The empty stairwell echoed with the hurried sound of three sets of footsteps.
Ji Li followed the trail of blood, rushing downward.
"Cao Yuan's death won't buy us much time!"
Fang Shenyan's upright figure moved with precision, his voice a sharp warning that lingered in their ears.
"Goddammit, how can a ghost look this ugly? Finally run into a female ghost, and she turns out to be this thing!"
Perhaps because the path of survival was close at hand, the second persona's temper had eased, even leaving room for crude humor.
Judging by the ghost's behavior, the survival route has to be real. As long as we find the raincoat man, we'll complete this mission!
The third persona, too, spoke with rare excitement.
It was clear now—the difficulty of a one-star hotel's tasks was on an entirely different level. Compared with the coffin-mirror ghost, this mission was more complex and treacherous than anything Ji Li had ever seen.
At the rear, Yu Guo glanced up the stairs from time to time, his breathing ragged. "The raincoat man won't have gotten far. He's been out of 702 for more than five minutes. If he really is the sixth member, he might already be circling back!"
The blood trail stretched to the fourth floor. Ji Li's face grew tense.
Cao Yuan was surely dead by now. With the path triggered, the ghost would begin its next attack at any moment.
Only three of them remained. Ji Li couldn't ignore that both Fang and Yu Guo's abilities were far above average for newcomers.
Fang's sharp mind and Yu's decisiveness were invaluable in this hellish existence.
Ji Li didn't care about their intentions, nor about their flaws—if they were useful, he would protect them.
But a thought gnawed at him: if the ghost reached them before the raincoat man, would he stake his life to save one of them?
Just then, urgent footsteps and groans rose from the stairwell below.
Ji Li froze. He hadn't seen another living person this entire climb.
And now, those frantic steps—
Sure enough, as the group halted near the third-floor railing, a frantic figure appeared: a man in that unmistakable raincoat.
He's here! Finally, he's fucking here! the second persona cursed with relief. It felt no fatigue or urgency itself, but still worried for Ji Li's survival.
A cold wind swept through as the raincoat man suddenly realized there were survivors just above. He jerked his head up.
Ji Li finally saw the man's face clearly.
It was strikingly pale, almost delicate, framed by messy bangs that hid his brows. He was undeniably handsome at a glance.
But the effect was ruined by his scruffy beard—and most of all, the right eye.
A black cloth wrapped his injured socket, blood still seeping through with every movement, soaking half his face crimson.
The result was a face that looked split in two.
"You!"
His sharp, ragged voice cracked the silence, eyes meeting theirs with fury. His gaze went first to Yu Guo.
That ruined eye—Yu Guo's knife had done it.
Yu Guo paled, raising his hands in a rush. "Wait, wait! Brother, we're on the same side! That was just a misunderstanding!"
But instead of attacking, the raincoat man spun and bolted downstairs.
Ji Li's eyes flashed. The sixth man was here—there was no way he'd let him go.
As the raincoat man turned, Ji Li vaulted cleanly over the railing. His landing was precise, crashing down directly in his path. He clamped onto the man's body with all four limbs.
The raincoat man thrashed violently, almost slipping free, but Fang and Yu Guo were already on him, pinning him down.
Three grown men against one wounded survivor—he didn't stand a chance.
"Who the hell are you?! Why do you keep trying to ruin me?!" the raincoat man roared, his voice hoarse with madness.
Ji Li ignored the screams, his hands already rifling through the man's pockets.
In seconds, he pulled out two phones.
One was decorated with a childish cartoon sticker—the one Ji Li had glimpsed before.
The other was instantly familiar to them all.
The Tianhai Hotel's standard-issue phone for its staffs.
"The sixth man—it really is you!" Yu Guo yanked the raincoat man upright and slammed him against the railing to stop his struggle.
"What sixth man?! There's no time, let me go!"
Ji Li ignored his protests, unlocking the hotel phone. His eyes scanned the screen, and his expression hardened with certainty.
Recipient: **Staff Ji Li, Tianhai Hotel Branch Seven**
*Survive in Unit 4, Building 2 of Sanhe Community until 8 a.m. the next morning, and you will be permanently freed from the ghost's pursuit.*
*Each day, you may leave Room 702 for ten minutes. Exceed that limit, and you will be erased for breaking the rules.*
Sender: Tianhai**
Fang Shenyan leaned over to read. "As expected, his mission is different from ours. It clearly states the task location is the entire Unit 4!"
Ji Li nodded. "Perhaps because he had already encountered the ghost in 701, he followed the hotel's instructions as a desperate gamble."
"You…"
Even a fool would understand now—the three before him were deeply tied to the task he had received from Tianhai Hotel.
Ji Li glanced upward at the eerily quiet floors above. The idea that staying close to the raincoat man meant survival grew ever more certain.
He calmly explained everything, including his deductions about Rooms 701 and 702.
The raincoat man confirmed it. Yu Guo released him, and the man slumped wearily against the railing.
"I've already been driven mad by that ghost. It's almost always in 702, never moving.
And I don't know if this so-called ten minutes outside is meant to accumulate—I've never tested it.
I once tried to strangle it, but you can't kill a ghost…
Then today, when I grabbed its throat, it suddenly vanished into thin air!
I thought it had returned to 701, that I'd finally be free of it.
But before long, it came right back…"
Ji Li and the others nodded slightly. "So when the raincoat man knocked at the door of 701, it was to confirm whether the ghost had left.
That smile—it must have been because he thought he had truly gotten rid of it.
In reality, the ghost vanished only because it had gone to 701… to kill Ding Miaoxin."
You can read Eerie Overseer chapters 19–34 ad-free and for free at htt ps://ravenarchives. com/book/chapter/eerie-overseer/chapter-19]. Bulk uploads are a bit tricky, so updates here might be irregular, but they'll keep coming.