Chapter 352: “The Thief”
As dawn approached, he reluctantly prepared to leave. Passing through the living room, the sharp-eyed crow spotted him and immediately flapped its wings and shouted:
“Thief! Thief! Stop right there!”
Shi Zijin instantly vanished through the wall.
Lingyu was completely stunned.
Half-asleep, Su Tao heard the noise, got up groggily, and walked to the living room. “What’s going on? Lingyu, are you talking?”
Lingyu seemed terrified. “There’s a thief! A thief!”
Su Tao woke up immediately. Right, she had felt someone watching her last night!
There really was a thief!
How was that even possible?
Her apartment was equipped with fingerprint locks, and only she and Fang Zhi could enter!
And this was Taoyang—her territory. How bold must the thief be to steal from her, the boss?
“Where’s the thief?!”
Lingyu circled the living room excitedly. “In the wall! In the wall!”
Su Tao was speechless, not understanding what the crow meant. She quickly searched the apartment to check if anything important was missing.
Nothing was stolen, and there were no signs of a break-in.
Unconvinced, Su Tao grabbed Black Sesame, intending to share its vision and identify the thief from last night.
Black Sesame looked utterly confused and unresponsive.
In its mind, Shi Zijin wasn’t a stranger—if he wanted to come in, so be it.
There was no danger. Case closed.
The cat meowed, escaped from Su Tao’s grasp, and ran upstairs to cling to Chili again.
Xuedao yawned and went back to sleep.
White Sesame was busy exchanging insults with Chili from across the room.
Fang Zhi had just woken up, his hair sticking up in two tufts, still half-asleep.
Aside from Lingyu, who kept shouting “thief,” no one paid Su Tao any attention.
Before leaving, Su Tao installed surveillance cameras in every room. She was determined to find out if it was a person or a ghost sneaking in at night without leaving any trace!
When Fang Zhi saw her bustling around installing cameras, he finally asked, “Tao, I have something to tell you.”
Su Tao clapped her hands. “Go ahead.”
“We need to raise the prices of water and drinks.”
Fang Zhi’s reasoning was simple—bottled water was their best-selling product.
Many customers only bought water and nothing else. If this continued, it would upset the balance.
Su Tao waved her hand dismissively. “Raise them. Raise them as much as you want. It’s long overdue. Those bastards outside are still restricting our access to weapons, so let’s control the water supply instead.”
With her approval, Fang Zhi’s first task in the office was to update the purchasing menu, increasing the price of all drinking water tenfold. Any bulk purchases required additional crystal nuclei payments.
This price hike was so aggressive that it shocked everyone placing orders that morning. Some people were so furious they even tried to block Fang Zhi at his office door to demand an explanation.
They were all eventually “escorted” out.
Still, the curses continued, and someone even threw a rolled-up, stinky sock into Fang Zhi’s office to express their anger.
Several major southern bases—including Xindu, Dingnan, and Wutai—were just as outraged.
They even held a secret meeting to condemn Taoyang’s price hikes.
“What’s the meaning of Taoyang’s continuous price increases? Are they trying to offend every southern base? What good does it do them?” someone questioned.
Zhuo Ercheng said quietly, “Well, not raising prices doesn’t benefit them either. So why not raise them?”
There was one thing he left unsaid—these same people had signed the “Agreement to Restrict Taoyang’s Weapon Purchases.”
If you refuse to sell them weapons and they still sell you supplies—even at higher prices—you should count yourself lucky.
If they stop selling altogether, then you’ll be the ones crying.
Ling Tianji glared at him. “Whose side are you on, anyway?”
The others also shot Zhuo Ercheng angry looks, as if they wanted to kick the traitor out immediately.
Zhuo Ercheng stood up and left, leaning against the corridor wall to smoke.
Idiots.
After the meeting, Zhuo Ercheng approached Ling Tianji and said, “I suggest that Xindu send Taoyang a batch of weapons. This is the best time to build goodwill.”
Ling Tianji thought he was insane. “Are you seriously handing knives to Taoyang? Do you have any idea how much potential they have? If we give them weapons, they’ll grow even faster. One day, they’ll point those guns right at Xindu’s gates. Doesn’t that scare you?”
Zhuo Ercheng gave him a long look. “I have a feeling that, with or without weapons, Taoyang will develop its military strength quickly. It’s just a matter of time. The best move right now is to extend an olive branch—offer help when they need it most.”
Ling Tianji didn’t want to hear it. “We can’t do that! If we give Taoyang weapons, we’re breaking the agreement! We’ll have to pay a huge fine and be blacklisted by every major southern base!”
Zhuo Ercheng flicked away his half-smoked cigarette and walked off without another word.
Ling Tianji felt overwhelmed. The so-called “condemnation meeting” had turned into a one-sided rant against Taoyang, and now it was up to him to negotiate and get the prices lowered.
His face scrunched up in frustration.
He had wanted to send Zhuo Ercheng to handle it, but judging by his attitude, that clearly wasn’t happening.
So, it was up to Ling Tianji himself.
While chaos brewed outside, Su Tao remained incredibly busy.
The preliminary blueprints for Taoyang’s research base were finally finished!
This time, the design team included not only Master Mei and his apprentice but also Professor Qiao and his colleagues from Dongyang.
To speed things up, Professor Qiao had even borrowed two senior engineers from Dongyang’s construction headquarters. Thanks to their hard work, the final draft was completed in record time.
The moment Su Tao received the blueprints, she uploaded them to the automated construction interface. A system prompt echoed in her mind:
[Blueprint detected. Please wait…]
[Detection complete. Confirm model?]
A 3D model of the research base appeared before her eyes, allowing her to view every angle and detail.
The base was divided into two sections: the living area and the working area.
The living area, designed for researchers, adopted a three-bedroom shared housing model, where three people shared one apartment with a common living room, dining area, and bathroom.
The cafeteria was small but well-equipped with vending machines, and they planned to hire a cook to provide daily meals.
The working area was far more complex, featuring sterile rooms, equipment rooms, and even a virus storage chamber.
After confirming the materials, Su Tao submitted the order. She felt the ground tremble beneath her feet as the research base rose from nothing—a breathtaking sight.
Despite being mentally prepared, Su Tao was still shocked.
What would have taken a week by hand was now done with a click.
And if she wasn’t satisfied, she could still modify the design.
The 20 crystal nuclei she spent felt like a worthy investment.
When Professor Qiao heard the base was finished, he couldn’t believe it.
“I just gave you the blueprints—how is it already built?”
He rushed to Taoyang to see it for himself.
When he saw the research base, identical to the blueprints, he was speechless.
His mind was already racing with new possibilities.
