In the monitor room, Su Jiyai sat calmly, her face expressionless, watching Mu Rongjie from behind the cara.
She tapped a button, and her voice ca out through the speaker, disguised by a chanical filter to sound cold and mysterious.
"I am the base leader," she said flatly.
Mu Rongjie’s eyes glead.
He leaned forward. "Then... am I speaking to the real leader? Not the puppet? Not Boss Su?"
Su Jiyai’s forehead twitched slightly. She narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Her voice ca again, still calm but a little colder this ti.
"They are the sa. I won’t correct you again."
Mu Rongjie leaned back, blinking a little.
Wait... sa person?
He frowned slightly but didn’t say anything.
Then Su Jiyai’s voice continued,
"Are you selling t-shirts, mugs, socks, and other goods... using my na?"
Mu Rongjie froze for half a second.
Then he realized—this wasn’t the mastermind. This was Boss Su herself.
And the tone in the speaker didn’t sound like praise anymore.
Still, he wasn’t soone who backed down easily.
He sat up straighter and raised his chin proudly.
"Yes," he said with a cocky smirk. "I am. And what of it? What can you do about it, Boss Su?"
In the monitor room, Su Jiyai raised an eyebrow and gave a small chuckle. Her laughter echoed faintly through the speaker.
"Oh? What can I do?"
She paused, her voice calm but sharp like a knife.
"If I wanted to, I could kick you and your whole family out of Hope Base right now. Your little fashion store? Gone. Your comfy lounge chairs? Gone. Your food, water, and protection? All gone."
Mu Rongjie’s smug smile disappeared instantly.
Su Jiyai leaned forward toward the mic, though he couldn’t see her.
"If you want to keep selling goodies using my na—or using anything related to or the ’base leader’—you will start paying 50% of your total profit as tax. Every single coin. If not, I will shut down Mu Fashion completely."
Mu Rongjie froze. He stared at the speaker like it had grown fangs.
"F-Fifty percent?! That’s robbery!" he shouted. "Who do you think you are to ask for so much?! You’re just Boss Su! You’re not even the real base leader!"
In the monitor room, Su Jiyai’s forehead twitched hard.
This man was seriously testing her patience.
She took a deep breath and said again, her voice calm but full of authority,
"I am the base leader. There is no ’mastermind’ behind . I’m not a puppet. I am Boss Su, and I am the one running this entire base."
Mu Rongjie’s face turned pale like chalk.
"No... no, that’s not possible," he muttered.
"My sources said sothing else. They told Boss Su was just a face. The real leader was soone else—soone mysterious who hides in the shadows!"
Su Jiyai raised her eyebrows in disbelief.
"Really? Then let ask you this—if there really is a mastermind behind , why have you never seen him? Why has no one seen him?"
Mu Rongjie clenched his fists and looked at the speaker like he was staring into it angrily.
"Of course no one has seen him! He’s a mastermind! Masterminds hide! That’s what they do!"
Su Jiyai felt her head throb. Her patience was running out fast.
She massaged her temples, sighed, and said in a tired but cold voice, "You’re making no sense. This is such a waste of ti."
She snapped her fingers and said to the system, "System, kick him and his entire family out of Hope Base. Right now."
"Confird," the system replied.
Mu Rongjie was mid-sentence, still yelling about rights and fairness, when—
POOF!
He disappeared from the conference room.
In fact, not just him—every Mu family mber in Hope Base vanished in the blink of an eye.
One second they were sipping juice in air-conditioned lounges or showing off their "I LOVE THE LEADER" shirts.
The next second...
THUMP!
They all landed in the dirt outside the tal gates of Hope Base.
Hot sun blazed over their heads. Dust flew around them. The ground was dry and rough.
"Wha—WHAT HAPPENED?!" soone from the Mu family shouted, looking around wildly.
Mu Rongjie sat up slowly, his face red and full of embarrassnt.
The others stared at him.
"Head Mu?" soone asked nervously. "Did... did we get kicked out?"
Mu Rongjie’s face darkened.
"I... I think we did," he said quietly.
"WHY?!" a woman yelled. "What did you say?! What did you DO?!"
