Chapter 7
Awakening
A group of people left Pearl Hotel and headed in the direction of Linjiang Bridge. From the window of the 12th floor of an office building, Jack Mahone lowered his binoculars and ridiculed, “These Chinese!”
He stretched out, with a backpack full of canned food and water next to him.
“Hackers stole the messages of their social group. Their leader really is an idiot.” Jack talked to himself while eating potato chips. Using homemade explosives as the signal for contact and using intimidation. Originally, the characters hide in the city at night, so this might be counterproductive.”
Jack took out the pen of his portable notepad and wrote something that only he could understand. He couldn’t stop complaining, “The author was too casual. The information on the Chinese side isn’t detailed at all.”
He made a cross with a red pen on the date of November 7th, then he drew a circle on the 18th.
“Li Fei’s schedule… he will start a drama on the 18th and today is a birthday party.” He had nothing at all to do with Huai City. Jack recalled the documents he got from Star Entertainment Media.
It was clearly recorded that the first of China’s two large-scale awakenings was at Huai City. Those with the potential to awaken entered the Abandoned World.
It sounded exaggerated but out of the millions of people in the city, no more than a few hundred Awakened could survive.Those people were located in all corners of the city, so finding them all was an impossible task.
The people who agreed to meet at Pearl Hotel actually come from all over the country. Today was their day to meet and enter the Abandoned World.
The book couldn’t possible describe in detail the awakening opportunities for each person. If outsiders wanted to get this ability, they could only choose the more reliable date.
Red haired Jack put the notebook back in his pocket and looked at the silhouettes of those moving away. He regretfully complained once again. “If it wasn’t for the Chinese’s strict management on guns—”
Tonight’s bloodshed would be at a higher level. The more serious the internal friction was in China, the more favourable it would be to them.
“What?”
Jack inadvertently discovered people on the 14th floor staircase window of Pearl Hotel. He quickly picked up the binoculars. The hotel’s stairway lights were off so he couldn’t see who they were. Jack could only see the silhouette of two people side by side.
It was fair to say that recognizing the people would be very difficult.However, Jack had examined the photo countless times and the skills of the paparazzi were excellent. He might only be able to see half the face, but only one answer could pop up.
“Li Fei?”
Why was he here? Jack was so surprised that the hand holding the binoculars shook.
Li Fei felt something and suddenly turned to the side..
Jack saw those eyes in the binoculars and couldn’t help taking three steps back. His hand groped at the wall and turned off the light. He put on the backpack and rushed out.
The quick response meant that Li Fei only saw a flash in the opposite window, followed by the lights turning off.
“…”
Li Fei didn’t have binoculars so at best, he could see that there was a person but nothing else.The other party turned off the light, exploding the fact that ‘someone was living here’ and they were ‘spying.’ This caused Li Fei to stumble for a few seconds.
Li Fei was originally supporting Geng Tian, so this caused Geng Tian to fall.
Li Fei might walk around with a bodyguard everywhere, but this was necessary in his career. Every month, he would receive all types of threatening letters or have his clothes grabbed by fans. Li Fei wasn’t the new generation of celebrities who looked feminine and would be paralyzed after running 800m. Supporting Geng Tian down the stairs wasn’t a problem for him.
The thing that caused him a headache was Geng Tian’s symptoms. The veins on Geng Tian’s forehead were visibly standing out. If it wasn’t for Li Fei stopping him, Geng Tian might’ve hit his head against the wall and made the pain worse.
The criminals were very loud when the left the hotel, making Li Fei look out the window in the stairwell.
Li Fei’s doubts once again popped up. The people searching the floors were wearing masks to prevent people from knowing what they looked like. It seemed like the people in the group hadn’t seen each other. It showed a mutual distrust but what were they afraid of?
Red haired Jack’s heart felt like it was about to pop out of his throat. He dared to think about killing movie actor Li Fei, but that was in the real world before the story began.
He would never dare face Li Fei in the Abandoned world. The abilities in this world were 10 times as powerful as reality, and the danger would stimulate Li Fei’s awakening.Li Fei was S rank, so killing him would require advance planning to stopping him from using his ability.
Anybody who didn’t have a S rank ability like Li Fei would simply die. This lesson was learned after those supporting the protagonist died in waves.
“Fuck!” Jack fled and hid in the building, but he couldn’t stop his annoyance. Li Fei was obviously not involved in the accident and Huai City wasn’t on his schedule, so how did he appear here?
