Chapter 67: The Eye of Black Mist
Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and during this time, no anomalies occurred.
Inside the hotel, everything was calm. The five current staff entered a relatively peaceful phase of rest.
At 2:00 PM on October 31, the time to welcome the new recruit announced over the broadcast was drawing near.
Ji Li was the first to step out of his room, looking vibrant as he waited for the other staff members to join him.
Yu Guo emerged second, his face already restored to its usual mischievous, carefree expression. His peak state was due to two things: he had let go of his concerns about A-Lian, and he had resumed live streaming.
From the moment he saw Ji Li, Yu Guo crowded over, fiddling with his streaming phone, chattering about a hidden platform he had discovered that allowed freer broadcasts, and other such things.
Ji Li's head ached as he half-heartedly replied, his thoughts elsewhere. He remained preoccupied with the mysterious ghost from the Republic-era street. Since the last mission, he noticed that some special ghosts exhibited anomalies even before a task began. The Blood-Hand ghost was one example; perhaps this mysterious ghost was similar.
Over the past three nights, he had intensified his patrols on the second floor, wary of collusion between internal and external ghosts. After all, the cloaked ghost that had once contacted the Headless Ghost remained missing, leaving no trace.
Soon, Tongguan and Chang Nian also emerged, glancing at Ji Li before stepping aside to whisper among themselves.
Of the five staff, Fang Shenyan appeared the worst. Ji Li immediately noticed that he seemed to have suffered over the past three days. His hair was neat, but the dark circles under his glasses deepened, as if he hadn't slept in days.
"What's going on?" Ji Li asked.
Fang Shenyan walked with a floating, fragile gait, his body appearing weak and his ghost low. He paused briefly at Ji Li's question before speaking in a somber tone: "When you patrolled the ghost tenants at night, did you notice anything unusual about the peeping ghost?"
Ji Li frowned. "It's always been in the room; it hasn't gone out at night for these three days. Did it bother you again?"
Fang Shenyan clenched his chest, silent, harboring deep resentment toward the peeping ghost.
The others watched, somewhat puzzled. Tongguan and Chang Nian didn't understand what aftereffects the previous mission had caused. Even Ji Li and Yu Guo, who knew more, couldn't guess what Fang Shenyan had endured.
After a long pause, Fang Shenyan spoke in a low voice: "Every night, I feel a pair of eyes watching me—not doing anything, just staring. I thought the peeping ghost still blocked the doorway, but after several attempts to push the door open, I saw nothing. Gradually… I suspect it has to do with the tattoo on the back of my hand."
A black eye, outlined in dark lines, adorned Fang Shenyan's hand.
Ji Li and Yu Guo were at a loss, unable to do anything, only offering quiet words of comfort.
From a distance, Tongguan and Chang Nian were startled upon seeing the tattoo. Tongguan pinched his fingers and whispered to the woman beside him: "It seems the problem lies in this tattoo. This might relate to the intelligence Li Guanqi provided."
Chang Nian nodded sharply, casting an envious glance at Fang Shenyan's troubled expression.
Tongguan, observing the scene, still chose not to share the secondary hotel perks with his companions.
Ji Li scrutinized the tattoo for a moment, recalling the former manager's half-face carved with a similar pattern in the lobby portrait, then stopped pondering it further.
"Let's go. It should be almost time. Let's pick up the newcomer and prepare for the next mission."
Tongguan and Chang Nian left first, while Yu Guo muttered to himself, fiddling with his streaming phone as he followed.
Ji Li deliberately slowed his pace, keeping company with the intentionally lagging Fang Shenyan.
"You haven't finished speaking, have you? Perhaps you discovered other traits of this tattoo," Ji Li said quietly, eyes fixed ahead.
Fang Shenyan's lips curled into a faint smile. Ji Li had guessed correctly—he had something to say.
He raised his hand, lightly stroking the tattoo. "At the end of the last mission, this tattoo became abnormally warm, and I could invisibly perceive a thin thread."
"Oh?" Ji Li was surprised. "What effect does it have?"
"It guides me to locations of death," Fang Shenyan explained. "It helped me locate the corpses of Old Xue and the other two. I suspect it serves as a clue." He was the most familiar with the tattoo and had deduced its hint at the time, though unsure if it was good or bad. Now, the outcome confirmed it had assisted him.
Ji Li was taken aback. He hadn't expected a seemingly ordinary tattoo to provide supernatural aid.
"I suspect this is just a prelude. The tattoo's effects are not that simple. For three nights, whenever I fell asleep, I dreamt of being in darkness, surrounded by black mist. Within the fog, a red eye stared at me, as if signaling that something was about to emerge from the shadows…"
Fang Shenyan revealed why he had appeared so worn these past few days. Everything pointed to the special eye tattoo. Even his dreams were invaded, indicating something in him was rapidly awakening and growing stronger.
Ji Li paused, drew a cigarette from his pocket, handed one to Fang Shenyan, and lit both.
He gazed into the distance at Tongguan's receding figure, murmuring softly:
"Tianhai Hotel… I wonder how many branches exist. Our Branch Seven is far from strong."
"In my view, over a long period, surviving to reach the two-star level isn't easy, but there will inevitably be some outstanding individuals.
As for Branch Seven, among the seventeen memorial portraits, the highest anyone reached was just barely two stars—and they were immediately wiped out.
I suspect the two-star level will be the watershed for all staff. Only by enduring it can one enter the true core of Tianhai Hotel.
By then, everything—the hotel hierarchy, internal and external ghosts, the eye tattoo—will finally have real answers."
Hearing this, Fang Shenyan took a deep drag from his cigarette, straightened up, and added in line with Ji Li's words:
"And the upcoming mission will be Branch Seven's promotion task!"
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