I'm on the Ark, and I start out as Gretchen.

Although he hasn't been completely exonerated yet, he's pretty much done it, so there's no need for him to keep leading his underlings to "hide and run" anymore.

"Wow!"

The first thing Pado did upon entering the hotel room was to pounce on...

I was on the soft, large bed.

Feeling the soft mattress beneath her, the cat couldn't help but feel a simple and unpretentious sense of happiness welling up inside her.

"Miss Phyllis, don't sleep yet! Go take a bath first!" An Suo said, looking at Pado who was sprawled on the bed, almost melting into it. He quickly reached out and grabbed her clothes.

It's not that Miss Purple Rabbit is a germaphobe, it's just that the "cheap" boss has blood on him! Although the amount is small, like it was splattered, and it's already turned dark red and not very noticeable, it still should be washed off!

"Ugh...okay."

After hearing An Suo's words, Pado remained silent for a moment before slowly getting up and replying.

Even if An Suo hadn't reminded her, Maomao would have gotten up to wash up eventually. After all, she knew exactly what she had done tonight—she had taken down so many people, and even if she was careful, she still had some blood on her hands.

"Oh right, I almost forgot to tell you... Now that things are settled here and the weather is getting warmer, it's time for us to find a shop and settle down."

As Pado staggered toward the bathroom, she seemed to remember something and turned to look at An Suo, saying, "An Suo, you can think about which area you like."

"Wow, so fast! And you're letting me choose?"

Although Pado had told Anso about this before and was somewhat prepared, she was still caught off guard when she suddenly heard it.

The main question is, why entrust her with such an important task as choosing a location?! She's not good at that. What if she doesn't choose a good location and the business suffers?

For a moment, Miss Rabbit was surprised, her mind filled with a myriad of thoughts.

"Hmm, is there a problem? The weather is getting hotter and hotter, so it'll be more convenient to book sooner. Or do you still want to stay in a tent with us?" Looking at An Suo's surprised face, Pado said with her hands on her hips in a matter-of-fact tone.

"No no no."

Seeing that his "cheap" boss was completely oblivious to the seriousness of the problem, An Suo hurriedly said, "That's not the point! I have absolutely no idea how to choose a location. What if I accidentally choose a bad one and it affects Miss Phyllis's business!"

Do we have any business?

Realizing what Pado was worried about, she stroked her chin and said earnestly, "Oh, you mean the firm? But we don't actually make money from that. It doesn't matter whether the official business is good or not; we can live off a single deal we do on the side for a long time."

"Don't worry, I can afford to support you!"

"Hmm? Wasn't Miss Phyllis's identity cleared up?" After hearing Pado's incredible statement, he wondered to himself.

"That's right, let's just consider the 'minor mistakes' we made before forgotten. But that doesn't mean we can't do some 'legal and compliant' business in the future."

“It’s a bit complicated to explain, but we’ll go over it with you properly when we have time. For now, all you need to do is find a location or shop that you like. We trust your judgment!” With that, Pado smiled encouragingly at An Suo.

"Hehe~ Let's go wash up first, I'll get it done quickly." As soon as she finished speaking, Pado didn't delay any longer and plunged into the bathroom, leaving An Suo alone sitting on the bed, deep in thought.

Although Pado spoke casually, An Suo knew she genuinely didn't care, but she still needed to think carefully about the location and the shop, and try to choose a good one.

"Oh... Miss Phyllis, really."

P.S.: There will be another update tonight, but it might be a bit late.

Chapter 159 Rich Woman, Hungry, and Food!

After that day's ordeal, and after a few days, Pado and Anso finally chose a good location in the slums and rented a large, renovated shop that people could live in. They were finally settled down, and it was even the kind of place that had been "officially" approved in private.

Of course, besides choosing a shop, Maomao hasn't been idle these past few days. When she went to Wenyue to collect her commission fee and discuss future matters, she accidentally exposed Wei Yanwu's previous trickery of her and filed a serious complaint against him.

