Li Xing stared helplessly at the workers crouched on the floor. Just then, he saw Ji Li turn and head upstairs, leaving the lobby.
That left him completely at a loss. He called out in panic:
"Manager, where are you going?"
Ji Li didn't even turn his head. His voice was cold:
"This place is yours now. You don't need to control them. From this moment, no one in this building can walk out alive. Just stay here."
"I…" Li Xing's lips trembled. Despite his fear of Ji Li, he had at least felt some reassurance with him present. Now, left alone with a handful of terrified workers — especially after one of their colleagues had just died by Ji Li's hand — he felt his spine go cold.
He glanced at the nearby corpse, already stiffening, and shrank against the glass doors, too frightened to speak.
Ji Li, meanwhile, could hear the growing footsteps from the stairwell above. Most workers were still trying to head home.
Even if Li Xing couldn't control them, Ji Li knew the building was sealed. No one could escape. Inevitably, they'd be forced back to the lobby — the corpse alone would keep them subdued for a while. By then, Tuanguan and Fang Shenyan's groups would return.
That gap of time was his window. He had to find the building's electricians.
The power had to be restored as quickly as possible.
As workers began appearing above, Ji Li grabbed one man by the arm and asked in a low voice:
"Where's the generator room in this building?"
The man, sweating profusely, tried to pull away. But then he froze, feeling the cold barrel of a pistol pressed against his temple.
Ji Li's face was blank.
"I asked you. Is there a generator room?"
The man stiffened. The others, unable to see clearly in the dim light, hurried past, leaving him behind.
"Seventh floor… at the corner… but I don't know if they're there. Likely, they rushed out the moment the power cut."
Ji Li nodded, satisfied, and let him go.
He still didn't know why the power had gone out. Most likely, the work of the ghost. But if he could restore it, he'd gain a vital advantage.
The surveillance room.
Until now, the ghost hadn't revealed its form or its method of killing. Ji Li doubted they could gather all forty-three workers safely. Any left behind would almost certainly be the first victims.
He needed a way to oversee the entire building. And that depended on restoring the power. First step: find the electricians.
But just as he sprinted up the stairs, a sudden commotion erupted nearby. Very close.
Ji Li's heart sank. He spun around. The crowd of workers had parted slightly, their eyes all fixed on one man.
The man's stance was strange — one foot extended forward, body leaning, as if frozen mid-run.
Confused murmurs spread. Someone placed a hand on his shoulder, calling out:
"Xiao Liu? What's wrong?"
Ji Li pulled out the hotel-issued phone. Unlike normal ones, it never ran out of power. In this blackout, it was a better tool.
The flashlight beam revealed the man — the same one Ji Li had just questioned.
Suspicious, Ji Li crept closer. This kind of bizarre stillness usually meant a ghost was at work. But why wasn't the man moving?
Then, the man's arms suddenly jerked upward, clutching his own head. A series of cracking sounds rang out as his joints twisted unnaturally. His body stiffened, every movement forced.
Ji Li's eyes narrowed. Something was about to happen.
The man's hands clamped onto his jaw and temples. Before anyone could react, he wrenched violently.
Crunch!
His head snapped backward with impossible force — a full one-hundred-eighty-degree turn. The neck bones shredded, leaving his face twisted behind him.
His eyes, still wide with terror and confusion, locked onto Ji Li, even as the last light faded from them.
"Ahhh!!!"
The workers finally saw it — the first supernatural attack. Panic erupted. Like headless flies, they scattered in every direction.
Just hoping to leave this cursed place as soon as possible.
Only Ji Li remained calm, quietly observing the scene. He paced a few times beside the stiffened corpse.
Glancing at his watch, he confirmed the time of death: 10:13:50.
"Possession… a murder through possession?"
He examined the joints of the first victim, sensing an indescribable chill lingering over the body.
It felt less like touching someone freshly dead, and more like touching a corpse long stripped of any trace of life.
The limbs were rigid, as though frozen in an ice cellar — which could explain how the neck had been snapped so easily.
Ji Li frowned. The manner of death was unique.
Possessed, forced into suicide — a killing method as brutally simple as it was cruel.
Yet, it seemed the ghost could only claim one life at a time. Out of all those people in the crowd, it had chosen only this man named Xiao Liu.
Ji Li didn't linger. He ran quickly toward the seventh floor to find the electricians. Restoring power was now the most urgent priority.
As he ran, he couldn't help but glance back at the corpse.
In the dimness, he thought he saw a strange glimmer pass through those already clouded eyes — gone in an instant.
And then, a troubling question settled heavily in his mind:
Where did the ghost come from?
You can read Eerie Overseer ahead by 60+ chapters ad-free and for free at htt ps://ravenarchives. com/book/eerie-overseer]. Bulk uploads are a bit tricky, so updates here might be irregular, but they'll keep coming.