Isolation Theory

The seven-person team walked in silence through the dark corridor, their hurried footsteps and pounding hearts filling the air.

Everyone had seen it: the corpse, its head twisted at an inhuman angle, still standing at the end of the hallway.

Its form was completely shrouded in darkness, only revealed as a dead body, not a statue, when the living's light source reached it!

The five employees, forced to be there by Ji Li's authority, were as quiet as mice, not daring to even take a deep breath.

Just moments ago, the middle-aged man leading the group had screamed upon seeing the corpse, but Ji Li had immediately turned, shoved the muzzle of his gun into the man's mouth, nearly scaring him into wetting himself.

Those cold eyes exuded a ruthless pressure, and for a short while, no one dared to speak, obediently following his advance.

"M-manager, why did you have to bring me... My abilities aren't strong enough, I'll just drag you down."

Compared to the others, Li Xing didn't feel much mystery surrounding Ji Li's identity, which gave him the courage to speak.

In fact, as he said, in that situation, whether it was Tong Guan, Chang Nian, or Yu Guo, their abilities were definitely much stronger than Li Xing's.

Ji Li didn't pick and choose among people, but he specifically brought Li Xing along, which made Li Xing question things.

What worried him most was that Ji Li's reputation had already spread throughout Shop No. 7, and Li Xing feared Ji Li was actually preparing to use him as a scapegoat...

But Ji Li ignored his question, paying him no mind.

"We've already searched the second and third floors and found nothing suspicious. We'll search upwards, floor by floor.

Until we find the remaining three, whether they are dead or alive."

Li Xing turned and exchanged a glance with the middle-aged man beside him, swallowing his questions and daring not to speak.

Ji Li held his flashlight, searching door by door. This building was incredibly complex, its spatial layout almost completely severed by the various small companies, making no logical sense.

This made his search operation somewhat difficult.

On the surface, his mission was to search for and rescue the remaining three people, but he knew very well in his heart.

Saving them wasn't the goal; the key was to determine and deduce the Ghost's killing patterns through their deaths.

Including the so-called Isolation Theory, which was Ji Li's contingency plan.

Li Xing's role was, of course, to be a scapegoat, but not entirely.

Ji Li's eyes scanned every corner, flashing with sharp intelligence.

The Ghost possessing the ability to create clones had almost become a fact.

But how it chose its targets had become a question.

And a previous statement from the Second Personality had given him some ideas.

He had said, "Ji Li is the embodiment of death, wherever he goes, people die!"

In the first operation's three groups, Ji Li, Tong Guan, and Fang Shenyan, each death occurred near them.

Then, combined with the Isolation Theory, a clearer deduction could be made:

"The Ghost will prioritize attacking staff members near store employees, and when the total number of living people is less than six!"

However, this number limit still needed further testing.

Because the key point in reaching this conclusion was that Fang Shenyan's group had five people at the time, and they were still attacked.

This was why Ji Li had speculated "six people are not isolated," but it might still not be accurate.

This time, their group initially numbered 7 people, and this number would continue to increase as they searched for the remaining three.

Ji Li wanted to verify two points: first, whether the Isolation Theory held true, and second, how many people were considered "not isolated" and thus immune to the Ghost's attacks.

If this could be determined, then the way to survive this mission might have appeared.

However, Ji Li still felt that this path to survival was too simple and didn't quite match the difficulty level of the current hotel, but he had to investigate it.

"Bang!"

Just as the group's tension reached its peak, a loud banging sound echoed through the air!

"Ghost? Is it the Ghost?"

Li Xing yelped, about to rush forward and stand behind Ji Li, but to his surprise, the middle-aged man next to him reacted faster than he, a store employee.

Before Li Xing could dash out, the man grabbed his arm.

The rest of the staff huddled together, pushing forward and bumping into Ji Li's back.

Ji Li was still trying to pinpoint the source of the sound by ear, but the six people behind him shoved him hard, almost pinning him against the wall.

His face immediately turned ashen. The sound hadn't been very close, and it had been fleeting; he had only caught a general direction.

He was trying to concentrate on listening, but these people had completely interrupted him.

But this was not the time to dwell on such matters. Ji Li's Third Personality quickly responded in his mind:

"Upstairs, southeast direction!"

Ji Li glanced at the group, said nothing more, grabbed his flashlight, and rushed towards the stairs leading upstairs.

The fifth floor!

Only one banging sound had come from there, but it was precisely this sound that made Ji Li feel strange.

To this day, he still wasn't sure why three staff members hadn't gone downstairs after the building lost power. There were two possibilities: they were either dead or asleep.

Due to his previous guess about the killing rules, he leaned towards the latter.

But how could the staff, who weren't aware the building had ghosts, have banged on the door the moment they woke up?

The violent noise was so loud that even he, downstairs, could hear it clearly.

Li Xing and the few people behind him exchanged glances as they watched Ji Li rush out.

"What do you think... little brother, should we go or not?"

Li Xing gritted his teeth. While not the sharpest tool in the shed, he wasn't stupid either. He knew about the isolation theory he'd mentioned earlier. Now that Ji Li was gone, they didn't know if it was safe to stay.

"Let's go! Follow him!"

Hearing footsteps behind him, Ji Li knew the group had followed, which was not unexpected.

"Turn left at the corner and keep going straight. I hear a woman crying!"

Ji Li frowned. He hadn't heard any sounds on this fifth floor, but his Third Personality was still directing him.

Ji Li stopped at a transparent glass wall. He raised his flashlight and looked through the glass into the room.

At the same time, he turned his head and glanced back at the group, who were now not far from him.

He quietly told Li Xing, "Bring four people over."

Li Xing's eyebrows twitched. He knew that since he had come this far, there was no point in not even taking a look. He took a deep breath, turned around, and said to the middle-aged man, "Let's go."

Ji Li had slowly gathered six people. If they included the woman inside the wall, they now numbered seven.

If the isolation theory held true, this was now the largest group.

Would the ghost still make a move?