Chapter 10: From Now On, My Brother and I Will Be Your Family
Sure enough, Li Lianrong, with red eyes, ran over, grabbed Su Tao’s arm, and tears poured down like a torrential rain:
“Tao Tao, where have you been these past few days? Do you know your sister went to join the Pioneer Army in your place? I’m begging you—as long as you come back, you can have your sister’s room. Whatever your sister has, you’ll have too, okay? I was biased before. I didn’t take care of you. Can you forgive me?”
Su Tao almost burst into laughter out of anger. She shook off Li Lianrong’s hand:
“Go back? Go back and trade places with Jiang Jinwei? You don’t even realize what you did wrong. You don’t actually think you were biased—you just want me to feel soft-hearted and willingly exchange my life for Jiang Jinwei’s! You don’t care whether I live or die!”
Li Lianrong’s tears nearly stopped. She opened her mouth but couldn’t speak. After a long while, she muttered:
“Tao Tao? How did you become like this?”
“What? You think I’m disobedient now? Out of your control? Li Lianrong, sometimes I wonder if you’re really my mother. Did I actually spend nine months in your belly? Why else would you treat me like this? Now that I’m finally living a bit better, you show up to ruin my life.”
Li Lianrong was stunned for a moment. After a while, she responded, “Living well? Did the man you found treat you well?”
Su Tao was momentarily choked—what kind of question was that? She didn’t quite understand.
“What kind of person did you find? I heard from someone last time that they saw you at Gate 3 talking to several men from the Pioneer Army. Which one is yours? Does he have a rank?”
Li Lianrong, who had relied on men her whole life, could only think of one explanation for Su Tao’s improved situation—that she must have latched onto a wealthy and powerful man.
Li Lianrong’s voice was clear, and the always shy and timid Shi Ziyue immediately understood the situation. She stepped in front of Su Tao and, raising her voice, said to Li Lianrong:
“My sister Tao Tao doesn’t rely on any man. She has her own house and money. Even my brother, a major general, had to ask her for a room. She’s living well now and doesn’t need you as her family. Please, don’t come looking for her again.”
The amount of information in these words was overwhelming, and Li Lianrong stood in shock.
Not only had her daughter, who was kicked out just days ago, found a man with a military rank, but she also had a house? And judging by the tone, maybe more than one?
Li Lianrong felt it was all a ridiculous lie, but she couldn’t find a way to refute it.
Su Tao ignored her, took Shi Ziyue’s hand, and walked away.
On the way back, Shi Ziyue kept sneaking glances at Su Tao, wanting to say something but not daring to.
Su Tao chuckled, “Don’t hold back. If you want to say something, just say it.”
Shi Ziyue hesitated for a moment and then said, “Sister Tao Tao, don’t be sad. From now on, my brother and I will be your family.”
Su Tao’s eyes instantly felt warm, as if a dam of emotions had burst.
“Thank you, Ziyue.”
When Shi Zijin returned, he saw his sister clinging to their landlord, Su Tao, like conjoined twins.
Su Tao noticed he was back and carefully looked him over from head to toe. Seeing no obvious injuries, she was relieved.
It seemed this mission had gone relatively smoothly.
Then, she greeted the new tenants, the twin brothers who rented the double room—Da Zhou and Xiao Zhou.
The older brother was named Zhou Hai, and the younger, Zhou Yang. The twin brothers looked identical, almost impossible to tell apart.
Neither of them talked much. They seemed a bit out of it, walking with their heads down, hugging their luggage as they entered their room.
Shi Zijin explained, “Don’t mind them. The brothers had a rough past. Their mother was killed by criminals when they were very young, and they were forced to watch as her body was fed to zombies for amusement. After we rescued them, they haven’t been quite right mentally. But they won’t hurt anyone. They’re very quiet, obedient, and incredibly strong.”
Su Tao immediately felt a bit more compassion for them. Curiously, she asked, “What are their abilities?”
“Space tearing. Together, they can rip open space and teleport us within a certain range. Perfect for running away when we can’t win a fight.” He chuckled, his phoenix eyes carrying a mischievous glint.
Su Tao thought to herself, what a powerful ability!
She felt a bit envious. She wondered if she might awaken an ability herself. People said that eighteen was the crucial age—if you awakened this year, you made it. If not, you’d remain ordinary for life.
Oh well, she shouldn’t be too greedy. She already had the ‘landlady system.’ Wishing for superpowers too would be a bit too much.
“What’s your ability?” Su Tao asked again.
Shi Zijin looked at her for two seconds, “Military secret. Do you really want to know? If you do, you’ll need to sign a confidentiality agreement…”
Su Tao quickly cut him off, “Never mind, let’s talk about something else. I’ve just built two new rooms—a double and a single. Can you decide who should get which?”
They finally decided that the single room would go to the healing teammate named Jian Kaiyu. He had a scholarly air and was the smallest in stature among the team.
Su Tao still remembered how, when A’Chi died, Jian Kaiyu had pounded the ground and cried. He seemed like a genuine person.
The double room went to the team’s sharpshooters: one named Dang Xingyan and the other Zhuang Hu.
Dang Xingyan, true to his name, loved to talk. Once he started, he couldn’t stop. He was also quite picky, complaining non-stop about the wardrobe in the room. Su Tao just rolled her eyes and ignored him.
Zhuang Hu, on the other hand, was a man of few words. When he got anxious, he could only pant heavily—a straightforward and honest guy.
With that, all of Shi Zijin’s people were settled, and Su Tao received 25,000 federal coins.
Her total assets now reached over 28,000 federal coins.
She was halfway to the next upgrade!
Su Tao felt elated. With a bit more effort, reaching level 3 would unlock one-bedroom apartments and a shop for daily hygiene products.
With over 20,000 federal coins in hand, Su Tao felt quite wealthy. She immediately expanded by adding five double rooms and two single rooms.
Her total assets dropped by 17,000 federal coins.
The complete standard renovation of all rooms cost another 10,100 federal coins, and she set them all to the monthly rental mode.
After all this, Su Tao was left with less than 1,000 federal coins.
She only felt a momentary sting of regret, but when she thought about her seven empty rooms just waiting to be rented, she felt happy again.
She immediately called Shi Ziyue to help her post rental ads at the entrance of Taoyang, detailing the room configurations and prices. She asked interested parties to fill out their personal information and contact her.
While Su Tao was enthusiastically developing her landlord business, Shi Zijin was on edge, listening to a staff member report the research findings on the crystal nucleus of the evolved zombie he had killed.
“Major General Shi, this is the most successfully evolved zombie we’ve discovered in the past twenty years of the apocalypse. From the blood and flesh you brought back, we’ve also found that its DNA is rapidly reorganizing and mutating. It’s possible… this isn’t an isolated case. A new wave of zombie evolution may be coming.”
