"Of the 43 employees, excluding the one Ji Li shot dead, six died, five were taken away, and three vanished without a trace.
At this time and place, we only have 28 people!"
Tong Guan frowned as he looked over the staff list recorded on the Hotel Phone.
He glanced at Yu Guo and Fang Shenyan beside him, then at Chang Nian, who had remained behind him the entire time, and checked the time.
"It has been two hours and forty minutes since the mission began. Ji Li has been gone for far too long without any word. Since he has not contacted us, it means the situation there is still under his control.
We have already tried Isolation Theory several times, but nothing has changed."
Tong Guan was still completely in the dark about this mission. During this time, he had also been testing the theory Ji Li had proposed, but it had yielded no results.
First, they separated five people. No one was harmed. Then they sent out three more to test it, and no one died either.
In the end, Tong Guan even took an employee and hid from the main group for half an hour, yet no ghost ever appeared.
Tong Guan found this situation difficult to understand.
It could be said that, since the mission began, no one around him had died apart from the first five minutes.
This excessive calmness only made him feel more uncertain.
It made him repeatedly question the possibility of Isolation Theory. To him, the problem was no longer testing a way to survive.
It was finding out where the dead end lay.
After all, only by understanding the dead end could they verify the way to survive in reverse.
If no one died and everything remained peaceful, he feared that the situation would drag on until the very end before suddenly erupting.
By then, he would not have any strength left to fight back.
Only after the power returned did he gather Fang Shenyan and the others, preparing to test the dead end from another angle.
He looked at the bored Yu Guo beside him and asked softly,
"Can you simulate that suicide attempt you tested before?"
After nearly three hours of waiting, Yu Guo had already begun to lose patience. Now that he had something to do, he immediately perked up.
"Sure. We already know how to break it, anyway."
Yu Guo was not someone who hesitated. Almost the instant Tong Guan spoke, he raised both hands toward his head.
Nothing unexpected happened. As his body moved, his limbs became stiff and numb, while only his eyes retained their liveliness.
It was Fang Shenyan's first time seeing this, so he could not help feeling startled and confused. He looked at Tong Guan in puzzlement.
Seeing that Yu Guo could indeed enter that inexplicable simulated dead-end state, Tong Guan nodded slightly and reached out to lay Yu Guo flat on the ground.
Before long, Yu Guo sprang back to his feet again.
"What are you doing all this for?"
Tong Guan raised his own hands toward his head. Sure enough, he felt that same stiffness. After a brief attempt, he gave up.
"Looks like all of us hotel employees will experience that strange condition when we imitate death."
Tong Guan searched through the list on the phone. His gaze settled on a man's name, and he marked it with his fingertip.
Then he looked toward the corresponding person and waved.
"Guan Ping? I need your help with something."
As he spoke, he walked into the crowd and explained to the people following him,
"Don't you think the way Yu Guo simulated death earlier was very strange?"
Yu Guo exchanged a look with Fang Shenyan. Fang Shenyan pushed up his glasses and said,
"I only just heard about it, but something feels wrong.
Mission Information is usually precise. Since the hotel said it would only come after us once all the staff were dead,
then even if we deliberately courted death, we should not be attacked by ghosts."
Yu Guo hesitated before explaining,
"But the mission was actually rather vague on that point. The idea that it would kill the employees first and us afterward was only an inference."
Chang Nian took out the Hotel Phone and glanced at it, then said quietly,
"No. It says that if we fail to complete the protection mission within six hours, it will kill everyone without a solution.
That already clearly divides the mission stages. It will only kill us if the protection mission fails. If we are attacked at this stage, then how are we supposed to protect...
Huh?"
She stopped there. Yu Guo and Fang Shenyan both realized something was wrong as well.
Only then did Tong Guan slowly turn around. Looking at the doubtful expressions on all their faces, he said in a grave voice,
"You felt it too, didn't you?"
Fang Shenyan nodded with a dark expression.
"Yes. The Mission Information this time is riddled with loopholes. It cannot even justify itself!"
Tong Guan continued,
"The hotel does sometimes provide vague conditions, but only regarding the time, location, and completion requirements.
I have never seen the overall mission itself be ambiguous.
And most importantly, its Mission Information actually contains the word 'I'!"
Chang Nian felt as though she had been struck by lightning. She immediately checked the email on the phone.
At the very bottom of the mission, the message clearly stated:
"If the protection mission is not completed within six hours, I will lift the restrictions on the ghosts, and everyone will be killed without a solution!"
"Who has ever seen the word 'I' used in a hotel mission? It is the most direct and unmistakably subjective word.
The hotel has never used language like that. At least, I have never seen it."
Tong Guan spoke with conviction. Without even looking at the phone, he recited the Mission Information from memory.
Sweat appeared on Fang Shenyan's forehead. His hand trembled slightly as he took out the Cigarette Case and lit a cigarette for himself.
A terrifying thought rose in his mind, but it was too unbelievable—something that absolutely should not have been possible. He did not dare confirm it.
Yu Guo had no such reservations. He said bluntly, "You mean the Mission Information we received might be wrong?"
Tong Guan did not turn back, but he had already reached the employee named Guan Ping.
"Drawing a conclusion from Mission Information alone would be too flimsy.
Perhaps the hotel deliberately released it this way. That is why we need to test it."
"How do we test it?"
Tong Guan did not answer. He placed the phone in Chang Nian's hands and walked toward the uneasy Guan Ping.
A gentle smile spread across his face as he lightly patted Guan Ping on the shoulder.
"Don't worry. I am not close with the person who fired the gun earlier.
We have already conducted many tests. Now I need you to help me with one more thing."
Tong Guan's attitude was unusually kind. It was not an act. In all fairness, although the people before him were merely characters arranged by the hotel,
they were still alive. He might not go out of his way to save anyone, but he would not deliberately harm them either.
He had spoken with Guan Ping before.
At the time, Guan Ping had been in a bad mood and tried to resist, but Tong Guan patiently communicated with him and calmed him down.
They had gotten to know each other somewhat. Furthermore, most of the people here had arrived later and had seen the strange corpse by the first-floor staircase.
Although they still had not witnessed a ghost killing anyone, they had begun to half-believe Tong Guan's claims about vengeful ghosts.
Guan Ping clenched his teeth. He was reluctant, but he still asked, "What do you need me to do?"
He assumed that this so-called help would be no different from Tong Guan's previous actions, such as taking him somewhere secluded.
But Tong Guan's next words sent chills over his entire body.
"I want you to press your left hand against your right temple, use your right hand to grip your own jaw, and slowly twist.
Just like the posture of that corpse by the stairs. Start trying it!
And I will maintain the same posture and simulate death at the same time!"
Ignoring Guan Ping's shocked gaze, he turned to Fang Shenyan and said softly,
"When a living person simulates death, they are actively inviting a ghost to possess them.
The fact that it has never appeared has forced me to take this measure.
But if Guan Ping and I act simultaneously, we can use it to verify the ambiguity of the mission content.
If the mission content is correct, then I cannot successfully complete the simulation. At the very least, I will be forcibly stopped at the final step.
Because no matter how you interpret it, the mission states that the staff will die before us.
In the first scenario, Guan Ping will unconsciously snap his own neck, while I survive.
Then the mission content is accurate, and we will have no choice but to search for another breakthrough.
In the second scenario, Guan Ping and I both die.
Then the mission content is completely wrong. It utterly contradicts its literal meaning.
We will need to define this mission from a different angle."
Chang Nian frowned. She felt that Tong Guan's method was too aggressive. Although they now knew the solution was to tackle the person to the ground,
actively inviting a ghost to possess someone was far too risky. If anything went wrong, death would be the result.
However, Fang Shenyan and Yu Guo exchanged a glance. While viewing Tong Guan in a new light, they secretly nodded.
They believed the plan was feasible.
Tong Guan took a deep breath and looked at Guan Ping standing directly across from him.
"Whether you are willing or not, you must participate in this operation.
You may stop voluntarily at the final moment when you sense danger, but only at the final moment."
On the surface, Tong Guan's plan was indeed a way to break the stalemate and verify the suspicion in his heart.
But it committed a colossal mistake—one that could even be called the lowest-level error.
He lacked sufficient information!
This stemmed from his personal dislike of Ji Li and his contempt for a one-star mission. He had never called Ji Li to understand the situation over there.
So he had no idea that once someone was possessed by a ghost, they could only be killed without a solution!
Before you continue