Reborn As A Doomsday Villainess-Chapter 127: You don’t lose out to these men

"Keep those last two floors off the general map. Only I, Feng Yizhou, and anyone I clear manually should know what’s down there."

[Understood. Redacting access trails and rerouting passive scan systems.]

The elevator chimed softly. Qingran stepped out onto the eighth floor, the lighting colder here, the corridors more sterile and wide. Reinforced steel paneling ran along the walls.

There were no windows here—only cameras, motion sensors, and the quiet hum of machines always watching.

"Come to think of it, there’s no window in this facility or are there? I guess in the bedrooms and maybe kitchen? How does the oxygen flow here work?"

[There are a few—bedrooms, staff kitchens, and some old recreational spaces on Level 3. The rest of the facility is sealed for structural and tactical reasons.]

She slowed as they approached the command office door. A sleek, reinforced panel with a biometric reader blinked to life as she neared.

"And how does the oxygen flow work?" Her hand hovered over the access pad.

(what’s the access code?).

"People can’t survive long sealed in a box."

[770057]

[Oxygen is cycled through a subterranean exchange system connected to several scrubbers and filtration shafts spread across Levels 4 and 6. There’s also an emergency reserve in the cryo-lab above.]

"Meaning?"

[Meaning if the generators fail or the scrubbers clog, you have about seven hours before everyone starts choking on recycled air.]

Qingran entered her access code, and the door clicked softly before it slid open. She stepped in, but Lingquan didn’t follow immediately.

He sat in the doorway instead, blinking up at her, his gaze too sharp for a normal cat.

"You’re just going to sit there?" freeωebnovēl.c૦m

[Smells kind of damp in there. I’ll stay out here for a while.]

Qingran sat on the chair, looking at the office, there was a computer, couch, bar, and lots of documents piled up on the desk.

Probably work Du Yuan had abandoned.

"The probably have backup generators but I don’t know how long those will last. Lucky I got fuel. If we average it 2-3 hours during the day and night it should last us a while."

[Probably.]

Qingran brought out her phone, it was 11pm right now, she needed to call Yizhou to get his status over there.

She frowned when she the call rang through but no answer. She sighed and dropped the phone.

"I’m sure Yizhou can handle himself. I’m starving so let’s head to the kitchen and see what we can cook up and also see that dinning hall as well, it must be huge."

[It houses a lot of people, so it has to be huge.]

The door locked automatically as soon as she left the office.

"At least we know the security is top notch.."

She pressed the button to the second floor.

Qingran leaned against the wall, she would lay down to get some rest after getting something to eat.

"The dinning hall shouldn’t be too crowded right? I’ll ask Cheng Saem for the report tomorrow, it already late as it is.."

Ding....

The elevator opened and she took a step out, one by one until she got to the hall.

There was surprisingly more people than she anticipated.

"..."

The noise suddenly died down when she stepped in. They made it seem like some terrifying beast had walk in.

Lingquan chuckled [Tough crowd]

"Are you here for the report Ma’am?"

Qingran turned to see Cheng Saem by her side, if he was done with the report then he was quite efficient.

"No. I’m here for meal, so you can tell the men to relax as for the report send it to the office by morning."

"Understood. I shall retire to my quarters if that’s okay with you.."

"Do whatever you want."

Qingran walked to the serving section, her eyes glancing through the food displayed.

Her gaze lingered on the steamed lobster dumplings, roasted duck with pancakes, and sautéed vegetables.

Other options included hearty bowls of wonton noodle soup, fragrant jasmine rice, and crispy spring rolls.

Some dishes seemed almost too beautiful to eat, like the delicate crystal sugar desserts,

while others looked more rustic, yet still appetizing, like the braised pork belly. She pondered her choices, her stomach growling softly in anticipation.

"They got a lot going on here, I guess they take care of their staff here."

[Indeed. I mean there’s a lot of men here..]

"Miss...what would you be ordering?"

The server had a stiff expression, word traveled fast, the news of Qingran and Feng Yizhou killing Du Yuan and taking over had reached the ears of everyone by the time she came to the dinning hall.

"Mhm..let’s see, two servings each of sautéed vegetables, lobster dumplings, wonton noddle soup, jasmine rice and pork belly though..I’d prefer the skin or some flesh.."

She didn’t really enjoy the taste pork belly.

"Would you like a drink with that as well?"

"Huh...uhm..just two cans of beer.."

"..."

The server lips twitched, she was quite the heavy eater.

"You’re quite the heavy eater miss, you don’t lose out to these men.."

Qingran gave the server a lazy smirk, sliding her hands into her coat pockets.

"I’ve burned more calories today than most of them combined. Might as well eat like it."

The server gave a tight nod and turned to prepare the trays.

Qingran could still feel the subtle tension in the air, there were many eyes on her, their voices hushed. It wasn’t fear exactly. More like wariness or caution.

People didn’t quite know what to make of her yet.

She took her tray and moved to an empty table near the far wall, Lingquan hopping up onto the bench across from her.

[You know, they’re all expecting you to bark orders or pull rank. You walking in for a midnight feast probably shattered a few assumptions.]

She snorted softly. "Good. Let them rethink. I’m not here to be a dictator."

She cracked open one of the beers, took a long sip, then started on the dumplings. Soft, steaming and savory—her shoulders relaxed slightly at the taste.

For a place that had likely seen its share of blood, secrets, and cold decisions, the food was surprisingly... warm.

Like the cooks were still trying to keep something human alive in all this.

"You want something?" she muttered to Lingquan.