Step Back

Coming back from the funeral, it was only just noon.

The anomalies got off Chen Miemie and found their respective spots in the house.

Bobo jumped onto a dinner plate, Red climbed up to the ceiling, Pure Water found its favorite water bottle, and Origami liked folding itself into a paper wind chime.

Those on the sofa were usually the trio of Qinghua, Loop, and Chen Miemie.

"Miemie, did you turn down all the invitations?"

Qinghua watched as Chen Miemie, right after coming home, tossed his continuously beeping watch aside.

"Yeah, that's right. Ignore them. When they invite you one by one, they speak beautifully on the surface, but if I went, it would probably just be attempts to rope me in or threaten me. I can't be bothered to deal with their hypocrisy."

"Then what are we going to do next?"

Chen Miemie thought for a moment, organizing his thoughts.

"These past two days, because of my sudden fame, our rhythm has been thrown off a bit.

The path I want to take is one of collecting anomalies, strengthening myself, and exploring the world.

Not transitioning into political struggles with aristocratic families and the elite.

Even if we were to control Sixiang City, we would only need to choose capable proxies. I won't do it personally and get involved in their palace dramas.

How the Jiang family, the Yi family, and the Mian family, who haven't come looking for us yet, want to fight is their business. We just want a result.

So, let's get back to our own rhythm."

Loop hesitated a bit. "But, the tree desires stillness yet the wind will not cease. It won't be that easy for us to stay out of it, will it?"

Chen Miemie knew this too.

"Then we'll take the initiative to simplify the situation. Whoever reaches out to us, we'll break their fingers. We aren't afraid of anyone."

Chen Miemie's statement deeply resonated with the anomalies in the house.

The anomalies preferred it this way, fight if there's a disagreement, rather than having strength all day with nowhere to use it.

Chen Miemie's seriousness only lasted for a few minutes before he immediately showed his true colors.

"Great, I have already set the grand strategic direction. As for the specific arrangements below, Qinghua and Loop, you two plan it out."

Anomalies didn't know the meaning of hiding one's capabilities or being modest.

When Chen Miemie said they needed a plan, Qinghua immediately stepped up.

"We originally had two main tasks, one was to figure out the mastermind behind the assassination, and the other was to increase the number of members in the house and Miemie's strength during the day.

With the restoration of the seal in Sixiang City, the first matter has already come to light, so our focus shifts to the second.

Then we run into a problem.

As our members increase, our current residence has become slightly crowded, so we might need a larger space."

Chen Miemie nodded repeatedly as he listened, looking very much like a boss. "Then what good solutions do you have?"

Loop took over the conversation.

"Currently, there are three different approaches.

The first is that we find another residence in the city, like the Jiang family villa, which has a large space and can accommodate many members.

The second is that we still live here, but we take over all the other rooms on the 18th floor and connect them. That would be enough for a long time.

The third is to find a place outside the city similar to my village. On the surface, we live here, but in reality, we commute to live outside the city every day through Origami's teleportation."

"Good, you guys are truly my right-hand men." Chen Miemie put on a look as if that was exactly what he had been thinking.

No one said anything further; they just looked at Chen Miemie, waiting for his choice.

Chen Miemie looked up at the moon and the spider web on the ceiling.

Frankly speaking, he had lived here since he woke up. From hiding inside alone with No Tomorrow, to now having a bustling household, he had some emotional attachment to it.

He had been to the Jiang family villa twice; it was luxurious and spacious, and there were no stairs to climb, but it wasn't the home he envisioned.

If he had to choose, he still wanted to live in this current apartment.

"I thought about it, and I've decided to choose both the second and third options simultaneously.

Following the second option, we will take over this entire 18th floor and slowly build it into our own home.

On the other hand, I've felt for a long time that Eternal Moon lacks a truly imposing headquarters. An organization of anomalies should naturally be built outside the city; that will be our home on the outside.

This also perfectly aligns with the third plan.

We need to establish both our home in the city and Eternal Moon's home in the wilderness."

Just as Chen Miemie was passionately directing the grand scheme of things, Qinghua brought him back to reality.

"That's great, but there is a new problem. Both homes require a massive financial investment. Currently, we only have 3,000 years, so developing both places simultaneously will be a bit strenuous."

