"I saw the news this morning, StarTech phones exploded due to battery spontaneous combustion." The man in the hat said with a look of disdain, "These people, they couldn't be shills hired by StarTech, right?"
They weren't shills. StarTech had a scandal, yet so many people were still lining up to buy phones. This didn't make sense.
Besides, it was just a phone. He couldn't understand why so many people were queuing. If you were talking about PearPhone or Nexus's new product launches, he would believe people queuing, but what was so special about the foreign phones that people needed to queue to buy them?
"Keep your voice down, don't talk nonsense. Let's go, let's go." The man in the hat's girlfriend quickly pulled his clothes, signaling him not to talk carelessly, then pulled him away.
"StarTech phone battery spontaneous combustion?" The man with sunglasses took out his phone, opened TrendTok, and searched for related videos.
"Let's go." His girlfriend urged him to move forward.
The man with sunglasses walked while scrolling through TrendTok, and soon, he found a video of a StarTech phone battery spontaneously combusting.
He stopped, looked back at the long line in front of the StarTech flagship store, and muttered, "These idiots must be shills."
"What did you say?" The man with sunglasses' girlfriend didn't hear what he said and was about to ask when suddenly, a cheer erupted from the direction of the crowd.
"Wow!"
Immediately after, the man with sunglasses' girlfriend cried out in surprise, "NOVA, it's NOVA!" Ignoring the man with sunglasses, she turned around and ran towards the crowd.
"What are you looking at?" The man with sunglasses quickly chased after her.
His girlfriend had already squeezed into the crowd and was shouting excitedly with them: "NOVA!"
"NOVA!"
The man with sunglasses also saw. It turned out to be a foreign male star, a member of the NOVA group.
The arrival of NOVA ignited the atmosphere at the scene.
The already long queue became even more crowded.
The NOVA members smiled and waved to the crowd, then, escorted by bodyguards, entered the StarTech flagship store.
He was a guest invited to attend the StarTech phone new product launch event.
Shortly after, the store was packed with people surrounding the NOVA male star. He saw a member of the NOVA group holding a StarTech Note phone, posing for photos with reporters.
"Click, click, click…"
The male star struck various poses, showing a charming smile to the surrounding media reporters and fans.
However, an accident happened at this moment.
Suddenly, the phone in his hand started smoking.
The male star was startled, and the phone slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.
"Bang!"
Everyone's eyes were fixed on the smoking phone on the ground.
The smoke grew larger and thicker.
The surrounding crowd quickly retreated.
"Boom!"
With a loud bang, the phone exploded.
Flames gushed out of the phone and it caught fire.
"Ah!" In the crowd, a girl let out a scream.
The scene immediately became chaotic.
Only the media reporters, after the initial confusion, quickly reacted and excitedly pressed their shutters.
This was explosive news.
"#Breaking News# At the scene of the StarTech primary commercial street flagship store new product launch, a phone suddenly exploded and caught fire." — IT Home
"StarTech phones reappear with 'Explosion Gate,' new product launch becomes a 'disaster scene.'" — Huanyu Net
"StarTech phone explodes, NOVA group 'loses their composure.'" — Oriental Finance
"StarTech phone safety hazards once again draw attention, how can consumers protect themselves?" — Capital Electronic Weekly
...
Related news reports quickly made headlines on major web portals and trended on hot searches.
This was just the beginning.
...
At the same time, in a StarTech phone store in Silver District, Azure City, there were only three or five customers.
A female customer was holding a StarTech phone, experiencing its functions, while a sales consultant next to her introduced the phone's performance.
Suddenly, the female customer let out a startled cry, and the phone slipped from her hand and fell onto the table.
"What's wrong, Miss?" the sales consultant asked with a puzzled look.
"The phone is so hot!" the female customer said in horror.
"So hot?" The sales consultant reached out to pick up the phone, wondering what was going on. However, just as he reached out and before he could touch the phone, it started smoking.
Holy cow!
The sales consultant was startled.
The smoke grew larger and thicker.
The sales consultant was at a loss and stood frozen on the spot.
"Ah!"
The female customer screamed in fright and quickly backed away.
The other people in the store were also startled by this sudden scene. They all put down what they were holding and gathered around.
"Whoosh!"
Accompanied by a few gasps, the phone caught fire, and the flames instantly engulfed the entire phone.
...
In Apex District, Elysium City, StarTech's largest global flagship store, covering 1500 square meters.
On the weekend, the store was bustling with people.
"Ah!"
Suddenly, a woman around thirty years old pointed at a phone on the counter and exclaimed.
She saw the phone on the counter was smoking.
After a few tens of seconds...
"Bang!"
The phone exploded.
The glass counter was shattered.
...
In Solis, at night, the StarTech store in Neon Square was brightly lit.
Just then, a piercing fire alarm sounded in the store.
Customers in the store ran out one after another. Some customers were sprayed with water by the fire sprinkler system, looking disheveled.
In the chaos, it could be seen that on the floor of the store, a phone was burning, and the water raining down from the ceiling could not extinguish the flames.
...
In Liberty City, at one in the morning, due to the time difference, the streets were empty.
A police car slowly drove down the empty street.
Suddenly, a police officer noticed the light of a fire ahead.
He immediately drove over to investigate.
It turned out to be a StarTech phone store that was on fire.
Blazing flames shot out of the store, illuminating the surrounding buildings.
The police officer quickly used his walkie-talkie to call the fire department.
Half an hour later, the fire truck finally arrived at the scene, but the entire building had already been engulfed by the flames.
Afterward, the Liberty City police reviewed the store's surveillance video and discovered the cause of the fire: it was caused by a phone spontaneously combusting.
Fortunately, there was no one in the store when the fire occurred, so there were no casualties.
On this day, at the same time, spontaneous combustion incidents occurred in StarTech stores in dozens of cities around the world.
GNN, The Liberty Times, The Times, and other major global media outlets reported on this incident.
The StarTech phone battery spontaneous combustion incident instantly became a global hot topic.
This brought a huge negative impact to StarTech Electronics.
The most direct impact was that StarTech's stock price, like it had taken a laxative, began a crazy plunge!
Before the market closed that afternoon, StarTech's stock price plummeted by 7%.
Its market value evaporated by billions of credits.
(End of this chapter)
Please Send Power Stones...
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Translator and Editor - Husband
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