Mu Rongjie rubbed his forehead, looking troubled. "I might’ve... said sothing I shouldn’t have."
"What do you an?!" soone shouted again.
Mu Rongjie sighed and explained everything—how he thought Boss Su was just a puppet, how he refused the 50% tax, how he called her a fake leader...
The more he said, the more everyone around him paled.
"So Boss Su was the real leader all along?"
soone whispered in horror.
Mu Rongjie’s voice got even softer. "I didn’t know... I really thought there was soone else in charge."
Everyone stayed quiet for a mont, and then slowly... they all turned toward the blue tal cara fixed high on the outer wall of Hope Base.
Mu Rongjie took a deep breath and walked over. He knelt down in front of the cara and pressed his forehead to the ground.
"Boss Su! Please forgive us! I was wrong! I truly didn’t know you were the real base leader! Please, I beg you, don’t abandon us!"
One by one, the rest of the Mu family knelt behind him and did the sa.
"Please forgive us!"
"We didn’t an it!"
"We’ll pay the tax! All of it! Please let us co back!"
In the monitor room, Su Jiyai watched the whole thing through the screen.
She sat back in her chair with a blank expression.
After a few seconds of silence, she finally spoke, her voice steady and cool.
"Now you understand."
She tapped her finger slowly on the table.
"I’m not just a figurehead. I built this base with my own hands. And anyone who disrespects will face the consequences."
Everyone on the screen nodded furiously, still kneeling in the hot sun.
Su Jiyai continued, "As punishnt, you will all stay outside for one full day. Think about your actions. Reflect on your mistakes. If you truly want to be part of this base, you must respect its leader."
"Yes! Yes! We understand!" the Mu family shouted in unison. "We’ll stay out! We’ll accept our punishnt!"
Su Jiyai looked away from the screen and sighed. Then she said quietly to the system, "Teleport them back inside after 24 hours."
The system replied, "Confird. Countdown started: 23 hours 59 minutes remaining."
Just as Su Jiyai leaned back in her chair, letting out a small sigh after dealing with the Mu family, her wrist device buzzed softly.
Beep!
It was a call from Yuan Xin.
"Yes?" Su Jiyai answered, her voice calm.
"Boss," Yuan Xin said quickly, "the research team is asking to et you. They said it’s urgent... but also sothing good."
Su Jiyai raised an eyebrow. "Alright. Send them to the conference room."
"Yes, Boss!" Yuan Xin said, and the call ended.
A few minutes later, the doors to the conference room opened, and a group of people in white coats entered, their faces full of excitent.
So of them were young, so were old, but all of them were full of passion for science and survival.
They stood in front of the speaker and one by one, they smiled.
"Congratulations, Boss Su!" one of them said loudly.
"Truly amazing!" another added.
Su Jiyai blinked, a little confused.
"What happened?" she asked. "Why are you all so happy?"
The lead researcher stepped forward, beaming like a kid with candy.
"Three weeks ago," he began, "you gave us those few hybrid seeds to study... and today, we’re proud to report that the first batch has been harvested!"
Su Jiyai’s eyes lit up in surprise.
"Already?!"
Another researcher nodded excitedly. "Yes! Not only that, we’ve also made new hybrid seeds—many types! Different vegetables that can grow even faster and stronger."
Su Jiyai leaned closer to the mic. "How much did you harvest?"
The researchers looked at each other, then the lead one said proudly, "Enough vegetables to feed twenty people for a full week!"
Su Jiyai’s mouth opened slightly. "That’s amazing... in just three weeks?"
They all nodded with huge grins.
Su Jiyai was truly stunned.
Just a few months before, she was struggling with growing fresh vegetables and had to find different fertilizers, find the formula of the hybrid seeds on her and experint for a month straight.
And now... they had done it.
"Which seeds are you working on now?" she asked curiously.
Another scientist stepped forward. "Boss Su, actually... we’ve finished almost all the hybrids. With the foundation you gave us, we created versions of carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes—even peppers!"
"Soon," another added, "we’ll be the first base in the world to grow and sell vegetables like it’s pre-apocalypse!"
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