Bundles upon bundles of black stab-proof vests were piled two meters high like fortifications. The small room contained at least several thousand pieces, enough to hold back a flood. The air was filled with a slightly peculiar smell of clothing.
Tian Rao stood before the clothing printer, bending to organize the newly printed stab-proof vests. The air conditioning in the room was set to a cold 16 degrees, so she wore a white sweater and long pants. The clothes were tight, accentuating her shapely figure.
*Knock, knock, knock!* The sound of even knocking.
"Who is it?" she asked, turning to look at the door.
"It's me, Jiang Ye."
"The door isn't locked."
Jiang Ye pushed the door open and was startled by the room full of stab-proof vests. He then closed the door. "Don't you have a few employees? Why are you working alone?"
"It's not time for work yet. They'll be here in half an hour." Tian Rao stared at him, her fair cheeks flushing a faint pink. She asked in a low voice, "Why are you here in broad daylight?"
Jiang Ye scratched his head, flustered by her. "Shouldn't I be here in broad daylight?"
"Oh, I get it. You have something important to do, right?" Tian Rao put down the vest in her hand and walked up to Jiang Ye, reaching out to adjust his turned-up sleeve.
"Yes, I've come to ask for your help." Jiang Ye said.
Tian Rao paused, looking at him with a hint of wariness in her eyes.
"I've run into some trouble and need to borrow some money to get by," Jiang Ye stated.
"That's it?"
"Actually, it's not a little, it's a lot." Jiang Ye took a deep breath and explained, "It's like this, the number of water ghosts will increase in the next month, so I need to expand the armory..."
Tian Rao placed a finger on his lips, stopping him from continuing.
"No need to explain. I thought it was a big deal. Borrowing money is easy." Tian Rao reached out, hugged his waist, and buried her face in his chest. "I can lend you fifty million. I have fifty-five million in total, but I need to keep some money for making clothes."
"But I have conditions for lending money!" she suddenly said.
"Tell me." Jiang Ye's mind was already racing, calculating different interest rates.
"Hold me," Tian Rao whispered.
Jiang Ye froze and then embraced her.
"You haven't come to see me in a long time. I miss you very much," Tian Rao said softly. "Relationships between people need to be maintained. You have to come regularly to maintain them, otherwise, I won't lend you money in the future."
"Okay." Jiang Ye held her tighter. "But what are we to each other?"
"I'm your confidante, and you're my confidant. My money is yours, and my person is also yours. It's that simple," Tian Rao said softly.
Half an hour later, Jiang Ye received another fifty million yuan loan.
Adding the one hundred and ten million borrowed from Ju Lanlan, he now had one hundred and sixty million, still short of ninety million for building the anti-aircraft gun factory.
There was only one last very wealthy acquaintance left, but she was very dangerous.
After hesitating for a long time, Jiang Ye made up his mind to go.
"You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing your child; you can't catch a tiger cub without entering its den!"
Jiang Ye braced himself and headed straight for the courier center.
But he missed her. Isabella had already taken her transport ship to pick up the new residents of the town.
Jiang Ye had to wait all day, idly reading novels in the base vehicle.
He waited until evening when Isabella's ship returned, then waited another twenty minutes before going to the courier center.
He expected Isabella to be cooking in the kitchen, but she wasn't.
The house was quiet, the lights were off, and it was pitch black, creating a slightly eerie atmosphere.
Jiang Ye went upstairs, feeling a bit lost. He called out softly, "Sis?"
A hoarse, weak voice from here, "Help..."
"Something's happened!"
Jiang Ye's heart tightened. He drew the pistol from his waist and ran towards the sound, finding Isabella behind the living room curtains.
She was still in her courier uniform, sprawled on the floor, her face deathly pale, unable to move, as if she had been shot, but there were no wounds on her body.
"What's going on?" Jiang Ye knelt beside her, fumbling.
"Check my pocket, check my pocket," Isabella said, her breath coming in ragged gasps, her eyes rolling back.
Jiang Ye felt her pants pockets and then her waist pockets. There was nothing. Only a bulging pocket on her chest.
"This pocket? I... I'll check it." Jiang Ye reached inside.
He pulled out a very small object, no bigger than a mung bean, a small silver-white sphere.
"This thing... take off my shirt, put it in the slot on my back..." Isabella was gritting her teeth, her forehead covered in fine sweat, letting out a terrible gasp. "Hurry!"
Jiang Ye steeled himself, unzipped her jacket, and pulled it off, revealing a white undershirt beneath, her full breasts almost spilling out.
Isabella was paralyzed, completely without strength, like a puppet. Jiang Ye had to sit behind her, clamp her waist with his knees to straighten her upper body, and then pull up the white undershirt.
Her fair back was covered in fine downy hair. Her skin was very thin, and some blood vessels were visible.
In the center of her spine, there was a piece of metal about the size of a fifty-cent coin. In the center of the metal was a tiny slot, just the size of a mung bean.
Jiang Ye pressed the small object into it.
"Hoo..." Isabella's whole body trembled, and she let out a long sigh of relief. Sweat poured from her forehead and back, and her breathing became smooth.
The sound of a pistol's safety being released, Jiang Ye's gun pressed against the back of her head.
"Don't move," Jiang Ye said.
Isabella froze. "You son of a bitch, what are you doing?"
"Who are you?" Jiang Ye frowned, reaching out to touch the top of her head.
He felt no metal plate of a robotic spy, only hair and soft scalp.
"I'm your father!" Isabella said, furious, but dared not move. "Put the gun down! Don't you trust me!"
"What is this thing on your back?" Jiang Ye still held the pistol tightly, his legs clamped around her upper body like iron vices, preventing her from struggling.
"An artificial heart!" Isabella said, kicking her legs in anger. "My heart was shot, so it was removed, and then a new artificial heart was installed. The small thing you just put in is the energy unit, replaced every month. Today was the replacement day, but I forgot, so my heart stopped. If you had come a few minutes later, the trauma team would have come to save me."
"I'm going to ask you a few questions. Answer them properly to verify your identity," Jiang Ye said sternly.
"Oh, so many things. Ask away." Isabella sighed. She was still weak and couldn't do anything to Jiang Ye.
"Little Red went to the store to buy light bulbs. On the way, she passed four intersections. When she reached an intersection, the probability of the traffic light being red was one in two. The red light time for the first two intersections was thirty seconds, and for the last two, it was one minute. Jiang Ye paused and asked, "How old is Little Red?"
Isabella was stunned.
"You motherfucker!" she said, exasperated. "Does this problem have anything to do with the question?"
"I told you this problem before, and you said you remembered it." Jiang Ye said loudly, his voice stern. "I'll give you five seconds. If you can't give me the answer, I'll shoot!"
"Five! Four! Three!" Jiang Ye shouted.
"When the hell did you tell me this! You're mistaken! You never told me this!" Isabella trembled with anxiety, on the verge of tears. "You'll regret this, Jiang Ye!"
Jiang Ye stood up, put away the pistol, and revealed a sly smile. "Just kidding."