We Borrow the Money, the Boss Pays It Back

While Xia Libing was taking "Little Alice" to Citong City, Tang Baona, Yang Zhen'er, and Little Apple were also taking Little Chubby Girl to Peng City —because Little Chubby Girl's long holiday was over and she had to go back to school.

Around noon, after receiving WeChat notification from Lao Xia, they started timing it precisely. Once the planned time arrived, Tang Baona would call her Mom Xiang.

Although Tang Baona had already written down what to say and how to say it beforehand, and even "rehearsed" twice with Yang Zhen'er, she would look at the "script" on the tablet while on the phone to avoid "forgetting her lines".

But when she actually started talking to Mom Xiang and they began chatting, Tang Baona was still a little nervous. She almost burst out laughing several times and had to cover the microphone to suppress her laughter for a while before continuing to talk.

Surprisingly, this made her conversation with Mom Xiang sound even more like she was "hesitant to speak," "restless," "emotionally unstable," and "absent-minded," which actually helped achieve the purpose of the phone call.

After the call ended, Tang Baona's pretty face turned red from holding back her laughter, and her eyes were brimming with tears. Finally, she couldn't help but lean on the table and laugh heartily for a while, which made Yang Zhen'er and Little Apple next to her laugh along with her.

After a long while, Tang Baona finally let out a long sigh and finished laughing.

Yang Zhen'er rubbed her hands together excitedly. "Nana, let me call Auntie too, hehe."

"Hey, you big dummy!" Tang Baona slapped Yang the Third on the forehead, saying irritably, "Lao Xia was worried you'd cause trouble, so he specifically told you not to 'add anything'! When you go to Citong to pick up Alice, remember not to say anything careless! Otherwise, if you ruin the plan and Uncle Xiang and Aunt Shen get suspicious, you'll get a spanking from Lao Xia!"

"I'm not Little Bell, why would I be afraid of getting a spanking from Lao Xia? Lao Xia is my cousin, I should be the one spanking her..." Yang Zhen'er retorted.

However, Tang Baona and Little Apple next to her both had "you're just pretending" expressions, clearly not taking her "anti-summer declaration" seriously.

"Don't worry, even if I want to say something to Auntie, I'll discuss it with everyone first. I really value teamwork!" Yang Zhen'er said. "However, I bet even if I don't call now, when I pick up Alice later, Uncle and Auntie will definitely subtly hint at it. Hehe, I'll give them a little hint then..."

"Lao Xia said we shouldn't presuppose an outcome to guide the conversation; that requires too many conditions and is easily detected. We just need to provide information that is close to the truth and let Uncle and Aunt make their own judgment. If you say too much, you'll definitely give yourself away!" Tang Baona said.

"Then I won't say anything. Sigh, it's such a fun thing, and none of you included me. My acting skills are much better than yours and Lao Xia's..." Yang Zhen'er said with considerable regret.

Little Apple rested her chin on her hand and murmured, "Zhen'er, Sister Nana, if we do this now, and Grandpa Xiang and Grandma Shen really think Uncle Xiang ran away after having a baby, he'll probably get a really bad scolding when he comes back."

Yang Zhen'er said with a hint of schadenfreude, "Of course!"

Tang Baona was also secretly chuckling with excitement, seemingly imagining Xiang Kun's bewildered look when he returned home and was given a thorough scolding by his parents.

Little Apple said with some worry, "If this continues... the misunderstanding will only grow bigger, and won't it be difficult to handle later?"

Yang Zhen'er said, "Don't worry! It won't happen! Anyway, if there are any problems in the future, Chef Xiang will handle them when he comes back! He's so capable, he'll definitely have a way to solve them! Hehe, it's like the big boss goes on vacation, we manage the company for him, and then the major shareholder comes demanding money. We don't have any money, and we don't want the company to go bankrupt, so we have to temporarily borrow super high-interest loans to send the major shareholder away and keep the company afloat. Anyway, we don't have to pay back the high-interest loans, and the big boss will worry about it when he comes back, hehe!"

Little Apple listened with a puzzled look. "Why would the company's major shareholder force the company to go bankrupt?"

"Well, that's the gist of it, just get the idea." Yang Zhen'er said, then sighed, "Sigh, even though it's only been half a day, I'm already starting to miss Alice."

No sooner had she finished speaking than "Little Lao Xia's Alice" appeared in the room, sprawled on the sofa next to them, and shouted, "I've been here all along!"

Yang Zhen'er reached out and pinched her cheek. "I miss my little Alice!"

Alice dodged Yang Zhen'er's clutches, sidled up to Little Apple, and said, "Grandpa and Grandma love me so much! They gave me a Chinese name! Lao Xia approved of it too! My full name now Xiang Xinran!"

As Alice spoke, she pointed to the television in the room, and the 75-inch TV turned on by itself, displaying three large Chinese characters on a black background with white edges that glowed: Xiang Xinran.

Yang Zhen'er leaned over and put her arm around Alice's shoulder, laughing, "You're already calling them grandpa and grandma? And you even gave her the surname Xiang. Are you trying to take this for real and become a real granddaughter of the Xiang family?"

Alice tilted her chin slightly, a smug look on her face.

Little Apple smiled and said, "This name is really nice."

Tang Baona also said, "Yes, it sounds nice. Just hearing the name makes you think of a cute little girl, haha."

"That can't be right." Yang Zhen'er said with a mischievous smile, "Xiang Xinran? The initials of her name in pinyin are XXL, hehe, extra big, it sounds like she's a big, chubby girl!"

Tang Baona, who had just taken a sip of water, burst out laughing, coughing repeatedly and nearly choking. It took her a while to recover, and she was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down her face. Pointing at Yang Zhen'er, she exclaimed, "Yang the Third! Did you do this on purpose?! What XXL? Burning! Why is the first letter of 'burning' in pinyin 'L'?!"

Yang Zhen'er was stunned. "Huh? Could it be that my accent has changed because I've been in Haixi Province for so long?"

"Go away! Don't make up excuses. Lao Xia and I have spent much longer in Haixi Province than you have!" Tang Baona retorted.

"Oh, let's not talk about that." Yang Zhen'er forcibly pulled Alice over and made her sit on her lap, then asked with a smile, "Dear Alice, dear Xiang Xinran, where is Lao Xia now? What kind of 'Mutated Creature' is she going to deal with in Thailand this time? Can you give us a live broadcast?"

When Lao Xia told Dad Xiang Mom Xiang she had to catch a flight and was going abroad, it wasn't really an excuse. After dropping off "baby Alice" at Dad Xiang's Mom Xiang' house, she flew to Thailand to deal with a special incident involving a "Mutated Creature."

Generally speaking, Alice can solve the common problem of managing "Mutated Creature" by using the "Super-Linked Object" that are spread all over the world.

Whether they mutated from humans, insects, plants, or other organisms, Alice can communicate with them in a basic way, regulate their behavior, and guide them to access the "Little Radish Platform".

For "Mutated Creature" that are unwilling to connect to the "Little Radish Platform," those that do not pose a threat to humans or the ecosystem will be subject to regulation and restrictions; those that do pose a threat will be punished.

The "Mutated Creature" that Lao Xia was going to deal with in Thailand this time was of a rather special type. It was unwilling to be connected to the "Little Radish Platform" and had attempted to attack humans several times. Therefore, Lao Xia planned to capture it and put it into the database as a "live specimen for Mutated Creature research".

Yang Zhen'er only knew that Lao Xia was going to Thailand to deal with the "Mutated Creature," but she had no idea how exactly he would deal with them or what the "Mutated Creature" looked like, so she was very curious.

The "Research Base" now has a dedicated field, investigation, and combat department for dealing with "Mutated Creature." Although Yang Zhen'er doesn't know the specifics of how this department carries out its missions or its internal structure, she knows that several people she knows have already joined, such as Liu Zhengyi from Chongyun Village, her cousin Xia Tianhuo, and even Yang Jie's younger brother Yang Zhuo. They all seem to have started their secret internships, so she is very attentive and concerned about related matters.

Yang Zhen'er believed that she should also be a key member of that department!

With exceptional skills, how can one lack opportunities to showcase them!

However, Alice flatly refused Yang Zhen'er's request, stating firmly, "No way! Lao Xia won't agree!"

"Is the scene extremely bloody?" Yang Zhen'er's eyes lit up. "That's alright, let Little Apple step aside for now, Nana and I will watch!"

Little Apple was both amused and exasperated. "Zhen'er, I'm not a child anymore. What is it that you can see but I can't?"

"Maybe we'll be dealing with birds or cats or something. You're a bit soft-hearted," Yang Zhen'er said.

"Three years ago, a nasty 'mutant bird' almost killed Gold Glitter, but I, Bingjie, Little Bell, Alice, Egg Pie, and I worked together to drive it away. I can tell friend from foe," Little Apple said earnestly.

So Yang Zhen'er shook Alice's shoulder. "Alice, look, even Little Apple wants to watch it! Hurry up and do a live stream!"

Alice sighed helplessly, and then... dissipated.

"Alice!" Yang Zhen'er cried out unwillingly.

On the windowsill, Egg Pie, who had been dozing off, suddenly raised its head, glanced at the others in the room with a dazed look, shook its head, yawned, and went back to sleep.

