Chapter 115: Branch Manager Mission

At Tianhai Hotel, Seventh Branch

After finding an exit in advance, the hotel had brought the surviving staff back from the Republican-era timeline.

This was considered a mercy; if they had delayed any longer, Tongguan would likely have died.

As for the murderous ghost, no one knew where it had gone.

In any case, it had not been brought back by the staff—perhaps part of the original agreement between the hotel and the Ghost Bride.

Now, with the matter of the Sin Artifact exposed, the staff, still shaken, were not in a hurry to negotiate.

Instead, they dragged their exhausted bodies back to their rooms.

In the lobby, Ji Li sat upright in a chair, pinching a burning cigarette with his newly grown left hand.

He watched the smoke curl upward, contemplating the strange, cryptic words of the female voice from the broadcast.

That sentence—vague and inexplicable—had said:

If Ji Li wished, the Seventh Branch could exist without a branch manager.

It was a statement that seemingly should not have come from her.

Ji Li did not understand. All along, the instructions he had received came from Tianhai.

Around the two-star promotion, the role of branch manager would shift.

Ji Li, following his stint as acting manager, was supposed to officially earn the title of branch manager—just as Tongguan had before.

At the time, Tongguan had no competition in Branch Eleven.

But now, Ji Li saw himself as competing for the role.

Yet the message from the female voice was far from simple.

It was almost as if she was implying that one word from him could leave the Seventh Branch without a branch manager forever.

And he was almost certain she shouldn’t have revealed this information.

Clearly, this was not Tianhai’s intention.

Thinking this, Ji Li drew deeply on his cigarette and asked knowingly:

“Is this Tianhai’s will?”

“It is its will, but telling you now… is my will.”

“So… I still shouldn’t be thinking about the branch manager position yet?”

The female voice sounded unusually lonely, tinged with endless solitude. Her reaction was atypical.

Since their last secret conversation, her attitude toward Ji Li had subtly shifted.

After a pause, she spoke:

The Seventh Branch is not special—it’s you who is special.

You are the one Tianhai seeks. This hotel exists for you alone.

You are destined to become its pawn, destined to be the branch manager here, but that will come later.

Tianhai does not want you to assume the role so soon.

Becoming branch manager requires a price…

Ji Li’s brow furrowed slightly. Her words clearly reflected her own thoughts.

She was defying Tianhai’s will to help him.

Ji Li felt skeptical but sensed it was true, aligning almost exactly with his prior assumptions.

He was exceptional to Tianhai Hotel itself, though he had never imagined just how exceptional.

The Seventh Branch had been opened for him.

The branch manager position, though seemingly competitive, had long been decided.

But this also confirmed that Tianhai had a grand design for him.

Ji Li asked softly, “What is the price?”

The female voice sighed, as if her intent had been to dissuade him from taking the role. She did not want him to die, yet…

I knew you wouldn’t give up.

Once you become branch manager, you will execute another type of secret mission.

It is called the Branch Manager Mission.

The reception tasks you perform now are only for the Seventh Branch and escaping this place.

The branch manager mission, however, is for Tianhai itself.

You will execute it alongside branch managers from other branches.

I don’t know the rest; I only know that the difficulty of the branch manager mission surpasses anything you have seen or heard.

Because it is a long-term mission.

What I know is that the branch manager of the First Branch has already led the other managers into the third stage. The ghosts there… they are extremely powerful.

With your current strength, going there would be certain death.

The female voice spoke rapidly, delivering an enormous amount of information in just a few sentences.

Ji Li concealed the shock in his eyes. He had never imagined that becoming a branch manager would also mean entering that special Branch Manager Mission.

Moreover, this mission was completely different from the previous reception tasks—it was a continuous, long-term mission divided into multiple stages.

From the voice, he learned that the strongest among all the branches seemed to be the First Branch.

And the First Branch manager, from what she said, possessed strength surpassing all other managers.

Ji Li understood—this was an opportunity.

Since the mission served Tianhai itself, once he became branch manager, he would gain a direct line to confront Tianhai.

If he wanted to uncover all of Tianhai’s secrets, both internal and external, this was a shortcut.

“Given how difficult the branch manager mission is, why would anyone compete for the role?”

Because of the Sin Artifact.

During that long-term mission, you travel across regions, constantly encountering powerful ghosts. The likelihood of acquiring Sin Artifacts increases significantly.

And their effects are far stronger than in reception tasks.

Therefore, becoming a branch manager, especially having participated in a branch manager mission, generally makes one extraordinarily powerful.

The female voice spoke more and more, revealing no reservation toward Ji Li.

Ji Li frowned. News from the branches was not well connected, and even now, he had no idea how many branches Tianhai truly had.

Much less who the managers were. Still, he had a question:

“When does one participate in the branch manager mission?”

Each time it is issued, it lasts a minimum of two months, a maximum of six.

After receiving this clear answer, Ji Li nodded. With a rough understanding, he realized he had little choice.

After all, his goal had never been simply to survive.

Now that a shortcut was known, there was no reason not to take it.

“So, the timing to assign a branch manager after the two-star promotion has been postponed?”

Correct. If I estimate correctly, it won’t be until around the three-star level that Tianhai officially issues the notice.

How it works internally to appoint you as branch manager and make it accepted, I do not know.

The female voice revealed everything, as if she had thought through the entire situation for Ji Li.

Only then did Ji Li slowly lift his head and glance toward the broadcast.

He knew that a sealed soul was hidden there.

“Then, why are you helping me?”

The question left the air utterly still. The female voice seemed to vanish.

Ji Li waited in his seat for a long, long time—long enough for his cigarette case to empty.

Finally, he stood slowly, exhaled deeply, and turned to leave.

As he reached his room door and was about to push it open, a quiet whisper brushed past his ear:

Because we are alike. If one day you achieve your own redemption, I hope you will help me, too.