"Can you fucking walk faster? My hand's gone again. It hurts like hell!"
"Has the Main Personality lost a hand before?"
"Cut the crap. This hurts worse than last time!"
Ji Li had no strength left to stop the two personalities bickering in his head. With the empty Mirror Frame tucked under his arm, he staggered toward the public restroom ahead.
The mission had ended successfully, but he had also passed out. If the other personalities hadn't shouted him awake, he would probably have bled to death by now.
Bang!
The man with three shadows slammed through the restroom door and found himself back at the Tianhai Hotel Seventh Branch.
A gentle, warm breeze drove away the chill of the autumn night. Waves of heat swept through Ji Li and enveloped him as he collapsed to the floor.
Congratulations to Mr. Ji Li, Acting Manager of Tianhai Hotel's Shop No. 7, on completing the Reception Mission and returning safely. Shop No. 7 has been promoted from an "ordinary" establishment to a "one-star" hotel and may recruit five additional staff members. Until the hotel reaches two stars, vacancies will be filled when staff members die, keeping the roster fixed at six. The new staff members will arrive in the hotel lobby at exactly 10 a.m. tomorrow. Mr. Ji Li, please devise a reasonable management rule before the new staff members join. We wish you a pleasant survival.
Ji Li watched flesh and bone regrow on his severed left hand before his eyes. Ignoring the bizarre sight, he turned his attention to the empty Mirror Frame.
This was the ghost he had brought back on the Reception Mission.
"Oh, don't move, don't move...
It's a little numb, a little itchy. Almost done..."
The Second Personality's strange voice echoed in his ears. Ji Li frowned but said nothing.
The empty Mirror Frame, which represented the ghost, rose from the floor. A line of tiny text suddenly appeared on its back: "Resident 203"!
Then it vanished before his eyes, and a muffled door slam came from the second floor.
Ji Li breathed a sigh of relief. The Tianhai Hotel had accepted its new resident. His mission was truly complete.
Only then did he finally have a chance to take out his phone and read the new email.
As he went upstairs to check on the three Ghost Residents, he considered his situation.
Ji Li had always attributed his previous failure to a lack of manpower.
During that failed mission, he had found a way to survive, but without enough people or time to carry it out, he had lost.
Now that the hotel had risen to one star, he would have five teammates, giving him far more options on future missions.
An unnatural chill hung over the second-floor corridor. Ji Li could sense that the ghosts in Rooms 205 and 210 were growing restless over the new ghost's arrival in Room 203.
Ji Li stood at the end of the corridor, his gaze dark.
He still could not understand what purpose the hotel's rule requiring staff to supervise the residents served.
As things stood, the Ghost Residents were hardly obedient. Every day, they tried to escape, though staff warnings could hold them back.
But could humans really restrain ghosts?
Ji Li turned back, placed both hands on the banister, and looked at the portraits of the seventeen former managers in the center of the lobby.
"Why do the Ghost Residents disappear when every employee in the hotel dies...?
The dead are dead, but where did all those residents go?"
"Ji Li, could you tell me what exactly is going on?" The Third Personality's familiar calm voice sounded in his ear.
It broke off his unanswered thoughts.
Ji Li sighed, went upstairs to his private room, and sat before the computer. In a low voice, he began to explain everything.
After a long while, the Third Personality silently accepted it all.
"So I've gone from being a psychologist to one of your subordinate personalities. I've lost my rights as a person..."
"I don't know why you have independent memories and a will of your own. Number Two doesn't." Ji Li rubbed his aching temples.
He had come to understand a little about the supernatural hotel, but the mysterious, unusual nature of his own existence remained a complete mystery to him.
The Second Personality was deranged and crude, but had shown nothing out of the ordinary. The newly born Third Personality, however, was unusually independent, and that left Ji Li uneasy.
The Third Personality was steady by nature. For now, it might not cause any trouble.
What worried Ji Li was what would happen if he died again. If every new personality had an independent will, he might have no way to tell whether they meant him well or ill.
Then the personalities inside him would become ticking time bombs. They could cause unforeseen disasters or even threaten his control outright!
"Enough, enough. I think Number Three's got something wrong with his head. The new staff arrive at ten tomorrow, and as manager, we've got to keep them in line." The Second Personality yawned and spoke in a muffled voice.
Ji Li nodded. The arrival of new staff was a tremendous advantage for him.
But he needed to make them understand their situation quickly. Otherwise, they might do something foolish on a mission and bring everything crashing down.
"I can create one hotel rule within reasonable limits to manage them. What should it cover?"
At the question, both personalities fell silent. Ji Li lowered his head in thought.
The hotel lacked nothing in the way of supplies or wealth. Whatever someone wanted, they only had to say it aloud, and it would appear in their cabinet.
With everything already provided, Ji Li did not know what kind of rule to create.
"Remember how you schemed against Blondie and the others just now?" the Third Personality said. Ji Li raised an eyebrow.
"On a Reception Mission, humans have almost no ability to resist a ghost, and death is always close.
So it's only natural for people to harm others out of fear, just as you did."
The Third Personality did not spell it out, but Ji Li understood completely. He was being told to create a rule that restrained the staff from within.
"Heavenly Sea, my rule is that staff are forbidden from scheming against each oth—" Ji Li stopped mid-sentence.
Then he changed it. "Staff are forbidden from fighting among themselves inside the hotel!"
"Acting Manager Ji Li's proposed rule meets the requirements. It takes effect immediately!"
Ji Li nodded at the hotel's response. He had originally wanted to forbid people from plotting against one another, but then he remembered that he, too, had no power to resist ghosts.
He might still need to scheme against others during a mission.
As far as he was concerned, everyone could rely on their own wits. But no one could bring those schemes into the hotel, or the last place of safety would be lost.
"All right, all right. Let's see what the newcomers are like tomorrow. I'm fucking exhausted!"
Ji Li still did not rest. He sat in his chair, lit a cigarette, and stared at the corner through a haze of smoke.
"I'm still only the Acting Manager. The hotel's email said there's currently no difference between the manager and the staff.
Does that mean I'll gain special privileges if I become the real manager someday...?"
But then he shook his head. "I only became Acting Manager because I was the sole employee at the time.
Maybe there'll be a selection for the real manager someday, and everyone will have to compete for the position.
The hotel... Heavenly Sea... me... Ji Li..."
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