Xia Libing arrived in Chiang Mai around 9 p. m.

She actually arrived in Thailand that afternoon, but stopped in Bangkok for half a day to regroup the team. Now, in addition to herself, there are five other companions in Chiang Mai, all of whom are members of the newly formed field investigation department. Among them are veterans like Li Shiping, who was formerly a member of the secret department of "Shenxing Technology," and inexperienced trainees like Yang Zhuo.

Because Li Shiping frequently dined at Youlong Restaurant, he unknowingly established a connection with the "Emotion-Infused Object Level-2 Network." Coupled with his original professional skills, his work experience in the secret department of "Shenxing Technology," and his experience as Fang Pingfang of the first members to participate in the training, he naturally became one of the leaders in the newly established field investigation department of the base.

As for Yang Zhuo, although he did not establish a connection with the "Emotion-Infused Object Level-2 Network," he, like Liu Zhengyi of Chongyun Village, discovered some unusual things in his life and then, with his own sensory abilities, perceived some "super-sensory objects" in the environment to a certain extent.

In Xiang Kun's words, they were people with "spirituality." Xiang Kun also suspected that their ability to perceive the influence of "Super-Linked Object" and the "Super-Sensing Item System" was related to their acquaintance with Xiang Kun and their subconscious belief that the source of some special phenomena lay with Xiang Kun.

Because of their special identities, Yang Zhuo and Liu Zhengyi were accepted into the newly established department, where they were given resources to train and see if they could develop new methods for utilizing the "Super-Sensing Item System".

Upon arrival at Chiang Mai Airport, they were quickly picked up by someone.

The people who came were peripheral members of the field investigation department in Thailand, all of whom were still interns, just like Yang Zhuo.

The peripheral members here are not sent from China; they are recruited and trained by a person in charge in Thailand.

However, Xia Libing had no doubt about the identities and reliability of these people, not only because she trusted the person in charge, but also because with Alice, who was a kind of "omniscient monitor," there was basically no possibility that anyone with ulterior motives could infiltrate—if anyone did, it would be because they deliberately let them in.

The man who came to pick them up was a dark-skinned, short, and thin young man who looked very clever. Judging from his appearance alone, one would probably think he was a local Thailand. However, Xia Libing knew that this young man named "Zuo Liu" was of mixed Chinese and Thai descent—his father was Chinese and his mother was Thailand.

"Hello, leader." Upon seeing Xia Libing, Zuo Liu was extremely nervous, and her voice trembled slightly as she greeted her.

In his view, what he joined was not merely an external department of a Chinese research institution on anomalous organisms, but a channel and bridge that gave him the opportunity to see "powerful creatures" and the "real world."

The "team leader" who recruited and trained him alone had already earned him great awe and admiration. Before the Antarctic Crisis, someone like the "team leader" could have been considered a god.

And Xia, whom even the "team leader" held in such high esteem, must have been an incredibly formidable and powerful figure.

Upon meeting Xia Libing, Zuo Liu could sense that this leader indeed possessed a distinct aura that set her apart from others. Although she had never seen a photo of this leader before, she knew from afar that this was the person she had come to pick up.

"Don't call me 'leader,' they all call me 'Dr. Xia,' you can call me that too," Xia Libing said simply.

"Ah, okay, boss. No... okay, Dr. Xia." Zuo Liu was still a little nervous.

His behavior puzzled Yang Zhuo, who was following behind Xia Libing. Apart from his indifferent expression and tone, Lao Xia didn't seem scary at all. Why was this guy acting like he had seen Monster?

Thinking this way, he couldn't help but feel a sense of superiority as someone "from the domestic headquarters," and he walked with his chest out and head held high.

They drove overnight to the outskirts of the city and stopped outside a protected area. Several Thailand, at the behest of Zuo Liu who was driving, quickly left, and the rest of them got out and walked.

A moment later, two people with flashlights came up to meet them.

One of them looked about six or seven parts like Zuo Liu; he was Zuo Liu's cousin Putepeng. The other person, however, looked Chinese at first glance and was bald.

"Jiang Chun, how is the situation?" Xia Libing asked the bald man who looked Chinese.

Yes, the bald man who came to greet Xia Libing was Jiang Chun, who mutated in Myanmar three years ago and joined the Level 2 Emotion-Infused Object Network of the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving. In order to adapt to swimming at high speed in the water, his hair was "specialized" and fell out during the mutation process.

However, upon seeing Jiang Chun's "hairstyle," Li Shiping and Yang Zhuo were simultaneously filled with "respect." Even though Lao Xia had not yet introduced Jiang Chun's identity, they subconsciously recognized that this guy was exceptionally capable.