Assembly

The most luxurious and comfortable hotel in Huai City, Pearl Hotel. There was a loud bang from the rooftop and the ground suddenly shook. Li Fei was holding an electric razor in his hand and wiping at his face when he slipped, his back severely hitting the wall tiles.

The shaking stopped and the bathroom door opened. His bodyguard Geng Tian nervously said, “That is the sound of explosives. This place isn’t safe and we need to leave quickly.”

The windows of the deluxe suite were smashed, letting a cold wind inside. Smoke filled the room and there were chandelier fragments scattered everywhere, making the room beyond recognition.

“Are you okay?” Li Fei coughed twice before quickly dragging a wet towel to cover his mouth and nose.

“I don’t have any injuries. I was sitting on the sofa then I squatted down when I felt like something wasn’t right.” His bodyguard’s mood was worse than Li Fei’s. At noon, they almost encountered a big car accident in Haicheng. Then in accordance with the schedule, they arrived in Huai City for a charity auction held in Pearl Hotel at 8 p.m., only to unexpectedly encounter a terrorist attack.

The size of the charity auction wasn’t small. There were popular celebrities, chairmen of several listed companies and even the mayor of Huai City attending, so this criminals were truly bold!

This thought also circled inside Li Fei’s head. Who was this explosion directed at? If they really wanted a terrible result, wouldn’t it be better to wait for the charity auction dinner to start, when the guests would gather together?

Geng Tian and Li Fei left the room and ran towards the emergency exit. There was smoke along the way. They didn’t know where the fire was but the fire sensors inside the hotel didn’t turn on the sprinkler system.

“Wait.” Li Fei didn’t seen anyone in the corridor or staircase. There were no guests or even employees!

His bodyguard hesitated before lowering his voice and saying, “Dean. In fact, we recently discovered that some people are secretly checking up on your whereabouts through private detectives. They weren’t acting excessively, so the agent told me not to tell you. But just in case, the company’s computed stored a false tip that you are going on a trip after the release of Crow. Therefore, the other party didn’t know that you are coming to Huai City.”

Dean was Li Fei’s English name. All the top stars had an English name, but Li Fei didn’t like to use it. After hearing Geng Tian’s words, Li Fei frowned slightly but didn’t say anything.

Li Fei had many enemies but none of them could afford to use explosives in such a crazy manner. Lei Fei told himself that he didn’t have such psycho fans.

“There is no phone signal!” Geng Tian became more tense. Blocking the phone signals, this was too much!

The bigger the incident, the less likely it was to be due to Li Fei. However, that didn’t mean it was a good thing.

Geng Tian was a veteran that Star Entertainment Media had hired from a profession bodyguard company. Li Fei’s agent didn’t dare save money in this regard. Geng Tian was really glad that the agent or Assistant Lin didn’t accompany them to this charity auction, or he would’ve had to protect all three people.

Li Fei made a ‘danger’ gesture and the two of them slowly retreated back down the corridor. There were noisy footsteps coming from the staircase, as well as a voice.

“Have you found the master key that opens the rooms in every floor? Search this hotel up and down again! Don’t be afraid of trouble. Today was definitely the recorded day of the outbreak, so it means that we will awaken.”

There was a low response.

Soon, someone entered this floor. It was filled with smoke and Li Fei and Geng Tian hid behind a wall vase. The criminals didn’t look in this corner, making Geng Tian feel relived. They weren’t professionally trained terrorists.

This floor was filled with luxury suites so there were only a few rooms. The search was soon over and the footsteps gradually faded, making the corridor dead again.

Geng Tian had to think about a problem. Where had everyone gone?

The electronic screen of the door next to Li Fei’s room showed ‘Do not disturb’ as well as a bell button for visitors. It clearly showed that the room was occupied. But there was no reaction despite such a big thing occurring in the hotel and someone entering to search?

The door to the stairwell was buckled. It was a fire escape so once buckled, it was difficult to open from here. Fortunately, the fire wasn’t on this floor and the smoke gradually dispersed.

They were worried about the criminals occupying the control room and there was no separate toilet on this floor. The customer service waiter’s workplace was locked so rather than hitting the door, Geng Tian chose to take Li Fei back to their room.

Both of them felt a chill as they stepped on the fragments of the chanderlier. It was because there was no sound at all coming from outside the hotel.

It was peak hour time at night and there was such a big explosion at Pearl Hotel. However, there were no noises outside the building, not even the sirens of the ambulances or police cars. There was only the wind blowing through the damaged curtains.

The city lights were on but it was quiet.

Whoosh. Fireworks appeared in the distance at Linjiang Bridge, causing fire flowers to bloom in a silent city.

Geng Wei staggered and used the phone in the room. However, only a busy signal came from the other side of the handset.

