Zhang Jintian hadn’t expected—

This time, he actually won the bet!

What a huge surprise!

With Administrator privileges…

Didn’t that mean—

No one could attack him first?!

Otherwise, he’d also have the authority to Erase them?!

Zhang Jintian quickly checked the metal piece in his hand, his heart filled with emotion—

Jiang Ye! What a solid guy!

This time, he must’ve really latched onto a Big Leg of gold!!

Zhang Jintian’s dumbfoundedness quickly turned into wild excitement!

Meanwhile, Jiang Ye’s own confusion turned swiftly into—

He had to get to the bottom of this!

To be honest, when he first made that verbal promise and asked Zhang Jintian to help draw out the Administrator,

the surprise he had in mind to give Zhang Jintian was also Administrator privileges.

What this fake Jiang Ye did matched his own plans exactly!

This made Jiang Ye seriously wonder—

Could this fake Jiang Ye not be an imposter at all, but rather an unknown version of himself?

Like from a parallel universe, or the future?

But in just a flash, he rejected that idea.

The reason was simple—

All Replicas created by Jiang Ye using the Infinite Replication ability shared a single consciousness with him.

Meaning there might be many Replicas,

but mentally, there was only one Jiang Ye from beginning to end.

Blackened Replicas, or Light-type Replicas made by the Prism—

to Jiang Ye, they were all “outsiders.”

Only Replicas that shared his consciousness were ones he could fully trust, that would never betray him—the true “Jiang Ye.”

So why would a “Jiang Ye” from the future or another universe lack this shared consciousness?

No shared consciousness meant “outsider.”

Even if he looked exactly like Jiang Ye.

And if he really were from the future,

he should’ve known that the Jiang Ye of this timeline wanted to kill the Administrator himself.

So why would “future Jiang Ye” ignore the wishes of “past Jiang Ye” and steal the kill?

It didn’t add up!

Plus, Jiang Ye had planned to give the Administrator privileges to Zhang Jintian,

but only after his main body cleared his Personal Instance.

Now this random fake Jiang Ye had completely ruined that plan!

If that’s not an “outsider,” what is?!

Thinking this, Jiang Ye made an instant decision—

With a single thought,

he activated Replica Swap.

He forcibly swapped the vanished fake Jiang Ye into the ruins of the White-Clad Woman’s apartment.

The moment fake Jiang Ye appeared in the ruins, his expression changed dramatically, like he’d seen a ghost.

And through his Observer ability, hidden in the dark, Jiang Ye immediately deduced from that reaction—

This fake Jiang Ye couldn’t be a future or alternate version of himself!

Because that panicked, alarmed look clearly showed he had no idea what Replica Swap was!

He obviously thought he’d been pulled into this place by some terrifying unknown force!

Seeing this, Jiang Ye had another idea. He deliberately used a creepy, unreachable tone that fake Jiang Ye couldn’t detect and said:

“Jiang Ye…”

“Jiang Ye…”

He even mimicked the eerie tone of that mysterious fellow in the Graveyard 4444 who used to call him “little one.”

Sure enough, the fake Jiang Ye’s eyes twitched, and though he tried to stay calm, his gaze flickered all around.

Just like the Light-type Replica once did in the graveyard, he shouted up toward the sky:

“Who’s there?! Who’s pretending to be a ghost?!”

Jiang Ye had just experienced the same thing with the mysterious being—

now the roles were reversed, and he found it pretty fun.

Feeling playful, he continued speaking in that mysterious ghost-like voice:

“You don’t know who I am?”

“Hehehe…”

“When you accepted the Kill the Apartment Boss mission…”

“Didn’t I tell you… I had my eye on you!”

“When you killed your first Apartment Administrator, I said I’d have a surprise for you!”

Exactly.

He didn’t expose fake Jiang Ye as a fraud.

Instead, he smoothly posed as the Apartment Boss!

He originally wanted to use this identity to probe the fake Jiang Ye.

But what he didn’t expect was—

Upon hearing this, fake Jiang Ye’s face changed wildly, like a paint factory exploded.

His expression shifted unpredictably.

Finally, he tensed up, gave a cold snort,

and suddenly raised one arm to rest the giant axe on his shoulder.

With his left hand, a blood-red lotus bloomed in his palm.

He scoffed up at the sky and said disdainfully:

“Hah! Don’t know your place, do you?!”

“You think you can pretend to be the Apartment Boss?!”

Jiang Ye was a bit surprised.

This guy instantly saw through the disguise?!

Did he really figure it out—or was he bluffing?

Jiang Ye noticed that fake Jiang Ye wasn’t nearly as confident as he appeared.

On the contrary, he was very tense.

But in spite of that, he swung his arm boldly—

That massive axe suddenly tripled in size!

With just a casual flick, its terrifying weight came crashing down on the ground of the apartment ruins.

The loud “BOOM” shook the place like an earthquake!

It was like the sky was falling!

Jiang Ye could even faintly sense—these ruins might not hold up for long before collapsing entirely!

This apartment was already destroyed to begin with.

If it were still a functioning apartment, the system would’ve triggered an emergency alert by now!

Which meant…

This fake Jiang Ye had the power to destroy an entire apartment?!

Jiang Ye was stunned.

Then that madman raised his left hand again and shouted loudly:

“Hell—Fire—Burn—the—Sky!”

The blazing lotus shot from his palm!

Another deafening explosion, as if it would rip the sky apart!

The ground shook and began to collapse…

Hellfire surged into the air like flaming snakes, spreading in all directions!

Even the surrounding Mists around the apartment ruins were dyed a terrifying blood-red by the blazing light!

The remaining rubble on the ground slowly began to melt!

The scene looked like something out of an apocalyptic sci-fi movie!

And the fake Jiang Ye, who caused all this, let out a cold snort and shouted:

“I don’t care what kind of ghostly thing you are…”

“If you dare trap me, you’re gonna pay the price!”

His stance made it clear—he intended to completely destroy the ruins of this apartment.

At the same time, fake Jiang Ye, who had released the red lotus, reached out with his left hand into the air.

It was as if he tore through space itself!

A pitch-black rift appeared, and he was about to leap into it.

He clearly intended to flee this apocalyptic place that was on the verge of annihilation!

However, Jiang Ye certainly wasn’t about to let him get away that easily!

Even if he did escape, as long as he didn’t shed the “Jiang Ye” identity, Jiang Ye could use Replica Swap to pull him back at any time.

But Jiang Ye was also wary—if he used the Replica Skill too many times, the opponent might catch on.

So he dropped the playful act and got serious.

While quickly putting on the Madman Mask, he fused with his Replica and pulled out the Entropy Scythe!

The Entropy Scythe moved with terrifying speed, immediately destroying the rift fake Jiang Ye had torn open!

Then, under fake Jiang Ye’s shocked and increasingly panicked gaze—

The Entropy Scythe came down at him!

“Hellfire!!!” fake Jiang Ye shouted in panic, thrusting a finger skyward!

A storm of firelight shot toward the Entropy Scythe!

But! The Entropy Scythe was a Concept-Level Weapon!

It merely took the form of a scythe—it wasn’t a physical object at all.

Its body was like a mysterious, eerie black rift in space!

The flames crashed into it, but didn’t do a single bit of damage!

Instead, Jiang Ye, wielding the Entropy Scythe, moved completely unbothered by the fire.

“Bang”—the scythe smashed directly into fake Jiang Ye!

He instantly let out a hysterical scream!

His mental state was identical to that of Wang Chengjin when struck by the Entropy Scythe—a total collapse!

Fake Jiang Ye broke down completely!

As he frantically slashed at the horrific wounds left by the scythe, like Light Scorch,

he screamed madly:

“Erase! Erase! Erase him for me!!”

“Aaaarghhh—!”

Screaming, flailing.

And then the real Jiang Ye suddenly revealed himself.

One hand gripping the Entropy Scythe, the other pointing to the mask on his face.

He mimicked what fake Jiang Ye had said to fake Lingling earlier, laughing arrogantly:

“What the h*ll are you yelling for?!”

“You didn’t seriously think I fell for it, did you?”

“You thought if I attacked you first I’d be Erased? Then look at this—what do you see?”

What was it? The Madman Mask!

The fake Jiang Ye’s face—now shattered into glowing fragments from the Entropy Scythe—was ghastly and terrifying.

A half-rolled eyeball dangling from its socket could not hide his shock, horror, and disbelief!

At this point, fake Jiang Ye had all but lost his mind.

He’d already thrown his giant axe away, and even without a mouth, his shredded throat still rasped out a terrified cry:

“Hellfire—burn me!!!”

With that shout, the terrifying flames surged like fire serpents, crashing toward fake Jiang Ye!

