Chapter 73 – Returning to Jianglin Hotel

Song Chengjun came to the villa to find them at ten o’clock.

By that time, Chu Jiangyue and the others had already been waiting inside for quite a while.

“Granny Hua, why are you here?”

When Song Chengjun entered the villa and saw the old woman, his expression showed some surprise.

Chu Jiangyue knew the old woman’s surname was Hua, but she herself hadn’t been told yet.

She hadn’t expected Song Chengjun to know either.

“I hired Granny Hua to cook three meals a day for me. Today she’s coming with us back to Jianglin Hotel. Don’t worry—her safety is my responsibility.”

“Boss Chu, what are you saying? Granny Hua has helped me plenty in the past. Even if you didn’t ask, if she were in danger, I wouldn’t just stand by.”

Though Song Chengjun hadn’t expected Granny Hua to follow Chu Jiangyue to Jianglin Hotel, once he learned about it, he was glad for her.

Even though ice-type ability users were releasing their powers around the base daily, it had no real effect on the temperature inside.

According to the base leader, if Jianglin Hotel had more rooms, he would have moved everyone in there long ago.

After all, the whole purpose of building the base had been to give survivors a place of safety. But under the scorching weather, even the residents here were suffering.

So far, only Jianglin Hotel and the roads paved with Chu Jiangyue’s materials were unaffected by the extreme heat.

And if things were already this bad here, smaller bases elsewhere must be faring even worse.

“Enough talk—let’s head out. Otherwise we won’t make it to the hotel by nightfall.”

Jianglin Hotel was still quite a distance from B City’s Safe Base.

As usual, Chu Jiangyue opened navigation, and the silver SUV appeared once again.

“Granny, get in.”

Chu Jiangyue gave Granny Hua the seat behind the driver’s seat and sat beside her.

Shen Zhigui and the others made their own arrangements:

• Shen Zhigui took the front passenger seat.
• Jiang He, unwilling to drive any longer, sat in the last row behind Granny Hua.
• Lin Xuyuan took the driver’s seat.
• Su Zhucheng and Xie Silin also sat in the back row.

Seven people in total—just right.

Song Chengjun’s organized team was waiting at the base gates. They drove over and took position at the rear of the convoy.

As they were leaving, Chu Jiangyue happened to glance out the window—and spotted Ren Jie, the man they’d left behind on the road to the base.

She didn’t know if he saw her, but his eyes were fixed on the silver SUV.

Something in his expression made her feel he was plotting something.

But since he hadn’t actually done anything yet, she had no excuse to act on mere intuition.

Their vehicle rolled out of the base gates and soon entered the safe passage.

In just a day, the passage had been extended even farther. At this rate, the throughway plan would be complete very soon.

This trip was smooth the whole way. Even the stretch without a safe passage gave them no trouble.

By the time they truly returned to Jianglin Hotel, the sun was already dipping westward, though visibility was still good.

It was only upon entering Jianglin Hotel that Granny Hua realized the descriptions she had heard hadn’t been exaggerated at all.

In fact, she thought they hadn’t even done it justice.

Some things had to be seen with one’s own eyes, experienced personally, to truly be understood.

Chu Jiangyue led her out of the car, waited for Shen Zhigui and the others to disembark, then ended navigation and stowed the silver SUV.

“Granny, I’ll take you to get an identity card.”

Without one, you could hardly do anything in Jianglin Hotel.

“Alright.”

Granny Hua understood very well—she was here only because Chu Jiangyue had hired her to cook. So when it came to arrangements at Jianglin Hotel, she followed Chu’s lead without objection.

“You!”

Just as Chu Jiangyue led Granny Hua toward the office hall at the hotel entrance, they ran into the skinny old man from that zombie-free community guarded by mutant plants.

He recognized her immediately, looking just as surprised.

“Hello.”

She had expected some people from that community might come to the hotel eventually, but she hadn’t thought it would be so soon.

Still, the sooner the better—one step closer to her goal of a thousand new residents.

At that moment, Song Chengjun also arrived with the group he had organized.

To spare Granny Hua from having to line up later, Chu quickly pulled her toward the office hall.

“Granny, for cooking three meals a day for me, I’ll pay you eighty silver coins a month. How about it? If you agree, I’ll give you zombie crystal cores worth that amount right now.”

“I’ve no objections.”

She had no reason to refuse—everything she had now was thanks to Chu Jiangyue.

“Then it’s settled. Jiang Yang, recharge Granny Hua with eighty silver coins.”

Chu took crystal cores worth eighty silver coins from her system backpack and placed them on the exchanger tray.

Jiang Yang carried out the recharge as instructed.

“There aren’t any vacant rooms right now. I’ll take you to stay at my place—you can also familiarize yourself with the kitchen.”

The supplies in Chu Jiangyue’s cabin could only be used by her, but letting someone cook for her was fine.

So long as the food was only prepared and not eaten, there was no problem.

She just didn’t know how many people Song Chengjun had brought this time, and whether she could complete her task.

Before leaving the office hall, Chu glanced at the long line forming.

As those people registered for identity cards, she could clearly see her task progress ticking steadily forward.

Granny Hua voiced no complaints and followed Chu closely out of the hall.

After two days and a night away, Shen Zhigui’s group had nearly used up their supplies. When Chu and Granny Hua came out, they happened to see Shen’s group coming from the dining hall.

The moment Shen spotted Chu, his eyes lit up.

“Boss Chu.”

She nodded in greeting. “I’m taking Granny to my place to get familiar with the environment.”

After all, her daily meals would soon be in Granny Hua’s hands.

“But… isn’t the hotel full? Where will Granny stay?”

That was indeed a problem.

Chu could only hope Song Chengjun had brought plenty of people this time.

One thousand new guests was no small feat.

“I’ll think of something.”

She couldn’t possibly let someone she had personally brought here end up sleeping rough.

That would be worse than Granny Hua’s small but private room back at the base.