Chapter 23: Tenant Reassignments

"Thump, thump, thump!"

Ji Li had just finished a shower. Following his exhausting resurrection, he was preparing to get some sleep. Yet, just at that moment, an urgent sound came from outside his door.

Ji Li gathered his loose hair with a look of annoyance, sighed, and walked toward the door with a cigarette hanging from his lips.

Upon opening it, the gaunt face of Yu Guo appeared. The expression on his face was strange and complex, making it difficult for Ji Li to gauge what he was thinking at first glance.

"What's wrong?" Ji Li felt instinctively that something unusual was happening with Yu Guo.

Yu Guo pursed his lips, glanced left and right down the corridor, and then, without waiting for an invitation, squeezed into the room.

"You need to see this!"

He plopped down on Ji Li’s bed and anxiously pulled out his livestreaming phone. The channel had been permanently banned, which pained Yu Guo, but that was no longer the primary issue. The real problem was the other ghost that had appeared during the broadcast.

Ji Li was a bit bewildered. He sat down next to Yu Guo and stared suspiciously at the phone screen, watching the recording. Gradually, his expression grew increasingly grave.

He saw the headless ghost shadow belonging to room 210, and at the same time, he saw a cloaked ghost shadow floating outside the hotel window, appearing to be in communication with it.

Ji Li exhaled a cloud of smoke, his face deathly pale as he remained silent. He had long suspected that for all the staff, including himself, their primary mission remained the guiding of ghosts. As for the second duty issued by the hotel—the supervision of ghosts—it had thus far only involved daily patrols of the residents to ensure they kept to themselves.

Ever since the arrival of the Mirror Ghost in the Coffin, he had felt that the residents on the second floor were far too quiet. This silence was clearly not a good sign. And now, to discover that another ghost outside the hotel had made contact with a resident...

"After you saw this scene, what did the headless ghost do?" Ji Li turned and asked.

Yu Guo scratched his head. "I didn't notice the cloaked ghost at first. By the time I saw the recording and realized it was there, the ghost outside had already vanished. The headless ghost, looking as if it felt guilty, left the corridor and returned to its room."

Ji Li puffed on his cigarette in frustration for a long while before dropping the butt to the floor and crushing it. Taking Yu Guo with him, he quickly headed to the second floor. He looked down the long corridor, now bathed in the light of the rising sun, and felt the unique, gloomy atmosphere of the place.

A moment later, he said in a clear voice, "I, Ji Li, am exercising my authority as acting manager to request a redistribution of the residents' rooms."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the sweet, synthetic voice of the hotel’s will echoed. "Greetings, Mr. Ji Li. This falls under the duty of supervising residents and is within your rights. Please state your instructions."

Ji Li nodded. He had no prior experience in handling such a situation. Judging by what had just occurred, the reason the cloaked ghost had targeted the headless ghost was likely because its room guarded the window, placing it closest to the outside world. As a mortal, he did not know how to restrict this kind of collusion between the inside and outside, but he could only do his best.

"The new Peeping Ghost stays where it is in 201; the Mirror Ghost in the Coffin stays in 203; move the Wrist-Slitting Ghost from 205 to 204, and move the Headless Ghost from 210 to 202."

"A reasonable adjustment. Thank you for your suggestion, Mr. Ji Li."

The female voice offered no objection. As soon as she finished speaking, the two ghosts that needed to move suddenly manifested in the hallway.

This was the first time Yu Guo had clearly seen the ghosts of the hotel, and he stared at them wide-eyed. The headless ghost from 210 appeared to be a young boy, wearing floral-patterned clothes and fiddling with a glass marble in his hand.

The Wrist-Slitting Ghost from 205 was far uglier; its entire body looked as if it had been drained of blood, resembling a mummy. As soon as it emerged from 205, it took a knife and plunged it deep into its left wrist, crimson blood dripping onto the dark carpet.

Ji Li frowned. "Take your blood with you to 204!"

...

After the two ghosts had finished moving, Ji Li led Yu Guo to the depths of the second floor and stopped at the window.

"The cloaked ghost was right here," Yu Guo said, pointing to a spot outside the window.

Ji Li nodded. In truth, he could feel that the ghost residents had moved from their initial restlessness to a state of premeditation and collusion. Yet, given the ambiguity of his supervisory duties, he still didn't know how to avoid or handle this. After thinking for a long time, he was forced to seek help from the hotel's will.

"Hotel, did you hear what the cloaked ghost and the headless ghost were discussing?"

"I apologize, Mr. Ji Li, but I cannot monitor any movements outside the hotel."

Ji Li hadn't expected the voice to give him an answer, but her words made his eyes light up. Her statement seemed to carry a deeper meaning. If she didn't know what was happening outside the window, perhaps she *did* know what was happening inside.

"Then, what did the headless ghost inside the window say?"

The female voice replied without the slightest pause, "It said nothing, and it did nothing."

This answer surprised Ji Li. He had assumed the headless ghost's abnormal behavior was a result of collusion with the cloaked ghost, with the ultimate goal of escaping the hotel's constraints. But looking at it now, it seemed the cloaked ghost outside was the one initiating the contact. The headless ghost was a passive recipient, and it seemed hesitant about what the cloaked ghost was proposing—perhaps undecided, or perhaps refusing.

Thinking of this, Ji Li couldn't help but laugh out loud, startling Yu Guo.

"What's going on?"

"It's nothing. I just find it quite interesting. I never expected that there would be backstabbing and scheming even among ghosts."

Yu Guo chuckled at this and remarked, "Yeah, maybe it's not just scheming. Maybe there's a chance they'll start fighting each other."

Ji Li nodded and waved his hand, preparing to return to his room. "Hotel, seal the windows on the second floor completely. Ensure they are absolutely isolated!"

"Understood, Mr. Ji Li."

...

For the next three days, Ji Li spent his time organizing new hotel rules to distribute to the new staff. Yu Guo spent every waking moment trying to figure out how to get his livestreaming channel unbanned. Fang Shenyan had been missing for quite some time, and it was unclear what had happened to him.

It wasn't until 1:00 PM on October 26th that Ji Li finally left his room with three sets of new documents. He took out the phone issued by the hotel and knocked on the wall three times.

Shortly after, Fang Shenyan and Yu Guo emerged from their respective rooms. Ji Li watched the two men approach and said softly, "Let's go. Let's see if there are any unusual newcomers this time."

Fang Shenyan was dressed in his usual mature style, his slightly graying hair neatly combed, as he strode forward alongside them.

"The Peeping Ghost is acting strange," Fang Shenyan said. "Every night for the past three days, at exactly midnight, it crawls to my door and watches me through the peephole."