Chapter 12 — My House Is 42 Degrees Hot, Turns Out It's A Horrifying Plot

The hotel room is very spacious. Very clean. There was a faint smell of disinfectant in the air. I stood in front of the giant floor-to-ceiling glass window. Look at the constant flow of traffic below. This city is so big. There are so many people. But I feel like a lonely island. At any time, it can be engulfed by the dark tide. I take a shower. Hot water flows through the body. But I couldn't take away the cold feeling in my heart. Put on a bathrobe. I turned on the TV in the room. On the screen was a local news broadcast. The female MC with a standard radio voice is reporting on the fire that occurred in my building early this morning. According to the official announcement. The cause of the fire was due to an old electrical system causing an unexpected short circuit. In the newsletter. My apartment was reduced to a charred ruin. The names of Vuong Cuong and Luu Phuong were also mentioned. Two people were identified as the main people responsible for the fire. Suspected of endangering public safety and has been placed in criminal custody. That's it. There are no servers. There are no coin miners. There is no theft of public electricity. There wasn't even that violent explosion. All the most important evidence. The most core truths. All were erased easily. As if they never existed. My heart sank little by little. That invisible hand. Its power is much greater than I imagined. It is easy to modify an official announcement. It is also easy to make a person disappear from this world. I turned off the TV. The room fell into dead silence again. An intense feeling of unease began to rise. I feel like I'm being watched. Being observed from all sides. Like a frightened rabbit. I started checking every corner of the room. Under the bed. Behind the wardrobe. Behind the curtains. Even took out the landline phone to check. But nothing was detected. Maybe I'm too skeptical. I consoled myself like that. I walked to the middle of the room. Raise your head. Prepare to go to bed to rest. That exact moment. My eyes stopped on the smoke sensor mounted on the ceiling. A white device. Looks extremely normal. But on its side. There is a tiny black dot. Smaller than the head of a pin. Under the soft lights of the hotel. It reflected a strange, almost imperceptible light. The blood in my body seemed to freeze. That's the camera. I was not randomly assigned to this hotel. Here is another cage they prepared for me. A transparent cage. My every move can be tracked twenty-four hours a day. Every hair on my body stood up. But I didn't show any abnormalities. I just calmly averted my eyes. Walk to the bed. Pull the blanket to cover yourself. Then turn your back to the camera on the ceiling. Under a thick blanket. My body trembled uncontrollably. They know I'm here. They are looking. They are waiting. Waiting for me to make a mistake. Waiting for me to reveal an opening. Right at that moment. The phone I threw on the nightstand vibrated slightly. A message. From a strange phone number. I covered my head with the blanket. Open the message. There is only one sentence inside.

“That thing is in your hand only brings death.”

“Hand it over here, you will have enough money to last a lifetime.”

“Or prepare yourself a more decent coffin.”

“We only give you twenty-four hours.”

A naked threat. Don't leave any retreat. They thought I was cornered. Thinking that using money and death can make me submit. I delete the message. In the dark under the blanket. I closed my eyes. Force yourself to stay calm. The brain starts working at a crazy pace. I have to hide. Immediately. Must escape this room under surveillance. Escape from the giant net they have set. I opened my eyes. A fierce ray flashed in the darkness. That was their ultimatum. At the same time, it's my only chance. I can't sit around waiting to die. I threw the blanket off. Sit up. Pretend to calmly walk into the bathroom. Open the shower. The sound of rushing water can mask a lot of sounds. I looked at myself in the mirror. Face pale. But a fire burned in his eyes. I have to live. I can't die. I turned off the phone. Take out the SIM card inside. Use your fingernails to break firmly. Split that tiny chip into two pieces. Then throw it in the toilet. Flush the water and wash it away. This phone is now nothing more than a navigation device that always reports my location. I have to throw it away. I took off my bathrobe. Change into the clothes you wore when you first arrived. I can't go through the main door. Surely there is someone waiting outside. My eyes moved to the small window in the bathroom. Outside is the technical area of the hotel. The pipes are intertwined. The narrow walkway is only enough for one person to move. This is the sixteenth floor.