"I still can't believe the hotel's mail could contain errors."
Although Fang Shenyan had only experienced one mission, his ability to adapt was astonishingly quick. Perhaps, as he himself said, he was born to enter the hotel.
Yu Guo looked slightly dazed and echoed from the side, "That's right. I checked the staff manual from Ji Li's side, and I didn't find any similar cases."
Tongguan cast a glance at the twenty-odd nervous staff members gathered in the hall and spoke softly:
"It's hard to say if the mission details are accurate.
Branch Eleven has always been passed down without interruption. Generations of staff inherited it one after another.
Because of this, most past cases were preserved there. After I became acting manager, I reviewed them, and found only one similar task."
Branch Eleven belonged to the other branches of Tianhai Hotel, and Tongguan's words revealed a new piece of information.
Fang Shenyan and Yu Guo exchanged a look, instantly understanding each other.
"So, the other branches have a continuous legacy, but Branch Seven suffered a break!
In one mission, all the previous staff died, leaving no replacements. Until Ji Li arrived, he was immediately chosen as the acting manager."
These words, transmitted through the control room broadcast, also reached Ji Li's ears.
He frowned, coughed lightly, and turned to glance at the confused-looking Li Xing, but said nothing.
Li Xing's mind was filled with doubt. He felt gaps in his memory, especially concerning the *mission details*.
But Ji Li's sudden turn of the head dispelled his thought of checking his phone.
Out of fear of Ji Li, Li Xing slowly withdrew his hand from his pocket, missing the chance to interact with the bloodstained hand on the screen.
On the other side, Ji Li looked at Li Xing, then turned back.
The hidden truth about the other branches, as Tongguan described, struck him as strange. He rubbed the cigarette butt between his fingers, his eyes silent.
Even though he didn't feel special, clearly he was different from everyone else.
Branch Seven—only a two-star hotel's first mission. Without any new staff, how could all have died?
A thought arose in Ji Li's mind:
"Tianhai deliberately purged Branch Seven, creating a vacuum just for my arrival."
It was unreasonable, just a feeling.
But it stemmed from Ji Li's suspicion, for he could never stop searching for the truth.
The Tianhai Hotel, his resurrection, and his lost memories were all undoubtedly connected.
"Ji Li, I know you're listening.
The case I want to tell you about is very unusual.
We all know the hotel allows ghosts to enter as well!
But under extreme conditions, when ghosts enter the hotel, they are restricted—they cannot harm us directly.
Yet, we don't know how strict that limitation is.
In Branch Eleven's case, a ghost blinded the staff!
What they saw in the mission details didn't match the reality.
If our current mission ends in an unexplained anomaly, perhaps at the very moment we received it, we were already blinded by a ghost!"
Tongguan raised his head, staring at the nearest surveillance camera, and spoke clearly.
His experience and analysis suggested that a ghost had entered the hotel and used its power to blind them, showing them false mission details.
"Who is the ghost?"
Ji Li's voice, already low and hoarse, echoed through the broadcast like the rasp of dead wood.
Tongguan didn't look back at the staff around him. He simply kept his eyes locked on Ji Li from afar.
Ji Li saw the glimmer in Tongguan's gaze through the black-and-white screen. He remained calm, already aware of Tongguan's suspicion.
"The ghost is Li Xing."
It was an easy connection to make. Li Xing was supposed to enter the hotel with Tongguan and the others, but he was delayed by three minutes.
The mission details themselves had also been delayed by several hours.
Li Xing—was the ghost.
The conclusion was flimsy, without evidence, but it matched the current situation.
The third persona had claimed the curse originated within the staff.
If Li Xing truly was the ghost, then he had fabricated a false mission, lingered among the staff, and spread the curse. That would explain many things.
Ji Li didn't turn his head. He kept staring at the TV screen, watching the frightened workers in the lobby.
Through the same screen, he also saw Li Xing—curled up in a corner, unnaturally quiet and silent.
If possession by a ghost meant certain death, then getting close was impossible.
And if even avoiding the staff still led to unavoidable death, then it could only mean the mission details themselves were false.
Because the hotel would never issue a task with no path to survival.
Ji Li did not believe they had simply failed to find a way out; given the mission details, they had already done everything they could.
Now, all that remained was to wait.
"That mystery about Li Xing's identity depends entirely on the survival of the twenty-eight workers on the first floor."
Ji Li felt no urgency. He knew that even if Li Xing truly were a ghost, it would not attack him while the workers were still alive.
More importantly, even if the mission's details were proven false, he felt no fear.
He knew there was one last person in the building whose existence was tied to the truth of this mission.
Xiao Qi — a name that sounded like a woman's.
Find them, and the whole veil over this mission could be lifted.
This was Ji Li's fallback and the key plan after the operation.
He was calm, but Tongguan and the others, stationed at the second-floor corner observing the first floor, were anxious.
"If something catastrophic really happens on the first floor and the mission is overturned at its root, how will we find the real mission?" Yu Guo's voice rushed, his nerves showing, though his face showed no fear—only the thrill of the unknown.
Fang Shenyan sat on the steps, glanced at the eyeball tattoo on the back of his hand, lit a cigarette, and said softly, "Ji Li is hiding something from us."
Tongguan asked with interest, "How so?"
"Any clear-eyed person can see that the first floor will likely suffer deaths. The supposed task to protect the workers is probably collapsing. Ji Li only told us the result, not how to respond afterward. I don't believe his mind can't conceive a response—so either he's unsure whether the strategy would work, or he's withholding something out of some concern."
Chang Nian, listening nearby, gained a deeper appreciation for Ji Li's caution.
"What concern? The six of us—aside from Li Xing—are likely already doubting his true identity."
"Maybe Ji Li is even more cautious. He fears the ghost isn't Li Xing. He can't trust anyone…"
Time passed quickly. It was now 3:00 a.m. on October 26, 2015.
Five long hours had elapsed since the mission began.
The staff had exhausted their suspicions. Yu Guo had been keeping watch at the stairwell and had dozed off, sleep stealing over him.
The long night was not over, but only one hour remained until the mission ended.
No further casualties had occurred, yet no one relaxed, thinking they had found a way out.
Storms strike hardest at the last moment.
Now, that final moment had arrived.
"Ah? What are you doing?"
"Xiao Dong, what's wrong?"
"How could I—"
"Someone help, quick…"
Yu Guo, jolted awake by the noise and chaos from the first floor, sprang up the stairs.
Tongguan, Fang Shenyan, Chang Nian and another staff member stepped out onto the second floor and looked down at the first-floor workers from afar.
Each of their faces wore shock.
After the brief commotion, the twenty-eight workers suddenly fell silent.
One by one, each pair of hands climbed to their heads; their expressions unreadable, the grotesque sight and the dead quiet seared into the living's minds.
Tongguan's palm trembled slightly. Though he couldn't see clearly, he heard it.
"Crack, crack…"
One after another, one following another—
They lined up and snapped their own necks.
No one survived.
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.