D*mn!

Well played!

Truly worthy of the flamboyant Lu God—he opened his mouth and dropped a bomb!

And the moment that heavy-hitter landed, it immediately made one of the three young men—

the only one Jiang Ye didn’t recognize—gaze at him with bloodshot eyes.

That look—like he wanted to tear him apart and devour him alive.

The very next second, without a word, the guy made a move to execute “Zhang Hao” on the spot.

It wasn’t necessarily because he fully believed Lu Shen.

But as the saying goes—better to kill a thousand by mistake than let one slip!

To them, killing Zhang Hao had no downside at all.

If he really was Huang Bo in disguise, they’d even get the Kill-on-Sight reward!

However—

Even Jiang Ye himself thought this Zhang Hao Replica was 100% doomed to die—

But just as the young man launched a black talisman with a red “Death” character toward Zhang Hao’s face—

It suddenly stopped midair.

It was the middle-aged couple who intervened.

The woman waved her hand, and a gust of force blew the talisman back toward her.

The black paper talisman landed in her palm.

At the same time, the middle-aged man beside her spoke with calm and steady tone:

“The Kill-on-Sight Order’s detection doesn’t make mistakes.”

“If this man were really Huang Bo in disguise, the order would’ve triggered a notification.”

“But now, the Order hasn’t reacted at all. That means—he’s not Huang Bo.”

The brash young man visibly deflated upon hearing that.

Still, he frowned and protested: “Even if the Order says so…”

What he meant, of course, was “Better safe than sorry—kill him anyway.”

The middle-aged woman returned the black talisman to him and then looked coldly in Zhang Hao’s direction, saying softly:

“If it really is that one-in-a-million chance—

That Huang Bo used some god-tier disguise so strong it even fooled the Kill-on-Sight mechanism…”

“Then killing him now is pointless.”

“We have to force him to show his true form, trigger the Kill-on-Sight response,

then we can claim the reward.”

The brash young man finally came to his senses, murmuring in alarm:

“So that means—”

“If this guy really is Huang Bo in disguise, and we kill him now… we might lose the reward entirely…”

Exactly.

That was also why Lu Shen, despite having thought of all this, hadn’t attacked Zhang Hao himself—

Instead, he’d shared the idea aloud.

Now that everyone had pieced it together, their looks toward Zhang Hao turned strange.

Jiang Ye realized: the brash young man’s voice matched the one who’d earlier shouted, “Kill-on-Sight reward! It’s mine! MINE!”

He also noticed that this young man seemed very familiar with Lu Shen.

In fact, they even looked a bit alike.

Which meant—they were probably relatives?

Just as Jiang Ye thought that, the young man’s gaze toward him turned sinister and cruel.

“So if we can’t just kill this guy for that one-in-a-million chance…”

“Maybe we can torture it out of him?”

He stared at Jiang Ye with malicious intent, voice full of unrestrained sadism:

“I’ve always wanted a game with brutal interrogation mechanics.

Too bad the ones on the market never went that far.”

“Well, now I get to try the real thing.”

This brat clearly had real power—and he was genuinely arrogant.

This time, the middle-aged couple didn’t stop him.

Instead, the woman activated a compass in her hand.

Moments later, faint sounds of electricity and flowing water filled the air.

Room 6996, which had briefly been lit, plunged into darkness again.

From Zhang Hao’s point of view, his field of vision once more went pitch black.

It was clear the middle-aged couple was being cautious—

Preparing for the worst, in case he really was a disguised Light-type.

But then—

In the couple’s night-vision perspective,

they saw it clearly: this Level-0 trash “Zhang Hao” suddenly pixelated—

Turned into a mosaic of blurred pixels—

And within less than 0.1 seconds, vanished into thin air!

The other six night-vision-equipped players also saw this.

But their eyesight wasn’t sharp enough to notice the pixelation effect.

They just saw Zhang Hao vanish and exclaimed:

“What the hell?!”

“Zhang Hao really was Huang Bo in disguise? Did he escape using some god-tier ability?!”

“Where the hell is he getting all these OP tools?!”

Especially that arrogant young man—

His shocked and furious voice was laced with disbelief.

