Where Is the Opening?

The instant Fang Shenyan realized his position had been exposed, he stepped away from the wall and charged straight toward the little girl!

He had too little information at hand. If the girl truly possessed the clue Ji Li had obtained, then he had to take the gamble no matter what.

Li Xing's head was like a screw that had lost its nut. His neck and head were no longer restrained, and as Fang Shenyan passed him, he saw Li Xing gripping his own head and adjusting the direction it faced.

This only made him feel even more certain that Li Xing was completely dead.

Fang Shenyan moved with decisive speed. Tong Guan and Chang Nian, on the other side of the corridor, saw only an afterimage as he snatched up the little girl and vanished into the staircase above!

What truly allowed Tong Guan to make out who it was was the figure behind Fang Shenyan.

It was Yu Guo!

He followed close behind Fang Shenyan, taking the same escape route, but as he passed Li Xing, he made an extremely bold move!

Yu Guo hurried forward in Fang Shenyan's direction, yet his eyes remained fixed on Li Xing without blinking.

He watched Li Xing's head strain to turn, then did something very strange.

Even as he ran, he swung his fist and smashed it hard into Li Xing's turning left cheek!

Li Xing had just begun turning his head toward them when Yu Guo's heavy punch struck him viciously!

Then an even stranger scene unfolded...

At such close range, Yu Guo heard a crisp crack of bone and watched Li Xing's head get knocked clean off by his punch!

Yu Guo watched Li Xing's headless body still grope around in search of its head, and his scalp went numb.

Then he looked toward Tong Guan and Chang Nian, who had been watching the show from the other end, and shouted, "What are you standing around for? Run!"

With that, he followed Fang Shenyan's footsteps and fled rapidly toward the rooftop.

On the other side, Tong Guan, who had seen everything clearly, furrowed his brow. He grabbed Chang Nian's hand and pulled her up another staircase at a mad sprint.

"Six hours! We've reached the six-hour mark!

The possessed Li Xing delayed us until the final moment."

Chang Nian flung off Tong Guan's hand and said in a low voice:

"What if he wasn't possessed?"

Tong Guan's brow rose, and a sharp glint flashed through his eyes, but he said nothing.

Chang Nian continued:

"Li Xing was already very unusual. He reported three minutes late, and the mission was delayed afterward!

It looked like the hotel deliberately allowed it. What was that time reserved for? We still don't know.

But could it have been time for that ghost to create a false mission?"

Tong Guan's eyes shifted as he followed her line of reasoning and said darkly:

"You think Li Xing himself is that ghost.

During the hours the mission was delayed, he fabricated the false mission and planted the means of Curse Propagation on us!"

Chang Nian jolted in shock. She looked at Tong Guan's profile and fell silent.

But those words reminded her of something Tong Guan had once said...

"The means of Curse Propagation is..."

Tong Guan gave Chang Nian a firm look, reading what she was thinking. He nodded heavily, then took out his Hotel Phone and opened the mission email.

The mission's contents were still the same as before. Nothing had changed.

"Whether the ghost's true form is Li Xing or not, we're eighty percent certain!

As for the remaining twenty percent, we'll be able to confirm it shortly."

Quick-witted as Chang Nian was, she immediately picked up where he left off:

"As long as Li Xing can track our location, we can determine that the curse is on us!

And the possibility that it's that thing will become higher than ever..."

"What did Ji Li tell you?"

Fang Shenyan held the little girl tucked under one arm. Even while fleeing in a panic, he still tried to dig out clues about the escape route from her.

"Ji... Xiao Qi doesn't know that person."

The little girl was somewhat afraid of Fang Shenyan's scent. She had sensed that same smell when she came into contact with Ji Li a moment ago.

Yet she remained unusually calm and did not struggle.

Fang Shenyan did not have that much patience. He muttered irritably and changed his approach:

"Tell me what happened when you met that long-haired uncle."

Gradually, he began speaking with Xiao Qi, and Yu Guo caught up from behind.

"Well? Did you find anything out?"

The moment Yu Guo arrived, he pinched Xiao Qi's chubby little cheek. It did not look like affection, but rather an attempt to test whether she was alive.

Xiao Qi shrank back hard, making Fang Shenyan dislike him even more.

"So, after Ji Li separated from you, he should have gone upstairs."

Xiao Qi nodded timidly. "That's all I know."

Fang Shenyan said nothing more. He turned to glance at Yu Guo. "Did you do something?"

Yu Guo looked guilty at once. Fang Shenyan had already seen through his habits, so he gave an embarrassed smile. "I just knocked Li Xing's head off. When I left, he was still looking for it. That should buy us some time."

Fang Shenyan nodded without changing expression:

"It won't buy us much time. We need to find Ji Li upstairs, or at the very least meet up with Tong Guan.

In this mission, you and I are far too passive!"

Yu Guo looked somewhat awkward. As he ran, he took out his phone and dialed Tong Guan's number.

The call connected, but it showed that no one answered.

"No answer again..."

Fang Shenyan looked at the Hotel Phone in Yu Guo's hand and said gravely, "The same thing happened with Ji Li?"

Yu Guo nodded. "That's right. I don't know whether there's something wrong with them or with us."

Then Fang Shenyan seemed to think of something and ordered Yu Guo to call his phone as well.

But Yu Guo still got no answer, and the phone in Fang Shenyan's pocket did not make the slightest sound either.

"It seems something has gone wrong with the phones issued by the hotel.

If that's the case, Ji Li may not necessarily be in trouble..."

Yu Guo rolled his eyes at Fang Shenyan. "Ji Li isn't the main issue anymore. Li Xing is neither human nor ghost, and he's chasing us from behind.

And even now, we still don't know the mission's true contents, including the direction of the escape route!"

Fang Shenyan did not look well either. Though he did not show any panic, his heart was already in his throat.

"I keep feeling that the ghost is right beside us. The true mission's contents are separated from us by only a single sheet of paper. What we lack now is an opening to pierce through it!"

Yu Guo seemed to realize something when he heard that and instinctively asked, "Then where is the opening?"

They were almost at the 18th Floor. It was right ahead of them.

Fang Shenyan raised his head and looked toward the top of the stairs. A man and a woman stood there, as if they had been waiting for a long time.

Without turning his head, he replied:

"Right in front of us!"