Was the power of the story that strong?
Originally, Li Fei should still be lying in the hospital so he had no relation with the large-scale awakening event in Huai City.
Jack started sweating. After completing his task, he had told his partner that it was a trivial matter. Li Fei was the original villain. If he was alive then many characters would die.
Bang!
A huge explosion once again came from Pearl Hotel. Jack stiffened as he slowly turned towards the tall building illuminated by fire.
The explosion took place on the first floor .It seemed that the masked criminals had placed explosives in the hotel lobby to destroy their traces before leaving.
Time in the Abandoned World was stagnant. However, it was okay to turn an hourglass upside down or for there to be a countdown timer. It might be because time itself was stagnant, so the use of these things had no significance.
Even China’s underground had tight security and it was hard to obtain explosives. Jack hadn’t expected this crazy group to prepare so much.
The flames shot into the sky and things flew out from the second floor of the hotel. This was followed by natural gas leaks from the pipes, causing a second ensuring explosion, spreading to more and more floors.
Jack sluggishly raised a hand to his pain covered face. If someone else was in Pearl Hotel then he would think that person was dead. But Li Fei! Li Fei!
He was someone who originally awakened his abilities because of a car accident, so the explosion…
Flames wrapped Pearl Hotel below the tenth floor, but no smoke appeared. It was like the freeze frame of an movie, leaving only the flames to silently rush to each flow. They squeezed together to form a hideous shape.
The dust caused from the explosion formed a weird appearance that was distorted by the heat. In the eyes of humans, they were like demons that didn’t exist in the world. Now these demons were forcibly driven out from the hotel building.
Jack’s brown eyes contracted, then he ran away.
Light flashed in half the sky. It was too big so Old Cheng looked out the window, but setting a chair upside down and hiding under it.
Jian Hua made a complicated expression as he looked at Pearl Hotel.
In the night sky, it looked like an enormous torch was in the upside down position. Jian Hua felt his ability run wild in his body, like a lion that was awakened by another beast and couldn’t wait to roar angrily at it.
Everything in the clinic started shaking.
“Crouch down!” The scared Old Cheng pulled Jian Hua behind a cabinet.
It was very dangerous to watch the explosion while still standing at the window. The shock wave was slow but it shattered the glass of the clinic and caused countless fragments to fly like bullets.
The fragments were just about to hit Jian Hua when Old Cheng felt a severe pain in his head. He had no time to hide when the cabinet suddenly moved and tightly blocked the window.
Jian Hua sobered up and pressed down on his impatient ability. Then he quickly moved to Old Cheng’s side.
That force. In Pearl Hotel, there was a force that was slowly awakening. Jian Hua’s breathing became rough and he wanted to get closer to see what it was.
However, Old Cheng let out a pained scream so Jian Hua pulled back from his trance.
The old man was sweating and holding tightly to Jian Hua’s hand. Jian Hua checked on Old Cheng, ignoring the ability that echoed in the distance.
In this city, the horrified awakened people who were hiding, the group at Linjiang Bridge and the masked criminals ready to go to Linjiang Bridge all looked up at Pearl Hotel with surprise as the flames quietly rose.
The flames formed a circle and soared into the night sky.
Peal Hotel had 58 floors and it now seemed like a hellfire demon was entrenched in it. The flames looked like demons fleeing in panic, but they were bound by the tower.
The black jacketed leader reacted first. He even forget to use the voice changer as he exclaimed, “Not good!A high level ability has awakened!”
Some people trembled, some had greedy eyes, some people were busy thinking while others were afraid. They had clearly searched Pearl Hotel before setting the explosives, so where did this high level ability come from?
“Run! The awakening will break the balance, causing the Abandoned World to disappear!”
The masked people holding machetes quickly rushed towards different streets, looking for places to hide their weapons as well as their masks and gloves.
The flames around Pearl Hotel suddenly shone, then looked like a bubble shattered into a huge gold spot. The huge force was swallowed up, leaving only a fire blackened hotel.
The hotel didn’t collapse and the devastating disaster inside disappeared. Ripples of power with Pearl Hotel as the centre rapidly expanded to cover the whole city. Pedestrians appeared in the streets, cars moved and the city’s hubbub returned.
“Ah!”
People panicked. Why was Pearl Hotel burnt in the blink of an eye?The street was also full of glass fragments and broken decorations.
In the front desk reception, people stepped in the rubble. The whole lobby had become a smoky landfill. The desk and even the ceiling were gone.