That sentence, Jiang Ye said with remarkable dominance.

But it also carried a deeper implication.

In this particular moment, though, it seemed to simply express—

He was indeed confident that even without the Reincarnation Key, he could still control the Reincarnation Graveyard.

Lin Ling’s eyes were a bit dazed.

Logically, she thought—this guy had to be insane.

But emotionally…

She thought—

Wasn’t she a lunatic herself?

So when it came to another madman, she was naturally willing to give him a bit of belief.

After a brief pause for thought, she finally answered the question Jiang Ye had asked twice—

“If you really can continue managing the Reincarnation Graveyard without the Reincarnation Key…”

“Then, no matter how much time the Apartment Trader spends, he will never be able to gain control of the Reincarnation Graveyard.”

“So you should be able to realize—”

“If that secret of yours is discovered by the Trader… what kind of ending awaits you?”

“Sure, the Trader himself can’t become the Apartment 4444 Administrator.”

“But other players without permission identities can.”

Which meant the Trader could easily support another player to replace Jiang Ye as the Apartment 4444 Administrator.

Jiang Ye felt a bit tense inside.

He wasn’t sure if he could truly keep it hidden from the Trader, that he could still control the Reincarnation Graveyard after giving up the Reincarnation Key…

This question, he would definitely have to ask using the Corpse Whisper Bone Stick later.

But at the moment, he couldn’t help but ask curiously:

“You said the Trader ‘can’t’ become the Apartment 4444 Administrator…”

“Does that mean he can’t voluntarily give up his Trader status?”

Perhaps sensing that the Apartment 4444 Administrator, who might still have value, now had renewed leverage to control the Reincarnation Graveyard,

Lin Ling’s tone turned polite again, patiently explaining to him:

“That’s right. Permission-based identities cannot be voluntarily given up.”

“At least for now, there has been no precedent of abandoning a permission identity.”

“Usually, there are only two ways to lose such an identity—”

“First, death.”

“And I mean absolute death—there are no cases where someone loses their permission identity through fake death and then revives later.”

“In other words, as long as there’s still a means of resurrection, the permission identity stays.”

Hearing this, Jiang Ye felt relieved deep down.

Because it meant—

His earlier suspicion, that the Apartment 9999 Administrator had faked death with the Trader’s help, was incorrect.

The Apartment 9999 Administrator had truly died by his hand—he was history now.

And any future deaths required to seize permission identities would also have to be real, with no need for further worry.

“The second way is through hierarchical promotion between permission identities.”

“For example, a player holding the Rookie King title who kills an Administrator can take on the Administrator role, while losing the Rookie King status.”

“An Administrator who kills an Apartment Boss can likewise lose the Administrator role and become the Apartment Boss.”

“But these hierarchical promotions are strictly one-way.”

“In other words—a Rookie King can be promoted to Administrator, and an Administrator to Apartment Boss.”

“But if an Apartment Boss wants to give up their status to become an Administrator again—it’s simply impossible.”

“In short, once you have a permission identity…”

“You either shed it through death;”

“Or change it through promotion.”

“There are no other ways.”

“So no matter what, the Trader can’t become the Apartment 4444 Administrator.”

“It’s not a matter of whether he wants to or not—it’s just not possible.”

“Of course, everything I’ve said about what’s impossible only means there’s no precedent in the past.”

“And in the future, perhaps, anything is possible.”

Alright.

That gave Jiang Ye a lot more peace of mind.

Then, from the shadow, Lin Ling’s voice suddenly emerged again:

“In fact, based on speculation from the Defenders’ Alliance—”

“The Apartment 4444 Administrator permission identity might be something even more special.”

“That is—it might be more unique than either the Apartment Boss or the Trader status.”

“So, with you holding this special identity, don’t go doing something foolish like trying to become an Apartment Boss…”

That reminder didn’t mean much to Jiang Ye.

After all, he had so many Replicas that he could just hoard every permission identity—no problem.

He was about to seize the chance to probe Lin Ling for more info, when he noticed that chilly scent in the air starting to fade.

And the shadow was flickering more violently.

At the same time, her voice came out faster from the shadow:

“My Puppet Shadow can’t hold on much longer.”

“Since you’re confident in continuing to manage the Reincarnation Graveyard…”

“Then our future trade agreement still stands.”

“I’ll deliver the items Jiang Ye picked out for you as soon as possible.”

“Also…”

The shadow trembled even more violently, and a final line drifted out:

“You killing the previous Apartment 4444 Administrator, and your ability to control the Reincarnation Graveyard even after losing the Reincarnation Key… does it have something to do with Jiang Ye?”

Leaving behind just that cryptic remark, she gave him no chance to respond.

The shadow suddenly vanished.

And that cool, chilly scent in the air also disappeared completely.

Jiang Ye felt a jolt in his chest and thought—

What the h*ll does that woman mean?

Did she just come up with some wild theory, or did she actually figure something out?

While the Administrator in the Reincarnation Graveyard pondered,

No. 1 Jiang Ye in the Underground Graveyard showed no outward expression.

Moments later, Zhang Jintian entered the Underground Graveyard and handed his Substitute Administrator Badge to Lin Ling.

Lin Ling gave it a half-hearted look, then casually waved her hand and packed the Administrator’s gift into a Spatial Ring, tossing it to No. 1 Jiang Ye.

No. 1 Jiang Ye caught it steadily and said with a bit of excitement, “So the Administrator really agreed to release Zhou Qiming?”

Lin Ling snorted with a laugh. “Yeah. Of course he couldn’t bear to let you die.”

D*mn… what kind of tone was that? Made his skin crawl with goosebumps!

Jiang Ye didn’t want to deal with this two-faced lunatic any longer. He grabbed the Spatial Ring and instantly vanished.

Very quickly, through the Replica Shared Space, the ring was transferred into the Reincarnation Graveyard.

Inside the ring were exactly the agreed-upon items—

Five This Life Stone (Incomplete), three Corpse Whisper Bone Sticks, six masks, and one Mask Master’s Shop access card.

When Lin Ling’s Puppet Shadow had appeared in the Graveyard, Jiang Ye had sent the Defenders’ Replica out of it.

Now, he swapped the Defenders’ Replica back into the Graveyard.

He rested his head directly on one of the This Life Stones (Incomplete) and began reading memories.

On the other side, having received the rich woman’s gift, Jiang Ye now looked at Zhou Qiming with a subtle expression.

After all, the information Zhou Qiming had provided was ultimately hard to verify.

And at this moment, Zhou Qiming still had his face.

Lin Ling already knew that Yu Hu was dead.

She should have also deduced that Zhou Qiming was just a pawn.

So, if Jiang Ye were to turn Zhou Qiming into a Replica now,

Then use a This Life Stone to access all his memories—

And afterward, have the Zhou Qiming Replica hand over his Glyph Pattern Ability, he might not even die.

However, whether Lin Ling would let Zhou Qiming live was still uncertain.

Even if he was just a pawn, Yu Hu had, in fact, died by his hands…

On that point alone, Lin Ling might still kill Zhou Qiming out of spite even after extracting his Glyph Pattern Ability.

Plus, Jiang Ye only had five This Life Stones—each one used was one less remaining.

Spending one on a Replica who might die soon felt wasteful.

Thinking this over, he decided to delay turning Zhou Qiming into a Replica for now.

Still, the information Zhou Qiming had shared needed to be re-examined.

With a thought, the Administrator Replica in the Reincarnation Graveyard flashed into view—

Appearing right near Zhou Qiming and Jiang Ye’s discarded Replica.

Zhou Qiming was just negotiating trade terms with Jiang Ye.

The sudden appearance of the Administrator startled him!

A bad feeling crept into his heart.

And in the next second, his premonition came true.

The Administrator, wearing the cold face of a middle-aged man, looked at him with clear disdain.

Moments later, a mask was slapped onto his face.

Zhou Qiming jumped back in shock, only to hear the Administrator’s cold voice:

“This mask is called the Mask of Deceit.”

“Once it’s on, if you lie, the mask will deactivate.”

“So now, whatever I ask, you answer. If the mask fails, I’ll hand you over to that madwoman.”

The Administrator Replica’s attitude was even more domineering.

Zhou Qiming was deeply shaken and quickly looked toward Jiang Ye.

But Jiang Ye and the Administrator were two sides of the same person—so he naturally gave Zhou Qiming a helpless look.

Meanwhile, the Administrator Replica was far more forceful, directly demanding:

“Come on. Start with your background—”

“Before entering the Beginner Apartment, what did you go through?”

“Why, at the start of this apartment cycle, did you appear directly in a coffin within the Graveyard?”

Yes, this time it wasn’t a negotiation—it was direct coercion.

Of course, to avoid this guy snapping and giving up, the Administrator added:

“As long as you answer everything and the Mask of Deceit doesn’t fail…”

“Then I’ll agree to move up the trade time with the Trader, and bring you with me so you can complete the deal you wanted. How’s that?”

Zhou Qiming’s expression tightened. After a moment, he sighed: “Looks like I don’t have a choice.”

The Administrator Replica snorted arrogantly: “Glad you understand.”

And so, with the Mask of Deceit on, Zhou Qiming slowly began recounting his experience.

First off, before truly entering the Doomsday Apartment, he really was a game player.

And he really was—the very protagonist of that “sudden death incident”!

That’s right.

He had led his team in-game to successfully kill the Apartment 4444 Administrator!

And at that very moment, he “died suddenly” in real life.

However, when Jiang Ye had asked Wan Xin, Xing Man, and Yang Wenchao for information—

Almost every game player defaulted to the belief that Zhou Qiming died in real life after being targeted by the Global Kill-on-Sight Order, and betrayed by his teammates.

But in fact, the real time of Zhou Qiming’s death in the real world was the moment he killed the Apartment 4444 Administrator.

More precisely—it was when he supposedly obtained the Reincarnation Key.

He “died suddenly” in the real world.

Yet his consciousness entered the game earlier than anyone else!

When the Kill-on-Sight Order came down, he was completely confused.

Everyone else was shocked by the global kill alert.

He was stunned because—WTF? Who am I? Where am I?

After that, he lived through betrayal by teammates from an in-game character’s POV and died on the spot…

Since these events happened nearly simultaneously,

It led the players to believe he had died in-game and then in real life.

But actually, his real-world death had come just a little before the in-game one.

According to him—

He was a smurfing player in the game.

So after being backstabbed and killed in-game, he automatically entered a coffin.

Inside that pitch-black coffin, he experienced an unbearably long time.

He knew nothing of what was happening in the outside world.

He didn’t know why he had died in real life,

Why he entered the game,

Why he was immediately hunted and killed in-game,

Or why he was trapped in that coffin…

He knew nothing.

The time he spent trapped in the coffin nearly drove him to complete despair.

He had no clue why any of this was happening…

Nor did he know if anyone would ever save him…

Until one day, the Beginner Apartment announcement echoed in his mind.

Yes, other players heard the announcement from their apartment rooms.

He heard it while inside the coffin.

And even so, the moment the announcement rang out, it filled him with uncontainable joy—he was nearly insane with happiness!

Then, after the announcement ended, another voice echoed in his mind…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep