32: Chapter 32 Everyone mocked the amateur for bragging, but the next second they were all dumbfounded!

Fahd's message had been sent forty seconds ago.

Li Li tucked his phone away and stood in place for two seconds.

Jiang Rumu leaned against the corridor wall, arms crossed, watching him.

"Did he agree?"

"He agreed."

"What are the conditions?"

"He didn't mention any."

Jiang Rumu traced a silent semi-circle on the carpet with the toe of her right foot, then pulled it back.

There is no free lunch in this world, only bills that haven't come due yet. A prince's favor, especially so.

"Do you believe a prince would help for nothing?"

"Whether I believe it or not isn't important." Li Li's logic was simple. "Get the people and the car first, then we'll deal with the rest."

He took out his phone, tapped open the chat box with Shen Jue, and typed a line.

"Don't leave the building, wait there. I'll be there within an hour."

—

Al-Safa Refuge Center, Room 114.

The air was filled with the smell of instant noodles, sweat, and despair.

The internet speed here was as rotten as if it had been bombed.

Fang Ruowei held her phone up to the highest point of the window, as if performing some mysterious ritual. The signal icon on the screen flickered for a long time before a single bar tremblingly appeared.

"Sister Ying, it loaded... Oh, it's gone again."

She put her hand down in frustration, her meticulously made-up face unable to hide her exhaustion.

Yin Ruoying irritably threw her phone onto the cot for the third time; it bounced up and fell back down.

She was barefoot, and seven of her ten bright red toenails were chipped, just as fragmented as her mood at the moment.

"Director Pei!"

She turned to the only person in the room still sitting in a chair.

Director Pei Zhao's phone was connected to the only power bank in the entire bunker, and the faint light from the screen illuminated his impeccable smile that had been hanging there for twenty-four hours.

"When will the signal be restored?" Yin Ruoying asked.

"For that question, I suggest you ask the Ala Country Telecommunications Department." Director Pei Zhao twirled the red string bracelet on his wrist unhurriedly.

"Fine, then I'll change the question." Yin Ruoying put her hands on her hips and walked to the center of the room. "Sixty million people are online, the whole world is watching. A Dating Reality Show for ten people, and the result is that only you, Jiang Rumu, and that amateur are blowing air conditioning and eating big meals at the Burj Al Arab, while the eight of us are squatting on the edge of the desert eating instant noodles."

She scanned the people in the room.

"How do you think this account will be settled when we go back?"

Director Pei Zhao's smile remained unchanged, but the speed at which he twirled the bracelet increased slightly.

"Ruoying, I've noted your request, and the camera allocation will be readjusted."

"How will it be adjusted? I want a definitive answer right now."

In the corner, Han Xubai had stopped watching their argument.

The text-only webpage was barely loading. He spent half a minute opening a data analysis site. Li Li's nearly vertical fan growth curve looked like a sharp blade stuck on the screen.

Three million to six point eight seven million.

Twenty-six hours.

He scrolled down and saw Su Wantang's Weibo post. 110,000 reposts, 80,000 comments.

Further down was the copyright information for "Say I Love You" that ByteDance had just snapped up. In the rights holder column, it was written as represented by Byte Group.

Han Xubai pushed up his glasses.

No matter how tearful Su Wantang's little essay was, legally, it was just a piece of waste paper.

This was getting interesting.

A song with no traceable origin that became an overnight hit. An ex-girlfriend who adamantly claimed it was "written for me," while a current partner who was watertight on the legal level.

This game of chess was more complex than he had imagined.

—

At the end of the corridor.

Shen Jue and Cen Ye stood by the window.

The desert road outside was like a strip of scorched asphalt, extending into the distorted heat waves.

There wasn't a single car.

"It's been forty minutes." Shen Jue subconsciously picked at the chipped paint on the window frame.

Cen Ye had an empty energy bar wrapper in his mouth, leaning lazily against the wall.

"What's the rush?"

"He said one hour, and two-thirds of that has already passed."

"Isn't there still twenty minutes left?" Cen Ye spat out the wrapper and rubbed the silver ring on his left ear with his thumb. "Wait."

Just then, the door of 114 behind them was pulled open.

"Shen Jue!"

Yin Ruoying's voice was like ice.

Shen Jue turned back.

"Is your 'Brother Li' blowing air conditioning and eating steak at the Burj Al Arab, having forgotten about us completely?"

"He's not—"

"'Not that kind of person'?" Yin Ruoying mimicked his tone, her phoenix eyes full of mockery. "How many days have you known him? You just met on the plane, right? And you dare to vouch for him?"

Shen Jue's face flushed red; he opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word.

"Little Jue," Fang Ruowei leaned out from behind Yin Ruoying, speaking softly, "Sister Ying is just anxious, don't take it to heart. Li Li is definitely a good person, but we have to be realistic, right? It's a twenty-plus kilometer war zone, the roads are cut off, how could he, an amateur..."

She didn't finish, but the meaning was all too clear.

Shen Jue looked at them, the reasoning swirling in his head, but he was clumsy with his words, and in the end, he only managed to squeeze out one sentence.

"My sister didn't stop him, so he'll definitely be able to come."

Dry and toneless.

Yin Ruoying sneered and turned back into the room.

Cen Ye never turned back from beginning to end, only saying in a low voice: "Don't pay attention to them."

—

The fiftieth minute.

Gu Zeyan, who had been leaning by the window to "save power," walked back, sat down, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Don't wait anymore."

His voice wasn't loud, but it attracted everyone's attention.

"Civilian traffic is all under military control. Even if he knows people, scheduling isn't something that can be done in a word. This was never something an ordinary person could pull off."

His tone was calm, as if stating an objective fact.

In the corner, Wen Zhuotang raised her head, those deer-like eyes sweeping over everyone before landing back on her knees, remaining silent the whole time.

The camera on Old Zhou's shoulder faithfully recorded this scene.

—

The fifty-fifth minute.

Director Pei Zhao's phone gave a soft "ding"; it wasn't WeChat, it was a text message.

He took a look.

The standard smile that had been hanging on his face disappeared.

"What's wrong?" Yin Ruoying's radar immediately went off.

Director Pei Zhao raised his head, his voice lacking its usual composure.

"Just received an official notice. Throughout Dubai, civilian traffic routes have been completely frozen by the military. Any private vehicle on the road may be considered a hostile target and dealt with militarily."

He paused, as if giving everyone time to digest the information.

"In other words, the official evacuation channel is also stopped. Resumption time is pending."

In the room, there was a deathly silence.

Yin Ruoying's hands on her hips slid down powerlessly.

The perfectly appropriate smile on Fang Ruowei's face froze.

The composure on Gu Zeyan's face also collapsed instantly; an AirPod slipped from his ear and fell onto the carpet, and he didn't even go to pick it up.

Shen Jue stood in the corridor, his whole body stiffened.

He turned his head to look at Cen Ye.

The silver earring on Cen Ye, which had been catching the light, also stopped swaying.

Sixty minutes, not a minute more, not a minute less.

Time was up.

Yin Ruoying stood up from the cot, her face a mix of "I knew it" mockery and utter, exhausted disappointment.

She looked at Shen Jue in the corridor and opened her mouth.

"I told you he—"

The first word had barely left her lips.

A low, heavy roar, definitely not an explosion, came from the end of the desert road.

The sound came from far to near, carrying an oppressive force that crushed everything, making the entire five-story refuge center begin to tremble slightly.

In Room 114, the water in the unfinished cup on the table rippled with clear concentric circles.

The window glass emitted an unbearable hum.

Everyone's words were stuck in their throats.

Yin Ruoying's mouth was still open, Cen Ye straightened up abruptly from the wall, and Shen Jue was already pressed tightly against the window, gazing in the direction the sound was coming from.

At the end of the heat-distorted road, a huge, black shadow tore through the rolling dust and was roaring towards them.