There was no time for others to ponder over her sudden appearance here, for the bidding meeting had officially commenced.
As the owner of the land plot, Yan Yincheng did not show up at the venue but monitored the situation backstage.
Wei Shu was in charge of hosting the bidding meeting. After a brief opening speech, he got straight to the point, presenting to the audience the current renovation progress of the bay, the overall construction concept of "City of Hope," and its current construction status.
Of course, he also mentioned the most crucial element - "Golden Amber."
The design concept of this project originated from "Golden Amber." Therefore, collaborating with the environmental protection department to establish a Golden Amber reserve was of utmost importance. Without "Golden Amber," the City of Hope could not truly be called the City of Hope.
Next, Yan's requirements for the operation of the "City of Hope" scenic area were announced.
Top on the list was, of course, environmental protection. Followed by issues such as the safety of scenic area facilities, food safety, and personnel management systems.
The "City of Hope" was different from ordinary scenic areas. It was an immersive fairy - tale - like scenic area. Each staff member here, acting as an NPC, had their own stories and tasks, and these stories would be updated according to the needs of tourists. This meant that the internal personnel management had to be strict without the slightest oversight.
After listening to Wei Shu's requirements, there was a moment of silence in the audience. The Pei family, which had once been abandoned by the Yan family, was now filled with remorse.
Xu Zixi had once told them that any employee of the Pei family could write down a story they considered a miracle and would have the opportunity to play relevant roles in the "City of Hope." How many people within the Pei family were looking forward to the completion of the "City of Hope" and yearning for this "second world" that could bring hope.
But in the end, the Pei family lost this original intention due to their own problems.
This was probably what Mr. Yan wanted to teach him through this lesson.
However, it was not too late to wake up now. During this period, he had been extremely busy. He had initially completed the rectification of the hospital and the shopping mall, and the results were quite remarkable. The losses of the Pei family were gradually being recovered. As long as they maintained this momentum, the Pei family still had a chance.
But not now.
Then, Wei Shu announced the start of the bidding.
There was no limit on the number of participants in this bidding meeting, so nearly fifty companies had come. They all came with the determination to win, but after hearing the strict operating conditions, one - third of them backed out. Only two - thirds remained in the competition.
As the investment amount kept rising, gradually, some companies withdrew from the competition. In the end, only four people in the front row were still bidding aggressively.
Naturally, they were the three giants in Haicheng - the Zhao, Pei, and Jiang families, and Xu Zixi, who seemed to have walked into the wrong scene.
"Seventy million." Xu Zixi parted her red lips slightly and calmly uttered a figure. Immediately, the representative from the Jiang family followed, "Seventy - five million."
"Eighty million." Pei Mingyuan said the number without hesitation.
Zhao Quanjing seemed impatient and directly shouted, "Can we be more straightforward? One hundred million."
Xu Zixi paused for only a moment and continued, "One hundred and five million."
"One hundred and ten million."
While everyone was immersed in the bidding process, a fire suddenly broke out in a certain part of Haicheng. And Zhao Quanjing's phone started vibrating like crazy.
However, due to the special requirements of the bidding meeting's organizers, everyone had to lock their phones in the safe before entering the venue to prevent anyone from leaking secrets through their phones.
Therefore, Zhao Quanjing was completely unaware of all this.
...
Thick black smoke billowed upwards along with the tongues of fire. The once - magnificently decorated nightclub was now completely engulfed by the flames. On the open space in front of the fire scene, several girls in bold outfits and heavy makeup were being driven together by a group of fierce thugs.
The girls were obviously terrified by the sudden fire. They huddled together, crying in panic. Their cries sounded shrill in the night, which only increased the impatience of the men guarding them. One of them raised his whip and scolded,
"What are you crying for! If anyone cries again, I'll whip them!"
After counting the girls according to the list, a thug said to a middle - aged woman in her forties at the scene, "General Manager Ran, something's wrong. Eight are missing!"
The woman called "General Manager Ran" looked stern. She snatched the list from the man's hand and counted the girls on the scene one by one. Indeed, eight were missing!
Could it be that these eight girls hadn't been able to escape in time and had all perished in the fire? General Manager Ran thought with a solemn face.
"General Manager Ran, a new security guard named 'Wang Feng' from the security department is also missing."
Just now, due to the sudden fire inside the nightclub, the scene was in chaos. On one hand, they had to evacuate the guests and let their VIPs leave first. On the other hand, they had to prevent these "roses" in the nightclub from escaping during the chaos. Coupled with the shortage of manpower, they simply couldn't take care of every detail.
She cast her eyes on the blazing fire in front. Eight girls and a new security guard. It would be okay if they were all burned to death inside, but if they had escaped...
She immediately said to her subordinate beside her, "Go, call Lord Zhao and tell him what happened here so that he can be mentally prepared. Also, get someone to extract all the surveillance videos from the cloud for backup. Don't leave any records in the cloud."
Then, she looked at the "roses" huddled together not far away and said to the security team leader, "Find a place and transfer them there first. Make sure no one escapes."
The subordinates received the instructions and immediately went to carry them out. Not far away, the sirens of the fire trucks were getting closer.
It only took half an hour to completely extinguish the fire. During this process, General Manager Ran never left the scene. After the fire was extinguished, the firefighters entered the scene to search for the victims and determine the cause of the accident.
When she learned that there were no bodies in the fire scene, General Manager Ran was filled with anxiety and fear.
Then, when her subordinate informed her that the surveillance files saved in the cloud had been emptied in advance, and moreover, the surveillance cameras at major intersections nearby had also been tampered with, she knew that the worst - case scenario had come.
...
At Haicheng Airport, a cold - chain freight truck drove into the apron in the night and stopped in front of an airplane.
Then, the cargo compartment was opened from the inside. Eight girls of different looks and figures, along with a middle - aged man in a security uniform and glasses, jumped out of the truck. As soon as they got off, they carefully and warily surveyed the surroundings, then quickly ran towards the plane in front.
"Hurry up, get on the plane quickly. The flight path has been cleared, and the plane will take off in fifteen minutes!" The glasses - wearing security guard calmly directed.
At this critical and tense moment, none of the eight girls said a word. All that could be heard at the scene were the chaotic but determined footsteps.
They climbed up the ladder and entered the plane. As the cabin door slowly closed in front of them, as the plane ran along the long runway, took off smoothly, and flew steadily, the girls looked out of the window at the city below, which had been a nightmare for them. Finally, they couldn't hold back their sobs.
"Finally... we've escaped."