In the corridor on the fifth floor, Ji Li, with dark brown hair, was half-kneeling on the ground. He lifted his gray-black eyes and looked at the little girl in front of him, whose gaze was as clear as water.
All the sounds in the world had vanished, leaving only the two of them breathing.
It was the man's groan from a throbbing head and the little girl's tentative, helpless breaths.
Ji Li slowly stood up, brushing his slightly disheveled clothes.
"So, it turns out Xiao Qi is actually Old Xue's daughter…"
Why hadn't Xiao Qi died? The answer was becoming obvious.
Her position in this building was quite special.
She wasn't a worker. Like Ji Li and the hotel staff, she was an outsider.
Therefore, whether the task was real or fabricated, in the eyes of the ghost, she could only be targeted last.
Otherwise, a seven- or eight-year-old girl, carrying the secret to survival, could not have lasted this long alone.
Ji Li's eyes passed over the terrified Xiao Qi and focused on the far end of the corridor, where the office once echoed with operatic voices.
Now, it was completely silent. Since Old Xue's death, no one had entered there.
What Ji Li didn't understand was that Old Xue had died on the fifth floor. Even though Xiao Qi was only around seven or eight, she should have understood the concept of death.
"Did you… see your father?"
Thinking this, Ji Li couldn't help but ask. Perhaps something had changed since he left.
Xiao Qi, like a frightened fawn, was very afraid of Ji Li's gaze, but he was the only adult she could rely on right now.
After a brief hesitation, she said in a fragile voice,
"No…"
Ji Li gave her a strange look, then took her arm and walked deeper into the fifth floor.
They walked in silence, neither speaking.
When they reached the former office where Old Xue's corpse had been, the room was now empty except for the bare desk.
"Old Xue's body… is gone."
Ji Li stared at the scene, incredulous.
Until now, the ghost had never appeared. Why would it move Old Xue's body?
He took out Old Xue's phone from his pocket, turned on the screen, and looked at the unread messages from the *text-message man*, pressing his lips together.
Turning to the confused Xiao Qi, he asked,
"Why are you in this building?"
Xiao Qi didn't quite understand why Ji Li had brought her here. Hearing the question, she hugged her little bear tightly.
"The power went out at home. Dad had to work, so he brought me here to spend the night.
I was just there, holding my bear, trying to sleep.
Later, Dad strangely woke me up and said he wanted to play hide-and-seek.
I was half-asleep, reluctant, but Dad's tone was very firm. I had to hide.
So I hid in a cardboard box outside.
But then I fell asleep again.
When I woke up, Dad was gone…"
As she spoke, her eyes slowly turned red, yet she looked strong, holding back tears.
Ji Li remained unmoved. Listening carefully to her words, he thought,
Xiao Qi is probably not lying. Old Xue waking his daughter at night to hide must mean he discovered something he shouldn't have.
At that time, he likely realized the building was haunted and sensed an imminent danger, so he had Xiao Qi hide in advance.
Everything fit together surprisingly smoothly.
Then Ji Li realized something. He inhaled sharply and began calculating in his mind.
Something felt off.
"There are 43 workers in this building. Whether this number comes from the ghost or the hotel records, it can't be wrong.
Xiao Qi is an outsider, so including her, there should be 44 people in the building.
The missing person…"
Ji Li suddenly had a breakthrough. Old Xue, the text-message man, and the missing person likely knew each other.
Old Xue had stayed on the fifth floor. He must not have been the first to learn of the building's hauntings.
The main leaders were probably the missing person and the text-message man, who got the information and told Old Xue.
They essentially dragged Old Xue into it.
What these three discovered was the most critical secret of this mission.
Ji Li quickly pulled out Old Xue's phone. This time, he had to see what the unread messages from the text-message man contained.
Old Xue's phone was outdated, without fingerprint unlock, only a passcode.
He bent down, softening his expression as much as possible, and gently asked Xiao Qi,
"This is your father's phone. Do you know the passcode?"
"How… how did my dad's phone end up with you?"
Xiao Qi wasn't very mature but was perceptive, especially fearful of Ji Li's now-grayish eyes.
Ji Li was unclear about the changes within himself; he was just desperate to uncover the truth.
Calculating roughly, he felt that the deaths downstairs had probably ended, and now, every second could be the one in which he would be attacked.
He hadn't noticed that his hotel phone could no longer receive calls, nor did he know what was happening with Fang Shenyan or over in Tongguan.
Including the ten workers on the first floor who still hadn't died.
For a child who didn't even qualify as a young girl, Ji Li didn't bother making excuses.
"I don't know where your father is, but if you want to find him, you need to help me unlock the phone."
Xiao Qi's face turned pale. Her only family had disappeared while she was asleep, and it was already remarkable that she had held on this long.
Hearing Ji Li's words, the tears she had held back finally fell.
Ji Li looked at the little girl, tear-streaked, feeling both helpless and impatient. He simply had no time to soothe a child.
"Just tell me the phone's password, and I'll take you to your father. Stop crying!
I'll give you only two seconds!"
"324566!"
This time, Xiao Qi said the password to Old Xue's phone without hesitation. Ji Li glanced at her and said nothing further.
He successfully unlocked the phone and immediately opened the chat history between Old Xue and the text-message man.
**Xiao Li, what are you showing me in the middle of the night? Being so secretive?**
**Old Xue, don't think I'm joking. Xu and I found a group of terrorist on the eighth floor!**
**We're going door to door searching! The other colleagues have all been taken away!**
**Impossible. I was sleeping with Xiao Qi the whole time and didn't hear a thing.**
This Xiao Li must be the text-message man. It seemed he had discovered something and wanted Old Xue to see it.
Ji Li frowned as he read this. He couldn't understand why Tongguan and Chang Nian, responsible for this floor, hadn't discovered Old Xue and Xiao Qi's location.
It didn't match what he knew of Tongguan.
But this question was temporarily set aside, as the next part of the conversation immediately drew his attention.
**What photo are you trying to show me?**
**Don't be scared when you see it.****In this world… there are ghosts!**
You can read Eerie Overseer ahead by 60+ chapters ad-free and for free at htt ps://ravenarchives. com/book/eerie-overseer]. Bulk uploads are a bit tricky, so updates here might be irregular, but they'll keep coming.