“……”

That cold bucket of reality really hit hard—instantly yanking Xu Jingyao out of her fantasy and back into the real world.

She suddenly thought of something and said in complete seriousness:

“When you mentioned ‘ugly,’ it reminded me—”

“Think of all the white moonlight characters in dramas: Empress Chun Yuan, Ye Qingmei, and the like.”

“They all have one thing in common—super talented, but never live to see the ending.”

“But I wanna live! So being a white moonlight? Nope, not for me!”

“If it comes to that, I’ll just go for the bounty and kill him!”

That flawless, deadpan delivery—

Li Nian smacked her own forehead, then gave Xu Jingyao a thumbs-up: “Classic you!”

“Hahahaha!” Xu Jingyao laughed with hands on her hips.jpg

Back in the spectator stands, the mix of cheers and curses went completely over Jiang Ye’s head.

After all, this time he was a fighter, not a spectator.

Once the match ended, he went straight back to the private suite of his Golden-Tier Duel Machine.

In his heart, he was grumbling nonstop.

Mainly cursing Lin Jing for being such a b***h!

His fight with Lin Jing wasn’t just about winning the Quick Battle reward.

He’d also wanted to test the effect of Shadow Curse.

He wanted to know how long he could seal Lin Jing’s abilities by burning 20 Attribute Points from Shadow Puppet.

But who could’ve guessed—before the test even got anywhere, Lin Jing just surrendered!

That was a complete sucker punch!

Still, two big pieces of good news—one from Replica No. 2 and one from his Main Body—quickly improved his mood!

First up, from Replica No. 2’s side:

He’d won 12.8 billion from the Quick Battle match!

Even though he’d mentally prepared himself,

That massive number still gave him a real jolt!

That much money? Just how many Attribute Fruits could he buy with it?

Not to mention Silver-Tier Treasure Chests, Silver-Tier Skill Scrolls…

At this point, the stuff in the exchange list looked too low-tier—nothing there deserved his kind of money!

But the news from the Main Body was even more exciting!

In the match with Lin Jing, he’d fused with the Dark-type Replica, and used Shadow Puppet.

Specifically, he’d burned 20 Attribute Points from Shadow Puppet.

Normally, that kind of burn is irreversible.

But Jiang Ye had discovered a BUG—

The one he’d actually fused with wasn’t the Dark-type Replica itself.

It was a Mirror Replica created using the Replica Reflection Mirror!

When he saw the Mirror Replica also came with a 25-point Shadow Puppet,

He’d gone ahead and let the Mirror handle the fusion.

As a result, the Shadow Puppet consumed during the match came from the Mirror Replica.

His actual Dark-type Replica’s Shadow Puppet? Totally untouched!

Even better, whenever he used the Replica Reflection Mirror to duplicate again,

Each new Mirror Replica still came with the full 25 Attribute Points in Shadow Puppet!

Now that was a game-changing win!

He’d been worried about having to re-nurture a Shadow Puppet every time he used it.

But now, he didn’t have to think about consumption at all!

As long as he never burned the real Dark-type Replica’s Shadow Puppet,

and always used the ones from the Mirror Replicas—he’d be golden!

With this setup…

He might actually have a shot at endlessly nurturing the original Shadow Puppet

until it had 10,000x the attributes of the Dark-type Replica…

This—this news was honestly too good to be true!

Thinking about it more deeply, Jiang Ye realized this felt like a full-blown bug!

Just to be sure, he tested it again with the Phantom Lantern.

And that’s when he discovered the difference—

Phantom Lantern’s Phantom Replicas didn’t carry over the Shadow Puppet’s attribute points.

Every time, it had to be nurtured from scratch.

That made one thing crystal clear—

Replica Reflection Mirror was leagues above the Phantom Lantern in replication strength.

Though, when it came to Replica Fusion, both items had similar effects.

So Jiang Ye wasn’t about to trash-talk the Phantom Lantern either.

As he ran these tests, the Main Body was also thinking—it was about time to clear his Personal Instance.

This apartment ruin was technically White-Clad Woman’s turf.

He was desperate to get a truly private space—one that belonged entirely to him, with no outside interference.

Once he cleared his Personal Instance, he’d have just that.

And he was especially looking forward to seeing—

In that kind of space, would newly created Replicas show up in the Apartment 1010 member list, like what happened with Qu Xing and Huang Bo?

If not—

Then he could mass-produce Replicas and set them up in different apartments as anchor points.

Have a foothold in all the Special-Numbered Apartments.

That way, with the Replica Swap skill, he could cross apartments freely.

No need to burn through Survival Points!

At that point, he’d truly be on the path to Infinite Replication.

Right now, having only six Replicas? Still way too weak!

But before diving into his Instance, Jiang Ye wanted to get the Main Body a powerful new skill.

And now—with 12.8 billion in hand, the first thing he did was exchange for 10 Silver-Tier Skill Scrolls!

He didn’t use them right away, though.

Instead, he exited the Golden-Tier Duel Machine.

When he glanced at the group chat, he saw Wan Xin’s furious shout:

Wan Xin: 【F*** you, Ouyang! You promised to call me for Lin Shen’s fake match! You didn’t call me at all!! @Ouyang Fan】

Ouyang Fan: 【That’s not on me! You left, and like two minutes later, Jiang Ye matched with Lin Shen. I had no idea that was gonna be the fake match. They didn’t coordinate anything in the stands either!】

Ouyang Fan: 【Besides, the match wasn’t even worth watching. Jiang Ye used his Disguise Mask’s invisibility, Lin Shen pretended to search the whole field with Blood-Red Eyeballs, couldn’t “find” him, and just hit the eyeball and surrendered…】

Other spectators chimed in too, siding with Ouyang Fan and saying the fake match wasn’t that exciting anyway.

Still, tons of people started @-ing Jiang Ye, asking how big the Quick Battle prize pool had gotten.

How much did he make by teaming up with Lin Shen?

There were so many mentions that Jiang Ye finally replied in one line:

【Didn’t get much. Just a measly 12.8 billion.】

The whole group chat fell silent for a moment.

Then, like a storm—

【WTF WTF WTF!! Say that again?! Measly 12.8 billion?!】

【How big was your cut to get 12.8 billion?! No way, right? That’s gotta be exaggerated!】

【Yeah, no way. The whole pool being over 10 billion is already crazy. How the hell did your share hit 12.8? What kinda joke is this?!】

Even Wan Xin added:

【Jiang Ye’s the type to lie through his f***ing teeth! This 12.8 billion is totally sus!】

But after he sent that, Wan Xin suddenly remembered—

Jiang Ye wasn’t just the kind of guy who lied with a straight face.

He also had this weird habit of telling the truth in a way that made it sound like a lie…

Like last time—he really had beaten him with raw strength.

But talked like he’d only made the War God Ranking because of a fake match…

So this time, could it be that he actually…

Nah, no way.

After all, based on the description, Jiang Ye and Lin Shen didn’t even fight.

It was Lin Shen who voluntarily surrendered.

If that wasn’t a fake match, then what was it?

So what Jiang Ye said that was probably true—was that the entire prize pool for the Quick Battle was 12.8 billion, not that he personally got 12.8 billion.

At that point, some other players caught on and called it out in the group chat:

【That 12.8 billion must be the total Quick Battle prize pool, right? We were asking how much you personally got @Jiang Ye】

Jiang Ye chuckled and casually replied:

【We haven’t really negotiated that yet. @Lin Jing, why don’t you tell them how much I get?】

【Or better yet, how about we talk face to face? I’ll come up to the 99th floor and find you? @Lin Jing】

As soon as that message dropped, every player in Apartment 9999 was stunned!

Wait—this fake match… they hadn’t discussed it beforehand?!

What the hell were those two up to?!

Especially those who saw the match live—that weird vibe they’d felt resurfaced again.

On the 99th floor, Lin Jing had just stepped out of his private Duel Machine.

He saw Jiang Ye’s message and his face darkened, eyes unreadable.

He didn’t reply in the group chat, but before long, players in Apartment 9999 noticed—

Lin Shen’s name had vanished from the apartment list!

【Wait—did Lin Shen just leave across apartments?!】

【Told you! Lin Shen ending Quick Battle early had multiple reasons!】

【It’s not just that mysterious Bald Guy pressuring him—it’s also the lure of the Kill-on-Sight reward!】

【Huang Bo is still on the run, could get taken out any minute. Lin Shen’s probably gone to hunt him!】

【But does he even know which apartment Huang Bo’s in? Is he gonna go door to door? That’d burn a ton of Survival Points.】

【So what? Just kill one player per apartment and you earn them back.】

【And with Lin Shen’s freaky methods, who knows? Maybe he really can pinpoint Huang Bo’s location.】

Most players in 9999 believed—

Lin Jing had deliberately ended Quick Battle early, partly because of the Global Kill-on-Sight Order.

