Chapter 26: Adventure at the Villa
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The two of them thoroughly inspected the villa, inside and out. The living room, bedrooms, kitchen, and bathrooms were all fully furnished, with every appliance and piece of furniture left behind.
There were three floors, a fourth-floor attic, and an open-air balcony. The roof was covered with solar panels, leaving only a few passageways for people to walk through—probably for cleaning and maintaining the panels.
“Young Master, what are these mirrors for?” Chen Xiaolan asked, running her finger over a panel and finding dust on it.
“You wouldn’t understand even if I explained. Come on, let’s take a look at the basement.”
The two of them took the elevator down to the basement.
The basement was connected to the garage. Since it was partially underground, it was able to make good use of natural light.
There were three garages in total, along with a repair room filled with all kinds of automotive tools, spare parts, engine oil, lubricants, and even a barrel of gasoline.
In one of the garages, they also discovered five dusty mountain bikes left behind by the former owner. One of them was a child’s bicycle.
“Wow, a two-wheeled vehicle, Young Master! What is this called?”
“This is called a bicycle. I’ll teach you how to ride it when we get back. For now, let’s see what other good things there are.”
They continued exploring the basement and found a billiard room, a table-tennis room, a games room, a home theater, an e-sports room, and two maids’ quarters.
Each set of servants’ quarters contained two beds and a private bathroom, enough to accommodate four maids.
Beside the servants’ quarters was a monitoring room equipped with an enormous screen. It measured a full 230 inches!
The room beside the monitoring room was neatly stacked with large boxes that Chen Lin did not recognize. They looked extremely high-tech. After examining them carefully, he realized that they were the batteries for the solar power system. The main electrical control switch was here as well.
With an entire room filled with batteries, once they were fully charged, they should be able to support several days of use even without sunlight.
“Don’t touch that! Be careful, it’s electrified!”
Chen Xiaolan shuddered and quickly pulled her hand back, then timidly hid behind her young master.
Chen Lin walked up to an electrical cabinet larger than a wardrobe, took out his phone, and fiddled with it for a moment before flipping the main switch upward.
Click!
The entire basement lit up!
“Wow, that’s amazing!”
Chen Lin hurried to the monitoring room. The huge screen flickered, displaying surveillance footage in a nine-panel arrangement, ten columns by eight rows. There were eighty cameras in total, covering the indoors, outdoors, the area beyond the walls, and even the concrete road. It truly provided three-hundred-and-sixty-degree coverage with no blind spots.
Unfortunately, eight of the squares showed no footage. The cameras were probably old and broken, or perhaps there was a bad connection somewhere in the wiring.
“This is going to be troublesome. I’m afraid I’ll be busy for the next few days…”
Just then, a series of banging sounds came from outside. Chen Lin hurried out to take a look and found Chen Xiaolan holding a basketball and repeatedly bouncing it against the ground.
“Where did you get that basketball?”
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Chen Xiaolan pointed toward a room. “This one…”
Chen Lin stepped forward for a look and discovered an enormous gymnasium filled with all kinds of exercise equipment. A rack nearby held basketballs, badminton gear, and other sporting equipment.
Children’s toys were scattered across the floor as well, including ride-on cars, transforming robots, remote-controlled cars, drones, and more.
Chen Lin picked up a drone. “How did I not think of buying some drones? I wonder if this one still works. Never mind—I’ll look into it when I have time.”
He turned off the gym lights and continued inspecting the basement. The place was simply enormous.
He took out the property deed and checked it. The first floor had a footprint of 1,050 square meters, while the basement covered an astonishing 1,680 square meters.
Chen Lin could not help sighing. Rich people really could do whatever they wanted.
He pushed open the door beside the electrical room and found a diesel generator inside. The inner walls had been lined with sound-absorbing foam to block the noise produced when the generator started.
There were also ten barrels of diesel fuel inside, each a 200-liter metal drum—more than enough to keep the generator running for quite some time.
