"What did you just plan?" Lu Chen led her back to the hotel.
Su Mo blinked mysteriously, "You’ll know when the time comes, and there’s another task I need your help with."
Lu Chen raised his eyebrows.
The next day, as soon as the two of them had finished grooming in the bedroom of the hotel and came downstairs, there were many people standing at the door, with Feng Yao maintaining order outside.
Su Mo was stunned for a moment, saw the large and small bags they carried and the few tins of tea leaves in their hands, and realized what was happening.
She quickly had Lu Chen open the door, moved a table and chairs to the hotel entrance, and sat down.
Feng Yao walked into the room, stood beside her, and exhaled, "You finally got up. Half the refugee camp knows about your tea leaves task. You came back early, so they came early too."
Su Mo nodded, handed him a few tins of canned fruit, "Let them in. You haven’t had breakfast so early, have this to fill you up."
With the head of refugee camp security personally standing guard here, everyone began to suspect the backing behind this hotel, and with Lu Chen standing on the side, some had a moment of realization, while others looked confused.
Su Mo directly took out a pile of Crystal Stones and placed them on the table, "Let the people in."
They traded tea leaves for Crystal Stones without a scale. Su Mo simply estimated the weight to give out the stones, leaving some people ecstatic and others dissatisfied.
"Hey, I clearly have six pounds here, you gave me less!" A voice tinged with discrimination rang out above Su Mo’s head.
Su Mo looked up, her eyebrows raised. She had a good memory; it was the Wind Element Superpower User who had picked a quarrel with her while she was treating the sick.
She leaned back in her chair, smiled and said, "No one before you said I gave them too little, but now it’s suddenly less with you?"
"I picked the tea leaves myself, I am very clear on that," the man stiffened his neck and slammed his bag onto the table as if he wanted to argue.
"Oh, if it’s not according to my terms, then I don’t want it," Su Mo pointed to the people behind him, "You can keep standing here, letting the others wait."
Her words caused unrest among the crowd.
"Hey, tea leaves aren’t worth much, it’s already good that you can get Crystal Stones for them. What’s there to pick at? If you don’t want to sell, move aside and don’t hold us up."
Those words were quite true; for them, getting Crystal Stones for a few pounds of tea leaves was a windfall. At that time, who would care about a minor shortage?
Su Mo kept a smiling face, looking at him without saying much.
Finally, unable to withstand the scornful gazes of the crowd and Feng Yao’s clearly warning eyes, the man glared venomously at Su Mo and stormed off with his bag of tea leaves, "I won’t sell it then. I don’t need those damn stones!"
Order was restored, and Su Mo continued collecting tea leaves until her hands were sore. It wasn’t until the evening that people finally thinned out.
The last one came with a cart.
Su Mo found him familiar; it was Lin Xiao.
The man whose life she had saved.
He brought his elderly father and carted boxes of tea leaves into the store.
"Miss Su, are you still collecting? I’m not too late, am I?" Lin Xiao was somewhat anxious.
Su Mo smiled and nodded, "Still collecting. You brought the most, give them to me."
He had a lot, and she couldn’t be bothered to weigh them, so with a rough estimate, she grabbed a handful of Crystal Stones for him, "Take care."
She gave too many, and Lin Xiao even returned a few, "I know it’s by weight, you gave too much."
Satisfied with his behavior, Su Mo decided to be generous to the end, "It’s fine, just keep them."
Lin Xiao’s clothes were quite old, and it seemed his life in the refugee camp wasn’t too good, although he was a superpower user, taking care of an elderly father made his life somewhat difficult.
"That’s right, Miss Su, I know there’s a tea factory not far from here, I can give you the address."
He hesitated, and Su Mo, propping her chin, asked, "What’s your condition?"
"I hope to get a reliable job in the refugee camp to take care of my father. When I’m out hunting, he always gets bullied because of me. I want to protect him."
Lin Xiao had known early on that Su Mo was no ordinary person, and seeing Feng Yao and Lu Chen standing beside her today, his thoughts grew more intense.
Su Mo sized him up, his eyes clear, an honest man, just about to speak when Feng Yao next to her beat her to it, "You can take a position in the security room."
Feng Yao’s authority was quite substantial now; along with Jin Han who had returned, they were controlling the order of the refugee camp. His word was a final stamp, sealing the deal.
Lin Xiao’s elderly father was about to kneel to express gratitude, but Su Mo stood up, went over, and supported him, saying to Lin Xiao, "Since Feng Yao has spoken, you can just wait for his assignment."
"I’ll give you the tea factory address right now!" Lin Xiao pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper and placed it on the table, clearly prepared before.
Once the two had left, Su Mo opened the note to glance over the address, memorized it, and tossed it in the trash, stretching lazily, "We have enough tea for a few years now. Let’s go, time to head back to the neighborhood for a meal."
They shut the door and left the restaurant.
Before long, several high-level superpower users paused at the door, conversing in low voices.
"Are you sure it’s this store?"
"Positive, I’ve tried their tea; it’s truly miraculous. Isn’t it obvious from their mass tea collection today!?"
"They must be opening for business soon. We’ll pay a visit when they do; even if it’s not for that, we should go to honor the Level 6 superpower users."
The group agreed on the spot.
Zhao Changsheng’s mood remained low and also somewhat restless.
Su Mo could understand. Her parents were still alive, having done something unforgivable to her, then abandoning her and successfully having a son. Such a situation would be intolerable in any family that favored sons over daughters.
Could she kill them directly?
Zhao Changsheng felt lost; now, her only conversational partner was Su Mo.
In the dark room, Su Mo quietly held her hand, whispering, "My foster parents weren’t nice to me either, they didn’t feed me well and often beat me. Asking me for money was the norm. From high school, I frequently worked outside to help them support their son, not anymore after the apocalypse,"
Su Mo paused for a moment, then continued, "I didn’t continue to show them filial piety; on the contrary, I was quite harsh on them. You know, when they died, I felt both sad and relieved. Had they been a little kinder to me, fairer, and not troublemakers, I would have protected them. As it turned out, some people are not worth it, they had to pay the price for their past."
"Zhao Changsheng, if there’s something you can’t do, I’ll help you do it."
When memories flooded Zhao Changsheng’s mind, thinking of her father’s face terrified her. The shadows of her childhood burned into her heart like a hot iron. She was already so powerful that she could squash them easily.
Su Mo hugged her, with unstoppable compassion in her eyes.