Jiang Ye did not respond, only watching intently—

The chubby guy’s honest face.

After putting on the Nomadic Merchant Mask, it truly transformed into the face he knew best!

That is to say… Jiang Ye’s own face!

At the same time.

This chubby guy didn’t listen to Jiang Ye at all.

He directly took out a mirror and boldly looked into it.

He even held his chin and scrutinized the reflection.

Jiang Ye frowned, becoming more certain in his heart—

This chubby guy really enjoys pretending to be weak while hiding strength.

He acted so terrified of the Professional Alliance Leader.

When Jiang Ye asked why he wasn’t afraid of the Nomadic Merchant, he gave a well-reasoned answer that seemed reasonable.

But now, his actions clearly proved—

He wasn’t as afraid of the Nomadic Merchant as he pretended to be.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have so boldly looked into the mirror despite Jiang Ye’s warning.

Even more…

He immediately said:

“This is Jiang Ye’s face, right?”

Heh.

Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow: “When have you ever seen Jiang Ye?”

The chubby guy calmly replied while still inspecting that face in the mirror:

“I heard it from the Mask Master, didn’t you tell the Mask Master that the Nomadic Merchant’s face is the same as Jiang Ye’s?”

“You even gave him ten Nomadic Merchant Masks with Jiang Ye’s face, saying it was a ‘surprise.’”

“And…”

“When I take off this mask, I’ll forget what the Nomadic Merchant looks like?”

Saying that, he took off the mask by himself.

After reverting to his chubby face, he immediately switched back to a “pig-like” temperament, looking surprised:

“Wow! It’s true! I really don’t remember what that face looks like anymore!”

“Maybe one day when I see Jiang Ye’s real face, you can lend me this [Nomadic Merchant Mask] again. Let me see if I still forget the Nomadic Merchant’s appearance after I’ve memorized Jiang Ye’s face.”

While saying this, the chubby guy handed the [Nomadic Merchant Mask] back to Jiang Ye.

Jiang Ye took it and looked at him deeply.

He put away the [Nomadic Merchant Mask] and struck directly:

“All this information you told me…”

“Including that the [Nomadic Merchant Mask] was obtained by Zhang Minghan;”

“Including the fact that the Nomadic Merchant’s face and Jiang Ye’s face are the same;”

“Including that taking off the Nomadic Merchant Mask makes you forget the Nomadic Merchant’s appearance…”

“None of this was told to you by the Mask Master, right?”

The chubby guy looked slightly surprised, his expression strange: “How do you figure?”

Jiang Ye rolled his eyes at him: “Because…”

“If you really got this information from the Mask Master…”

“Then shouldn’t you have asked the Mask Master to show you what Jiang Ye looks like?”

“After all, the Mask Master also has Jiang Ye masks.”

“But you said you don’t know Jiang Ye’s appearance, so when you take off the mask, you forget the Nomadic Merchant’s appearance…”

“In reality, you should know Jiang Ye’s face and haven’t forgotten the Nomadic Merchant’s, right?”

Though he spoke in a questioning tone, Jiang Ye’s words were sharp and decisive.

His gaze toward the chubby guy was even somewhat imposing, as if trying to forcibly tear off that mask of pretending to be weak while hiding strength.

The chubby guy’s expression did not change. Suddenly, as if shameless, he laughed: “Hehehe.”

His round, non-threatening face looked even more honest and innocent when he laughed.

But his words carried deep meaning:

“Surviving in the Doomsday Apartment is already tough.”

“Who out there speaks nothing but the truth?”

“Let alone others, the things you said to me—are they 100% true?”

Jiang Ye’s heart skipped a beat.

He didn’t know how many things this pretender was hiding beneath the pig skin.

Nor did he know how many lies he had seen through.

For a moment, the atmosphere between the two was awkwardly tense.

In the end, it was the chubby guy who broke the awkwardness, seemingly carefree.

He still chuckled “hehe” and straightforwardly said:

“I’m wearing the Nomadic Merchant Mask. Have you finished your experiment?”

“If you have, let’s keep talking about who you want me to kill so you can demonstrate the soul thread body seizure technique.”

“So, have you decided who to kill?”

Jiang Ye was silent for a moment and shook his head slightly: “I don’t want to kill anyone anymore.”

The chubby guy raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Jiang Ye continued:

“I want to ask you for a card that can cause instant death.”

