Survival Mission

Early the next morning, Ji Li was already seated in the center of the lobby.

He had barely rested the night before. Instead, he had organized the hotel rules and the records of ghosts left by past managers, then printed five copies.

At the crack of dawn, he sat in a solid wood chair in the lobby, resting with his eyes closed as he waited for the new employees to arrive.

"So I really don't have a choice anymore..."

The Third Personality's voice sounded faintly melancholy in Ji Li's mind.

The Second Personality had been silent all morning, seemingly still dormant. The Third, on the other hand, had talked with Ji Li for a long time and gradually accepted this helpless reality.

Ji Li kept his eyes closed. At the Third's words, his fingers twitched slightly, and he murmured in a low voice:

"None of us has a choice..."

On October 22, 2015, the instant the clock struck ten, a strange beam of light appeared in the center of the lobby.

Dazzling, mysterious white light split the golden hotel in two.

As the glare dimmed, five bewildered figures appeared out of thin air at the hotel entrance!

"What the hell is going on?!" A rebellious young man with an edgy hairstyle glanced around in confusion, the ring through his nose swinging as he spoke.

His reaction was relatively normal: he was merely stunned. The two beside him were far more dramatic.

A young woman in an apron, clutching a bottle of soy sauce, dropped straight to the floor. She stared at the unfamiliar surroundings and screamed over and over.

Beside her was a boy who looked like a high school student. Though the two were strangers, they huddled together, clearly terrified by what was happening.

The calmest of the five was a middle-aged man with fair skin, a trace of stubble, and glasses.

He wore a dark gray Zhongshan suit. The moment he saw his surroundings, he instinctively adjusted the black-rimmed glasses on his nose and stepped back, but showed no sign of panic.

His eyes, steady yet sharp, immediately turned to Ji Li, who sat motionless in the lobby like a dead tree.

The thin young man beside him was even bolder. After scratching his head for a while, he seemed to realize something.

He pulled a phone from his pocket and began filming the hotel, muttering something under his breath.

Once his brief confusion passed, the young man with the edgy hairstyle turned on Ji Li.

"Who are you? Did you bring us here?!"

At those words, the room fell silent. Everyone's attention shifted to the one figure who stood apart in the eerie hotel.

To Ji Li.

Ji Li slowly opened his clouded gray eyes. Looking at the five of them, a faint, satisfied smile touched his handsome but pale face.

To them, however, that smile meant something else entirely.

The woman in the apron dragged the high school student back to the hotel doors and pounded on them desperately, not daring to meet Ji Li's gaze.

"What the fuck are you smiling at? I asked you a question! Are you deaf?!" The young man's temper flared. He clearly thought little of this man who looked so worn down and desolate.

He charged forward, seized Ji Li by the collar, and hauled him up by sheer force.

"Talk! Are you behind all this?!"

Ji Li did not even glance at the fist before him. His attention remained on the two men behind the young man, the ones who had reacted so differently.

Looks like there are a couple of remarkable people among these five newcomers.

Being ignored only made the young man angrier. He drove his fist into Ji Li's face.

But then...

Before everyone's eyes, his face suddenly flushed crimson. An unnatural fire seemed to surge beneath his exposed skin!

"Aaaah!"

Less than two minutes after entering the hotel, the young man crumbled into a heap of ash in full view of everyone.

Ji Li rubbed his aching left cheek and smiled at the four who remained.

"Welcome to the Tianhai Hotel."

After seeing what had happened to the young man, everyone settled down.

During that time, Ji Li learned the basics about the four of them.

The high school student was named Cao Yuan. He had been in class when he was suddenly brought to the hotel and made a new employee.

The woman in the apron was a homemaker named Ding Miaoxin. She had been making lunch at home when she, too, was abruptly transported here.

Neither of them appeared to have any special abilities, and both were slow to take in the information.

It was the other two who caught Ji Li's attention.

The man in the Zhongshan suit and glasses was named Fang Shenyan. Nothing about his appearance stood out; according to him, he was a teacher.

Yet Ji Li felt that Fang Shenyan was a little too calm. His manner seemed less rational than rigid and lifeless.

And Ji Li could sense an aura of death around the man's hands...

The bold, thin young man was named Yu Guo.

He was an outdoor livestreamer whose work had involved exploring eerie places.

The moment he arrived at the hotel, he had pulled out his phone and started streaming.

"W-we've all been cursed?" Cao Yuan asked, his legs trembling and his voice unsteady.

Ding Miaoxin was in even worse shape. She had collapsed on the floor and stared blankly at the ceiling without a word.

Only Fang Shenyan and Yu Guo remained standing, steadying themselves as they listened to Ji Li's explanation.

Ji Li nodded, handed each of them an envelope, and said quietly:

"That's the situation. All I can tell you is to accept it, then read the rules about the ghosts in these envelopes carefully. Otherwise, a single mission could cost you your life."

The others still had plenty of questions, but Ji Li sent them upstairs.

As they were leaving, Fang Shenyan suddenly stopped. He turned to Ji Li and asked, "Are you this hotel's manager?"

Ji Li gave him a long look before replying softly, "For now, yes."

The commotion in the lobby had faded, leaving only Ji Li and the pile of ash from the young man's death.

With his hands behind his back, Ji Li looked toward the center of the lobby. According to what the Tianhai Hotel had told him, the young man's death should mean a Replenishment Person would arrive.

"Fang Shenyan... his name suits him.

I could tell he had a head full of questions, but he kept himself under control. Of the four, he has the clearest grasp of the situation. It seems he wants to understand the hotel's rules and the rules concerning ghosts before coming back to you."

The Third Personality quietly analyzed the newcomers.

Ji Li nodded. "Besides him, I think Yu Guo is promising too.

When that young man died, everyone else looked away. Yu Guo was the only one who dared to watch. I didn't explain, and he didn't press me.

He's bold, observant, and knows how to handle people."

But as Ji Li waited, he realized something was wrong.

Ten minutes had passed since the young man's death, yet no Replenishment Person had arrived. That clearly went against the rules he had been given.

Could it be that deaths caused by fighting inside the hotel don't count under the replacement rule?

Before Ji Li could make sense of it, something vibrated in his pocket.

His heart tightened. A new mission had been issued. He hurriedly took out his phone.

The screen's harsh, cold glow lit his pale face. A mass of black text appeared against the white background.

Recipient: Ji Li, Acting Manager of Shop No. 7, Tianhai Hotel.

Please arrive at Room 701, Unit 4, Building 2, Sanhe Residential Complex, in the eastern suburbs of this city, before 8:00 p.m. on October 22, 2015.

Survive until 8:00 a.m. the following morning to complete the mission and receive a new resident.

The Replenishment Person is already waiting at the mission location. Go there and meet up.

Sender: Heavenly Sea.