“……”

The Mask Master couldn’t shake the feeling that he had been tricked!

No, it wasn’t just a feeling—he *had* been tricked!

The current situation was clearly different from what he had imagined before!

What happened to the undefeated War God?!

How did he end up losing?!

And now, could the upcoming death battle also…

A terrible premonition churned deep within the Mask Master’s heart.

At this point, he was almost certain—

The Zhang Minghan in play was not using an empty city stratagem at all!

If this was truly a death battle…

The Mask Master took a deep breath, about to say something.

Jiang Ye then took out the contract the Master had signed, casually waved it twice, and raised an eyebrow: “Master, you wouldn’t really go back on your word, would you?”

“Did someone tamper with this contract?”

“Of course not!” The Mask Master looked at the contract, feeling even more gloomy inside.

However…

If he continued analyzing logically…

He had Zhang Minghan’s mimic mask, so no matter what, he couldn’t possibly lose to Zhang Minghan.

Even if another black swan event really happened…

With his many trump cards, he wouldn’t actually die in a mere ‘death battle.’

But, all his survival points would be lost…

Not only the survival points on the data panel but also those stored in the Survival Jade Token.

And considering his financial strength…

If he truly lost the ‘death battle,’ even if he revived, the losses would be enormous—just thinking about it made his heart ache.

Still, no tampering had been done to the contract.

So this ‘death battle’ had to be fought whether he liked it or not.

The Mask Master sighed softly, calmed his mind, then said to Jiang Ye again:

“The agreed death battle—I definitely won’t back out.”

“But before the duel, let me see the Nomadic Merchant’s appearance first. Mainly, I want to see if what you said earlier is true or if you were just bluffing me.”

Jiang Ye was indifferent: “Fine, have a look.”

After all, the old man’s last wish should be fulfilled.

No choice—he was just too kind-hearted 🙂

The Mask Master conjured a water mirror with his bare hands.

He still felt a little uneasy, wondering if checking the Nomadic Merchant’s appearance this time would cause another 3-minute amnesia.

Jiang Ye also hesitated internally, wondering whether to fuse with the Master again for fun.

But never mind, the death battle was more important.

Finally, the Mask Master successfully saw the Nomadic Merchant’s appearance in the water mirror.

The figure in the mirror suddenly widened his eyes and let out a long sigh:

“This… actually really…”

Beside him, Jiang Ye, wearing Zhang Minghan’s face, said smoothly: “See? A good young man like me, how could I lie to you?”

“The Nomadic Merchant’s appearance really is exactly the same as Jiang Ye’s, right!”

The Mask Master nodded blankly, his gaze drifting as if lost in thought.

After a moment, he suddenly took out a mask and handed it to Jiang Ye: “Put this on and have a look.”

Jiang Ye took the mask curiously and asked, “What’s this?”

“A mimic mask of Jiang Ye’s face.” The Mask Master conjured another water mirror in front of Jiang Ye and explained, “You wear Jiang Ye’s mimic mask, and we’ll carefully compare.”

“……”

Uh…

Letting ‘Zhang Minghan’ wear Jiang Ye’s mimic mask…

Jiang Ye felt a little awkward inside.

He asked the Mask Master: “You told me to wear this, so it doesn’t count as breaking the shop rules, right?”

The Mask Master rolled his eyes at him silently: “Aren’t you still VIP? Of course, it’s fine.”

“Alright.” Jiang Ye then put on the Jiang Ye mimic mask made from his own face.

Thus, Zhang Minghan’s handsome face was replaced by Jiang Ye’s own face.

So in the entire Mask Master’s Shop, it was as if two Jiang Yes were standing there.

Like twins.

The Mask Master glanced at Jiang Ye, then at the water mirror, his expression growing stranger and stranger. He couldn’t help muttering:

“They really are exactly the same!”

“The face, the body shape… it’s like a pasted copy!”

“No, the Nomadic Merchant mimic mask’s hair seems a bit thicker…”

The Master was amazed and amazed again as he pulled Jiang Ye into a game of ‘spot the difference.’ Overall, they really looked exactly the same!

Jiang Ye was already shocked the first time he wore the Nomadic Merchant mimic mask.

But this direct comparison between two people brought a different subtle feeling.

He even couldn’t help but mutter:

“How can two people look this alike?”

“Could this Jiang Ye actually be a clone of the Nomadic Merchant?”

“I heard the Nomadic Merchant supposedly has many clones?”

However, the Mask Master shook his head firmly:

“This definitely isn’t a clone.”

“Even if a player can create clones with different appearances, as long as the mimic masks are submitted to me, I can still tell.”

“In other words, even if the same person creates two mimic masks with different faces, I automatically classify them as one type of mimic mask here.”

The Mask Master spoke confidently.

Jiang Ye courteously said, “I see,” though secretly he scoffed inside.

His different clones had given the Master many mimic masks, but none were grouped into one category…

Thinking this, he increasingly felt—

The Mask Master was basically a fake.

He couldn’t figure out anything about the Nomadic Merchant mimic mask either.

Better for him to take over!

Just as he was about to say the death battle should start soon,

The Mask Master suddenly spoke to him again:

“About the Nomadic Merchant mimic mask and Jiang Ye mimic mask being the same face—I actually have an idea.”

“But to verify it, I might need a small favor from you.”

Jiang Ye nodded: “Tell me, what favor?”

Mask Master: “Actually, I’m thinking we start the death battle in this state, how about that?”

Jiang Ye was confused: “What do you mean by ‘this state’? You mean you wear the Nomadic Merchant mimic mask, I wear the Jiang Ye mimic mask, and we fight death battle using these identical faces?”

The Mask Master nodded.

Jiang Ye flatly refused: “No way!”

He even took off the Jiang Ye mimic mask right away.

Come on!

He had just won ‘Today’s Specials’ with great intelligence!

Unless he was crazy, there was no way he would agree to such a rude condition!

“Come on! You’re the Mask Master! You want me to wear a mask and fight you to the death??”

“What if you have some special ability and tamper with the mask beforehand?”

“I seriously suspect you have ulterior motives!”

“……”

The Mask Master wasn’t surprised by his reaction.

He himself thought such a ridiculous request wouldn’t be accepted by anyone…

But he really wanted to test a hypothesis.

Just as he was about to explain further,

Jiang Ye proactively said: “Unless this—”

“I wear the Nomadic Merchant mimic mask, and you wear the Jiang Ye mimic mask.”

“After all, the Nomadic Merchant mimic mask belongs to me, and the Jiang Ye mimic mask is yours. Wearing them this way is fair.”

“Also, this is only a verbal agreement. Once we get to the arena, whether we keep wearing the masks depends on my mood.”

The Mask Master naturally accepted this suggestion.

He then took off the Nomadic Merchant mimic mask and returned it to Jiang Ye.

Immediately, the Mask Master muttered again: “Really…

After handing over the Nomadic Merchant mimic mask to you, that face of the Nomadic Merchant is gradually fading from my mind…”

“But Jiang Ye’s face remains clear.”

Jiang Ye’s expression was unchanged, but inside he realized something different between himself and the Mask Master.

He wouldn’t forget the Nomadic Merchant’s face after losing the mimic mask…

So he didn’t quite understand the Mask Master’s memory situation—

The faces were the same, yet the Master remembered Jiang Ye but forgot the Nomadic Merchant…

He didn’t ask either.

The Mask Master waved his hand and produced a private battle simulator.

He glanced at Jiang Ye and emphasized: “I have many secrets, so no spectators allowed during the death battle.”

Jiang Ye nodded, thinking, who doesn’t have secrets?

He waved his hand and took out Zhang Minghan’s private battle simulator.

Two battle simulators stood side by side.

Two people, one wearing the Jiang Ye mimic mask, the other the Nomadic Merchant mimic mask, both looking exactly like twins, entered their respective battle simulators.

The agreed death battle started quickly.

In less than a minute, two identical ‘Jiang Yes’ appeared on the death battle arena.

Like twins, standing face to face.

As the “Death Battle Start” announcement sounded above the arena,

The real Jiang Ye stood still.

The fake Jiang Ye suddenly raised his hand sharply.

Muttering:

“All beings—”

“All appearances—”

“Puppet play—”

Then chilling winds surged throughout the arena.

Within the cold winds came sinister laughter.

The eerie laughter, cold as a ghost’s whisper, spread invisibly and rapidly filled the entire arena.

Around the fake Jiang Ye, countless mask illusions quickly appeared, forming a sea of masks.

…

Honestly, this scene was really cool.

When Jiang Ye used this move against Xu Jing, he hadn’t been so impressed.

But from a spectator’s perspective, watching the Mask Master use this move, he couldn’t help but praise—

Too cool!

However, he himself had already used this move earlier.

So watching the Mask Master use it now, he didn’t feel anything special.

He pretended to be shocked, staring dumbfounded at the sea of masks.

But secretly, a card appeared in his palm behind his back.

Since it was a death battle, using this card was naturally fine.

Even if this card had issues, he could use other means to fight the Mask Master.

Just as Jiang Ye prepared to use the suspicious Time-Limited Instant Kill (Damaged) card,

The Mask Master opposite suddenly spoke:

“Actually, before you agreed to wear the Nomadic Merchant mimic mask and fight me, I wanted to say—”

“As long as you agree to wear the Nomadic Merchant mimic mask and duel me, I’ll let you stab me first.”

“Now that I think about it, since I’m doing this experiment, I really should let you stab me once.”

“But to prevent you from cheating, you have to use my knife.”

Saying this, the Mask Master wearing Jiang Ye’s face flipped his palm, producing a black blade shining with cold light.

He shouted to ‘Zhang Minghan’ wearing Jiang Ye’s face:

“You can stab me once with this black blade. This way, I can test whether there’s really any connection between the Nomadic Merchant mimic mask and the Jiang Ye mimic mask.”

“……”

Uh…

Jiang Ye was completely stunned by this request from the Master, speechless!

But since he had recently fused with the Mask Master,

He actually knew what the Mask Master wanted to test.

Jiang Ye had always found it strange—

Why was the Mask Master so eager to get mimic masks that seemed useless to others?

But after fusing, he understood.

It was a special ability unique to the Mask Master.

An SS-tier ultimate technique called the ‘Myriad Faces.’

All mimic masks he acquired could be absorbed into this ultimate technique.

And according to the feature of this technique—

Any player with a face recorded in ‘Myriad Faces’ couldn’t kill him.

Honestly, this ultimate was very special.

When Jiang Ye first saw it, he thought of his own Infinite Clones talent.

Because his talent seemed to have a hidden trait—

Any player with a face identical to one of his clones was considered his clone by default.

Both traits judge players by their appearance.

But he only had three minutes fused with the Mask Master and had to fight Xu Jing, so he didn’t think much about it.

Now, the Mask Master wanted him to wear the ‘Nomadic Merchant face’ and stab the Mask Master wearing the ‘Jiang Ye face’…

Basically, to test how the ‘Myriad Faces’ technique judges the two faces.

He wanted to know if the ‘Nomadic Merchant face’ could kill the ‘Jiang Ye face.’

If yes, then in the ‘Myriad Faces’ judgment, they were two different faces.

If no, then they were considered the same face in the judgment.

Of course, the Mask Master wasn’t stupid; he only wanted to experiment, not actually die.

That’s why he let Jiang Ye stab his heart.

He only wanted the lowest level of death…

Obviously, the Mask Master had his own revival means, able to come back from the lowest death.

But this request for Jiang Ye…

Was basically like giving the enemy a free kill—such a light gift with heavy meaning!

Because according to Jiang Ye’s ‘clone kills clone’ trait,

Even the lowest death would be judged as ‘clone kills clone’!

And the ‘clone kills clone’ judgment overrides all other revival effects!

If Jiang Ye could use a small knife to cause the Mask Master wearing his face the lowest death…

He could directly trigger the ‘clone kills clone’ effect!

He wouldn’t even need to use the Time-Limited Instant Kill (Damaged) card!

This was…

The Mask Master was way too polite; Jiang Ye even felt a little embarrassed…

But inside, he was already laughing madly.

Still, he couldn’t resist showing off a bit of acting.

He had just won ‘Today’s Specials’ with great smarts.

At this moment, he cleverly showed the Mask Master his intelligence again.

He didn’t rush to stab him with the knife.

Instead, he looked shocked and said:

“You want me to wear the ‘Nomadic Merchant face’ and kill the ‘Jiang Ye face’…

What kind of experiment is that?”

“Could it be… anyone wearing the same face as you can’t kill you?!”

“No wonder you’re willing to do anything to collect other people’s mimic masks!!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep