Hotel Turmoil

The public disclosure of the X Virus shattered the last remnants of peace, plunging the world's population into even deeper anxiety and panic.

Countless people refused to believe the truth, yet they were forced to face reality. They flooded the streets, overwhelming major markets. Shops, supermarkets, and pharmacies were emptied out. A single pack of compressed biscuits or a cup of instant noodles sold for hundreds, and order collapsed completely.

Some were panicked and terrified, while others were excited and agitated. They charged into the streets in groups, looting, smashing, and committing every evil imaginable. Major jewelry stores and banks were ransacked.

Every time Ye Zhao refreshed the news, she saw new distress videos being posted: supermarkets stripped bare, chaotic streets, children crying on the ground, and corpses lying by the roadside with no one to attend to them.

The world had gone mad.

Ye Zhao stood by the window and watched the crowded, hurried masses below. Most appeared in groups, each person carrying a backpack, hauling large bags of supplies, and clutching weapons. They scrambled into vehicles with wary eyes before speeding away. The few who were alone became targets for robbery.

Standing at the window, she had already witnessed several people being mugged.

A human tragedy, nothing less.

After a moment of thought, Ye Zhao spent 1 Creation Point to create a sniper rifle. Naturally, she had never fired one before, so she searched for tutorial videos online. She learned step by step, thanking Baidu for the lessons; she would be a master of both pen and sword in no time.

She set the sniper rifle on the windowsill and attached a silencer. Of course, she was afraid of missing, so she took a few practice shots at the roof of the building opposite. She missed every time. She didn't even know where her shots had landed; she still had plenty of practicing to do.

She dared not take action before she had mastered it, lest she accidentally kill an innocent.

Just as dusk approached, Ye Zhao saw over a dozen luxury cars and sports cars worth millions pull up downstairs through her scope. More than thirty men wielding machetes and clubs climbed out, and the group swarmed into the hotel.

Ye Zhao felt a sense of foreboding.

Could these people really think that because the world was in chaos and order was being restructured, they could claim the land as their own? Or were they just looking for one last spree?

Just then, she heard several gunshots from downstairs.

Ye Zhao: ...

Those bastards!

These people had come with the intent of occupying the hotel. Even if Ye Zhao was safe for the moment, she wouldn't be for long.

Ye Zhao tidied up, put on a hat, and tucked the sniper rifle into her space before grabbing her handgun and leaving the room.

She didn't take the elevator, choosing instead to walk down the stairs floor by floor.

On the way, she encountered several waiters and hotel guests fleeing upward in a panic. When they saw Ye Zhao, they cried out in terror, "Don't go down! A bunch of murderers came in!"

"They killed the security guards!"

"I even saw them rape a woman in public! It's too horrible, wuwuwu..."

"Wuwu, what has happened to this world? What are we supposed to do?"

Ye Zhao brandished the gun in her hand, signaling that she had the means to protect herself. The group's expressions changed the moment they saw the weapon, and they instinctively backed away a few steps, eyeing her warily. After all, the Xia Kingdom had strict gun control; a civilian carrying a gun was clearly no good news.

Ye Zhao didn't care and continued downward.

When she reached the first floor, she saw over a dozen men standing at the front desk, smoking and chatting. One of them was holding the guest registration list. "This woman is so pretty, I want this one."

"This man in 501 looks so good, he's mine!"

"Where is the master key? Why hasn't it been brought yet?"

"Haha, I've never seen such a beautiful woman in my life!"

"Brother Hao, this hotel is really comfortable. We can use this as our base, recruit some more survivors, and the world will be ours soon~"

"The apocalypse is great! The apocalypse is our time to shine!"

It was clear these people were quite happy, already fantasizing about ruling the world.

Ye Zhao hid behind a screen and peeked out to see over a dozen corpses lying on the floor, both men and women. She recognized several of them—some had served her, and others had helped her with her luggage.

Not far away, she heard the screams of a woman and the lewd laughter of men. Ye Zhao was so furious that her nose started bleeding again.

She skillfully stuffed a wad of paper into her nostril, spent 1 Creation Point to create a machine gun, and did a quick Baidu search on how to use it. Of course, this was her first time holding a machine gun, but she had great strength, and the improvement in her Constitution had come with a boost to her physical power. Holding a machine gun was manageable, and she didn't need accuracy. She didn't even need to think; she just unleashed a hail of bullets at the scum.

The dozen thugs at the front desk didn't even know what had happened before they collapsed, their eyes wide open in death.

Not far away, several men who heard the gunfire scrambled to their feet, not even having time to pull up their pants. They grabbed their weapons, intending to hide, as they only had knives and clubs and dared not face bullets head-on.

However, the next second, the heads of three of them were separated from their bodies, and they fell to the ground, never to rise again.

Blood splattered. Ye Zhao, wielding a watermelon knife, moved with the speed of a ghost. She quickly cut down the remaining bandits who were guarding the hostages.

She was so strong and fast that the bandits didn't even see her face before they closed their eyes forever.

The survivors tied up in the lobby looked at her with a mix of terror and excitement, their pale faces showing the thrill of vengeance. Ye Zhao casually cut the ropes off one of them and tossed a small knife over. The man was a hotel staff member; he thanked her repeatedly before skillfully untying the others.

Ye Zhao walked behind the woman who was hiding behind a sofa getting dressed. She threw the blood-stained watermelon knife at the woman's feet, said nothing, and went back to killing.

She remembered there were over fifty people who had entered the hotel. Where had the others gone?

"They wanted to hoard more supplies. The leader, a man called Brother Leopard, took a group of people to the supermarket up ahead..." came the woman's hoarse voice from behind. Ye Zhao nodded and let out an "oh." She looked back at the dozen people behind her. "You have weapons now. If that group comes back, can you defend yourselves?"

The group looked at each other, nervous and fearful. "That Brother Leopard has a gun. We can't beat them."

"Yeah, they've all tasted blood and are ruthless. We're just ordinary citizens; how could we be their match?"

"Big sister, you're so strong, why don't you just kill them all too!"

"I have money! I can give you a million if you just kill those bandits!"

Ye Zhao glanced at the man, sniffed her nose to stop the bleeding, and couldn't be bothered to speak.

"We can!" The hotel staff member whom Ye Zhao had untied first picked up a long knife from the floor. His face was full of hatred as he looked at the woman behind the sofa. "I will kill them and avenge my fallen colleagues!"

He organized the other male colleagues, encouraging them to act together. "The world has gone to hell. We can't even get through to the police station. If you don't make yourselves strong, the next time something like this happens, you might not be so lucky to have a kind person like Miss Ye here to save you!"

"You need to think clearly: do you want to be slaughtered like cattle, or will you pick up your weapons and save yourselves?"

These words successfully incited a few people, who expressed their willingness to act with him, though others hid behind the crowd, cowering and claiming they were powerless.

All Ye Zhao could do was provide the opportunity; how they chose was no longer up to her.

Let go of the urge to help others and respect their fate.