Jiang Li

Chapter 17: Jiang Li

Stay calm, stay calm... Jiang Li repeated to herself over and over.

She wasn't a coward. If anything, her childhood experiences had made her recklessly bold.

But that didn't mean she never felt afraid.

She clearly remembered that after she and Li Yuejun had made Ding Lei's office look as if it had been ransacked, they went to use the restroom at the end of the sixth floor.

But... when she came out of the restroom, she was horrified to see "herself" standing beside Li Yuejun!

Terror surged at her from every direction, nearly suffocating her.

Jiang Li covered her mouth and watched helplessly as Li Yuejun and "Jiang Li" stepped into the elevator.

What should she do... What could she do?

That was clearly a ghost! What had happened to Li Yuejun? Had the ghost attacked her?

What should I do...

Jiang Li was consumed by anguish and inner turmoil.

She clutched her head and sank down in the corner, her heart a tangled mess.

"Damn it!"

Jiang Li clenched her fist and slammed it against the wall, making up her mind.

She had to warn them... She had to!

Everyone was supposed to meet at eleven. If they didn't realize that "Jiang Li" was an impostor, they might all die!

Even if... they couldn't tell which one was real, all she needed was to make them suspicious. A little doubt was enough...

With that thought, Jiang Li steeled herself, glanced at the pitch-black emergency stairwell, and turned to enter it.

Everything went as she had expected.

But it also went against her expectations.

Jiang Li had indeed made everyone afraid and suspicious, but she herself had also come under grave threat!

When "Jiang Li" turned to look at her at the emergency stairwell entrance along with everyone else, only Jiang Li could see the undisguised malice in her gaze...

Terrified, Jiang Li turned and ran.

"I've done all I can..." Jiang Li leaned against the stairwell wall on the fourth floor, despair hanging heavy in the air.

Just then, a scream suddenly rang out!

"W-what's going on? Help! Can anyone hear me? Please, someone help me!"

Zhang Xiaohong's shrill voice came from somewhere on the first floor, piercing through the walls until it reached Jiang Li's ears.

"Whose... scream was that?"

The fear and despair in the cry were enough to make anyone's skin crawl. Jiang Li's first thought was to leave—to get out of the fourth-floor area immediately!

Not for any other reason, but because... it seemed that only she could hear the voice!

A scream like that should have caused a commotion throughout the hotel, but everything remained perfectly quiet, as if nothing had happened.

Jiang Li gritted her teeth and was about to leave.

Then she suddenly heard a sound.

"Tap—tap—tap—"

Slow, rhythmic footsteps sounded on the stairs below, growing clearer by the moment!

Jiang Li's pupils contracted. Goosebumps covered her skin.

It's here. It's coming for me!

Jiang Li didn't waste another second. She'd planned to conserve her strength and avoid overexerting herself.

But now, she couldn't afford to care about that.

The approaching footsteps rang like a death knell, and the thought that a "ghost" would soon be right beside her took hold of her mind.

That skin-crawling terror shattered all her plans. By the time she stopped, she was gasping for breath, her legs weak as she leaned against the wall.

She had reached the sixth floor and returned to where she started.

The hotel's layout was simple: the stairs were at the far end on the left, and two elevators stood at the far end on the right.

A long, narrow corridor connected them.

Jiang Li was now beside the elevators on the sixth floor.

She had just sprinted with all her strength from the stairwell, across the corridor, and over to the elevators.

"...I... I lost it, right?"

Jiang Li stared fixedly at the stairwell at the far end of the corridor. That pitch-black opening looked like the gates of hell, sending a chill through her.

Thankfully... the "ghost" didn't seem to have followed her.

Jiang Li finally let out a breath...

But just then, the elevator behind her suddenly chimed!

"Ding—"

The clear ring made Jiang Li shudder all over. She looked up. The fifth floor!

Someone had taken the elevator to the fifth floor!

Who was "he"? Was "he" even human?

All kinds of bizarre thoughts flooded Jiang Li's mind. She was finding it harder and harder to stay calm.

No... this can't go on...

She had to hide somewhere!

Jiang Li thumped her head, forcing herself to calm down. She looked around, searching for somewhere to hide.

At last... she spotted a storage closet.

Without hesitation, Jiang Li slipped inside. She didn't care about the musty stench. She pulled the door nearly shut and hid among a pile of cleaning supplies.

In fact, the closet was where the cleaning supplies were kept. It was a tiny hole carved into the corner of the wall—dark, low, and cramped, barely large enough for one person. Fortunately, Jiang Li wasn't very tall or heavyset.

The human will to survive was terrifying. Jiang Li was proof of that now.

Though she was terrified, she managed to control her breathing and keep still, making no unnecessary noise.

The darkness in the closet gnawed at Jiang Li's mind like tiny ants.

Every minute she spent in there felt like torture.

One minute...

Three minutes...

Five minutes...

Jiang Li felt her pulse and silently counted the time.

She was so nervous that her pulse was hardly a reliable measure, but at least it gave her something to focus on and helped distract her from some of her fear.

Just then, the elevator nearby chimed!

"Ding..."

The person from the fifth floor had come up!

What should she do?

What should she do?

What could she do?

Jiang Li clamped a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide.

The closet door couldn't shut all the way, leaving a narrow gap through which a sliver of light seeped in.

No one knows I'm here... Maybe they think I'm the "ghost"?

Jiang Li's thoughts grew increasingly chaotic and twisted. She even began to resent the version of herself who had decided to warn everyone.

If she hadn't been so selflessly heroic, maybe the "ghost" wouldn't have targeted her...

All Jiang Li could do now was pray that "he" wouldn't come over or open the closet.

"Don't... don't open the door... Please, don't open the door..."

Jiang Li's silent plea abruptly stopped. Her eyes widened in terror.

Footsteps had begun to sound from the elevator.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Closer, closer. "He" was coming this way!

What should she do? Damn it, what could she do?

Terror surged through her. Jiang Li covered her mouth as tears spilled uncontrollably from her eyes. Despair filled every corner of her heart!

"Tap, tap."

The footsteps stopped.

Through the crack in the door, Jiang Li saw a blurred, dark figure.

"He" seemed to be staring at her maliciously.

It was over...

The taut string inside Jiang Li quietly snapped. Her gaze went unfocused, filled with despair...