeing that the water was back, casually used the water in the bathtub to take a long shower.
After he finished, the water Pamela had stored was almost completely gone.
Seeing the group chat had grown quiet again, Brian wandered off to his room to play games, making no effort to store any water.
The next morning.
Brian woke up, turned on the faucet to wash up... But there was nothing.
"Damn it! What the hell is this?!"
He had already lost more than ten games the night before and was in a terrible mood. Now, waking up to another water outage pushed him over the edge.
He called property management and immediately began yelling.
Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do.
They hadnât expected the complexâs water usage to spike so dramatically overnight.
The residential compound had a reservoir meant only for emergenciesâit wasnât designed to provide long-term supply.
Originally, the property office had assumed the stored water would last about a week, and by then the damaged treatment plant would likely be repaired.
But because residents had frantically hoarded water, the entire complexâs water consumption had surged to five times the usual level, draining the reservoir completely.
Now the supply was gone.
All they could do was wait for instructions from the government.
Brian hung up the phone after a long string of curses.
He searched the apartment from top to bottom but couldnât find a single drop of water.
After hesitating for a moment, he picked up his phone and contacted the neighbors who had come to collect water the day before.
After all, he had generously shared his water with them yesterday. Now that his own household had run out, asking for a little in return seemed perfectly reasonable.
But after sending the messages, there was no response.
Half an hour passed.
Still nothing.
Brianâs expression slowly darkened.
He assumed the recipients might be busyâor asleepâand hadnât seen the messages yet. Clinging to a last shred of hope, he waited another hour.
An hour passed.
Still complete silence.
Unable to hold back any longer, Brian made a voice call.
This time, he called a young man who had only recently graduated and had chatted with him for quite a while the day before.
That young man had been especially good with words, flattering Brian endlessly while collecting water.
Even afterward, they had stayed in touch. The young man had kept praising him and had even promised that if Brian ever needed help, he could call anytime.
And now?
Brian had run into a small problemâhis house had run out of waterâand yet his messages had disappeared into the void.
Unwilling to accept it, he called several more numbersâevery household that had taken water from him the day before.
None of them answered.
"Damn it!" Brian cursed.
What were these people doing? Had none of them seen his messages? Or were they ignoring him on purpose?
He sent another round of messages.
This time, someone finally replied.
It was a woman.
She said their household didnât have much water left either. It wasnât that she didnât want to help.
Before the water supply was cut, they had also forgotten to store any. Now they were worried and hoping that Brian might help them out.
Reading the message, Brianâs face turned green.
He immediately pretended to go silent and didnât mention borrowing water again.
After all, he was the one desperate for water now. How could he possibly give any away?
At last, Brian was forced to face reality.
He searched the apartment again but still found nothing.
First came the irritation of being unable to wash up. Then came the thirst.
He paced restlessly around the apartment, his throat dry and scratchy.
Suddenly, he rushed to the refrigerator.
Empty.
"Pamela really doesnât know how to run a household," Brian grumbled. "She couldnât even bother keeping some bottled water in the house."
Thinking about how Pamela had taken Annie back to her parentsâ home only made him more irritated.
What he didnât realize was that water had become one of the most precious commodities recently.
The water he usually drank at home had all been boiled from the tap, not bottled mineral water.
Unable to quench his thirst, Brian grew increasingly restless.
After some thought, he decided to head to a nearby supermarket and buy some drinks.
Soft drinks would quench his thirst too, right?
By now, the sun had just set.
The streets were empty.
Brian hurried along as fast as he could, practically wishing he could fly. He was unbearably thirsty, and the lingering heat made sweat pour from his body.
Finally, he reached the supermarket near the complex.
Then his vision darkened.
The store... was closed.
Brian nearly lost his mind.
He wandered around the entrance for a long time but still didnât see any employees arrive to open the shop.
In frustration, he called the storeâs contact number.
A sleepy clerk answered, and Brian immediately launched into a furious tirade.
The call was hung up on him mid-rant.
"Damn it!"
Realizing the clerk had hung up, Brian exploded with curses.
Just a store clerkâand he dared to treat customers like that?
He dialed again.
Only to discover he had already been blocked.
Brian clenched his teeth in fury. He almost smashed his phone, but in the end, he only continued swearing under his breath.