Chapter Nine: The Identity of the Landlord

“What do you mean by that?”

The third personality’s words were strange. Ji Li roughly understood the implication but wanted a clearer explanation.

“It means that at the exact moment the door to Room 701 closed, another door closed simultaneously. Two sounds, almost perfectly overlapping!”

Ji Li blinked as the solid wooden door before him seemed to deepen in his eyes.

Suddenly!

Four cracks along the door oozed thick, crimson blood at an astonishing speed, swiftly covering the entire door surface and flowing toward Ji Li as if something was about to engulf him in a sea of blood!

Just as his pupils constricted to their limit, a hand rested on his shoulder!

“Whew…”

Ji Li snapped back to reality. The door remained unmoved, spotless and without any trace of blood. The floor beneath his feet was as pristine as ever.

“What are you looking at?”

Fang Shenyen’s gentle face appeared, though his voice was stiff and emotionless, his usual awkward demeanor.

Ji Li shook his head, signaling that everything he just experienced was an illusion.

“Nothing… You go ahead and check the layout of the room first.”

Fang Shenyen glanced at Ji Li with suspicion before leading the bewildered Ding Miaoxin and Cao Yuan deeper inside the room.

Yu Guo had already gone ahead with his phone, heading to the bathroom; his “ghost-hunting livestream” continued.

In the living room of 701, Ji Li was left alone, facing the empty door.

“Are you sure?” Ji Li asked expressionlessly as he approached the door, peering through the peephole.

“My senses should be sharper than yours and the second personality’s; I’m about eighty percent confident,” the third personality replied honestly, a fact evident from their last coffin mission.

The third personality made up for Ji Li’s lack of insight.

“I don’t believe it!” The second personality, always opposing the third, spoke sharply.

“You say two door-closing sounds happened simultaneously, which means they must have been very close to us! But there are only two rooms on the seventh floor: 701 and 702. I’ve noticed the door to 702 has remained tightly shut the entire time; it hasn’t opened once! This makes no sense!”

Ji Li listened to their argument silently, then slowly pressed his face against the cold door.

His eyes met the blurry peephole lens.

The hallway’s view was slightly distorted, as if the world itself had blurred, yet it remained relatively clean.

On the other side, Room 702 was deathly silent; the dark door’s flamboyant fan doll didn’t even sway.

After a long moment, Ji Li turned and looked at the living room, which was as clean as if no one had ever lived there, and softly said, “You all make good points. Let’s investigate further.”

Room 701 was a two-bedroom, one-living room layout.

Everything was quite ordinary, nothing particularly notable. If there was any anomaly, it was that the room was exceptionally clean.

But this cleanliness didn’t mean it was brand new.

All the furnishings were meticulously arranged, each item placed with precision and not a speck of dust in sight.

Even the curtains on the sofa were perfectly smooth without a single wrinkle.

However, slight yellowing on the walls and ceiling suggested that the previous occupant had been a heavy smoker, and had lived here for a considerable time.

Ji Li ran his hand over the top of the television and twirled his fingers, silently speculating about what kind of person might have lived here.

Meanwhile, Yu Guo emerged from the bathroom holding his phone.

“Guys, don’t be disappointed! Although this place doesn’t look haunted at all, I can guarantee that something terrifying will happen here soon!”

“Hey, hey, hey! Don’t go! Stop watching that female streamer next door, no…”

Yu Guo’s expression darkened, and he turned off his phone, sighing as he looked at Ji Li. “This place doesn’t seem haunted at all…”

“I searched the bathroom thoroughly—no sign of anything related to ghosts. Now all the viewers have left!”

He slumped onto the sofa, dejected. “If I hadn’t seen those three ghosts on the hotel’s second floor with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe a word you said.”

Ji Li said nothing, pulling a cigarette from his pocket, placing it between his lips, and rising to walk toward the kitchen.

The kitchen felt even more lifeless than the living room.

The cold-toned tiles illuminated Ji Li’s face, revealing a chill and desolate expression, as if no fire had been lit there for a long time.

Frowning, he smoked as he opened the kitchen window. The night wind stirred his long hair, deepening his contemplative look.

“The hotel’s email clearly stated that the sixth replacement person would be waiting at the mission location, but here… it’s completely empty.”

Ji Li left the kitchen empty-handed. The other three came out of the two bedrooms, and the five staff members gathered in the center of the living room.

Fang Shenyen, watching the smoke curl around Ji Li, also gave in to his craving, lighting a cigarette as he spoke:

“Both bedrooms are intact. We searched every corner and found nothing unusual…”

“But I think the owner of this house was a couple, either cohabiting or married.”

Ji Li, intrigued by this, lifted his head and asked Fang Shenyen to elaborate.

“The secondary bedroom is clearly unoccupied, as seen from the empty wardrobe. But in the master bedroom, there are slight sweat stains on one corner of the bed sheet, and the wardrobe contains both men’s and women’s clothes.

Generally, men sweat more profusely, and lying naked on a sheet over time leaves noticeable marks.”

Ji Li noticed Ding Miaoxin nodding in agreement as Fang Shenyen spoke. Both had marital experience, so their deductions were likely accurate.

“However, it looks like they were preparing to move out—the furnishings have clearly been thoroughly cleaned.”

“No, that’s not right…”

At this moment, Yu Guo, who had remained silent, frowned and said, “Your theory doesn’t hold.”

“Why?”

“Because I only found one set of toiletries in the bathroom, and they’re distinctly male!”

Yu Guo looked at Fang Shenyen, who was quietly smoking, then pointed toward the doorway.

“There’s not a single pair of shoes on the shoe rack. I rummaged through the bathroom trash bin; even the packaging bags had been discarded. Everything that could identify someone has been thoroughly erased.”

A hint of confusion appeared on Fang Shenyen’s pale face; he didn’t quite understand.

“What he means is that everything in the room has been cleaned, so why are there only remnants left in the bedroom and male toiletries in the bathroom?”

Ji Li casually crushed out his cigarette and straightened up from the sofa.

His words drew everyone into a heavy silence.

Ji Li gave Yu Guo a half-smile; he hadn’t expected this seemingly careless young man to think so quickly.

“This room is the mission location. Everything we find could be a clue. The remaining items might be the hotel’s way of giving us a hint!”

Fang Shenyen pushed up his glasses, paused thoughtfully, then looked up and said:

“To deduce the true identity of the room’s owner.”