Yu Guo's right calf bone had already been crushed to powder. His head trembled uncontrollably as threads of bloody saliva seeped out from between his clenched teeth.
The female ghost crouched on the ground, its hands crawling upward from his shattered leg, ready to strip away his last trace of movement.
No matter how bold Yu Guo was, he was still just an ordinary man. Under the weight of both agony and terror, hallucinations began to flicker before his eyes.
With one leg ruined, escape was impossible.
On the other side, Fang Shenyan seized the brief chance Yu Guo had bought with his suffering, and jammed the key into the lock of Room 702.
Ji Li was left idle for a moment. He glanced at Yu Guo, writhing in pain just a dozen steps below, and bit down hard.
He looked once at Fang Shenyan, said nothing, then—after a brief struggle—hurled himself from the seventh floor.
His target was Yu Guo's side.
The ghost's attention was fixed entirely on Yu Guo, ignoring Ji Li's desperate leap.
Ji Li crashed down, seized Yu Guo's arm, veins bulging as he strained every muscle to drag him upward.
Yu Guo's strength failed; his body slumped against the steps, his mind fading.
The ghost's pitch-black eyes glimmered faintly in the dark as it tightened its grip on Yu Guo's mangled leg.
Ji Li's arms screamed at the edge of dislocation, every ounce of strength spent just to keep Yu Guo from being dragged further down.
A deadlock formed.
Click!
The lock of Room 702 finally turned. The door to survival stood open—just one step away.
But Fang Shenyan didn't enter. He turned back, gazing at the two men locked in struggle below, doubt flickering in his eyes.
"Yu Guo can't die… and Ji Li must not die either…"
He sighed. Since that one incident, he had ceased to value human life.
Yet in this hellish hotel, standing face-to-face with ghosts and death, he found himself strangely enthralled.
For him, this was the only ripple left in a numb existence.
He wasn't ready for it to end.
With that thought, he abandoned the path to safety, leapt down the stairs, and clamped a hand onto Ji Li's shoulder.
Ji Li's arms were swollen with pain, about to snap, but when he felt those strong hands, a faint smile curved his lips.
He knew Fang Shenyan would help.
Cold-blooded as he was, Fang Shenyan was undeniably intelligent.
If he wanted to survive, he needed Ji Li—and Yu Guo as well.
Just as Ji Li had risked everything to save Yu Guo, each of them had their reasons for choosing to save another.
With Fang Shenyan's strength added, the balance began to shift.
Yu Guo's legs were useless, his mind nearly gone; only sheer will kept him conscious.
*Crack!*
Ji Li's shoulders popped with a sharp, splitting sound. His arms had fully dislocated, but still bound Yu Guo like lifelines.
At that instant, Fang Shenyan roared and hauled upward with all his might.
Yu Guo's legs tore apart under the ghost's crushing grip, ripped away by force.
"Move!"
Ji Li had reached his limit. Now both men's weight fell entirely on Fang Shenyan.
His pale face flushed red from strain; his body screamed in protest. But the sight of escape revived strength he thought gone.
Step by step—eight stairs.
Fang Shenyan dragged both Ji Li and Yu Guo's limp bodies upward. In the ghost's brief pause, he wrenched them to Room 702's threshold.
Fang Shenyan stumbled fully inside. Ji Li's upper body crossed the doorway, but Yu Guo managed only one hand on the threshold.
The ghost loomed directly over them.
Ji Li stared silently. They were spent, every ounce of strength gone.
All three were, to different extents, inside Room 702. Whether the rules counted it or not, no one could tell.
Ji Li tried to shift an inch farther back, but his body refused. All he could do was stare into the ghost's hollow gaze.
The creature's stinking body pressed onto Yu Guo's half-slumped form—but it did not strike.
With a hollow sigh, its figure dissolved.
Then, as a streak of black, it slipped through the door into 702, rushing straight toward Fang Shenyan.
For the first time, Fang Shenyan's composure cracked. He jolted in fear—then watched as the shadow fell upon his hand.
A black eye-shaped mark etched itself onto his skin.
Ji Li let out a long breath, glanced at the unconscious Yu Guo, and whispered:
"The mission is complete. The ghost has accepted its host.
Perhaps because you were the first to reach the path of life, the mark is carried by you. Once we return to the hotel, it will disappear.
But most likely, until eight o'clock in the morning, we still cannot leave Room 702. Otherwise, the ghost will awaken again."
Fang Shenyan struggled to pull a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He lit one, placed it between Ji Li's lips, then lit another for himself.
Ji Li's powerless arms hung against the floor. He clenched his teeth, drawing on the smoke to ease the exhaustion that weighed on him past midnight.
"It's almost dawn. In another two hours, we can return to the hotel. All injuries will be healed there."
After what had just happened, Ji Li's view of Fang Shenyan and Yu Guo had shifted once more.
He glanced at Fang Shenyan's torn clothes, and beneath his arm saw several scarred cuts. Taking a deep drag, he asked quietly:
"You tried to kill yourself?"
Fang Shenyan's eyes did not waver, but he gently avoided Ji Li's gaze.
"I've attempted suicide many times, but never succeeded.
Maybe people must obey fate. The reason I didn't die before was because I was destined to come here."
Ji Li was stunned for a moment at those words. He turned to look at Yu Guo, unconscious beside them.
Everyone carried secrets of their own, and those secrets shaped their fate.
Through the haze of pain in his arms and the numbness of nicotine, Ji Li's thoughts drifted.
He thought of himself.
*If fate truly exists… then where does mine lie?*
The second task had ended. The next would soon begin.
You can read Eerie Overseer ahead by 20+ chapters ad-free and for free at htt ps://ravenarchives. com/book/chapter/eerie-overseer/chapter-22]. Bulk uploads are a bit tricky, so updates here might be irregular, but they'll keep coming.