Chapter 22 We Were Supposed to Burn to Death
-------------------------------------
Translator: JayM
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: We Were Supposed to Burn to Death
-------------------------------------
It was truly a rare sight.
At least since Rossetti had moved into the building, she had never seen this many of her neighbors gathered together at the same time.
And it was abundantly clear that the call just now had reached every single person in the building simultaneously!
How had she managed it?
Rossetti's face was full of astonishment. Could it be that several hundred people had used the same voice changer to call each of them?
But the tone of all the voices sounded identical.
At what point had it switched over to an artificial intelligence voice?
"Damn it, I've had it with this kind of vile harassment!" A heavyset man in pajamas with a blonde woman pressed against his side seemed to have reached his limit and began cursing loudly. "I’ll absolutely track down whoever’s behind this, then sue them — and I'm going to sue the manufacturers of these televisions and phones as well, because this is entirely their responsibility!"
"Sweetheart, calm down." The blonde woman beside him kept stroking his chest.
It was a somewhat eye-searing sight.
Rossetti recognized the man.
Conrad Ashburn.
A lawyer of modest notoriety.
Though that reputation wasn't a particularly good one because he took on any case that came his way. He specialized in handling rather unsavory litigation for wealthy bosses and corporations.
He was known to be lecherous and promiscuous, always bringing different women to his apartment. The young woman beside him was naturally not his wife.
"Calm down, Conrad." Another man in a suit spoke up — it was an East Asian man whose gaze held not the faintest trace of fatigue, but instead shone with a peculiar gleam. "And besides, I can tell you with the full authority of my title as Chief Engineer at Kona Corporation — you absolutely won’t find the person behind this call!"
He still had his phone in his hand.
"Ralph, can't you just smash that damned phone?" Conrad's face was full of irritation, especially every time he heard Dingxiang's voice.
"No, no, no." Ralph shook his head repeatedly, his voice barely concealing his excitement. "You have no idea what this means. This isn’t something a virus or two could accomplish. She has almost completely taken control of the base systems of every single device here and has tampered with their key functions, rendering us unable to power them off — the forced shutdown function has even been disabled! And what's most critical is that I suspect that she’s not a real person at all, but an artificial intelligence of a highly advanced order!"
Ralph had come out early, and from just a brief exchange with the other residents, it had become clear to him that the female voice on the other end of the call had communicated with each person briefly, in the same style.
Only after reaching the fifteen-minute mark before the disaster had it shifted into its looping warning.
Of course, it was possible that several hundred "customer service agents" who had undergone identical training were operating behind the scenes.
But taken together with their terrifying hacking capability, Ralph was far more inclined to believe that this was an artificial intelligence that far surpassed the current era!
This left him both profoundly shaken and extraordinarily excited.
"Say whatever you like." Conrad was completely indifferent. He simply held his female companion close, turned back in a huff, and headed inside. "I'm going to smash my phone, then cut the main power. I'd like to see who can disturb me after that!"
This seemed to give quite a number of people an idea.
Some eyes lit up around the corridor.
People began returning to their rooms one after another — clearly intending to do the same.
Of course, there were also those who remained undecided.
The elevator lighting up and the sounds coming from the stairwell made it clear that at least some people had chosen to leave.
"Hey, Ralph." Rossetti walked up to the man. By now her drowsiness had completely dissipated, and she was now far more interested in this matter than in going back to sleep. "Do you think there's a team with advanced hacking technology behind this call?"
"I have to correct you — this is far more than just 'advanced hacking technology.'" Ralph shook his phone for emphasis, putting extra weight on his words. "To accomplish this would require IT capabilities that far surpass the current era. Also, I'm going to leave the building."
"You believed what she said?" Rossetti's eyes lit up. "You believe that there’ll actually be a fire?"
"Honestly, not really." Ralph shrugged, heading toward the stairwell as he spoke. "Their hacking capability’s already astounding enough on its own, but predicting a lightning-induced fire... that's the sort of thing that only appears in science fiction films. I just... there's an Eastern proverb: you may not fear ten thousand possibilities, but you must fear the most unlikely one."
Rossetti thought about it, then she took her daughter and son and followed along.
She felt that this might make for a very interesting front-page story.
There were indeed quite a few people in the stairwell.
Some were grumbling and cursing, some were at a loss, and Rossetti even spotted someone hurrying down with a large bag on their back.
It was evident that some people had believed every word of the call completely.
‘People really were easily influenced.’
Rossetti thought to herself as she made her way down and out of the building. People were still trickling out at that point — some were leaving, others were standing outside discussing things.
Strangely enough, the moment she stepped out of the building, the voice coming from her phone immediately fell silent.
"This kind of positioning capability..." Ralph grew excited again.
Rossetti paid no attention to the engineer. She raised her head and looked up at the towering building, and at the lightning that flashed through the cloud layer from time to time.
She couldn't help but pick up her phone, open the camera, and point it at the building.
The time was just about up.
She felt a little bewildered by her own actions — here she was, actually wondering whether a lightning strike might really occur.
How could that be possible?
Fortunately, some of the people around her were doing the same thing, so it didn't feel awkward for her.
"Hey Ralph, would you be able to give me an interview tomorrow about this whole incident—?" Rossetti turned her head and was just saying this to Ralph…
When the world suddenly went white before her eyes.
A blinding bolt of lightning sliced across the sky.
BOOM—!
It was two or three seconds before the roaring thunderclap pulled Rossetti back from her stupor.
Right there within her line of sight, captured on her phone's recording…
A brilliant bolt of lightning had struck the exterior wall of the building, leaving behind a small cluster of dancing flames — which then spread with terrifying speed.
Rossetti's mouth fell open, her entire body trembling.
Her head was ringing, and she couldn't even hear the startled cries of the people around her.
She simply stood there, jaw dropped, eyes fixed unblinkingly on the flames spreading across the exterior wall of the high-rise above.
It actually… happened?
"Oh, God!"
"How’s that possible? HOW?!"
"Call the fire department, quickly!"
"There are still people inside who haven't come out!"
A cacophony of voices erupted around her. Rossetti’s body violently shuddered. She picked up her phone and checked the log of the call from earlier.
From the moment the first call had come in, to right now.
Thirty minutes.
Not one minute more. Not one minute less.
"Mama?" Eileen tugged at her sleeve, eyes wide open while looking up at her with fear. "Were we... Were we supposed to burn to death?"
-------------------------------------
T/N - Well, that’s gotta be… shocking! Ahahaha, no, you can’t make me leave. I’m the one translating these chapters, remember? 😂