Early the next morning, before dawn broke, Wu Xiaolan set off driving her small cargo truck.
First, she headed to the warehouse to return the keys to the security guard uncle, then proceeded straight to the Songshan villa.
She had agreed with the boss that the ordered live poultry and livestock would be delivered today, so she needed to arrive early to receive the shipment.
Upon arriving at the location, stepping out of the car, Wu Xiaolan’s eyes first landed on a patch of scorched grass by the roadside.
Recalling the fire from that night and Shi Gu, she remembered he had collapsed right there.
Just as she was lost in thought, a sharp cat screech suddenly rang out.
Instinctively looking over, Wu Xiaolan saw the tabby cat from last night fighting with the family of owls that had already settled down and made a home in the villa.
How did it run all the way here?
Doubt filled Wu Xiaolan’s mind.
The abandoned parking lot and the Songshan villa were a full five kilometers apart.
Suspecting it might not be the same cat, she noticed the feline before her possessed markings identical to last night’s, right down to the color of its pupils and the patterns on its tail without the slightest discrepancy.
With its fur bristling all over, the tabby cat stared fixedly with amber eyes at the owls, stepping forward cautiously, inch by inch.
Meanwhile, widening its dark round eyes and spreading its wings to shield the baby birds behind it, the owl refused to let the tabby cat come a fraction of an inch closer.
Regardless of whether it was the same cat or not, since Wu Xiaolan was looking for some early-morning entertainment, a playful impulse struck her. Taking advantage of the stalemate between the two little creatures, she quickly hopped into her car and pressed the horn.
A short, sharp honk rang out, instantly startling the tabby cat into leaping straight up into the air.
Arching its back immediately afterward, it looked toward Wu Xiaolan’s direction with eyes full of incomprehension, emitting a slightly aggrieved “meow-wah, meow-wah” sound.
Wu Xiaolan’s initial reaction: Could this cat… actually be cursing me out?
At the exact same time, the owl turned its gaze toward Wu Xiaolan as well. Still maintaining its wings-spread posture, it kept one eye on the tabby cat while warily watching Wu Xiaolan, as if Wu Xiaolan and the tabby cat were accomplices.
Yet Wu Xiaolan could read the look in its eyes clearly.
It was plainly saying: “Are you out of your mind? You’re scaring the kids.”
At that moment, several trucks loaded with livestock rounded the corner of the road. Setting aside the animal fight for the moment, Wu Xiaolan moved her bread-van aside to clear a path for the cargo trucks.
Parking at the entrance, the delivery workers hopped out and were completely dumbfounded after taking a look at the delivery site.
“Miss, this place isn’t even renovated yet, there isn’t even a pigpen or cow shed. Wouldn’t it be a bad idea to leave all these animals together in one place? Should I load them back up, and we’ll deliver them again after you find someone to build proper pens?“
“No need.” Wu Xiaolan pointed toward her large courtyard: “Put the poultry in the front yard and the livestock in the back yard. I have my own arrangements.“
“Alright then.” Pushing the matter no further, the delivery workers went ahead and unloaded the livestock and poultry Wu Xiaolan had ordered right into the courtyards.
Waiting until they finished unloading and departed, Wu Xiaolan hurriedly stashed the pigs, horses, cows, sheep, chickens, ducks, and geese running amok across her courtyards—along with the 100 little chicks gifted extra by the boss—straight into her space.
[“Ding! Host spatial storage capacity has reached 60%. Please keep working hard, Host.”]
Satisfied with her hoarding progress, as she felt a swell of pride, she spotted the tabby cat staring at her unblinkingly from atop the wall.
Clearly, all her actions of stashing the livestock into her space had been witnessed by it.
For some reason, Wu Xiaolan felt a guilty pang of being caught red-handed, though deep down she knew it was just a cat—cats couldn’t speak to leak secrets.
Before leaving the villa, Wu Xiaolan cautioned the kitten perched on the wall: “Watch the house well, and stop bullying the owls. She has babies to take care of, and there are plenty of rat holes around here—go find food elsewhere.”
Giving Wu Xiaolan a single “meow,” the kitten turned around and walked away.
