Chapter 30: Killing by Proxy
Page (1/3)
Ji Li could already be considered a veteran of countless battles. Through one escort mission after another, he had developed an extraordinary sensitivity to the aura of ghosts and death.
Generally speaking, any place where a ghost lingered would be permeated by an unmistakable chill.
Yet when Little Liu had died just now, Ji Li had sensed nothing beforehand.
It had taken the commotion of the crowd for him to realize that a ghost had appeared.
His hair streamed behind him, and his brows drew tightly together.
Either this ghost possessed some unusual manner of existence, or his own senses had been weakened.
“Third, did you notice anything before Little Liu died?”
Ji Li could only place his hopes in the Third Personality. Judging from the previous two missions, the Third Personality possessed the sharpest powers of observation and the keenest senses.
The Third Personality seemed to have anticipated the question and responded at once:
“Less than ten seconds passed between our conversation with Little Liu and the ghost’s attack. But I truly sensed no supernatural power surrounding us.
“My guess is that this ghost is extraordinarily powerful.
“So powerful that it did not even give us the slightest chance to detect its presence!”
Hearing this answer, Ji Li fell silent. He had reached the same conclusion.
The difficulty of the mission was certainly increasing step by step. The previous mission had already been like that; this one would likely prove even more grueling.
Most troubling of all, the ghost had to kill all forty-three employees within six hours.
That number might not appear particularly large, but divided among the six staff members, it was an overwhelming burden.
If they could not detect the ghost’s movements at all, then they would have no way to stop death from arriving…
And in Ji Li’s heart, he had already determined that a great many people would have to die.
Without casualties, they would never uncover the pattern behind the killings, and without that, finding a way to survive would be even more impossible.
Once he recognized this problem, Ji Li became even more eager to seize control of the surveillance room. It was the key to discerning the ghost’s targets!
Under Ji Li’s frantic sprint, the seventh floor quickly came into view.
With a flashlight strapped to his head and the hotel phone in his palm, Ji Li searched from door to door. At last, at the end of a corridor, he found a large door bearing a sign that read: “Maintenance Department.”
He shoved the door open. It was unlocked.
Yet once the entire room came into view, he found it completely deserted.
Ji Li pressed his lips together, then realized that perhaps the maintenance staff had already begun restoring the power.
At that moment, the hotel phone in his hand began to vibrate. The screen lit up: Fang Shenyan was calling.
Normally, the staff communicated with one another through the phones issued by the hotel. After all, they always had power and always had a signal.
“This is Ji Li.”
Page (1/3)
Page (2/3)
“Yu Guo and I have just brought the remaining employees from above the tenth floor to the lobby on the first floor. I’m currently on the basement level, where a dead employee has appeared.”
Fang Shenyan’s voice was somewhat cool and restrained. He reported the situation succinctly.
Ji Li frowned, a strange feeling stirring in his heart. Why was there another death?
“What happened?”
“I found several maintenance workers on the basement level. They were repairing the power system.
“But while we were waiting, one of the employees suddenly died. He broke his own neck with his hands.
“This time, the ghost killed by possessing someone and forcing them to commit suicide!”
The situation on Fang Shenyan’s side was not complicated, and it also resolved Ji Li’s confusion.
The maintenance department on the seventh floor was empty because the workers had gone to the basement to make repairs as soon as the incident occurred.
What troubled Ji Li was that it now appeared the ghost had begun killing in different locations at the same time.
“Do you know roughly when that employee died?”
There was scarcely any pause on Fang Shenyan’s end before he replied, “Ten thirteen and fifty seconds.”
Ji Li raised his wrist and glanced at his watch. The puzzlement between his brows deepened.
“I’m standing outside the maintenance department on the seventh floor. When I came upstairs just now, another person died as well. Judging by the timing, he and the employee on your basement level died at virtually the same moment.”
“At the same moment?” Fang Shenyan sounded faintly perplexed, almost unable to believe it.
“Counting the person who just died, I have only four maintenance workers here. According to them, there should be seven in total.
“But the remaining three are missing.”
Ji Li’s expression gradually darkened. He said quietly, “I’m on the seventh floor. I’ll search for the remaining three.”
He hung up, then immediately called Tongguan, who was with the other group.
The instant the call connected, Tongguan and Ji Li spoke almost simultaneously, uttering nearly identical words.
“A dead person has appeared here.”
“Has someone died there?”
Tongguan froze. Then, realizing what Ji Li meant, he asked, “A dead person appeared on your side too?”
Ji Li let out a long breath. He seemed to have confirmed a certain suspicion, but he still asked unwillingly, “About when did the victim appear on your side?”
“Ten thirteen and fifty seconds!”
“It was the same here.”
After saying this, Ji Li hung up and stood motionless, his expression shifting between light and shadow.
Page (2/3)
Page (3/3)
Only then did the Third Personality speak softly in his mind, revealing a terrifying truth.
“This ghost possesses the ability to create doubles…”
It was killing people simultaneously in different locations. There might even be victims who had not yet been discovered!
Ji Li faintly arrived at an answer. Perhaps the reason he had been unable to locate the source of the supernatural power was that the ghosts currently killing people were not the original body!
The situation was far worse than they had initially imagined.
They had assumed that, with forty-three employees standing between them and danger, they could use the number of deaths and the rules to find a way to avoid the killings within six hours. After all, with the information they had been given, the staff members should have been the last to be attacked.
But now everything had changed far too quickly. In not even twenty minutes, three people had already died, not counting any victims who had yet to be found!
If the ghost could create doubles, then killing everyone within an extremely short time would be no difficult task!
The thought made Ji Li’s headache grow increasingly severe.
“Bang, bang, bang! Is anyone there?”
Just then, Ji Li suddenly heard a series of dull thuds from the very end of the corridor.
That was where the elevator was!
His eyelid twitched. He immediately understood what had happened: when the power failed, someone had been trapped inside the elevator.
He cursed inwardly at the trouble, drew a steel knife from his bag, and walked toward the elevator doors.
“Is someone outside? Hurry and help us open the doors!”
Perhaps they had heard Ji Li pushing open the maintenance department door earlier. The living people inside the elevator had regained hope and begun shouting desperately.
Otherwise, Ji Li might truly have missed them.
Gripping the knife in one hand, Ji Li wedged its tip into the gap between the doors. Drawing on the strength of his arms, he began prying open the sealed elevator doors by force.
The gap widened little by little. The beam of his headlamp shone through it and into the elevator.
“Boom!”
At last, Ji Li forced the doors open. He was drenched in sweat and was just about to speak.
But the sight before him made even this manager, who had long since become immune to fear, feel his scalp prickle.
The elevator car was stuck between the sixth and seventh floors. Ji Li could only bend down and see half of the car.
Yet from that small visible portion, he saw three bodies facing him.
All three heads had been twisted into the same grotesque position—turned a full one hundred and eighty degrees backward!
Their bodies faced forward, but their heads had been rotated toward the rear!
Page (3/3)