Su Chen just glanced at them and said nothing, heading straight to a seat by the window to order his meal.Thankfully, after yesterday's clash, Zhang Mingyuan and his crew had learned their lesson and didn't dare to provoke him again.
By the time Su Chen finished breakfast, the sun was already high in the sky.Looking at the thermometer inside the restaurant, it was clear the outside temperature had broken past 40°C — reaching a scorching 45°C!
Even though the powerful central air conditioning blew cold air nonstop,Su Chen could still feel the intense heat through the glass windows.
No more delays.He thought to himself, standing up and quickly leaving the restaurant.
Only after Su Chen left did Zhang Mingyuan finally breathe a sigh of relief and sneer,"Let him keep acting all high and mighty for now. Once A-Biao and the others arrive, we'll show him what's what!"
Liu Linger sat nearby, torn between worry and irritation.Why was Su Chen so stubborn?She had warned him kindly to leave, but he still refused!
But since A-Biao and his team hadn't arrived yet, Zhang Mingyuan was starting to lose patience too.
As noon approached, the outdoor temperature climbed dangerously close to 50°C.
At such terrifying heat, no one dared stay outside anymore — everyone rushed indoors and turned on their air conditioners to cool down.
"High-temperature red alert! Today's temperature is expected to surpass 50°C!"
The TV in the restaurant was suddenly cut off mid-broadcast.
At the same time, the loud hum of the central air conditioning stopped abruptly!
Within moments, the once-cool restaurant started heating up rapidly.
"What the hell's going on?!"Zhang Mingyuan slammed his fist on the table in frustration.
"Sorry, Young Master Zhang!"The hotel manager rushed over, wiping sweat from his forehead,"There was an explosion and fire in the hotel's power distribution room… we just put it out."
"What?! That actually happened?"Zhang Mingyuan and his gang were stunned.
In the summer, overloaded transformers often explode and cause blackouts in residential areas — that was common.
But in a large hotel like Lusen, such incidents in the power room were extremely rare.
Today's extreme heat, plus all the air conditioners running, had pushed the power room over the edge.
"How long until it's fixed?"Zhang Mingyuan asked impatiently.
"At least until tonight."The manager stammered.
Though the hotel had electricians, the power room damage meant they needed to bring equipment all the way up from the mountain base.
With the heatwave outside, nobody wanted to risk going out to fix it unless they were desperate.
"That means we're going to roast until nighttime?"Zhang Mingyuan was furious."What kind of shitty five-star hotel can't handle a little heat without exploding?"
"Yeah, Zhang, let's just leave and find another hotel!"His friends all chimed in.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Zhang Mingyuan was about to lead them out when suddenly the restaurant doors burst open, and a crowd streamed inside.
They all carried sun umbrellas and wore layers of clothes, wrapped up tight against the sun.
Only after entering did they shed their outer layers, sweat pouring down their bodies.
The manager looked surprised but quickly came over,"Hello, can I help you?"
"Manager, it's way too hot outside today. We're just here to cool off a bit."From their tone, it was clear these people were local residents of Phoenix Mountain.
"That's not possible, we still have business to run here."The manager shook his head and said,"Don't you have air conditioning at home?"
"Don't even mention it — the transformers are broken. Called the power company and they said it won't be fixed today!"
"Yeah, other hotels are having power problems too."
Hearing this, the faces in the restaurant all turned sour.
No air conditioning on such a hot day? That was a death sentence!
"Let's all go back to our rooms and soak in the bathtubs or something,"Liu Linger suggested.
The already high temperature and the crowd inside made the heat even worse.
Zhang Mingyuan and his friends exchanged looks and nodded, then headed upstairs to their rooms.
When Liu Linger and Xiao Mei checked in, they'd picked the rooms with huge floor-to-ceiling windows to enjoy the Phoenix Mountain view.
But now those windows turned their rooms into ovens, baking under the relentless sun.
The two women barely stepped inside before being hit by suffocating waves of heat.
They quickly pulled the curtains shut and rushed to the bathroom, stripping down while running the bathwater.
Once the tubs were full, they eagerly sank into the water.
Though the water was warm, it was still a relief from the burning heat outside.
Unfortunately, it didn't last long.
Because of the heat, most of the water evaporated quickly, and the temperature in the tubs started climbing again.
Liu Linger wanted to add more water, but no matter how she turned the faucet, no water came out.
"What's going on?"
"Must be the power outage."Xiao Mei grumbled.
The hotel was halfway up the mountain and got its water pumped up from the base.
Without electricity, there was no water flow.
"What are we going to do?"
In just a short while, sweat covered Liu Linger's pale face in beads.
Despite the curtains being drawn, the room was like a steaming sauna.
Just then, someone knocked on the door — Zhang Mingyuan's voice called out.
"Linger, Xiao Mei!"
The two women hurriedly wrapped themselves in towels and opened the door.
Zhang Mingyuan's face was flushed red from the heat, his eyes greedy as he looked at the almost dripping wet Liu Linger and Xiao Mei.
"I heard a lot of people in the hotel are passing out from heatstroke, so I came to check on you."
"Thanks for your concern, Zhang. We're fine, but it's so hot, I don't think we can stay much longer."Xiao Mei said in a coy tone.
"The hotel's underground parking is cooler. The manager is organizing people to move down there. Why don't we join them?"Zhang Mingyuan suggested.
"Good idea, Zhang! Just wait a moment!"Xiao Mei and Liu Linger's eyes lit up, and they closed the door to change clothes.
Though they were just changing, to stay cool, they put on camisoles and hot shorts — even more revealing than the towels.
Even Zhang Mingyuan, who was used to seeing countless women, nearly popped his eyes out at their s*xy outfits.