Luo Ge and the other eight now made up more than half of the hotel employees present.
The cafeteria's special path had now become the most crucial link.
It appeared to be the only path among the known special locations that could be opened during the day.
In the men's and women's dormitories, the "triggers"—Li Cheng and the Long-haired Senior Sister—would only appear around midnight;
At the library, they had to make use of its trigger—the Red-clothed Ghost—at night, after opening hours;
As for the last location, E-2 in the Staff Office Building, it was simply too unusual.
It seemed no one except Yu Guo could open it.
Thus, Ji Li had already paid an enormous price for the cafeteria's special path.
He had abandoned the attempt to rescue Yu Guo, given up on the person behind the scenes who was likely their biggest lead, and even used the evil spirit for the first time.
Their nighttime operation would rely on these special paths, both to gather the rules for each area and to reach the Haunted Academy.
And to find Yu Guo...
That made nighttime the most critical part of this mission. Daytime, by contrast, was a time to evade the general school rules and exchange information.
In other words, they had to deal with the cafeteria as soon as possible, or it would affect their nighttime operation.
That was also why Ji Li was willing to pay such a steep price to succeed.
The evil spirit was not, after all, an actual ghost. It was merely a curse rooted in his soul.
By using the evil spirit's power, Ji Li had effectively released the curse. A thought could stir it, and a thought could quell it.
When he closed his eyes again and steadied himself, the evil