What Jiang Ye didn’t know was—

In another nearby dorm room,

Zi Sang Haoyun was, at that very moment, privately messaging no fewer than thirty people simultaneously!

Jiang Ye thought he was having a one-on-one chat with Zi Sang Haoyun.

But he was just one of many fish in Zi Sang’s pond 🙂

Since Zi Sang often bragged in the group chat about knowing VIP Players,

the other Duoe members viewed him similarly to Wu Ying.

Although they secretly disliked his bragging,

they tacitly acknowledged that knowing VIP Players meant he had broader insight and more information.

So while Zi Sang Haoyun was chatting with Wu Ying,

he was also messaging other players from different angles,

hinting that he’d learned from a VIP Player that the Defenders weren’t as simple as people thought.

And as news of the Defender’s quest spread,

he took the chance to tell those he messaged that he planned to join the mission to the Newbie Apartment.

He analyzed it eloquently,

and while he didn’t outright try to persuade anyone,

his actions clearly acted as a kind of influence.

Still, not all the Duoe members he messaged were convinced just because he made it sound good.

Most players had their own thoughts.

They remained cautious, hesitant, saying they needed time to consider.

Zi Sang Haoyun was silently cursing them for being cowards,

when he suddenly received a message from Wu Ying:

【Then I’ll sign up too—let’s go together.】

Well dmn?

Zi Sang hadn’t expected Wu Ying to be the first one to agree to join him.

And he agreed way too decisively!

He couldn’t help but ask:

【Dmn dude, why do you sound even more decisive than me? Don’t tell me you actually know something about the Defenders?】

Of course, Jiang Ye wasn’t going to tell the truth. He casually replied:

【Nah, I just wanna take this chance to meet some top players.】

【Besides, to me, you’re one of those top players, Brother Sang! Once we get to the Newbie Apartment, you gotta look out for me!】

Zi Sang burst out laughing and replied boldly:

【Relax! Once we’re in the Newbie Apartment, it won’t even matter who’s guiding who!】

【Once the Defenders take care of the main threats—Light and Jiang Ye—

us old players will be like dynamite in a fish pond when it comes to those newbies!】

That’s what he said, but in his heart, Zi Sang thought—

Wu Ying’s Phantasm Parasitism had “Jiang Ye” as one of its identities.

Maybe he could get Wu Ying to use that identity to lure out the Light-type Player.

That’d save the Defender Player a lot of unnecessary trouble.

As for what the Defender Player said about not forcing followers to go against their will…

Heh.

As long as your fist is big enough, people’s “will” can change at any time.

After chatting with Wu Ying a bit more,

Zi Sang shifted his focus back to convincing the other hesitant players.

In the end, a total of 36 Duoe members in their group agreed to take the Defender Player’s quest.

Led by a Mecha Puppet named Duoe,

they headed to the 365th floor of the Doomsday Apartment.

From the elevator on the 365th floor,

they pressed the F-Zone teleport button.

In the blink of an eye,

the 36 of them arrived in a massive stadium, large enough to rival the Olympic Bird’s Nest.

At the center was a vast empty plaza, surrounded on four sides by spectator stands.

The seats were sparsely filled—at a glance, there were already thousands present.

The 36 Duoe members sat together,

and some who knew each other whispered quietly:

“Say what you will, I haven’t seen such a grand place since I came to the Doomsday Apartment…”

“Yeah, floors below 100 are all minimalist garbage. Especially below floor 20—practically ruins…”

“Didn’t expect the 365th floor to hide such a massive, independent space…”

“I’m starting to feel that in this place, space equals power… Only true strong players deserve such a vast environment!”

“So maybe Zi Sang was right… This Defender Player really might not be simple…”

“Did she rent this space? Or does she own it? Either way, that’s crazy rich!”

“Ha! I told you—a Defender who can contract ten thousand followers isn’t someone to take lightly! We’ve really latched onto a big shot with this quest!”

“Too bad there are too many big-shot seekers here… I thought it’d be just us few dozen. Maybe a few hundred at most…”

“Didn’t expect this giant venue to already hold several thousand people!”

“And more are still teleporting in—looks like we’re really on track to hit 10,000!”

“Holy sh*t! Look at the opposite stands—those are members from the Four Top Secret Realm Orgs! Those kinds of blood-soaked killers are willing to follow a Defender too?!”

Jiang Ye was stunned by the scene—it was his first time witnessing something of this scale.

Sure, there had been plenty of spectators when Lin Jing fought that Quick Battle Duel.

But that was a virtual environment.

This one was real.

And the biggest difference between virtual and real?

In a real environment, death means actual death.

You could tell most players here were cautious.

Not like the noisy spectators during Lin Jing’s duel.

Even the murmuring here was low and restrained.

Most people avoided eye contact to prevent offense.

Jiang Ye and Zi Sang Haoyun sat together, listening to the whispers while subtly observing others.

To his surprise, Jiang Ye even spotted players from the Asura Organization, which Wu Ying had once been part of.

Asura wasn’t a top-tier Secret Realm Org, just a first-rate one.

Yet its players showed up here too.

Which just showed how chaotic this 10,000-person crowd truly was!

As for the still-unseen Defender Player… was she incredibly bold or just that powerful?

Did she really think she could control 10,000 people from all kinds of backgrounds?

Just as Jiang Ye was thinking this—

The entire venue suddenly fell silent.

Everyone’s gaze instinctively turned to the center.

There, a white tower, emerging from nothing, began to rise from virtual to physical form.

It looked massive, with intricate patterns that screamed importance.

Its appearance alone was awe-inspiring.

The moment it fully solidified,

a woman in purple appeared atop its peak, standing lightly on the tip with immense presence.

She wore a huge wide-brimmed hat, which looked like she had an umbrella on her head.

A sheer dark-purple veil hung from the brim, shrouding her slender form in semi-translucent mist.

Her face was also obscured.

But her voice rang out clear and powerful, full of force:

“Greetings to all players from the various factions. I’m the Defender Player issuing this quest—Zhou Yuling.”

“Since you’re all here, I assume you already understand the quest details.”

“Midnight is almost here, and the Newbie Apartment phase is about to begin, so time is tight—I’ll keep it short.”

As she spoke,

simple black iron tokens appeared mid-air.

They resembled the Substitution Badge Administrator Zhang Jintian had received.

“You’re all experienced old players—shouldn’t be the first time you’ve seen a Group Jade Token.”

“Just drip blood to bind, join the chat group, and you can view the contract terms for the public quest in the group files.”

“If you have any questions, speak now. If not… we’ll sign the public contract in five minutes.”

With that,

the black tokens flew out toward each player in the stands.

As they did, waves of gasps and hushed murmurs spread across the crowd.

Jiang Ye caught his token and strained his ears to eavesdrop.

Group Jade Tokens were common.

They worked like QQ group chats—members could chat, and the group owner had extra permissions like mute, kick, and @all.

The group owner could also disband the group or pass leadership to someone else.

Wu Ying’s Duoe chat group used this system too.

What caused the buzz wasn’t the item itself—

but the scale.

Most Group Jade Tokens supported 100-member groups.

A thousand-member group was already rare.

Some said the largest they’d seen was 2,000.

But from Zhou Yuling’s words—

She planned to start a 10,000-person group!

The murmuring crowd speculated:

these tokens probably created separate groups, maybe dozens in total.

But when they bound their tokens and joined…

they were shocked—

It wasn’t multiple groups.

Everyone had entered the same group!

With Zhou Yuling included, it was exactly 10,000 people!

Jiang Ye entered the group and immediately saw someone post:

【Whoa—no way! It’s actually a 10,000-person group! I didn’t think the Doomsday Apartment even had Group Jade Tokens on this scale!】

【Looks like our group owner is seriously loaded!】

It was likely posted by an average-status old player.

