Cloaked Ghost

The sunlight of a new day illuminated the streets and alleys of Shanming City.

In the Sanhe residential area on the eastern outskirts, amidst the desolation, there was a touch of warmth. It was a good day, slightly dispelling the chill of autumn.

A figure with a handsome face but pale complexion, wrapped in a loose trench coat and with a cigarette dangling from his lips, stumbled out of an old building.

Beside him walked a middle-aged man in a Zhongshan suit with a fair complexion, carrying a semi-conscious person on his back who occasionally groaned softly.

They looked as if they had fought a fierce battle, each of them exhausted in body and mind.

The man in the trench coat flagged down a taxi. The middle-aged man placed the unconscious, emaciated young man in the back seat, and the two squeezed into the taxi.

"By the moat, southwest public restroom."

Upon hearing the destination, the driver didn't bother to turn on navigation. His entire face seemed to turn numb and stiff.

Whether he knew the specific location of the so-called public restroom or not, as long as this place name was spoken, he would automatically drive towards it.

The true location beneath the public restroom: Tianhai Hotel.

"I'm back! I'm back again!"

The Second Personality had been mostly silent after Ji Li was injured. It was only after they were safely inside the hotel that it roared loudly, as if it had been suppressed for a long time.

Ji Li's hands, under the special power of the hotel, were making the sounds of bones knitting together. The process was not painful.

In fact, besides issuing those terrifying missions, the hotel was absolutely perfect in its arrangements for its employees.

Yu Guo's body lay in the center of the lobby. The leg wound, which had been simply treated, was now closing on its own, regenerating flesh and bone.

His consciousness was also gradually returning.

Fang Shenyan was the least injured among the three. He had only expended a lot of energy, and after a few periods of rest, he had regained his strength.

"Congratulations to Tianhai Hotel, Shop No. 7 Acting Manager Mr. Ji Li, employee Mr. Fang Shenyan, and employee Mr. Yu Guo.

You have successfully completed the reception mission and returned!

Replacements will arrive at the hotel lobby punctually at 2 PM three days from now.

Wishing all of you a pleasant survival."

Ji Li listened to the sweet female voice on the broadcast and remained silent.

Out of six people on the mission, half had died. This casualty rate was already very high.

He now vaguely felt that since the hotel had been upgraded to "One-Star," the difficulty of missions and the terror of the ghosts had been steadily increasing.

Six people seemed to be no longer enough.

He looked at the black and white portraits on the wall and sighed.

Perhaps as the missions progressed and the hotel upgraded, the personnel would also change accordingly.

However, there were still two missions before the next star upgrade.

With so few people now, they would probably have to participate in every mission. Even Ji Li wasn't confident he could survive the next one.

"Newcomers will be replenished in three days. I hope some dazzling individuals will arrive..."

"Holy crap! That hurt like hell! I've never been this seriously injured in my life!"

Yu Guo finally slowly woke up at this moment, and his first words predicted the return of his usual temper.

Fang Shenyan looked at him, and a smile appeared on his usually expressionless face.

Yu Guo's role among them, besides his execution, was his strong heart, which could dispel the oppressive atmosphere.

"What a shame, what a shame! My streaming phone was left in 701. You guys didn't help me get it back, did you?"

Yu Guo sprang up from the ground like a carp and immediately asked about the streaming.

Ji Li looked at him with a half-smile. "Didn't you say you had already found the existence of ghosts? Is there still a need for streaming?"

"Of course!

The viewers in the live stream always say I'm a liar. This was the perfect time to prove myself."

Yu Guo was very energetic. Besides the joy of survival, he also seemed to regret not being able to stream the ghost encounter.

"Then get a new phone and go film on the second floor."

Fang Shenyan said as he gently patted his shoulder.

At the same time, the black eyeball tattoo on the back of his hand suddenly emitted a puff of black smoke.

It condensed in the air into the shape of a woman, with three numbers carved onto her forehead by some unknown force.

"201"

The black shadow disappeared and headed straight for the second floor. It wasn't willing, but under the hotel's rules, neither people nor ghosts could resist.

As it entered, Ji Li clearly heard the doors of the rooms of the three resident ghosts on the second floor slam shut simultaneously.

It seemed that curiosity wasn't exclusive to humans; ghosts also possessed a desire to pry.

"Why hasn't the tattoo on my hand disappeared..."

It wasn't until Fang Shenyan said something that Ji Li's attention was drawn.

He turned his head to look at the back of Fang Shenyan's left hand. That unique, Gothic-style tattoo was still there.

Yu Guo blinked. He had been unconscious at the time and knew nothing about this.

"What's going on? You got a tattoo during a mission?"

"Do you know about this?" Fang Shenyan, seemingly accustomed to Yu Guo's teasing, tossed the question back to Ji Li.

Ji Li also knew very little about it. He observed it carefully and asked, "Are you feeling any discomfort?"

"No, whether it's there or not, I don't feel anything at all."

Ji Li nodded, then looked thoughtfully at the memorial portraits in the lobby.

His gaze finally settled on the third portrait. That man had been the manager of Shop No. 7.

He was also the strongest manager who led that generation of employees and helped the hotel achieve Two-Star status.

On his cheek, there was also a peculiar tattoo. Although the design was completely different from Fang Shenyan's current one, the dark patterns exuded a similar essence.

Ji Li frowned. "I don't know what this thing does, but it must be related to the hotel's level. It might be useless now, but as the hotel's level increases, its purpose should be revealed!"

Without a clear answer, they could only plan for the long term.

The three walked side-by-side to the third floor and returned to their rooms to rest.

However, the first thing Yu Guo did upon reaching his room was to request a new phone from Tianhai, log into his account, and then walk out of the room again.

He started his livestream while chuckling to himself.

"Fang Shenyan's brain is really sharp. If I keep an eye on those ghosts every day, I'm afraid I won't get any gifts?"

"Hey everyone, I'm back! Don't ask why I ended my stream last night. I narrowly escaped death! Tsk! I'm not lying to you. I'll show you what real ghosts look like right now. One cruise ship, one ghost; two cruise ships, two ghosts!"

Yu Guo seemed to have found the secret to wealth. In reality, for the employees, money was just a number; they could have as much as they wanted. However, Yu Guo's thought process was unusual. He preferred live streaming, and asking for gifts was merely a way to satisfy a psychological need.

"Alright, thank you, 'Snowflakes Don't Fall, I Don't Fall,' for the cruise ship. Let me give you all a taste first. Let's pick a Headless Ghost..."

Yu Guo set up his phone stand, aiming it at the window at the far edge of the second-floor corridor, slowly pushing in towards the Headless Ghost in Room 210.

But then, before he could even film the ghostly figure, his livestream was forcibly stopped. When he tried to open it again, the stream was permanently banned.

Yu Guo's scalp tingled. Just as he was about to curse, the playback of his previous stream started automatically... In the video, at the second-floor window, which was very close to him, two blurry shadows appeared. One was headless, and the other seemed to be wrapped in a thick cloak, its entire body merged within it, like a trench coat hanging in the air, blown by the wind. Two shadows: the headless one was inside the hotel, while the cloaked ghost was outside!