I'll Take All These Villas!

Su Bai: "..."

He knew that username. He knew it all too well.

"Your sister has made over seven hundred posts across the internet in the past two weeks." Kabi pulled up a summary. "'A Complete Analysis of Lady Ziwei's Battle Aesthetics,' 'On the Positive Correlation Between Skirt Hem Angles and Divinity,' 'Can You Even Call Yourself a Fan If You Don't Spend Money?'..."

"Stop."

"She even set up membership tiers." Kabi clicked his tongue. "Big spenders get named Starshine Knights, and smaller spenders become Fireflies. Over thirty thousand fans, pouring real money into it."

"That girl..." Su Bai pressed a hand to his forehead. "I've never seen her work this hard when I tell her to do her homework."

"Under the first-generation core contract," Kabi said, pulling up the terms and pointing a stubby finger at one line, "all organizational proceeds are at the first-generation core's sole disposal."

"All the money from those thirty thousand people is yours."

Su Bai stared at the line without a word for a long time.

From next door came the sound of dishes being washed, mixed with Su Xiaoxiao's tuneless humming.

"...What's she getting out of it?"

"Lady Ziwei, of course." Kabi tilted his head. "She said spending money on Lady Ziwei meant spending money to keep Xinghai City safe."

Su Bai rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Fine. Better for the money to go into the fund than into a scammer's hands. I'll find an excuse later to quietly pay Xiaoxiao back for her share.

He turned the page.

"Kabi, we have enough money."

"Enough for what?"

"To buy a house."

Kabi froze in midair.

"Buy a house? Don't we already have somewhere to live?"

"This place is fine to live in, but it can't be our base." Su Bai stood and walked to the window. "I'll keep piling up more spoils, and the Monster Hunting Bureau's instruments will keep getting better."

"They didn't find anything tonight, did they?"

"Tonight, they checked with instruments. What about next time?" Su Bai turned around. "What if they come back with a search warrant and look under the bed? I need a place with built-in magic shielding, walls that can withstand monsters, an underground vault, and property staff who know how to keep their mouths shut."

"There aren't many places like that in Xinghai City."

"There is one."

Su Bai opened his wardrobe and took a suit from the very back.

Navy blue, sharply tailored. He had gritted his teeth and bought it last week, intending to save it for meetings with major clients when he needed to look the part.

"Wow." Kabi circled him. "Master, in that suit, you almost look respectable."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"You look very respectable!"

Su Bai ignored Kabi, tied his tie, and dug the black-gold anonymous bank card out from the back of a drawer. He slipped it into his inner pocket.

The card was one of his spoils from the night at the vault. The Brotherhood had kept it ready for an escape: anonymous, offline, and loaded with thoroughly laundered money. Now it was his.

"Cloud Summit Palace." Su Bai straightened his collar in the mirror. "Detached estates on the back hill, with their own gravitational protection fields and five basement levels."

"I know that place. It's outrageously expensive."

"You get what you pay for. They make a point of protecting owners' privacy. Once you live there, even the Monster Hunting Bureau has to go through Federation procedures to investigate you."

That reminded him of something.

"Oh, right. I remember one of our Magical Girls has her workplace registered at Cloud Summit Palace."

"Oh?" Kabi drifted closer. "Who?"

"I didn't look closely." Su Bai thought for a moment. "But Magical Girls are all young women. If she works somewhere like that, she's probably in sales."

"A Magical Girl selling houses..." Kabi pondered. "Which one was it again?"

The light rail crossed the river in forty minutes.

Cloud Summit Palace occupied a prime riverside location in Xinghai City. Its sales office had an entire building to itself, constructed of alloy and crystal designed to withstand attacks from high-level monsters. Even the ornamental fish in the fountain outside gave off traces of magic.

Su Bai pushed open the door and went in.

The soaring lobby was dazzlingly bright. A holographic model stood at its center, the estate's hills, lakes, and buildings slowly turning in the light.

Over by the café, several lavishly dressed managers and senior property consultants stood in small groups, chatting quietly over drinks.

When they saw a young man come in, they nodded politely, but none of them moved.

The clientele here were either rich or powerful. A young man in his twenties had probably come in to enjoy the air-conditioning and have a look around.

Su Bai didn't mind. He walked straight in.

"Hello, sir!"

A clear voice called out behind him.

A young woman whose name tag read "Receptionist · Zhou Xiaomin" hurried to his side and offered him a cup of warm spirit tea with both hands.

"It's hot outside. Please have some tea." Her eyes curved as she smiled. "What kind of home are you interested in? Shall I get you the basic information for our standard townhouses?"

Standard townhouses.

Su Bai accepted the tea and took a sip.

It was good tea, better than what the convenience store sold.

"No need for the brochure." Su Bai handed the cup back. "I'll look at the model."

"Of course!" Zhou Xiaomin followed beside him. "Sir, our townhouses are on the east side by the lake. Prices start at three million, and if you reserve one now, you'll also get two years of property management fees—"

Su Bai reached the holographic model without slowing down and passed right over the densely packed townhouses on the east side.

His gaze settled on the farthest part of the estate.

The back hill.

Three detached estates lined the ridge, each with its own enclosed grounds. Their labels glowed clearly in the projection: independent gravitational protection fields, three basement levels of earthquake-resistant vaults, whole-house magic-shielding coatings, and one-way access routes through the mountain.

Su Bai raised a hand and drew a circle through the light, enclosing all three.

"How much for these three?"

Zhou Xiaomin's voice caught.

She followed his fingertip, read the labels, and froze.

The crown jewels of the back hill. Detached estates. Prices starting at eleven million apiece.

All three came to more than thirty-four million.

She had been in the business for two years. Those three buildings had rotated on the model the entire time. People had asked about the price, but no one had bought one. The managers privately called them the "showpieces," there to make the development look impressive.

"S-sir..." Her voice wavered. "You mean the three detached estates on the back hill?"

"Yes."

"Would you like to... arrange viewings for all three? Viewings have to be booked three days in advance, and we'd need to verify your funds first—"

"No viewing." Su Bai cut her off. "I'll buy them."

At some point, the conversation by the café had stopped.

Several pairs of eyes peered over the rims of their cups toward them.

Zhou Xiaomin opened her mouth. Her professionalism helped her compose her expression, though her fingers tightened around the tray.

"Sir, the total for all three is thirty-four million eight hundred thousand. We'll need to verify your funds first, and the owner approval process for detached estates is strict. It has to go through the management committee—"

Without a change in expression, Su Bai took the black-gold card from his inner pocket and set it on the counter beside the model.

"Verify it."

Zhou Xiaomin looked down.

A black-gold card with an anonymous security pattern. She had only seen one like it before. Its previous holder had bought storefronts along half a commercial street.

"Please wait here, sir! I'll get the manager!" She picked up the card and turned to leave.

"Wait."

Su Bai stopped her.

He raised a hand and pointed at the row of glowing estates on the model's back hill.

"I'll take all three!"