Dark Awakening

Of course, there was another way to solve this...

Within two minutes, he had to find Xiao Qi with Li Xing and bring the three of them together!

But that would be rather difficult.

Ji Li had long since formed some suspicions. Lao Xue's bizarre death, Xiao Qi's disappearance, and Text Message Man's knowledge of the ghosts' existence—

There had to be a thread connecting these three things. Now, the two men were dead, leaving only Xiao Qi, whose whereabouts were unknown.

Yet even now, Ji Li still had no clue where that person was hiding.

As the scene of carnage on the first floor's monitoring screen grew worse, Fang and Yu could no longer control the situation.

Ji Li glanced from afar at Tong Guan and Chang Nian, who seemed ready to hurry upstairs. He pursed his lips, then a cold glint flashed in his eyes. He grabbed Li Xing by the arm and rushed out of the Monitoring Room!

There was no time left to hesitate. Only a few minutes remained.

So many people had died, yet all their deaths had been meaningless. The mission's content was wrong, and their deaths offered no useful clues at all.

There was only one exception: Lao Xue's death!

Ji Li had immediately sensed that the situation on the fifth floor was extraordinary. Lao Xue had died for no reason before the staff had even arrived or approached.

Then there could only be one explanation!

He had been silenced by a ghost!

Text Message Man and Lao Xue must have discovered some extremely crucial hint about the way to survive, perhaps even part of the true mission. That was why they had suddenly died at the very beginning of the mission.

Now, both of them had been silenced one after another. Only one possible person who knew the truth remained: Xiao Qi!

But as Ji Li crawled and ran, he still felt no confidence.

If Xiao Qi really was the last person who knew the truth, were they really still alive?

"What exactly happened to me? Where did I forget it?"

The pain in Li Xing's head grew worse and worse, as if a bug were sucking at his brain and gnawing away at the little sanity he had left.

Some external force was taking over his thoughts, clinging to him like maggots in his bones while leaving him powerless to resist.

As Ji Li charged downstairs, he also watched the changes in Li Xing's emotions.

Especially when he turned his head for a glance, he saw that Li Xing's face, twisted by fear, had become as ferocious as a demon for an instant!

That sight made Ji Li's heart tighten. He and Li Xing were connected at this moment, standing less than a fist's length apart.

If Li Xing was a ghost, or had been possessed by one, then Ji Li would have nowhere to escape!

"Have I been deceived by him...?"

The question echoed in Ji Li's mind. Now, even Xiao Qi's survival had become questionable.

His safest plan for survival was to use the appearance of a ghost to stimulate the seal on Li Xing's memories and thereby learn the true mission's content.

But...

Was Li Xing's situation really as he claimed?

Was he truly not a ghost, but a man whose memories had been sealed by one?

If everything that appeared normal now was merely Li Xing's disguise, and he was the ghost itself, then what was the purpose of his continued restraint...?

"Ding-dong, ding-dong!"

Just then, one of the phones in Ji Li's pocket let out a crisp chime. The sound was so loud that it even made his body tremble!

Ji Li currently had two phones on him.

One was the Hotel Phone. The other was Lao Xue's phone, which he had brought along. Since he had no social needs, he had never gotten a phone of his own.

And the one ringing now was Lao Xue's phone!

The moment Ji Li took it out, his eyebrows lifted. The phone vibrated faintly as an incoming number flashed on the screen.

The caller ID read: "Xiao Qi"!

"Who is calling?"

Just as Ji Li hesitated over whether to answer it there, Li Xing seemed to recover from his dazed state.

His expression returned to normal. Although his features no longer looked strange in any way, there was a subtle change in his attitude and tone as he spoke.

Li Xing had never dared to speak to Ji Li like this.

Ji Li narrowed his eyes slightly as his mind raced.

Xiao Qi had not died—but why not?

According to Text Message Man's information, they should have been in the same area as Lao Xue. But if Lao Xue had been killed by a ghost for some unknown reason,

why had the ghost spared Xiao Qi, who had been with him?

The phone continued to buzz, but Ji Li still did not answer. He stole an inconspicuous glance at Li Xing.

If Xiao Qi really possessed a clue about the way to survive, there was no reason for them to have remained alive this long. As a staff member, they should have been buried alongside the others.

Yet Xiao Qi was still alive, which meant there had to be a reason the ghost could not attack them.

"Could Xiao Qi also have something special about them in this mission?"

The Third Personality, which had not shown itself for a long time, quietly voiced this thought in his mind.

"Li Xing... whether he's human or a ghost...

we have no way of knowing. But I have a vague feeling that the moment we learn Xiao Qi's location, the ghost may immediately attack them.

I suggest we play it safe and not let Li Xing meet Xiao Qi!

If he is a ghost, Xiao Qi will be silenced instantly. Then we will never be able to uncover the secrets of this mission—or even its true content!"

Listening to the Third Personality's analysis, Ji Li gritted his teeth and fell into a struggle.

There were two possible directions for the mission now. The first was to find Xiao Qi and learn what secret was hidden among the three of them.

The second was to believe Li Xing's claims about his forgotten memories, take him to Xiao Qi's location, and use the ghost's appearance to break through the seal on his memories.

But...

These two plans might not be compatible!

He could not determine Li Xing's true identity. What if Li Xing had been lying and deceiving him all along, with the goal of making Ji Li take him to Xiao Qi's location so he could silence them?

Then there would be no chance to turn things around.

The two possibilities circled briefly through Ji Li's mind. Then his brows relaxed. He hung up Xiao Qi's call and said to Li Xing:

"Tong Guan and Chang Nian will be here soon. Go find them first and report our situation."

Li Xing silently listened to Ji Li's instructions. His face showed no obvious reaction, and his eyes were like a pool of dead water, disturbed only by the faintest ripples.

By the time Ji Li said this, he had already begun to put some distance between himself and Li Xing. If Li Xing was a normal person, he would certainly do as instructed.

If he insisted on following Ji Li to search for Xiao Qi, then something would be wrong.

Ji Li was uneasy. He had no idea what Li Xing would choose, and if Li Xing truly was a ghost, Ji Li did not know how to oppose him.

For now, he could only hope that the staff downstairs would die a little more slowly and buy him more time.

"All right!"

To Ji Li's surprise, after a moment of silence, Li Xing actually agreed and quickly ran downstairs.

Ji Li had already prepared himself to turn against Li Xing, but he had not expected him to agree so readily.

He stared at Li Xing's back, somewhat bewildered. The ease with which things had gone instead made his suspicions surge.

A moment later, watching Li Xing disappear from sight, Ji Li pulled a dagger from behind his waist, gripped it in his palm, and chose another staircase.

Ji Li did not know, however, that the Hotel Phone in his left pocket had inexplicably begun to flash with a red light, as if something were on the verge of awakening.

Unfortunately, with the fabric between them, he did not see the change at all.