Global Collapse

Chapter 223 Citywide Power Outage
The hotel's lobby was already full of players who couldn't book rooms.

At this moment, the hotel owner hurriedly closed the hotel door and locked it from the inside.

The glass doors did not block the view; the people crowded in the hall could still see what was happening outside.

Dark clouds churned in the sky, and a howling wind lashed against the door, almost shattering the poor glass folding door.

It was pitch black outside, and even the streetlights were out of service. The crowded people in the lobby could only see outside by the faint light from the hotel's electric lights.

It's unclear whose quilt was left hanging on their balcony, but it was flying around in the street and ended up hitting a tree nearby.

The trees beside the green belt were also bent by the strong wind, as if they would break in half at any moment; yellow dust from who-knows-where was also flying around, obscuring people's vision like fog.

The lock on the main door wasn't very tight, and every now and then a gap would be blown open by the strong wind, letting in a gust of wind that made everyone in the hall shiver.

Winter had clearly passed, but the temperature had suddenly become colder than during the coldest part of the winter. Many people, who were not dressed warmly, were shivering as they looked at the swirling yellow dust and the pitch-black sky outside with fear.

Panic-stricken voices rose from the crowd: "Is this a sandstorm? Or a typhoon?"

Another voice replied, "Who knows what's going on? How can there be such strong winds in February... Come to think of it, doesn't this look like the apocalypse in a movie?"

"Stop talking nonsense!"

With no other option, the boss had to pull down the outer security door as well, which made the lobby a little warmer.

The people who had been trembling slightly breathed a sigh of relief.

The wind continued to lash against the security door, and from inside, it sounded as if some monster was attacking it from the outside.

That sounds terrifying.

However, the situation is much better now than before; at least we won't see that terrifying scene outside anymore.

"This awful weather..." The shopkeeper rubbed his hands, which were frozen from pulling the door, and looked at the lobby full of players who hadn't paid.

Even though these people don't stay in rooms, they still occupy his lobby, so they should at least pay him a protection fee for the trading point, right?

He thought he would open his mouth, but after seeing the haggard and worried looks on the other people's faces, he closed his mouth again.

Oh well, they're only staying here for one night anyway, so I won't lose much.

The shopkeeper sat back down behind the counter, lost in thought, listening anxiously to the wind outside the window. The wind had been blowing for hours and showed no sign of stopping.

It's likely that tonight will be a night of strong winds and torrential rain.

The boss was still thinking when a woman holding a child suddenly walked over, as if she had some request.

He became alert; this was no shelter, and he was no hypocritical philanthropist.

As the woman drew closer, the shopkeeper spoke first: "If you want anything, I don't have it here."

The woman looked a little embarrassed, but quickly explained, "No... I just wanted to ask if you could leave the lights on tonight, we're a little scared..."

As she was speaking, a sudden gust of wind slammed against the security door, startling the players in the hall.

The child in the woman's arms also buried its head, seemingly terrified.

The boss looked at the child in her arms; the child was about four or five years old, a little girl.

He paused for a few seconds and then said, "Okay, with so many of you here, it's not very safe to turn off the lights, so let's leave them on."

The woman quickly thanked them, then took her child and returned to the crowd.

At this moment, Gu Mian and the others were peering out the window at the sky. Xiao Hong, who had been standing in the middle of the living room, had been forcibly installed on the sofa, so that they wouldn't have to worry about the embarrassing situation of finding a female ghost in the living room when they got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.

The fat doctor looked very uneasy: "Shall we sleep with the lights on tonight?"

"Whatever," Gu Mian said, indicating that she didn't care: "Anyway, I can fall asleep whether the lights are on or off."

Chu Changge had no objection: "Whatever makes you happy."

The sound of something hitting the ground could be heard from time to time outside the window. The visibility on the street was already very low, but the people by the window could still see things being blown into the sky by the wind from time to time.

Footsteps could be heard from the corridor mountain from time to time.

The rooms on this floor are already full. Perhaps because the first floor is too crowded, some people have come to the stairwells on the upper floors.

The fat man looked out through the peephole and saw several people sleeping on the floor outside.

He didn't pay much attention to the few people sleeping on the floor outside, but prayed that the strange weather would pass quickly.

They need to choose a sunny day to set off. Actually, even if they stay here, there won't be any financial pressure. Gu Mian received 1,000 game coins from the last dungeon run, and another 1,000 as compensation. What they've received recently is enough for them to stay for twenty days.

However, staying here any longer is not a long-term solution.

The fat man fell asleep restlessly amidst the prayers.

However, he didn't sleep for long—he felt he hadn't slept for very long.

A sound of something breaking echoed throughout the room.

The fat man, who was already having trouble sleeping, was immediately woken up. He jumped out of bed and shouted, "What happened? What hit you?!"

But no one responded to him.

Immediately, the fat man noticed something was wrong.

He had specifically asked Gu Mian and Wan Shang to sleep with the lights on, but the room was pitch black, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Not only the room, but even the direction of the living room was pitch black; he couldn't see anything or hear any sound...

No! There's a sound!

The fat man twisted his head in the darkness, turning it toward the direction from which the sound came.

It was the sound of rain, a heavy patter that seemed to pound against the window. The rain, which had been brewing all day, finally fell in the middle of the night, its force so great that the fat man almost thought it was hail outside.

Fortunately, the hotel's light switches were thoughtfully coated with glow-in-the-dark powder, and the fat man groped his way to the light in the dark.

He didn't think it was Gu Mian or Chu Changge who had nothing better to do in the middle of the night and thoughtfully turned off the light for him; the female ghost sitting on the sofa was even less likely.

It doesn't matter who turned it off right now, let's turn the light back on first...

As the fat man pondered this, he snapped the light switch shut.

But the expected light did not arrive; the torrential rain outside continued to pound against the ground and windows.

The fat man pressed the button several more times, but it still didn't work.

At the same time, he suddenly heard a shout from the corridor, followed by the voices of other people talking.

"Our power is out!"

"So are we."

"The power is out in the lobby!"

Upon hearing this, the fat man froze: "The power's out? Could it be because of this awful weather?"

Just then, he suddenly heard a sound of something being pried open, and then a blinding white light filled his vision.

The fat man covered his eyes and adjusted for a while before he dared to squint at the light source.

It was Chu Changge. He was holding a flashlight, and the light was coming from the flashlight. He seemed to have just woken up as well.

At this moment, the fat man saw Gu Mian standing by the window.

Gu Mian, wearing a white coat, stood by the window looking outside.

Several seconds later, he turned around with a strange expression on his face: "The power is out."

The fat man nodded: "Doctor, I saw it without you telling me. They're shouting outside right now."

"No," Gu Mian shook her head with a strange expression, "I meant a city-wide power outage."

Citywide power outage?

The fat man's scalp tingled: "Doctor, don't scare me."

He ran his hair around and rushed to the window. Sure enough... even late at night, several families usually had their lights on, but now it was pitch black outside, and there was nothing there.

There seemed to be a tiny bit of light in the distance.

The fat man craned his neck to look in the light and discovered that it was a supermarket set up by the game.

As expected... the whole city is without power...

No, is it a city-wide blackout... or a global blackout?
Thank you to readers Rabbit No. 3, Tianyi Hall, and reader with the last four digits of their ID 6648 for the generous donations φ(゜▽゜*).

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(End of this chapter)