As Chen Cang spoke, his eyes darted around rapidly, as if his brain was working at lightning speed.

Because each cycle only lasted three minutes.

Time was tight, and all three of them were in a state of extreme mental tension.

Chen Cang quickly declared: “Time is pressing, we can’t just cower here waiting for death.”

“No matter what, I’ll go try first!”

As he spoke, a black cape suddenly billowed behind him.

With a flick of the cape, his entire body soared into the air.

In the blink of an eye, he reached the height of the hourglass image in the upper right corner of the mirror surface.

He stood there, seemingly suspended in mid-air!

Jiang Ye and Guan He exchanged glances but made no move to stop Chen Cang.

After all, that guy had the Protagonist Halo.

He should… be fine, right?

After brief consideration, Guan He used Light and Shadow Escape to fly up beside the hourglass image.

The release of her light-based skill made Chen Cang, who was floating with his cape, shudder violently.

He nearly fell from his high position.

But his mental resilience was strong, and he quickly stabilized himself.

With a flourish of his hand, a bone-white candle-shaped object appeared in his palm.

He snapped his fingers with some flair.

The wick of the bone candle spontaneously ignited.

However, the flame wasn’t normal in color.

Instead, it burned with an eerie dark red, resembling magma or blood…

The melted wax dripping from the bone candle also looked like dark red blood, sinister and terrifying.

Guan He watched with mild surprise.

Not at the item’s creepiness, but because—

As a light-type creature, she typically felt slight discomfort around dark-type items.

This bone candle was undoubtedly dark-type.

Yet she felt no discomfort!

Why was that?

Was the candle special?

Or was it something about the cycle grid…

To be honest, Guan He still found it hard to comprehend—

Logically, Lightburn’s effects were extremely terrifying.

Some dark-type experts had tried everything to eradicate Lightburn—

Treatment, death, resurrection, even voluntarily entering prolonged sleep to mitigate its effects…

Yet nothing could completely remove Lightburn.

Hence, all dark-type creatures reached a consensus—if they couldn’t eliminate Lightburn, they’d eliminate light-types!

But in this cycle grid, her killing of Chen Cang had been easily reversed by his full resurrection…

Time reset…

This might be the only effect capable of eradicating Lightburn.

But time-related abilities…

Weren’t they supposed to be nonexistent in the entire Doomsday Apartment?

Guan He had many doubts and conjectures.

Chen Cang, however, didn’t overthink it. Holding the burning bone candle, he slowly approached the lower part of the hourglass image.

Currently, there were about a hundred ordinary sand grains mixed with two blood sand grains at the bottom.

Then something strange happened—

The two blood sand grains seemed to vibrate as the bone candle approached!

Chen Cang’s eyes lit up as he carefully moved the candle.

The two vibrating blood sand grains actually appeared to be drawn to it!

Originally stationary in the hourglass, they now seemed inclined to follow the candle’s movement!

As a light-type being unfamiliar with dark-type items, Guan He couldn’t help asking:

“What exactly is this bone candle? How can it actually affect the blood sand?”

Chen Cang smiled calmly: “I obtained this during a fortuitous encounter.”

“It’s nothing extraordinary—just two effects—”

“First, it attracts blood.”

“For example, if you had a bleeding wound while this candle burns…”

“All your blood would uncontrollably gush out to be absorbed by this candle!”

“Second, it attracts monsters.”

“Some wild minor monsters without awakened consciousness will approach the candle’s scent and enter a killing frenzy.”

“So it’s also useful for pitting wild monsters against each other.”

What Chen Cang didn’t mention was—

This wasn’t an item obtainable from treasure chests or shops.

It was personally developed and refined by a powerful special monster.

Meaning, in the entire Doomsday Apartment, he might be the only one possessing it!

And now, this unique bone candle could actually influence the blood sand…

This reinforced Chen Cang’s belief—the Mirror Palace’s opportunity was tailor-made for him!

Thus, Chen Cang used the candle to slowly guide the blood sand upward.

Unbeknownst to the two focused on the hourglass—

Before Chen Cang even took out the bone candle,

Jiang Ye had been staring intently at the two blood sand grains while deep in thought.

And as he stared…

His dark eyes seemed to lock gazes with the blood sand, gradually losing focus!

To an observer, he might appear lost in thought.

But in reality—

He had lost consciousness!

Not just his light clone’s consciousness.

All his external clones could no longer sense the light clone’s presence!

This state eerily resembled when his discarded clone had been possessed by the [Eternal Witch Gui]!

As if now, his light clone had been taken over by something!

Meaning Jiang Ye missed everything that happened afterward in the cycle grid!

The bone candle moving the blood sand? He saw none of it!

The external clones panicked, unsure what had occurred.

His first suspicion was whether Chen Cang or Guan He had secretly done something.

But he quickly dismissed this.

Chen Cang had just allied with him in the previous cycle.

He had no motive for subterfuge.

Guan He likely lacked both ability and motive.

Then…

His earlier suspicion was correct—

There was another extreme monster hiding in the cycle grid!

That third force influencing the blood sand came from it!

But!

This extreme monster wasn’t afraid of light?

Or perhaps…

Because only their consciousness was trapped,

The monster didn’t fear light, but rather consciousness-trapped players?

And it had replaced him to prevent him from breaking the cycle?

What was happening inside now?

Had Jiang Ye’s consciousness disappeared?

Or was the monster impersonating him, continuing to work with Chen Cang and Guan He undetected?

If so, those two might be led astray!

Worse still, Jiang Ye considered an even grimmer possibility—

Among the three in the Mirror Palace, he and Guan He were light-types.

Only Chen Cang was dark-type.

This made Chen Cang special to the extreme monster.

Could Chen Cang ultimately claim the opportunity thanks to this??

Was the [Protagonist Halo] really that overpowering?!

Losing control over the Mirror Palace situation unsettled Jiang Ye’s external clones.

After all, this time it was his precious light clone that had gone offline!

Meanwhile, during the twenty-plus minutes of seven cycles inside,

His other clones hadn’t been idle.

Clone No. 1 perfectly explained his Lightburn infection when questioned by Zhou Yuling.

His story was plausible and investigation-proof—

Simply that before acting against Huang Bo, he’d visited Administrator 4444 again.

There he witnessed Huang Bo fighting Administrator 4444.

He got caught in the crossfire and contracted Lightburn.

Moreover—

Clone No. 1 confronted Zhou Yuling directly:

“Strangely, the Huang Bo I saw was in Apartment 4444’s lobby…”

“But the blood drop you gave me suggests he’s in Apartment 9669’s void mirror palace ruins?”

“What’s going on? Does Huang Bo also have clone skills, with one in 9669 and another in 4444?”

“Or…”

Feigning confusion, he said meaningfully:

“Are there other light-type players in the Novice Apartment?”

Zhou Yuling didn’t answer directly, seeming lost in thought.

Jiang Ye guessed she was using some item to consult with Lin Ling behind her.

His Lightburn infection was probably being reported to the Defenders’ Alliance.

Changing tactics, he asked proactively:

“Knowing I have Lightburn, do you still want me in the Defenders’ Alliance?”

Zhou Yuling remained silent until, perhaps receiving a message, she suddenly comforted him:

“While Lightburn is fatal, consider—who escapes death?”

“Even the Doomsday Apartment will perish eventually…”

“So dying sooner or later makes little difference. You might survive with Lightburn until the Apartment’s end.”

After this consolation, she adopted a friendly tone:

“Since light-types are nearly extinct here, few dark-types survive with Lightburn.”

“So could I trouble you… to lend some blood for the Alliance’s research?”

“…”

Lend blood?

You’re joking!

Jiang Ye hadn’t even used his own blood when breaking mirrors earlier!

And—

He raised an eyebrow meaningfully:

“My classmate Wang Lingling also has Lightburn, but Lin Ling showed no interest in her blood.”

“Why the sudden research interest in mine?”

Zhou Yuling had a ready explanation:

“With Wang Lingling, our Left Alliance was preoccupied with the Jade Flask matter.”

“Plus her eccentric personality made details easy to overlook.”

“Her blood will also be studied.”

“We want to compare Lightburn from different light-type players.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep