Jiang Ye finally felt fully at ease after hearing this.

At the same time, he was filled with confidence about changing the history of the Disguise Mask!

As long as he could replace every Disguise Mask appearing in Bronze Treasure Chests, the High-End Mall, and the Exchange List—the places most accessible to players—with his own Jiang Ye version of the Disguise Mask…

Then, it wouldn’t take long for the effect he wanted to take hold!

However!

Precisely because of this thought, Jiang Ye suddenly shuddered and remembered one person—

The Apartment Trader!

That mask master he had never met was actually a kind of merchant as well.

Only he sold nothing but masks.

Apart from him, there were also other merchants who sold all kinds of items.

So what was the relationship between those merchants and the Apartment Trader?

Could the goods on the Apartment Trader’s exchange list be supplied by those other merchants?

Then did the Apartment Trader have an even more convenient supply channel, or did he also own a large number of cards like Mask Master’s Shop?

And if the Apartment Trader was merely a customer of those small shops…

Then how powerful would those shopkeepers be?

If so, Jiang Ye’s plan to turn the Mask Master into one of his own Replicas would be a complete pipe dream!

Unless the Trader was actually more powerful than those shopkeepers.

Then maybe acquiring the Mask Master’s Replica would actually be easier than dealing with the Trader himself.

But no matter what, it definitely wouldn’t be as simple as he had imagined…

So getting the Mask Master’s Replica had to start with him approaching the Mask Master as a customer and cautiously probing his strength.

Then pair it with the true-false detection effect of the Corpse Whisper Bone Stick, and slowly make his move.

Jiang Ye quickly calmed down from his beautiful daydream of the future.

He looked at that card again and confirmed once more:

“This kind of card—can it be used repeatedly, or is there a limit?”

Lin Ling raised her brows. “In theory, it can be used indefinitely.”

“But in any usage, if you offend the Mask Master, then that guy can take the card back.”

Alright then.

Jiang Ye had already made up his mind on what item to choose for the third coffin.

It would be those six masks and one Mask Master’s Shop access card.

So, as for the rest of Lin Ling’s prepared backup items, he barely glanced at them.

Lin Ling also picked up on what he was thinking.

In fact, it matched her own thoughts.

She had originally intended to give that set of masks to the Apartment 4444 Administrator.

So soon, the third coffin, after being inscribed with text, was buried again in the Grave Mound Zone.

At this point, all the gifts Lin Ling had prepared for the Apartment 4444 Administrator were finalized.

Now they just had to wait for the Administrator to inspect them and see if he was willing to release Zhou Qiming in exchange.

While they waited, Lin Ling looked at Jiang Ye and said with a meaningful tone:

“You don’t look like you’re afraid of dying at all?”

Jiang Ye’s face stiffened, and he immediately waved his hands awkwardly: “How could I not be? It’s just that I just used Human-Skin Sand, so my face is still a bit stiff and can’t clearly show my fear…”

“Besides, I think the items you’ve prepared, Bigshot, are really impressive!”

“If the Administrator still refuses to release Zhou Qiming, then he’s the one being unreasonable!”

What a flattering bootlicker.

Lin Ling rolled her eyes at him, then suddenly said with a deeper meaning:

“Yeah, the stuff I gave was pretty damn good…”

“Say, why do you think the Apartment 4444 Administrator put Zhou Qiming into the Reincarnation Graveyard in the first place?”

“Did Zhou Qiming offer him something too?”

“Or did he find out I was going to capture Zhou Qiming in advance and deliberately use him to extort me?”

“…”

D*mn, what a loaded question.

Jiang Ye was momentarily speechless.

But after a bit of thought, he still answered seriously:

“I think maybe Zhou Qiming is hiding some kind of secret.”

“By the way, Bigshot, how much do you know about Zhou Qiming?”

“I think the strength he’s shown doesn’t match that of a newbie player at all!”

“Feels more like there’s a powerful veteran backing him up…”

“His entry into the Reincarnation Graveyard might’ve been arranged by that veteran through backdoor connections?”

