Chapter Eleven: The Dead End Erupts

“Damn it! What the hell is that!”

Ji Li was so terrified by the scene that his hair stood on end; his second personality in his mind even shouted out in alarm.

Inside the master bedroom, only the image on the phone emitted light. This sudden shock made everyone’s hearts tremble with fear.

Yu Guo, holding the phone and closest to the projection, immediately threw the phone hard, smashing it against the glass window and cracking it slightly.

“Let’s get out of here!”

Ji Li shook his head violently, stood up from the floor, and shoved Fang Shenyan aside, pushing through the crowd to leave the master bedroom.

Ding Miaoxin and Cao Yuan had already bolted out the moment he spoke.

Ji Li was the last to leave. As he stepped out of the master bedroom, he couldn’t suppress his curiosity and glanced back at the hole.

But this time, he found no light beam inside…

“The killer from room 702 has realized we’re here!”

The moment Ji Li stepped into the living room, regret washed over him.

Because the phone’s camera had blocked the hole, nothing could be seen from room 702 when they peeked in.

Ji Li panicked immediately and ordered a retreat, which only fully revealed them as the group of “peeping” intruders.

He hurried out of the master bedroom and entered the living room.

Five staff members sat cross-legged in the center of the living room, huddled together. After the earlier shock, it seemed their cohesion had grown stronger.

Ji Li was the first to ask for the diary. Fang Shenyan said little and passed it over, his face pale.

“October 20, 2015…” Ji Li frowned deeply. The perverted man said he was already dead and was going to find the woman from room 702.

This statement was dated just two days ago!

But why was the murder they just witnessed through the hole happening only now?

What was this ghost doing during these two days?

Yu Guo ran his hand through his hair, restless under the complex situation. Unable to bear the oppressive atmosphere, he was the first to speak.

“Everyone, things seem to have become clearer.

The place we’re in, room 701, is the residence of a perverted, sleazy man who became a ghost after he died.

Yet even in death, he hasn’t changed and went after the woman in room 702.

It seems simple, but too many things don’t add up!”

Fang Shenyan nodded in agreement. He also felt that things were progressing too easily.

“We still have many unanswered questions!

First, how did the perverted man know he was going to die?

Second, I noticed his diary’s last entry was two days ago, but what happened next door clearly just happened now — there’s a two-day gap!

Third, why is the perverted man’s room so tidy? It doesn’t fit the personality he showed!”

Ji Li frowned as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes, lit one, and tossed it onto the coffee table.

“I can answer the third point.

The room’s setup we see might have been altered by the hotel to some extent, removing useless information and preserving the relevant data.

It’s one of the unspoken rules of this task.

As for the first point…

Perhaps there is some unknown connection between the hotel and the ghost. Such a broad, deep mystery isn’t important to us right now.

The key question is, why, if he reached out to the woman in room 702 two days ago, did he only kill her today?”

Most present had no mission experience, and Ji Li was asking himself this too.

After a moment of silence, the third personality spoke up with a somewhat vague guess.

“Ji Li… do you think what we saw was the ghost reenacting the murder from two days ago?”

Ji Li frowned and quietly asked, “What do you mean?”

The third personality chose its words carefully before analyzing aloud:

“Maybe the woman in 702 was killed by the same method two days ago.

What we’re seeing now is the ghost reenacting the scene for some purpose!”

Ji Li pondered whether this theory had flaws but, after careful thought, found it highly plausible.

“So, in other words, the reason we were shown this murder is to reveal the way of survival or the way of death!”

Once spoken, the voices in his mind completely faded.

The third personality agreed, and the second had no objections.

“Brother Ji, who… who are you talking to?” Cao Yuan’s voice broke the silence. Ji Li suddenly looked up, noticing the others staring at him with strange expressions.

Ji Li waved his hand, offering no explanation.

He glanced at his watch — 8:48 p.m., nearly an hour since the mission began.

Since those eyes had stared at him, he had a premonition.

Looking at his companions’ varied faces, he whispered,

“I’m about ninety percent sure the perverted man in 701 is the ghost we’re dealing with in this mission.

Also, I can roughly answer Fang Shenyan’s second question.

During these two days, the ghost hasn’t been idle.

When it wrote the last diary entry, it had already gone to 702 and killed that woman.

And it waited for us to arrive, deliberately recreating the scene.”

Yu Guo glanced absently at the phone thrown into the master bedroom and asked, “Why?”

Ji Li hesitated but did not answer immediately.

“Just what are you thinking?” the second personality asked, confused by Ji Li’s silence.

The third personality spoke softly in his mind:

“We were guessing whether the ghost showed us the murder illusion to hint at survival or to trap us into death.

But… following Murphy’s Law,

maybe it used the staff’s eagerness to find clues, spending two days crafting a deadly trap.

A trap that would instantly ensnare all the staff!”

“Bang!”

Just as the living in the living room were lost in psychological terror, the security door was suddenly slammed hard!

Ji Li’s fingers trembled, dropping a bit of ash on his clothes, but his eyes remained fixed unblinkingly on the door.

Everyone was drawn to the noise. Cao Yuan, closest to the door, jumped up as if electrocuted and pressed into the group.

“It’s here! It’s here!”

Cao Yuan pushed Yu Guo hard, growling, “It’s coming! Let’s run!”

Yu Guo, annoyed, shrugged off Cao Yuan’s arm and subtly edged closer to Ji Li.

At death’s door, he oddly remained calm. “Run where? This place is so small. Where could we possibly escape to?”

“This… this…” Ding Miaoxin collapsed completely, propping herself weakly on the coffee table, too scared to move or even run.

She was utterly terrified, her ears deaf to Yu Guo’s words.

All she remembered was the blood-red, hellish evil eye about to swallow her life.

Fang Shenyan, near the door, glanced at it, then looked at the still motionless Ji Li.

He seemed to understand why Ji Li hadn’t answered Yu Guo’s question earlier.

“Because the death trap has sprung…”