But then, from amidst the chaos, the middle-aged man’s voice cut through the dark, firm and cold:

“It wasn’t an escape.”

“What? Not an escape? Then what was it?”

“It was… Erasure!”

“I saw it clearly—just now, Zhang Hao was erased on the spot by some god-tier method!”

His voice was low and heavy.

Under night vision, his face looked especially grim.

The brash young man was stunned, eyes filled with disbelief:

“Erasure…

But! Who erased him?!

What about the Kill-on-Sight reward?! Who does it go to?!”

This time, it was the sharp-eyed Lu Shen who replied quickly:

“The Kill-on-Sight Order is still active. Huang Bo’s not dead.”

The young man looked even more dumbfounded.

The middle-aged couple echoed Lu Shen’s analysis:

“This really is strange.

Even in the whole Doomsday Apartment, items with the power to erase are incredibly rare.”

“And based on how Erasure works—Zhang Hao is definitely dead.”

“But if he’s dead and the Kill-on-Sight Order is still in effect,

that proves—he wasn’t Huang Bo.”

“But what doesn’t make sense is—if he wasn’t Huang Bo, why was he erased?”

Lu Shen, quick-witted, asked the middle-aged man for confirmation:

“Can you be certain—Erasure means guaranteed death? Could it be…?”

“No.” The man cut him off firmly.

“Not just in the Newbie Apartment—in the entire Doomsday Apartment,

aside from the Divine Bird, no one can come back from Erasure.”

“So Zhang Hao’s death is unquestionable.”

“And since he died, but the Kill-on-Sight Order remains—

It’s basically confirmed he wasn’t Huang Bo.”

Hearing that, Lu Shen speculated further:

“Then I suspect—Zhang Hao wasn’t lying.

Huang Bo really did implant some broken item on him.”

“But that item must’ve had a side effect when switching positions.

Zhang Hao’s Erasure was likely one such side effect.”

“Huang Bo himself might be weakened right now from using it.”

The middle-aged couple’s eyes lit up at Lu Shen’s reasoning.

Indeed, side effects from overpowered items were a common thing in the Doomsday Apartment.

And now that they thought back—

Before he was erased, Zhang Hao had shown zero signs he expected it.

Which made sense…

Because Jiang Ye himself hadn’t seen it coming.

The 【Dice of Fate】 had actually landed on the 【Skull】 symbol.

At that moment, the Light-type Replica was frozen in fear!

He really felt the arrival of the Grim Reaper!

Luckily—

Within a split second, 【Replica Substitution】 triggered.

The one who died wasn’t the Light-type Replica,

But Replica No. 7—Zhang Hao—far away in Apartment 9669.

The manner of death matched exactly with 【Skull】: Instant Death.

He only experienced the terror of dying—

The actual death process lasted less than 0.1 seconds, so there wasn’t even much pain.

Still, it was a shame—a Replica had been wasted.

More importantly, now that Replica No. 7 was gone,

he’d lost his window into Room 6996 completely.

Who knew how those top players would interpret his sudden death?

Actually—did they even realize he was dead?

Maybe, since his body had vanished, they’d just assume he escaped?

Didn’t matter. As long as Jiang Ye never generated a new “Zhang Hao,” then that identity was as good as dead.

The Light-type Replica still hoped to roll a 【Crown】 from the Dice of Fate, to create higher-quality Replicas.

So, he threw the Dice of Fate once again.

Meanwhile, back in Apartment 1010, Replica No. 1 quickly opened the apartment group chat, which was made up almost entirely of his former classmates.

But what he noticed was that 1010’s group chat had grown eerily quiet.

Occasionally, a classmate would say something—but the messages were immediately met with dead silence.

After thinking for a bit, Jiang Ye guessed the reason—

It was probably because Wang Lingling, after forming her Mutual Aid Group, had shifted communication to another platform,

leaving out anyone who hadn’t joined the group and no longer sharing any info with them.

That was the vibe he got when Wang Lingling first announced the formation of the Mutual Aid Group.

Jiang Ye then checked the member list—

Sure enough, Lu Shen’s name had gone dark.

And he noticed several unfamiliar names were also grayed out.

Among them, one name especially caught his eye—

Lu Fang.

This was very likely the brash young man from earlier.

