Chapter 143: The Diversity of Abilities
“Boss Su.”
Su Tao tried to pick up on some kind of emotion in his tone, but unfortunately, Gu Mingchi hid it well. Those three words were spoken with complete calmness.
“Good evening, Boss Gu. Is there something you need?”
Gu Mingchi was silent for two seconds before suddenly saying something unexpected:
“Be careful of any mist or fog around Panliu Mountain. If you see it—set it on fire.”
Before Su Tao could react, he was about to hang up. Feeling something off, she instinctively blurted out:
“Wait! Are you warning me that Tan Yong has an ability user related to mist? I don’t get it—why are you passing information to me? You’re offending Tan Yong on one side but refusing to be on my side on the other. What are you trying to do?”
The only response was the beeping of a disconnected call.
Su Tao was completely speechless. She stared at the communicator, wishing she could reach through it and drag Gu Mingchi out for questioning.
Still, she took his warning seriously. The next morning, she told Qi Yunlan to be on the lookout for any strange mist or fog—if they saw any, they should immediately call Fire Serpent to burn it down.
Fire Serpent, upon receiving the notice, confidently patted his chest with his good right hand:
“Doesn’t matter what kind of smoke or mist it is—if it meets my fire, it’ll tremble in fear!”
Then, he smugly showed off a little. In an instant, two white-blue flames coiled around his hands like twin serpents flicking their tongues.
Su Tao immediately felt the air around her heat up, forcing her to take a big step back.
Smack!
Lei Xing slapped Fire Serpent on the back of the head.
“Control yourself! Can’t you see you’re overheating Boss Su? Get lost and stand by!”
After chasing Fire Serpent away, Lei Xing turned to Su Tao and said:
“At six this morning, Qu Jingwen called me again. I pretended to agree to their plan. Also, I heard that Gu Mingchi secretly pulled all his people out of Old Station overnight. Anyone who refused to leave—he ordered them to be killed. The smell of blood even attracted a small wave of zombies, keeping Tan Yong and his men up all night.”
Su Tao shuddered.
So Gu Mingchi had completely severed ties with Old Station.
But he still refused to pick a side. What the hell is he up to?
Lei Xing continued, “Tan Yong is furious. He originally thought that anyone unwilling to leave could be recruited under him. But Gu Mingchi was ruthless—he’d rather kill them than let Tan Yong have them.”
Su Tao frowned. “I remember… most of those people are minors, right?”
Lei Xing nodded. “Yeah. They were all orphans that Gu Mingchi picked up from different places. At least half of them aren’t even adults yet. The ones who refused to leave were probably brainwashed by Tan Yong in secret.”
Su Tao fell silent. After a long pause, she said:
“As long as Gu Mingchi doesn’t stand against us, let him stay neutral. Captain Lei, I’ll need you to gather intel on the ability users from Old Station. Figure out which abilities we need to prepare for.”
Lei Xing made an OK gesture and said,
“I don’t know all of them, but I’ve fought with a few before. I’ll give you a rundown—some of them sound pretty bizarre, but there are always ways to counter them.”
“For example, Tan Yong’s lover—his absolute favorite woman. Her ability is called ‘Enchanting Sound’, a mind-affecting ability. She’s got a beautiful voice, and when she sings, people become obsessed with her, lose their sense of self, and start worshiping her like a god. Basically, she’s a cult leader in the making.”
“But it’s easy to deal with—just plug your ears.”
“There’s also someone with an ability called ‘Blazing Sun.’ This person can concentrate sunlight during the day to form high-damage beams, like lasers, which can penetrate most objects—very powerful offensively. But there’s no need to worry. I have a teammate whose ability is ‘Reflection’—he can bounce back any attack with equal force.”
“And there’s more…”
Su Tao listened in shock and awe. So this is what ability diversity looks like.
Lei Xing concluded:
“From what I remember, these are the most practical ability users at Old Station. The rest are mostly useless. For example, one guy’s ability just makes his opponents suddenly need to use the bathroom—not dangerous, but extremely humiliating.”
“Then there’s another ability user who’s completely insane. She calls herself ‘Alice.’ Her head can shrink and enlarge at will, and apparently, she sees everyone as rabbits. Her behavior is completely absurd.”
Su Tao couldn’t help but sigh, “That’s incredible.”
Lei Xing shrugged. “Incredible, but useless. Out of a thousand people, maybe only ten awaken abilities. And among those ten, eight are useless. Finding a powerful ability user is truly one in a thousand.”
Su Tao nodded in understanding. “No wonder Old Station is so eager to work with Leopard Path. You guys have 14 people, and every single one is a rare talent. I’m really lucky.”
Lei Xing enjoyed the compliment, his eyes curving into a smile. “That luck will last a long time.”
