Chapter 48: The Eye of Fear
Mei Xingxian took every opportunity to hover around Gu Mingchi, fawning over him:
“Master Chi, the effect of this round of news is quite good. Many people no longer dare to apply for Taoyang’s apartments. But news only has a limited impact, right? If you find me useful, I can talk to my father in Taoyang and get myself in. Then I can be your inside man there. I’ll report any situation to you first-hand, and we can keep generating negative news to maintain the impact.”
Mei Xingxian felt that his big break was imminent. If he could gain Boss Gu’s favor, rising through the ranks would be no problem, and he’d no longer have to live by the stinky ditch doing hard labor.
Gu Mingchi looked at him through his silver-rimmed glasses, a cold smile creeping onto his face, “Do you think Taoyang would let you in after this incident? Do you think I’m easy to fool, or are the people at Taoyang blind?”
Besides, he had realized that Su Tao simply did not care about her reputation.
He had lost this round.
The deputy, who had followed him for many years, noticed his displeasure. Cold sweat began to form on his forehead. He was just about to tell Mei Xingxian to get lost, but before he could, this idiot proudly said:
“After all, I’m my dad’s only son. He has a spot, and as long as he agrees, Taoyang has no right to restrict who he gives it to. What is Taoyang anyway? Just a brat barely out of her teens running the place—nothing to be afraid of…”
The deputy felt doom approaching.
Mei Xingxian was an absolute fool. The boss had just lost to Taoyang, and here he was saying Taoyang was nothing. Wasn’t he indirectly saying the boss was also nothing?
Sure enough, Gu Mingchi’s smile widened.
Mei Xingxian became even more complacent, thinking he had said the right thing and pleased the boss. He was about to go further in slandering Taoyang when suddenly he saw Gu Mingchi take off his glasses, revealing those mesmerizing amber eyes.
With just one look—
Mei Xingxian felt as if his entire body was nailed in place, completely unable to move. His mind filled with boundless fear, as if terror was a blade stabbing deep into his soul. He collapsed instantly, losing his sanity, and gouged out his own eyes, blood splattering everywhere.
The deputy’s legs gave out, and he fell to the ground, burying his head, not daring to move.
The “Eye of Fear”… it made everyone shudder.
*
At 1 a.m., Su Tao walked out of her room, holding a stack of blueprints and yawning.
The weather was indeed getting warmer. Even in mid-April, wearing short sleeves at midnight didn’t feel cold.
And perhaps it was just a misconception, but Su Tao felt that this summer was arriving particularly early and intensely.
Old Mr. Mei had given her three sets of blueprints: one for the central park in front of the canteen, one for the office area, and one for the apartment expansion.
Su Tao planned to start with the central park, but her plan ended as soon as it started. To build fountains, pools, or other public outdoor facilities, she needed to upgrade to level 4 and unlock the facility store.
To reach level 4, she had to build 10 more rooms.
Feeling a bit desperate, Su Tao opened four single rooms and six double rooms, bringing the first apartment building to six floors with a total of 34 rooms.
Renovating ten rooms cost more than 36,000 federal credits.
She still had over 370,000 federal credits left—enough for the upgrade.
Clenching her teeth, Su Tao clicked “Upgrade.”
[Total assets – 200,000 federal credits.]
The pain was real. “Ouch, my heart!” (clutches chest)
[Congratulations to the host, the Landlady System has been upgraded to level 4. A two-bedroom, one-living room unit has been developed, and the public facility store is now unlocked. Please verify.]
Su Tao was moved to tears. It was truly not easy—the higher the level, the harder it got.
Seeing that another night had passed and dawn was approaching, Su Tao decided to stop for now and continue the next night.
Just as she lay down, White Sesame and Black Sesame lightly jumped onto her bed, curling up cutely by her pillow, and soon fell into a deep sleep together.
When she woke up, it was already afternoon. Hungry, Su Tao got up to find food, grabbed a bento box from the canteen, and ate it. She suddenly felt a bit bored—truth be told, she was just tired of the same food.
The little furballs were also almost ready to be weaned, and Su Tao was worried about what to feed them.
Before the apocalypse, people fed cats kibble or raw meat, but now cat food definitely wasn’t being produced, and raw meat was a bit hard to get. She’d need contribution points to purchase it from the base’s farm.
She’d think of a solution next month when they were fully weaned.
After eating, Su Tao, as usual, went to the office to take a look. She found Old Mei once again huddled at the tea table in the first-floor lounge, drawing and sketching.
She sighed, ultimately deciding not to stop him. People needed something to hold on to.
She then took a walk through the two apartment buildings. The new cleaning lady was very enthusiastic about her job, even wiping the stair railings until they shined.
Su Tao smiled and asked, “Are you getting used to life at Taoyang?”
Qi Yunlan, not knowing Su Tao’s identity and thinking she was just another tenant, replied cheerfully:
“Yes! You might laugh at this, but I used to clean slop at a livestock farm. I won’t even describe that environment—you, such a clean young lady, wouldn’t be able to listen to it. But coming here to Taoyang, I felt like the apocalypse was over! It feels like I’m here to enjoy life, not to work. Haha! Everyone here is so clean, I feel like I barely have anything to do. So I just wipe whatever I see, otherwise, I’d feel guilty about earning my salary.”
“My old buddies at the farm are all jealous of my luck. The boss at Taoyang is so generous—not only is the salary higher than before, but lunch is also included. And the bento boxes in the canteen’s fridge are cheap and delicious.”
Su Tao glanced at the half-eaten bento on the windowsill, raising an eyebrow as if teasing: “If it’s so delicious, why is there still so much left?”
Qi Yunlan felt very embarrassed: “I couldn’t bear to eat it. I saved half the box to take home for my family to try. Ever since the apocalypse began, it’s been a long time since my family had a meal like this. The food at Taoyang is really good, but every extra bite I take makes my heart ache, knowing my husband and daughter are still suffering outside. To save money, I skip lunch and hold out until I get home to eat something simple at night.”
Su Tao’s heart softened immediately. She went back to the canteen, packed two more bento boxes, and bought two bottles of milk from the self-service drink machine before returning to give them to her.
Surprisingly, Qi Yunlan refused outright: “I can’t accept this. It would be taking advantage of you. I haven’t done any work for it, and I’d feel guilty accepting it.”
Su Tao hadn’t expected her to be so steadfast—it was quite rare. She said:
“Then could I trouble you to wipe down the public sink in the canteen? Would that work?”
But Qi Yunlan still refused: “That’s my job. I’m supposed to do that anyway. How about you tell me where your room is? After I finish work today, I can clean it for you. But I’ll only accept one bottle of milk—anything more would be too much. Just cleaning one room isn’t worth that much.”
Su Tao found her truly endearing and couldn’t help but laugh: “Auntie, what’s your name?”
Qi Yunlan hesitated for a moment but eventually said her name.
Su Tao smiled: “Alright, then how about we consider this an employee benefit? Does that make sense?”
Qi Yunlan was a bit confused, but in the next second, she heard the young girl make a phone call:
“Wanwan, let’s put Auntie Qi Yunlan in charge of all cleaning management at Taoyang from now on. Increase her salary to 8,000 federal credits, add an extra meal, and, starting in April each year, provide daily drinks to the cleaning ladies as a heat allowance.”
The idea for the heat allowance came from a casual chat with Old Mei. Before the apocalypse, some well-off companies used to give summer allowances or provide cold drinks as benefits for their employees.
Qi Yunlan stood there, completely stunned.
