MM Racing Chapter 29: The Internet Cafe from Which There Is No Escape
Chapter 29: The Internet Cafe from Which There Is No Escape
"Hey anchor, are you in a studio or somewhere else? It's all over the news, the internet cafe is on fire!"
"The internet cafe's exit is blocked, and not a single survivor has been found. The Hanjiang City Fire Department has already gone to put out the fire."
"Didn't they say there would be thick smoke if there was a fire? How come there's not a single trace of smoke in your private room?"
I've seen these comments.
Zhang Ze was stunned.
Searching for "fast internet cafes," a rapidly trending term comes to mind:
Fire Breaks Out at Jisu Internet Cafe in Hanjiang City!
Is there a fire?
How is that possible!
Even if Zhang Ze was wearing headphones, it would be impossible for him not to notice if there was a fire. This sudden news was like a prank, and Zhang Ze hesitated for a moment before clicking on it.
When they saw the photos, the time and location all matched those of the Speedy Internet Cafe.
In the picture, the internet cafe has been completely engulfed by fire, with black smoke billowing out of the room. The street is full of fire trucks, and firefighters are using high-pressure water cannons to extinguish the fire.
A fire of this scale.
Zhang Ze couldn't possibly have been unaware of it.
"Are you kidding me? A fire here? That's a complete fantasy! Don't believe everything you hear!"
Zhang Ze smiled and said something to the live stream audience.
As I pushed open the door, I ran into the receptionist in the hallway, who brought me a cup of Coke. "We're having a promotion today; all customers in section C can enjoy a free Coke!"
Thank you.
"By the way, I heard online that your internet cafe caught fire. What's your take on that?"
"Fire? You must be joking." The receptionist clearly didn't believe it; the internet cafe was operating normally, and there was absolutely no possibility of a fire.
Zhang Ze showed her the news interface.
The young woman's expression changed slightly, as if she were also saying, "How is this possible?"
Suddenly.
"Damn it! Internet cafe manager, why did the internet suddenly go down? What's going on?"
"Exactly! I was playing until overtime when the game was almost over, and then suddenly the internet cut off. How am I supposed to play like that?"
"What's this? I was playing in the corner and got shot in by Mudu, ready to pull out some toilet paper and become a legendary captain, and you cut off my internet! How am I supposed to take off now?!"
Suddenly, many customers in areas A and B started making a fuss.
Next, customers from sections C and D stormed out of their rooms to confront the receptionist.
All the computers are offline.
The young woman was a little confused, but she quickly realized that network maintenance sometimes does cause temporary internet outages, which is not a particularly strange thing.
"Don't worry, everyone. I'll call the boss and ask him to send someone to check it. It should be back to normal soon."
The young woman apologized.
Then he took out his phone to call the internet cafe owner.
"Beep~"
"The number you dialed is not in service area."
My phone has no signal.
The young woman looked surprised; she had never encountered anything like this before. The entire internet cafe was without internet, and there was no cell phone signal, as if the nearby base station had been destroyed.
Zhang Ze suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
When I got to the entrance of the internet cafe, the door was locked up at some point. Both doors were tightly shut, with no sign of being able to be opened.
Zhang Ze tentatively pushed it.
The door didn't move at all.
Then exert force.
The door won't open.
"Can't be this unlucky?"
A sense of foreboding crept into Zhang Ze's heart. He had only watched the video a few times; what was going on?
His commotion at the door also attracted the attention of several customers, who were all slightly stronger than Zhang Ze and looked like college students from the neighborhood. They rushed over to try to open the door.
No matter how hard they tried, the door seemed welded shut and couldn't be opened at all.
"Move aside, I'll do it!"
A customer picked up a fire extinguisher from the ground and smashed it hard.
"Click!"
The fire extinguisher deflated completely.
A large amount of carbon dioxide gas was ejected, and the entrance was instantly a mess, but the door remained as solid as a rock, showing no signs of damage.
This door doesn't have a lock at all.
Like the doors commonly found in shopping malls, they have no locks on top or bottom, and can be opened with just a little force. Even if they couldn't be opened, they should have been destroyed long ago due to this kind of damage.
But now this door is far beyond its intended strength.
An atmosphere of panic enveloped the internet cafe.
"Smash the door!! Smash the door!! Break the door down!"
"I'm strong, I'll smash it!"
People tried to smash the door, using fire extinguishers, bricks, and even computers from internet cafes... but all to no avail. Anything that hit the door would only smash itself to pieces and do absolutely nothing else.
Some people also tried to contact the outside world.
Make a phone call, send a text message, turn on Bluetooth.
There was no signal at all, making it impossible to communicate with the outside world.
They can't get out.
Even the comments on Zhang Ze's phone screen remained at the point ten minutes ago, indicating that the live stream had been cut off, meaning that Zhang Ze's phone had lost signal more than ten minutes ago.
Despair was spreading, and a chilling coldness enveloped everyone's heart.
The internet cafe was almost entirely filled with men, at least a dozen or so, including college students and middle-aged men; female customers were almost nowhere to be seen.
So many men together, yet they couldn't open a thin wooden door.
"There's a fire escape at the back of the internet cafe, let's use the fire escape!" said the cheerful young woman at the front desk.
Her words jolted everyone awake, and they all rushed to the back door, which was a fire escape. There was a green "Safety Exit" sign on the wall pointing to the back door, which was the emergency exit in case of an emergency.
However, this door was also tightly closed.
Zhang Ze tried to open the door.
The result was the same as the front door; it still couldn't be opened.
Not only could it not be opened, but the back door was a glass door. It was pitch black and eerily quiet outside the glass door. No matter what you shouted, knocked, or banged on, the sound was completely swallowed up.
Zhang Ze pointed his phone's flashlight at the outside of the glass door.
The light shone into the darkness, but it was as if it were absorbed by something, illuminating only a distance of less than half a meter before it could not extend any further.
The internet cafe seemed to be sealed off by something, isolated from the outside world.
"Oh no, what on earth is going on??"
"Could it be a Japanese reality show prank? Impossible! How could they completely cut off the signal? This isn't twenty years ago!"
"Mom, help me!! I'm never going online again!!"
Several timid customers were already crying from fright.
Zhang Ze squinted and thought for a moment.
It is precisely in times like these that we must remain calm.
"What's your name?" Zhang Ze asked the young woman.
"I...I'm Shen Yue," Shen Yue replied to Zhang Ze, somewhat flustered.
Zhang Ze pointed to the internet cafe's kitchen. Nowadays, internet cafes all have dedicated kitchens where they can make snacks like crispy pork, fries, and fried chicken cutlets. They definitely have equipment like microwave ovens.
"Get some sugar, plug in the microwave, and if any of you have studied chemistry, make a simple homemade explosive... I bet we can blow this door open!"