With the security team and the Leopard Path crew guarding her, Su Tao finally felt at ease—99% at ease, to be exact.
That meant she could finally focus on internal matters in Taoyang.
The first batch of three-bedroom, two-living-room houses had all been rented out, mostly to families of five—four adults and one child.
Additionally, a few previously vacant rooms had also been filled, bringing Su Tao a total income of 470,000 Federal Credits.
She immediately transferred the funds into the public account, and with the remaining balance, Taoyang now had 850,000 credits in liquid assets—not even counting the second half of July’s earnings from Panliu Mountain and the plantation revenue.
Looking at the account balance, Su Tao felt immensely satisfied. Money really does bring happiness.
Right after, Zhuang Wan came over to discuss hiring sales staff for the plantation.
“Qian Lin wants to hire two people, but I think that won’t be enough. We also need two more people to handle supply coordination with Dongyang. Every time Dongyang sends people over, Qian Lin has to scramble to find help—it’s better to hire directly.”
“And once we get a large batch of seeds, we’ll need someone to manage and maintain them. Plus, we need workers to harvest and package the vegetables, handle storage, and prepare them for sale. Based on our current workload, we should hire two more.”
Su Tao thought her reasoning was solid and immediately agreed. She then asked:
“I want to establish our HR and Administration departments soon. Do you have a preference? HR will handle hiring, employee services, activities, and benefits. Admin will still be under your control, managing tenant screening, check-ins, services, move-outs, and maintenance.”
She had gotten this idea from Old Master Gu—if you want to run a company or even an entire district, every employee must have clear roles and responsibilities for efficient management.
Right now, Zhuang Wan was handling both HR and Admin alone—it was too much work for one person.
Zhuang Wan smiled, “I’ll choose whichever lets me spend more time with you.”
Su Tao chuckled. “Then HR it is. Find someone to take over Admin soon, and help train them.”
Zhuang Wan nodded. “No problem. I’ll also start recruiting for the plantation—Qian Lin is in a hurry to get workers.”
As soon as the job postings went up, many tenants showed up at the office.
Even people outside Taoyang heard about the openings and started calling in non-stop—the hiring response was as hot as the rental market.
Su Tao was a little surprised.
Zhuang Wan, flipping through resumes, explained:
“More businesses and factories in Dongyang are shutting down, and unemployment is rising. There’s even a rumor that getting a job in Taoyang is like getting a government position—some even say that businesses in Changjing will go bankrupt before Taoyang does.”
Qian Rongrong, sitting nearby, raised her head and timidly said, “Honestly… I kind of believe that too.”
Zhuang Wan laughed. “You’re not wrong.”
Su Tao asked, “How many factories and businesses in Dongyang have shut down?”
Zhuang Wan sighed. “A lot. Many businesses rely on supplies from other bases, but with everything outside in chaos, production has stopped. Even though Dongyang itself is stable, companies can’t get materials and are forced to shut down.”
“For example, Dongyang’s garment factories. They source cotton, fabric, and even tools from other bases. If those suppliers collapse, the factories can’t function. I heard one of their factory managers even traveled to Shangjing to beg for cotton.”
Su Tao gave a clear instruction:
“From now on, priority for Taoyang jobs goes to our own tenants.”
Zhuang Wan nodded. “Of course. Plus, our tenants are high-quality candidates—it’ll be easier to find good employees.”
Just then, Qi Yunlan suddenly called.
“Boss, there’s someone outside claiming to be your… brother. Do you want me to check if he’s a scammer?”
She sent over a surveillance screenshot.
Su Tao glanced at it—it was Su Zhenglan, her so-called second brother.
She responded, “Ask him what he wants. If it’s nothing important, send him away.”
Qi Yunlan, realizing that it was indeed Su Tao’s brother, turned to Meng Xiaobo.
Meng Xiaobo, upon hearing it was the boss’s brother, immediately turned into a bootlicker, ready to greet him politely.
But Qi Yunlan stopped him.
“Just ask normally. Judging by Boss Su’s tone, she’s not very fond of him.”
Meng Xiaobo immediately changed his demeanor. With his muscular frame, he walked up to Su Zhenglan and gruffly asked:
“What do you want with our boss?”
Su Zhenglan looked a bit intimidated, took two steps back, and waved his hands. “I’m not looking for your boss, I’m looking for my sister, Su Tao.”
Meng Xiaobo gave him a suspicious look. “Are you dumb? She is our boss.”
Su Zhenglan’s mouth dropped open. “Huh? Is this a case of the same name? My sister is only eighteen this year—there’s no way she’s your boss. She’s just a tenant here, probably living with her boyfriend. Could you call her for me?”