In the end, he even managed to get some compensation from Fumizuki.

Although Pado herself didn't really care about Wei Yanwu's attempt to trick her, after all, it was a test, and setbacks were perfectly normal. Besides, this series of events had a back-and-forth dynamic; in the beginning, she was the one eyeing his secret stash of money.

However, she doesn't mind continuing this private "competition" with Wei Yanwu.

It's worth noting that besides getting some benefits from Wen Yue this time, Maomao also recommended her contraband item lookup service to her.

By the way, Pado plans to invite "everyone" together for a get-together on the day her agency officially opens, as a way of fulfilling a promise they made together before.

After all, once Gretchen has unlocked Mei's abilities, she plans to return to the Reunion Movement. Hua and the others also plan to teach Chen some martial arts before leaving Lungmen to travel to Yan Kingdom.

Even Eden, who frequents high-end venues and bars in Lungmen and savors the world's fine wines and cultural arts, plans to leave the city after a while.

Speaking of which, Eden has also made a close friend recently, or rather, a close penguin friend.

Because the emperor used to play classical music, in terms of art...

With his own unique insights, Eden and he got along very well, becoming fast friends. Eden even went so far as to bring out the wine he had collected in his spatial storage and invite him to taste it together.

It's important to understand that the wines and gems in Eden's Space, like the items themselves, are unlocked with the character. While there are many in quantity and variety, they all come from another world, meaning each bottle consumed is one less available. This clearly demonstrates her high regard for the Emperor as a friend.

It was precisely because of Eden's current relationship with the Emperor that Pado had been avoiding Penguin Logistics to prevent conflict. She had to at least give "herself" some face.

Okay, even putting aside face, just for the sake of the sparkling gems, the cat will consider the rich woman's side.

Besides Patto, Gretchen, who had been staying in China, was also quite busy. Of course, she wasn't busy shopping like before, but rather busy painting.

When the little girl first arrived in Lungmen and collected the colors of the four Lungmen members, she offered to draw them. Since she had already made the promise, she naturally wanted to keep it, so she had been working on it recently.

……

Around 9 a.m., with the store's purchases and setup nearly complete, Pado, who was lounging lazily in a recliner, suddenly had an idea and lazily took out her phone.

Then, with practiced ease, I opened the chat app, found Swire, and edited a message.

[Rich woman, I'm starving! Time for food!]

Also, shouldn't you give me back the canned food?

Thinking of the fat cat she hadn't seen for several days, a look of helplessness appeared on Pado's face.

Honestly, I don't know whether I should doubt myself or be too "harsh" on the canned food, or if the food at Swire's is just too delicious, which is why that fat cat hasn't come back for several days...

"Ding--"

A moment later, accompanied by a soft sound, Swire's reply arrived, clearly indicating that she was at work, unlike that lazy cat.

"Hey, it's surprising that our busy Dragon Gate Thief still remembers me."

As for canned food, once it eats my cat food, it's my cat, and it's obvious it doesn't want to go back.

"..."

Upon seeing these two messages, Paddy guiltily reached out and touched her nose. Clearly, Swire had been angered by her again.

But can you blame her? She's been very busy lately, plus watching the Guard Bureau's program, that's why she hasn't been in touch...

Suppressing her guilt, the cat sent another message to the other side.

[Ahem, I've been really busy these past few days, haven't I? The moment I had a moment to myself, I came straight to see you, Swire. As for canned food, that won't do; it's an important companion of mine!]

So, wanna meet up today?! (Eagerly looking at a cat emoji)

……

[I'm speechless. Go choose the shop yourself, Padofelis, you only have this one chance!]

Okay, then we won't stand on ceremony. I'll send you the address later, remember to come early at noon! Let me introduce you to my friends.

After ending the chat, Pado chuckled as she climbed up from the recliner and excitedly told the shop's staff, "We don't need to order takeout or cook lunch today, someone's treating us to a meal out!"

"Us? Should I come along too? Would that be inappropriate?" An Suo, who was tidying up the shop, looked up at Pa Duo and asked curiously.

Hearing this, Pado waved her hand dismissively, "What's wrong with that? We told that guy from the beginning that we were bringing friends. We even wanted you guys to get to know each other."

"Oh my, I'm definitely going to have a really big meal today!"

However, despite saying this and thinking this way, Pado also had other purposes for inviting her out to dinner this time, which was to fulfill the promise she made with Swire last time and explain the matter of the last test to her.

"Alright then." Since Pado had already said that much, An Suo no longer refused and agreed.

"Ah, that's more like it!"

Pado looked at An Suo, who had just nodded in agreement and was about to go back to tidy up, and said lazily, "Also, I think our shop is already tidy enough, there's no need to tidy it up anymore. Come lie down with me, and then we'll see which restaurant we should go to for lunch."

"Although it is indeed quite tidy, if you keep lying like this, Miss Phyllis, you'll ruin your health..." Although she complained like this, An Suo still put down what she was holding and sat down next to Pado with a helpless expression.

"No way! Besides, I love this kind of life. I can lie down whenever I want and sleep whenever I want. This is life!" Pado shook her long tail and protested "indignantly".

"Yes, yes, Miss Phyllis is right."

"Wow, Anso, this is way too perfunctory!"

“Where is that… I completely agree with Miss Phyllis’s idea.”

Chapter 160 Painting and Inquiry

While Paddo and the others were playfully making plans to have dinner, Gretchen was also busy. She had been working overtime to finish the painting she had created using Hoshiguma and Swire's colors.

In order to get close to Hoshiguma and relax a bit, the little girl plans to go to the Guard Bureau today to give these two completed paintings to their owner.

After making her decision, Gretchen wasted no time.

After sending a message to Chen to let her know and refusing her offer to pick him up, he left the hotel alone and headed to the Guard Bureau.

Having been in Lungmen for a while now, the little girl is no longer as unfamiliar with the place as she was at the beginning. At least she remembers the route from her hotel to the Guard Bureau very clearly.

Not only did Lu remember it very clearly, but the entire Guard Bureau also knew it very well.

After spending some time getting to the Guard Bureau and speaking to the officers on duty downstairs, Gretchen made her way to Chen's office with practiced ease.

This time, before she could even knock, Chen in the office opened the door from the inside, as if he had expected it.

"Looks like I opened the door at just the right time. Good morning, Gretchen." Chen smiled slightly as he looked at Gretchen, who was momentarily stunned by his sudden opening of the door.

"Hmm... Good morning, Sister Huijie." Gretchen said, poking her little head into the doorway and addressing the other two, "And Sister Huaiya and Sister Xingxiong too."

Seeing Gretchen enter the office, Swire suddenly felt like teasing her, so she pretended to be unhappy, "Why is Chen's 'good morning' only said to me separately? That's not fair..."

"Um???)……"

Meeting Swire's smiling eyes, Gretchen felt helpless. She quickly stepped forward and gave her a hug before looking up and saying, "Good morning, Swire!"

"Heh~ Good morning, little Greta." Swire hugged Greta and rubbed against her gently before finally saying contentedly, "I have some snacks here, do you want some?"

Although he was asking the question, the little tiger had already opened his cabinet and taken out a lot of snacks, placing them on the table.

Because Gretchen occasionally comes by, she's recently developed the habit of keeping some snacks in her office. Although she doesn't eat snacks much, it's a good way to spoil a child, right?

"Um... thank you, Sister Huaiya."

Although she wasn't really in the mood for snacks, Greta still politely thanked her.

Then, as if remembering something, she wriggled out of Swire's arms and said seriously, "I've been working on the paintings for Swire and Hoshiguma these past few days. I've finished them."