“It is dangerous, don’t go over there!” Geng Wei looked up and saw Li Fei approaching the broken window and he quickly tried to stop Li Fei.

Li Fei naturally wouldn’t joke around with his life. He stopped at the edge of the upside down sofa while the cold wind blew through his hair, ruffling it. Unlike Geng Tian’s disbelief, Li Fei felt an indescribable charm from such a dead city.

“There are extraordinary things happening.” Li Fei said lightly.

“…”

Li Fei turned to leave the room. “I want to know the truth, so we need to infiltrate that group.”

“It is too dangerous.” Geng Tian disagreed.

“The fire alarm didn’t ring, your phone has no signal and the cameras in the corridor don’t work.” Li Fei contemplated while looking at the suites on either side of the corridor. “In any case, we need to leave here.”

It was too risky to use the elevator and the stairwell was locked. Li Fei was pondering the solution when he heard Geng Tian make a muffled cry. Li Tian turned with surprise and saw that the Northeast man was convulsing.

“Geng Tian?” Li Fei saw that Geng Wei’s right hand has grasped the closed stairwell door handle.

The man quickly curled into a ball and hugged his head painfully, as if he had a sudden illness. At the same time, the closed door made a slight sound and slowly opened.

Some heavy smoke remained in the stairwell. Li Fei reached out and found no signs of damage to the closed door buckle.

The words that he just heard passed through Li Fei’s head, ‘Awakening, there is a definite record that today is the outbreak.

***

Pearl Hotel’s lobby on the first floor.

This five-star hotel was the landmark of Huai City, with its magnificent interior decorations. However, not it was a disaster as all of the front desk’s drawers were violently opened, the banknotes looted and a few coins scattered on the floor.

78 men and women wearing gloves, hats and various masks on their faces were scattered around the lobby. Each of them were carrying a bag and weapons, while warily looking at each other.

Ding.The elevator opened and a dozen masked people in black appeared. One of the tall men was holding a fearful waiter in his hands.

“I know where the hotel’s finance office is, I know…”

The waiter couldn’t finish his words as he was dragged to the sofa in the lobby.

The man in the centre of the group on the elevator sat on the couch. He picked up what was obviously a homemade voice changer. The eyes behind the mask looked around and nodded with satisfaction.

“It is the first time I’ve met all of you directly. We’ve previously only communicated through the network. I am glad to see that all of you are basically here. It shows that we really have the qualities of an awakened. Everyone…”

If Li Fei heard this voice, he would’ve immediately recalled that it was the man giving orders in the stairwell. It seemed that this man was behind the explosion and the leader of these criminals.

“What is your name?” The leader in the black jacket asked the waiter.

The waiter was scared and could only stammer. Anyone could see that he was in a temporary state of chaos.

The black jacked man shook his head and said in a strange tone. “You should know that the result of a lie is deadly!” The man raised his voice and asked, “Did anyone hear his name?”

The people in the hotel lobby shook their heads indifferently.

“Nobody heard it so kill him.”

The scared waiter heard the tone and hurriedly cried out. “My name is Guan Sheng! Guan Sheng!”

“Oh?” The black jacketed man’s posture changed, as if he was trying to remember something. A woman standing beside the indoor fountain raised her hand. “I remember something!”

“Take him away first!”

The waiter’s expression was blank and he didn’t understand what was going on. How could someone know him? Was one of this criminals a colleague? Then asking his name was to confirm that he was a hotel employee? The truth that he couldn’t think of was hurting his head.

The black jacketed man waited until the waiter was towed away before asking. “Is he a character from the story?”

“Yes. Guan Sheng is a D rank capable person. He was a peripheral member of Black Abyss and there were no positive appearances. It was said that he died from an accident and his sister flipped through his diary. This led to the ‘China is hiding a huge organization’ phase of the story.”

“D rank… keep him.”

The black jacketed man looked around again before saying, “People who survive the Abandoned World will awaken abilities. But the potential of each ability is different.I hope you can feel the power of the Abandoned World and control it.Those who have read the book know that the Abandoned World hasn’t successfully cast out its power yet, so there will be those with A rank abilities in the future.”

The crowd murmured among themselves.

“Even a person with a strong ability can’t walk too far by themselves. You should trust your companions and trust the power of the collective. We have these abilities and can survive in the world. What type of people will we become? The Black Abyss or the ones who replace the Black Abyss!” The man in the black jacket raised his voice. “I am just a coordinator and planner. I look forward to a real leader appearing among you, who will have A or S rank abilities!”

The people in the hotel became somewhat alert to each other, as their eyes became heated at the man’s words.

“It is time to take care of those naive guys. There is a group launching fireworks at Linjiang Bridge?” The black jacketed man stood up with a sneer. “We will take advantage of the fact that the story hadn’t yet begun to show that we aren’t afraid of the Abandoned World!”