Simulated Death

Tong Guan had no objection upon hearing Ji Li's words, though he did hold certain prejudices and preconceived notions about Ji Li.

He knew full well that even if the man before him might have been the black-robed leader who had abducted his parents, it was still not yet time to turn hostile and demand answers.

When no one spoke, Chang Nian, the only female employee in the group, said softly:

"Tong Guan and I were responsible for the second through tenth floors.

We found eighteen people and brought seventeen of them to the first floor.

One woman snapped her own neck when we arrived at that office."

The circumstances of each group's first operation were not complicated. Yu Guo took the opportunity to speak as well:

"Teacher Fang and I found sixteen people. I brought twelve of them to the first floor. The remaining four were maintenance workers, and they followed Teacher Fang to the first basement level to repair the power.

But I learned over the phone earlier that one person died on his side as well.

And the method of death was exactly the same as Miss Chang's case."

Yu Guo paused here. He glanced at the silent Ji Li before continuing:

"The situations were very similar, but there's something I still need to tell you."

Ji Li frowned. Seeing Yu Guo's somewhat strange expression, he knew Yu Guo must have done something he should not have.

Yu Guo met Ji Li's gaze and scratched his head awkwardly, looking almost bashful.

"After hearing Teacher Fang describe the way they died, I found it rather novel, so I tried it on myself..."

Tong Guan's eyes widened at that. He had never expected this ordinary-looking young man to be so bold.

He could not help asking, "What did you try?"

Yu Guo raised both hands, placing one against his chin and the other at his temple, then pretended to twist his head to the left.

Everyone watched him strangely, but the longer they watched, the more they realized something was wrong!

A glint flashed in Ji Li's eyes. He noticed that when Yu Guo bent his arms and imitated the dead victim's suicide, his limbs became equally stiff!

At the same time, Yu Guo's expression changed. His eyes went from normal to gradually panicked, tinged with urgency.

The angle of his head kept growing wider. What had begun as a simple imitation was now accompanied by the creaking of bones!

Ji Li lunged forward and seized Yu Guo's arms tightly. As the force pushed back against him, he discovered that Yu Guo's arms were as hard as two iron bars.

The other employees also sensed that something was wrong and rushed forward, trying to save him.

But no matter how hard they tried, they could not pry those arms apart. Yu Guo's head had already twisted to a ninety-degree angle.

Yu Guo suddenly toppled backward, falling stiffly like a statue.

Everyone present clearly heard a crisp crack. It seemed to have come from bone, yet somehow it did not.

But after Yu Guo slammed into the ground, it was as though he had completely broken free of his restraints. His body returned to normal, and he regained the ability to move.

He climbed to his feet weakly, glared at Ji Li, and said irritably:

"I thought you were pretty smart. How could you not read my signal?"

Ji Li's expression darkened. "You did this back then too?"

Yu Guo smiled awkwardly. "Yes. When Teacher Fang described the victim's condition to me, I imitated it out of curiosity.

But who knew that as soon as my arms held the same position, I would lose control of them.

It was as if some force had enveloped my entire body and fused it into one, controlling my limbs and forcibly trying to snap my neck!

That time, I accidentally lost my balance and fell over, which was how I broke free.

This time, it was the same.

So these two tests lead to one conclusion..."

Yu Guo's expression returned to its usual calmness as he said, word by word:

"Although the mission says we will be killed without recourse after all the employees are dead, we can still be attacked before that happens!"

Ji Li's gaze flickered. Without Yu Guo's seemingly mad experiment, they might still have believed the ghost would not attack them in advance.

Now, it seemed that the more they obstructed the ghost's killing process, the greater their chances of being attacked would become.

Chang Nian was completely unable to understand Yu Guo's actions. After staring in shock for a long while, she finally blurted out, "Are all of you from Shop No. 7 monsters?"

Tong Guan cut her off. "We're all employees of Shop No. 7 now."

He looked at Ji Li and said, "Back to the point. How did things go on your side?"

Ji Li gave them a detailed account of everything that had happened earlier.

Then he said, "At present, there are several pieces of information we have confirmed:

First, the ghost kills by possessing people and making them commit suicide;

Second, the ghost possesses the Cloning Ability;

Third, we may still be attacked before all the employees are dead.

Fourth... judging from the deaths so far, no more than five people were ever around each victim when they appeared!"

This fourth point was the most crucial piece of information so far, and Ji Li had deduced it from the circumstances of the three groups.

Three groups, three deaths. Fang Shenyan's group had the most people, with five at the time, yet someone still died.

Li Xing's side, however, had never been attacked. There were two possible explanations.

Perhaps any group of fewer than six people triggered the Isolation Theory, causing the ghost to attack first!

After Ji Li proposed this conclusion, Tong Guan and Yu Guo nodded at the same time. They did not yet know whether the idea was correct, but it was currently the only hypothesis regarding the ghost's killing pattern.

Ji Li turned to look at the terrified employees and said:

"There are thirty people here, and the remaining three employees are on the first basement level.

More than thirty minutes have passed since the mission began and the power went out. There should still be three people somewhere in the building.

I'm not sure whether they are already dead, but we need to find them!"

Tong Guan agreed immediately. "If we have the ability to spare, we should save them if we can. I'll go."

But Ji Li turned to glance at him. After thinking for a moment, he shook his head. "No. I'll go."

"Why?" Tong Guan remained impassive, though his tone had grown somewhat unpleasant.

But it was not because Ji Li had rejected his proposal. He meant something else.

Ji Li did not avoid the issue. "We don't have much energy to spare for rescuing people. I'm going because I can make the best choices with absolute rationality.

Because I'm not going there to bring them back.

I'm going to verify whether the Isolation Theory is valid and whether it matches the ghost's killing pattern.

So you aren't suitable."

A look of expected understanding appeared on Tong Guan's face. The reason he had volunteered first was because he had roughly guessed Ji Li's plan.

But if Ji Li went, those three remaining employees would likely die even if the ghost did not kill them.

Tong Guan was about to speak again, but Chang Nian tugged at his clothes to stop him.

Ji Li had no time to concern himself with that. He turned to Yu Guo and said, "Fang Shenyan's group now has fewer than five people. Take five more people and join him."

He then looked through the crowd a few times and pointed at the employees who had first arrived on the first floor.

"You five, come with me."

Those people had personally seen this man shoot them dead at the same time. They had already been terrified, and when Ji Li pointed at them again, they were scared out of their wits.

They begged desperately, some of them already weeping bitterly.

But Ji Li did not even look at them. He turned and walked past the frowning Tong Guan, looking toward Li Xing, who had been useless all along.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he said flatly, "You're coming with me!"