“Is the battle over, Mr. Policeman?” the hotel staff asked.
“Yes. The battle is over, but you should also know that I am not a policeman.” Zhang Heng paused and then said, “Where is the package?”
“What package?” The waiter was at a loss.
“The goods to be traded tonight. All your three allies are dead. In other words, the package is definitely with you.” Zhang Heng said casually.
The hotel staff’s expression changed slightly when she heard what Zhang Heng said. She then took a short step back and calmly said, “I don’t know what you mean, Mr. Policeman… I am a waitress at the Four Continents Hotel, and I have more than three companions.”
“No. You are not hotel staff,” Zhang Heng said. “I was suspicious of you the first time I met you. Although you did not show any fear and panic, your temperament was nothing like hotel staff.”
According to your statement, you ran into a man wearing an exoskeleton in the corridor, but the other party ignored you and let you go. This is very strange. If the exoskeleton fighter wanted the death trap to work in Room 936, he wouldn’t be letting you live.”
“Maybe… because I’m just a hotel staff that nobody cares about. I carry no threat. I think he showed me mercy and let me live,” the hotel staff smiled reluctantly.
“Impossible. Those men are all fanatical believers of Mr. G. They are willing to sacrifice their lives to achieve the ideal world that Mr. G wants to create. It makes no sense for them to care about the life or death of an insignificant person,” Zhang Heng said. “To further confirm that you are no more than a hotel staff, I asked you to go to the linen room to get the stain remover.”
“And I did do that for you.” The waitress widened her beady eyes, looking innocent.
“Yes, but you took too long to complete such a simple task,” Zhang Heng said. “If you are really a staff, you should know where the detergent is. Even if the smoke in the room had not dispersed, you took too long to get what I asked for.”
The girl was finally speechless this time.
Zhang Heng continued, “But at first, I didn’t expect you to be one of the four who fled into the hotel. I originally thought you were the person Mr. G assigned to help the special operations team in the hotel. After that, I found out that the other three special operations team members didn’t go to the rood. Instead, they stayed on the twelfth floor even though it would cost their lives. It was at that time I started to doubt your identity.”
The hotel staff did not speak. Instead, she waited for Zhang Heng to continue.
And the latter did not disappoint. He continued, “Now, I can probably deduce what happened after the special operations team fled into the hotel. At that time, your exoskeleton equipment was seriously damaged. You did think of sacrificing yourself to buy your allies more time. However, you changed your mind after that because you realized that even if you sacrifice yourself, you still can’t change the fact that this was going to be a dead-end for you guys.”
“When the special operations team was in a disadvantaged position, and your guys had no way to escape, you or a companion of yours came up with a dangerous move. Since all four of you can’t escape the hotel, it would be better to die here together,” Zhang Heng said. “Of course, you don’t really want to die here. No one would be able to send the package to the first floor otherwise. One of you would feign death to confuse the enemies. If it went well, the package would be delivered to the first floor. And this delivery person is you.”
“Why me?” the staff asked.
“I don’t know which of the four of you are better or who is more courageous. The reason your team chose you to become the courier is very simple. You are the only woman among the four, making it easier for you to exchange identities with the hotel staff. In addition, your exoskeleton has been severely damaged. You had enough reason to leave your team and detonate the exoskeleton. The corpse in Room 936, however, is not you. It belongs to the real hotel staff on this floor.
“You either knocked her out or killed her. After that, you put your own exoskeleton on her body. Then, one of your tech-savvy companions modified the detonating device to turn the power core into a state that can be remotely detonated. Once that was done, you changed into the hotel staff’s clothes, who you either knocked out or killed. That’s how you completed the identity exchange. As for the three people on the twelfth floor, they were left here to die. Whether it was the two members who stayed to fight the emergency response team or the one who climbed out the window and escaped, they were all trying to cover up the fact that you are still alive. But you are too naive.”
“What do you mean?” The hotel staff frowned.
“I know what you did on the ninth floor. You probably took the initiative to tell them about the situation in Room 936 when the emergency response team came up to make your identity more believable. You should be thankful that you met me. Although your plan was not bad, the execution of it was rather poor. If I can see through you, I bet 0 could do the same as well. If you didn’t meet me, you would’ve fallen into the hands of the emergency response team.”
“So should I thank you for saving me?” The hotel staff sneered. “I know who you are. You are one of the ten couriers. I heard Miss F values you very much. I bet she will be disappointed if she knows what you did. If it weren’t for your cowardice and despicable means to divert the attention of the emergency response team and send them to us, it wouldn’t be too hard to execute our plan.”
Zhang Heng was noncommittal. “I respect your personal choices and all the efforts you have made to change the circumstance. I don’t want to judge the paths that you chose as well. In fact, I didn’t come to you for a fight. Considering Mr. G and I have a lot of conflicts and misunderstandings, I just want to have a good chat with him.”
“Well, you can start by protecting me. We can go back to the first level together. And you will get the chance to see Mr. G again.”
“I’m sorry. For the sake of Ms. F, I once accepted the opportunity offered by Mr. G. But as you can see, it did not end well for me.” Zhang Heng raised his eyebrows, “So, now it’s the time to change the way of communication with him. It’s my turn to offer him the opportunity. And you seem to have misunderstood something. I will go back to the first level, but I don’t plan to take you with me.”
The hotel staff’s face changed. “Then I have no reason to hand over the goods to you.”
“No, you will hand over the goods to me.” Zhang Heng said calmly. Just as the two were talking, the fire had spread to the rooftops.
“You can’t leave this place anymore. Just hand me the package. At least Mr. G still has the opportunity to negotiate with me. If you fail to deliver the package, it will be burned down alongside you. Even if you call Mr. G now, I bet he will ask you to hand over the package to me.”