Jiang Ye sounded quite convincing.

He was also subtly hinting to Lin Ling—

That she might have fallen into someone else’s trap.

Of course, he knew that this kind of hint probably wouldn’t do sh*t.

Lin Ling had likely already thought of it herself.

But even if she knew it was a trap, she still had to walk right into it.

Because the bait in the trap was the thing she cared about most.

So Lin Ling simply appeared deep in thought, but her expression showed no hesitation.

On her, besides the arrogance and dominance of a strong player, there was also a strange sort of determination.

On the other side, inside the Reincarnation Graveyard—

The Administrator’s Replica was patrolling the entire graveyard.

Actually, there was still something he couldn’t quite understand—

Lin Ling had already contacted Zhang Jintian, the Substitute Administrator.

Given her level of insight, she should know—

That Zhang Jintian had direct contact with the Apartment 4444 Administrator.

If she wanted to deliver the gift message to the Administrator, she really didn’t have to go through all this trouble.

She could’ve just had Zhang Jintian message him directly.

But she still chose to use the coffin route…

So maybe there was another reason.

While pondering this, the Administrator’s Replica suddenly caught a strange scent.

Strictly speaking, what was strange wasn’t the smell itself, but the fact that he could smell it…

The moment he entered the Reincarnation Graveyard, he had automatically switched to Death-State.

In Death-State, his senses were different from ordinary people.

For example, he couldn’t feel hot or cold, nor could he feel pain.

He couldn’t even smell things, and likely couldn’t eat either.

Which was why he found it so odd to suddenly smell something.

Moreover, the scent wasn’t fragrant or foul—it had a kind of chilly coolness to it.

As if the scent alone could affect the sensations of the entire body.

He actually started to feel a little cold.

This peculiarity naturally made him follow the scent immediately.

Eventually, it led him to the extreme northern edge of the graveyard, where three connected grave mounds lay.

Beyond that area was a green zone shrouded in gloomy, gray fog.

The area was filled with black plants—twisted and menacing in shape, yet oddly lifeless.

Of the entire green zone in the graveyard, this was the only section shrouded in mist.

Jiang Ye didn’t dare explore blindly; his gaze quickly fell on the three grave mounds.

These three mounds appeared freshly made.

So most likely, they were the ones Lin Ling had sent.

And that icy scent he sensed was exactly what was seeping from these grave mounds.

After a brief moment of thought, Jiang Ye quickly dug open all three grave mounds.

Sure enough, inside were three empty coffins.

However, as soon as the three coffins were opened, the cold sensation intensified.

It made the Administrator’s Replica feel a sudden chill, though he couldn’t physically shiver.

While being assaulted by this eerie chill, he suddenly saw—

The three lines of text at the bottom of the coffins began to move!

They slowly morphed into a black shadow!

This black shadow was exactly like the Puppet Shadow Lin Ling had summoned before—the one that could split open coffins!

Including the words she had left in the coffins back then, they had indeed been formed by her Puppet Shadow, turning its own body into text.

Jiang Ye’s heart jumped in surprise at the sight.

At the same time, Lin Ling’s voice rang directly in his ears!

“A dignified Apartment 4444 Administrator, hiding in a graveyard like a cowardly turtle in its shell…”

“Tsk tsk, what a f*****g waste.”

“So, how exactly did you defeat the previous Apartment 4444 Administrator?”

“Don’t tell me a mere Dark-type creature actually used Light-type abilities?”

The stream of words showed no restraint.

But while Lin Ling spoke, Jiang Ye calmed himself quickly.

This was his Reincarnation Graveyard, after all!

If Lin Ling really had the ability to stir up trouble in the Reincarnation Graveyard, then she wouldn’t need to offer any bribes.

She could just interrogate Zhou Qiming here herself, couldn’t she?

So…

It was obvious that this shadow Lin Ling had sent in was just a harmless projection.

Highly likely, it could only transmit sound—nothing more.

Besides, even if it could do something, he was currently in Death-State, so he had nothing to fear.

Jiang Ye steadied himself and put on the authoritative demeanor of an Administrator.

Of course, he was also careful not to let anyone see through him—this Administrator’s Replica persona was clearly different from the more cheeky No. 1 Jiang Ye.

With his Death-State body, he circled the shadow once, then suddenly let out a cold snort:

“Mockery? Is that your way of asking for a favor?”

The current Apartment 4444 Administrator had the face of the previous Apartment 1010 Administrator, Luo Qi.

A very average-looking middle-aged man, with a slightly cold expression in his eyes.

And from the black shadow, there was no way to see Lin Ling’s expression.

Only after a moment did her voice come again:

“Yes… one should have the proper attitude when asking for something.”

“But if you act too humble, it’s easy to get looked down upon.”

“The reason I didn’t ask your substitute Administrator to send you a message directly, and instead appeared in your graveyard this way…”

“First, is to let you know—with my abilities, trading with me won’t put you at a loss.”

“Second…”

Lin Ling paused, then continued meaningfully:

“Talking in the Reincarnation Graveyard is… much more private.”

A more secretive conversation…

Jiang Ye’s thoughts stirred, though his expression didn’t change. He just stared quietly at the shadow.

Of course, there was nothing visible within the shadow.

Only Lin Ling’s voice continued to come through.

What shocked Jiang Ye was—

In the Underground Graveyard, when No. 1 Jiang Ye and the others were present, Lin Ling had behaved fairly normally. She even had the leisure to observe Wang Lingling’s lie detection.

But now in the Reincarnation Graveyard, her voice was completely different.

It actually carried a strange sense of heaviness and oppression.

That weighted voice slowly said:

“Apartment 4444 Administrator, the Reincarnation Key, the Reincarnation Graveyard…”

“Twelve tombstones, twelve skeletons, countless Resurrection Stones…”

“You should be able to imagine how many people fear your position, right?”

As Jiang Ye listened, his eyes narrowed, and he replied bluntly:

“The so-called bribe to get me to release Zhou Qiming—that’s just the deal on the surface…”

“But behind the scenes, what you really want with me is a secret trade.”

“And the true goal of that secret trade isn’t Zhou Qiming, is it?”

“So what is it? The Reincarnation Key? The Reincarnation Graveyard? Or the twelve tombstones and twelve skeletons?”

“None of them,” Lin Ling’s voice answered swiftly and decisively.

Moments later, the voice grew even heavier and said something shocking:

“If I’m not mistaken… my Yu Hu has already turned into a Glyph Pattern Ability on Zhou Qiming…”

What the—?!

That sentence hit Jiang Ye like a thunderbolt!

He never expected this woman to already know…

But the next second, another voice came from the shadow:

“Heh… ha… ha… just as I thought, just as I thought…”

Each breathy syllable in her laughter strung together with a mad tone—it sent chills down one’s spine.

It seemed Lin Ling had only suspected before that Yu Hu was dead.

This moment, she’d intentionally said it aloud to test his reaction—

And now, his response had confirmed it for her.

In the Reincarnation Graveyard, the Administrator Jiang Ye listened to her eerie, unhinged laughter.

In the Underground Graveyard, No. 1 Jiang Ye saw a Lin Ling with no expression and no emotion on her face.

The contrast was striking—they hardly seemed like the same person!

One sounded like she was on the brink of madness in her laughter;

The other looked so calm she might as well have been dead.

Could this woman be a Multi-Souled Body too? Or maybe… split personality?

No. 1 Jiang Ye stayed utterly silent, not daring to say a word.

The Administrator Jiang Ye, on the other hand, took the initiative to cut off the strange laughter:

“So? This secret trade you came to me for… is it about the already-dead Yu Hu?”

“You want to bring it back to life?”

“It’s already turned into a Glyph Pattern Ability—can it even be revived?”

“Do you think my Reincarnation Graveyard can bring it back?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep