Chapter Twenty-Six: Two Tasks

"What is going on?" Tong Guan and Chang Nian, unfamiliar with the situation at Branch 7, asked while running.

Ji Li did not turn around, only answering in a low voice, "There are currently four ghosts in the hotel. Two days ago, we discovered external ghosts attempting to collude with internal ones, which is why supervision on the second floor was just tightened."

Tong Guan felt a jolt of alarm. He had never experienced a situation involving contact between internal and external ghosts, nor had he even seen entities outside of hotel missions. This turn of events was completely beyond his expectations.

By the time Ji Li reached the second floor, the dim corridor was deathly silent, and the ghost residents were perfectly still. Because of the iron plating, the glass shards from the earlier impact had scattered outside; at least on the surface, the second floor appeared as if nothing had happened.

After observing for a while, Ji Li could find no anomalies. He had no choice but to look up and ask the air, "Hotel, did you see anything happen?"

"I am sorry, Mr. Ji Li. There is nothing unusual within the hotel. The disturbance originated from the outside, and I have neither the authority nor the capability to observe it."

The sweet female voice represented the will of the hotel, and its words could not be false. Yet, Ji Li felt an inexplicable sense of wrongness, a strange sensation that seemed to permeate from the inside out. It was as if something had been altered invisibly, yet he had no way to investigate it and could only let it be. He realized that if he remained powerless until this conspiracy surfaced, the price he would pay would be manifold and tragic.

"Why hasn't the new mission come yet?" Tong Guan sounded impatient. He felt that since arriving at Branch 7, his past experience was proving useless. First, there were supposed to be three new staff members reporting, but Li Xing had arrived two minutes later than him. Then, the mission was delayed, which contradicted his experience from six previous missions. And now, he had just learned that at Branch 7, there could be external ghosts lurking at the hotel windows, colluding with internal residents at any moment.

He turned slowly to look at the silent Ji Li. His bright, star-like eyes stared at Ji Li’s pale, cold face as he whispered, "I feel like this mission... something is wrong."

Ji Li looked up and met his gaze, glancing around, "Where is Li Xing?"

Yu Guo popped his head up from behind, "Downstairs!"

When they reached the ground floor, Li Xing was hunched over the memorial portraits with a magnifying glass, performing strange movements. Tong Guan gripped Chang Nian’s hand and whispered, "Do you see anything special about this Li Xing?"

Chang Nian tossed her ponytail back, her delicate features set in a grave expression. After a moment of contemplation, she said, "He is extremely ordinary, nothing special at all. I know what you are suspecting, but at least from what we can see now, he hasn't done anything unreasonable."

Hearing Chang Nian’s words, Tong Guan didn't say more, only murmuring, "Li Xing’s delayed arrival and the delay of the hotel email—there might be some connection between the two. The probability is very, very low, but it is definitely not impossible!"

Meanwhile, on the other side, Ji Li was whispering with Fang Shenyan. "Li Xing arrived nearly three minutes later than Tong Guan and his companion. He must have some trait, but I cannot see through it."

Fang Shenyan habitually pushed up his glasses; behind the reflective lenses, it was impossible to read the emotions in his eyes. Ji Li nodded, "The mission email should have been sent two hours ago, but it has been delayed. I suspect the hotel is waiting for something."

Although Ji Li and Tong Guan were far apart, their speculations converged on the same point: Li Xing and the abnormal delay of the mission email might be linked. However, Ji Li leaned toward the hotel’s intentions, while Tong Guan’s attention was fixed on Li Xing’s peculiarity.

"If that’s the case..." Yu Guo leaned back in his chair, mumbling to himself.

Ji Li turned and reached for the hotel phone on the table, then paused. He glanced at his right hand, which had reached for the phone. This time, he had used his right hand out of habit, but his left pinky finger had twitched for no reason. Ji Li looked at his left hand suspiciously, but it remained still. He looked at the six phones belonging to the six staff members on the table, shook his head, and walked quickly toward Tong Guan.

Tong Guan, accompanied by Chang Nian, happened to be walking back toward the solid wood table. As they met, they spoke in unison:

"No need to wait!"

Ji Li nodded, unsurprised. He had long felt that Tong Guan was extraordinary. To have brought his staff to a two-star hotel without a single casualty meant his abilities were surely on par with, if not superior to, his own.

Tong Guan spoke softly, "We can only wait and see what happens!"

Ji Li turned to Fang Shenyan and Yu Guo, saying, "Let’s return to our rooms and rest first to prepare for the upcoming mission."

...

All afternoon, the staff stayed in their rooms, ready for the new mission at any time. Ji Li was communicating with his other two personalities about the current eerie changes; Fang Shenyan sat in his chair directly facing the door, eyes closed in meditation; Yu Guo was still holding his livestream phone, arguing with the platform management to see if the ban could be lifted; Tong Guan and Chang Nian’s situation was more complex—they were arguing.

Chang Nian had a fiery temper, completely the opposite of her delicate appearance, and was currently scolding Tong Guan loudly. While Tong Guan was clear-headed and calm, he was also very straightforward and quick to ignite. This couple argued a little almost every day.

Everyone was busy. In the room at the very end of the third floor, Li Xing was no different. The curtains were drawn, and the lights were off. Li Xing sat at the desk, his face illuminated by the cold light of the computer screen, flickering between light and shadow. His once-vibrant face appeared stiff and rigid, but his fingers were incredibly agile as he held the hotel-issued phone, typing out lines of black text.

"It’s coming... it’s coming..."

Li Xing’s expression seemed to verge on madness. As his fingertips tapped away, the eerie light in his eyes grew brighter. At one point, his pupils even turned a deep crimson!

After typing the final character, Li Xing seemed to lose all his strength and slumped backward. His head hung over the back of the chair, half-asleep and half-awake, motionless.

"Ding-dong!"

As he stopped, the phone, emitting a faint glow, suddenly lit up with an email:

"Recipient: Tianhai Hotel, Branch 7 staff member Li Xing.
Starting at 10:00 PM on October 26, 2015, for a duration of 12 hours.
Discover the content of this real mission, and..."

But... the email content could not finish displaying before it immediately vanished!

A new message appeared, overwriting it:

"Recipient: Tianhai Hotel, Branch 7 staff member Li Xing.
Please arrive at the Bogu Commercial Building in this city at 10:00 PM on October 26, 2015.
Do your best to protect the 43 staff members currently in the building and prevent them from dying at the hands of ghosts.
Time limit: six hours. You must not leave the building during this period.
If the protection mission is not completed within six hours, the hotel will lift the restrictions on the ghosts, and everyone will be killed without a chance for survival!"