Ji Li's earlier plan had been painstakingly crafted. On the surface, it truly seemed like Cao Yuan's best option under the circumstances.
Yu Guo and Fang Shenyan had agreed with it as well, though they assumed Ji Li was merely using Cao Yuan to test the path of survival.
But when they heard Ji Li's icy words just now, their hearts tightened.
Yu Guo frowned and glanced at him. "You still have a backup plan?"
Ji Li stood with his back to the window, hands clasped behind him, eyes narrowed as he spoke softly:
"Everything I've said is the truth.
The raincoat man does have a special role. I believe reaching him is the way to avoid the ghost's attacks.
But Cao Yuan's actions will give us two answers—and one chance."
Fang Shenyan instinctively pushed his glasses up, struggling to follow Ji Li's thinking.
"What answers? And what chance?"
"First, he will test whether leaving 701, the mission site, leads to instant death.
If he isn't immediately consumed by nameless flames, then we can leave 701 to search the hallway for the wounded raincoat man.
Second, if that proves true, Cao Yuan will be closer to the path of survival than anyone.
But if you were the ghost, and you saw a slow, injured human only a step away from survival—what would you do?"
Ji Li's voice drifted lightly on the wind, sinking into Fang Shenyan's ears.
His brows lifted in realization, and he muttered in shock:
"The ghost will stop at nothing, hunting him down in an instant!"
Ji Li's expression didn't shift, though he was already moving forward.
"Exactly.
Cao Yuan will never reach survival.
His true purpose, beyond testing the mission rule, is to draw the ghost's fiercest attack for us—because he's the one nearest the path.
In the final moment, whoever is closest to survival will face the ghost's strongest assault."
Even Fang Shenyan shuddered at the cruelty and precision of Ji Li's plan—ruthless to the bone, yet flawless in calculation.
"And we…
We will use the opportunity bought with Cao Yuan's life to slip past the attack and join with the raincoat man."
Ji Li strode ahead, now only a few steps behind Cao Yuan at the doorway, like a runner ready to sprint.
Fang Shenyan looked at Ji Li's thin frame, shaking his head with a sigh. "Ji Li… Manager, you're far harsher than I could ever be."
Ji Li glanced back at him with layered meaning.
"We are the same kind of people."
Yu Guo clenched his fists again and again. From the moment Fang Shenyan had attacked Cao Yuan earlier, he had already foreseen the youth's fate.
He hadn't stopped it then. Perhaps deep down, his own mindset had begun to shift.
To survive in this hell, some things must be discarded.
It was wrong, but he had no choice.
At the door, facing the pitch-black corridor, Cao Yuan's legs were trembling.
Though he had steeled himself earlier, knowing this step was his only chance, when the moment came he was still just an ordinary man with weak nerves.
His calves cramped, his mind went dizzy. His hand rose toward the door, only to fall again.
What if that hideous female ghost was waiting right outside?
"Stop hesitating! You want to wait for it to come find you?"
Ji Li's cold words pressed against his ears, making his nerves scream.
Cao Yuan touched the icy door, his heart lurching, his face growing even paler, his trembling worse.
Ji Li's eyes narrowed. If this dragged on, the ghost might strike early.
If Cao Yuan died inside 701, the entire plan would collapse.
With that thought, Ji Li strode forward, wrenched the lock open, and shoved Cao Yuan hard against the door.
"Bang!"
Caught off guard, Cao Yuan crashed straight into it, the impact forcing the door wide. He stumbled out into the seventh-floor corridor.
He cried out in shock, clutching his chest as pain flared, then scrambled up from the ground in panic.
Moonlight from the stairwell window spilled across him. He frantically patted himself down.
"I'm not dead! Not dead!"
His voice cracked into wild laughter. He had stepped beyond 701, yet the rules hadn't burned him alive.
He turned back toward Ji Li, Fang Shenyan, and Yu Guo, astonishment all over his face.
"It's true! Brother Ji, your guess was right!
I'm alive—I didn't burn for leaving the mission site!"
Cao Yuan's face lit with excitement, his emotions swinging wildly in an instant.
"The path… the path!"
He stood frozen for two seconds before suddenly remembering the most important task—to find the raincoat man hidden somewhere in this building.
Every flicker of his reaction was etched into the eyes of the three watching from inside the door.
Ji Li said nothing, only stared at him quietly—though his gaze slowly shifted past him.
Cao Yuan was still smiling when he suddenly caught a stench, a rank and suffocating odor.
An itch spread across the back of his neck. Puzzled, he raised a hand to feel it.
What he touched was a thick handful of hair.
His body locked up as if bound, standing rigid in place.
His head turned, inch by inch, eyes widening in terror.
"Ahhh!!!"
He finally saw what loomed behind him—
A face grotesquely swollen, distorted into a monstrous visage. Thick black hair, like filthy cotton, wrapped his entire skull.
At such close range, the sight contorted his own features in pure horror. He could do nothing but scream.
Crunch!
The bones in his legs snapped and splintered, and that was only the beginning. A moment later, he felt his entire skeleton shattering.
The process sounded slow, but it all happened in less than half a second.
And at that exact moment, Ji Li's eyes, long waiting in silence, blazed with sudden brilliance.
He slammed a hand against the doorframe, launching himself forward at full speed. Blood stained the floor outside 702, trailing downward.
The raincoat man would be easy to track. His injured eyes left a clear trail—just follow the blood, and he could be found quickly.
Ji Li shot past Cao Yuan and the ghost without a glance at the dying man.
Fang Shenyan followed close behind, and Yu Guo last of all.
Yu Guo cast one final, regretful look at the half-living Cao Yuan, sighed inwardly, then ran downstairs.
Blood poured from Cao Yuan's mouth, painting his face red.
His dark eyes fixed on the three figures slipping past, not one of them reaching out to save him.
"Ji Li… Ji Li…"