What really surprised him was—

The housing number linked to “Lin Yu Hu” was actually 9999??

There were now two points of confusion—

First, was this “Lin Yu Hu” the same Eerie that the madwoman was searching for as “Yu Hu”?

Chances were, yes.

After all, “Yu Hu” looked like it was just a given name.

That madwoman probably just hadn’t mentioned the family name “Lin.”

The other, more puzzling part was…

Apartment 9999?

That didn’t seem… right?!

Because based on the apartment numbering system, the first two digits represent the floor, the last two digits the room number.

So this unit number indicated it was on the 99th floor.

But the entire 99th floor of Apartment 9999…

Back when Jiang Ye first arrived at Apartment 9999, he was invited by Lin Jing to the 99th floor.

But that was a public space that looked like a giant esports lounge!

Rows and rows of Duel Machines were lined up there.

In other words, there shouldn’t be any residential units on the 99th floor!

Yet the registry clearly listed Lin Yu Hu as residing in Room 99 on the 99th floor…

This… this was clearly a problem!

Could it be that Apartment 9999, like Apartment 4444, had some kind of hidden space like the Secret Graveyard?

That the 99th floor looked like a giant esports hall on the outside,

but actually contained hidden residential housing?

And if that were really the case…

As long as that hidden space was as well-concealed as the Secret Graveyard, and couldn’t be accessed by conventional means…

Then maybe, just maybe, the Yu Hu residing in Apartment 9999…

Hadn’t actually died during the Light-type Player’s rampage!

Clearly, Ouyang quickly moved past his confusion and thought of this possibility too.

So his previously pale face rapidly returned to normal.

He hurried over to the Puppet Shadow inspecting the registry and shared his theory.

Of course, worried the madwoman might not be familiar with Apartment 9999’s layout, he quickly turned to Jiang Ye, the Administrator:

“You’re the 9999 Apartment Administrator now, so you should know where that hidden housing on the 99th floor is, right?”

“Maybe when the Light-type went berserk, it didn’t reach the 99th floor housing!”

“If we go to that hidden residence on the 99th floor, we should be able to find Lin Yu Hu!”

Thinking about it that way, the Eerie beings living on the 99th floor of Apartment 9999 were probably VVVIP Eeries.

They had exclusive access to hidden rooms that kept them cut off from danger.

Even the Light-type rampage couldn’t reach them.

If ordinary Eerie residents were like normal trust-fund kids…

Then the ones living on the 99th floor of Apartment 9999 were probably top-tier, ultra-rich heirs!

Jiang Ye was just starting to feel hopeful—thinking maybe the Light-type Player could actually be saved.

But unexpectedly—

Just then, he got another reply from Zhou Qiming to the message he’d sent earlier:

【The “Yu Hu” that madwoman’s looking for—is the full name really “Lin Yu Hu”?】

Just reading that line gave Jiang Ye a sinking feeling.

He quickly replied: 【Boss, you really know it??】

【Right when I messaged you, Ouyang found that this Lin Yu Hu lives on the 99th floor of Apartment 9999!】

【Boss, isn’t that weird? The 99th floor of Apartment 9999 is just an esports lounge! Where would there be housing?】

【So maybe this Yu Hu, hidden in that 99th floor housing, wasn’t killed by the Light-type rampage?】

【But since it lives in a hidden residence, how do you even know it, Boss? Did some veteran player mention it to you? So what’s the story with this Yu Hu anyway?】

However, Zhou Qiming didn’t respond to any of those follow-up questions.

So Jiang Ye’s original plan to probe for Zhou Qiming’s location didn’t pan out.

Soon after the Puppet Shadow verified the info on the registry,

the madwoman who had stepped away reappeared quickly.

Her expression was grim. She clutched the registry and double-checked it before her face eased a little.

But when she looked at Jiang Ye, her tone was still severe as she questioned him:

“You’re sure no one tampered with this registry?”

“You’re the 9999 Administrator now, so you should’ve known about the hidden housing on the 99th floor. Why didn’t you mention it before?”

“Let me remind you—I have a bad temper. You should know what happens to people who try to deceive me.”

The moment she returned, Ouyang’s face turned grim again.

But now that he’d been through his dark awakening, he had a bit more courage. He forced himself to stay calm and replied steadily:

“You probably saw everything through the Puppet Shadow during our registry search.”

“The whole time, we didn’t even have a chance to tamper with anything.”

And when he saw the name Yu Hu, he’d been half scared to death.

Only when he thought of the oddity of the 9999 housing did he start to feel there might be hope.

Of course, whether that hope would pan out… was still unknown.

Their assumption that hidden housing hadn’t been affected by the Light-type was just a guess.

Whether or not it was true couldn’t be confirmed for now…

Ouyang still felt extremely uneasy.

And Jiang Ye, who had received Zhou Qiming’s message but then lost contact again, was even more unsettled.

Though Zhou Qiming’s replies were just text, giving away no tone,

Jiang Ye had a feeling that the emotions buried in those two messages were intense and turbulent.

Plus, since reviving, Zhou Qiming had been out of touch with all his followers.

He’d clearly intended not to contact anyone.

But now, just because of a message from Ge Ge, he had responded twice.

And both times, he didn’t ask anything else—just kept confirming details about this Yu Hu Eerie…

There was definitely something off here.

Jiang Ye strongly suspected Zhou Qiming didn’t just hear about Yu Hu from some veteran—he had actually encountered Lin Yu Hu!

So did that mean Zhou Qiming had been to the hidden 99th floor housing?

What secret was that hidden room concealing?

Fortunately, after listening to Ouyang, the madwoman stopped questioning them.

She didn’t even demand that Jiang Ye personally take her to the hidden residence.

Instead, she casually pulled out a Voice Transmission Pearl, rubbed it a few times, and asked into it:

“When did Apartment 9999 get a hidden housing unit on the 99th floor? Why wasn’t I informed?”

Her tone suggested that such a hidden housing unit had never existed in the past.

And from within the Voice Transmission Pearl, a low male voice soon responded with a simple explanation:

“Ah, the hidden housing? That was a special arrangement for this generation’s Beginner Apartment.”

Once she was certain that hidden housing truly existed, the madwoman clearly let out a breath of relief and quickly followed up with another question:

“Then, this hidden housing you guys set up—would it have been affected during the Light-type’s sweep of Apartment 9999?”

The Voice Transmission Pearl answered decisively: “No.”

Just that one word.

And the madwoman completely relaxed.

Her entire presence no longer had that manic fury—she unexpectedly softened.

With her tone shifting, her voice also grew gentler and more relaxed, no longer sharp or oppressive like before.

“But why was hidden housing opened just for this round of Beginner Apartments?”

“Surely you weren’t predicting ahead of time that this round’s apartment would have a rampaging Light-type?”

Now that her tone was gentler, the male voice inside the Pearl also eased into a more casual tone.

Like they were just chatting: “Of course not.”

“After all, if you Defenders can’t predict the Light-types, us Dark-type Beings naturally couldn’t either.”

That actually sounded modest.

Then the man chuckled and continued lightheartedly:

“There wasn’t really any special reason.”

“It’s just that during soul-searching over at Duoe, someone—no idea who—leaked a small, unconfirmed bit of gossip—”

“Said there might be a hidden Light-type Reincarnated Player within our Beginner Apartment.”

“Now tell me, isn’t that rumor just wild?”

He sounded like he was joking, but Jiang Ye was shocked!

Because back when he was still acting as a Light-type Replica, he’d seen this woman interact with a Light-type Reincarnated Player.

Their conversation mentioned some kind of “agreement,” and the madwoman had even threatened to expose the “Light-type organization.”

In other words, this madwoman had known about the existence of a Light-type Reincarnated Player for a while.

And had some kind of arrangement with the Light-type organization.

Now, this voice inside the Transmission Pearl…

He called himself a Dark-type Being.

So obviously, he wasn’t a Defender.

And with how he kept using “we” and had the authority to open a hidden housing unit in the Beginner Apartment…

He was most likely one of the 26 Apartment Bosses!

That meant the Apartment Bosses had already started to sense the existence of a Light-type Reincarnated Player!

And he deliberately said this to a Defender who knew about it…

Was he trying to test her?

Jiang Ye noticed that the madwoman’s expression indeed showed a hint of suspicion, like she thought the man was probing her.

But the Voice Transmission Pearl only carried voices, not visuals.

The madwoman’s tone remained unchanged as she feigned surprise:

“That really is a wild rumor—”

“If a Light-type Player were really reincarnated into the Beginner Apartment, bare minimum, they’d have to suppress their Light-type aura, right?”

“But the only material that can hide Light-type aura is AIDS Blood, and the Beginner Apartment has no means of obtaining that.”

“So doesn’t that rumor clearly imply that some veteran player is sneaking into the Beginner Apartment and supplying the Light-types with materials to hide their aura?”

“But every single veteran who’s ever descended into the Beginner Apartment is either a Dark-type Being or a Defender.”

“Dark-types obviously wouldn’t work with Light-types…”

“So this so-called ‘wild rumor’ is really pointing fingers at us Defenders, accusing us of cooperating with the Light-types?”

Whoa?

So it really was a test?

Jiang Ye thought: Isn’t it obvious that you Defenders are the ones providing the Light-types with materials to hide their aura?!

But what he didn’t expect was the response from the Pearl. The male voice came again, still with that relaxed chuckle:

“You sure seem to know a lot about the materials used to hide Light-type aura.”

“But don’t worry. If we really suspected the Defenders, we wouldn’t be having such a casual conversation right now.”

The madwoman arched an eyebrow: “What’s that supposed to mean…”

“Surely you’re not suggesting that you suspect the Dark-types of collaborating with the Light-types?”

Jiang Ye was curious too.

The man quickly replied: “That would be even less likely.”

“In fact, we recently discovered a mutated form of AIDS Blood that can suppress Light-type aura on its own, no other ingredients needed.”

“And this mutation can actually be triggered artificially.”

“So, even if a Light-type Reincarnated Player does exist in the apartment, they wouldn’t need a veteran player’s help. They could simply rely on AIDS patients to perfectly hide their Light-type aura.”

“And because of this discovery, we wanted to verify whether the Beginner Apartment really had a Light-type Reincarnated Player…”

“So we opened a hidden housing unit in Apartment 9999.”

That explanation… did seem plausible.

But the question was—

The madwoman immediately followed up: “And how does this hidden housing detect Light-type Reincarnated Players?”

The man’s voice turned cryptic: “That’s classified apartment intel. I’m afraid I can’t disclose that.”

The madwoman’s eyes flickered slightly, then she continued: “Alright then, I won’t ask.”

“But the reason I discovered the hidden housing was because the one I’m waiting for just so happened to be assigned there.”

“Would you mind telling me how I can reach that hidden housing?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep