That line—“already a stroke of luck”—sounded a bit strange.

Jiang Ye’s first reaction was to hear it as—

“already Wan Xin.”

Of course, he quickly realized the mistake.

Still, he thought maybe Wan Xin wasn’t actually all that unlucky.

It was just that, in his own mind, he believed he was.

And with that kind of low-expectation mindset, even ordinary things felt like “great luck” to him.

Maybe that kind of mentality was actually a form of luck in itself.

Since the thirty-win reward wasn’t what Wan Xin had hoped for, Jiang Ye did feel a bit guilty. He hadn’t meant to screw him over.

But Wan Xin took it in stride and accepted it quickly.

That kind of mindset—calm and steady.

This guy might not become the strongest, but he might survive for a long time.

Of course, nothing in life is guaranteed. Jiang Ye thanked Wan Xin for his kindness, but didn’t say whether he’d go to Apartment 0000 or not.

Instead, his eyes glazed over briefly, then he suddenly asked Wan Xin:

“Brother Wan, do you know what happens to Beginner Apartments like ours after they’re destroyed?”

“Would the ruins of a destroyed apartment count as an extreme Dark-type environment?”

“Apartment ruins? That…” Wan Xin thought for a moment and shook his head. “In the game, when an apartment is destroyed, it’s basically just a line of code getting deleted.”

“In the real version, I assume it’s also completely gone? I don’t know anything about apartment ruins. Who told you that?”

Seeing that Wan Xin truly didn’t know, Jiang Ye casually made something up: “I heard it from a friend while digging around about Dark-type environments.”

Of course, the truth was…

At this moment, Jiang Ye’s Main Body, currently inside such an apartment ruin, had unexpectedly discovered—

The ruin itself seemed to be an extreme Dark-type environment.

Replica No. 5 was here, and the nurturing speed for the Shadow Puppet was incredibly fast!

Even…

He had a vague feeling that if he moved outside the ruins, into that surrounding fog,

the nurturing might be even faster!

Right now, his Light-type Replica had already become godlike.

As for his equally SS-tier Dark-type Replica, its main ability was all about nurturing Shadow Puppets.

And nurturing those puppets was key to using Shadow Curse.

As long as he could nurture a powerful Shadow Puppet, his chances against Lin Jing would be even better.

So Jiang Ye placed a lot of importance on his Dark-type Replica.

The key thing was, the Dark-type Replica didn’t die when exposed to light.

Even if it used Shadow Curse in front of others, it would just be seen as a strong Dark-type ability—not something forbidden.

Still, nurturing the Shadow Puppet aside, the fog around the apartment ruins looked especially strange.

The White-Clad Woman had even warned him specifically: stay in the apartment ruins and don’t go into the fog.

Jiang Ye thought for a while.

Of course, the Main Body couldn’t take the risk.

And sending a regular Replica in was clearly not worth it either.

After a bit of thinking, he took out the Phantom Lantern.

Soon, he used it to create a Phantom Replica for Replica No. 5.

The so-called Phantom Replica looked like it was condensed from the shadows of the lantern light.

Compared to the Mirror Replica created by the Replica Reflection Mirror, the Phantom Replica had some obvious downsides—

First, its appearance—people could tell at a glance it was a fake.

Second, its duration.

When first formed, the Phantom Replica was more solid.

But over time, it gradually faded until it disappeared.

It was like a candle slowly burning down.

So in terms of effect, the Phantom Lantern was far inferior to the Replica Reflection Mirror.

But for Jiang Ye, that wasn’t really a problem.

He typically only used these replicas for about three minutes at a time, mainly for Replica Fusion.

But this time was different.

Jiang Ye clearly felt—

As the Phantom Replica approached the edge of the apartment ruins and got closer to the fog,

its previously solid form seemed to instantly start fading.

Like a candle suddenly burning faster!

From afar, the Main Body watched and had a vague guess—

That eerie fog might have a corrosive property.

And that corrosiveness was even scarier than the “Blood Mist” he’d encountered before!

But just when he thought the Phantom Replica couldn’t last much longer and would soon disappear,

he saw it, seemingly aware of the danger, suddenly activate its Dark-type S-tier skill—Shadow Form.

In Shadow Form, the fog’s corrosive effect seemed to be weakened.

The Phantom Replica successfully entered the fog.

However, since Phantom Replicas weren’t created using Survival Points, they didn’t share consciousness with Jiang Ye.

So he still had no idea what was happening inside.

He was considering whether to fuse a trash-tier Replica into it, then use that trash Replica’s vision to observe the fog…

But just as he was thinking that,

the burning Phantom Lantern suddenly went out.

Which meant—

The Phantom Replica that had entered the fog had finally perished.

This…

This fog really was like a forbidden zone.

But Jiang Ye also felt more certain than ever—

That fog-shrouded area was the ultimate extreme Dark-type environment, the perfect place to nurture Shadow Puppets!

While pondering whether there was another way to get the Dark-type Replica into the fog,

he saw a wisp of black smoke slowly rise from the cracked ground of the apartment ruins, right where he was standing.

Jiang Ye sensed it and didn’t flinch.

Soon, the black smoke took the form of the Blackened Replica.

The runaway Blackened Replica had finally returned.

Jiang Ye was just thinking about discussing fog exploration strategies with the Blackened Replica,

when he saw it raise its right hand, holding a black glass bead about the size of an eyeball.

“What’s this?” Jiang Ye asked in surprise.

Before the Blackened Replica could answer, a voice came directly from the glass bead—it was the White-Clad Woman: “It’s me.”

Jiang Ye looked even more surprised. “You? Why do you look like that now?”

“…”

The black glass bead looked perfectly ordinary, but the voice inside was clearly speechless: “I didn’t turn into this.”

“I placed a strand of my consciousness inside the bead so I can contact you remotely.”

“As for me, I’m neither inside the bead nor back in Apartment 1010.”

“Ohhh!” Jiang Ye nodded repeatedly. “So this is like a phone call? That’s actually pretty convenient.”

“…” The White-Clad Woman silently thought: convenient, my a*!

That wisp of consciousness she split off wasn’t just for chatting.

The key thing was, if she ever died,

as long as her Death Priority wasn’t higher than A-tier,

there was a chance she could resurrect through this strand of consciousness.

Of course, the resurrection process was extremely complex and required a lot of resources.

A single strand of consciousness definitely wasn’t enough on its own.

And honestly, she didn’t want that day to come.

So she was being very cautious—she’d stayed far away and still hadn’t returned to Apartment 1010.

Naturally, there was no need to explain all this to Jiang Ye.

“I left you this contact method because I wanted to talk about how the appearance of a Light-type Ability user might affect the mission to kill the Apartment Boss.”

Her voice came again from the glass bead.

But before she could get into it,

Jiang Ye cut in first: “Funny you mention that. I actually had a question about the mission.”

“Go ahead, ask.”

Jiang Ye hesitated a bit, but since it was just a contact bead and she wasn’t physically here,

he grew bolder and asked bluntly:

“I remember when I accepted the mission, the announcement said there was no penalty, right?”

“So even if I don’t do the mission, it’s not really a problem?”

“…” The bead was silent.

Jiang Ye kept pushing, bold as ever: “Can I just abandon the mission altogether?”

“…” Still silent.

After a brief pause, the White-Clad Woman’s calm voice finally came through: “Of course you can.”

Jiang Ye was inwardly delighted.

But the next second, the White-Clad Woman’s voice came out of the glass bead again:

“This mission never had any punishment to begin with.”

“Including killing the Apartment Administrator—even without the mission, you can still kill him.”

“But do you know what the difference is between accepting the mission and not accepting it?”

Jiang Ye suddenly had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, the White-Clad Woman’s voice turned gentle inside the bead:

“The difference lies in—awareness and attention.”

“Doomsday Apartment is, at its core, a cruel place.”

“Especially those who’ve made it to the rank of Apartment Boss—they’ve weathered countless storms.”

“People like that have ‘eliminate all threats at the root’ carved into their bones.”

“And even without that mindset, they never need a reason to kill.”

“You can, of course, choose not to do the mission.”

“But do you think saying you won’t do it means the Apartment Boss will just let you go?”

Her soft voice carried a trace of mockery and ridicule.

Then she added:

“In fact, from the moment you accepted the mission, I didn’t think you’d live long enough to even meet the Apartment Boss face-to-face.”

“The trap laid by the Apartment Administrator was just an appetizer.”

“I can tell you straight up—”

“If it weren’t for that freak Light-type suddenly showing up, you’d probably already be dead from one of the Apartment Boss’s setups.”

“……”

Jiang Ye believed her.

In fact, he understood even better than she did—

The Light-type’s appearance had been a cover to protect his trapped Main Body.

So by now, he was pretty much certain—

The reason the Main Body had been trapped was the Apartment Boss’s doing!

Which meant, his conflict with the Apartment Boss was already at a life-or-death impasse.

Either he died at the hands of the Apartment Boss.

Or he killed the Apartment Boss.

That was the “simple” truth.

Jiang Ye sighed inwardly but accepted it calmly.

Following her line of reasoning, he speculated, “Just now, you said you wanted to tell me how the appearance of the Light-type affects the mission to kill the Apartment Boss?”

Seeing that he’d accepted the situation and dropped the idea of giving up, the White-Clad Woman returned to the topic and got straight to the point:

“The appearance of the Light-type has both positive and negative effects on your mission.”

“First, the bad—”

“Because of the Light-type’s presence, the probability of the Apartment Boss showing up in the Beginner Apartment drops significantly.”

“Basically, if he doesn’t appear there, you won’t have a chance to kill him.”

“The good part is—”

“Precisely because the Boss won’t show up, your survival rate during the Light-type’s active days goes up.”

That’s it?

Even Jiang Ye had already analyzed that much himself.

No need for her to point it out.

He had a feeling the White-Clad Woman wasn’t done saying what she really meant.

So he stayed quiet and waited.

Sure enough, after going through the “impact” part, she suddenly added:

“There’s also a more critical effect—”

“Whether it’s about getting the Kill-on-Sight Order reward, or teaming up with the Light-type…”

“Your chances of killing the Apartment Boss go way up.”

“But either option is hard to pull off.”

“Plenty of top players are eyeing that Kill-on-Sight reward.”

“Once Apartment 0000 opens, old players are likely to get involved.”

“And most importantly, the Light-type himself is extremely dangerous.”

“Trying to take down such a powerful opponent in this kind of competition? The difficulty is sky-high.”

“Teaming up with the Light-type? Even harder.”

“At this point, a Light-type Ability user is like a frightened bird—probably doesn’t even dare to show their face.”

“Why would he team up with you?”

Jiang Ye thought, Because he’s my Replica.

Of course, what really caught his attention was something else, so he asked quickly:

“You just said, once Apartment 0000 opens, old players will show up?? Is that for real?”

The White-Clad Woman sounded uncertain: “Usually, Apartment 0000 opens on Day 8—that’s also when old players make their appearance.”

“This kind of early access situation, I can’t say for sure.”

“But since this Light-type showed up…”

“I’d say the old players are dying to show up early and take him out.”

So that means…

The bloodbath about to erupt in Apartment 0000 might be even more intense than what Wan Xin described!

Wan Xin’s choice to lay low really was a wise one.

Jiang Ye was deep in thought.

Then the White-Clad Woman’s voice came again from the glass bead:

“Between going for the Kill-on-Sight reward and teaming up with the Light-type, which option do you plan to choose?”

“Well…” Jiang Ye hesitated, “I’m not really sure yet—guess I’ll play it by ear?”

But the White-Clad Woman replied firmly: “I came this time specifically to ask you for your decision.”

“Whether you choose to kill the Light-type or work with him will determine which of my ‘old friends’ I go looking for next.”

“Old friends?” Jiang Ye was surprised. “You mean other Reincarnated Eerie?”

“What, even among Reincarnated Eerie, there are factions?”

“…” The glass bead fell silent for a moment. “Not really factions—more like personal beliefs and philosophies that shape our relationships.”

Jiang Ye sensed that she didn’t want to go deeper into the topic.

At the same time, he could tell—

Even though he had accepted the mission to kill the Apartment Boss long ago,

the White-Clad Woman hadn’t taken it seriously before—almost as if she didn’t think he could do it.

But the Light-type’s appearance…

Suddenly made her take interest.

She was even willing to help him now.

Reaching out to her old friends…

Could it be… she even knew the Light-type’s Reincarnated Player identity?

No way, right? Aren’t Dark-type and Light-type supposed to be mortal enemies?

Jiang Ye wasn’t sure, and didn’t press. He just gave his answer:

“Then I’ll choose to team up with the Light-type.”

“This path looks a little easier.”

“After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The Light-type probably wants to kill the Apartment Boss too, right?”

White-Clad Woman: “That’s true. This choice has a slightly lower difficulty.”

Judging from her tone, she seemed pretty satisfied with his answer.

But suddenly, Jiang Ye asked: “By the way, if I kill the Apartment Boss with the Light-type and then betray him and kill him too… would I still get the Kill-on-Sight reward?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep