“Arrogant brat…”

Amidst the tense and anxious atmosphere, the middle-aged man’s face was grim. As he spoke, he suddenly pulled out the compass again.

The intricate mechanisms on the compass made clicking and clattering sounds as they were manipulated.

Accompanied by the man’s gloomy voice:

“You’ll pay the price for your arrogance.”

Jiang Ye’s face in the darkness looked calm.

But in reality, he was already in full combat mode, not daring to let down his guard for a second.

The Replica he used most often in duels was Replica No. 2.

But this time, he fused a whole batch all at once: Replica No. 2, the Blackened Replica’s Mirror Replica, and several other A-tier, B-tier, and C-tier Replicas — seven or eight in one go!

The fusion was already complete when he first started talking tough.

Now that the middle-aged man was throwing out threats, he naturally wouldn’t hold back either.

He led with an S-tier ice-type domain skill — Frozen Domain.

This domain skill, more than anything, was a form of crowd control.

But now that he had fused so many Replicas and his attributes had skyrocketed, the chilling cold itself carried an invisible, terrifying threat.

Even He Yuliang, a middle schooler with over 500 Combat Power, couldn’t help shivering under the pressure, blurting out a “Holy sh*t.”

Chen Cang, the Bald Guy, had a slight change in expression, but quickly regained composure, as if unafraid.

But Lu Fang’s eyes were full of fear as he suddenly pulled out a copper coin item covered in runes and dragged Lu Shen back with him.

Lu Shen’s attributes were too weak — he was frozen solid instantly.

Ice crusted over his hair and eyelashes, and his face turned ghostly pale, completely bloodless!

And that wasn’t all!

The Blood Mist from the Blackened Replica also exploded out instantly!

With his previous battle experience against Wang Chengjin,

and the continuous growth from battles under Replica No. 2’s Hard Work Pays Off effect,

his deployment of both the ice-type domain and Blood Mist was incredibly fast!

His reaction speed crushed the other eight people present!

And at the same time, several eerie severed hands appeared out of nowhere, each holding different weapons, slicing through the air as they rushed at the middle-aged man and woman!

Just moments ago, the middle-aged man had been talking big — now his expression was tense to the extreme!

The black hair on his head lifted as if windless, amplifying the intensity.

He clearly noticed Jiang Ye’s attack but kept his attention locked on the compass.

The woman beside him raised a hand, controlling two wooden combs.

The teeth of the combs were particularly strange, uneven, and razor-sharp.

From their tips, strands of black thread-like lines shot out, trying to block the oncoming weapons aimed at Jiang Ye’s enemies.

In the dark air, a cacophony of sharp metallic clangs echoed nonstop, occasionally sparking bursts of metal!

At the same time, streaks of lightning flashed — Sha Bo’s lightning-type skills.

But under the Blood Mist Shroud, his attributes were severely nerfed.

The resulting effects of his skills were so weak it was pathetic to watch!

Sha Bo looked terrified. Only now did he truly believe — Wang Chengjin didn’t die in vain!

With the battle triggered, both sides seemed to be going all out.

But in reality—

After just a brief clash—

The man controlling the compass moved his hands swiftly, and with one final push, slammed his palm down on the top!

Jiang Ye had already realized the woman was buying time for the man to operate the compass.

So in this 1v8 battle, his main focus had been on that middle-aged man, trying to interrupt his control of the compass.

But the duo was in perfect sync, and others kept interfering with Jiang Ye.

In such a short time, he simply hadn’t managed to break through the woman’s defense and interference. He could only watch as the man’s hand slammed into the compass.

Then —

Boom!

Jiang Ye felt like the entire space had been torn apart!

A force from all directions threatened to rip him to shreds!

In that instant, he instinctively thought to use Replica Swap to escape.

But then he realized—

He wasn’t the only one in pain.

Even the middle-aged man who had pressed the compass was now twisted in agony, his expression contorted with a pain a hundred, a thousand times worse than Jiang Ye’s!

And as Jiang Ye took note of that, he saw—

The man’s grotesque face, with blood-red eyes glaring at him.

Then came a clenched, teeth-grinding snarl, words forced out through gritted teeth:

“You’ll pay the price for your arrogance…”

As he spoke, the darkness in Room 6996 seemed to shatter completely!

It was a bizarre feeling.

It was Jiang Ye’s first time witnessing this kind of “darkness breaking apart” scene.

It felt almost like—

The Big Bang, and the birth of a universe?

From the perspective of someone who had been stuck in darkness for so long, it really was like something had torn the dark apart.

