Chapter 96: Thieves Running Rampant, The Role of Surveillance
Su Tao rushed over and saw the elderly Granny Cen, her temples streaked with white, being supported as she wept bitterly.
She had never seen the always-cheerful Granny Cen cry like this before. Hurriedly, she hugged her and comforted her, “It’s okay, it’s okay. We still have more vegetables. I’ll take you to pick some later, so don’t cry anymore, okay? I promise to catch the thief. But before that, you can’t get too upset—it’s not worth getting sick over.”
Granny Cen was truly heartbroken, and it took quite a while to calm her down.
Tang Qingshu, the wife from a military couple, was also present and briefly explained what had happened to Su Tao:
“Aunt Cen had placed the vegetables on the kitchen windowsill with the window open for ventilation. But in just a blink of an eye, the vegetables were gone. This thief is getting bolder and bolder. Before, they only dared to steal from public areas, but now they’re even climbing through windows.”
Other tenants nearby confirmed the story.
Someone even had five pounds of cured meat stolen from their balcony.
Given the current price of meat, that was a significant financial loss—both in money and contribution points.
Just hearing about it made Su Tao’s heart ache for the tenants, and her expression grew increasingly serious.
Tang Qingshu then spoke up, “Everyone, I’ll be blunt—whoever is stealing like this so frequently must be one of the tenants here. Outsiders wouldn’t have the chance to repeatedly enter the apartment buildings.”
Her words made sense, but they were also direct enough to make the whole crowd fall silent.
Su Tao’s face darkened. “Everyone, go back for now. I will get to the bottom of this. I won’t wrong the innocent, nor will I let the guilty go free.”
Despite the situation, dinner still had to be eaten.
To cheer up Granny Cen, Su Tao personally accompanied her to the greenhouse, picking a basket of the best-looking lettuce, treating her like a child who needed coaxing.
Granny Cen felt a little better, but she still fumed at the thought of the thief. Grabbing Su Tao’s hand, she gritted her teeth and said, “Tao girl, you have to catch that thief! I want to smash their head open with my chopping board!”
“Alright, alright. I’ll keep my word.”
In the end, everyone was able to enjoy Granny Cen’s oyster sauce lettuce at the cafeteria.
The lettuce was crisp and fresh, perfectly complemented by the savory oyster sauce. The chopsticks didn’t stop moving, and in just a few minutes, the dish was gone.
The quality of the lettuce was proven to be excellent, meaning they could now start selling it internally.
Su Tao instructed Qian Lin to handpick and weigh the mature lettuce the next day, so she could handle the sales.
After the meal, Su Tao returned to her room and immediately opened the hidden store—the Defense Materials Store.
It offered not just electric fences and stone walls but also bulletproof glass, smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and, most importantly, security cameras.
Each surveillance camera was only 600 Federation Coins.
Without hesitation, Su Tao bought 40 cameras, installing two on each floor of the three apartment buildings, ensuring there were no blind spots.
She also installed two per floor in the cafeteria, four in the office building, and placed the remaining two at opposite corners of the central park.
After the installation, she opened the system and entered the Smart Manager interface, instantly seeing all 40 surveillance feeds filling her view.
It was incredibly convenient not to need an extra monitor. Still, she tested connecting it to her office computer, and sure enough, she could also view the surveillance footage there.
Now, all that was left was to wait for the thief to strike again and catch them in the act.
With 40 cameras covering nearly every public area, she refused to believe they wouldn’t find out who the culprit was.
After some thought, Su Tao purchased 10 more cameras and switched the map view to Panliu Mountain, installing five cameras at the base and five at the top.
Now, by selecting the mountain on the Smart Manager interface, she could clearly see every corner of Panliu Mountain.
The camera quality was exceptionally high—so much so that she could even see maggots crawling out of a rotting corpse in an abandoned garage.
Su Tao quickly averted her gaze.
She needed to find someone to clean up that area soon; otherwise, every time she checked the surveillance, she’d have to mentally prepare herself.
To prevent wandering zombies from entering her territory and causing trouble, Su Tao placed an order for high-wall electric fences from the Defense Materials Store, enclosing the entire base of Panliu Mountain. The total cost came to over 80,000 Federation Coins.
Spending money like running water…
Cautiously, Su Tao checked her account balance.
As expected, it was brutal.
Her original savings of 710,000 had unknowingly dwindled to just 230,000.
Taking a deep breath, she reassured herself—money could always be earned again.
Money was meant to be spent. Knowing how to spend money wisely was the key to making more.
Then, she calmly began constructing the third floor of the Panliu Mountain Inn.
The layout was similar to the second floor, with six single rooms and three double rooms.
She originally planned to continue building the fourth floor, but when she looked up, she realized that dawn was approaching.
Su Tao had no choice but to stop, deciding to continue tomorrow night. Construction needed to be done gradually—one couldn’t become a big, fat person in a single bite.
But she really wanted to become a big, fat person! Once the Panliu Mountain Inn was completed and started operating with a steady number of tenants, not only would she have a chance to meet the LV5 system upgrade requirement of 200 tenants, but she would also earn a decent income.
Su Tao closed her eyes to catch up on sleep, but even in her dreams, she was building the fourth floor of the inn. Just as she was about to finish, the ringing of her communicator startled her awake.
“…Hello?”
Zhuang Wan’s voice, mixed with shock and anger, came through:
“Boss! We were about to catch the little thief, but they suddenly disappeared!”
Su Tao instantly woke up. She glanced at the time—it was already 1 PM. Sitting up, she asked, “What do you mean, disappeared?”
“This noon, Grandma Cen deliberately placed a slab of pork ribs at the spot where her vegetables were stolen yesterday, pretending to turn away. Then, we saw a hook reach in through the window and precisely snatch the ribs away.”
“When we rushed toward the hook, hoping to catch the thief red-handed, there was no one outside at all!”
“It’s like we saw a ghost!”
Su Tao quickly got dressed, fed the little ones, instructed Lin Fangzhi in the living room to stay put, and hurried downstairs to find Zhuang Wan and the others.
Grandma Cen, deeply hurt for the second time, was too angry to even curse and just stood there, fuming.
Su Tao looked toward the balcony, then opened her system’s smart assistant interface and pulled up the surveillance footage. Sure enough, in one of the camera feeds, she could see Grandma Cen’s balcony.
She asked Zhuang Wan, “Around what time was the theft?”
“Just ten minutes ago.”
Zhuang Wan then lowered her voice, “Boss… I suspect the thief is from the upstairs or neighboring units, using a hook from their own balcony. That’s the only way they could disappear so quickly.”
“Upstairs, we have Old Mei and Xiao Pan, who don’t seem suspicious. On the right side is Tang Qingshu and his wife. Their place has been stolen from too, and besides, Tang’s husband is a captain in the military. He’s actually responsible for security in the eastern district right now. We can’t suspect a hero of the people.”
“That leaves the neighbors on the left… Boss, you know them—it’s that couple from the Grain Bureau, Ma Ying and Wei Weimao.”
Su Tao glanced at the other tenants present. Judging from their united expressions, they all suspected Ma Ying and her husband too.
Those two had been unpopular since they moved in.
First, they were unhygienic. Though things improved after they hired a temp cleaner, the damage was done.
Second, they never socialized with other tenants, always acting superior because of their jobs at the Grain Bureau.
Just as Su Tao was about to check the surveillance footage, Grandma Cen angrily stormed upstairs and banged on Ma Ying’s door.
The crowd surged after her, and Su Tao had no choice but to follow quickly.
They knocked for a long time, but no one answered, which only confirmed everyone’s suspicions.
Several tenants who had frequently been stolen from were now fuming and joined in pounding the door.
“We know you’re in there! Stop pretending! Open up! You even stole my shoes after I only wore them a few times—aren’t you afraid of foot fungus?”
“And my umbrella! I left it out to dry, and you took it!”
“My lunchbox, fresh from the cafeteria, disappeared the moment I turned my head! You work for the Grain Bureau, but you still steal food from others? Pay up!”
“Pay up!”
Just then, the door opened.
Ma Ying, hair disheveled like a bird’s nest, stared at the crowd in a dazed, sleepy state.
The look on her face told Su Tao immediately—this was bad. The real thief probably wasn’t them. This was a huge misunderstanding.
She quickly stepped back from the crowd and checked the surveillance footage, rewinding to ten minutes earlier.
Sure enough, it was the temporary cleaner Ma Ying had hired!
Right now, that person was hiding on the balcony, too afraid to come out!
Su Tao was speechless. How did this couple even manage their lives? They couldn’t even hire a cleaner without accidentally bringing a thief into their home.
