“……”

Lu Shen lowered his eyes and said in a deep voice, “I replied.”

In the group chat, after several other messages, he finally responded to Jiang Ye:

【Yeah, I’m your classmate. But how did you end up in Apartment 9669? @Jiang Ye】

He didn’t go with the “same name” excuse—instead, he directly acknowledged his identity.

Sha Bo immediately frowned.

In the chat, Jiang Ye’s reply came instantly:

【Well, that’s weird. From what Lin Jing said earlier, I got the impression you were in Apartment 4444?】

【But here you are in 9669. Did Lin Jing lie to me?】

As soon as that message popped up, Sha Bo’s face darkened even more.

He even shot Lu Shen a sharp look, clearly warning him: “Watch what you say.”

But Lu Shen stayed calm and replied plainly:

【It’s hard to talk in the group chat. Why don’t you come to Room 6996? We can talk face to face.】

That reply made Sha Bo’s face change instantly.

“Let him come to 6996? Who the hell do you think you are to make that call?!”

What a joke!

Back in Apartment 9999, they’d already figured it out—

Wang Chengjin had died at Jiang Ye’s hands!

Which meant…

Jiang Ye probably had the strength to one-shot him!

Letting him come here? That was like inviting a wolf into your house!

But before Lu Shen could even reply to Sha Bo’s panicked scolding—

A familiar voice suddenly rang out near his ear:

“What’s the matter? I’m not allowed in Room 6996 now?”

In a flash of darkness, Jiang Ye’s figure appeared like a phantom—seemingly out of nowhere!

In that instant, it felt like the air pressure in Room 6996 dropped by several Pascals.

The eight players stationed around the room tensed up, their bodies stiff with dread.

Especially Sha Bo, who’d spent time in 9999—he felt like he’d been clubbed in the head, overwhelmed with a paralyzing fear of death!

He was instantly focused on how to react or survive—barely even considering how to answer Jiang Ye’s question.

A top-tier player like him was scared sh*tless of Jiang Ye.

And yet Lu Shen, with his C-tier Talent, looked way calmer in comparison.

In fact, standing beside these panicking elites, Lu Shen suddenly remembered something he’d read online:

“The anxiety of the poor comes from having no money. The anxiety of the rich comes from fear of death;

The calm of the rich comes from being wealthy. The calm of the poor comes from knowing everyone dies anyway…”

If all eight of them got wiped out by Jiang Ye right now—

The strongest (richest) ones had the most to lose.

Lu Shen, the weakest (poorest), was actually the most at peace.

Thinking that way, he felt more relaxed. He tossed out the reply he hadn’t dared post in the chat just now, directly at Jiang Ye:

“Lin Jing said I was in 4444, but I’m here in 9669…”

“As for that, I figured someone who could exist in both 1010 and 9999 Apartments at once—like you—would understand.”

That statement made Sha Bo, who was also part of Lin Jing’s 9999 crew, pause. He didn’t react outwardly, but inwardly, he was impressed at Lu Shen’s guts.

The Red Handkerchief Woman and the middle school-aged boy also looked mildly surprised—clearly they hadn’t heard this theory before—and gave Jiang Ye another once-over.

At this moment, Jiang Ye still had [Eye of True Sight] fused in.

Even in the darkness, his vision was perfectly clear.

But he wasn’t here just to catch up with an old classmate.

He wanted to use the [Eye of True Sight] one last time before sending it into the [Personal Instance],

To investigate just who these eight people were—and what anti-Light-type measures they’d laid out.

So, in the dark, those pitch-black eyes casually swept the room.

But the first person he focused on was the Red Handkerchief Woman.

It wasn’t because he had any special interest in her.

It was just that when he’d come here as the Light-type, he’d felt something strange about her.

Her previous battle with Lin Jing had also seemed weird—like she had a split personality.

The Blackened Replica had even speculated she might be a [Reincarnated Eerie].

But she hadn’t shown any signs of being affected by Light-type skills like [Light Scorch].

Jiang Ye was dying to know—

Was it because she wasn’t a Dark-type at all?

Or did she have some insane ability that could block [Light Scorch]?

With that thought in mind, his gaze swept casually across her.

At that moment, he concentrated all his energy into his eyes.

Logically, her information should’ve immediately popped up—

But instead—

It felt like something attacked him.

His eyes stung sharply, and his brain buzzed loudly.

It was like someone had plucked a string in his mind hard—he felt nauseated and ready to puke.

At the same time, an intense mental fatigue washed over him.

It felt just like when his Main Body had weak stats but tried to control too many Replicas at once—utter exhaustion.

This sudden reaction made Jiang Ye’s heart jolt.

He kept his expression neutral, but out of the corner of his eye—

He saw a faint glimmer in the girl’s otherwise calm eyes.

He maintained his usual expression, but inside, he was stunned.

Did this girl have some secret even an S-tier [Eye of True Sight] couldn’t penetrate?!

He’d been able to scan the Mythic-tier [Raven Egg] just fine!

How could she possibly be harder to read than a Mythic-tier item?!

No… that couldn’t be it.

Jiang Ye quickly realized—

The reason he’d been able to inspect the [Raven Egg] was because it had no defense against probing.

But this girl…

She must’ve been using some kind of concealment item to hide her secrets.

Looks like she was carrying something big.

Without changing his expression, Jiang Ye moved on to scan the middle schooler.

This time, there was no resistance—the info appeared immediately:

【He Yuliang】

【Level: 3】

【Stamina: 68】

【Energy: 52】

【Combat Power: 568】

【Survival Points: 0】

【Talent: Void Stomach (SS)】

【Effect 1: Devour metals, equipment, and items to gain boosts in stamina and energy attributes.】

【Effect 2: Devour corpses of players or Eerie Beings to gain enhanced resistances—physical, mental, poison, elemental, etc.】

【Skills: Void Ruminate (S), Stomach Acid Spray (B)】

【Void Ruminate (S): Store multiple corpses in the Void Stomach for nurturing. Over time, gain a chance to extract their memories or awaken their talents.】

【Stomach Acid Spray (B): Spray corrosive acid from the Void Stomach to inflict corrosion damage on the target.】

Holy sht!!*

Only Level 3, but his combat power was already over 500!

And both main attributes were way above average!

Most importantly, this brat actually had an SS-tier Talent and an S-tier Skill!

Which meant—even Jiang Ye’s [Shadow Curse] couldn’t seal that over-S-tier ability!

Of course, that SS-tier Talent didn’t directly boost combat much.

But it had insane growth potential.

As long as he keeps devouring, his attributes will keep going up!

Even the S-tier skill [Void Ruminate] had a chance to awaken new Talents!

Cheng Qun had been willing to pawn the [Dice of Fate] just to get a [Bodhi Enlightenment Fruit] that might give him one more Talent.

But this brat, He Yuliang, could gain new Talents just by killing and eating corpses!

Still, judging from the Data Panel alone, He Yuliang seemed to have raw stats but lacked real combat methods.

Who knew what powerful items he might be hiding on him?

With that thought, Jiang Ye subtly shifted his gaze downward.

Next up was the low-profile Bald Guy.

Back when facing Zhang Hao, this Bald Guy had remained calm and almost invisible the whole time.

But when Jiang Ye checked his panel now, he was shocked again!

【Chen Cang】

【Level: 8】

【Stamina: 32】

【Energy: 33】

【Combat Power: 358】

【Survival Points: 0】

【Talents: Divine Favor (SS), Wood Element Affinity (S)】

【Divine Favor (SS): When you follow the flow of fate, the God of Fortune blesses you; when you defy fate, Destiny bites back.】

【Skills: Non-action (S), Wall of Thorns (S), Wrath of Nature (S), Wood Spirit Summon (A), Root Bind (B)】

A double-Talent user!

And not just that—one SS-tier and one S-tier!

That [Divine Favor] sounded like a Luck-based boost Talent?

Though it came with a possible downside…

Still, based on the description, this Chen Cang could basically just sit around and wait for good fortune to drop on him!

Especially with his S-tier skill [Non-action], which automatically reduced his presence and made all nearby beings less hostile toward him—as long as he did nothing.

This guy could probably turtle his way to the end of the world!

Wait, no.

If the Doomsday Apartment really does blow up on Day 11…

Then turtling to the end might not be something worth celebrating.

Jiang Ye gave Chen Cang another look, feeling oddly conflicted—

This guy came all the way to Room 6996 in Apartment 9669 just for the Light-type.

Wouldn’t that break his “go with the flow” and “do nothing” conditions?

He really wasn’t afraid of triggering Destiny’s backlash?

Jiang Ye turned his gaze to Lu Fang.

From the perspective of his Replica Zhang Hao, he remembered Lu Fang tossing a black talisman paper at him.

He’d assumed it was just an item.

But now looking at Lu Fang’s panel, he realized the guy had an S-tier [Rune Mastery] Talent!

And with good comprehension too—his S-tier Talent came with an S-tier skill: [Deathmark Rune],

plus two A-tier skills: [Dream Rune] and [Tracking Rune],

and two B-tier ones: [Fire Serpent Rune] and [Rune Analysis].

[Deathmark Rune] could lock in a kill on weaker players, delivering instant death.

[Dream Rune] was for illusion-based attacks, highly effective against ordinary players.

[Tracking Rune] could be used for locating targets, while [Rune Analysis] acted like an advanced [Detection] skill, deciphering items or environments with complex rune structures.

[Fire Serpent Rune] was a fire-type attack.

From this angle, Lu Fang really was a jack-of-all-trades.

Most players with elemental affinity Talents only specialized in one element.

But Lu Fang could use gold, wood, water, fire, and earth elements.

Not to mention mental-type and Eerie-style attacks too!

Of course, being a jack-of-all-trades usually came at the cost of mediocrity.

His B-tier [Fire Serpent Rune] probably wasn’t as powerful as the same skill cast by someone with Fire Element Affinity.

After all, elemental Talents typically boosted the power of matching skills.

So it looked like Lu Fang’s path required tons of Skill Scrolls to build out a wide variety of attack options.

He was the exact opposite of He Yuliang—who had high stats but lacked combat techniques.

After glancing at Lu Fang, Jiang Ye turned to Lu Shen—

He already knew his situation from the Mutual Aid Group.

C-tier Fire Element Affinity.

Level had climbed to 3, but in a group like this, he was still just Small Fry.

Next was Sha Bo.

His Talent was the same S-tier Lightning Affinity as Gao Chang.

But unlike that guy—who only had a C-tier and B-tier skill even with an S-tier Talent—

Sha Bo was far from disappointing.

He’d reached Level 10, had over forty attribute points, and even had two S-tier skills.

Lightning-type skills already packed serious punch, and Sha Bo likely had more powerful items on hand too.

If he ranked high on the [War God Ranking], his combat instinct had to be solid as well.

Still… to Jiang Ye, he was just meh.

Finally, Jiang Ye looked at the mismatched middle-aged man and woman—

They stood out more than anyone, especially since they were openly holding items in their hands.

With [Eye of True Sight], Jiang Ye first targeted the compass in the man’s hand.

But before he could see more than the name 【Dark Spirit Compass】,

The man instantly stored it into his Spatial Item.

Then, with eyes sharp and dangerous, he locked gazes with Jiang Ye.

Following up on what Lu Shen had said earlier, the man opened his mouth:

“1010, 9999, and now 9669… The name ‘Jiang Ye’ has appeared in three Apartment rosters, hasn’t it?”

Jiang Ye focused slightly but felt the sting in his eyes and gave up on probing further.

He didn’t respond to the man at all.

Instead, he turned to Lu Shen and asked in a casual, old-friend tone:

“So… Lu Shen, you have a Replica in Apartment 4444 too?”

Man, he was generous—he even called him “Lu God.”

Lu Shen looked back at Jiang Ye, his mood complicated. His reply came out a little stiff:

“I don’t know if our old classmate bond means anything to you anymore, but…”

“No ‘but,’” Jiang Ye cut him off with a wave. “That’s not needed.”

As he spoke, his gaze swept the room again, and he spoke boldly as he looked around:

“Lin Jing wants to seal off Apartment 4444—or maybe someone backing him does. Whether it’s to hunt the Light-type or for something else…

Doesn’t matter to me.”

“I didn’t come to Room 6996 just to catch up with old classmates, either.”

“The blockade on Apartment 4444? An NPC big shot on my side has already agreed to intervene.”

“So yeah, it’s about time I went to Apartment 4444.”

“It’s just… for that cross-Apartment teleport fee—I was thinking of borrowing some Survival Points from you guys.”

That sentence sounded casual, but the fire underneath it was unmistakable!

Borrow Survival Points? How?

The most direct method… was taking lives!

Almost as soon as he finished speaking—

The entire dark room turned stiff again.

It felt like a brutal battle was about to explode at any moment!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep