Chapter 364: Overnight Fortune
In the afternoon, after finishing her work, Su Tao hurried back to her room and left a note in the living room, explaining that she would be staying overnight at Xiao Wenyu’s new house.
When night fell, Shi Zijin floated into the room excitedly, only to find it empty. After searching every room, he finally noticed the note on the table.
He was devastated.
Equally devastated was Luo Yan—he was kicked out as soon as it got dark. Sitting in his empty room, he smoked a lonely cigarette.
Upstairs and downstairs, a ghost and a man, both felt abandoned.
Meanwhile, Su Tao was blushing, pointing at Qian Lin.
“Wolf, wolf, wolf—vote for her! Trust me, I’m the Seer!”
Qian Lin retorted, “I’m the Seer! Xiao Yu is my confirmed good guy, and both the boss and Wen Man are wolves! Vote for the boss first!”
Xiao Yu: “…” But I’m actually a wolf.
Su Tao dreamed of taking down werewolves all night, only to be falsely accused instead. She woke up from sheer frustration.
When she checked the clock, it was already 9 a.m.!
She snapped awake and rushed to freshen up—she had been too indulgent. After gaming, she had even gone downstairs for karaoke.
Since the professional singer hadn’t arrived, the karaoke turned into a chaotic mess. Su Tao humbly realized she was tone-deaf.
She never knew her singing voice could go so wildly off-tune.
Xiao Yu was even worse—he sounded like a deflating tire the entire time.
With his performance making hers seem better by comparison, Su Tao felt slightly comforted.
Shaking her head, she resolved to rein herself in—no more late nights. Tonight, she would sleep early.
In the morning, she had an appointment with Grandma Yu to test the improved firearms.
When Su Tao arrived yawning, Grandma Yu snorted.
“Staying up late—young people these days waste their energy. Here, take this and test it. Let me know how it performs.”
Rubbing her eyes, Su Tao took the handgun and inserted a crystal core into the slot. Still groggy, she hesitated about where to aim.
Grandma Yu smacked her on the back.
“You fool—aim at the sky! If you fire elsewhere, you’ll cause trouble. Your house can’t withstand a blast like this.”
“Oh, right.”
Su Tao aimed at the sky and pulled the trigger. With a faint bang, a blue-green beam shot upwards, dispersing harmlessly against the protective shield without leaving a trace.
Fully awake now, she exclaimed, “Other than being slightly heavier than my old energy gun, it’s perfect—barely any recoil. I just wonder how much crystal energy it consumes.”
“Take out the core and let me see,” Grandma Yu instructed.
After examining the core for a while, she frowned.
“It’s used up about a third. How much does the one from Changjing consume per shot?”
“A quarter,” Su Tao replied. “Yours is already more efficient.”
Grandma Yu’s face darkened.
“Not good enough. It must be improved further.”
How could she accept being outdone by Changjing? Absolutely not—she had to make it better!
As she turned to leave, she suddenly paused.
“By the way, you should meet the leader of the Pozhu Mercenary Team. He’s a good kid, and his mentor is quite capable. I’ve spoken with them—you should bring them on board to help manage your ability users.”
Good thing Grandma Yu reminded her—Su Tao had almost forgotten. She immediately sent someone to invite Captain Duan over and sincerely apologized.
Captain Duan was flattered.
“It’s no problem at all! We know how busy you are. Honestly, we were waiting until you had some free time to approach you.”
Su Tao felt a little guilty—just last night, she had time for board games, karaoke, and dancing. Embarrassing.
Sighing, Captain Duan said, “Boss Su, what can we do to let my teacher stay in Taoyang? He’s grown so fond of it here—he doesn’t want to leave. I really…”
Su Tao cut him off.
“Actually, Taoyang doesn’t strictly require residents to be from Dongyang. Look at Grandma Yu and Xiao Yu—they’re not from here either.
“The issue is that you broke the contract. It clearly states that Taoyang would pay your fuel and food costs as the final payment.
“But you suddenly told Manager Zhuang that you didn’t want fuel or food—you just wanted your teacher to stay. Captain Duan, if we change contracts so easily, what’s the point of having them?”
Realizing his mistake, Captain Duan blushed with embarrassment.
He had acted impulsively—seeing how much his teacher loved Taoyang had clouded his judgment.
Su Tao continued seriously, “Captain Duan, we value rules here in Taoyang. I’ll pay the final amount as agreed. You need to have your teacher fill out the residency application properly and submit it to Manager Meng Qian under our ‘Talent Recruitment’ program.”
Grandpa Gu had always emphasized that proper management required enforcing rules fairly. Even when Su Tao brought back Grandma Yu and Xiao Yu, she followed the formal recruitment process.
Captain Duan was deeply grateful and immediately rushed off to inform his teacher.
Watching him leave, Su Tao felt a bit emotional—he truly had a sincere heart.
The “Talent Recruitment Program” was proposed by Grandpa Gu. Anyone with special or practical skills—whether they were ability users, researchers, or technical experts—could apply.
If accepted, recruits received substantial benefits: housing subsidies that covered most of the rent, three daily meals, and excellent pay.
For example, Grandma Yu earned a base salary of 40,000 federal credits per month, with additional bonuses.
However, the program hadn’t been officially announced yet—Su Tao planned to launch it in November.
Why? Because she hadn’t finished building new houses!
Until Dongyang’s West District 3 was complete, she couldn’t afford to divert resources to expand Taoyang’s residential areas.
Just as she was worrying about gathering enough crystal cores, Lin Fangzhi brought her a massive surprise.
Through some unknown connections, he found customers from the coastal and island regions. These areas were so remote that their bases couldn’t visit in person—they simply sent a representative to inspect the goods.
Upon confirming that Taoyang’s supplies were genuine, the representative dumped several large bags of crystal cores on the table—1,050 in total.
“These represent membership fees from 35 different bases. Please accept them.”