Right after that, another player chimed in with a mocking tone:

Song Xuan: 【Heh, this isn’t just about being rich! From what I know, Group Jade Tokens for 10,000-member groups aren’t for just anyone! This group owner of ours probably has a Privilege Identity—could even be a VIP Player!】

That line instantly stirred up chatter in the group:

【Are you kidding me?! How many VIP Players are there in the entire Doomsday Apartment? We can’t even see one on a normal day, and now you’re saying some random Defender is one? What a joke!】

【Exactly! If she were really a VIP Player, she would’ve just said so when posting the quest. There’s no way the likes of us would’ve even gotten the chance!】

【Right! VIP Players aren’t like cabbages—you don’t see them lying around everywhere!】

【But hey, this “Song Xuan,” just asking—are you that Song Xuan from the Hall of Fame in the Thousand-Eyes Society? @Song Xuan】

Before Song Xuan could respond,

the woman standing atop the White Tower, Zhou Yuling, suddenly spoke:

“I am indeed not a VIP Player.”

“Time is short. Everyone, stop asking irrelevant questions and check the contract in the group files.”

The crowd and the group chat both fell noticeably quieter.

Even Song Xuan didn’t respond again.

But just then, from the east side of the stands, a loud voice called out toward the White Tower:

“Why so serious, Sister Yuling? What, scared someone’s gonna dig up your secrets?”

The tone was clearly provocative, and the atmosphere instantly turned tense.

Jiang Ye turned toward the voice and saw a flamboyant young man with blood-red glyphs covering his face,

staring at the White Tower with a challenging look.

The guy seemed to enjoy the attention—he stood there with a faint smirk, clearly confrontational.

However—

Zhou Yuling, the one under his glare, merely cast him a cold glance,

and acted like she didn’t even hear him.

The surrounding looks began to shift.

The red-marked youth’s expression also changed slightly.

He quickly dropped the smirk, stood up, and said in a rather rude tone:

“Don’t think I don’t know—this whole ‘contract 10,000 followers’ thing isn’t an ability, is it? It’s some kind of item or Privilege Identity, right?”

“Otherwise, if you really had that ability, why didn’t you contract anyone back when you entered the Blood Moon Hunting Ground Secret Realm?”

“And if you really had 10,000 follower slots, why—”

His words were cut short halfway.

With a bang, the man who had just stood up collapsed onto the ground.

Zhou Yuling, in her purple robe, had somehow already flashed from the tip of the White Tower and landed atop his “corpse.”

While casually waving her hand to collect the corpse, she muttered lazily—

“Dmbss.”

“……”

The group chat and audience alike fell dead silent.

Jiang Ye glanced at the member list and saw that the name Xu Gou had gone dark.

While scanning the list, he suddenly noticed several familiar names—

not surprising to see members of the Asura Organization, given Wu Ying’s past ties, but—

Yan Cheng, Wu Yu, Du Dian—those Rookie Kings were here too!

Rookie Kings didn’t belong to any official organization.

They were usually recruited by top Secret Realm Organizations—

players with pride and ambition, drawn to powerful factions.

Jiang Ye hadn’t expected to see those arrogant figures from the Rookie King chat group willing to be followers of a Defender.

Could it be they were coming to the Newbie Apartment to hunt him for revenge?

Or maybe Yan Cheng was eyeing the Apartment 9999 Administrator position?

Unfortunately, Jiang Ye only saw their names in the list—

he still didn’t know what they looked like.

He was pretty relaxed, still in the mood to scroll through the member list.

Other players, however, were still reeling from Zhou Yuling’s public execution of Xu Gou.

This…

The contract wasn’t even signed yet, and she killed someone in front of everyone?!

Wasn’t this Zhou Yuling a bit too wild?

But very soon,

those players were shocked again—

Xu Gou’s name suddenly lit up again on the member list!

And a message popped up in the group chat:

Xu Gou: 【@Zhou Yuling! Where the h*ll did you lock me up?!】

【I won’t dig into your secrets or run my mouth again, okay? Just let me out! @Zhou Yuling】

Well d*mn…

Looks like Xu Gou had a Resurrection Item on him.

Maybe Zhou Yuling knew and deliberately used him as a warning example.

She didn’t reply to Xu Gou in the group chat.

With a flash, she returned to the top of the White Tower.

Then, she addressed the audience loudly:

“Don’t know how familiar you all are with old players descending to the Newbie Apartment.”

“But I must remind you—”

“Essentially, you’ll all be descending using my quota.”

“The descent formation tied to my slot only accommodates one person—me.”

“So I must place all of you in a separate space—this White Tower beneath my feet.”

“Anyone have a problem with that?”

The audience remained silent.

Everyone seemed to be carefully reading the contract.

The contract was detailed.

Zhou Yuling would bring nearly 10,000 followers to the Newbie Apartment.

She promised not to exploit the follower relationship to gain any authority—no forcing people to do things.

And when the Newbie Apartment phase ended and they returned to the Doomsday Apartment, she’d dissolve the link and restore their freedom.

Any gains made in the Newbie Apartment would belong to the players themselves.

Upon returning, they’d also receive quest rewards.

That said, the actual follower count was 9,999,

since Zhou Yuling was also in the group, making the full 10,000.

According to the contract, followers wouldn’t be forced to do anything.

But obviously, if there were no expectations, she wouldn’t be bringing them.

So the contract stated clearly—

The 9,999 followers must help her complete the Fate Gamble in the Court of Disorder.

The Court of Disorder was a special space within Apartment 0000.

Unlike regular Apartments, each floor of Apartment 0000 was a unique environment.

The Court of Disorder was the 18th floor.

All these old players had once been new players.

Even if some had never dared enter Apartment 0000,

they’d heard about it.

A player studying the contract looked up at Zhou Yuling and questioned:

“As far as I know, the Fate Gamble in the Court of Disorder has a pretty high death rate.

Are we, the followers, expected to bear that risk alone?”

This was a fair question.

Zhou Yuling didn’t play dumb—she calmly replied:

“If regular players enter the Court of Disorder randomly, yes, the death rate is high.”

“But we’re entering with a plan, with a 10,000-member chat group to share information.”

“And my contract clearly states—”

“You’re entering to assist me.”

“So when the time comes, you won’t need to think. Just follow my orders.”

“The high death rate comes from players scheming for personal gain, and getting schemed on in return.”

“But if we go in with set roles, then in the Court of Disorder, my word is law.”

“That way, your odds of survival are much better.”

“I don’t believe anyone would dare defy my orders under the terms of the contract.”

Her explanation made sense, and players nodded in agreement.

But then another player stood up and asked:

“From what I know, the Court of Disorder is on the 18th floor of Apartment 0000.”

“But the Red Light Elevator in Apartment 0000 is unstable—there’s no fixed coordinate.”

“How are we supposed to reach the Court of Disorder at the same time?”

Zhou Yuling was about to respond,

but the player continued:

“Don’t tell me—you’re planning to use this White Tower to teleport us all there when you descend?”

“That might be a method, but—this Newbie Apartment is different from the past.”

“This time, there’s a Light-type Player involved.”

“You’re a Defender—you’re not afraid of Light.”

“But among our 10,000, there are plenty of Dark-type Beings.”

“If the Light-type Player isn’t eliminated early, we won’t be able to safely help you in the Court of Disorder!”

Zhou Yuling seemed to glance in the player’s direction, about to speak,

when he interrupted again:

“If you’re going to say you’ll wait until the Light-type Player is dealt with before letting us out of the White Tower…

then most of us here probably won’t agree.”

“Because eliminating the Light-type Player isn’t guaranteed.”

“You Defenders are always so proud, acting untouchable.”

“Plenty of old players think it’ll be a cakewalk for you.”

“But in reality, will it really go that smoothly? Can anyone guarantee that?”

“If the Defenders can’t kill the Light-type Player even by day 10, are we followers supposed to sit locked in the tower for ten days?”

Well d*mn.

This guy had guts.

Even after Zhou Yuling made an example of someone, he still dared to speak out like this.

Jiang Ye couldn’t help but send Zi Sang Haoyun a private message:

【You know this guy? Who is he, being so cocky?】

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep