"Employee card." A bitter smile appeared on Jiang Rou's face. "When I saw this item, I knew it had to be something that could restrain the ghost." "This time, because it was a team mission, we all overcomplicated it. You could say the radio station once again showed its usual twisted sense of humor." "Completing the mission actually had two simplest paths. Everyone knows the first one: rush to the school gate right after the mission is issued. According to the rules, the gate closes at 7 PM. If we hadn't hesitated, we could have finished before that time." "After missing that path, we all thought the story wouldn't set such an easy way out again. But precisely then, the radio station exploited our blind spots once more, creating another escape route right under our noses that no one thought of." "This escape route was hidden in the staff room." "When the story slipped the student card into our pockets, it might have been hinting that the ghost, as a school faculty member, should also have a corresponding employee card to restrain it. But this hint was too subtle—none of us sixteen thought of it." "Who would have thought of that?" Lin Tianheng rolled his eyes. Lin Tianheng was right, Chen Mo thought. This could barely count as a clue, but it was indeed too obscure. It was basically impossible for anyone to realize it early on. "Of course, I only figured it out not long ago. I never expected to actually find the staff room. As soon as I walked in, I saw the employee card deliberately placed on the wall, very conspicuous." Lin Tianheng scratched his head. "But you didn't complete the ghost students' tasks, so how did you know which card matched this flashlight ghost?" "You don't need to know which card matches the flashlight ghost. You just need to change all the employee cards from 'on duty' to 'off duty.'" Jiang Rou glanced at Chen Mo in surprise again, then chuckled. "You guessed it again. I'm starting to suspect you've been tailing us, watching us complete the mission." "That's right. Although we knew the flashlight ghost was a ghost teacher, we didn't know which employee card corresponded to it, so... we had to change every single card from 'active' to 'resigned.'" Hearing this, everyone understood. In this story, the ghost chasing them was always just that one unsolvable flashlight ghost. Because of their fear of it, they overlooked the identity clue. As a faculty member, just like students had to act according to their roles or trigger a death trap, the ghost teacher also had to obey the school's arrangements. Moreover, the story hinted from various angles that under certain circumstances, key items could be "altered." For example, Xu Meiqian's grade card required changing the ranking to complete the event. All of this was the story subtly suggesting to the participants that while this ghost was unsolvable in terms of attack methods, there was a radical way to deal with it. Thinking this, Chen Mo couldn't help but smile bitterly. He recalled the mission's initial requirements for participants. This story had no time limit; leaving the campus would complete the mission. According to the rules, the school gate reopened at 7 AM the next morning. Although everyone knew this was a viable path, who would dare do nothing and wait until then? Who knew how many times the ghost would kill them before that! So this radio station truly had a twisted sense of humor. "Does that mean we were on the wrong track from the start?" Realizing this, Lin Tianheng gritted his teeth. "The thing that designed this mission is utterly despicable." "Exactly. The radio station is just like that." Su Mu also wore a bitter smile. "So the second escape route is to find the staff room without triggering other death traps and change the ghost teacher's status from 'active' to 'resigned.' Once 'resigned,' there's no need to chase students anymore." "In that case, even without the principal's office key, you could stay until dawn and complete the mission." "Actually, that's the easiest shortcut to finish the mission." "I see. Anyway, in this mission, you helped us once. Tell me, what do you want?" "A favor." Jiang Rou smiled. "I want a favor from Group Seven. Is that okay?" "Even though we've survived over five missions and become so-called hosts with some means to fight 'these things,' facing the endless dangers in the stories, our strength is still too weak. To survive future missions, we need stronger support. Su Mu, you're very lucky. Group Seven is a powerful team, and you all survived this mission. I hope this favor pays off in future missions." Su Mu pondered for a moment. "Alright, I agree." Jiang Rou nodded. "Now, we just wait for the mission time to end..." Before she finished, she saw Pan Long's expression change. He opened his mouth, his face full of strange terror. Not just Pan Long, but Dai Minghan, Lin Tianheng, Chen Mo, and even Su Mu all looked shocked, as if they had seen something unbelievable. Jiang Rou's face turned cold. She spun around and saw the eerie, horrifying scene. The ghostly figure standing stiffly had its face shrouded in thickening black mist. Suddenly, its hands reached into the mist, grabbed its own skin, and tore it apart to both sides. The ghost ripped off its own human skin alive, and the black mist covering its face finally dissipated. Revealing an extremely bizarre ghostly face. A female ghost's face. --- PS, thanks to Jinchuan Zhishi for the huge reward, truly grateful, and thanks to Panghu for the recommendation. Also thanks to Anpang, Master Wang, and fellow readers for their support!