Chapter 8 New World Hotel 6

The loud announcement spread throughout every corner of the hotel.

Whether they were dining in the restaurant or resting in their rooms, all the customers were astonished.

"Is there a bomb hidden in the hotel? Is it a terrorist attack?"

"My God! I've never seen a real gun in my life. And here I am, staying in a hotel, and I'm so close to a bomb."

"Is it a drill? Or is there really a bomb?"

"Stop talking nonsense, run!!"

The hotel was in complete chaos.

Some people run out of the restaurant halfway through their meal.

Someone was taking a shower when they heard the announcement. They quickly wiped themselves down, then hurriedly put on their pajamas, wrapped themselves in a plush blanket, and ran out.

Someone else opened their room door, grabbed a nearby hotel staff member, and asked while yawning, "What's going on? There's such a commotion outside. I thought the Empire had revived and organized its army to attack."

He was obviously joking when he said that.

There were originally many countries in the world, but then war broke out. You fought me and I fought you. The victors continued to fight, and the losers were incorporated into each other. As the fighting went on, only the final victors remained—the Federation.

Although terrorist attacks occasionally occur within the Federation, he had only ever seen such things in the news and had never experienced them himself. Therefore, he assumed the hotel was conducting a realistic drill and wondered why they hadn't given him a day's notice.

"It's true! We received a call from the police and are arranging for customers to evacuate quickly." As he spoke, the staff member flipped his wrist and broke free. "Please leave as soon as possible."

Before the customers could react, the staff knocked on each room door one by one.

At the same time, someone holding a large megaphone repeatedly broadcast, at a volume even louder than a public address system, "There is a bomb inside the hotel and it may explode at any time. Please evacuate immediately. Attention, this is not a drill!!"

"Holy crap!" The customer exclaimed in shock. Ignoring the fact that he was only wearing shorts, he fled down the stairs without a second thought.

When he got there, he saw many people running down the slope. He quickly followed the crowd and escaped.

His legs were running, but his mind was still thinking, "Isn't our country supposed to ban guns? Ordinary people can't even get their hands on a gun, so where would the bomb come from?"

A guy next to me said, "Maybe it's a homemade bomb."

That makes so much sense, leaving the customer speechless.

The guy next to him looked thin, but he ran fast and easily, and even had the energy to chat with him. "If you can't imagine it, then don't! Run for your life! The police will investigate the truth when they arrive."

The customer thought it made sense and shut up.

Three minutes passed.

The group of people successfully ran to the open space.

They gasped for breath, but a sense of relief washed over them—they were safe.

"Manager, in addition to the announcements, staff on each floor are using megaphones to knock on doors and notify everyone," the receptionist reported the latest developments. "Some guest room doors are unopenable; the guests may have gone out and are not in their rooms."

"Now that everyone has been notified," the manager said quickly, "the staff should begin evacuation!"

With that, he led the way and ran outside.

More and more people gathered in the open space.

People gathered in small groups, sharing their relief at surviving the ordeal.

Yunxin's gaze swept back and forth, searching for a familiar figure in the crowd.

Not long after, a familiar voice was heard coming from afar.

"That's terrifying! The boss is stingy and cuts corners, and now someone's even planted a bomb in the hotel! What grudge could they have?"

"Luckily we ran fast..."

"No, I should say it's fortunate the boss was away on a business trip. What if he had stayed at the hotel and received a call from the police? What if his first reaction was to order all the employees to stay and protect his property with their lives?"

The others looked on with expressions that said, "Are you crazy?"

But then I thought about it again, and it seemed like the boss wasn't incapable of doing such a thing.

So they all felt relieved, "Thank goodness he wasn't here, and neither was our master..."

Yun Xin stopped and gazed into the distance. After confirming that her disciples were all safe and sound and had escaped unharmed, she smiled with relief, turned around and walked back without saying goodbye.

Her consistent principle is to reach out to those who need and deserve help. Whether or not they accept that help is their choice.

But there are always some people who make her want to reach out her hand a second or third time.

Eight minutes after calling the police, Tong Jia was still not calm. After all, making a false police report was something she, as a law-abiding citizen, had never done before.

Noticing Yun Xin's return, she said quietly, "I've been thinking about it, and I think I might have been tricked."

"Surviving a traffic accident by sheer luck, narrowly escaping death, and gaining a sixth sense."

"Wang Ze was bitten by a stray cat, proving his sixth sense was correct."

"It all seemed like a setup, just to force me to step forward and stop it by any means necessary when I sensed something was about to happen at the hotel."

Yun Xin said softly, "You didn't have to do it, but you did it anyway."

“Yeah, this damn conscience.” Tong Jia laughed self-deprecatingly. “Before this, I didn’t even know I was such a conscientious person.”

During the conversation, police sirens sounded.

A short while later, the police car stopped, and the police officers got out.

"What's done is done, there's no going back."

Tong Jia took a deep breath, raised her hands, and walked over with a tragic air, confessing, "Officer, I made a false report! I'm guilty, I surrender, I admit my mistake!!"

The police officer was stunned.

He reacted quickly, pointed his gun, and shouted, "Stop! Crouch down! Hands over your head!"

Tong Jia immediately complied.

Having barely escaped, the onlookers in the distance looked over in bewilderment upon hearing this confession, wondering, "??? What's going on?"

A policewoman confirmed that Tong Jia was not carrying any weapons or bombs and promptly handcuffed her.

The captain asked, "What happened?"

The policewoman was also very puzzled. "She said she only made a false report."