“The death level can be very low, but it must pierce all defenses and forcibly kill.”

Because when he killed Zhang Minghan, Jiang Ye had already confirmed—

As long as the “clone kills clone” condition was met,

Even if the killed [Fake Clone] had various resurrection methods, it wouldn’t work.

It could completely transform the killed [Fake Clone] into a [Transformed Clone]!

So, as long as someone could be turned into Jiang Ye’s face,

His battle process didn’t need to be particularly complicated.

Just determining the opponent’s death was enough.

Even if it was the lowest level of death, even if the opponent had a thousand resurrection methods, it wouldn’t matter.

The priority of clone transforming a clone was above all else!

Originally, Jiang Ye didn’t want to reveal this information to the chubby guy.

But beneath this pig skin, too many things were hidden.

He strangely felt that maybe his own concealment was just a self-imposed limitation born of arrogance.

The chubby guy’s eyes rolled, then suddenly laughed:

“There actually is such an item that can meet your request.”

“But it’s a discontinued version item. Are you sure you still want it?”

Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow: “Let me see it first.”

The chubby guy smiled slightly: “Then let me show you…”

For some reason, Jiang Ye felt that this smile was a little strange.

But with a snap of his fingers, the chubby flesh hand opened, and a purple-black card floated in his palm.

Jiang Ye’s gaze landed on that card, and suddenly he understood why he felt the chubby guy’s smile was strange.

Because…

On that purple-black card, which looked as fancy as a tarot card, was written in thin, elegant script—

[Time-Limited Instant Kill (Discontinued)]

[Designate a player to die immediately. After three seconds, that player revives at full status.]

[Usage limit: (3/3)]

What the hell?!!

Time-Limited Instant Kill!!!

This!

Isn’t this the item Jiang Ye casually made up?

This chubby guy actually has it!!!

This is freaking absurd!!!

Jiang Ye was stunned!

In that instant, many thoughts flashed through his mind—

Could this be a coincidence?

The item he casually invented just happens to exist;

And both the item name and effect match what he made up?

If so, then what does this coincidence mean?

Is it that his words can affect reality?

Or that his subconscious knows something, but his conscious mind doesn’t?

Could he really be some kind of reincarnated god??

And if it’s not a coincidence…

Another possibility is that this item was artificially created.

Originally, this world did not have a [Time-Limited Instant Kill] item.

But Jiang Ye mentioned it, the chubby guy found out and made it?

These two possibilities.

The first suggests Jiang Ye is extraordinary, either his words can affect reality or he has a mysterious background deeply tied to the entire Doomsday Apartment world;

The second suggests the chubby guy is extraordinary.

Not only did he know Jiang Ye’s made-up item, he actually made it…

Jiang Ye took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

He swallowed and looked at the purple-black card, asking:

“This [Time-Limited Instant Kill] card…”

“Does it have a hidden effect—that the caused death can fool the apartment’s judgment system…”

“In other words, can it reveal others’ permission player identities?”

The chubby guy blinked innocently.

After a moment, he asked curiously:

“Why are you so surprised? Is this item very strong? Actually, it’s not, right? Because this instant kill comes with a resurrection effect. Killing is like not killing.”

“At most, full status resurrection can be treated as a recovery item.”

“But the kind you mentioned, fooling the apartment’s judgment system and revealing others’ permission identities…”

“Who told you that? That’s pure fantasy. The Doomsday Apartment shouldn’t have such an item.”

He looked at Jiang Ye meaningfully, then added with the same tone:

“All items in the Doomsday Apartment were born in the Doomsday Apartment. How could they fool the apartment’s judgment?”

This sentence seemed ordinary.

But it hit Jiang Ye’s mind like a heavy punch.

His thoughts shook, and he repeatedly pondered this logic…

What kind of logic was this?

It’s like—

Existences born within a certain world must follow that world’s rules.

So items born in the Doomsday Apartment cannot fool the apartment’s judgment system.

The judgment system is the world’s rules.

A simple and straightforward logic.

Like a “circle,” everything it encloses lies within the circle.

Like…

Suddenly, a picture appeared in Jiang Ye’s mind.

He seemed to see an ant crawling on a Möbius strip.

It crawled along a line on the Möbius strip, endlessly crawling.

According to this rule, it would never crawl out of the Möbius strip!

Möbius strip…

Möbius strip!

Most people at first glance think the Möbius strip has two surfaces.

But in fact, it has only one surface.

Jiang Ye suddenly vaguely felt…

He had also thought before that the Doomsday Apartment had two “phases.”

But maybe, like the Möbius strip, the two phases are actually on the same surface.

Besides, he vaguely realized—

Maybe every player cycle in the Doomsday Apartment has been thinking wrongly!

Everyone’s goal is survival, to live on.

Knowing the apartment is destined to be destroyed, permission players want to survive to the next reincarnation.

But even if they survive to the next reincarnation, what does it mean?

Isn’t it like that ant, firmly looking forward, crawling along the fixed path, unable to escape the Möbius strip?

Maybe what they truly should do has never been to survive to the next reincarnation.

Instead…

It’s to break the cycle!

But Jiang Ye didn’t even fully understand how reincarnation worked, so breaking the cycle? How easy could that be!

He withdrew his thoughts and looked at the chubby guy again.

This guy’s slightly chubby round face still looked completely non-threatening.

And Jiang Ye increasingly felt—

Could this guy really be the Professional Alliance Leader he mentioned?

Could it be the Professional Alliance Leader’s own twisted hobby to open a secondary account and pretend to be scared of the main account?

In other words, scared of himself…

To be honest, Jiang Ye had used this trick himself before.

In the beginning, he also clung to his own leg…

So, it was entirely reasonable to suspect this!

Thinking so, his gaze toward the chubby guy became more cautious and vigilant.

However, he didn’t hesitate and directly reached out to snatch the [Time-Limited Instant Kill (Discontinued)] card.

As he rubbed it between his fingers, he asked the chubby guy:

“If discontinued items have pitfalls… what’s the catch with this one?”

“Well…” The chubby guy smiled and said, “Actually, this item isn’t meant to be used on others, but on yourself for easier status recovery.”

“So the pitfall only affects the person who’s been time-limited instant killed.”

“If you use it on others, you can treat it as having no catch.”

To be honest, Jiang Ye didn’t quite believe it.

But holding such a game-breaking item in his hand made his heart race with excitement!

If this item really could easily achieve a kill effect…

Then he only needed to turn others into his [Fake Clone].

Then one [Time-Limited Instant Kill] would transform them into [Transformed Clones]!

Jiang Ye even wished he could directly give the Nomadic Merchant Mask to Lin Ling and then slap a [Time-Limited Instant Kill] on her…

But to be cautious, he planned to try it on a weaker target first.

He took the time-limited instant kill card.

Then he looked at the chubby guy deeply.

The chubby guy was open and honest: “If you’re really interested in this item, you can use it as one of your conditions for trading the ‘soul thread body seizure technique’ with me.”

“I said, the conditions, you name them.”

Jiang Ye thought: I would love to name conditions…

But I damn well don’t know anything about the soul thread body seizure technique!

At the same time, he thought that if this chubby guy really was the Professional Alliance Leader, maybe he could hear his thoughts, maybe he already knew Jiang Ye knew nothing about the soul thread body seizure technique.

So his real intention might be to make Jiang Ye learn it.

Of course, these were all guesses.

Jiang Ye had no idea if this chubby guy really was the Professional Alliance Leader or how many secrets he was hiding.

After a moment of silence, Jiang Ye waved his hand:

“I’ll go test the waters first. Anyway, the [Card Master’s Shop] is still here. We’ll keep in touch later.”

With that, the mirror clone immediately disappeared from the shop.

Of course, without the owner’s permission, he used the Clone Replica Mirror to make it vanish.

Before disappearing, he heard a voice by his ear:

“The discontinued Time-Limited Instant Kill will cost you fifty survival points, with the discount you gave.”

In the Reincarnation Graveyard, Jiang Ye was startled and quickly took out his Survival Jade Token to check.

Good grief!

The fifty survival points he earned from selling the discontinued Clone Replica Mirror had indeed disappeared!

This chubby guy could actually directly deduct survival points from others’ Survival Jade Tokens??

Or…

Did he rig the transaction of the Clone Replica Mirror so it wasn’t really a payment of fifty survival points?

Judging by the current situation, it was actually equivalent to trading the discontinued Time-Limited Instant Kill for the discontinued Clone Replica Mirror with the chubby guy…

Jiang Ye took a deep breath and stopped thinking further.

Then, the Zhang Minghan clone once again entered the Mask Master’s Shop.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep