"Holy shit! What the hell is that!"
Ji Li's hair stood on end from the shock, his second persona screaming aloud in his mind.
In the master bedroom, the only light came from the phone screen. That sudden, horrifying vision made every heart tremble.
Yu Guo, closest to the image with the phone in his hand, panicked and hurled it away. It struck the glass window, leaving a crack in the once-intact pane.
"Go, go, go!"
Ji Li shook his head violently, leapt up, shoved Fang Shenyan, and drove the group out of the master bedroom.
Ding Miaoxin and Cao Yuan bolted the instant he spoke.
Ji Li, however, ended up last. As he left the room, his curiosity gnawed at him, and he glanced back at the hole.
But now, the light was gone.
"The killer in 702 has realized we're here!"
As Ji Li stepped into the living room, regret hit him.
With the phone's camera blocking the hole, there was no way the person in 702 could have seen anything.
His panicked order to retreat had only exposed them as *peepers*.
He hurried into the living room.
The five staffs gathered in the center, sitting on the floor in a tight circle. The shock they had endured seemed to have pulled them closer together.
Ji Li asked for the notebook. Fang Shenyan, pale-faced, handed it over without a word.
*October 20th, 2015…*
Ji Li's brow furrowed. The deranged man had written that he was already dead, and that he was going to find the woman in 702.
The date—two days ago.
But why had they just witnessed the murder now, through the hole?
What had the ghost been doing these past two days?
Yu Guo clawed at his hair, restless in the oppressive atmosphere, and blurted out:
"Everyone, it seems clear now.
701 belonged to a twisted creep. After he died, he became a ghost.
But he still didn't change—he went after the woman in 702.
That seems simple enough… but too much doesn't add up!"
Fang Shenyan nodded, agreeing. He too felt things were progressing far too smoothly.
"There are still many unanswered questions.
First—how did the pervert know he was going to die?
Second—the final diary entry was dated two days ago, but what happened next door was clearly just now. There's a gap of two days!
Third—why is this room so clean and tidy? It doesn't match his personality at all!"
Ji Li lit a cigarette, then tossed it onto the coffee table.
"As for the third point, I can explain.
The room's layout has likely been altered by the hotel, stripping away useless details and leaving only the relevant ones.
That's one of the task's hidden rules.
As for the first… perhaps there's some unknown link between the hotel and the ghosts. That kind of deep, overarching secret doesn't matter to us right now.
The real issue is—why did he reach for the woman two days ago, but only kill her tonight?"
The others had little mission experience. Ji Li spoke half to them, half to himself.
After a long silence, his third persona voiced a faint conjecture.
"Ji Li… could what we saw be a replay of what happened two days ago?"
Ji Li's brows tightened. He asked quietly:
"What do you mean?"
The third persona gathered its words, then reasoned aloud:
"Maybe the woman in 702 was already killed two days ago in the exact same way.
What we just saw was the ghost reenacting it for some purpose."
Ji Li turned the thought over, searching for flaws—but in the end, the idea seemed entirely possible.
"So, the reason we were shown the murder… was to reveal a path. Either to life—or to death."
As the words left him, the voices in his head faded away.
Both his third persona and second persona gave no objection.
"Brother Ji… who are you talking to?"
Cao Yuan's voice pulled him back. Ji Li looked up to find the others staring at him with strange expressions.
He waved it off without explanation.
A glance at his watch: 8:48 p.m. The mission had been underway for nearly an hour.
Chapter 11 Dead End Unleashed
Ever since those eyes had stared into him, Ji Li carried a dreadful premonition.
He glanced at his companions' strained faces and said quietly:
"There's a ninety percent chance the pervert from 701 is the ghost we're meant to face in this task.
And now, I can roughly answer Fang Shenyan's second question.
These past two days, it hasn't been idle.
When it wrote the last page of the diary, it had already gone to 702 and killed the woman.
Then it waited for us to arrive, deliberately replaying the scene."
Yu Guo shot a distracted look at the phone tossed into the bedroom.
"Why?" he muttered.
Ji Li hesitated, but did not answer right away.
*What are you really thinking?* his second persona pressed, just as confused.
Then the third persona spoke softly in his mind:
*Earlier, we wondered whether the ghost showed us the murder to reveal a path to life—or a trap to death.*
*But… if we follow Murphy's Law, perhaps it spent these two days crafting a perfect dead end.*
*A dead end designed to ensnare every staff at once.*
Bang!
Just as the living huddled in the living room, paralyzed by dread, the security door was suddenly struck with a violent blow!
Ji Li's hand twitched, cigarette ash falling onto his clothes, but his eyes never left the door.
The crash seized everyone's attention. Cao Yuan, nearest the entrance, jolted like he'd been shocked and leapt back into the group.
"It's here? It's here!"
He shoved frantically at Yu Guo's shoulder, growling, "It's here! It's here! We have to run!"
Yu Guo swatted his arm away, edging subtly closer to Ji Li instead.
Even at death's door, he seemed calm.
"Run where? This place is tiny—where could we go?"
"This… this…"
Ding Miaoxin collapsed completely, hands braced on the coffee table, too weak even to stand.
She was shattered by terror. Yu Guo's words barely reached her ears.
All she could remember was that crimson, sin-drenched eye, looming to consume her life.
Fang Shenyan, standing nearer the door, glanced at it, then at Ji Li, who had not moved.
At last, he seemed to understand why Ji Li had never answered Yu Guo's question.
"Because… the dead end has arrived."