Of course, Jiang Ye didn’t care whether Wan Xin really sold blood or not.

He was about to steer the derailed conversation back on track when he saw Yang Wenchao suddenly looking thoughtful and glancing at Wan Xin.

Then, he directly asked:

“Sold blood? Is your family situation that bad?”

“I remember in the regular strategy guides, if you want to delete an account and bury it in the Graveyard, it costs 100 Survival Points per account, which is about 100 RMB.”

“If you’re so broke that you have to sell blood, how could you afford to spend a hundred just to bury an account?”

That was blunt, to say the least.

Jiang Ye was a bit surprised too — burying an account in the Graveyard actually cost 100!

So in the game, players who were really willing to spend money to bury their accounts must be rare.

And it would mostly be those from wealthy backgrounds willing to throw away that kind of money.

And a blood-selling Wan Xin definitely raised some questions…

Jiang Ye turned his gaze over as well.

Sure enough, Wan Xin’s expression looked a bit off.

But after a short while, he suddenly let out a heavy sigh, looking like he was giving up completely.

“Ahh… since the AIDS thing is exposed, I’ve got nothing left to hide.”

“Actually, my situation is really bad.”

“Yeah, not ‘family situation,’ just my own situation.”

“Because I don’t have a family. I’ve got nothing — no car, no house, no kids…”

“No parents, no bad habits like smoking or drinking, and my material desires are super low. I can survive without spending a penny a day.”

“But in the game world, I’m actually pretty generous. In the eyes of ordinary people, I’d seem rich…”

“In fact, even in Apartment 9999, no one knows my real situation outside.”

“Honestly, I really like this Doomsday Apartment.”

“After all, in real life, I’m basically someone living on society’s margins — a useless waste who’s of no use to anyone.”

“Or maybe, the kind of good-for-nothing gaming addict that everyone looks down on…”

“But here, I’m not a waste. Even if I’m a bit unlucky, I’m still considered a strong player…”

“Here, I can earn respect and recognition. I can find my dignity and value…”

“And that kind of feeling, I’ve only ever experienced it in the game. Never once in real life…”

“…”

Wan Xin’s tone grew more and more emotional.

And Jiang Ye, listening to the earlier parts, just found it absurd and unbelievable!

Not spending a penny in real life but splurging in the game…

Even selling blood just to keep up his in-game persona…

This kind of bizarre behavior was completely beyond a normal person’s understanding!

It was exactly the kind of thing you’d expect from the most degenerate, incomprehensible gaming addict!

Escaping reality, lost in the game — people like that really were ruined!

But when he heard Wan Xin’s final sentiments, Jiang Ye felt a sudden, blurred realization.

People who didn’t understand would only ever despise, sneer at, and look down on gaming addicts.

Maybe they never really thought about—

Why would a gaming addict need to escape reality…

Why would they throw themselves so irrationally into a virtual world.

Maybe only people like Wan Xin truly knew—

Because this f***ed-up reality had never once given him any respect or recognition.

In the real world, he had no dignity, no value, no connection to anything…

But in the game, he did.

So he was willing to abandon reality for the sake of that dignity.

Not spending a penny in reality, but being lavish in the game.

Because to him, the game was worth it. Reality wasn’t.

Jiang Ye wasn’t addicted to games, but even he felt a little emotional at that.

He was silently thinking, when he saw Yang Wenchao suddenly reach out and pat Wan Xin on the shoulder.

He said, “In that case, you should hold on tight to that feeling.”

“The feeling of success, the feeling of being recognized, the feeling of defending your dignity…”

“A person needs that feeling to really live like a human being, and to grow stronger.”

Yang Wenchao’s tone was heavy — clearly, he was feeling emotional too.

However…

Wan Xin suddenly jolted, shook his shoulder free, and snapped angrily:

“I don’t care if you’re serious or just joking! Either way, I’m f***ing not into guys!!”

“…”

That reaction left Yang Wenchao completely speechless.

He took a step back and casually raised his hand — the one he had just patted Wan Xin with — and it detached.

The severed hand fell to the ground, melted into a puddle of rot, and soaked into the soil.

Meanwhile, a new hand grew out from his wrist.

The whole sequence was smooth as hell, clearly expressing his desire to draw a firm line between them.

Jiang Ye was speechless too.

He quickly changed the subject and asked Yang Wenchao:

“I remember your family situation wasn’t so great either, right?”

“Each account burial costs 100, and you said you buried hundreds… that’s tens of thousands! Where’d you get the money?”

Yang Wenchao answered smoothly, “I didn’t spend a penny.”

Wan Xin: ???

Jiang Ye wasn’t surprised. He raised an eyebrow and said, “Didn’t spend a penny… so, you found some hidden strategy, discovered a secret about Apartment 4444?”

Yang Wenchao’s eyes flickered slightly, but instead of answering, he asked back, “What secret does Apartment 4444 have?”

Before Jiang Ye could reply, seeing Huang Bo looking a little hostile, Yang Wenchao proactively explained:

“Remember when Xing Man told you about the server-wide Kill-on-Sight Order in the game?”

Jiang Ye nodded, thinking, so that Kill-on-Sight Order really was connected to 4444 after all?

Yang Wenchao didn’t hide it and said straight out:

“The Kill-on-Sight Order was in the game, but in reality, that player actually died.”

“This incident is pretty sensitive. That’s why the game must have imposed some restrictions, so a lot of details about the Kill-on-Sight Order didn’t spread widely, and players hardly talk about it.”

“So Xing Man and many other players only know the general idea.”

“But I dug deeper and got one solid piece of information—”

“The player who got hit with the Kill-on-Sight Order had just killed the 4444 Administrator with his teammates.”

“After that, he was slapped with the Kill-on-Sight Order. His teammate killed him on the spot to claim the Kill-on-Sight Reward, then rose to become the Rookie King of that Newbie Apartment season, joined one of the big forces in the official apartments, and became the strongest Rookie King ever.”

“Also became what players call the ‘Number One Strongest Player’.”

This version wasn’t very different from what Xing Man had hinted before.

But Jiang Ye had gone through a lot more now.

Hearing Yang Wenchao talk about it gave him a different feeling.

There were three special figures involved in that whole ‘game accident.’

First, the player who got hit with the Kill-on-Sight Order — he died in real life.

Second, the player who completed the Kill-on-Sight and became the top player.

Third, the one revealed this time — the apartment administrator they killed was the 4444 Administrator.

Before, Jiang Ye had made a lot of guesses about this accident.

When he first heard Xing Man mention it, he suspected that player had taken on the task to kill the Apartment Boss, and after completing the first phase — killing an administrator — got the Kill-on-Sight Order.

When he learned about Light-types being hit with Kill-on-Sight Orders, he had suspected the player might be a Light-type too.

But now…

He suddenly remembered.

What Xing Man said about the Kill-on-Sight Order reward: it was unknown.

No one knew what the player who later became the strongest actually received from the Kill-on-Sight.

And that didn’t really match the Light-type Kill-on-Sight cases.

So, the player hit with the Kill-on-Sight Order likely wasn’t a Light-type.

He had been targeted for some other reason.

And that reason was probably tied to the 4444 Administrator…

Thinking along these lines, the team that had killed the 4444 Administrator must have been pretty extraordinary.

Jiang Ye pondered silently, turning his gaze back to Yang Wenchao.

Meanwhile, during the time Jiang Ye and Yang Wenchao were talking about the Graveyard,

Replica No. 2 in the Duel Space was also observing Zhou Qiming.

However, Zhou Qiming’s expression didn’t change at all, as if he had no idea what had happened at the Graveyard.

During this short period, Jiang Ye and that idiot hot-headed youth bickered a few more times — no helping it, after all, they couldn’t actually fight in the Duel Space.

Meanwhile, the slouchy youth Zhou Qiming seemed to be considering something.

Suddenly, he said to Jiang Ye:

“You want to know the secret of 4444, right?”

Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow, saying nothing.

Zhou Qiming thought for a moment, then said in a low voice, “How about this—”

“We’re already in the Duel Space, and you seem to be stuck at your 39th win streak.”

“So it’s perfect. I’ll be the one to accompany you for your 40th win.”

“After the match, I’ll tell you about the secret of 4444, how’s that?”

How’s that? Like hell!

What Zhou Qiming said was basically a direct confession of his connection to the Duoe Organization.

After all, player win streak blocking was something completely controlled by Duoe.

And now Zhou Qiming was able to confidently match into Jiang Ye’s 40th win.

The only explanation was—he was already one of Duoe’s people!

But clearly, this battle had another layer of meaning.

This guy had matched against Lin Jing five times before and got killed in five different ways.

After that, it was like he had become immune to all five of those deaths!

Now, he was talking about matching for the 40th win.

Obviously, he wanted Jiang Ye to exchange his own secrets for the secret of 4444.

Jiang Ye had no clue what kind of methods this guy had up his sleeve.

If he killed him once, who knew what secrets he might expose?

So naturally, he couldn’t just agree so easily.

But after thinking for a moment, he didn’t rush to refuse either. Instead, he smiled calmly and said:

“Exchange secrets, huh?”

“Then before that, why don’t I take a guess about the secret of 4444?”

“Or more precisely, the secret of the Graveyard?”

As soon as he said that, Zhou Qiming’s expression became a little strange.

Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow and continued:

“Based on what I know so far—”

“In the game, players who buried their accounts in the underground Graveyard under 4444 seem to be able to revive from it?”

“The Graveyard, buried accounts, resurrection…”

“So I was thinking—”

“Even outside the current game state, could players possibly use that Graveyard to keep reviving over and over?”

“And you—killing an Administrator, sealing the Apartment…”

“Are you trying to monopolize that resurrection ability for yourself?”

As he spoke, the atmosphere in the entire booth space grew subtly tense.

Zhou Qiming’s face darkened, his gaze fixed intently on Jiang Ye.

After a while, instead of answering, he mimicked Jiang Ye’s tone and said coldly:

“I was thinking—”

“That weird black scythe in Huang Bo’s hand must have been summoned when the 【Dice of Fate】rolled a 【Sword】, right?”

“A summoned weapon like that surely doesn’t last long.”

“And do you really think the 【Dice of Fate】is a good thing?”

When Zhou Qiming said this, there was a clear sense of arrogance, looking down on him from above.

At the same time, far away in the Void Mirror Palace.

After generating two A-tier Replicas and one trash Replica, the Comprehension Replica was once again rolling the Dice of Fate.

As Zhou Qiming said those words, the Comprehension Replica’s eyes just happened to fall on the 【Dice of Fate】 spinning in midair, trailing a ghostly afterimage.

The Comprehension Replica’s specialty was, as the name implied, higher comprehension than average players.

His attributes were weak, and he hadn’t learned any skills yet.

Jiang Ye’s plan for this Replica was that, when other Replicas later used skill scrolls, he could be merged into them to raise the chance of unlocking high-grade skills.

But at this moment…

The Replica with stronger comprehension stared at the 【Dice of Fate】 spinning overhead and suddenly felt something, something that no other Replica who had rolled the dice had ever sensed.

Somewhere deep inside, he inexplicably felt—

Fate should be gripped in one’s own hand…

Not something spinning endlessly above you, dazzling your eyes yet never clearly visible, like a die.

In that instant, he even wanted to reach out and grab the spinning die.

And at that same moment, back at Replica No. 2’s side, he heard Zhou Qiming’s comments about the Dice of Fate.

Jiang Ye didn’t care about his arrogance, and instead casually asked:

“I remember that on the 【Dice of Fate】, rolling a 【Skull】 means death.”

“Can that kind of death be revived through the Graveyard too?”

Zhou Qiming gave a snorting laugh and didn’t answer directly. Instead, he asked back: “What do you think?”

Jiang Ye didn’t hesitate and replied: “I don’t think so.”

“Because if it were possible…”

“Then the 【Dice of Fate】 wouldn’t have ended up just being Cheng Qun’s item.”

Zhou Qiming raised an eyebrow.

Jiang Ye pressed on: “So, when you said the Dice of Fate isn’t a good thing, is it simply because the 【Skull】 represents death of too high a level, unavoidable death?”

“Or is it that, aside from death when rolling a 【Skull】, the Dice of Fate has other ominous aspects?”

However, crafty as always, Zhou Qiming still didn’t answer.

He just raised his eyebrow and said again:

“Same deal—”

“I’ll match your 40th win.”

“After the match, I’ll tell you the secret of 4444, and the ominous nature of the Dice of Fate.”

At that, he deliberately sized up Jiang Ye a few times, and continued:

“Don’t tell me you’ve already rolled the Dice of Fate?”

“…”

Replica No. 2 Jiang Ye thought: I haven’t had the chance to roll it yet.

But my main body has!

And that’s the real problem!

Thinking it through—

Actually, who he matched for the 40th win wasn’t something he could decide.

It was controlled by Duoe Organization.

So even if he refused Zhou Qiming now, he would probably still end up matched against him for his 40th win.

Maybe even for the 50th, 100th win streaks too.

So whether he accepted or not, the result would be the same, just a matter of sooner or later.

Unless he completely gave up on the win streak.

Having thought it through, Jiang Ye put on an indifferent look and raised an eyebrow:

“My 40th win, you want to fight now?”

Zhou Qiming nodded: “Now.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep