Jiang Ye didn’t really mind fighting for his 40th win now.

However, just as he was about to speak, his expression suddenly shifted.

He didn’t hesitate to change his words: “Give me a few more minutes.”

Zhou Qiming narrowed his eyes, raised his brows, thought for a moment, and then nodded: “Alright. I’ll wait, but no more than 3 minutes.”

On Replica No. 2 Jiang Ye’s side, there wasn’t any big problem.

It was just that, over at the Comprehension Replica’s side, he finally couldn’t resist and reached out to grab the 【Dice of Fate】 spinning endlessly in midair.

At that moment, fate was gripped in his hand…

And the consequences were pretty severe.

Among the rules for using the 【Dice of Fate】, besides having to toss it over 3 meters into the air and let it spin, there was another forbidden rule—

During the rolling of the 【Dice of Fate】, you must not touch it, or suffer the consequences.

As for what those consequences were, no one really knew.

But Jiang Ye figured it couldn’t be worse than rolling a 【Skull】.

Plus, at that moment, the Comprehension Replica had almost entered a state of enlightenment, reaching out instinctively to grasp the spinning die.

It didn’t feel like a conscious decision — more like pure bodily instinct.

However, the moment his hand closed around the spinning 【Dice of Fate】, Jiang Ye realized something was very wrong!

First, his hand immediately felt a sharp, stabbing pain.

The pain seemed to travel through his fingers straight to his heart, making him feel an unbearable heaviness.

It was like his heart had suddenly become too heavy to beat properly.

And his body simply couldn’t support the burden of a heart that heavy.

Even worse, each slow, heavy beat of that heart seemed to tug viciously at every nerve in his brain.

Especially… the pain nerves!

In that instant, it felt like his entire brain was going to explode!

It hurt! It hurt too damn much!

It’s said that even the strongest of wills can hardly resist drug withdrawal because of the overwhelming pain.

And at that moment, Jiang Ye suspected that the agony he was experiencing was hundreds or even thousands of times worse than withdrawal pain!

In fact, for a split second, it felt like even the other Replicas were affected by the pain the Comprehension Replica was enduring!

Compared to simply drawing a 【Skull】 and dying instantly, this was far worse!

After all, the 【Skull】’s instant death was over in a flash.

But now, under extreme pain, every second felt like a year to Jiang Ye!

Normally, when a body feels pain, the instinct is to withdraw.

Like when your hand touches something sharp, you reflexively jerk it back.

But now, even as the Comprehension Replica was overwhelmed by all-consuming pain, his hand stayed locked to the 【Dice of Fate】 like it was bound to it, unable to let go!

And the intense agony that wracked every nerve left him incapable of thinking, incapable of understanding!

Soon enough, the continuously spinning 【Dice of Fate】 started dragging his entire body, making him spin like a fan in midair.

One hand connected to the axis of rotation, the rest of his body dangling and spinning helplessly like a puppet!

The sensation was absolutely brutal.

Not only did the pain worsen, but the spinning scrambled his brain into an increasingly chaotic mess.

Finally…

Under the unbearable pain and torture, the Comprehension Replica “happily” died.

Honestly, Jiang Ye truly thought that at this moment, death might be a kind of release.

However, the real problem was—

Replica Substitution!

In order to protect his valuable Replicas, Jiang Ye had made sure to feed them Attribute Fruits to boost their stats.

Meanwhile, the weaker, trash Replicas were kept around as tools to die in their place.

So now, once again, it was a trash Replica that died in his stead.

And the Comprehension Replica, still gripped to the 【Dice of Fate】, instantly “revived”!

Yes, revived!

Jiang Ye’s previous experience with Replica Substitution was only when facing instant death from drawing a 【Skull】.

At that time, his body hadn’t suffered any real wear or tear before dying.

So he hadn’t truly understood the full impact of Replica Substitution.

But this time, it wasn’t instant death — it was death by the sheer, hellish torture inflicted by the 【Dice of Fate】.

And only now did he realize—

Replica Substitution didn’t just revive you; it restored you to full health and full status.

Before death, the Comprehension Replica had been deeply weakened, his mind on the brink of unconsciousness.

But at the moment of substitution, all that weakness and mental chaos transferred to the dying trash Replica.

The Comprehension Replica, however, fully revived.

The moment he came back, his mind cleared.

But only for a moment.

Because—his hand was still stuck to the 【Dice of Fate】.

And once again, the crushing agony flooded in!

For a second, Jiang Ye almost lost his mind!

It was a hopeless, maddening cycle of pain where he couldn’t live but couldn’t die either…

He even thought about sacrificing another Replica to chop off the arm holding the 【Dice of Fate】.

Whether by amputating the arm or letting the Comprehension Replica die outright, it had to be better than enduring this nightmare.

After all, all his Replicas were linked together.

Seeing the Comprehension Replica suffering like this, the others naturally couldn’t just stand by.

Immediately, one of the trash Replicas who was also in the Void Mirror Palace tried to move closer to chop off the connected arm.

But before he could act…

He noticed—

Blood was flowing from the Comprehension Replica’s hand, staining the 【Dice of Fate】.

Even with blood soaking the die, the pain didn’t lessen at all.

The Comprehension Replica was foaming at the mouth from the pain.

Spinning helplessly in midair like a tortured body on a rack, his state was absolutely miserable!

Yet at that moment, the other Replicas forced themselves to suppress the soul-link pain, stayed calm, and thought through the situation.

And then, a rather cruel idea toward the Comprehension Replica emerged—

The consequences of gripping the 【Dice of Fate】 needed to be fully studied.

Even if they gave up now…

They’d still have to face this torment eventually.

Sure, maybe later they’d get a Replica immune to pain to handle it.

But there was no guarantee they’d ever find such a talent.

And now, they’d already burned through one substitution.

Might as well…

Hang on a little longer?

The moment this thought surfaced, Jiang Ye immediately remembered what Yang Wenchao had said not long ago.

He had once forced himself to confront his fear directly;

He had survived endless terror and despair.

That’s why he could now proudly say:

What doesn’t kill me will only make me stronger.

That’s why he could even suppress his Light-type instincts to fear Dark-types.

So…

If Yang Wenchao could do it, why couldn’t Jiang Ye?

All the Replicas shared the same will.

There was no conflict like left brain fighting right brain.

At this moment, the decision wasn’t about other Replicas forcing the Comprehension Replica to suffer.

It was a choice made by the Comprehension Replica himself, the one enduring the worst pain.

Even through the vague clarity he managed to regain, he chose to hold on.

After steeling his resolve, his mind, previously too wracked with agony to think clearly, now strained with everything he had to concentrate, to try once again to catch that fleeting, mysterious feeling.

Of course, the thought was beautiful, but reality was brutal.

It was just too damn hard!

It didn’t take long…

The Comprehension Replica’s heart, overwhelmed by the terrifying burden, once again stopped beating.

【Replica Substitution】 activated again, and another trash Replica died.

But this time, Jiang Ye was no longer in a state of hopeless collapse, unable to live or die.

He immediately seized the opportunity of this full-health revival!

And to further strengthen the body’s ability to handle the heart’s burden,

he immediately decided to perform Replica Fusion on the Comprehension Replica!

He merged the five powerful S-tier Replicas — Ice, Fire, Lightning, Space, and Sword-Heart Enlightenment — into the Comprehension Replica!

As for the 【Super Stamina】 Replica, with his superior physical stats, he specifically created Mirror Replicas and Phantom Replicas to fuse as well.

In this emergency, he even used the weird mirror obtained from the 4444 Administrator on the 【Super Stamina】 Replica.

Previously, Jiang Ye hadn’t had time to study the mirror, nor dared to use it casually.

But now, with the Comprehension Replica in deep trouble, he figured…

Even if that mirror had some issues, if it created Replicas in his own image, it should be safe!

So with boldness, after using the mirror, nearly a hundred identical 【Super Stamina】 Replicas appeared!

Way more than when he had duplicated the White-Clad Woman!

Maybe because the 【Super Stamina】 Replica was much weaker compared to her?

Jiang Ye didn’t have time to think about it.

These physically strong Replicas, grouped into threes, started fusing one after another into the Comprehension Replica using Replica Fusion.

At that moment, the only ones left unfused were some trash Replicas that weren’t much use even if fused, and two precious SS-tier Replicas.

And then there were No. 2 in the Duel Space, and No. 1 and the Light Replica over at the Graveyard.

But the pain hadn’t lessened despite the huge number of Replicas merging.

Instead, the unfused Replicas suffered even more, as if pulled into the pain!

In the Duel Space, No. 2 Jiang Ye, sitting at the same booth as Zhou Qiming and the others, suddenly turned deathly pale, drained of all color.

No. 1 in the Graveyard, with even worse attributes, was in an even worse state.

Naturally, Yang Wenchao and Wan Xin noticed.

Wan Xin bluntly asked, “What’s wrong with you? You look terrible all of a sudden. Even your eyes look dazed.”

Yang Wenchao also noticed, but he was more cautious and didn’t point it out directly.

Jiang Ye, however, casually raised an eyebrow and weakly made up an excuse:

“Nothing. This body’s just a Replica. It’s normal for Replicas to have time limits and all kinds of restrictions.”

It was a reasonable excuse, and made his Replica abilities seem less overpowered.

Luckily, under Huang Bo’s Light and Shadow Escape, changes in facial expressions couldn’t be seen.

Still, he worried that someone as sharp as Yang Wenchao might catch on to the voice change.

So it was still No. 1 Jiang Ye who forced himself to speak casually toward Yang Wenchao:

“So, you originally chose to bury accounts not to farm Light-type talents, but because you noticed Apartment 4444 during that game accident, and then discovered the secret of account burial there?”

Yang Wenchao nodded: “Sort of.”

“After I found out that the player hit with the Kill-on-Sight Order had killed the 4444 Administrator, I went to investigate 4444.”

“And the most unique thing about Apartment 4444 is obviously the underground Graveyard.”

“Players wanting to enter the Graveyard have to somehow earn the Administrator’s favor to get permission.”

“But the 4444 Administrator’s favor is really hard to earn. Basically, you have to spend money.”

“And just entering the Graveyard costs anywhere from 10 to 80 Survival Points, depending on when you enter.”

“But if a player wants to bury an account, it’s a fixed 100 Survival Points to buy a special coffin.”

“Then the 4444 Administrator would help the player log out of the account and mark the coffin with a logout seal.”

“After the player dies, the account would be sealed inside the logout coffin.”

“The whole process is clear and simple.”

“In the game, it wasn’t just one pay-to-win team that tried to kill the 4444 Administrator.”

“Many teams tried and failed, which is why the 4444 Administrator became recognized as one of the hardest administrators to kill.”

“First, because he’s really strong — probably top-tier among all Apartments.”

“Second, because he has an escape route—”

“Only he has access to the Graveyard beneath 4444.”

“And the Madman Mask’s time limit is just 3 minutes.”

“Trying to kill an Administrator within 3 minutes is already insanely hard.”

“And during those 3 minutes, the 4444 Administrator could simply hide inside the Graveyard, and the players couldn’t do anything.”

“Some teams even considered splitting up — Group A attacking outside, while Group B sneaked into the Graveyard to ambush him.”

“But the 4444 Administrator wasn’t an idiot.

If you had a Madman Mask on you, there was no way he’d let you enter the Graveyard.”

“So honestly, nobody could believe that the team responsible for the Kill-on-Sight Order had actually managed to kill the 4444 Administrator.”

So that’s how it was.

At that moment, Jiang Ye also understood why Lin Jing had gone to such lengths to invite the White-Clad Woman to kill the 4444 Administrator.

Because if it were players doing it, even with a Madman Mask, killing the 4444 Administrator would be nearly impossible.

Even for the White-Clad Woman, she probably planned some sneaky strategy first.

But then the Light-type had shown up and completely messed up the plan.

Also, Jiang Ye suddenly realized—

Whether it was Yang Wenchao or Lin Jing, they all said the Madman Mask only had a 3-minute limit.

But the Madman Mask Jiang Ye had snatched from Guan He seemed different.

It lasted for a whole hour!

And it could be used 10 times!

Unfortunately, there was only one such mask.

For a whole team, it wouldn’t be enough.

And for a solo player… it would still be very hard to kill an Administrator alone.

This Madman Mask really was something special.

No wonder Guan He had been willing to part with it.

She just hadn’t expected that the Light-type would rob her outright…

And this special Madman Mask probably involved the secret of that Symbiotic Reincarnated Eerie.

Naturally, Jiang Ye didn’t mention any of this to Yang Wenchao.

Instead, he asked directly:

“Since 4444 was so hard to kill, how did that successful team pull it off back then?”

Yang Wenchao shook his head: “From what I heard, there are no clear details.”

“But when I investigated 4444 myself, I did discover one secret.”

“And using that secret, I managed to bury hundreds of accounts for free.”

At that, he suddenly asked Jiang Ye:

“If you were me back then, where would you start investigating Apartment 4444?”

Where to investigate?

Jiang Ye instinctively thought: from the Graveyard, obviously.

But he quickly reconsidered—

The Graveyard was under the Administrator’s authority.

Trying to pull anything shady inside would almost certainly be caught.

And just entering the Graveyard cost money, which Yang Wenchao probably wouldn’t have wasted.

So, not the Graveyard.

Then…

He immediately turned to Wan Xin and asked:

“By the way, is there anything special about Room 4444 in Apartment 4444?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep