Jiang Ye had been thinking about asking the White-Clad Woman about the Blackened Crow Blood.

But their conversation had mostly been about serious matters—Light-type and the Apartment Boss.

Bringing up an unrelated side question in the middle of that would’ve felt out of place, and she might’ve overthought it.

So, over at the apartment ruins, he didn’t bring it up with her.

Instead, he continued discussing more details with her about killing the Apartment Boss, and how to get along with the Light-type.

He even asked one last thing about the fog outside the ruins.

Unfortunately, the answer he got was firm and brief, with no real value at all:

“Don’t ask too much. Just remember: do not enter the fog!”

Left with no choice, Jiang Ye put that thought on hold and ended the call with the White-Clad Woman via the glass bead.

After confirming with the Blackened Replica that the bead was just a communication tool, he turned his attention back to the question of his own blood.

He wasn’t hoping for some major mutation in the Dark-type Replica,

but if his blood could replicate the effects of an extreme Dark-type environment and accelerate the nurturing of Shadow Puppets,

that would be perfect!

So, on the Main Body’s end, he continued asking the Blackened Replica.

Meanwhile, Replica No. 2 entered Lin Jing’s spectator stand to seek out Wan Xin and ask him too.

At the moment, it was the three-minute intermission between rounds.

There was no battle on the stage, and the spectator stands were abuzz with conversation.

Maybe the previous match hadn’t been all that exciting.

During the break, almost no one was talking about it.

Instead, everyone was focused on the Full-Server Kill-on-Sight Order.

And most of the voices were filled with excitement and anticipation.

Well, with such a lucrative reward on the line, it’s no wonder people were hyped just thinking about it.

When Jiang Ye found Wan Xin’s seat again, the guy was deep in conversation with the players beside him,

all discussing how to maximize the gains from “killing Huang Bo.”

They all seemed to be players from Apartment 9999.

“I’m serious! I really think if we can lure Huang Bo to Apartment 9999 and kill him there, that would be the optimal strategy.”

“After all, the 9999 Administrator also issued an Apartment-level Kill-on-Sight Order.”

“If we kill him in 9999, wouldn’t that net us both the major and minor rewards?”

“I mean, just the Survival Points alone would total 110,000!”

“Plus, you’d get 10 Madman Masks instantly! That’d make killing the Apartment Administrator a whole lot easier!”

“Yeah, but let’s be real—everyone here’s felt how dangerous the Light-type is. If we manage to kill him at all, we should count ourselves lucky. Let’s not get greedy trying to do it in 9999.”

“Exactly. If someone actually claims the Full-Server Kill-on-Sight reward, they might even be able to solo a weaker Apartment Administrator! Who needs 10 Madman Masks then?”

“I agree, no need to be too greedy. Realistically, the best spot to kill Huang Bo is probably the Abyss Zone in Apartment 0000!”

“Easier said than done. That Light-type guy isn’t stupid—why would he walk into a trap like the Abyss Zone? Honestly, I doubt he’ll even go to Apartment 0000!”

“Either way, once 0000 opens, the whole place will be teeming with hidden agendas! For players from other regions, 0000 is the only location where they can claim the Full-Server Kill-on-Sight reward.”

“So expect Apartment 0000 to be swarming with top-tier players… even those bosses who showed up during Lin Shen’s Quick Battle are likely to appear!”

“Honestly, I used to think Lin Shen was just #1 in our region. But turns out, even across the whole server, he’s a top-tier powerhouse. No one can even touch him in Quick Battles!”

“Well, to be fair, maybe some of the strongest players are just busy—like stuck in their Personal Instances or special Secret Realms. Or maybe they didn’t expect someone to go for Quick Battle on Day 1 and got trapped in places like the Void Mirror Palace or the Prisoner’s Staircase…”

“In any case, with so many players across the server, there are bound to be hidden monsters out there—maybe even players who are secretly stronger than they look.”

“Besides, nothing in life is certain—”

“Today’s top dog could be a corpse tomorrow.”

“And tomorrow’s champion might still be struggling to survive today.”

“Take Huang Bo—wasn’t he completely unknown before? Suddenly pops up out of nowhere, now he’s the target of the whole server.”

“And what about Jiang Ye? When he first came across apartments, everyone thought he was just some clueless newbie. In no time, he’s on the War God Ranking.”

At that comment, one of the guys glanced at Wan Xin, his eyes teasing.

But just then, that same guy noticed Jiang Ye himself—and his expression shifted.

Wan Xin followed his gaze, turned his head, and quickly greeted him: “Hey hey hey, the man himself is here!”

“Jiang Ye, hurry and explain—on the War God Ranking, you beat me fair and square! It wasn’t a fake match!”

Jiang Ye could tell they were just joking around, so he played along: “Yeah yeah, definitely no fake match. But hey, I do feel bad I didn’t draw the Void Mirror from the thirty-win reward, sorry about that, Brother Wan.”

As soon as he said that, the others jumped in: “Aha! So you were hoping to trade the War God Ranking for the thirty-win Void Mirror?”

“And ended up not getting it? Hahaha, classic! It’s always you, Wan Xin—the guy with the worst luck ever! Still, even a thirty-win streak reward can’t be that bad, right…”

As they laughed, someone suddenly realized something and stared at Jiang Ye:

“Wait, what the hll? You already completed a thirty-win streak? That fast?!”

“Not too fast?” Jiang Ye feigned modesty. “My Combat Power’s only 80, so when matching players with similar power, I rarely run into tough opponents.”

Even though he said that, the nearby players all looked at him strangely.

Wan Xin’s expression was especially complicated—he nearly blurted out: Combat Power 80, my a! More like 800!*

But seeing Jiang Ye didn’t want to go into it, he let it go and didn’t bother clarifying that he actually lost fair and square.

Just then, the intermission ended.

Everyone’s attention shifted back to the stage.

As Lin Jing’s new opponent appeared, a fresh wave of chatter rippled through the crowd.

Apparently, this opponent was even more eye-catching than the Full-Server Kill-on-Sight target.

The surrounding noise got a bit chaotic. Jiang Ye glanced at the stage where the bald guy had appeared, and asked Wan Xin directly:

“That bald guy’s probably using a Disguise Mask to hide his identity, right?”

“Why’s there so much hype around him?”

Wan Xin had watched enough of Lin Jing’s duels to know the background. He answered immediately:

“That bald guy? He’s matched with Lin Shen five times now.”

“F… five times?” Jiang Ye was stunned. “You mean he matched into Lin Shen five separate times?”

Wan Xin nodded with a complex expression: “No idea if the guy’s just insanely unlucky with random matchups, or if he’s been using Privilege Cards to deliberately match with Lin Shen…”

As he spoke, the guy who’d teased him earlier jumped in with a theory:

“I haven’t watched as many of Lin Shen’s matches as you have, and I didn’t see those previous four rounds,

but I’d bet money he’s using Privilege Cards—not random matchmaking.”

Jiang Ye nodded too. “Yeah, I think so as well.”

As they spoke, Jiang Ye made eye contact with the guy.

He was thin and dark-skinned, wearing black-framed glasses, had a student-like vibe—

but looked more like a college kid, clearly more mature than Jiang Ye’s younger classmates.

Just from that glance, the guy smiled and introduced himself in a teasing tone:

“I’m Ouyang Fan. Regular lurker in the chat group—usually at the bottom of the rankings.”

Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow, eyes gleaming. “I’ve noticed your name. Back when Huang Bo was rampaging through our apartment,

you were the first one to suggest he was Light-type and that Light-types suppress Dark-types.”

“You were the one who helped everyone realize the fear we felt was from being Dark-type.”

Ouyang Fan smiled and nodded, relaxed: “I was just hoping to keep that guy in our 9999 Apartment.”

“Too bad he still got away in the end.” He sighed lightly, though it didn’t really sound like he regretted it.

Wan Xin saw Ouyang clearly wanted to connect with Jiang Ye, so he chimed in:

“This guy—he’s not on the Level Ranking, not on the War God Ranking, and even came to 9999 by spending Survival Points to cross apartments…”

“But for some reason—maybe a special strategy or what—he gets along well with the 9999 Administrator.”

“Back when all that Light-type/Dark-type stuff was going on,

he’s the one who heard it straight from the Administrator and passed it to the chat group.”

Jiang Ye also remembered—

When the Light-type was wreaking havoc in 9999, Ouyang Fan was indeed the one who said he’d gotten info from the Administrator.

At the time, it gave non–Dark-type players a huge morale boost.

It was also the main reason Jiang Ye had left 9999 right after.

He’d been afraid if he stuck around, he might trip up in the chaos.

Even back then, he’d taken special notice of the name “Ouyang Fan” in the group chat.

He’d found it strange—

Considering how afraid the Apartment Administrator was of the Light-type…

Could the Administrator really have informed a player right away like that?

Back then, the Administrator should’ve been in hiding.

Not only could the Light-type not find him, even regular players couldn’t.

So how did he manage to pass on Light-type/Dark-type info to a player immediately?

Jiang Ye had found that suspicious before.

But thinking about it now, it was probably a tool similar to the glass bead the White-Clad Woman used.

The Administrator had likely used one of those to transmit his voice to Ouyang Fan.

Which meant—this Ouyang Fan had a good relationship with the 9999 Administrator.

Kinda like Jiang Ye and the White-Clad Woman?

Maybe Ouyang Fan had even accepted an NPC mission from the Administrator?

Not only that, like Jiang Ye, Ouyang Fan hadn’t been automatically assigned to Apartment 9999 as a War God Ranking reward.

He had voluntarily used Survival Points to cross apartments to get there…

And just like Jiang Ye, he’d survived.

He even seemed to be thriving in Apartment 9999.

Ouyang Fan… probably wasn’t simple.

Just then, after a few short lines, the disguised bald guy on stage finally began his match with Lin Jing.

Wan Xin quickly shifted his attention, keeping his eyes on the stage while explaining in a rush:

“This bald guy—this is already his fifth time matching against Lin Shen.”

“The first time, nobody thought much of him. And sure enough, he got one-shotted by Lin Shen in a spectacular fashion…”

“The second time he matched, the audience was still amused—joking about how unlucky he was to run into Lin Shen again.”

“Lin Shen used the exact same move to instantly kill him. Visually, it looked like he’d been one-shotted again in dramatic fashion.”

“But that time, there was no match-end notification on the stage.”

“The bald guy didn’t die!”

“Only after Lin Shen released a swarm of eyeballs to scan the field did he finally kill him again.”

“After the second match, the spectators started to talk.”

“Then after a few more rounds, he matched Lin Shen again—a third time!”

“This time, Lin Shen used a new move and one-shotted him again.”

“That time, no surprises—it was a clean kill.”

“Then in the fourth match, Lin Shen used yet another new move and still killed him instantly.”

“And now, this is the fifth time—”

Onstage, the bald guy showed no sign of resistance. His eyes calmly watched the massive pair of hands materializing before him.

Wan Xin continued narrating quickly, “Those giant hands were Lin Shen’s method during the first one-shot kill.”

“In the second match, when Lin Shen used the same move again, the bald guy didn’t die immediately—so Lin Shen switched tactics.”

Jiang Ye now had a pretty good grasp of what had happened in the previous four fights, and was deep in thought.

Then Ouyang Fan, beside him, made a guess:

“Seems like Lin Shen noticed too—”

“That this guy is using him for experimentation.”

“So now Lin Shen’s turning it around, trying to confirm a theory of his own.”

Wan Xin wasn’t stupid either. Hearing that, he paused, thought a moment, and quickly guessed:

“You’re saying… using the same move twice on this bald guy stops working?”

Wan Xin looked shocked, eyes full of disbelief. “I thought of that before too, but for him to crack Lin Shen’s technique and challenge him again this fast? That’s insane…”

As the two discussed it,

those giant hands on the stage had already begun diving toward the bald guy.

From high above, they still looked like phantoms—

but the closer they got, the smaller and more solid they became.

By the time they reached the bald guy,

they looked like real hands.

Their size and solidity were indistinguishable from actual human hands.

And on each of the ten fingers—there was bright red nail polish.

The hands had originally been posed as if ready to strangle a neck.

But as they closed in, the fingertips instantly extended.

Sharp nails, painted with that blood-red polish, pierced viciously into both sides of the bald guy’s neck.

And then—

a screech rang through the air.

The sound of nails scraping against metal—sharp, harsh, ear-piercing.

The nails dug into the bald guy’s neck and then raked downward—

ripping eight long gashes down his torso.

Those eight gashes split his body into nine strips of flesh.

As the hands lifted into the air,

the nine blood-red strips swayed like ribbons in the wind.

The motion of those strips… almost resembled a red-dressed dancer twirling and waving her arms in joy…

The f***?

What the hell kind of “joyful dance” is this?!

The death scene was definitely flashy…

But it was a terrifying kind of flashiness!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep