Chapter 21: Mutant Zombie Infiltrates the Base
Su Tao wasn’t in a particularly good mood. How did Su Jianming’s friend end up getting in here?
Who was this guy? She’d never seen him before.
She glanced back at Xiang Bin’s profile and found out he had been in the building materials business. He probably got connected with Su Jianming, who was an engineer, through that link.
Considering how she hadn’t liked meeting outsiders when she lived with the Su family, it was no wonder she didn’t remember Su Jianming having such a friend.
What a headache. Xiang Bin probably wouldn’t be so easy to fool. Before long, her scummy dad might find out the truth.
Whatever. If he finds out, so be it. What’s he gonna do, take her money? Steal her house?
Keep dreaming!
“Boss Su? Is this okay?” Zhuang Wan’s voice pulled her back to reality.
Su Tao glanced at the registration form she’d filled out. It detailed each tenant’s move-in date, the due date for next month’s rent, individual tenant behaviors upon arrival, specific requests, and so on—very thorough.
Surprised, Su Tao asked, “Have you done similar clerical work before?”
Zhuang Wan shook her head. “I’ve only been a class representative at school.”
Su Tao nodded approvingly. “You’re really good at this. You can definitely support your child on your own. You don’t need to rely on anyone else.”
Zhuang Wan’s eyes immediately turned red. “You’re right, Boss Su. I should have met you earlier. Then I wouldn’t have always depended on Huzi, wouldn’t have become his burden. He wouldn’t have sacrificed himself to support us… And my husband too—just to give me and the child a safe place to live, he took on inter-base transportation jobs to earn money. He was attacked by zombies on the road… I didn’t even get his ashes…”
As she spoke, she covered her face and began to sob.
For once, Su Tao didn’t mind her crying. Her own heart ached a little too.
She patted Zhuang Wan’s shoulder. “Don’t blame yourself. From now on, just live well in Taoyang. As long as Taoyang stands, you and your child will have a safe and stable life. Go back tonight and pack up. Move in tomorrow.”
Zhuang Wan cried even harder, repeatedly expressing her thanks.
After sending off the tearful Zhuang Wan, Su Tao felt much better. But her good mood didn’t last long—Shi Zijin brought her shocking news.
“Dongyang might have a zombie infiltrator recently. It’s only a possibility, but you need to be extremely careful. Stay inside if you can.”
Su Tao’s heart pounded. “Someone got infected and turned into a zombie inside the base?”
Shi Zijin shook his head, his expression grim. “It’s a mutant zombie that doesn’t look much different from a human. It’s disguised as a four-year-old child. If you see it, you must not panic, and you definitely can’t show fear. This zombie has intelligence. If it senses your fear, it will feel rejected. Its emotions will become uncontrollable, and it will go on a killing spree.”
Su Tao nodded rapidly, a sense of dread welling up inside her. Twenty years in, and zombies were suddenly mutating. It sounded terrifying no matter how she thought about it.
She was physically weak, had no special abilities, and couldn’t even defend herself against an ordinary man—let alone a powerful mutant zombie.
“I’ll be very busy for a while and probably won’t be able to come back. I’ll leave people in Taoyang to watch over you in secret. If anything happens, I’ll rush back immediately. You and Ziyue must not leave the house.”
Su Tao’s sense of security surged, and the fear in her heart dissipated, allowing a bit of light to break through.
It’s good to have a strong ally. It’s like an extra life insurance policy.
“Then take good care of yourself and try not to get hurt,” she reminded him.
Shi Zijin softly replied, “Okay.”
Before going to bed that night, Su Tao received yet another reminder not to go out.
This time, though, it was from Pei Dong, who lived in Room 005, the single room.
Su Tao remembered Shi Ziyue mentioning that Pei Dong had a military background and wasn’t someone easy to deal with.
However, since Pei Dong’s schedule seemed completely reversed—day and night flipped—Su Tao had only registered her arrival that first day and hadn’t seen her since.
Seeing Su Tao standing in the living room, Pei Dong assumed she was about to go out. She frowned and said:
“Don’t leave Taoyang for now. Dongyang Base is not safe, both inside and outside. You should also tell the other tenants not to bring strangers in casually. Be strict with new tenant screenings too.”
For a moment, Su Tao felt as if Pei Dong were her direct superior—the pressure was intense.
Pei Dong didn’t say much more: “You don’t have the clearance to know the specifics. Don’t ask too many questions. Just follow orders and value your life.”
With that, she flipped her coat and turned back into her room.
Yep, total boss energy.
Her well-intentioned warning sounded more like a mafia deal.
Once Pei Dong was back in her room, Su Tao mimicked a kicking motion and huffed internally. So what if you know a lot? I know things too!
Five seconds later, she quickly messaged Shi Zijin:
“Who is Pei Dong on your side? You know, the tall, skinny one—acts super cool but is actually quite nice.”
Shi Zijin, who was monitoring surveillance with the city defense forces, found the message amusing and replied:
“Pei Dong is the deputy commander of the city defense forces, responsible for the entire base’s defense and monitoring.”
When Su Tao saw the reply, it all made sense. No wonder Pei Dong spoke so forcefully—it was probably just a habit from giving orders at work. Alright, she’d forgive her.
She immediately sent a message to the tenant group, advising everyone not to go out for the time being.
As soon as she sent it, a flood of replies came in, asking what was going on.
Su Tao, remembering Shi Zijin’s warning, only said she’d heard some rumors about things being unsafe outside recently. She wasn’t sure about the specifics but suggested everyone stay home just in case.
Most tenants were quite scared, promising to head home as soon as possible.
A few didn’t take it seriously. Su Tao decided to handle them one-on-one once they got home.
But getting through to them wasn’t easy. By 2 a.m., there were still three people who didn’t get it: a pair of brothers with the surname Tao, who lived in a double room, and a middle-aged woman in a single room named Wen Peizhen.
The older brother, Tao Tonghe, said, “We’ve got abilities, Boss Su. Zombies can’t even get close to us, so you don’t need to worry.”
The younger brother, Tao Tongjie, added, “We’ve killed at least eighty, maybe even a hundred zombies over the years. Both the Pioneer Corps and the city defense forces have tried to recruit us. We just don’t like being tied down—otherwise, we’d already have military ranks.”
The middle-aged woman, Wen Peizhen, didn’t see the issue at all:
“The Dongyang Base is so big and densely populated. If there were zombies, there’d be a commotion first. As long as I run fast when I see trouble, I’ll be fine.”
Su Tao was speechless. Fine, if they weren’t afraid of dying, so be it. “Alright, just be careful. And don’t bring strangers into Taoyang.”
The three agreed readily.
Right after agreeing, the Tao brothers announced they were going out to drink with friends.
Su Tao glanced at the time—2:40 a.m. Forget it, let them be. She wasn’t their mom; she couldn’t control them that much.
She stayed up for another two hours, forcing her eyes wide open like bronze bells, pushing through to finish the renovation of the third one-bedroom apartment.
Finally, she posted the rental listings for two one-bedroom apartments and collapsed into bed.
Since she stayed up so late, Su Tao couldn’t get up the next day. It was only around 1 p.m. that she managed to drag herself out of bed.
The smart home assistant’s notification sound kept ringing nonstop—it was all rental applications.
The one-bedroom apartments were just too good: high value for money, fully furnished, and equipped with all the living necessities.
Naturally, everyone wanted a piece of it.
It even sparked a trend: “Newlyweds must live in Taoyang’s one-bedroom apartments,” with 80-90% of the applicants being newly married couples.
Among them were Su Zhengqing and his girlfriend, who had been eyeing a place for a long time and were planning to get married
