Number 8 Fortress Road?

The address rang a bell for Lin Qi. If he remembered correctly, it was a high-end residential area.

Fortress Road, true to its name, wasn’t much different from an actual fortress.

The entire street was a key security patrol area in Red Fruit City, with automated sentinels on patrol almost twenty-four hours a day.

The residents of Fortress Road were either rich or powerful, almost all of them core personnel from various major corporations.

Nearly all the upper management from the branch offices of major outside corporations lived on Fortress Road.

’Fortress Road, and a villa district at that... Do I even qualify? I couldn’t afford this place even if I sold myself, could I?’

On an A-level Researcher’s salary, Lin Qi could actually afford to live on Fortress Road if he spent sixty percent of his income on housing.

But a villa was another matter entirely.

Any single villa was worth over ten million Credit Points, and that didn’t include the exorbitant maintenance fees and security taxes.

’Since when were companies in the Cyber World this generous?’

’Free housing in the Fortress Road villa district, of all places?’

Although he was full of doubt, Lin Qi had no desire to slink back to the No. 1 Prosthetic Clinic.

He piloted his flying vehicle, set the navigation for Number 8 Fortress Road, and flew there manually.

Along the way, Lin Qi was scanned by several large automated sentinels.

But each time, the same words appeared: "Permission granted. Access approved."

This proved that Lin Qi did indeed have residential access to the area.

Still nursing his suspicions, Lin Qi arrived at the navigated location without a hitch.

Number 8 Fortress Road, Villa District, Villa 13.

The villa came with its own parking space for flying vehicles; each villa had four in total.

He landed slowly, opened the Door, and stepped out. Lin Qi’s pupils contracted instantly.

He saw a very familiar flying vehicle.

If he wasn’t mistaken, that was...

The Door of the flying vehicle opened slowly, and a graceful figure emerged.

Her left Prosthetic Body eye flashed with a faint blue light as a familiar voice said, "What a coincidence."

Lin Qi froze, his whole body stiff.

’Coincidence?’

’Coincidence my ass!’

’Does this look like a coincidence to you?’

’You’re not even going to pretend anymore?’

His expression stiff, Lin Qi said, "Quite a coincidence. You live here too?"

Liu Xuan nodded slightly. "I used to live with Ah Li, but I moved out after I founded United Pharmaceutical."

After saying this, as if afraid Lin Qi would get the wrong idea, Liu Xuan elaborated, "The company is still in its startup phase. The 300 million Credit Points I got from the Liu Clan are a bit tight, and the budget allocation was insufficient. We didn’t procure enough residences for the High Level personnel—we were short by one."

"I was planning to sort it out tomorrow, but you happened to ask the company’s smart system. According to its default operating rules, the only habitable place left among the company’s assets was my home. You can make do here for a day."

It was rare for Liu Xuan to say so much at once. As she spoke, her left eye began to glow with a brighter blue light.

Lin Qi listened to her explanation, feeling too exasperated to even retort.

’"Three hundred million in funding," "insufficient budget"...’

’How could those two descriptions possibly go together?’

’Also, was it my fault for asking the company’s smart system?’

’And finally, what kind of company has a smart system with that much authority? One that can assign an employee to live in the chairman’s house?’

Lin Qi felt drained, even a little dizzy.

Seeing this, the blue light in Liu Xuan’s left eye shone even brighter as she added, "Don’t worry, my villa has no network surveillance equipment. You’ll have absolute privacy. This place has the Highest Level of privacy rights in Red Fruit City."

’Is that what I’m worried about?’

’Do you even hear yourself talk?’

His ending up here was definitely Liu Xuan’s doing.

But after some careful thought, Lin Qi realized there was nothing about him worth scheming for.

’Maybe Liu Xuan really doesn’t have any bad intentions?’

"It seems the company’s smart system needs some maintenance,"

Lin Qi could only play dumb and go along with Liu Xuan’s story.

Liu Xuan nodded, seemingly also pondering the maintenance issue with the company’s smart system.

Maintaining a tacit understanding, they both walked toward the villa’s main Door, lost in their own thoughts. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

As soon as Lin Qi reached the entrance, the main Door conducted a facial scan.

[CONFIRMATION SUCCESSFUL. HIGHEST OWNERSHIP RIGHTS: LIU XUAN]

[CONFIRMATION SUCCESSFUL. LONG-TERM RESIDENCY RIGHTS: LIN QI]

His eyebrows twitched. ’Long-term residency rights?’

’That doesn’t quite match up with "make do here for a day," does it?’

Liu Xuan was right beside him, but Lin Qi pretended not to have seen it.

He entered the villa with Liu Xuan.

Upon reaching the first floor of the villa, Lin Qi stood still.

’What now? Where am I supposed to go?’

’This villa seems to have a lot of rooms.’

’What if I wander around and accidentally end up in Liu Xuan’s bedroom?’

Beside him, Liu Xuan pointed to a room on the first floor and said, "You can stay in that one. The company has already moved your personal belongings in. Since this housing assignment was a bug in the company system, we’ve waived the moving fees for you."

Lin Qi glanced at the room Liu Xuan was pointing to and nodded silently.

However... ’My things from my old apartment have already been moved over?’

’When were they moved?’

’Don’t tell me they were moved the moment the smart system assigned the address?’

’I flew my vehicle here pretty fast.’

’Or was the address assigned long ago? And there was just a bug with my address that delayed the notification?’

’Does that make any sense?’

’Even if I wasn’t notified, as the owner of this villa, Liu Xuan must have known about it for a while, right?’

’Wasn’t a whole day enough time to sort out a housing issue?’

"Alright, thank you."