Chapter 52: The Opportunity Arrives
"What exactly is hidden on the eighteenth floor…"
Fang Shenyan and Yu Guo walked side by side into the depths of the rooftop, the pervasive aura of death making the cold wind feel even sharper.
Even now, they still didn't understand why this place had earned Ji Li's special attention, yet some mysterious force seemed to be guiding them.
It was the scent of corpses.
"Old Xue's body should have been on the fifth floor, but Xiao Qi never saw it. That means something took the body away," Yu Guo muttered while sprinting.
Fang Shenyan, however, was focused elsewhere. In his mind's eye, he saw a faint thread…
A tangible yet nearly invisible gray line seemed to emanate from a spot on the eighteenth floor.
His eyelid twitched as he glanced at Yu Guo.
Yu Guo appeared oblivious to the gray line; only Fang Shenyan could see it.
It seemed to be some kind of sign—something was guiding him.
Fang Shenyan thought for a moment, then instinctively looked at the back of his left hand.
There was a black, gothic, eye-shaped tattoo…
But there was no time to ponder its meaning. Resolute, he led Yu Guo toward the source of the gray line.
Gradually, a long corridor appeared before them.
Five corpses stood upright on the floor, each in a different pose, their faces frozen in confusion and terror.
Yu Guo abruptly stopped, his throat tightening:
"These are the five workers who died earlier on the eighteenth floor!"
Fang Shenyan squinted. The guidance of the gray line seemed to weaken here, as if the hint was about to end.
He instinctively touched the back of his left hand, feeling a faint warmth from the tattoo.
But it felt unreal—he couldn't tell if it was his racing blood or the tattoo itself reacting.
Then, a series of hurried footsteps came from behind.
Fang Shenyan knew Tongguan and Chang Nian were approaching. Shaking off the muddled thoughts, he urged:
"Keep going. The truth might be just ahead!"
...
"The curse originates from our hotel phones!"
Tongguan led the way, following Fang and Yu, sprinting to the end of the eighteenth floor.
Beside him, Chang Nian cradled the calm Xiao Qi.
"But what I don't understand is, if all clues point to our phones, why hasn't the real mission appeared yet?"
During the sprint, Tongguan repeatedly checked his phone. It still showed the same false task.
This made him question his judgment.
Chang Nian's mind raced just as fast. After everything they had endured, they were now at the final stage—and still didn't know the real mission.
Where exactly was the opportunity to uncover the true task?
Hope depended entirely on chasing forward; Chang Nian silently prayed that the corridor's end would provide the answer she sought.
...
Fang Shenyan and Yu Guo reached the dead-end first, facing a bizarre scene.
A male corpse they had never seen before lay with his head tilted to the side. All ten fingers were broken at extreme angles.
He stood at the doorway of a dim storage room.
When Yu Guo leaned sideways to peer inside, he saw two more corpses, frozen like sculptures, dead from ghost-induced suicide.
One on the left, one on the right, about two steps apart. Their bodies faced the wall, yet their heads stared blankly at Yu Guo.
Fang Shenyan crouched beside the first corpse, studying it carefully.
"He's been dead a long time; rigor mortis is extreme. But all his fingers and arms were violently broken post-mortem.
His clothes are in disarray, as if someone searched him roughly.
I'd guess it was Ji Li."
Yu Guo emerged from the cold storage, shrinking back.
"Then why would Ji Li break his fingers?"
Fang Shenyan seemed to realize something. He searched the male corpse thoroughly, then straightened, hands empty.
"The phone… it's gone."
Yu Guo drew a sharp breath, piecing together the events that had occurred.
"Ji Li must have discovered a major clue. He came here, ignored the two corpses on either side, and focused solely on this male corpse.
It shows that his intent was extremely strong, heading straight for the phone on the man's body…"
"And because the man died from ghost-induced suicide, his arms were bent and fingers stiff.
Ji Li couldn't unlock it immediately and had to forcibly break the finger joints to access the phone.
That means this corpse's phone contains crucial clues to the escape route—possibly the direct path to survival!"
Yu Guo's explanation was cut off when a man and a woman appeared behind Fang Shenyan, holding an adorable little girl.
The latter part of Yu Guo's statement was Tongguan's addition.
After hearing this, Fang Shenyan turned to Tongguan, then cast a deep glance at Xiao Qi.
"I don't recommend you bring her here."
"Why?"
"Dad!!!"
As their conversation ended, Xiao Qi suddenly wriggled free from Chang Nian's arms and darted into the open storage room.
Chang Nian quickly followed, soothing the sobbing girl.
Tongguan watched this unfold, sighing inwardly but remaining focused.
He looked at the male corpse, retrieved the hotel phone from his pocket, and opened the contacts page.
"The pattern of killings remains, but our previous assumptions were wrong.
It's not the worker closest to us who die, but anyone who becomes linked to the hotel phone in any way.
The source of the curse is our hotel phones!"
Neither Fang Shenyan nor Yu Guo knew that Tongguan had already recorded the full workers list on the phone.
At the time, his actions had been unintentional, meant only to better organize and record the sequence of deaths.
He never imagined it would cost so many workers their lives.
Fang Shenyan frowned, realizing he hadn't considered this.
"Looking at it this way, things are actually much simpler.
All we need is the real mission content, and we'll have room to act."
Yu Guo pursed his lips, concerned that the ghost still hadn't attacked them.
While they discussed this outside the storage room, Chang Nian gently patted Xiao Qi's back and studied the two corpses.
In the dim light, she examined the middle-aged man on the right, then compared him with Xiao Qi's father on the left, bowing her head in thought.
After a moment of contemplation, she suddenly lifted her head.
She sprang to her feet and walked directly to the male corpse on the right, eyes fixed intently on its fingers…
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