Chapter 3: A Visitor in the Night
Su Tao realized her imagination could afford to be a bit bolder.
If even a broke person like her could become a landlady, what was so strange about teleportation?
Swiping her card, she opened the door and moved her things inside.
She placed a set of a sleeping bag, chamber pot, and washbasin in both the single room and her own room.
Su Tao activated the rental mode again.
[Rental conditions met. Please choose from daily, short-term, monthly, or yearly rental modes. Once selected, the price cannot be changed, and the interior furnishings and decorations cannot be altered within the specified period.]
After thinking it over, Su Tao decided to try daily rental first.
Since it was her first time being a landlady, she wanted to observe and learn day by day.
[Single Room No. 001 is now open for daily rental. Based on the interior decoration, the system recommends a daily rent of 100 Federal Coins. If you wish to increase the rent, please purchase higher-quality home furnishings.]
Su Tao: “…” So realistic.
But on second thought, the price seemed fair.
First of all, a regular one-bedroom in the Dongyang Base, without a private kitchen or bathroom, already cost 80 Federal Coins per day, plus 5 base contribution points.
And even then, demand often outstripped supply. Those who couldn’t secure a private room had to stay in dormitory-style housing with 20 people per room, where a bed cost 600 Federal Coins per month and 10 contribution points. Men and women all crowded together, eating, sleeping, and using the bathroom in the same space—conditions were terrible.
Her Taoyang single room, although lacking in amenities, offered private space and didn’t require contribution points.
Contribution points were even more valuable than Federal Coins.
Moreover, she knew well that this land was close to Gate 3, where pioneer troops often passed by.
Those who survived in the pioneer troops were usually well-off, taking on the most dangerous missions and earning the highest commissions.
Her room would surely find a tenant.
For dinner, Su Tao spent 2 Federal Coins on a bag of utterly unappetizing synthetic meat patties. Staring at her account, which now held only 23 Federal Coins, she felt a wave of anxiety.
She needed to find tenants and make money as soon as possible.
As night fell, heavy rain poured down outside. Occasionally, the roars of zombies could be heard, making her shrink deeper into her sleeping bag.
Thankfully, the high walls and electric grid of Taoyang were reliable. Zombies couldn’t get in—safety was guaranteed, though the quality of life left much to be desired.
Wrapped in her sleeping bag, Su Tao lay in the empty room, staring at the ceiling with a sigh.
Luckily, it was still spring, so the nights weren’t too cold. Otherwise, this tattered sleeping bag wouldn’t have kept her warm.
She made up her mind once more—she had to make money, sleep on a big bed, use hot water, and even install air conditioning and underfloor heating!
With these ambitious thoughts, Su Tao gradually drifted off to sleep.
Despite the bare walls, she felt an unparalleled sense of security.
No longer did she have to worry about living in a cramped, damp bathroom, always fearing that Jiang Jinwei would bang on the door at night, demanding to use the toilet.
Nor did she have to deal with Tang Dou peeing all over her bed.
This was her house.
In the midst of a beautiful dream, Su Tao was startled awake by the smart communicator outside the door:
“Master, you have a visitor.”
Su Tao woke up instantly, scrambling to get up with a sense of dread.
The noise sounded… rather intense.
[Taoyang District is under zombie attack. The electric grid has been activated.]
Her heart trembled. She crawled to the door monitor and took a look—sure enough, she saw a group of seven or eight burly men, all of them injured, with two of them covered in blood and unconscious.
The rainwater washed the blood across the ground, creating a grisly sight.
Su Tao was startled. When she recognized their uniforms, she quickly opened the door.
They were pioneer troops!
They had probably encountered danger while on a mission and, unable to return to their base in time, had chosen Taoyang as a temporary refuge.
Su Tao had a lot of respect and gratitude for them. Without the pioneer troops clearing out zombies and collecting supplies outside, the base’s living conditions might have been even worse.
“Come in, come in!” She had noticed a group of zombies by the wall not far away, trapped by her electric grid and about to break free.
The group had no time to say much and rushed inside, the blood and rain mixing to leave her living room in a complete mess.
A Healer’s Desperate Attempt
Soon, a healer with a soothing aura began treating the most severely injured person. His pale golden-glowing hands gently swept over the gruesome wounds, but the injuries were too severe. The man’s abdomen was nearly hollowed out by zombies, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop the bleeding.
For the first time, Su Tao watched with wide-open eyes as someone died right in front of her, his abdomen ripped open, leaving her frozen in place, feeling as if the blood had drained from her body.
The healer pounded the ground in frustration, then lay on his comrade’s corpse, weeping silently.
The room fell silent for half a minute.
A man in a black military uniform, wearing major general epaulets, wiped the rain and blood from his face and spoke to Su Tao:
“I am Shi Zijin, the captain of the Seventh Elite Division of the Pioneer Troops. Today, we encountered two evolved zombies during our mission. My vice-captain was severely injured, and… my comrade here didn’t make it. If not for the electric grid outside buying us time, we might all be dead by now.”
As he spoke, he suddenly stood at attention and gave Su Tao a perfect military salute, expressing his sincerest gratitude.
Su Tao was stunned by the gesture.
“And… I’m very sorry that someone died in your home. We’ll handle it properly. Sorry for the trouble.” As the captain spoke, his eyes reddened for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure, showing his usual calm and iron-blooded demeanor.
Su Tao finally snapped out of it, hurriedly saying, “It’s okay, it’s okay. You should rest here for the night.”
She left the empty living room to Shi Zijin and his group, retreating to her room in silence.
That night, she barely slept, haunted by nightmares of zombies breaching Taoyang’s electric grid, waking up drenched in cold sweat.
Only then did she realize she had been confined at home for too long, seeing only her small world, and had no idea of the dangers outside.
*
The Morning After
When Su Tao came out at dawn, she found that Shi Zijin and his team had already cleaned up the bloody living room. They had also placed their fallen comrade’s body in a body bag they had brought along.
She couldn’t bear to look too closely and asked, “Are you leaving?”
Shi Zijin, who was loading bullets into his gun, replied, “Yes, we’re going back to get revenge.”
His tone was calm, but Su Tao could hear the storm brewing beneath his restrained hatred.
With the blood and dirt washed from his face, his features became clear. His skin was a bit rough from long-term survival and battles in the wild, but his facial features were remarkably delicate, with almond-shaped eyes and a refined nose, exuding a sense of elegance.
A scar on his left eyebrow, like a knife splitting it in two, added a fierce edge to his appearance.
A contradictory aura…
Su Tao guessed he was definitely under thirty.
“Oh, by the way, when I went out earlier, I noticed this place seems to be a hotel?”
Su Tao thought for a moment and said, “Sort of. There are currently rooms available for rent.”
“Are your parents the owners? What do they do?” Shi Zijin asked bluntly.
Last night’s chaos left him no time to think, but being able to open a hotel in such a large safe zone, the owner must be influential or wealthy.
However, from start to finish, he had only seen this young girl, who barely looked like an adult.
Su Tao replied, “I opened it. I’m just an ordinary civilian. There’s also a single room next door. Maybe your wounded, unconscious comrade could rest here for a few days. The daily rent is only 100 Federal Coins, payable by card.”
A team member’s eyes widened, looking her up and down, then glancing around the empty house.
“This house is yours?”
The others also stared in disbelief.
The mysterious landowner was actually a young girl who barely seemed of age!
They had always thought it was the private property of some high-ranking official from the base.
The team members began to speculate about Su Tao’s background.
Shi Zijin asked another question, “No contribution points needed?”
Su Tao shook her head, “No need. All my rents are paid in Federal Coins.”
Without another word, Shi Zijin swiped his card, paying for five days of rent upfront.
Their wounded comrade, Cen Lao’er, indeed needed a quiet single room to recover. Plus, with the high walls and electric grid, this place was safer than the Dongyang Base.
Seeing 500 Federal Coins added to her account, Su Tao’s smile bloomed:
“The room is on the left. You can carry him in.”
The rough men didn’t mind the simple room setup. They placed their vice-captain on the sleeping bag, left a message on the communicator, and came back out.
Shi Zijin even left his contact information with Su Tao, saying:
“Boss Su, we’ll come back for him once we’ve avenged our comrade. Please take care of him for the next few days. Here is 1000 Federal Coins as compensation, and we hope you’ll accept it.”
Before Su Tao could agree, her account pinged with a notification—1000 Federal Coins received.
