Two Doors

"301," this was Ji Li's room.

The second floor was for the hauntings, and the third floor was for the staff. As the acting manager, Ji Li's room was at the very front.

At this very moment, the black shoulder bag filled with application items was quietly placed on the chair. Ji Li's perpetually pale face was turned towards the windowsill.

In reality, Ji Li possessed an extraordinary appearance, with sharp brows and bright eyes that carried a unique melancholic aura. It was a pity that his face was completely shrouded in gloom, appearing somewhat eerie due to its extreme paleness.

"Time is almost up. With a few new people helping this time, I doubt we'll repeat the same mistakes." The distinct coolness belonging to his third personality echoed in his mind.

It was immediately drowned out by the second personality's irritable nature.

"Damn Tianhai, won't let me rest for a second. Just got a good sleep, and another mission comes up. What a life-sucking ghost!"

Ji Li didn't speak. He merely glanced at his watch, decisively turned, picked up the black bag, and left.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

Ji Li stood in the silent, empty corridor, took out the hotel-issued phone, and began to tap on the wall, creating a unique sound in the present moment.

In response to his call, the door to the adjacent room opened first, as if they had been waiting for a long time.

Fang Shenyan, in his signature Zhongshan suit, stepped out. He didn't speak, merely gazing at Ji Li across the air.

"Hey everyone! Yu Dadan is back! I failed to succeed in my ghost-hunting livestreams before, but this time it's different!

Get your rockets and cruise ships ready, you guys are going to bleed money!"

Ji Li heard Yu Guo's voice before he saw him. This newcomer was unlike anyone else; he seemed to have nerves of steel.

Even in this situation, he was still livestreaming. Ji Li couldn't tell if this person's participation was a good thing or a bad thing.

Finally, Ding Miaoxin and Cao Yuan emerged from their rooms, trembling. Their reactions were truly in line with how normal people would behave.

Their faces were ashen, as if they had been through a terrible ordeal all afternoon, feeling like the world had ended. After receiving the email from Tianhai, they had tried to find Ji Li several times but were always disappointed.

Perhaps, in their eyes, this was a path of no return.

Ding Miaoxin's eyes were red, and Cao Yuan supported her. The two most fragile newcomers clung to each other.

Ji Li glanced at them, then withdrew his gaze, saying nothing more, and directly turned towards the hotel lobby.

The second floor remained silent. This situation made Ji Li frown. He paused for a moment, shook his head, and paid it no further mind.

Generally, when the staff went on missions, the hauntings would not venture out. This was one of the unwritten rules summarized by past managers.

The five of them, though appearing to have some momentum, were in reality completely scattered.

Ji Li stood on the street and thought for a moment. He ultimately decided against splitting into separate cars and instead hired a van, with all of them traveling together.

The autumn night breeze was gentle; it was a good day. The streets were bustling with people, and afterimages flashed past Ji Li.

"My child is only four years old, and his father is always away. If I don't survive this time, I won't even get to see them one last time," Ding Miaoxin said, starting to cry again.

Cao Yuan comforted her in a low voice nearby, but his throat also began to choke up.

"Brother Ji, can the five of us survive?

Miaoxin and I are just ordinary people. We've never done anything wrong in our lives. Do we really have to suffer this innocently..."

Ji Li listened to their words, his eyes still fixed on the scenery outside the window.

Earlier that afternoon, he had compared the email content with the newcomers.

He discovered that because he was the acting manager, he knew about the "replacement person."

However, the mission information for the others did not mention that there was a sixth person waiting at the mission location.

Therefore, Cao Yuan and the others only thought that there were only the five of them on this mission.

Ji Li sighed inwardly. He didn't quite understand family relationships.

He had lost all his memories. Although he could still retain the instincts for normal living, he could never evoke any emotions regarding family and feelings.

It was as if he were a person who had appeared out of nowhere. He lacked the deep-seated emotions that ordinary people possessed and could not understand them.

He couldn't answer Cao Yuan's question and merely said coldly, "Calm yourselves. We're almost there."

Fang Shenyan sat up straight on the chair like an old pine tree. Upon hearing Ji Li's words, he finally turned his head and stiffly said:

"How confident are you that you can survive?"

"I don't know. This is the first mission since becoming a one-star hotel. The difficulty is incomparable. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been dragged into this."

Fang Shenyan nodded and remained silent.

In the oppressive van, apart from the driver who was wiping cold sweat, only Yu Guo was left, still spewing useless nonsense to the "brothers" in the livestream.

"Brothers! I've arrived!"

Before Ji Li could speak, Yu Guo jumped out of the car first, holding his phone, completely unconcerned about the supernatural events they were about to face.

"Look everyone, this is the Dongjiao Sanhe Residential Area. It's incredibly dilapidated; these look like buildings constructed over ten years ago.

We're going to Building 2, Unit 4, Room 701. But looking from the outside now, Building 2 has the fewest residents. It's only eight o'clock, and not a single light is on.

I heard that Room 701 is a haunted house, and anyone who enters never comes out alive."

This time, I, Yu Dadan, refuse to believe in evil! I'm risking my life for you all, so give me some support, brothers, let's clear out this inventory.

Let's shout our slogan: For a man to do well in life, he must boldly go for it!

Here I go!"

Ding Miaoxin glared at Yu Guo after hearing his nonsensical ramblings, while Cao Yuan awkwardly scratched his head.

Ji Li initially wanted to stop Yu Guo's antics, but on second thought, he felt it wasn't entirely a bad thing. The tense atmosphere from earlier had indeed been lightened by his few words.

Only the second personality cursed crudely, "What the f***."

"Time is almost up, let's head to Room 701 first."

Walking up the dusty, old stairwell, Ji Li wiped away faded advertisements, lingering for a moment on each floor.

The two rooms on each floor seemed to have residents; there was even trash placed outside the doors.

But why did it seem like no homes had lights on from the outside?

The hurried footsteps and increasingly rapid breaths of the five people echoed in the confined space.

Ji Li wasn't worried about entering Room 701, but he still hadn't seen the "person to fill the vacancy" mentioned in the hotel's email.

"Could it be that he/she is waiting for me inside the room?"

After a few steps, the five clerks arrived at Room 701.

From the outside, it was an extremely simple room. Couplets and New Year's paintings were still affixed to the door, and it didn't look old.

There was a doormat at the entrance, indicating that someone lived there.

Ji Li turned and looked at the "Room 702" opposite, its door tightly shut and adorned with a pink teddy bear.

It seemed a woman with a girlish heart lived next door.

This made him a bit perplexed. The mission location was chosen as "701," but it didn't seem like a haunted place at all.

Not only was someone living there, but even the neighbors were still around. If there were any supernatural occurrences, the entire Building No. 2 would have been evacuated long ago.

"We've reached the mission location, but... how do we get in?" Cao Yuan timidly peeked out from the crowd, asking.

Ji Li frowned, unsure of what to do.

But Fang Shenyan, walking beside him, suddenly bent down, lifted the doormat, and astonishingly retrieved a bronze key from underneath, placing it before Ji Li.

Ji Li looked at the taciturn man with surprise and confusion.

"Don't look at me. It's a common habit for people to keep a spare key under the doormat. I just tried."

Ji Li lacked much life experience and didn't dwell on this point. He took the key, inserted it into the lock, turned it slightly, and the door lock clicked open with a "snap."

"Creeeak..."

The mission location finally revealed a gap, waiting for the living to enter.

Ji Li took a deep breath, said nothing more, and stepped inside first.

The others, whether struggling or hesitating, all entered the room before the mission deadline.

Ji Li, tall and slender, stood at the doorway, watching the door sway shut.

"Bang!"

The moment "701" was sealed, all the living individuals had reached the mission location.

But the third personality, at just the right moment, uttered a nonsensical sentence.

"The door has closed, but I heard two closing sounds, overlapping..."