Chapter 204: The Red Hat
Alice widened her eyes at the sight of the milk candy, muttering something unintelligible before she started patting herself down.
Su Tao watched in confusion, unsure of what she was doing.
About ten seconds later, Alice pulled out a red top hat from seemingly nowhere and handed it to Su Tao.
“For me?” Su Tao asked uncertainly.
Alice babbled some more gibberish, nodded, and grinned foolishly.
Thinking it was just a small gift, Su Tao smiled and accepted it.
The usually composed Xu Qi showed a rare expression of surprise, exchanging a shocked glance with Nie Sibo.
Alice clapped her hands in delight but then quickly snatched the hat back from Su Tao, put it on her own head, and began shaking violently as if having a seizure.
Su Tao was so startled by the sudden bizarre behavior that she instinctively took two steps back.
Even Jiang Yu, who had been silently blending into the background, materialized in front of her as a shield, wary that the crazy girl might suddenly become violent.
Ma Dapao widened his eyes, thinking to himself that the ones who stayed behind were indeed not normal people.
Xu Qi explained, “Boss Su, she’s trying to tell you that this hat isn’t something to be worn casually. Anyone who wears it will convulse. This hat is actually part of her ability. A while ago, a hotel guest bullied her, and she tricked him into putting on the hat. He died instantly in the hallway.”
Su Tao was shocked. “Then why is she giving it to me?”
Xu Qi shook his head. “I’m not entirely sure, but maybe she likes you and simply wants to give you a gift.”
Alice flailed her arms and danced around for a while before removing the hat again and stuffing it back into Su Tao’s hands, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
That eager look…
Su Tao immediately handed her a bag of chocolate candies.
Alice twirled around twice, then happily skipped away.
Su Tao held the red top hat, feeling at a loss. She asked Xu Qi, “Taking this from her won’t affect her, right? Isn’t this part of her ability?”
Xu Qi gave a wry smile and shook his head. “I honestly don’t know. As you can see, she barely speaks and only communicates through gestures. We don’t really understand her or her ability.”
Su Tao decided to keep the hat for now.
“What are your next plans, Boss Su?” Xu Qi asked.
Su Tao thought for a moment before replying, “Let’s build houses for you all first. Later, talk to Dapao about your family situation—how many people and so on.”
Xu Qi hesitated. “You’re building new houses for us and our families?”
Su Tao nodded. “Yeah. Do you already have a place and don’t want to move? That’s fine too; we’ll convert it into full wages for you.”
Xu Qi was stunned. If he heard correctly, she was offering to build them houses for free?
Ma Dapao, seeing his disbelief, added, “Here’s how it works—our employees get two options for salary and benefits. One is full salary with various allowances. The other is partial salary, also with full benefits, but it includes free housing in our employee apartments. The conditions are excellent. I suggest you take the second option.”
Nie Sibo was equally dumbfounded. “I want to move, I do! But… even someone like me, with such a useless ability, gets a house?”
Tan Yong had never valued him, and the salary he received was barely enough to rent a small single room where he, his wife, and two kids were crammed together. Life was incredibly difficult.
Xu Qi, though earning more, lived in an old station that had fallen into disrepair. Some of the structures were pre-apocalypse industrial buildings that had been repurposed, while most of the others were hastily constructed post-apocalypse with limited materials, often cutting corners.
The house Xu Qi had purchased years ago was already a hazardous structure. Moving to a new home was an urgent necessity.