The pickup truck he had sold to Zhu Yuanzhang happened to run on diesel as well. He could make some money from the fuel later.
Beside the electrical room was a tool room. Its shelves were packed with all kinds of hardware tools and spare parts. There was even a workbench and three small lathes.
The former owner must have been a DIY fanatic. This place was practically paradise for men!
That brought their inspection of the basement to an end. Chen Lin pulled Chen Xiaolan away from the table-tennis table, where she had been playing.
“Come on, let’s take a look at the backyard!”
They took the elevator to the first floor. When Chen Lin opened the back door, the first thing he saw was a combined sports court with a basketball court and a badminton court.
Behind the court was a swimming pool measuring twenty by ten meters. Unfortunately, the water had already turned green and smelled slightly foul.
But that was not important. He had plenty of servants and maids to clean it. Afterward, he and Xiaolan could enjoy themselves in the water together. Perfect.
Beyond the swimming pool was a stretch of grass and landscaped gardens, with the outer wall farther behind.
Surveillance cameras had been installed at regular intervals around the wall. He could even see a water tower outside it—a nine-meter-tall, flying-saucer-shaped water tower.
“Does the land outside belong to me too?”
Chen Lin quickly took out the property deed and examined it. He was stunned by what he found.
He had never expected that all the land within ten meters of the villa was included in the property. In other words, he could bring this entire stretch of land with him to the Ming Dynasty. Incredible!
“Young Master, what is this?” Chen Xiaolan asked, pointing at a frame covered in vines.
“That’s a barbecue grill. We can roast lamb skewers on it later.”
“Come on. Let’s unload the things from the truck here first, then go back and pick up the Duke of Cao.”
After unloading the goods, Chen Lin went to shut off the main power switch. Once he got into the truck, he checked the countdown. There were thirty-eight minutes left, which probably still would not be enough.
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Chen Lin purchased another hour from the system so they would not have to rush later.
After driving down the mountain, Chen Lin first went to an agricultural market to buy seeds. Tomatoes, chili peppers, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes—anything that did not exist in the Ming Dynasty, he bought a little of.
He specifically wanted naturally cultivated varieties, without genetic modification or chemical treatment.
He did not buy hybrid rice, since its yield dropped dramatically after the first planting. It would not be of much use.
And most importantly, he could not forget tobacco seeds.
After filling the bed of the pickup truck, Chen Lin hurried to the electronics district. At a DJI specialty store, he paid in full for ten DJI Mavic Air 2S drones.
The salesperson explained that the DJI Mavic Air 2S camera used a one-inch CMOS sensor, supported MasterShots, had a transmission range of twelve kilometers, and featured four-way obstacle avoidance.
In a word, it was awesome!
After taking care of the drones, Chen Lin bought ten mobile phones as well, just in case they were needed.
As soon as he returned to the truck, Chen Xiaolan began shifting restlessly in her seat.
“Are you feeling uncomfortable?”
Chen Xiaolan lowered her head. “Um… I need to use the restroom!”
Chen Lin slapped his forehead. How could he have forgotten something so important?
He quickly took Xiaolan to a small shop and bought her a pack of sanitary pads. After explaining and demonstrating how to use them, he took her to a public restroom.
Once her immediate problem was dealt with, he took Xiaolan on a shopping spree.
Women’s hygiene products, undergarments, toiletries, cosmetics—whatever they saw in the shopping mall, they bought.
Stockings and fishnet stockings—buy them!
JK uniforms and Lolita dresses—buy them!
Skin-tight leather bodysuits and Spider-Woman costumes—buy them!
Oh, and nurse uniforms and flight-attendant uniforms. Those had always been Chen Lin’s dreams. Buy them!
Only after the bed of the pickup truck was full once again did they finally stop. They went to a tobacco and liquor shop to buy twenty cartons of cigarettes, then drove back to the rented apartment…
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