But the whole thing has an inexplicable strangeness about it.

for example--

Why would this person deliberately make a false police report?

Why is he making a phone call using his own phone without trying to conceal his identity?

Why did he not run away when he saw the police, but instead took the initiative to approach them and turn himself in?

Before they could figure it out, a loud "boom" rang out, and the six-story New World Hotel began to collapse.

Tong Jia was startled by the sound, her heart pounding. But she stubbornly tried to appear calm, inwardly thinking—it's nothing, really, it looks like a collapsed block castle. Just a bit bigger, a bit dustier, and a bit louder…

In the end, I was trembling so badly that I couldn't lie to myself anymore, and I finally confessed: it was truly frightening not to say it.

Tong Jia had a premonition, so at least she was mentally prepared, but the others were completely unprepared.

People witnessed the entire hotel collapse in shock, their bodies trembling and their voices shaking, "It collapsed, it really collapsed..."

"Oh My God!"

"From start to finish, it lasted less than 60 seconds! How could someone escape if they were still in the hotel?"

"There's no way to escape, no way to escape at all. What can you do in this little bit of time? Jump out the window!"

Believe it or not, someone actually jumped out of the window when the building collapsed. But the building collapsed faster than they jumped, and they were eventually buried. You can still faintly hear their cries of agony from the rubble.

"You're still saying you just made a false report and didn't do anything?" the policewoman questioned angrily.

Tong Jia cried out her innocence, "That's because the boss cut corners when building the building! I'm a hotel employee. I saw the pillars were cracked, but the boss wouldn't repair them, so I made a false police report to let the customers out first. If it weren't for me, we'd all be buried in the rubble right now!!"

The policewoman and the captain exchanged a glance.

The captain gestured, "You keep an eye on her, don't let her escape. The rest of you are responsible for the rescue."

As soon as the words were spoken, the police team sprang into action and began the rescue operation in an orderly manner.

At that moment, a transparent panel appeared in front of Tong Jia.

Welcome to the Evolution Game.

[Congratulations to the player who successfully survived instance number 113680 – “Hotel Collapse”.]

[Because you saved seventy-eight humans, your performance rating is "S", and you are awarded the following attribute points: Strength +0.3, Agility +0.3, Constitution +0.3, Spirit +0.3.]

[Note 1: Players will only learn of the existence of the Evolution Game after receiving an "A" grade (or higher) in the level completion evaluation once or more.]

[Note 2: Players who achieve a "B" rating or lower will only receive attribute points and will not be aware of the existence of the evolution game.]

[Note 3: Standard adult female's four-dimensional attributes: Strength 0.5, Agility 0.5, Constitution 0.5, Spirit 0.8. A single attribute value exceeding 3, 6, or 9 will grant special abilities.]

[Note 4: The existence of the Evolution Game must not be disclosed to non-players or players who have not achieved an "A" rating. Random disclosure will have unforeseen and serious consequences.]

Your current attributes are: Strength: 0.8, Agility: 0.9, Constitution: 0.8, Spirit: 2.7.

[Having witnessed the hotel collapse up close, you were deeply shocked and greatly stimulated, unleashing your potential: Strength +0.1, Spirit +0.5.]

[After the data update, your current attributes are: Strength: 0.9, Agility: 0.9, Constitution: 0.8, Spirit: 3.2.]

If a single attribute value exceeds 3, you will gain a special ability.

[Congratulations to the player for gaining the superpower "Insight".]

[Insight: You can always peel back the layers of fog, uncovering the truth behind events, despite concealment, lies, and deception.]

Tong Jiaren was stunned as she stared at the lines of text.

At this moment, she had only one thought in her mind: if what was written on the panel was true, was this planet too dangerous and unsuitable for habitation?

At the same time, the following was displayed in front of Yun Xin:

[Congratulations to the player who successfully survived instance number 113680 – “Hotel Collapse”.]

[Because you promptly informed us, you directly saved one human (Tong Jia) and indirectly saved seventy-eight humans. Your performance rating is "A," and you are rewarded with the following attribute points: Strength +0.2, Agility +0.2, Constitution +0.2, Spirit +0.2.]

Because victims were buried under the rubble, the rescue team could not use large excavators to dig directly open it, but could only move the rubble bit by bit.

The rescue operation, which lasted three days, has finally come to an end. According to statistics, a total of 26 people died and 7 were injured.

These people either slept soundly and didn't hear the announcement; or they took the elevator, which was full several times and they couldn't get off in time; some even jumped off buildings and got injured... In short, everyone had their own misfortune.

On the other hand, we must thank Tong Jia. Because she made a false report, claiming there was a bomb in the hotel, most of the people in the hotel escaped in time, greatly reducing the workload of the police rescue efforts.

Of course, Tong Jia has been temporarily detained until the matter is fully investigated. The police need time to determine whether she is a civilian hero who lied to save lives, or the culprit who caused the accident.

A week later, the investigation results were released.

The hotel collapsed because, during construction, the hotel owner, greedy for cheap prices, hired an unqualified draftsman to design the project.

Because they weren't professional structural designers, the draftsman misjudged the weight that the columns and walls could support.

The building could not bear its own weight and collapsed under the strain.

As for the bomb, that was a complete lie. The police searched the rubble several times but found no bomb fragments.

"So, Tong Jia is innocent?" the policewoman asked in surprise.

"It should be, but there are some things in this report that can't be explained." The captain rested his chin on his hand, utterly puzzled. "How could she be so sure the building would collapse?"

(End of this chapter)