Rescue or Not

"Time had passed so quickly..."

In the first-floor lobby, Yu Guo sat dejectedly on the stone steps, one hand propping up his chin as he silently watched the last ten staff members commit suicide before him!

No one knew what had happened to Ji Li. Tong Guan and Chang Nian had vanished on some unknown floor above, leaving only Yu Guo and Fang Shenyan, who had remained stationed on the first floor.

During this final hour, Yu Guo had countless times hoped those ten people would die sooner. That would have meant they still had time and room to act.

But nothing went as he had hoped. He prayed more and more fervently for time to pass more slowly, for the six-hour mark to arrive later...

Yet in the end, things still headed toward the most extreme outcome.

When the hands of his watch pointed to four in the morning, the possessed staff members, who had stubbornly refused to die until then, finally broke their own necks at the same time!

Fang Shenyan's face darkened, and the coldness in his eyes deepened.

He slowly rose to his feet, glanced at his watch, and stood frozen amid the corpse-strewn lobby.

"Ji Li lost contact half an hour ago. Tong Guan has also been completely unreachable since the last call. Now, only the two of us remain."

Yu Guo gave a bitter smile and nodded. Turning toward the man beside him, he said awkwardly, "The six hours are up, yet we are still in the mission. This already proves that the mission information we received earlier was completely false."

This conclusively confirmed that the mission information had been false. Yu Guo continued, "Teacher Fang, the reason Ji Li's side and Tong Guan's side lost contact is the key.

"The staff all communicate through Hotel Phones, and Hotel Phones have never had this kind of problem.

"Perhaps Ji Li, Tong Guan, Chang Nian, and even Li Xing have all died on the floors above.

"We need to act..."

All this time, Fang Shenyan and Yu Guo had remained stationed on the first floor. With the communication equipment damaged, they knew very little.

But if Yu Guo's analysis was correct, if both Ji Li's and Tong Guan's groups had failed and died, then perhaps their deaths could reveal the path to survival.

Fang Shenyan understood at once. He took out a Cigarette Case from his pocket, pulled out two cigarettes, and handed one to Yu Guo.

With cigarettes between their lips, the two men headed upstairs.

"Whether they are dead or not, if we find their bodies, they may have left us some hope of survival."

"Mr. Tong, Miss Chang?

"Why haven't you come over yet?"

The fourth floor was a long, straight corridor. Three people stood at its two ends: one side beneath the lights, the other hidden in a dark corner, with only a silhouette visible.

The quiet call echoed through the silent hallway, but the two people beneath the lights remained motionless.

Tong Guan had been blocked here by that person for over ten minutes. Due to some concern, he had been unwilling to move forward.

Doubt filled Chang Nian's delicate face as well. She tilted her head slightly, trying to make out where that person was hiding, but she could not see clearly.

"Why was Li Xing standing there?"

The person at the end of the corridor was, of course, Li Xing. Both the voice and the blurred figure were extremely similar to his.

But familiarity did not mean Tong Guan could trust him.

Especially not after the first thing he had said upon appearing.

"I found the path to survival!"

Tong Guan did not dare believe a single word of those five words.

First, he did not believe Li Xing was capable of finding the path to survival when there were still so many unanswered questions. Second, even if Ji Li had helped him—

So much time had passed, yet Ji Li had never shown himself. Given Ji Li's personality, he would never have sent Li Xing down to pass along the news.

Lastly, and most importantly, the cold, unfamiliar feeling in Li Xing's tone when he said it made Tong Guan's skin crawl.

Logically, if he had truly found the path to survival, he would never have reacted so indifferently. He should have been overjoyed, perhaps even weeping tears of joy.

"Where is Ji Li?"

After a long standoff, Tong Guan called across the corridor.

"I don't know where he is..."

Li Xing's voice sounded distant and ethereal, but it stopped halfway through.

Tong Guan heard the voice on the other side fall silent. Then, suddenly, he heard a crisp little voice call out.

"Uncle... can you take me to find Father?"

"A little girl?"

Chang Nian's ears perked up. She took two steps forward and looked toward Li Xing.

Tong Guan frowned. He had never known there was a girl in this building.

Judging by her voice, she seemed to have just come down from upstairs and arrived beside Li Xing.

Tong Guan hesitated. He had never seen any girl while searching the building, yet one had suddenly appeared at this moment. He could not help but think carefully about it.

"Uncle..." The girl's voice seemed very afraid of Li Xing.

The waters on the fourth floor were growing murkier and murkier.

At that moment, two concealed figures came up from the stairwell near Li Xing and the girl.

They were Fang Shenyan and Yu Guo, who had just come upstairs. They had been there for a short while already, arriving almost at the same time as the girl.

They had also witnessed the current standoff.

The current arrangement was this: Tong Guan and Chang Nian guarded the stairwell on the west side of the corridor; Li Xing and the little girl stood farther back on the east side; Fang Shenyan and Yu Guo were completely hidden in the eastern stairwell.

Tong Guan's side was too far away to make out the situation, but Fang Shenyan and Yu Guo could see everything clearly.

The instant Yu Guo came up and saw this scene, he took out the livestream phone and quickly snapped photos.

The sight before them was simply too strange. A young girl clutching a pink teddy bear stood timidly before a man, her behavior bizarre.

The man's posture was even more horrifying. At that moment, Li Xing's entire head had turned ninety degrees.

It faced Tong Guan's side, while the front of his body was turned toward the little girl. It was as if his body and head had been split into two parts, allowing him to watch both sides at once!

"Li Xing has been possessed by a ghost..."

Fang Shenyan pressed his entire body into the corner of the wall, silently observing everything without daring to act rashly.

Yu Guo secretly took two photos, though he mainly focused on the girl. Then he lowered his phone and whispered, "How could there be a little girl here whom we have never seen before?"

"I suspect she is not human either. We have never seen her during this entire time, yet she suddenly appeared. Something is wrong."

Fang Shenyan could not understand why the situation had become so complicated. It seemed the staff members had already entered different rhythms.

Just then, the girl's gentle words drew his attention over.

"The strange uncle with long hair upstairs told me to come find you...

"But you..."

"Long hair... Could that be Ji Li?"

Others could not hear the girl clearly, but Fang Shenyan and Yu Guo, standing so close, heard every word distinctly.

"Li Xing is already half-human, half-ghost. This girl may very well be connected to Ji Li, who has been missing for so long.

"Should we save her or not?"

Yu Guo looked increasingly anxious. He nudged Fang Shenyan, who had remained silent beside him, urging him again and again to make a decision.

Fang Shenyan had deep misgivings. Li Xing was destined to be abandoned; he had been luring Tong Guan and Chang Nian closer for a reason.

But the little girl seemed to have come at Ji Li's request. She might be carrying clues!

Fang Shenyan habitually pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose. Yet that absentminded gesture caused the lenses to catch the light from the overhead lamp.

A streak of white light abruptly appeared where he had been hiding, instantly exposing the two of them.

Li Xing's body did not move, but his head suddenly twisted around, turning from Tong Guan's side toward the stairwell.

Fang Shenyan closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them wide again. With a sigh, he knew there was no longer any choice between saving her and not saving her...

So he stepped out from the darkness!