Chapter 44

3

There were too many people in the hall. All of them stood rooted to the ground like pasta.

“What’s going on?” James asked in confusion. “Can’t these people smell the smoke? The building is on fire, but they’re still not running out!”

Melody did not answer. Her gaze searched the crowd and soon found Zack.

She took a few steps forward and asked, “Why isn’t everyone leaving?”

When Zack saw Melody coming over, his tightly furrowed brows relaxed. Then, he tightened his brows again and pointed at the door. “The door is broken. It can’t be opened.” “What?” Melody was stunned. She quickly remembered that when she was upstairs, the radio had said that the smart door was broken.

She stood on her tiptoes and saw that Samuel’s two lieutenants had found something that looked like an iron rod from somewhere and were knocking on the door with all their might.

However, the door did not move at all. When the stick hit the door, it appeared useless.

On the other side, James also got the news. He said angrily, “Miss Fox, this fucking door just had to break at this time!” Melody first reminded him, “Don’t associate my name with fucking’. I take back what I said when I came downstairs.” “What are you talking about?” James could not understand what was going on in Melody’s mind.

Melody reminded him, “I’m sure this isn’t an accident.”

Only then did James remember that Melody had just said that this fire was an accident.

Melody continued to analyze. “It’s just that the sudden fire might have been an accident, but a charity suddenly changed the door of the Youth Center yesterday. Now, this door just has to break down at this time… There are not so many coincidences in the world.”

If it wasn’t a coincidence, then it was man-made.

James was already frantic. “Miss Fox, at a time like this, why do you care if it was an accident? We have to think of a solution quickly!”

Melody gave him a look to make him shut up.

Zack suddenly understood why Melody was not in a hurry. He reminded James, “She’s analyzing. She has to figure out everything before she can think of a solution.”

“There’s no need to think…” James grabbed the iron rod in his subordinate’s hand and aimed it at a glass window in the hall.

With a muffled bang, the glass window was not damaged at all.

James was stunned. He did not believe it and hit it again. There were still no cracks.

“There’s no need to waste your energy here,” Melody walked over and said, “I just figured out why I asked you to search that strange room, but you couldn’t find anything. That person didn’t install anything to hurt people at all, but…”

Melody raised her hand and revealed a packaging strip that she had accidentally found in a corner while she was thinking.

James took a closer look at the words on it and said in surprise, “Fuck! The latest super-intelligent bulletproof glass developed in the country! The guy you saw went to install that window! I was wondering why I didn’t find anything wrong even after digging into the ground. Who would have thought that there was something wrong with the window!”

“I’m going to check out the door first,” Melody said as she let James help her clear the way.

When she reached the door, she checked carefully and raised her voice to shout, “Where are the staff?”

Perhaps it was because Melody was the first to ask everyone to run out, everyone was very cooperative with her and quickly helped her find a staff member.

Melody lowered her eyes to take a look. She thought, ‘Isn’t this the staff member whom I have held back just now?’

The staff also felt unlucky. He thought, ‘Why did the door have to be broken at this time? Am I really going to die here?” Melody did not care about the reason behind the other party’s complicated expression and asked directly, “This smart door was artificially locked. It’s impossible to break it open with human strength. Tell me, where is the remote control that controls this door?”

“There’s no remote control,” the clerk said miserably, “There’ s only one console. It looks like a computer. Not only can it control the door, but the window can also be controlled by the console to switch it on and off.”

James urged anxiously, “Then why don’t you go to the control panel and open the door?”

“I’ve tried.” The staff member’s expression was ugly. “The control panel is like a dead machine. No matter how I operate it, there’s no reaction.”

“Then, what should we do…” As James spoke, he suddenly felt that something was wrong. He nervously said to Melody, “Miss Fox, the smoke seems to be getting thicker.” “Yes.” Melody nodded.

Most of the people who died in the fire were not burned to death but choked to death by the smoke.

Ulric had already planned this. He changed the door, sealed the windows, and lit a fire. He was just waiting for her to choke to death there.

This was not the first time that Ulric wanted her dead. She was not surprised at all. However, she did not expect that Ulric would be so crazy to want so many people to die with her just to kill her.

Melody thought, ‘I will never be killed by Ulric again!’

Melody clenched her fists and tried her best to calm down. She continued to ask the staff, “Where is the control panel?”

“Fifth floor, right above your match.”

“Got it.” Melody walked towards the staircase.

James hurriedly stopped her. “Miss Fox, what are you doing?”

She answered, “I want to check out the control panel. Get out of the way. We don’t have much time left!”

“No, you can’t go!” James opened his arms and stopped her. “My subordinates just reported to me that the fire started on the sixth floor. Going to the fifth floor is undoubtedly courting death! Mr. Swanson has handed your safety to me. I can’t let you take the risk. I’ll help you take a look!”

Melody sighed and said, “James, you don’t know programming, much less the control panel. There’s no point in you looking at it. Listen to me and move aside. If I don’t go up, we’ll all die here sooner or later.”

James was still insisting. “Then at least let me go up with you.”

“No, the people here need you to maintain order. At times like this, we can’t let them panic.”

“Then…”

“James, stop talking. If you stop me for another minute, you’ll be wasting everyone’s time.”

“…”

Zack suddenly said, “I know a little bit about programming. Melody, I’ll go up with you.”

As he spoke, he turned to James and said, “Stay here and maintain order. I’ll accompany her up. I won’t let anything happen to her. If there’s really danger, I’ll bring her down immediately.”

James finally relented. “Alright then…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Melody had already rushed upstairs.

Zack quickly chased after her.

At the same time, in a Bentley eight streets away from the Youth Center.

Ken pressed the horn hard, but there was a traffic jam in front of him. As soon as he pressed the horn, the surrounding horns immediately sounded one after another. “Bang!” He pushed the car door open forcefully. Just as he was about to go forward to check on the situation, he saw someone suddenly point at the sky and say, “Look! There seems to be a fire over there!”