The True Path to Survival

Raincoat Man stood dumbly on the steps, staring straight into Ji Li and the others' eyes, slowly...

Only then did he finally see something that made his blood run cold within those three pairs of pitch-black pupils!

"Whoosh!"

Raincoat Man abruptly lowered his head, only to come face-to-face with a human head!

Perhaps sensing his movement, the head hidden beneath the raincoat turned on its own—rotating one hundred and eighty degrees in defiance of bones and flesh!

A bone-cracking sound that set teeth on edge echoed through the air.

Raincoat Man finally saw clearly that the face pressed against his body belonged to the Female Ghost who had tortured him for days and nights!

"Aah!!!"

"It may not... not necessarily be a dead end!"

Fang Shenyan's mind had begun to descend into chaos as well. After enduring prolonged mental tension, he had only just found a brief moment of relief.

Yet during that uneventful interval, his thoughts had instead stagnated.

In the blink of an eye, the situation deteriorated rapidly. He had neither the energy nor the conditions to reason through everything again!

Ji Li, Fang Shenyan, and Yu Guo had all reached their limits.

But there was still one "person" who had remained an observer throughout it all, whose mind stayed calm at every moment.

"No, we overlooked two points of suspicion!

First, the connection between Raincoat Man and the Female Ghost doesn't make sense.

We initially hoped that staying near him would be the path to survival, but now that possibility has completely collapsed!

Then this final point of suspicion must be the key to breaking the deadlock.

Why did the hotel emphasize that particular sentence in Raincoat Man's Mission Information?"

Third Personality...

Unlike everyone else present, because of its different mode of existence, it could always maintain the detached perspective of an observer!

Unlike Second Personality, its insight and mental sensitivity were even somewhat stronger than Ji Li, the Main Personality!

Now that they had reached the most critical moment, it was the only one left that could truly be of use!

Ji Li's entire body stiffened. After that reminder, he immediately thought of it:

"The hotel information specifically emphasized that he could only leave Room 702 for ten minutes each day!"

"Exactly!

Raincoat Man's circumstances are entirely different from ours. He witnessed the entire incident firsthand—one could even say he created it!

Even the initial Supernatural Incident began with him.

Now that Raincoat Man is being attacked, it proves that he holds no special status in the Female Ghost's eyes.

The ten-minute interval mentioned by the hotel was an additional condition imposed on Raincoat Man...

Then should we consider it from the opposite direction? Why would the hotel give him such an apparently useless extra rule?"

Ji Li's mind raced as he sorted through the chaotic mass of clues in his head.

"Raincoat Man himself is the owner of Room 702. Two days before the mission began, he had already clashed with the ghost.

The survival information given by the hotel was extremely vague. It did not even specify an exact time, merely saying that he had to survive until eight o'clock the next day.

Why would the hotel arrange it this way..."

"Because his purpose was to wait for us to officially begin the mission on October 22!

This mission is divided into two stages.

The two days before October 22 were the period of conflict between Raincoat Man and the Female Ghost, as well as the time spent waiting for the mission to formally begin.

Tonight is the main event, because all the employees have gathered!"

Third Personality answered Ji Li's question, then continued:

"If Raincoat Man isn't special, why was he able to remain in Room 702 for two days without dying, even remaining entangled with the ghost until today?!"

Ji Li forcefully shook his foggy head and murmured softly:

"He said that during those two days, because the rules given by the hotel were too vague, he never dared to leave Room 702!

But tonight, when the ghost came to kill us, he fled Room 702 for ten minutes and was instead attacked by it..."

Third Personality nodded soundlessly. In truth, once they had reasoned this far, there was little left to speculate about.

"The reason the hotel gave Raincoat Man an additional rule was to make him encounter the ghost's attack during those ten minutes!

That way, it could reveal the correct hint for the path to survival!

After all, the hotel would never arrange a mission with neither a path to survival nor any clues!"

Ji Li suddenly raised his head. At this moment, Raincoat Man's face had already been completely swallowed by that thick mass of black hair.

His entire body had gone limp and boneless, tightly wrapped by the ghost, while a series of crackling bone-breaking sounds came from all over him!

This ghost's Killing Method was unique and horrifying—it crushed every bone in a living person's body!

"The path to survival is Room 702!"

Ji Li suddenly grabbed Fang Shenyan and Yu Guo by the arms, one on each side, and sprinted straight toward Raincoat Man's position!

"The reason Raincoat Man was never harmed wasn't because of any special identity.

It was because whenever he came into close contact with the ghost, he was always inside Room 702!

That place is a shelter. As long as we enter Room 702, the ghost won't attack us!"

Fang Shenyan and Yu Guo were not fools. The instant Ji Li said this, they understood.

Yu Guo looked at Raincoat Man, whom they were about to pass, and felt a chill in his heart.

"No wonder Raincoat Man, who had been fine all this time, was attacked by the ghost now. It must have held back for a long time..."

As soon as that thought occurred to him, Yu Guo could not help glancing over again.

And that single glance made him stop in his tracks.

Ji Li glanced back at him, then ignored the two of them and used all his strength to rush toward the seventh floor.

Raincoat Man's death probably would not delay the ghost for very long.

Now that the true path to survival had appeared, the ghost would kill Raincoat Man in an extremely short time, then immediately hunt down the remaining survivors!

There was not much time, but Ji Li felt incomparably steady inside.

At their speed, they could reach Room 702's door within five seconds. By then, no matter how fast the ghost was, it would be too late.

He was the fastest. Using both hands and feet, he scrambled up to the seventh floor, his eyes lighting up as he grabbed the teddy bear on the door and yanked hard!

But he froze immediately.

Because Room 702's door did not move in the slightest under his pull!

"The door is locked!"

"Fuck! We're done, we're done, we're done, we're done!

That ghost was the last one to leave Room 702. It must have locked the door when it came out!"

Second Personality began wailing again. Ji Li was just about to speak when he heard footsteps beside him. The newcomer was Fang Shenyan.

Seeing that the door was locked, Fang Shenyan showed no surprise at all. He merely said, "Just as expected!"

Ji Li could not help but freeze. "Where's Yu Guo?"

Fang Shenyan looked deeply at him, then suddenly turned toward the stairs below.

"Yu Guo! The door really is locked!"

Ji Li frowned, seeming to realize something. Without speaking, he looked down and saw Yu Guo's panicked fleeing figure approaching quickly.

And Yu Guo was clutching a silver metal key in his hand!

When they had passed Raincoat Man earlier, Ji Li had been running too fast to spare him any attention.

But Yu Guo's casual glance had spotted the room key hanging from Raincoat Man's waist.

At that time, Fang Shenyan had said, "I'm not sure Room 702 will be so easy to enter. The ghost may have left something in reserve. Go get that key, just in case!"

Only someone like Yu Guo, bold yet careful and utterly fearless, could handle this task.

Fortunately, things had gone smoothly. For the moment, the ghost had no attention to spare for him, and he obtained the key with ease.

Even so, Yu Guo had broken out in a cold sweat.

When Fang Shenyan reached Room 702 and saw that the door was indeed locked, he could not help letting out a breath of relief. Fortunately, Yu Guo had covered this possibility.

That was how it had happened.

At the same time Ji Li saw this, he understood everything. He now had even greater confidence in Fang Shenyan and Yu Guo.

One person was, after all, only one person.

He needed help now.

"Quick, quick, quick!"

Yu Guo had already reached the landing between the sixth and seventh floors. He gritted his teeth, knowing that he might not have enough time if he kept running like this.

He simply slowed down, raised his arm, and threw the key toward Fang Shenyan with all his strength!

But at the same time, an ice-cold hand seized his calf!

"Ah?!"

Almost at the instant of contact, all strength vanished from Yu Guo's leg, replaced by agonizing pain that tore through him!

As the key flew out, he lost his balance and crashed into the wall, yet he stubbornly held himself upright.

Yu Guo's eyes were filled with pain-crazed madness and unwillingness to accept death.

He stared fixedly at the hideous Female Ghost standing so close before him, Bloody Water seeping from between his pale teeth.

"I still haven't found A Lian...

I don't want to die! I can't die!"