Bobo, who had been eagerly waiting for everyone to eat lunch, jumped up. "The roast chicken shop has already made over a hundred years in profit!"

Chen Miemie wasn't afraid of getting oil on his hands; he caught Bobo directly and took a bite out of it as a reward.

Bobo, now with an extra tooth mark on its body, immediately started dancing with joy.

"Can we estimate our time deficit?"

Loop was even better at managing a household than Qinghua.

"I actually think it's already enough.

For the 18th floor we live on now, we can use the same methods we used to acquire Room 1803 to directly occupy the entire floor without spending anything. However, the other rooms have almost zero renovations and will require hiring people to fix them up. I estimate spending a few hundred years should be about enough.

For the headquarters outside the city, we can go rob a powerful anomaly's home, which will save us the basic construction costs.

Whatever we need after that, we just rob. We can pack up the anomalies and the materials and bring them home. The expenses won't be too big."

Following Loop's reminder.

Chen Miemie suddenly realized that after all this time, the property rights to the apartment they were living in still belonged to the church, and the Paradise Building was under Chen Miaomiao's name. He actually didn't own any real estate of his own!

Chen Miemie looked at Qinghua, who was more law-abiding and leaned towards buying, and then looked at Loop, who followed the laws of nature and clearly wanted to just rob.

Finally, he coughed lightly.

"You both make sense. I've considered it comprehensively and decided to find a middle ground by taking a third path.

We do have strength, but the basic rules in the city concern everyone. Directly occupying it would look bad and be detrimental to our future image and development.

Rather than breaking the order to rob a house, it's better to rob a rich person and then use the rich person's time to legally buy the house."

"Who do you mean to rob?"

Chen Miemie quickly corrected the informal term rob, which was strictly for internal use:

"My expression just now wasn't accurate enough. It's not robbing, it's compensation. The bishop of the church plotted against my life, causing me severe physical and mental harm. Compensating me with a few rooms is perfectly justified, right?

I have bled and sweated for Sixiang City, and now my home is bare and my family has nowhere to live. The municipal government has to show some appreciation and help me renovate my home. That's reasonable too, right?"

Chen Miemie had just conveyed this thought to the municipal government.

Without him even needing to contact the church again, Chief Sun sent a message directly, stating that this entire floor could belong to Chen Miemie, and invited Chen Miemie to go to the City Hall in the afternoon to handle the transfer procedures and discuss the renovation style.

It was obvious that this chief had an ulterior motive; he was using this as an opportunity to meet and talk business with Chen Miemie.

"Alright, let's go meet him. He's the chief of a city; if he wants to meet, it's always unavoidable."

Afternoon, City Hall.

Chief Sun's private office.

Chief Sun's secretary brewed tea for the two of them.

Right off the bat, Chief Sun naturally offered a barrage of thanks on behalf of the city.

"Chief Sun, if you have something to say, just say it straight."

In Chen Miemie's mind, there was no way Chief Sun could win him over. The [Chief] of the municipal government had to be one of the Big Three, and that position had to be held by one of his own people.

Unexpectedly, Chief Sun had no intention of winning him over at all.

Just after the secretary left the room and closed the door, Chief Sun chuckled as he looked at Chen Miemie, who was deliberately acting distant.

"You brat, you've got some nerve, daring to ignore messages for so long. Chen Miaomiao has asked me about your situation several times. If she wasn't so tied up with things right now, she would have rushed over to Sixiang City to spank your butt."

A question mark popped up over Chen Miemie's head.

No way, we aren't that close, right? What's with this intimate tone, and bringing up Chen Miaomiao? What does he mean?

"Chief Sun, your way of trying to get close is a bit abrupt. Is this how you build connections?"

"Build connections?" Chief Sun looked a bit puzzled. "Do our connections even need building?"

"Chen Miemie, anyone who has worked in the municipal government for a while knows that when I became the [Chief] ten years ago, the one pulling the strings behind the scenes was the Grand Witch who managed the witch clan of Sixiang City at the time."

Chen Miemie nearly spat out his mouthful of tea.

"What? The person behind you is Chen Miaomiao!"