Chapter 244: A Sense of Security
On the other end of the call, Shi Zijin pondered for a moment before saying,
“Do exactly as you said. Don’t let Liu Panpan wander around. We’ll decide what to do when I return.”
Su Tao immediately asked, “When will you be back?”
Shi Zijin hesitated briefly, then replied with just two words:
“Very soon.”
Very soon!
If he wasn’t completely confident, he would never have said that.
Did that mean they were truly about to capture the Crawler?!
Su Tao’s heartbeat quickened. “I have to take a team to the Alliance Summit at the end of the month…”
“I’ll be back before then.”
With that promise, Su Tao felt an overwhelming sense of security.
As long as Liu Panpan remained in Taoyang, there would always be a pair of bloodthirsty eyes watching them from the shadows.
The only one who could shield them from those eyes—or even pierce through them like a blade—was Shi Zijin.
She barely had time to process her emotions before being pulled right back into work.
There was a lot to prepare before the summit in Xindu.
The most urgent matter was completing recruitment—especially for Tao Chi’s business operations.
Zhuang Wan understood the priorities and quickly hired stock clerks and front desk attendants, leaving only the final round of interviews for Su Tao.
But Su Tao was too busy, so she had the candidates stand before her for a quick glance. Finding no obvious issues, she handed the final hiring decisions over to Lin Fangzhi.
Lin Fangzhi wasn’t the best judge of character, but he knew that as long as someone came to work and took their job seriously, they were a good person.
Of the five people Zhuang Wan recruited, he kept four. But he shook his head at the last girl.
Curious, Zhuang Wan asked, “What’s wrong with her?”
Lin Fangzhi frowned. “She was looking at me.”
Everyone was puzzled.
Even Su Tao was confused, until Jiang Yu leaned over and whispered in her ear,
“When Fangzhi was explaining the job, everyone else was focused on the handbook. But that girl kept sneaking glances at him. He probably thought she wasn’t paying attention.”
Su Tao paused for a moment, then took a good look at Lin Fangzhi.
In just half a year, his appearance had changed dramatically, along with his mental growth.
When she first met him, he was all skin and bones, tanned from the sun. Even then, his delicate features suggested he’d be a handsome young man if given the chance.
Now, with a healthier build and fairer skin, his refined features stood out even more. His rosy lips and white teeth, combined with slightly long black hair, gave him an androgynous beauty.
No wonder the girl kept staring.
Su Tao chuckled, feeling both amused and proud. She nodded at Lin Fangzhi with a smile.
“Do as you see fit. Let Sister Zhuang find you someone more reliable.”
Lin Fangzhi’s face lit up with a brilliant smile—one so dazzling it seemed to intoxicate everyone in the room.
After he left, Zhuang Wan leaned in toward Su Tao and whispered,
“I see him every day and didn’t even notice how much more attractive he’s gotten. I’d better keep an eye out, or some sly little fox might steal him away.”
Su Tao laughed. “What’s wrong with that? As long as it’s mutual and there’s no ill intent, there’s nothing bad about it.”
Zhuang Wan disagreed. “With his looks, skills, special abilities, and the fact that he’s your right-hand man, how many people do you think will have pure intentions? Besides, he’s too innocent—too easy to fool. I need to keep an eye out for him.”
But Su Tao wasn’t too worried.
Lin Fangzhi might be naive, but he was also highly guarded. He rarely trusted or accepted anyone into his inner circle.
If a girl could truly win his heart, it would mean she had genuinely moved him.
Zhuang Wan took her own concerns seriously, so much so that she even considered them when hiring female workers for the ranch.
“Boss, take a look at this mother and daughter. They used to be survivors living on the outskirts of the old station. They’re honest, hardworking, and have experience raising livestock. The mother is in her thirties, and the daughter is only six—so they definitely won’t have any ulterior motives toward Fangzhi.”
Su Tao flipped through their records and was surprised. “They don’t want any salary?”
Zhuang Wan nodded. “They just want enough food and water to survive. That’s how I know they’re genuine.”
Su Tao nodded. “No matter what, we should still give them proper compensation. No need to look for anyone else—let’s go with them.”
Zhuang Wan agreed happily. “Boss, you’ll definitely be satisfied when you meet them.”
The next day, when Su Tao saw the mother and daughter, her initial feeling wasn’t satisfaction but surprise.
They looked familiar.
The woman, who was clearly dressed up for the occasion, also froze for a moment before her expression lit up with excitement. She looked like she wanted to call out to Su Tao but didn’t know what to say.
The little girl, on the other hand, chirped brightly, “The nice big sister who gave us water and food!”
Su Tao tried to recall and hesitated. “Was it you who took in my cat when it got lost?”
The woman hadn’t expected Su Tao to remember her. She nodded repeatedly, full of gratitude.
“Boss Su, my name is Tang Huan, and this is my daughter, Dingdang. The water and food you gave us saved our lives. Otherwise, by now…”
She glanced at her daughter.
Back then, the old station was in chaos, filled with thugs and scavengers who frequently broke into homes to steal water and food.
Tang Huan and her daughter had been robbed several times until they had nothing left.
She had even resigned herself to the idea of selling her dignity just to survive…
But against all odds, they hadn’t starved. They hadn’t been forced into desperation. Instead, they found work…
Su Tao was surprised. She looked them over and asked with a smile, “That water and food didn’t cause you any trouble, did it?”
Tang Huan shook her head. “For some reason, no one came to steal from us after that.”
Su Tao had a guess—it was probably Shi Zijin’s doing. Otherwise, a simple bag of supplies wouldn’t have been enough to keep them safe.
He never said anything, but he always did everything.
“Come on, I’ll take you to get familiar with your work environment.”
Before the apocalypse, Tang Huan had lived in the countryside with her grandmother.
Raising chickens and ducks was common in rural areas, and she had started learning to care for them at eight or nine years old. By the time she was fourteen or fifteen, people from miles around knew her as an expert at raising poultry—clever and hardworking.
Even after all these years, she still remembered the key points of poultry care and how to prevent certain diseases.
But her experience with chicken and duck coops was limited to simple wooden fences, perhaps with a little straw or stacked bricks for shelter.
She had never seen chickens and ducks living in a “two-story building.”
Even the fences here were built from brand-new, neatly arranged white wooden planks.
The ground was covered in fresh green grass—real grass. And in the distance, there were fruit plants growing. If she wasn’t mistaken, they looked like strawberries… but why were they white?
For a moment, she felt like she had traveled back in time—back to the world before the apocalypse, to a countryside filled with abundance and the sweet scent of ripe fruit…