It looked like he couldn’t take the agony of the Entropy Scythe anymore and was trying to immolate himself!

But Jiang Ye wasn’t about to let him die on his own terms!

After all, even someone like Wang Chengjin had that kind of resurrection item called Reaper’s Mercy.

Wan Xin and Yang Wenchao had also come back to life in the Graveyard.

Jiang Ye didn’t believe that this fake Jiang Ye—with all his god-tier tricks—wouldn’t have a revival item!

So if he was trying to self-immolate, it must’ve been to trigger some kind of resurrection mechanism.

Jiang Ye absolutely couldn’t allow that!

And the Entropy Scythe inflicted a death level almost equal to the Dice of Fate rolling the Skull—just short of full Erasure.

Only by completely disassembling and destroying the enemy with the Entropy Scythe could Jiang Ye be sure there’d be no comebacks!

So he swung the Entropy Scythe again, intercepting the incoming Hellfire while continuing to obliterate the collapsing fake Jiang Ye.

And like that, it went on for over two full minutes.

Fake Jiang Ye’s body was finally broken down to just one hand.

To be exact—a single finger.

And on that finger, there was a charred black ring.

Jiang Ye deliberately avoided it.

At that moment, after storing the Entropy Scythe and taking the ring,

a familiar apartment system prompt sounded in his mind again.

【Beginner Apartment Announcement:】

【The Administrator of this Apartment has been killed by player Jiang Ye!】

【The Administrator’s role and privileges have been automatically transferred to Jiang Ye!】

As expected!

This fake Jiang Ye was the real Administrator all along!

That whole performance was to trick Jiang Ye into thinking the Administrator had already been killed!

If not for Replica Swap, which let him drag the escaping fake Jiang Ye right under his nose to probe him—

that Administrator might’ve really vanished for good, making everyone believe he was dead!

At least Jiang Ye would’ve thought he was dead, and stopped targeting the Administrator of 1010.

He’d probably go after some other apartment’s Administrator instead—there were so many, after all.

Sure, Jiang Ye might’ve wondered who the fake Jiang Ye really was,

but he wouldn’t have found any clues. The whole thing would’ve stayed a mystery.

To be honest, this “faked death” trick the Administrator pulled off was pretty brilliant.

If Jiang Ye didn’t have powerful Replica abilities, he might’ve fallen for it completely!

As for the fake system announcement when the Administrator faked his death…

It was obvious now, especially after the Kill-on-Sight Order from the 9999 Administrator.

Apartment Administrators had the authority to post announcements.

So at that time, it was the Administrator who faked the announcement himself!

Now the difference between real and fake announcements was also clear—

Fake ones made by Administrators began with: 【Emergency Announcement from the Beginner Apartment】

Real ones simply used: 【Beginner Apartment Announcement】—without the word “Emergency.”

Jiang Ye had fully pieced together the logic behind it all.

But the players of Apartment 1010? They were utterly confused.

The group chat exploded in bewilderment!

【Wait, what? What’s going on? How come there’s another Administrator-killed announcement so soon??】

【And the one who killed the Administrator… is still Jiang Ye?!】

【Don’t tell me… Jiang Ye killed Jiang Ye??】

【This is a riddle! A total riddle! Could this all be some ultra-high-level flex from Jiang Ye that we’re just too low-tier to understand?】

【Like how a billionaire wears a million-dollar handmade suit, and us bumpkins think it’s knockoff junk from a street stall?】

【Possible! Very possible!】

Indeed.

Jiang Ye’s level was now completely beyond his classmates’ comprehension.

How could they possibly imagine—

that a full-fledged Administrator would fake his own death just to survive?

Zhang Jintian was just as dumbfounded, clutching the iron piece in his hand with no idea what was going on.

But Jiang Ye himself didn’t care one bit about what his classmates thought.

What really shook him now,

was that after the system announced the Administrator’s death,

two new prompts rang out in his head.

Yes—two!

The first was expected—it was for completing the White-Clad Woman’s mission.

Since the reward for killing the Administrator had already been pre-issued,

this announcement didn’t grant any extra rewards.

It simply told him to find the White-Clad Woman soon and claim the second part of the mission reward.

This mission notice didn’t stir any emotions in Jiang Ye.

What truly shocked him was the second announcement.

Or rather, not an announcement—

but a prompt:

【Ding!】

【Replica has killed a Replica. You may choose:】

【1. Convert Replica into Survival Points】

【2. Revive the Replica】

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep