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I Am a Landlady in the Apocalypse – CH74

As a Partner, Aren't You Overstepping?

Chapter 74: As a Partner, Aren’t You Overstepping?

Su Tao turned back to put away the millet as she spoke, “Boss Gu, your intel is really sharp.”

Gu Mingchi ignored her implied accusation about having spies and asked, “Why are you going on a mission with them? Are you tired of living? I’ve heard this Pioneer Army mission is highly critical, with doubled danger levels, and they’re heading north to Changjing—the farther the journey, the greater the risk.”

Su Tao mixed truth with lies, “I’m going along to look for building materials.”

Gu Mingchi chuckled outright, speaking bluntly, “You? You’d be more likely to hold them back. What’s the real reason?”

Seeing his persistent questioning, Su Tao’s tone instantly turned cold, “Boss Gu, what exactly is our relationship? Why should I tell you anything? As a business partner, aren’t you overstepping?”

Gu Mingchi’s brow twitched slightly as he forced out, “Precisely because we’re partners, I need to be concerned about your safety. If you die, who will supply water to my East District? It’s fine if you die, but I’ve got 3,000 people waiting for water.”

Gu always had a knack for making people mad!

Su Tao snapped back, “If I die, you and your 3,000 people can join me in the grave!”

With that, she hung up immediately.

Su Tao pulled up the blanket, turned off the light, and went to sleep.

Xue Dao, lying at the foot of the bed, lifted its head to look at its angry owner. It nudged her blanket with its nose to comfort her, then lay back down to sleep alongside her.

The next day, the last day before departure, Shi Zijin drove over with Lin Fang Zhi, who had been implanted with the security chip.

Su Tao went to receive him and immediately saw the boy standing at the gate, looking lost.

Shi Zijin dropped him off and was ready to leave:

“Get him settled. I need to hurry back and help transport ‘Bone Wings’ from the research institute. I’ll be home later.”

Su Tao nodded, then led Lin Fang Zhi toward the office building.

The boy walked cautiously, as if he had never seen buildings like these or the tiled fountain park in the distance. His expression was both bewildered and wary.

He was very thin, with a frail frame that his clothes barely concealed when the wind blew. His exposed arms, though long, were nothing but skin and bones.

Su Tao couldn’t help but ask, “Did you have lunch before coming here?”

Lin Fangzhi nodded.

“What did you eat?” Poor kid, he looked just like a refugee.

Lin Fangzhi’s face turned blank again, as if he didn’t know how to describe what he had eaten. After thinking for a long while, he finally muttered, “Bread.”

Su Tao realized he might have some difficulty with language expression and decided not to ask further. She turned around and headed straight to the cafeteria.

Lin Fang Zhi watched her like a primitive man, staring as she took a bowl out of a strange machine.

When the bowl opened, it revealed food he had never seen before, emitting a mouthwatering aroma.

Su Tao had him sit down to eat while she went to get him some milk.

Lin Fangzhi stared at the meal for a long time before finally looking up. He pointed at two items in the bowl, and his deer-like eyes showed a bit of sparkle, “Rice, cauliflower, right?”

Like a child eager for a teacher’s approval.

Su Tao instinctively used the tone she used with Chen Xi and Chen Yang, praising him: “Yes, very smart.”

Lin Fang Zhi reacted like a child too. At the praise, he showed his first faint smile.

He took out an old, tattered children’s picture book from his bag—clearly something he often flipped through.

He turned to the page with rice, then the page with cauliflower, happily showing them to Su Tao, “Mom taught me.”

Su Tao asked without thinking, “Where’s your mom?”

The light in Lin Fangzhi’s eyes quickly faded, returning to that initial guardedness, even a hint of coldness, “Eaten.”

In that moment, Su Tao felt a lump in her throat, unable to speak.

There was almost no need to guess. Lin Fang Zhi’s mother must have been devoured by zombies right in front of him when he was very young, likely when he was still learning to speak and recognize words.

And all she left behind was a children’s book.

No one had taught him to speak or recognize things since then, which explained his limited comprehension and expression.

Su Tao quickly turned away to hide her emotions. After a moment, she opened the milk bottle, placed it in front of him, and gently asked, “What about this? Do you recognize it?”

Lin Fang Zhi shook his head.

“Try it.”

For some reason, Lin Fang Zhi felt she was trustworthy. Without hesitation, he took a sip.

The unfamiliar taste startled him. He wanted to spit it out, but his long experience with hunger made him reluctant to waste it.

So he sat there, cheeks puffed like a bun, frozen in place.

Su Tao was also stunned. When she realized, she asked, “You’ve never tasted anything sweet?”

Lin Fang Zhi’s understanding of “sweet” was still stuck on small, round candies.

His mom had told him that sweet things were candies, and candies were delicious—something all kids loved.

She had even promised to find him a piece of candy to try.

But before she could, his mom was eaten. She disappeared, and he never found out what candy tasted like.

So he didn’t know that, besides candy, there were other sweet things in the world.

Su Tao gently patted his back, speaking softly, “It’s okay. Swallow it slowly. You’ll like this taste…”

After a while, Lin Fang Zhi finally swallowed. He seemed to have tasted the sweetness.

But after just one sip, he couldn’t bear to drink more. He tightly screwed the bottle cap back on, and in an instant, it disappeared from his hand.

The same happened with the lunchbox—he took a couple of bites, then closed it, and it vanished too.

Su Tao blinked, “Did you store it away?”

Lin Fang Zhi nodded, cautiously asking, “Is that okay?”

“You can finish it. There’s plenty. No need to save it for later.”

Lin Fang Zhi was likely too accustomed to hunger, unable to shake off the habit of hoarding food. No matter how much Su Tao reassured him, it didn’t work, so she let him be.

Leaving the cafeteria, she took him to the office building. As soon as they entered, they ran into Zhuang Wan.

Seeing Su Tao with a strange boy, Zhuang Wan immediately knew he was the space ability user from the logistics department she had mentioned yesterday.

She was about to speak when Lin Fang Zhi slipped behind Su Tao, his deer-like eyes filled with wariness as he looked at her.

He had a natural fear and distrust of adults.

Zhuang Wan didn’t mind. Instead, seeing how thin he was and how young he looked, her heart softened, and she muttered:

“This damned world… And those clothes don’t even fit him. I’ll find him a couple of changes of clothes. You two go load things up. The sooner you’re ready, the sooner you can rest.”

Lin Fangzhi’s space seemed quite large. Even after packing all the supplies stacked in the reception room, there was still space left.

“How much more can you fit?” Su Tao asked in surprise.

Lin Fang Zhi struggled to find the right words. After hesitating for a while, he suddenly said, “Hold hands.”

Su Tao: “?”

But seeing the boy’s anxious expression and his inability to explain, she extended her hand to hold his.

His hand was thin and rough, its coarse skin scraping against hers and causing a bit of pain.

But in the next second, a scene appeared in her mind—

It was a dim space of about 80 square meters, filled with the supplies they had just stored, all piled up messily in the middle.

I Am a Landlady in the Apocalypse

I Am a Landlady in the Apocalypse

我在末世当包租婆
Score 9.0
Status: Ongoing Type: Author: Released: 2024 Native Language: Chinese
Kicked out of her home by biased parents and a vicious sister, Su Tao decides to cut ties with them completely. She'd rather starve, freeze, or wander the streets for a lifetime than ever go back. By a twist of fate, she binds to the "Landlady System," which grants her a 3,000-square-meter safe zone. While her scummy dad's family crams into a single room, barely scraping by, Su Tao lives alone, tidying up her cozy little home, building new houses one after another. When business booms, finding a room becomes nearly impossible. On the side, she plays with cats and dogs, meets a group of powerful tenants, and relies on collecting rent to become a little rich lady, living her life to the fullest.

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