Chapter 59: Inciting Sisters
The second apartment building had five floors. After installing the air conditioning, the cost instantly reached 60,000 federal credits.
Now, she was left with just over 10,000 federal credits…
Money really burned fast.
At the same time, she silently thanked Boss Shi for his sponsorship. Without his 100,000 credits, her pets wouldn’t have food, and the tenants wouldn’t be enjoying the cool air.
After the central air conditioning was installed, the temperature in the apartment building quickly dropped to 25 degrees Celsius. The cool breeze made everything incredibly comfortable.
To prevent anyone from catching a cold in the morning, Su Tao thoughtfully left a message in the group chat and posted a notice downstairs, reminding all tenants to be mindful of the temperature now that the central air conditioning was running all day.
Back in her room, she fell asleep comfortably and had a dreamless night.
Early in the morning, she was woken up by Xue Dao’s licking.
She wasn’t quite used to having a large dog around yet, and it startled her into sitting up.
As soon as she did, she heard a knock on the door. Realization dawned—it was Xue Dao who had heard the knock and licked her awake.
Opening the door, she was surprised to see Granny Cen and Cen Lao’er.
Granny Cen was in great spirits, holding a lunchbox. She happily said:
“Dear Tao, I slept so well last night. This air conditioning is amazing—the temperature is perfect. I woke up early because I slept so well and made you some breakfast to try.”
As she spoke, a tenant across the hall left their room, happily waving to Su Tao:
“Good morning, Boss Su! It’s so cool. I finally had a good night’s sleep without waking up from the heat.”
Before long, more tenants from upstairs and downstairs greeted her, thanking her for installing the air conditioning. One tenant, who knew Su Tao had adopted a large dog, even brought over a big bone as a gift.
Xue Dao’s eyes lit up at the sight of the bone.
So, while Su Tao enjoyed Granny Cen’s homemade millet porridge and tea eggs, she watched as Xue Dao gnawed on the big bone, eventually falling asleep from exhaustion.
Zhuang Wan came over, sighing helplessly:
“Installing an air conditioner has caused quite a stir. The tenants in Building One haven’t even complained, but outsiders are already kicking up a fuss. They’re accusing you of only caring for your own comfort during a disaster, saying people outside are dying of heatstroke while you do nothing.”
She didn’t say the rest, but Su Tao could imagine.
It was probably accusations of selfishness, hindering the greater good of humanity, lacking a broad perspective—typical moral coercion.
Su Tao responded:
“Let them talk. Even if people are dying, I don’t have the power to save them. I can’t possibly install air conditioning for all of Dongyang. My own territory can only handle one building for now, and who knows when Building One will get air conditioning. They can say whatever they want.”
Building One had six floors, plus the canteen and office building—all needed air conditioning.
There were expenses everywhere.
Before lunch, Su Tao posted a notice in the group chat: Building One would also get air conditioning installed soon, asking everyone to be patient.
The tenants of Building One were pretty chill, not too bothered. Some even joked about going over to Building Two to enjoy the cool air.
Sure enough, after lunch, Su Tao went downstairs and saw a crowd gathered in the lobby of Building Two.
Even Shi Zijin was there.
But from a distance, Su Tao noticed he seemed to be talking to a pair of sisters.
Looking closely, she recognized them as the sisters involved in the tenant dispute she had asked about before.
The sisters appeared very afraid of Shi Zijin, keeping their heads down and bowing quickly before leaving, as if terrified he might call them back.
Su Tao approached and asked what was going on.
Shi Zijin frowned, “Are they tenants who recently moved in?”
Su Tao nodded and turned to Zhuang Wan, “When did they move in?”
Zhuang Wan replied, “Almost a month ago.”
Shi Zijin asked, “Have there been frequent disputes among tenants this past month?”
Su Tao and Zhuang Wan exchanged a look and asked in unison, “How did you know?”
Shi Zijin explained, “You’d better send them away as soon as possible. Their ability is ‘Incitement,’ a negative mental-type power. Tenants influenced by them become emotionally unstable and prone to conflicts. They might not have dared to go too far since they just moved in, but if it escalates, it could lead to group fights.”
“Just now, when everyone was chatting here, they tried to stir up trouble. I caught them, or else a big argument would have broken out.”
Zhuang Wan muttered, “Oh my, I thought it was just the heat making everyone grumpy.”
Su Tao agreed, “I even rushed to install air conditioning. I didn’t expect this.”
Zhuang Wan paced anxiously, “No, I have to get rid of them soon. They’re like human-shaped poop-stirrers. I was wondering why normally quiet tenants suddenly became so fierce during arguments.”
Su Tao asked Shi Zijin:
“Does Dongyang have a registry of ability users? Are all ability users recorded? Could we provide a list of potential tenants to screen for dangerous individuals?”
Shi Zijin shook his head:
“That’s not possible. Some ability users might not even know they’ve awakened their power, especially non-offensive ones like enhanced senses or special perception. If they don’t know, we wouldn’t either.”
“Moreover, as the apocalypse progresses, the controllability of mutations decreases. We’ll see more and more bizarre abilities. I’ve seen ability users whose fingertips glow, nails change color, tongues grow long like a snake’s, and even hair that can wrap them into a cocoon. It’s all very messy and diverse.”
Su Tao and Zhuang Wan were dumbfounded.
The world was changing, yet they remained ignorant.
“It’s normal for you not to know,” Shi Zijin said. “I’ve been out and about for years, met many people, and now ability users are increasingly aware of the importance of keeping their powers secret. This makes record-keeping even more difficult, so the major bases have simply given up on recording everyone. They only conduct strict testing and records for those who join the military or hold public office.”
Su Tao clasped her hands together: “Please, let me not end up with an ability like a long tongue or short legs.”
Shi Zijin raised an eyebrow: “What if you really do?”
Su Tao: “…Stop jinxing me. If I do end up with a long tongue, the first thing I’ll do is French kiss you.”
Shi Zijin and Zhuang Wan: “…”
In the end, it was Shi Zijin who stepped in to handle the “Incitement” sisters, helping them sign the lease termination papers.
The main concern was that the sisters might take advantage of Su Tao and Zhuang Wan being ordinary people and use their abilities to deceive them.
Shi Zijin merely sat nearby, and the sisters’ hands started trembling.
The younger sister looked pitifully at Su Tao: “Boss Su, we promise we won’t do it again. Could you please forgive us this time? If you kick us out, we’ll have nowhere to go. Our old home was taken over by our elders, and if we go back, we’ll have to sleep in the hallway…”
The older sister also began to cry: “We even tried living in group dormitories, but since we have no support and no real strength, we were often bullied. We had no choice but to use our incitement ability to create chaos and escape. We… we really had no other option.”
