“Brother Ziming, wake up!”
A voice rang beside Gu Ziming’s ear. He opened his eyes and saw Zhao Xiaoyu standing there. She had already been up for quite a while.
Her flight was scheduled for today, so she had woken up early to pack and put on her makeup. When it was nearly nine o’clock and she saw that Gu Ziming was still asleep, she could not hold back any longer and entered to wake him up. Of course, Gu Ziming had given her the room password beforehand.
“Alright, alright, I’m getting up,” Gu Ziming said as he stretched and slowly sat upright.
Zhao Xiaoyu’s cheeks turned slightly red when she saw his defined eight-pack abs. Still, she pretended nothing had happened and calmly walked out, leaving behind only one sentence, “I’ll go order two breakfasts.”
In truth, Gu Ziming had gotten up very early this morning. He had just stepped out for a while.
First, he redeemed twenty-four cruise ship captains from the Apocalyptic Arch-Villain System. Then he took them to receive the cruise ship. After that, he conveniently stored the gold into his Villain’s Space.
All three tasks went smoothly.
Only after the cruise ship started its engines and finally left the harbor did Gu Ziming return to the hotel, intending to take a short nap. He had barely slept for a while when Zhao Xiaoyu burst in and woke him up.
Forget it. Since he was already awake, he might as well get up.
As for the weapons and the remaining 3 billion worth of gold, Gu Ziming had already activated the connections his parents had left behind in the United States. Once everything was prepared on their side, he would simply go over, store the items into his Villain’s Space, and bring them back.
For safety, he had even redeemed ten merchant-type robots from the Apocalyptic Arch-Villain System to separately handle the collection of weapons and gold.
With transactions of this magnitude, if someone reckless interfered, it would become extremely troublesome.
One could not put all the eggs in one basket. If one deal failed, there were still nine others.
However, these robots were far more complex, so the Destiny Points cost was ten times higher than that of professional cruise ship captains. Each one cost 1,000 Destiny Points.
If it were not for Lin Fan being so generous with his Destiny Points, Gu Ziming might not have been able to afford them.
After bidding farewell to Inoue Matsubara and his group, who had come to see them off, Gu Ziming and Zhao Xiaoyu boarded the plane.
Just like when they had arrived, Gu Ziming sat in first class.
Zhao Xiaoyu changed back into her slightly more alluring flight attendant uniform and glanced toward him from time to time.
More than three hours passed slowly as the two occasionally chatted.
“Xiaoyu, when do you have time off? Come over to my place and have some fun,” Gu Ziming said as the plane was about to land, extending an invitation. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
If he remembered correctly, Zhao Xiaoyu’s vacation would fall around the days when the apocalypse broke out. Otherwise, she would not have been trapped at home in the original novel.
“Sure. Just playing isn’t enough. You also have to treat me to good food and let me eat you into bankruptcy, you rich guy,” Zhao Xiaoyu replied, still holding a trace of resentment in her tone.
Previously, when they were traveling in Kyoto, Gu Ziming had deliberately tricked her by claiming it was a bankruptcy trip and that he would have no money left afterward.
Kind-hearted Zhao Xiaoyu had not only given up her translation salary, since she had not done much translating during the trip, but she had also chosen cheaper places to eat and insisted they split the bill equally.
Unexpectedly, during the trip, she saw news reports about a wealthy Dragon Nation tycoon purchasing a luxury cruise ship.
That person happened to be Gu Ziming.
Her worldview nearly shattered on the spot.
She had immediately confronted him, asking why he had lied to her.
Gu Ziming had answered simply, “I didn’t want us to be in an employer relationship. I wanted to be friends with you.”
At the same time, he took out the IOU that Zhao Xiaoyu’s father had written and returned it to her.
Her eyes turned red as she threw herself into Gu Ziming’s arms and burst into tears.
After that incident, Zhao Xiaoyu’s favorability toward Gu Ziming soared to 70. She even vaguely began to feel that she might be falling for him.
From that moment on, the atmosphere between them became far more relaxed and natural.
“I still have about three more weeks of flights. After that, I’ll have a five-day break. I’ll come find you then,” Zhao Xiaoyu said seriously when she saw that Gu Ziming was not joking.
“Alright,” Gu Ziming replied as he got into the car that had come to pick him up and drove away.
Zhao Xiaoyu stood there, watching the car gradually disappear into the distance, her thoughts unreadable.
…
“What has Lin Fan been up to recently?” Gu Ziming asked suddenly, closing his eyes as he sat in the back seat.
Wang Qu had already received instructions to monitor Lin Fan and report his movements immediately upon Gu Ziming’s return, so Wang Qu was the one who came to the airport to pick him up.
“Lin Fan recently bought a batch of heat insulation boards online and lined the interior of his house with them,” Wang Qu replied promptly.
Preparing to modify the house? New chapters come out on g.com first.
Wang Qu continued, “Also, Lin Fan seems to really like instant noodles. He’s been buying them online every day. He’s purchased at least dozens of boxes of various brands.”
“His house hasn’t been mortgaged out, has it?” Gu Ziming asked.
“No. I placed him on the dishonesty blacklist. The procedures for mortgaging his house have become much more complicated,” Wang Qu answered directly.
“Good. Go add more pressure to Lin Fan. Tell those online loan companies that he has no intention of repaying their money,” Gu Ziming said calmly. “And if they don’t respond, find a few people to pose as debt collectors and let Lin Fan experience what violent debt collection feels like.”
When Lin Fan had just been reborn, Gu Ziming chose not to confront him head-on. That did not mean he would not use forceful methods.
Back then, Lin Fan’s protagonist Destiny was too strong. Now, as long as he was not pushed to the brink of death, that protagonist Destiny should not be able to play much of a role.
“Handle it immediately after you drop me off at the Gu Family Estate,” Gu Ziming said. He had already decided to eliminate Lin Fan before the apocalypse arrived. Time was critical.
“Understood, Boss,” Wang Qu responded decisively.
Wang Qu never asked why. He simply executed orders without hesitation. That was precisely why Gu Ziming kept him by his side.
If he had been the type to ask endless questions, no matter how loyal he was, Gu Ziming would not have kept him.
At the Gu Family Estate, construction projects were proceeding in an orderly manner.
Progress was even faster than Gu Ziming had expected. Perhaps the bonuses were proving effective.
Before even entering the estate, he saw that the segmented outer walls were under construction.
As the car drove further in, he noticed pits of various sizes being excavated. Excavators, pile drivers, cranes, and road rollers worked in coordination. Nearby open spaces were stacked high with construction materials.
When Gu Ziming arrived at the villa area, he could no longer see the full exterior of the villa. It was entirely covered with layers of protective sheeting.
The scaffolding was filled with dense clusters of workers. They were modifying the walls and embedding insulation material valued at 50,000 per square meter.
This insulation material was specially customized by Gu Ziming. It was said to meet laboratory-grade standards and could effectively block 97% of heat.
It had many advantages. It was lightweight, highly effective at thermal insulation, fireproof, waterproof, highly durable, and resistant to damage.
It had only one drawback: it was extremely difficult to manufacture. In simpler terms, it was very expensive.
Gu Ziming planned to cover the entire villa and both underground shelters with this material.
As for the other buildings on the estate, it was unnecessary. More importantly, time was limited. Even if more manufacturers were involved, they would not be able to deliver in time.
While Gu Ziming stood watching the workers embed the insulation material into the villa walls, several supervisors approached him.