Chapter 134: Return to the Ling Qingyu's residence
Xiao Yue nodded and grabbed the weapon along with the holster Tang Ziyi gave her. The two rookies, whose group despite having a military background, were ineligible to join her team were given all the remaining pistols along with a few magazines, to be distributed by them accordingly.
Tang Ziyi asked Xiao Yue and the two to return to their respective posts while the remaining girls were ordered to follow her back to the manor.
Su Ruomei and Jiang Yu were riding alongside Tang Ziyi inside the Cadillac while the rest drove the Range Rovers.
After the convoy, led by a black Cadillac, left the parking lot and joined in the lane, it accelerated immediately. Time was of the essence at the moment. Reaching a dozen more than the legal speed limit, the black convoy went through the traffic, swerving left and right in search of a clearer and faster path, leaving behind trails of honks.
The traffic commotion they left behind returned to normal after a few seconds, except for curses and someone trying to take a photograph with their phones.
Tang Ziyi requested Athena's help, to control the traffic system and smoothen the flow of traffic along the convoy's pathway. This meant controlling the traffic lights at the junction and clearing the congested area ahead of the journey.
Their convoy rushed unimpeded, crossing every green light at the intersection, without having to halt the vehicles at all. Su Ruomei and Jiang Yu widened their eyes and stared at Tang Ziyi, suspiciously.
The path to their destination was too smooth, even if the time wasn't rush hour yet, and hinted an abnormality. As someone who had a record of breaking rules, they instantly identified the culprit, the mastermind behind this traffic wizardry.
In contrast, Tang Ziyi was unfazed. She had no qualms about speeding or disregarding traffic regulations, under the watch of traffic wardens, whose eyes bulged seeing their vehicles sped by, especially given the current turmoil within the police force.
They were powerless—their hand gestures drew no reaction from the convoy—except to capture the moment with their phone. But after they drew out their phones, the convoy was nowhere to be seen. Their only reliance was on the CCTV system, recording the event.
Little did they know, electronic evidence could easily be manipulated by capable hackers and wasn't the most reliable.
Not to mention, Athena's power wasn't to be underestimated. Even without her help, Tang Ziyi was confident in erasing their illegal trace.
But she hoped this kind of act didn't waft into Ling Qingyu's ears that she was teaching Athena, the wrong way.
The roar of the engines and the intense drain of energy concentrating on the road dissipated the worries and Tang Ziyi slammed the pedal, lunging for more power.
The two Range Rovers behind also struggled to keep up the pace and fortunately, Athena's minute control was excellent to prevent any accidents from happening.
Of course, the driving skills of the two from behind following Tang Ziyi's lead must be applauded.
…..
Finally arrived at the gateway toward Ling Qingyu's residential area. Yes, it no longer belonged to Shen family since day one she bought.
However, because of the lack of personnels, the entry point security was taken over by those from the Shen family.
After knowing Su Ruomei recruited a few more female guards, Ling Qingyu gave these previous outside securities some ample financial support and released them from their duties.
Now Su Ruomei's subordinates took over the responsibility of the main gates before entering the residential area.
Tang Ziyi suspected Ling Qingyu did on purpose to possess all female guards. Luckily, she didn't insist on her future plan of recruiting all women for mercenaries.
However, Tang Ziyi admitted the advantage of having one's own guards, taking over the security of the residential area rather than strangers.
Since Ling Qingyu possessed several secrets and needed to hide from the public, it was best to expel the strangers, whom she had no control.
Tang Ziyi supported the new arrangement, believing every secretive movement occurring could be kept under wrap, like one they would be doing in the next moment.
With Athena helping monitor the security inside and outside, where nothing could be hidden from her eyes, the arrangement was perfect.
The only problem remaining was how to inject little by little the secret Ling Qingyu had to other girls staying with them. Sooner or later, things would go noticed.
Tang Ziyi figured it was now the time to slowly unveil some things meant to stay away from the public eye. For example, her current group of guards in the convoy and in the manor who stayed for a long time with Ling Qingyu.
Two advantages gained from this action: increased their loyalties after learning about the secrets when they felt their employer gave her huge trust, and enhanced the unity among the guards because they now slowly understood Ling Qingyu's implications.
Tang Ziyi's convoy only slowed down for a moment, showing their presence before the gate opened wide for the vehicles to pass through.
Su Ruomei already informed the guards on duty to allow access immediately because every second was precious. Of course, everyone had a set of codes to describe their situations.
Should someone want to exploit their rapid entry by kidnapping one of the guards, the code sent out would be completely different, alerting everyone of the danger.
The vehicles sped past the entry and Tang Ziyi turned right at a small intersection instead of going straight toward the manor.
Although the vehicles behind were puzzled by her action, they kept following until the convoy reached and parked in front of the multi-story villa.
Every resident and even the land solely belonged to Ling Qingyu. After hearing their guards might become SWAT units in the future, Tang Ziyi had chosen a suitable spot to renovate the villa as an office building.
The villa had eight floors, including the underground parking space, which was naturally created after the formation of the secret realm.
Since its very existence, every housing in the area had an extra underground parking lot connected to the complex web of integrated tunnels that traveled below the earth's surface, in addition to the secret chamber which could be traveled by foot.
The tunnel, on the other hand, served as a road for vehicles to go in and out of the secret realms.
Before leaving the company, Tang Ziyi had requested Athena to move out the required equipment, including the two armored beasts, and weapons cache through these tunnels.
Yes, the vehicles had an autonomous driving function, connected with Athena's network, to protect against infringement by other malicious parties.
"This villa becomes our new office in the near future. For now, not much has been done regarding the renovation. We'll deal with that later." Tang Ziyi explained the purpose of this villa.
Su Ruomei and Jiang Yu somewhat guessed what Tang Ziyi wanted to conduct and they were excited, based on her narration.
Tang Ziyi continued: "Plus, the housing in our residential area could be allocated to your guards to live together if the number increases to a hundred proportion."
Su Ruomei was also in a dilemma about arranging her subordinates' residence. Now that she had Tang Ziyi's words, she could also discuss with Ling Qingyu about the ideas.
Gathering her group of guards in Ling Qingyu's manor might crowd the available space and Tang Ziyi's words solved the oncoming problem straightaway.
The three cars stopped the engine and exited the vehicles. Under Tang Ziyi's lead, except for the excitement emitting from Su Ruomei and Jiang Yu, they entered the villa with suspicions.
Tang Ziyi was also new here but she had Athena's help, who solved all the obstacles. She walked down the staircase leading to the underground parking lot, where Athena had sent her requested items.
The electric lighting turned on as soon as her foot stepped onto the floor. Behold, everyone stopped short as they were dumbfounded by the sight.
Tang Ziyi's words brought them out of their stupor. "Sister Su, you should call the rest here ASAP and get prepared."