[Hey, I’m really troubled by something right now and wanted to ask you all—]

[I just discovered two tombstones, and the prompt says I can bind them.]

[But I’ve already promised the Wandering Merchant to trade him the Reincarnation Key. If I go ahead and bind the tombstones now, will it cause any problems?]

He really was a bit worried. If he bound the tombstones now, would they be transferred along with the Reincarnation Key when he handed it over to the Wandering Merchant?

Or worse, would the Wandering Merchant see that he’d bound them and then demand the tombstones be “thrown in” as a bonus?

Of course, the main reason he’d gone out of his way to ask in the group chat was—

To spread the news that he was going to hand over the Reincarnation Key to the Wandering Merchant.

And sure enough.

As soon as the news broke, the usually quiet Administrator group chat exploded!

Even quite a few administrators with special ID numbers showed up!

2027: [??? Trade the Reincarnation Key? Are you kidding?! Don’t you know bound items can’t be traded?]

4869: [Trade with the Wandering Merchant? What are you thinking? Trading with him is way worse than trading with the Apartment Owner!]

2323: [Exactly! What benefits can the Wandering Merchant offer? The Apartment Owner could give you ten times that easily!]

1089: [Wait, what? What even is the Reincarnation Key? Am I the only one who doesn’t know?]

5555: [Are you sure it’s really the Wandering Merchant you’re dealing with? Couldn’t it be some Reincarnation Trickster trying to scam you? @4444]

Jiang Ye really wanted to snap back: “Does your Reincarnation Trickster not fear the light of day?”

7777: [Trading the Reincarnation Key is no small matter. I think you might be falling into someone’s trap! My advice—don’t trade! @4444 If you must trade, at least do it with the Apartment Owner!]

Jiang Ye noticed that no one was actually answering his question.

Even the more authoritative figures like 6666 and 0000 hadn’t shown up.

Helpless, he had to reply: [This isn’t really a matter of whether I want to trade or not. That Wandering Merchant is insanely strong. From the way he talked, if I refused, he had a thousand ways to force me out of being an Administrator entirely!]

[There’s no choice. I had to compromise and agree to give him the Reincarnation Key.]

Sure enough, that message drew mockery from the petty types:

1009: [Ha! Weren’t you all high and mighty before? And now it’s “no choice, I had to compromise”? That doesn’t sound like our bold 4444 Administrator, does it?]

1973: [Hmph! I said it before—being the 4444 Administrator is a cursed position! Anyone who takes the job is doomed! Some people thought they’d hit the jackpot and strutted around like they owned the place. Now look at you, crying for mommy and daddy? Serves you right!]

…

Jiang Ye muttered to himself, “Which of your eyes saw me crying for my parents?”

Fine.

When it comes time to collect Administrator identities, I’ll start with you two!

Didn’t you want to see me crying?

Of course, he didn’t take any of that petty nonsense to heart, and none of it could hurt him.

What Jiang Ye focused on was whether there was any actually useful information in the chat.

Unfortunately, the regular administrators had no access to anything high-level.

Most were just joining the dogpile to mock him, or pretending to know what they were talking about.

Thankfully, a few special administrators shared some useful hints:

7777: [As long as you keep hiding in the Reincarnation Graveyard, the Wandering Merchant probably can’t touch you. @4444]

5555: [No matter how powerful that Wandering Merchant seems, or how he threatens you, I still don’t recommend trading the Reincarnation Key. No matter the terms, it’ll never be a fair deal for you. @4444]

6666: [Can you tell us the exact time of the trade? @4444]

Jiang Ye replied to 6666: [It was originally set for midnight, but I’ve got some things on my end, so it might happen earlier.]

Just after sending the message, a sudden new post popped up—from the most authoritative figure of all, 0000:

[If it’s with the Wandering Merchant, you can ask him to set the trade location in Apartment 0000.]

As soon as that message dropped, the other administrators were shocked.

[Wait, what? Let the 4444 Administrator go to Apartment 0000 to trade? Has the big boss lost it? Forgotten about the Administrator identity restrictions?]

[No! If someone else had said that, I’d call it a mistake. But this is the 0000 Administrator! There’s no way he’d forget about the identity restrictions!]

[So what does this mean? Could it be the big boss has some heaven-defying item that lets Administrators break their identity limits and move across Apartments?]

[There must be such an item! There must be!]

The rest of the administrators were buzzing with speculation.

But Jiang Ye had a vague sense of what 0000 meant—

He probably wanted the Wandering Merchant to open a special space inside Apartment 0000 and pull 4444 in.

Just like last time in Apartment 9999, where he’d pulled 4444 in as well.

But technically, that wouldn’t count as 4444 moving between Apartments.

So…

Looks like this ultra-authoritative 0000 really has some weight to him.

The other administrators didn’t seem to grasp just how terrifying the Wandering Merchant’s strength was.

But 0000… seemed to know a bit.

And judging from his tone…

He might even want to get involved in Jiang Ye’s trade with the Wandering Merchant?

Seriously? It’s just a trade. What’s there to crowd around and watch?

What, are they hoping to steal the Reincarnation Key during the trade?

What a joke! You think you can just snatch that thing? From the Wandering Merchant, no less?

Jiang Ye really couldn’t understand why the 0000 Administrator wanted to get involved.

But as far as he was concerned, he definitely didn’t want too many onlookers.

The Wandering Merchant was just too terrifying.

He even knew Jiang Ye’s biggest secret—his Mutated Clone!

If he revealed that during the trade…

Then forget it. Jiang Ye could kiss his dreams of making his disguise masks go viral goodbye.

Still, though he was set on refusing, he replied to 0000:

[Set the trade location in Apartment 0000… And why should I agree to that? @0000]

That was a little blunt.

The whole Administrator chat went silent.

Because as far as they could remember, no one had ever dared to speak to 0000 like that.

More accurately—no Administrator had even dared to tag 0000 directly!

But unexpectedly, 0000 didn’t seem angry. He responded calmly:

[I thought you’d immediately think of—the Paradox Fate Wheel.]

Huh?

Was he suggesting a trade involving the Paradox Fate Wheel?

But how would that work?

The Paradox Fate Wheel only appeared on the 6464th floor of Apartment 0000—

Was 0000 suggesting the Wandering Merchant should set the trade location there?

But here’s the problem—even if the Wandering Merchant showed up on the 6464th floor of Apartment 0000,

When he pulled the 4444 Administrator over, it would still be into a separately opened space.

Strictly speaking, the 4444 Administrator still wouldn’t be able to access the Paradox Fate Wheel.

Still, since 0000 brought it up, he must have some way.

Not that Jiang Ye cared in the slightest.

If he needed to go to Apartment 0000, he had plenty of clones that could go in his place.

As for the Paradox Fate Wheel—he didn’t have much interest in it for now.

That 0000 Administrator was probably still sitting there all calm and collected,

Waiting for him to ask how to trade for the Paradox Fate Wheel.

But Jiang Ye couldn’t be bothered.

He cut right back to the real question he wanted answered:

[I just want to know—if I bind the tombstone item now, will it affect my trade with the Wandering Merchant later?]

[Will the tombstone get transferred along with the Reincarnation Key? Or will it become unusable because I lost the Reincarnation Key?]

After losing the Reincarnation Key, the Reincarnation Graveyard would no longer be usable.

But it seemed like he could substitute it with Clone Swap.

If the newly obtained tombstone item couldn’t be used either, then Jiang Ye would definitely be taking a loss…

Unfortunately, 0000 replied soon after:

[There has never been a precedent for trading the Reincarnation Key.]

[No one knows exactly what will happen.]

[Since it’s your own decision, all the consequences will have to be borne by you.]

Speechless.

Jiang Ye muttered a silent “f*** you” in his heart.

If you don’t know, just say you don’t know.

Why act all high and mighty and give me a lecture?

0000? You’re not as untouchable as you think!

When 0000 tried to continue discussing the Wandering Merchant trade with him,

Jiang Ye couldn’t even be bothered to respond.

He ignored the Administrator group chat for now and turned his gaze to the Wordless Tombstone.

Once he bound the Nameless Tombstone, he should be able to use the Corpse Whisper Bone Charm.

Then he could use the Corpse Whisper Bone Charm to try asking true/false questions.

With that in mind, he chose to bind only the Wordless Tombstone for now.

After selecting [Yes]—

Nothing seemed to happen in the entire icy crystal space.

But Jiang Ye was instantly shaken!

Because the moment he bound the Wordless Tombstone…

He felt like he’d suddenly gained a new clone out of nowhere!

Sure, ever since Wu Ying started mass-producing Jiang Ye–style disguise masks,

There were plenty of clones wearing them that he could sense.

But Jiang Ye could clearly tell—

This new clone was the Wordless Tombstone itself!

A tombstone—a lifeless object—had become one of his clones…

Jiang Ye was briefly stunned.

And to his surprise—

Even his clone skills worked on the tombstone!

With a single thought: Clone Swap!

Sure enough, he and the tombstone instantly switched places!

Clone Merge!

Just like that, the tombstone vanished into thin air, as if it had merged right into his body…

This…

This situation was seriously bizarre.

Now that the tombstone had merged with him, what kind of benefits could it provide?

Jiang Ye immediately checked his data panel after the fusion.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep