Dead-End Omen

A string of fallen prayer beads, a silent omen.

Store clerks who had weathered Supernatural Incidents were usually quite "superstitious."

Especially seasoned veterans with abundant experience—they often relied on intuition.

If they suspected misfortune was coming, then misfortune usually truly existed.

Chang Nian had exploited this mentality of veteran clerks. Through two consecutive abnormalities involving the prayer beads, she had successfully directed Shao Yong'an's suspicion toward the second floor.

And she had gained some unexpected rewards as well.

Using the matter of the second floor, Shao Yong'an's suspicion toward Li Yi had reached an even greater level.

His expression flickered between light and dark as he fell into an unprecedented internal struggle.

He kept calculating whether Li Yi's plan to find the corpse-hiding site had been exploited in reverse by the ghosts, resulting in even more uncontrollable consequences.

But in truth, the moment that thought arose, the scales in his heart had already tipped.

Whether the ghosts had used Li Yi in reverse, no one could say how likely that possibility was.

It was merely a hypothetical deduction based on the current intelligence.

If I insist on obtaining the Number Card on the second floor and returning to the main group, then I'll be betting all hope of survival on Li Yi...

But by nature, Shao Yong'an loathed such life-or-death gambles. He always had to leave himself a backup plan.

If things truly were as he suspected, if Li Yi's plan had actually been a trap set by the ghosts from the start, then there would be no room left for regret.

What awaited all the store clerks would be a miserable annihilation.

Shao Yong'an had no choice left. He had to assume that Li Yi's plan would fail and leave himself an alternative.

His feet began to move, unconsciously