48 Hours a Day

Chapter 1009: Elevator

In just a short while, the peripheral area of the Four-Continents Hotel was surrounded by police; the lobby was controlled by the authorities too. Outsiders were no longer allowed to enter the hotel, and guests weren't allowed to step outside as well. The hotel was in complete lockdown.

Zhang Heng looked into the hotel and gave up his plan of entering the safe passage through the lobby. He observed the crowds of passersby standing on the side of the road, and before long, spotted a man with a wide-brimmed hat, holding a camera.

So, Zhang Heng walked to the man and spoke to him for a while. He then shook hands with him and walked around to the hotel's back door in his police uniform. This entrance was not meant for guests, and the staff usually used it to move goods. Still, there was someone keeping an eye on it now. Fortunately, there weren't many people keeping an eye on the back entrance compared to the front.

Zhang Heng walked to the door at a steady pace before giving the team of policemen in charge of guarding the backdoor a nod. "The sheriff asked me to go in and ask the chef something."

"I haven't seen you around before."

The team leader did not just let Zhang Heng enter the hotel after hearing what he said. Instead, there was a look of confusion on his face.

"Oh. I am a newcomer who just got here. I usually listen to what the sheriff tells me. You can go to the sheriff to verify my identity," Zhang Heng said calmly.

"Is that so?" The team leader looked at Zhang Heng with doubts in his eyes and raised his chin, "I don't need to ask the sheriff anything. First, let me see your police identification."

"Okay." Zhang Heng pretended to activate the bracelet on his left hand.

However, the team leader's face suddenly changed in the next moment. He stretched out his finger and pointed at a man behind Zhang Heng. "Hey, what are you doing?! Which newspaper do you work for? Didn't I say you are not allowed to take any pictures?!"

Before the police officer could finish, the opposing man put his camera up and took two more pictures. The reporter then ran away when he saw that the situation was going to turn sour. The police officer could not be bothered by Zhang Heng's affairs anymore. Telling Zhang Heng to wait here, he quickly brought someone and went after the reporter.

However, Zhang Heng did not care about what he said. Soon after the police officer left, he opened the back door and walked into the hotel. Although some policemen were still standing at the door, no one there could call the shots. They looked at each other, but no one took the initiative to stop him from entering the hotel.

As soon as Zhang Heng entered the hotel through the backdoor, he quickly locked it. He then drew a pistol from his waist, held it in his hand, and walked forward.

His footsteps were very light. Thanks to the assistance of Kreis's Heart, Zhang Heng moved like a cat. Entering the hotel was only his first step. The real challenge was yet to come. His goal was to look for the memory encoder currently held by the four members of the special operations team. The exoskeleton fighters weren't the only enemies he had to fight. There was the emergency response team that needed dealing with too.

This was especially true for the leader, 0, where Zhang Heng had obtained lots of information related to him from No.9. Even if they were all clones with the same memories, programmed with skills to turn them into super fighters, the gap in strength between them would widen over time.

In No.9's own words, "0 is different from us. He belongs to another species, a brand-new species, a creation that existing human cloning theory simply couldn't explain. Honestly speaking, the two of you are quite similar. If both of you cross paths with each other, I can imagine that the whole thing will become very interesting, like Godzilla meeting Ghidorah."

No.9 licked his lips as he spoke. The Oath Ring, on the other hand, did not react to what he said. In other words, he was telling the truth.

Zhang Heng's cautiousness perked up as soon as he entered the hotel. He did not go in the direction of the lobby because there were a lot of police officers over there. Places like the elevators and safe passages were heavily guarded by the police officers. And it was not possible to use the same method to trick the officers again.

So, Zhang Heng walked into the kitchen without much hesitation. Although there were still some half-cooked vegetables in the pot and cut ingredients on the chopping board, there was no chef in the kitchen at this time. It looked like they were summoned to the lobby by the police officers.

Zhang Heng knew that some multistorey restaurants would install a dumbwaiter at the back kitchen. It allowed them to deliver the prepared meals to the upper floors as quickly as possible, ensuring the customer wouldn't have to wait too long. Luckily, the exact same elevator had been installed at the back kitchen of the Four-Continents Hotel.

Initially designed for food delivery, the dumbwaiter was obviously too small to fit a person. Basically, whoever wanted to ride the dumbwaiter would have to curl and contort themselves into a most unnatural position. Despite the discomfort, it allowed Zhang Heng to avoid all the police officers directly to another floor.

Zhang Heng looked at the dumbwaiter's buttons and saw only two floors for him to choose from, one of which was the thirteenth floor, and the nearest delivery point was the fifth floor. In other words, as long as he rode the elevator, he could get to the restaurant on the fifth or thirteenth floor.

Soon, Zhang Heng made up his mind. As the doors on both sides of the elevator slowly closed, he ascended towards the thirteenth floor.

However, something unexpected happened when the elevator reached the fourth floor. The speed of the dumbwaiter reduced. There was only one possibility for such a thing to happen—someone on the fifth floor also pressed the button!

After that, without waiting for the door of the dumbwaiter to be fully opened, guns started firing a rain of bullets into it. Just by the sound alone, one could imagine the number of bullets that were being fired. Considering the cramped space inside the elevator, it was not possible for the person to dodge the bullets. The only fate that awaited the person in the elevator was being shredded into pieces.

At the same time, 0's eyes flickered.

No one would have thought that the emergency response team members did not hunt down the special operations team members upon entering the hotel. Instead, they all stayed quietly in the restaurant on the fifth floor and stared at the elevator in front of them.

0 actually did not pay much attention to the remaining four special operations team members. In his opinion, their fates were sealed, and they wouldn't be lasting long in this hotel. So it was just a matter of time before they were killed. On the contrary, after losing contact with his three men in the amusement park, 0 was now extremely apprehensive of Zhang Heng. For this reason, he even put aside his priorities—instead of looking for the goods, he decided to eliminate the competitor, Zhang Heng, first.

Once Zhang Heng had been killed, he still had time to search the place.

So, upon making the decision, 0 put himself into Zhang Heng's shoes and considered several possible plans Zhang Heng would make. After that, he contacted the sheriff on the first floor to make various plans and arrangements for the police officers outside the goal. The ultimate goal was to lure Zhang Heng to a dead end.

And now, his plan seemed like it was destined to succeed. 0 had to admit that such a method was indeed unfair. Although Zhang Heng was a master, it was unlikely he could do anything about the bullets pouring into the elevator.

This battle was never about the competing of strength; the battle result of the duel between two masters would eventually be determined by some minute detail. When 0 thought that he could finally eliminate his biggest enemy, he could not help but let out a sigh. However, when the doors of the dumbwaiter opened, his pupils suddenly shrank.

There was no one in the dumbwaiter!