Jiang Ye didn’t know much about Lu Shen’s family background.

He’d only heard vaguely that Lu Shen came from a well-off family.

Though his clothes and behavior were pretty average, there was that one parent-teacher meeting…

People said his family showed up in a luxury car.

That had led to a lot of girls in school admiring Lu Shen.

That was probably the real reason he became such a popular figure.

Good grades, likable personality, and a mysterious but seemingly wealthy background.

Of course, family status didn’t mean squat in the Doomsday Apartment.

But in games, whales—players who drop loads of cash—usually come from well-off families.

Jiang Ye had heard of people spending casually in games—enough to buy a whole house for the average person…

That Lu Fang was very likely one of those whales.

Still, when did he join 1010?

And why hadn’t he caused a bloodbath in the apartment?

Also…

If Lu Shen had followed Lu Fang out of 1010, could it be that he already knew the name Jiang Ye of Apartment 9999?

As Jiang Ye mulled this over, he suddenly posted in the group chat:

【Sister Ling? Has your Mutual Aid Group moved to another chat? No one’s been talking in here lately. @Wang Lingling】

【I’m a member of the Mutual Aid Group, right? Where should I go if I want to meet up with everyone now? @Wang Lingling】

Two messages in a row, tagging Wang Lingling, without mentioning Lu Shen—

He just implied that he wanted to rejoin the group meet-up.

But Wang Lingling didn’t respond right away.

Instead, after a while, Yang Xiaoman replied:

【Sister Ling is in her personal instance. Things with the Mutual Aid Group are complicated right now—sharing the meetup location in the group chat might not be appropriate.】

In other words—she was rejecting his request to rejoin.

But Jiang Ye didn’t give up and sent another message:

【If sharing the location here isn’t convenient, how about we meet in the lobby on the first floor? Then you can take me to the meetup spot?】

Meanwhile, a few other group members also chimed in, saying they wanted to join the Mutual Aid Group too.

But Yang Xiaoman didn’t reply again.

Not to Jiang Ye, and not to the others either.

Back over in Apartment 9999, Replica No. 2 finally received a reply from Lin Jing:

【The Administrator we need the White-Clad Woman to deal with is from Apartment 4444.】

【Also, the Crow Egg is stored in the Underground Graveyard of Apartment 4444, on B1.】

【All we have is footage. Once the White-Clad Woman kills the 4444 Administrator, she’ll gain access to the graveyard and can easily retrieve the Crow Egg.】

Apartment 4444’s underground graveyard…

Jiang Ye had asked Wan Xin before about extreme Dark-type environments—this one had come up.

But now came the real issue—

His Light-type Replica was clearly in the Void Mirror Palace,

yet Lin Jing was asking to seal Apartment 4444?!

As expected—his earlier suspicion had been spot on!

Lin Jing and Ouyang were up to something!

Jiang Ye immediately relayed these three messages to the White-Clad Woman via the glass bead.

At the same time, he messaged Lin Jing:

【Something doesn’t add up here. Did you guys plant the Crow Egg in the underground graveyard yourselves?】

Lin Jing replied right away:

【Ouyang made arrangements with the 4444 Administrator. The Crow Egg was placed in the graveyard by him.】

【We did it as a precaution—】

【After all, we never had the White-Clad Woman sign a contract with us. If she just wants to take the Crow Egg and not follow through, we’d lose everything.】

【So we placed the Crow Egg in the underground graveyard.】

【Only the Administrator has the authority to access it.】

【If she refuses to kill the Admin and tries to use other means to get it, Ouyang will immediately alert the Admin about the egg.】

【At that point, if she still wants it, she’ll have to kill the Admin and claim the access rights.】

It was a fair explanation.

Jiang Ye replied:

【Heh. You guys really covered all the angles.】

【But what a coincidence, huh? The apartment where the Light-type is staying just happens to have an underground graveyard,

letting you use that to keep the White-Clad Woman from simply taking the Crow Egg.】

That line was clearly loaded with subtext.

He wasn’t sure whether Lin Jing would pick up on it—or choose to explain further.

But then, surprisingly, Lin Jing replied a moment later:

【While we were chasing the Light-type, we ran into a player named Lu Shen. Is he one of your classmates?】

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep