50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 559 Bustling Paris

On the morning of September 14, Sun Zhiwei checked into the Maurice Hotel in the center of Paris, next to the Tuileries Garden.

The Maurice Hotel, which opened in 1835, is an officially certified five-star luxury hotel with a royal palace designation, and is renowned for its 18th-century décor.

Its location is excellent, with Place de la Concorde on the left and the Louvre on the right, surrounded by the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Opera House, the Eiffel Tower, and the Champs-Élysées.

The best of Paris is concentrated in this area, which is why he chose to live here.

The most distinctive feature of this neighborhood is that it boasts over a dozen five-star hotels, which is quite rare in other cities.

Sun Zhiwei first heard about the Paris Maurice Hotel because of a story.

Back in the later stages of World War II, on August 25, 1944, as Paris was about to be liberated, French and German tanks clashed on the Champs-Élysées, and the fierce fighting spread to the Tuileries Garden.

At the time, the highest-ranking German officer in Paris, Choltitz, was staying at the Hotel Maurice, which was located opposite the Tuileries Garden.

As de Gaulle led the French army into the Hotel Maurice, Choltitz ultimately chose to surrender and persuaded the remaining defenders in Paris to lay down their arms.

Both de Gaulle and Eisenhower, who were in charge of the attack on Paris at the time, praised Choltitz's achievements afterward.

Because the garrison had received orders from Deutsche Welle to burn Paris, if Choltitz had not succeeded in persuading the garrison to surrender, Paris would probably have been reduced to ashes.

When Choltitz died in 1966, the Associated Press called him "the key figure who saved Paris from destruction."

Jean-Edward Smith, Eisenhower's biographer, believes that "the salvation of Paris was due to several leaders: Choltitz, who defied the order to destroy; de Gaulle, the head of the provisional government who worked hard to mediate; and Eisenhower, who abandoned dogma and made decisive decisions."

Decades have passed since those events, but walking down a street steeped in history and reminiscing about the past has its own unique charm.

Unlike cities like New York, Paris has very few skyscrapers; most buildings are ten stories or less.

The next morning, Sun Zhiwei, dressed casually and wearing a baseball cap, walked east along Rivoli Street until he reached the vicinity of the police station building.

He knew there were many good, long-established shops on this street, but there didn't seem to be many people there today.

Sun Zhiwei ignored all of that and stopped at an old shop next to the police station building.

This is an authentic French restaurant, but it's not very big, with only about a dozen tables.

Since it wasn't mealtime, there were no other customers in the restaurant. After Sun Zhiwei sat down, the owner personally came over to serve him.

Sun Zhiwei's French isn't fluent, but he can communicate without problems. He's never stubborn when it comes to eating in unfamiliar places.

He orders whatever the restaurant owner recommends. Although the dishes recommended by the owner may be expensive, at least they won't be bad.

If the dishes recommended by the boss are both expensive and unpalatable, then it's perfectly justifiable for him to flip the table and complain.

While the owner was waiting for him to finish cooking, he was served a glass of white wine and a French pancake, which were served as an aperitif and appetizer before the French meal.

He tasted it and thought it was alright, which made him even more excited for the main course. French cuisine is not British cuisine after all; there are still some differences.

When he was studying in London, he never had any expectations for the restaurants there.

Just as he was enjoying his aperitif, a massive explosion suddenly occurred below the police station building across the street, the shockwave shattering the restaurant's windows instantly. Luckily, he reacted quickly, flipping the table over before the shards of glass pierced him, thus shielding him from the flying debris.

Almost simultaneously, he had already expanded his spatial dimension, covering an area of ​​several hundred meters in radius. In a nearby alley, several menacing-looking men in black caught his attention.

With such a huge explosion, a normal person would panic and run around in all directions, but these people were laughing loudly while looking at the burning police station building, which is clearly abnormal.

This unexpected situation startled Sun Zhiwei, and he naturally wouldn't let these potential culprits get away with it.

As a result, several large pieces of glass that had been flying out from not far away were smashed around the group of people by him. Almost simultaneously, he used spatial cutting to sever the tendons in their hands and feet.

As long as they can't escape, they will naturally attract the attention of the police, because Sun Zhiwei used his spatial ability to see some unexploded explosives on them.

At this moment, the owner of the kitchen rushed to the front to check the situation. He was relieved to see that Sun Zhiwei was not injured.

Taking the opportunity, Sun Zhiwei inquired about the situation: "Boss, does this happen often?"

"Yes, this is the fourth time this month. Those Persians are too arrogant. Last week on the 8th, they even bombed the city hall post office."

You can see fear and anger in the boss's eyes, but they are just ordinary people and there's nothing they can do about it.

There was no time to eat, so Sun Zhiwei had no choice but to leave disappointed.

When he passed by the Persian embassy, ​​he found that it was surrounded by a large number of soldiers and police.

Six trucks blocked the gate of the Persian embassy, ​​which was surrounded by fences on all sides, cutting off all external communication with the embassy and preventing anyone from entering or leaving.

Sun Zhiwei learned from the conversation among the Paris police that the police had already discovered the leader of those people, a man named Vahid Gorgi, who led the operation.

Wahid Gorgi is currently hiding inside the Persian embassy, ​​which is now surrounded. The Paris police have lodged a strong protest, but the other side refuses to hand him over.

It is said that the French embassy in Tehran was also surrounded in the same way.

This “embassy blockade” has lasted for two months now, and there is still no sign of it ending.

Having witnessed the commotion, Sun Zhiwei remembered that our family also had an embassy in the area, so he went over to take a look. He found that our side was also outwardly relaxed but inwardly tense, with guards being very vigilant about people coming and going.

It seems that it's not a good time to stroll around Paris lately, so he had no choice but to turn back to the hotel.

For the next few days, he stayed in the hotel, quietly waiting for his flight to take off.

During the days he waited, he could hear gunshots and explosions from time to time in the city, and the streets became visibly desolate.

The day before he was to leave, he saw it with his own eyes from the balcony window.

In the nearby bustling downtown area, as a car sped past, a burst of bullets suddenly erupted from the vehicle and into the bustling crowd, instantly splattering blood on the street.

Unable to contain his anger, Sun Zhiwei threw a grenade into the gas tank of the other car. Only when he saw the firing car explode into a fireball did he feel relieved.

(End of this chapter)