"Finally, the main point."
That was what Ji Li thought. The conversation wasn't long, but the important information was at the end.
**What did you send me? It flashed and disappeared.**
**That shouldn't be. It's still on my phone. Take another look—did you see clearly what's in the photo?**
**Not really. Send it again.**
**...**
**This time it also flashed, but… I think I saw a hand…**
**Yes! A hand, a bloody hand!**
A hand…
For some reason, Old Xue's phone could not process that photo. Because of this, Ji Li could not see what the message truly contained.
But he now had an important clue—a bloodstained hand.
Then he reached another image in the chat history.
This time, the photo was clear.
It showed a stiff, pale-faced middle-aged man. His back was turned to the camera, yet his head was grotesquely twisted toward the lens. His hands were still raised, frozen in that horrifying position.
The cause of death was the same as all the others.
He had snapped his own neck with his bare hands.
**Old Xue… Old Xue… Elder Xu, he…**
**How… how could this happen…**
**Don't say more, just hurry and meet me. I can feel it's not over. The source of all this is that bloody hand photo!**
The chat ended there.
After that were only Xiao Li's repeated urgings to Old Xue, right up until Ji Li's arrival.
Ji Li lowered the phone and took a deep breath.
He could now piece together their secret.
First, Xiao Li and Elder Xu had hidden somewhere, observing Tongguan and the others searching the building. It was then they secretly took a photo.
That photo must have captured something supernatural.
Instead of hiding it, Xiao Li immediately contacted Old Xue, urging him to take Xiao Qi to safety.
But the photo carried a curse no living person could resist. Anyone who saw it would be killed.
Elder Xu was the first to die. Realizing something was wrong, Xiao Li pressed Old Xue to meet him quickly.
But out of a father's instinct, Old Xue refused to involve his daughter. He hid Xiao Qi first, then prepared to head for the 18th floor.
He never made it. He died in his office before leaving.
That was the truth behind these three.
The source of everything—the cursed photo of the bloody hand.
The curse spread from there.
As Ji Li thought about it, he felt as if he had finally cleared away the fog. Up until now, all the other deaths had been meaningless.
Only Old Xue and his companions' deaths provided real information.
The bloody hand in the photo—this was the very core of the curse's spread.
If Ji Li could find it, see it for himself, he might uncover the true nature of this mission.
The real task. The real path to survival.
"Uncle… will you still take me to find my father?"
While Ji Li was lost in thought, Xiao Qi's timid voice broke through, reminding him he wasn't alone.
He turned and looked at the little girl who knew nothing, troubled.
Xiao Qi had been useful up to this point, but as a child, she couldn't help him much further.
Next, he had to go to the 18th floor, find Xiao Li—the text-message man's corpse.
At the time, he hadn't searched his phone. Now, knowing the curse's source, he had to see with his own eyes what that photo had captured.
Bringing Xiao Qi would be safer.
In this desperate situation, she could even serve as a shield.
But Ji Li looked at the girl, innocent and ignorant, and hesitated.
Whether out of human instinct or something deeper, he didn't want to.
Cold as he was, he was not inhuman. He had killed before because he believed everyone in this mission was already involved, none were innocent.
But Xiao Qi was different. She was dragged into this building by Old Xue. She had no choice.
After thinking it over, Ji Li took out the hotel phone and prepared to call Tongguan.
After much thought, Ji Li decided Tongguan was the most suitable to take care of the child. Among their group, he was the only one who still carried a trace of kindness.
But as Ji Li held the phone, he once again felt an unexplained tremor in the little finger of his left hand.
It had happened many times before, always without reason.
After deep reflection, Ji Li faintly sensed that something within his soul—or his body—was giving him a warning.
He hesitated, then chose to dial Tongguan's number.
But after a long wait, there was still no answer.
Ji Li clicked his tongue softly. He turned his gaze downward, through the walls, to where Tongguan should be with Li Xing.
Had something happened to them?
Even now, he never considered that the problem might lie with his own phone.
The hotel phone represented the will of the hotel, and the belief that it could never fail was ingrained in every staff member—including Ji Li.
Looking at Xiao Qi's expectant eyes, Ji Li finally crouched down and gently patted her shoulder.
"Xiao Qi, take your teddy bear and go down the stairs. You'll meet a short-haired man and a woman with a ponytail. They are your father's friends.
Tell them what happened here. They'll take you to find him."
It was the gentlest wording Ji Li could manage.
Xiao Qi looked at his eyes, then at the phone in his hand, and silently nodded before turning to leave.
But just before stepping out of the room, she suddenly turned back as if remembering something.
"Uncle, why do your eyes have so many colors?"
Ji Li froze. Instinctively, he raised his hand to his face. "What colors?"
"When I first saw you, your pupils were black.
Later, I saw red light flash in your eyes, but it vanished.
Now, your eyes are mixed with gray and black… like something cloudy."
Ji Li frowned. He hadn't noticed any change in his eyes, but her words stirred a deep unease.
The source of it all reminded him of the battle of divine forces he had just endured.
When he first arrived on the fifth floor, he had slipped into a strange trance. At the time, he couldn't describe it.
Only that some inner force was clashing with an outside power, until it ended.
Now he finally had the words to describe that feeling.
"Trembling, fear!"
But it wasn't fear of the foreign power—it was fear of the soul force awakening inside him.
He didn't know its origin, yet the terror rooted deep within his soul was something he had never experienced before.
Ji Li had always lived fearless, but now, he realized there was something within himself he dreaded.
*I saw a man… a man who looked exactly like you.*
*His eyes were gray.*
The third persona spoke quietly, and Ji Li became aware that something inside him was changing.
His gray-black pupils fixed silently on the night. After a brief daze, a trace of loneliness settled over him.
"When I reached the fifth floor, perhaps I saw an opportunity.
A chance for the other me within my heart to awaken.
His pupils are merging with mine.
At that moment… am I still myself? Am I still Ji Li?"
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.