Chapter 30: The Massacre

Once the person at the head of the crowd saw that everyone had arrived, he raised a megaphone and shouted, "Collect your hotel room keys and security uniforms from me. Once you have them, return to the hotel to rest. Someone will come to call you when it is time."

Following this, the group orderly collected their room keys and uniforms. Most of them were assigned rooms on the first to third floors; only a very small number were assigned to the sixth floor. Li Chenqiu and Li Qingxia were assigned to room 628 on the sixth floor. It was a double room located at the far west end of the corridor, the farthest from the stairwell.

After dealing with a series of chaotic affairs, the crowd gradually left the parking lot. Li Chenqiu and Li Qingxia did not linger outside, heading straight to their assigned room. The room was furnished conventionally with a double bed and an attached bathroom. Li Chenqiu lay on the bed, staring quietly at the ceiling as if deep in thought.

"It's over, the phone really won't connect!" Li Qingxia said, staring at the signal bars on his phone.

"They aren't idiots; why would they give you a chance to leak their plans?" Li Chenqiu gave Li Qingxia a blank look.

"Damn it, why didn't you tell me in advance that there were so many Awakened ones here?" Li Qingxia pressed his phone into the quilt and turned to look at Li Chenqiu.

Li Chenqiu sat up and laughed, mocking him, "Didn't I tell you? You were the one who insisted on coming."

"I..." Li Qingxia stammered for a long time without being able to form a coherent sentence. Finally, he sighed helplessly, "Forget it, Xiao Qiuzi, let's run while they haven't made their move yet. Maybe it's still not too late."

"Run? Go to the window and look around the hotel to see if anyone is there," Li Chenqiu said, pointing at the window.

Li Qingxia walked over, skeptical, and looked down at the surroundings. A few seconds later, his expression shifted from doubt to astonishment. Just as Li Chenqiu had said, there were a few idle young men squatting every hundred meters along the hotel perimeter wall, puffing on cigarettes.

"There are probably over two hundred Awakened ones on those five buses. Besides them, there are others present; as for how many, I don't know. If we try to leave, a fight will be inevitable," Li Chenqiu said calmly.

Hearing this, Li Qingxia turned pale. He took a few stiff steps back and sat down on the bed.

Ignoring Li Qingxia, Li Chenqiu continued to himself, "Brother, why do you think they gathered so many Awakened ones? Everything in the end boils down to either profit or hatred. What are they? If it's profit, what kind of profit could drive so many Awakened ones? It shouldn't be as simple as killing people, eating them, or taking revenge on society!"

The more Li Chenqiu thought, the wider his grin grew, while beside him, Li Qingxia grew paler with every word.

Meanwhile, in a room on the first floor of the hotel:

A burly man with dark skin and a robust build lay topless on the soft bed. Two scantily clad women knelt on either side of his knees, trembling as they massaged his thighs.

"Help me relax properly. If I'm in a good mood, you might just live," the man said nonchalantly.

Knock, knock, knock!

A series of knocks echoed at the door.

"Come in," the man shouted toward the door.

The door slowly opened, and a scholarly-looking young man walked in. This person was none other than the one who had been sitting next to Li Chenqiu earlier.

"Wan Qing, what is it?" the man asked in a deep voice.

Wan Qing did not speak, but instead looked at the two women kneeling on the bed.

The man sat up impatiently, grabbed a dagger from the bedside table, and with lightning speed, slashed across the necks of the two women.

Splurt!

Bright red blood sprayed out, dotting the pure white quilt with crimson spots. The man wiped the blood that had splattered onto his face with a pillowcase and kicked the two women’s corpses aside with his feet; they fell to the floor like piles of mud.

"Brother Xu, everyone has been settled," Wan Qing said respectfully.

Xu Yuan nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Follow the plan from here on out. Oh, and make sure the brothers get some rest. We might have a tough fight against the New World tonight."

"A tough fight?" Wan Qing frowned slightly. "Aren't our Underworld and the New World in a partnership this time?"

"It's only a partnership to open that sealed treasure chest. Who gets what's inside will depend on strength. Otherwise, for a small matter like opening a chest, why would we mobilize so many Ghost Soldiers, and even have Lord Ma Mian come down in person?" Xu Yuan explained calmly.

"I see," Wan Qing nodded. "By the way, Brother Xu, do you remember what I told you last time? A few days ago, my psychic perception detected a top-tier Third-Forbidden life form."

"What's wrong? Did something go wrong?" Xu Yuan raised an eyebrow.

Wan Qing said with a solemn expression, "I don't know if it was by chance or on purpose, but that person got on one of the buses, and he even discovered that I was an Awakened one."

"What!" Xu Yuan's eyes turned sharp instantly. "Is it someone from the Administration Bureau? Do they know about our plans?"

Wan Qing squinted and shook his head. "This person knows nothing about our affairs; he acts very recklessly. The Administration Bureau would never do something so reckless. Besides, this guy is a coward. After one of our men glared at him, he didn't dare say another word."

Xu Yuan let out a sigh of relief and said slowly, "Where is that person now?"

"I settled him in room 628 of the hotel," Wan Qing said, pointing upward.

"If it's not the Administration Bureau, then everything is fine. Later, take the brothers from the first and second floors to meet up with Lord Ma Mian. I will come to join you once I finish dealing with the people in the hotel," Xu Yuan instructed.

At this moment, Li Chenqiu was completely unaware of the looming danger, busy slurping instant noodles with Li Qingxia.

...

...

An hour passed in the blink of an eye, and the time soon reached 5:30.

"Xiao Qiuzi, some of the security guards have gone out. Let's hurry and leave too!" Li Qingxia, standing by the window, pointed at the hotel entrance.

"The man said they would notify us when it's time. They haven't notified us yet, so what are you in such a rush for?" Li Chenqiu, lying on the bed, said casually.

Li Qingxia ran to Li Chenqiu's side in a panic. "I mean we can blend into the crowd and then sneak away halfway. Who wants to work this crappy job?"

As he spoke, Li Qingxia pulled hard on Li Chenqiu's arm, trying to drag him off the bed. But Li Chenqiu remained as immobile and steady as a mountain.

"Why do you always treat others like idiots? Are they really villains who lose their intelligence just because they meet you, the protagonist?"

"We can't just sit here and wait for death!" Li Qingxia said helplessly.

"Who said waiting is the same as waiting for death?" Li Chenqiu rolled off the bed and walked to the window, looking down. "It seems these people don't intend to include me in the fun."

"Ahhh!"

Just then, a scream of terror came from downstairs.