His sudden exit from Apartment 9999 was likely to go hunt down Huang Bo.

But Jiang Ye had his own theory—

Lin Jing might have just wanted to avoid him.

The Duel Room was, after all, a virtual environment.

You could build up combat experience inside, but there was no real death.

Even if your ability got sealed on the field, it would return to normal in the real world.

But in reality—if Lin Jing ran into Jiang Ye again and got sealed, it would stick.

So he probably bailed to avoid that.

Sure, chasing down Huang Bo was a possibility.

But let’s not forget—Lin Jing was a Dark-type Being.

If he actually found Huang Bo, one Light-type Skill landing on him would hit harder than Shadow Curse ever could.

Originally, Jiang Ye really had planned to try another test in the real world.

To see exactly how long burning 20 Attribute Points from Shadow Puppet could seal a Glyph Pattern Ability.

But Lin Jing? Didn’t even bother acknowledging him—just straight-up disappeared.

And right after Lin Jing left—

someone knocked on the door of Room 2025, Jiang Ye’s apartment in 9999.

He thought maybe Wan Xin had finally sorted out that guide and was coming by for the trade.

But when he looked through the peephole, it wasn’t Wan Xin. It was… Wang Chengjin.

And his expression was complicated, clearly deep in thought.

Jiang Ye paused a moment, then opened the door with an easy smile: “Yo, Brother Jin. What brings you here?”

Wang Chengjin stared him down for a few seconds, then put on a friendly front and said, “Didn’t you @Lin Shen in the group, said you wanted to talk about the reward split?”

“Lin Shen had to leave in a hurry to chase down Huang Bo, so I’m here to negotiate the cut on his behalf.”

Oh-ho?

Lin Jing ran off, and now his little lackey was stepping up to demand a split?

Jiang Ye found it amusing and warmly invited him in:

“Oh, I see. Then come on in, Brother Jin, take a seat.”

“As for that fake match with Lin Shen—honestly, I didn’t see it coming at all.”

“My intention was to trade a few moves with him and gain some experience. I never imagined he’d suddenly act like he had something urgent and just surrender like that.”

“Looking back, maybe he did have something urgent. That sudden surrender gave me the whole prize pool—I was so caught off guard I almost felt guilty about it!”

“As for the split… Lin Shen never brought it up…”

“But since you’re here on his behalf—why don’t you tell me how we should split it?”

Smooth. A flawless play.

Wang Chengjin was clearly pleased.

He’d been friendly with Jiang Ye before

because he assumed Jiang Ye had taken a Kill the Apartment Boss quest,

and after completing the kill on the Apartment Administrator, would be marked for death by the whole server.

He figured he could farm Jiang Ye for the bounty later.

But then, Huang Bo got hit with a Global Kill-on-Sight Order…

So his interest in Jiang Ye faded.

Now, his attitude wasn’t nearly as warm as before.

Still polite on the surface, but clearly half-hearted.

Seeing Jiang Ye play along, he kept it civil and said:

“You won that match against Lin Shen entirely because he surrendered.”

“Every prior match leading up to it—also thanks to him.”

“And you? Honestly, you didn’t contribute much. You just got to enjoy the spotlight… oh wait, didn’t you spend a Privilege Card?”

“How about this—12.8 billion was the full prize pool.”

“I’ll take that on Lin Shen’s behalf, and you can keep whatever’s left.”

Wang Chengjin said it like it was perfectly fair—

but Jiang Ye hadn’t expected this.

He knew this guy was shady,

but he’d thought maybe—just maybe—he’d at least toss him a token 800 million.

Never imagined he’d claim the entire 12.8 billion,

and act like he was leaving Jiang Ye some kind of generous tip!

Jiang Ye laughed coldly inside.

He’d even prepped a response for if the guy offered 800 million.

But now—this offer was so insulting it was funny.

He actually laughed out loud, then gave Wang Chengjin a long, dark stare.

Wang Chengjin raised an eyebrow, his tall frame exuding an oppressive aura as he said lightly, with a hint of menace:

“What’s wrong? Not satisfied?”

“Your role in that fake match—hell, we could’ve sent a dog up there and it would’ve done just as well!”

“Don’t tell me you seriously think you deserve eight billion?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep