Guan Ping's expression shifted under the employees' gazes. Beneath the cold fluorescent lights, a fine sheen of sweat had already formed on his forehead.
He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, trying to say a few more words, but after looking at the employees, he finally relaxed his hands.
"You said that as long as I sensed danger, I would stop on my own."
Tong Guan nodded solemnly, without the slightest worry on his face over what they were about to do.
"Yes. If you feel that something is wrong, signal Chang Nian with your eyes. She'll get you out of danger as quickly as possible."
As he spoke, Chang Nian stepped forward and stood between the two men, glancing from side to side.
She did not try to dissuade them again. Instead, she cooperated with Tong Guan's actions and decisions as much as possible. It seemed to have become a habit.
Tong Guan relaxed his body and faced Guan Ping. At his signal, the two raised their hands at the same time and aimed them at their own heads.
This was utterly reckless.
Actively using Attracting Ghosts to Possess was, on the surface, a horrifying plan, but it was also a good strategy for breaking the current deadlock and verifying the ambiguity of the mission's contents.
Unfortunately, Ji Li had yet to call them and share any intelligence.
But Fang Shenyan, who had remained silent all this time, now had an uncertain look in his eyes. After hesitating briefly, he dialed Ji Li's phone...
Meanwhile, Tong Guan and Guan Ping's actions were also getting underway.
Their arms stretched out straight, then gradually bent as they copied the employees who had died at midnight, reaching both hands toward their heads.
Tong Guan's hands were steady, and there was no panic on his face. He even encouraged Guan Ping with his eyes, signaling that he need not be nervous.
Guan Ping could be considered one of the boldest among the employees. It was no easy feat for him to trust Tong Guan's plan while only half-believing and half-understanding it.
The operation proceeded faster and faster, but as Chang Nian watched Tong Guan and Guan Ping, she sensed that something was wrong.
Guan Ping's arms were not stiff in the slightest, and his condition looked perfectly normal. His head was only slightly tilted because he himself was slowly forcing it to turn.
Tong Guan's situation was exactly the same!
Not long ago, he had tested it on himself. When both hands reached his head, his limbs had gone numb and stiff.
But now that they had truly begun the operation, that strange feeling of possession was gone instead!
Chang Nian sighed quietly to herself. The operation had failed from the very beginning.
The ghost had not possessed them at all. Even Tong Guan, an employee, had lost that sensation of possession while carrying out the plan.
Yet she also felt somewhat relieved. When Tong Guan had first proposed this plan, she had felt that something was off.
It had felt as though something was about to happen. She had not had the chance to persuade him before, but now that the operation was about to fail, her worries had faded instead.
Fang Shenyan was still calling Ji Li, but no one answered for a long time.
Seeing what was happening here, Yu Guo leaned over and furtively glanced at the phone screen.
"What's going on? Did Ji Li die?"
Fang Shenyan shot him a glare. Before he could speak, a piercing burst of static suddenly rang out from the broadcast system overhead.
It was as if someone had deliberately turned on the old broadcast system, throwing the circuitry into chaos.
But the noise did not last long. Before long, a cool, hoarse voice came through, carrying a uniquely indifferent tone.
The moment all the employees heard it, they immediately knew that the speaker was Ji Li, who had vanished for nearly three hours!
"Tong Guan, stop what you're doing. Things have changed drastically!"
Ji Li did not need to say it. Tong Guan had already begun to stop. When he had failed to feel the stiffness that should have arrived, he had realized that the attempt had failed.
His head had already been twisted more than ninety degrees, nearly as far as he could force it, yet there was still no reaction.
That alone showed that his plan was ineffective.
Hearing Ji Li's words, he lowered his hands and looked at the broadcast system overhead, then at the surveillance camera in the distance as it turned to adjust its angle.
He had already understood most of it. A moment later, he said aloud, "It seems you discovered something."
Ji Li's cool voice rang out once more. "This counts as a report on our second operation since the mission began."
Inside the first-floor lobby, only Ji Li and Tong Guan's voices could be heard, representing the exchange of information between the two sides.
As the information rapidly gathered, every employee wore a different expression.
When Yu Guo heard that the five employees Ji Li had taken with him had all died at the same time, he nearly bit his tongue and blurted out, "No wonder nothing's happened on our side. So it had its eyes on you!"
Fang Shenyan looked grim. He habitually adjusted his glasses, calculating the other piece of intelligence Ji Li had brought back.
"Once possessed, death is unavoidable."
The conditions under which that conclusion had been reached were too airtight. It had been bought with so many lives on the Eighteenth Floor; its accuracy went without saying.
But what Fang Shenyan was considering now was this.
Why had Yu Guo's two previous tests on him been able to stop short...
And why had the ghost still not acted, even though Tong Guan and Guan Ping's attempt had pushed recklessness to its limit...
Those two questions could actually be considered one.
How did the ghost distinguish between employees and staff members?
Tong Guan sighed inwardly, then told Ji Li everything that had happened on his side.
Ji Li was silent for a long while, as though he were considering Tong Guan's speculation that the mission's contents were unclear and might contain an error.
Before long, his voice rang out through the air again.
"As for the issue with the mission's contents, the simplest method of verification has already appeared.
"Following my plan, all employees only need to withdraw and gather all staff members on the first floor.
"Whether there are still casualties afterward will be the best test.
"Because the curse-propagation killing pattern I discovered originates from us. As long as we stay away from the staff, they will not be harmed.
"And conversely...
"If they die when we stay away from them and still die when we approach them, then this would be a comprehensive rescue strategy from every angle.
"And if it is still unavoidable death...
"Then there can be no doubt. The mission contents we saw were wrong!"
Tong Guan raised his brows. Ji Li's words had persuaded him; this plan was indeed exquisitely clever.
It could verify the path to survival, identify the mission's contents, and was even far better than the plan he had proposed before.
Ji Li's plan was a deployment and optimization from the perspective of the overall situation!
Tong Guan turned to Chang Nian and asked quietly, "What do you suggest?"
Chang Nian flicked the ponytail behind her head. "No problem."
Tong Guan then looked toward Fang Shenyan and Yu Guo behind him. Neither of them had any objections.
The operation began in full. The four employees on the first floor quickly withdrew from the lobby, leaving behind only a bewildered group of staff members.
On the other side, Ji Li was in the Monitoring Room on the Eighteenth Floor, staring intently at the screen before him. This was his final hypothesis.
If it failed, he would have no choice but to find Xiao Qi, who had still not appeared and might become the breakthrough point of this mission!
Ji Li did not see Li Xing sitting in the corner after hearing Ji Li and Tong Guan's speculation.
The emotions on his face had become incomparably complicated. In a daze, it seemed as if he had remembered something, yet also as if he had forgotten something.
Especially after hearing the words "mission contents," he thoughtfully slipped a hand into his coat and reached for the Hotel Phone issued by the hotel.
Strangely, the screen lit up on its own as he tried to grasp it!
On the screen hidden by the fabric, the original apps and wallpaper had all vanished, replaced abruptly by a bloody palm!
Li Xing's hand was about to touch the Hotel Phone, while the palm inside the screen was about to emerge from it!
Inside and outside the screen, the two hands were about to intertwine...
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