In Those Days

"Finally getting to the point."

Ji Li thought to himself. The conversation had not been long; basically, all the useful information was in the latter half.

"What the hell did you send me? It flashed by and disappeared."

"That shouldn't have happened. It's still on my phone.

Just take one look. Did you make out what was in the photo?"

"Not clearly. Send it again."

"..."

"It flashed by again this time, but... I think I saw a hand..."

"That's right! A hand—a bloody palm!"

A hand...

For some reason, Lao Xue's phone seemed unable to process that image, leaving Ji Li unable to see the photo's actual contents through the chat log.

But he had obtained a rather important piece of information: a bloodstained palm!

When he looked further down the records, he saw an image of extreme brutality.

This time, Lao Xue's phone displayed it perfectly clearly.

It showed a middle-aged man with a stiff, deathly pale face. His body had its back to the camera, but his head had been twisted around at an outrageous angle to face the lens!

His hands had not yet fallen, remaining locked in that horrifying pose.

His manner of death was the same as everyone else's!

He had snapped his own neck with his own hands!

"Lao Xue... Lao Xue...

Brother Xu, he..."

"How... how could this happen..."

"Stop talking and come meet me! I have a feeling this isn't over. The disaster started with that Bloody Hand Photo!"

The chat records ended there.

What remained was Xiao Li's—Text Message Man's—urging of Lao Xue, continuing right until Ji Li arrived.

Ji Li put down the phone and drew a deep breath.

He could more or less reconstruct the secret between those three.

First, Xiao Li and Brother Xu had hidden somewhere and witnessed Tong Guan's group searching the area. At that time, they secretly took a photo.

And it was precisely that photo that must have captured a paranormal phenomenon.

Yet Xiao Li had not concealed it immediately. Instead, he contacted Lao Xue, telling him to take emergency precautions!

But the photo carried a curse that living people could scarcely resist. Everyone who saw it would be mercilessly slaughtered.

Brother Xu had been the first to fall victim. Xiao Li realized something was wrong and hurriedly called for Lao Xue to bring Xiao Qi and meet up with him.

But driven by a father's instinct, Lao Xue had been unwilling to involve Xiao Qi. After settling her somewhere safe to hide, he had prepared to head for the 18th Floor.

Yet before he could even leave, he died in the office.

That was the secret between them!

The source of everything was that photo of the bloody hand!

The Curse Propagation had begun there as well!

As Ji Li thought this through, he vaguely felt as though the clouds before him had parted. Up to now, everyone's deaths had been meaningless.

But the deaths of Lao Xue and the others could provide the most genuine intelligence.

The bloody hand in the photo was the core source of the Curse Propagation!

If he found it and saw it with his own eyes, perhaps Ji Li would have a chance to uncover the true truth.

Including the real mission objective and the real path to survival!

"Uncle, are you still taking me to find Father...?"

Xiao Qi's timid voice reached Ji Li's ears as he was deep in thought, making him suddenly remember that someone was still beside him.

He turned to look at the little girl who knew about his abdomen and found himself in a difficult position.

Xiao Qi's role was not actually that significant. As a child, she could only help Ji Li this much.

Next, Ji Li needed to go to the 18th Floor and find Xiao Li—the corpse of Text Message Man.

He had not checked the phone back then. Now that he knew the true source of the curse, he should see for himself what exactly that photo had captured.

Bringing Xiao Qi along would certainly be better.

With the situation already approaching such an extreme state, Xiao Qi might perhaps serve to take a fatal blow for Ji Li...

But looking at this little girl who understood nothing, Ji Li did not want to do that.

Whether due to basic human instinct or some psychological factor, he was unwilling.

Ji Li might be cold-blooded, but that did not mean he lacked all humanity. He had killed those people because he believed that once they were dragged into the mission, there were no innocents among them.

But Xiao Qi had been brought into the building by Lao Xue. She herself had no control over anything.

After considering it, Ji Li took out the Hotel Phone and prepared to call Tong Guan.

After thinking it over, Tong Guan was the most suitable person to continue looking after the child. Among their group, he was also the only one who still possessed some kindness.

But as Ji Li held the phone, he once again felt an unexplained tremor in his left pinky finger.

This sensation had appeared several times already, each time without any apparent cause.

After repeatedly pondering it, Ji Li vaguely sensed that something within his soul or body was giving him a warning.

After hesitating for a moment, he still chose to call Tong Guan's phone.

But even after a long while, it still showed that no one was answering...

Ji Li clicked his tongue inwardly. He turned and looked through the wall toward the floor below. Logically, Tong Guan should have been with Li Xing at this time.

Could something unexpected have happened on their side?

Even now, he had never considered that there might be a problem with his own phone...

The Hotel Phone represented the hotel's will. The belief that it could never malfunction had long taken root in the employees' minds, and Ji Li was no exception.

Ji Li thought for a moment, then looked at Xiao Qi's expectant eyes. At last, he crouched down and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Xiao Qi, take your teddy bear and go downstairs by the stairway. You'll meet a man with short hair and a woman with a ponytail. They're Father's friends.

"All you need to do is tell them what happened here, and they'll take you to find Father."

These were the gentlest words Ji Li could think of.

Xiao Qi looked into Ji Li's eyes, then at Lao Xue's phone in his hand. She silently nodded and turned to leave.

But just as she was about to leave the room, she seemed to remember something. She suddenly turned around and asked:

"Uncle, why do your eyes have so many colors?"

The question caught Ji Li off guard. He instinctively raised a hand and touched the corner of his eye. "What colors?"

"When I first saw you, your pupils were black.

"Later, red light flashed in your eyes, but it disappeared right away.

"Even now, gray and black are mixed together in your eyes...

"They look so cloudy."

Ji Li frowned. He had not been aware of any changes in his eyes, but Xiao Qi's words gave him a feeling of mounting unease.

The source of it all made him think of the battle between gods that he had just fallen into.

When he had first arrived on the fifth floor, he had entered some inexplicable state of wandering consciousness. At the time, he had been unable to describe that feeling.

He only knew that some force within him had been fighting an external force, until it finally ended.

But now, he had finally found a fitting phrase for what he had felt then.

"Shivering. Fear!"

And it was not fear of that external force. On the contrary, it was the soul-force awakening within him!

He did not know the source of that power, but the terror rooted in his soul was something he had never experienced before.

Ji Li had never imagined that his fearless, unyielding mindset would one day fear something within himself.

"The man I saw—the one who looked exactly like you.

"His eyes were gray..."

Third Personality quietly spoke. He realized that something was changing.

Ji Li focused his gray-black pupils and silently gazed into the night. After a brief confusion, a trace of desolation appeared on his face.

"When I reached the fifth floor, perhaps I saw an opportunity.

"An opportunity for the other person within me to awaken.

"His pupils are merging with mine.

"In those days, would I still be myself? Would I still be Ji Li..."