Three "Living People"

"Wh-what's wrong? What happened to me?!"

After lying there for a moment, Li Xing scrambled to his feet. He knew exactly what had happened, but asked anyway.

In fact, he remembered everything that had just occurred, and his back was already drenched in cold sweat!

The middle-aged man, seeing Li Xing approaching, stumbled backward in fear.

"What kind of monsters are you people..."

Ji Li ignored the scuffle between them and began to examine the bloated man's corpse.

There was no doubt that this death was consistent with suicide by ghost possession.

And by the looks of it, he had been dead for some time. This meant the banging on the door earlier definitely wasn't him.

So, who was banging on the door?

Ji Li suddenly thought of a possibility: could it be a ghost?

It wasn't impossible!

Only the sound of collision, no footsteps. Perhaps this situation was more in line with the operating rules of ghosts.

Ji Li looked at the door not far away. There might not be any ghosts here anymore.

They were still a step too late. This man was no longer useful for testing the Isolation Theory.

Just as he was about to leave, the phone screen by the corpse's head suddenly lit up with a blinding light.

A WeChat message appeared on the screen.

"Lao Xue, how are things on your end?"

It was a short message, but Ji Li noticed there were seven unread messages above it!

Things were getting more and more confusing.

Ji Li picked up the phone and tried to view the unread messages, but it prompted him to enter a password.

His head was starting to hurt more and more. The owner of this message must be one of the remaining employees.

He urgently needed the other isolated individuals to test the killing rule. One of the three had already died, leaving only two.

Ji Li tried several times but couldn't unlock the phone. Just as he was at a loss, another message lit up the screen.

"Lao Xue, if you can still see this message, hurry and bring Xiao Qi to the eighteenth-floor rooftop to meet me!"

Seeing this, Ji Li let out a long sigh. It seemed this corpse was indeed Lao Xue.

The remaining three employees knew each other: Lao Xue, Xiao Qi, and the sender of the message.

It seemed the sender of the message had learned about the situation inside the building and might have also encountered a ghost.

Ji Li waved to the others and hurried towards the eighteenth floor.

As for Xiao Qi, who was supposed to be with Lao Xue, it wasn't necessary to find her right now.

After all, in Ji Li's plan, one isolated person was enough for the experiment.

He was still unsure, however, what exactly had banged on the door without any footsteps...

The employees' footsteps faded as they headed to the eighteenth floor. The office was completely empty.

The perspective shifted to a medium-sized cardboard box in the corner of the room. It was placed unobtrusively in the corner.

A shaking sound gradually emanated from within. "Bang!" A hand broke through from inside the box!

But this scene was completely missed by Ji Li and the others.

"This can be considered our second operation.

If we can save the person who sent the message, perhaps we can find a way to avoid ghost attacks by identifying the pattern."

The Third Personality analyzed in Ji Li's mind.

The current situation was not complicated. The ghost's killing pattern could be roughly inferred.

It hunted isolated staff members near the employees.

Ji Li's purpose in going there was twofold: to clarify how many people constituted "isolated," and to find a method of rescue.

However, this method wasn't too difficult. Suicide by possession, while seemingly unsolvable and brutal, actually had a very obvious drawback.

If he could disable the attacked person's hands, perhaps he could completely avoid this fate.

The eighteenth floor was getting closer, and Ji Li's expression grew solemn.

Using the dim light in the stairwell, he watched the steps pass by one by one. He felt something was wrong, but he couldn't pinpoint the source.

Accompanying this strange feeling, he and the remaining six people arrived at the eighteenth floor!

As soon as they reached the corridor, Ji Li suddenly extended his hand to stop the others, placed his index finger to his lips, and whispered:

"I'll go alone first. Li Xing, you guard the stairwell and don't let anyone escape."

If Li Xing hadn't known their mission was to protect the staff, he would have thought Ji Li's words were meant to eliminate all loose ends and strike a fatal blow.

Ji Li ignored him, straightened his clothes, and walked directly into the silent corridor.

Amidst the disordered room layout, he scanned left and right, listening for any disturbances from every corner. Even his most agile Third Personality was helping him search.

"The building lost power, but he never appeared in our sight. This means he hasn't just seen ghosts; he's even seen us holding the staff hostage."

The Third Personality explained in his mind as he searched.

Ji Li nodded and said softly, "He's a sufficiently vigilant person. He must be hiding in a corner right now, waiting to rendezvous with Lao Xue."

"But he doesn't know Lao Xue is dead yet, and we have his phone. Perhaps when he hears footsteps, he'll also be guessing if the person coming is Lao Xue!"

Ji Li understood that things were very likely as the Third Personality analyzed. He took out Lao Xue's phone, which still showed no new messages.

This also confirmed that the person must already know someone had arrived.

Ji Li frowned. How could he make that person believe he was Lao Xue and get him to reveal himself...

Suddenly, his brow unfurrowed. In addition to the footsteps, he began to whistle!

And the tune he whistled was the same melancholic opera music he had heard earlier in the office.

This person knew Lao Xue, and Lao Xue had played music using a power bank when the power went out, indicating Lao Xue's extreme love for opera.

The person who sent the text message couldn't possibly not know this. Only by using this tune could they identify themselves in the vast eighteen floors!

"To the right!"

At the same time, the Third Personality responded immediately. Almost the moment Ji Li's whistle sounded, a burst of frantic footsteps came from the right passage around the corner ahead.

Low and hurried, as if extremely anxious!

Ji Li's eyes darted. Without any hesitation, he drew his gun from his lower back and charged towards the corner ahead at full speed.

"Lao Xue! There are ghosts in the building!"

As Ji Li raised his arm, he directly shoved someone's chest, cutting off the man's words!

In the dim light, he saw the man's pale face, slick with sweat, filled with extreme terror.

"You... you're that murderer!"

The man let out a wail and turned to flee. Ji Li reacted just as quickly, reaching for his shoulder with one hand.

But...

Something was several times faster than both of them.

As the man turned, his hands shot up, just like the precursor to everyone else's death.

Even before the terror on his face could dissipate, his head began to twist unnaturally to the left!

Ji Li's expression changed drastically!