Driving back to the urban area, Wu Xiaolan made a quick procurement of daily necessities and snacks before starting her search for a reliable decoration company.
Ultimately, her target locked onto a foreman named Zhao Guangsheng.
This individual was a moderately famous internet-famous foreman, and most importantly, he wasn’t located in City A, residing instead in a neighboring city that wasn’t too far away.
Wu Xiaolan had no intention of choosing local decoration workers, let alone easily complicated chain decoration companies—should anyone come looking for her during the apocalypse, it would spell endless trouble.
Out-of-towners offered high security; not to mention whether city borders would be locked down during the doomsday, even without lockdowns, with zombies swarming the streets, wanting to come find her—especially coming to such a remote suburban area—would be an uphill battle of the highest order.
In his videos, Zhao Guangsheng appeared to be around forty, with a bulky build, a buzz cut, and the rugged, weathered aura of a veteran between his brows.
Half a year ago, on his way home from a late-night shift, he had unhesitatingly subdued a mugger who snatched a passerby’s backpack.
After the surveillance footage went viral, he quickly became a renowned internet-famous foreman locally.
Clients who hired him for renovations generally reported that he understood design, actually listened to people, grasped customer needs, and never cut corners or fooled around with shoddy work.
He fit the bill for the foreman candidate in Wu Xiaolan’s mind, yet what ultimately sealed her decision wasn’t these superficial word-of-mouth praises.
After all, most online influencers crafted personas and hired actors to build hype.
Among Zhao Guangsheng’s works from two months prior, she had spotted a little boy wearing a hospital patient uniform.
A gentle-looking woman was feeding the little boy, who looked happy despite his pale complexion and frail body, appearing distinctly severely ill.
A regular client had left a comment in the comments section: “Foreman Zhao, you don’t need to rush to settle the final payment for our house renovation; save it for the child’s medical treatment first.”
Zhao Guangsheng had replied with a folded-hands bowing emoji and two words: “Thank you.”
The comment sections of other works also offered explanations.
Zhao Guangsheng’s son had contracted leukemia.
At that moment, Wu Xiaolan made up her mind: she would choose Zhao Guangsheng to execute her safe-house renovation project.
The rationale was that her safe house would surely harbor some special requirements transcending standard norms.
Zhao Guangsheng’s son’s critical illness served as both a mountain pressing down on Zhao Guangsheng’s shoulders and the shackles binding his professional ethics.
Someone desperate for money, trapped in a dead end yet possessing noble character, earnestness, and responsibility, might just be the most suitable candidate she could find at present.
Early the next morning, right after accompanying his son through a check-up, Zhao Guangsheng noticed someone adding him on WeChat.
The profile picture was a pink cat, instantly signaling a young girl.
After the friend request was approved, a string of texts came across from the other end: “Hello Foreman Zhao, I’m a fan of yours and would like to hire you for a legacy property renovation project.”
“What are your requirements? How large is the area? Where is it?” Zhao Guangsheng asked out of habit.
Currently, he evaluated prospective jobs based on two criteria: whether the timeline was tight and whether the pay was high.
His son’s condition was relatively stable for the moment, and a matching donor had already been found, but a massive gap remained for the surgical expenses.
“City A, Songshan Villa District, standalone six-story building, whole-house renovation, timeline controlled within 15 days—in short, the sooner the better.”
City A? Fifteen days? Six floors?
Zhao Guangsheng’s immediate reaction was to refuse: “Miss, I have some personal matters back home; out-of-town projects can’t be accepted right now. Besides, a project of this scale normally cannot be completed in fifteen days—it takes at least a month and a half.”
Wu Xiaolan replied swiftly on the other end: “I can pre-pay 70% of the renovation fee upfront, and settle the remaining balance the moment inspection is complete upon handover.”
Zhao Guangsheng’s fingers tightening around his phone froze for a second.
Lowering his gaze, he looked toward his sleeping son inside the hospital ward. Due to chemotherapy, the child’s hair had fallen off completely, his little face looked pale, and his arms were thin as matchsticks.
Sitting on the bedside table was the hospital’s billing notice, the numbers on it stinging his eyes with pain.
“What are the requirements?” he asked.
“Let’s meet and discuss in person,” Wu Xiaolan stated. “Tomorrow morning at nine o’clock, Building 12, Row 8, Songshan Villa District.”
Fearing he might be late, Zhao Guangsheng rushed to the project site overnight.
Standing before that six-story villa, his expression was utterly indescribable.
What possible need for renovation was there in this broken-down place?
Desolate locations might lack running water and electricity, and probably didn’t even possess sewage pipes.
Naturally, it wasn’t entirely devoid of merits.
Self-built houses primarily offered massive spaces, and if construction didn’t cut corners, the structural framework remained solid; otherwise, with all these years having passed, it would have collapsed long ago.
Zhao Guangsheng walked a perimeter around the villa district. Late at night, virtually zero lights illuminated the surroundings, and the wind rustling through the weeds sent goosebumps creeping up his skin—who on earth would live in a ghost town like this?
Suddenly, a strange bird cry gave him a massive fright.
Regaining his composure, he followed the sound with his eyes and spotted an owl staring straight down at him from under the eaves of the fourth-floor terrace. Right beside the owl was a nest, and inside the nest…
Stunned into incomprehension, Zhao Guangsheng saw what turned out to be three baby owls and a tabby cat.
Truly, the world is full of wonders, and anything can happen.
Zhao Guangsheng felt this place was somewhat inauspicious—were the animals turning into spirits?
Though he initially wanted to leave, for the sake of the 70% advance payment, he bit the bullet and stayed, sleeping inside his vehicle for the night.
When Wu Xiaolan drove up in her small cargo truck, Zhao Guangsheng was standing at the entrance smoking a cigarette.
Catching sight of Zhao Guangsheng, Wu Xiaolan stepped out of her bread-van to greet him.
Dressed simply today in a white T-shirt, jeans, and a high ponytail, wearing no makeup, she looked like a college student.
“Foreman Zhao, hello, I’m Wu Xiaolan, the person who contacted you on WeChat.”
Not expecting the client to be this young, and stunned that she intended to live in the godforsaken suburban Songshan Villas, Zhao Guangsheng felt momentarily dazed.
“I didn’t come to the wrong place, did I?”
“You didn’t.” Wu Xiaolan smiled: “Let’s go inside and talk.”
The first-floor living room was completely empty save for a broken table missing a leg, upon which a tabby cat sat licking its paws.
Without disturbing it, Wu Xiaolan pulled a thick stack of blueprints from her bag and laid them out on the concrete floor: “These are my design blueprints. Take a look first, and ask me directly if you have any questions.”
Glancing down at the cat, Zhao Guangsheng asked, “Yours?”
“No, a stray,” Wu Xiaolan answered.
The tabby cat instantly threw a look of absolute disbelief at Wu Xiaolan.
A… a stray?
Didn’t you ask me to help watch the house just yesterday?
Fickle? Abandoning me after using me? Don’t you want your kitty anymore?
Ignoring the cat’s thunderstruck expression, Wu Xiaolan continued discussing the renovation blueprints with Zhao Guangsheng.
Scanning the requirements listed above, the more Zhao Guangsheng read, the tighter his brow furrowed.
This wasn’t any standard renovation.
The blueprints marked out reinforcement measures everywhere: perimeter walls raised to five meters with embedded steel plates; all doors and windows replaced with explosion-proof grades reinforced with precision steel security bars; roofs waterproofed anew with specialized requirements on laying materials.
And that wasn’t even the most absurd part.
The most absurd part was…
Staring in shock at Wu Xiaolan, Zhao Guangsheng blurted out: “You want to install an electric grid on the perimeter wall?”
Looking utterly disapproving, he argued: “Miss, this is illegal.”
“The state explicitly bans private individuals from installing electric grids for anti-theft purposes. It could easily cost lives—a thief’s life is still a life, and on top of that, the homeowner would bear legal responsibility if something happens.”
“I know.” Wu Xiaolan’s tone held no fluctuations, yet her gaze was rock-solid: “But I need it.”
“Why?” Zhao Guangsheng couldn’t fathom it.
“If you feel this place is desolate and unsafe, you can simply move to live in the city center; there’s no need to install an electric grid. If you get caught…”
The apocalypse is coming, nobody will give a damn about electric grid regulations, Wu Xiaolan thought to herself.
Having this setup installed was precisely what ensured safety.
Yet to provide Zhao Guangsheng with a logical rationale, she pulled a photograph from her bag and slid it across to him.
The photo depicted that disgusting family of four.
Pointing at the individuals in the picture, Wu Xiaolan introduced them to Zhao Guangsheng: “This is my dad, this is my stepmother, and this is their child.”
Her tone dripped with profound grief: “After my mom passed away, my dad married this woman he kept on the side.”
“Throwing their weight around, they stripped away all my mom’s inheritance, keeping the good houses and food for themselves while driving me out to fend for myself in this uninhabited suburban self-built house.”
“Normally nobody bothers me, and I’m used to being wronged, but the moment they heard Songshan District was slated for key development, they wanted to kick me out again. If I leave here, I’ll truly have nowhere left to go—no matter where I run, they’ll find ways to usurp it.”
Zhao Guangsheng remained silent.
He had witnessed countless family disputes, some far more sordid than this.
On the contrary, the tabby cat nearby seemed to empathize, letting out soft meows while rubbing comfortingly against Wu Xiaolan’s trouser leg.
Seeming genuinely comforted by it, Wu Xiaolan nearly swallowed back the manufactured tears she had worked hard to squeeze out, quickly pressing on with a weeping quiver in her voice: “The day before yesterday, they brought people to break into my rental apartment openly, forcing me to transfer the title, which got me kicked out by the landlord.”
“I called the police, but when the police arrive they can only mediate. Besides, a suburban area newly marked for planning isn’t somewhere people easily snap up properties—the house can’t even be sold. More importantly, this is an inheritance left by my mother, and I can’t bear to leave it.”
Raising her head to lock eyes with Zhao Guangsheng, she said: “I need to guard against them; I’m by no means looking to hurt people, just to scare them off.”
“I’ll hang warning signs on the perimeter walls and install alarms. Whenever anyone touches it, the alarm goes off and I’ll issue a warning first. As a last resort I’ll activate the current, but with the voltage turned down low enough to just give someone a numbness shock without causing serious damage.”
Wu Xiaolan felt like she had practically worn her tongue raw explaining.
At this juncture, she somewhat regretted choosing Zhao Guangsheng—individuals cultivated by the state possessed excessively high moral standards and legal consciousness.
Had she hired a wild crew of workers hanging around a new housing development, zero chatter would have been necessary.
As long as the money arrived, any conversation was easy.
Zhao Guangsheng remained somewhat hesitant at the moment.
It wasn’t merely the electric grid issue, but also those numerous bizarre requirements.
Yet if he turned down this order, his son’s medical fees couldn’t be covered anytime soon.
Noticing his wavering stance, Wu Xiaolan continued: “You can hold off on hooking up the electric grid for now and renovate the other sections first; I understand your concerns.”
“However, if you do install the grid and renovate strictly according to the blueprints, not a single cent of your pay will be cut, and I’ll pay you an extra 100,000 yuan. How does that sound?”
Gazing earnestly at Zhao Guangsheng, Wu Xiaolan added: “I know your son is sick, and you need money.”
Mathematical calculations raced through Zhao Guangsheng’s mind.
The renovation funds alone would cover his son’s surgical expenses fully.
Setting aside the unconventional design of the renovation, remodeling a six-story building was indeed a rare, massive order for him.
Recalling the words spoken by the doctor yesterday: “Mr. Zhao, the child doesn’t have much time left. If the transplant can’t happen this month, subsequent treatments will become extremely difficult.”
He remembered his son vomiting after chemotherapy yet forcing a smile to tell him: “Dad, I’m not in pain.”
He remembered his wife hiding it from him to work as a cleaning lady to earn money, nearly getting hit by a car while rushing home out of fear that he would find out.
“I’ve finished looking over the blueprints,” Zhao Guangsheng spoke up, his voice somewhat hoarse. “Everything else is fine, but the electric grid—I cannot install a live current for you. That’s my bottom line.”
Wu Xiaolan’s gaze dimmed slightly.
Without live current, could an electric grid even be called an electric grid?
“However…” Zhao Guangsheng continued, “I can run the wiring for you, install the iron mesh, and reserve the power supply interface.”
“Whether you turn on the current, and when you turn it on, is your own business. If anyone investigates in the future, I’ll state that I installed decorative protective fencing and had no knowledge of you privately connecting power.”
Staring intently at Wu Xiaolan, he asked: “Can you accept this?”
Nodding without a moment’s hesitation, Wu Xiaolan replied: “Acceptable. Let’s begin construction.”
“Then let’s sign the contract.”
Pulling a pre-prepared contract template from his tool bag, Zhao Guangsheng added: “I have to append a clause: if any legal disputes or personal injuries arise due to the decorative electric grid issue, the liability will be borne entirely by you, unrelated to me.”
“That’s only fair, settled then.” Wu Xiaolan agreed readily.
Squatting on the concrete floor using a plastic stool as a desk, the two of them signed the contract.
Confirming the project start date, Wu Xiaolan transferred the 70% advance payment right on the spot.
Looking at the fund arrival notification text message on his phone, the boulder weighing on Zhao Guangsheng’s chest for months loosened by a fraction.
“I’ll bring the crew and materials on-site tomorrow,” he stowed the contract away.
He knew this money wouldn’t be easy to earn.
What this girl requested had already stepped outside the boundaries of standard renovations.
The electric grid was merely the beginning; those concealed partition walls, hidden doors, and specialized ventilation ducts marked on the blueprints—this wasn’t guarding against family members making a scene, this was constructing a fortress.
Still, he needed money, and his son needed to survive.
As long as this girl didn’t utilize this place as a terrorist stronghold in the future, he wouldn’t go out of his way to report it.
Stepping out of the villa, Zhao Guangsheng glanced back once more.
Wu Xiaolan was still standing inside the empty living room, staring up at the ceiling, lost in thought.
The morning light cast her shadow long and lonely against the concrete floor.
Shaking his head, he started his bread-van.
In this world, everyone had their own wars to fight; he was merely a worker trading labor for cash, nothing more.
Just as Wu Xiaolan was about to leave the villa to purchase supplies, her phone rang.
Glancing at the screen, it turned out to be the landlady Sun Xueqin.
Directly hanging up, Wu Xiaolan had nothing worth communicating about with Sun Xueqin.
Yet the other party persisted relentlessly, calling over and over again.
Just as Wu Xiaolan was about to block the number, she paused and answered after all.
She wanted to see what on earth Sun Xueqin could possibly want.
The moment she connected, Sun Xueqin’s shrill, vicious screeches burst through the speaker:
“Wu Xiaolan! You jinx!”
“Some people inexplicably showed up at my place last night, not only smashing up my house but scattering my newly purchased grain everywhere.”
“Old lady me got bullied precisely because I rented my apartment to you! I argued with those guys for ages, telling them you moved out long ago, but those fellows wouldn’t listen to reason and stubbornly refused to believe it!”
“You thousand-cursed, river-drowning, train-track-lying jinx—you don’t forget to plague me even after moving out!”
Growing angrier by the word, Sun Xueqin spewed a torrent of malicious curses.
Hanging up the call, Wu Xiaolan decisively blocked Sun Xueqin.
She knew clearly who orchestrated this behind the scenes.
Aside from her vicious stepmother Lin Yue’e, there couldn’t be a second person.
This wasn’t the first time.
Sabotaging her civil service exams, ruining her jobs, denying her a stable residence—blocking her path at every turn.
This time, furious upon learning she had sold her shares and split the property, they must have dispatched street thugs to execute targeted retaliation, forcing the landlord to kick her out.
Unaware that she had already relocated, they had ended up making things hard for Sun Xueqin instead.
So be it.
Wu Xiaolan’s expression remained calm.
Bad people get what they deserve; Sun Xueqin wasn’t any saint either, so let them hash it out among themselves.