But from the view of someone raised under sunlight, the scene looked like beams of light piercing the dark.

A strange and surreal experience.

Jiang Ye suddenly remembered how Ouyang had once explained entropy increase and the cycle of world destruction and creation…

Back then he thought—

The jump from destruction to creation might just be light emerging from the dark.

Like that phrase: “Let there be light.”

He hadn’t thought much of it at the time.

But now…

The world needs light to be born.

But in Doomsday Apartment, there’s no place for light.

This strange and mysterious Light-type…

Could it be tied to the apartment’s destruction and creation?

So…

Have massive groups like the Duoe Organization considered this?

Maybe the secret they’ve been desperately searching for… is hidden in the Light-type they fear the most?

Those thoughts flashed through his mind.

When Jiang Ye snapped back, Room 6996’s darkness had completely shattered.

The whole room was filled with light again.

And his perception had changed too.

The middle-aged man and woman had vanished!

Jiang Ye didn’t let his guard down. His nerves were still tightly wound, eyes scanning his surroundings.

And then he realized—

The dark setting of the room had been specially prepared by the duo to suppress Light-type.

Something like… Dark Spirit Barrier?

And the entire effect of the barrier felt similar to the Abyssal Zone?

Now… had those two just run off?

Jiang Ye wasn’t sure, until he suddenly saw a message in the Apartment Group Chat — the two of them had left something before fleeing.

But the message wasn’t for him.

It was—

Wang Hai: [The barrier in Room 6996 of the Void Mirror Palace has been lifted. This is your best chance to escape, @Huang Bo]

Oh?

So the man’s name was Wang Hai.

And the “pay the price” thing — was he actually calling on Huang Bo to give Jiang Ye hell?

Right after the message, Wang Hai and Wang Lin’s names went gray in the Apartment 9669 member list.

Looked like they weren’t a couple — but siblings?

Jiang Ye wasn’t the least bit scared by their threats.

With limited fusion time, he instantly shifted focus to the six people still in the room.

But now that the Dark Spirit Barrier had vanished, spatial-type teleportation was no longer restricted.

In the blink of an eye, while Jiang Ye was reading the chat, Sha Bo had disappeared.

The room really did only have six people left.

Well, five if you don’t count Jiang Ye.

And dealing with five… that’s a lot easier.

Jiang Ye was about to strike again.

But suddenly, a strand of red covered his eyes.

When did that happen?

From what angle did the red come flying in?

He hadn’t noticed it at all?!

Jiang Ye’s nerves instantly tensed. He was about to rip off the red ribbon while strengthening his Frozen Domain.

But just then, he heard a familiar female voice.

That college girl’s voice was a kind of cool, younger-sounding one.

However, instead of provocation, she followed up on Jiang Ye’s pre-fight words and offered a suggestion:

“If it’s just borrowing Survival Points, how about the five of us here each give you two?”

“10 Survival Points — enough for five round trips between 4444 and 9669.”

By then, Jiang Ye had already pulled off the ribbon.

To be precise, that faint red strip disappeared on its own the moment his fingers touched it.

His sight returned, and he fixed a sharp look on the Red Handkerchief Woman, his gaze unfriendly.

Naturally, his tone wasn’t any nicer: “If you’ve got something to say, then say it. What was the meaning of that red thing covering my eyes just now?”

The woman, however, looked completely calm: “Nothing special, just wanted to get your attention.”

As she spoke, she flipped her hand to reveal a Survival Jade Token.

Holding the token between her fingers, she showed it to him and gave a slight chin lift: “2 Survival Points.”

Survival Points shown on a player’s Data Panel can’t be transferred.

But the ones on Survival Jade Tokens can.

That’s what that traveling merchant from the apartment told him when he gave him the token.

However, even though Jiang Ye had killed plenty of people before, he’d never gotten any Survival Jade Tokens.

If he really could get 10 Survival Points all at once, it wouldn’t be a bad deal.

The real issue was — this woman…

was way too eerie!

And besides, Jiang Ye had also noticed out of the corner of his eye—

That bald guy with the SS-tier Divine Favor ability seemed like he’d been waiting for Jiang Ye to attack ever since the battle started!

Back when he killed Wang Chengjin, Jiang Ye had thought about it.

In this Doomsday Apartment, survival was hard, and killing wasn’t simple either.

One misstep, and unexpected things could happen.

And 10 Survival Points could be used to generate 10 Replicas.

Which worked out — what he needed most right now was more Replicas!

In his Personal Instance, he needed to invest more Replicas.

And over at Apartment 4444, he needed more Combat Power too.

After a moment’s thought, Jiang Ye also pulled out his Survival Jade Token.

At the same time the Red Handkerchief Woman transferred the Survival Points to him, she also sent a friend request.

That’s how Jiang Ye learned the college girl’s name — Guan He.

And right after that, Guan He sent him a private message—

Guan He: [You know Light-type?]

Jiang Ye frowned, glanced at her, but didn’t reply.

The Replica Fusion time was limited.

Especially the Replica fused with the Eye of True Sight had already run out.

He immediately swept a cold gaze toward the remaining four people.

Bald Guy Chen Cang had an unreadable expression.

He Yuliang, the middle schooler, had previously been pretty snarky about so-called “War God Ranking powerhouses.”

But right now, he seemed to know the drill — he transferred two Survival Points on his own, then politely asked, “Can I go now?”

Jiang Ye didn’t answer, and He Yuliang didn’t dare move.

Next were Lu Fang and Lu Shen.

Lu Shen looked particularly miserable.

Because Jiang Ye’s strength was far beyond what he’d imagined!

When he saw Wang Hai and Wang Lin fighting Jiang Ye, he thought a real brawl was about to break out.

But holy sh*t — those two just dismantled the Dark Spirit Barrier and bailed!

Even top-tier Apartment 9999 fighter Sha Bo took off right after!

They didn’t even have the guts to fight Jiang Ye!

This…

Lu Shen had already suspected that Jiang Ye was hiding his strength.

He’d even let his imagination run wild, going for the most exaggerated guess.

But even so, he never imagined it would be this exaggerated!

He remembered after Xing Man died, Wang Lingling and Gao Chang had argued about how to deal with Jiang Ye.

Lu Shen had even chimed in with some analysis.

Now that he thought about it…

What a joke!

Xing Man was a joke, Yang Wenchao was a joke, Wang Lingling, Gao Chang — all of them, just a bunch of ordinary classmates, and jokes!

But now, Lu Shen couldn’t laugh…

Because he didn’t have any Survival Points.

And whether Lu Fang would be willing to cover those two points for him was still a big question.

More importantly, if Lu Fang didn’t read the room and tried to play the “we’re classmates” card with Jiang Ye now…

Lu Shen was very clear — Jiang Ye accepting this “2 Survival Points per person” deal was entirely giving that college girl face.

The four of them were just riding her coattails.

Being classmates with Jiang Ye had nothing to do with it!

But just as Lu Shen was thinking that, he heard Lu Fang actually pulling the “classmate” card.

Lu Fang was a real chameleon.

Back when dealing with Zhang Hao, he’d been cocky as hell, always threatening torture.

Now facing Jiang Ye, he was acting like the teacher’s pet, politely saying:

“Brother Jiang, Brother Ye, I’ve heard my brother talk about you all the time back in school…”

Total BS — came out of his mouth like breathing.

Lu Fang wasn’t worried about being exposed, since he knew Lu Shen had a good reputation and got along with everyone.

After that line, he smoothly added: “Since we’re classmates…”

At that moment, Lu Shen honestly wanted to die.

No, scratch that — he didn’t need to want to die. He was about to die…

That dumba**! Couldn’t read the room to save his life…

Lu Shen was cursing in his heart.

But his frozen body was so weak he couldn’t even make a sound, let alone signal anything to Lu Fang.

Yet surprisingly, what Lu Fang said next totally threw him off—

“Since we’re classmates, of course we won’t shortchange you!”

“I’ve got exactly 6 Survival Points left in this token — take them all.”

“My brother and I, 3 each!”

The moment those words landed, Lu Shen was dumbstruck, and even Jiang Ye looked a bit surprised.

Lu Fang thought to himself—

I’ve played games for years. I’ve never sucked up to anyone, but I’ve had plenty suck up to me.

In peacetime, broke people still know how to speak politely to the rich.

In a world of blood and killing, if you’re not smart, how do you expect to survive?

This Jiang Ye — his strength was off the charts.

Lu Fang didn’t have time not to curry favor, much less try to pay less!

Not only did he not short Jiang Ye, he gave him two extra points.

And he didn’t even highlight that he’d given more — he said it was 3 from each of them.

Jiang Ye was surprised too, thinking this arrogant punk might be another one pretending to be weak.

He accepted the 6 Survival Points from that guy, then finally set his gaze on Bald Guy Chen Cang.

Chen Cang was still standing there, completely unmoved.

That calm gaze wasn’t provocative,

but it was as if he was waiting for Jiang Ye to strike.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep