The shadow phantom clearly implied—Lin Ling’s recent shout at him saying “you’ll pay the price” was a wrongful accusation.

But Jiang Ye knew in his heart—

Perhaps Xu Gou really was Xiao Pang’s man…

But Yu Mo’s mutation was most likely caused by the shadow phantom’s earlier actions.

However, the shadow phantom’s tone, as if wrongly accused yet utterly self-righteous, made Jiang Ye unable to stop doubting—

Could it be that the shadow phantom hadn’t recognized Yu Mo?

That couldn’t be true, right?

Even though Yu Mo changed from a Reincarnation Ghost to a monster player…

Even though this monster player still wore a mimic mask…

A person’s soul entity aura shouldn’t change, right?

Could the shadow phantom really fail to recognize Yu Mo?

Or maybe the mutation of Heavenly Net Mutants caused such drastic changes from soul entity to physical body that the shadow phantom genuinely didn’t recognize him?

It was uncertain.

These long-lived old beings certainly had better acting skills than him.

It was also possible the shadow phantom recognized Yu Mo but pretended not to, deliberately shifting the blame for Xu Gou and Yu Mo onto Xiao Pang…

And somehow, Xiao Pang naturally accepted this blame.

Even…

Whether it was the listless Xu Gou or the steaming Yu Mo,

Xiao Pang actually caught both!

With a casual wave, two strange square mirrors appeared out of thin air in the direction where Xu Gou and Yu Mo were thrown.

The shape of these mirrors resembled giant cards, or two massive gates standing side by side.

After being thrown inside, Xu Gou and Yu Mo seemed to be thrown from three dimensions into two—transforming from three-dimensional beings into flat two-dimensional figures!

More bizarrely, after becoming two-dimensional figures on the mirror surface, they didn’t freeze immediately.

Instead, they continued moving in their flat forms.

For example, Xu Gou, restored to normal human height and build, looked left and right inside that mirror world…

Of course, Yu Mo remained in a steaming unconscious state.

Xiao Pang’s move shocked everyone present!

The space on the giant chessboard seemed to subtly shift, the atmosphere thickening as if frozen because of his tactic.

Lin Ling hadn’t said anything yet.

The shadow phantom, who had thrown the two away, was about to leave.

But Xiao Pang called out toward the direction the shadow phantom was disappearing:

“Hey, buddy, don’t leave just yet…”

“We haven’t finished talking about our current business :)”

Such a casual phrase didn’t come with any move to stop the shadow phantom.

Yet the two giant hands of the shadow phantom, about to vanish, solidified again because of this sentence.

Xiao Pang didn’t seem surprised by this.

His gaze swept the scene with a faint smile.

Then, adopting a decisive posture, he took control of the entire situation—

“These two…” he pointed to the two square mirrors.

“Plus the one in your hand…” this time pointing at the shadow phantom’s giant hand.

“A total of three Heavenly Net Mutants, clearly more suited to exploring the Abyss Restricted Zone.”

“After all, according to various speculations—the origin of the Heavenly Net Mutants’ mutation comes from the Abyss Restricted Zone.”

“So these people inherently possess a certain resistance to the radiation and various potential harms of the Abyss Restricted Zone.”

Hearing this, Jiang Ye finally received important information and somewhat clarified his thoughts.

Simply put—

The Heavenly Net Organization’s mutation method comes from the Abyss Restricted Zone.

Hence, apartment-type permission players led by the Apartment Boss or Salvation prohibit Heavenly Net Organization players from entering the Novice Apartment.

Jiang Ye’s earlier suspicion about why the Heavenly Net Organization never became a top-tier faction might also stem from suppression by multiple forces.

However, the apartment faction was one thing.

Many other factions harbored ulterior motives, wanting to use the Heavenly Net Organization to explore the Abyss Restricted Zone together.

For example, Xiao Pang, the Card Grandmaster, had a clear purpose from the start—he definitely wanted to explore the Abyss Restricted Zone.

And Xu Gou, the Heavenly Net Mutant, was arranged to explore the Abyss Restricted Zone alongside him.

The shadow phantom and that Tao Sheng probably had similar goals.

Jiang Ye suspected that these non-apartment faction big shots emerging one after another, all targeting the Abyss Restricted Zone, might have a hidden reason behind it—

Salvation lost the Crow, causing his strength to drop significantly.

After all, Jiang Ye had almost confirmed that Salvation belonged to the apartment faction.

Salvation being suppressed by the Nomadic Merchant meant the apartment faction was being exploited.

The Abyss Restricted Zone, located inside the Novice Apartment, naturally belonged to the apartment’s domain.

With the apartment faction weakened, these other faction big shots gained confidence to openly target the apartment faction’s Abyss Restricted Zone.

But if this logic was true, the only thing Jiang Ye couldn’t understand was—

According to his previous speculation, each of the four permission types had a leader-level top figure.

These were the “Four Heavenly Kings” Jiang Ye named.

He guessed the Nomadic Merchant was the leader of apartment-type permission players.

Then the Nomadic Merchant taking Salvation’s Crow would mean weakening his own faction, right?

On this chessboard, the shadow phantom came from a special permission type;

Xiao Pang came from the professional permission type.

The Abyss Restricted Zone they jointly wanted to explore belonged to the apartment-type permission domain…

So this was a secret competition among three permission types.

The only one who hadn’t appeared, and whom Jiang Ye had almost no contact with…

Was the [VIP Player] permission type.

Speaking of which, there should be quite a few VIP players.

But this time, among the veteran players entering the Novice Apartment, there seemed to be no VIP player presence?

Was it because of the apartment faction’s ban? Or some other reason?

While Xiao Pang leisurely took charge of the whole situation,

Jiang Ye quietly sorted through these thoughts.

Sure enough, Xiao Pang stopped the shadow phantom to prepare to team up with the third Heavenly Net Mutant Tao Sheng in his hand to explore the Abyss Restricted Zone.

The shadow phantom hadn’t responded yet when Xiao Pang turned to Zhou Yuling, continuing to display a gentle, kind smile:

“Of course, these two Heavenly Net Mutants released from the White Snake were originally assigned to explore the Court of Disorder.”

“I’m forcing them to explore the Abyss Restricted Zone with me, so you have two open spots for the Court of Disorder.”

“So, to let your Defenders’ Alliance act according to plan…”

At this point, Xiao Pang smiled slightly.

This smile no longer looked simple and kindhearted like before.

Instead, it resembled the smile of a magician who loved to show off.

His next move was just like a magician’s.

He drew a circle in the air with both hands, making an exaggerated magician’s gesture.

When the “circle” was completed, two cards suddenly appeared in his previously empty hands.

He smiled faintly again and threw the two cards out.

He even muttered mysteriously: “Next is the moment to witness a miracle…”

With the word “moment,” he snapped his fingers with both hands.

The two flying cards suddenly enlarged.

Their patterns showed two humanoid shapes.

At first, only silhouettes of figures were visible.

In an instant, the shadows became clear.

And just before the shadows sharpened…

Jiang Ye’s heart surged wildly.

But his face forced calmness.

Then he saw—

The two card shadows were Zhang Minghan and a stranger he did not recognize.

Those two figures seemed to be ejected from the cards.

They came straight onto the sub-level chessboard!

Jiang Ye’s Zhang Minghan clone’s shock was clearly reflected on his face.

The other stranger, also suddenly pulled from thin air, looked equally terrified as he scanned the scene.

Soon, his gaze landed on Lin Ling and Zhou Yuling, and he exclaimed in surprise: “Left Alliance? Sister Zhou? I… what… is going on?!”

Lin Ling and Zhou Yuling’s expressions were also shaken.

Their shock was probably no less than Jiang Ye’s!

After all, this kind of remote capture technique…

From what Jiang Ye knew, was very similar to the Nomadic Merchant’s methods!

Jiang Ye had previously suspected whether Xiao Pang was the “leader” of the professional permission type, on the same level as the Nomadic Merchant…

Now his suspicion about Xiao Pang grew even stronger!

Lin Ling seemed to have thought of this too.

Her expression darkened, and the wary glint in her eyes flickered unpredictably.

Meanwhile, the shadow phantom a little further away suddenly said something unexpected:

“The Ninth Day Major Reshuffle is coming, so I’ll temporarily refrain from touching the Abyss Restricted Zone.”

After saying this, the shadow phantom prepared to leave again.

However, Xiao Pang snapped his fingers once more with one hand.

Another card appeared out of thin air!

The shadow on this new card soon transformed into the young man with the strange aura Jiang Ye had seen before—the appearance of Tao Sheng!

In a flash, Tao Sheng also popped out of the card, his eyes sweeping the scene with confusion and terror.

Only when he saw the giant hand of the shadow phantom, which hadn’t completely disappeared, did he seem to calm down.

Yet the strong aura of the powerful figures spread throughout the chessboard kept him tense and silent.

Indeed, he was calm enough not to scream or shout.

But a fat hand suddenly reached out and patted the top of his wigged head…

At that moment, Tao Sheng felt an inexplicable chill, freezing completely stiff!

He even had the illusion of a nightmare where Guiwen held a chainsaw cutting his head…

Xiao Pang kept patting his head like that, smiling gently and whispering:

“I think, some things, we should just ask the person involved directly.”

“Come on, kid, tell uncle—are you willing to accompany uncle and those two big brothers over there to explore the Abyss Restricted Zone? :)”

“…”

Tao Sheng was so stiff he could barely make a sound!

An extremely terrifying powerful aura nearly enveloped him tightly!

At this moment, he even felt the Guiwen with a chainsaw was a kind and gentle figure…

Only after the terrifying aura slightly subsided did Tao Sheng barely find his voice.

His eyelashes trembled, and from deep in his throat he shakily said:

“I… am willing!”

Damn it! How could he refuse?!

I mean, sometimes, people really need to learn from Wei Junjie…

Xiao Pang was clearly very satisfied with Tao Sheng’s timely sense.

He smiled faintly, affectionately patted Tao Sheng’s wig again.

Then he withdrew the frightening fat hand.

Next, his gaze turned to Zhang Minghan and the young man who had called out “Left Alliance” and “Sister Zhou.”

He smiled again and asked, “What about you two?”

Zhang Minghan was Jiang Ye’s clone and had previously witnessed Xiao Pang’s tactics.

He naturally did not hesitate and politely said, “I am willing.”

But Xiao Pang smiled and said meaningfully: “You haven’t even been told what to do yet, and you’re already willing?”

“…” Jiang Ye’s heart silently cursed.

Damn, answering so straightforwardly was wrong?

Zhang Minghan’s face showed a hint of embarrassment.

Xiao Pang continued smiling:

“This Sister Zhou from the Defenders’ Alliance originally called 9,999 people to explore the Court of Disorder.”

“But now, I’ve pulled two cornerstones away from those 9,999.”

“You two Defenders just happen to fill those two vacancies and follow her and her other followers to explore the Court of Disorder.”

“How about it? Willing?”

Zhang Minghan glanced at the other Defender he didn’t know.

Then he looked at Zhou Yuling, the White-Robed Woman, and Lin Ling.

After this pretense, he said again, “I’m willing.”

Xiao Pang smiled at him and then looked at the other Defender he had summoned by card.

This Defender seemed a bit confused about the situation.

He looked at Zhou Yuling, then at Lin Ling…

It was unclear what information he gathered from their eyes.

Anyway, he soon said to Xiao Pang, “I’m willing too.”

Jiang Ye noticed a detail—

This Defender summoned by the Card Grandmaster was not one he recognized and seemed to be special.

Because on the scene, there were clearly two Zhou Yulings.

One was the real Zhou Yuling who appeared.

The other was the White-Robed Woman, deliberately disguised with a thin veil, impersonating Zhou Yuling.

But the young Defender’s gaze was fixed on the real Zhou Yuling.

Moreover, a large group of Defenders had previously been led by the White-Robed Woman disguised as Zhou Yuling to the Abyss Restricted Zone’s radiation soil area.

This Defender obviously wasn’t part of that group.

Also, being captured by both Xiao Pang and Zhang Minghan together…

Jiang Ye felt this unfamiliar young Defender was probably special in some way.

Unfortunately, given the current situation, he didn’t dare interrupt…

Even Zhou Yuling herself seemed a little unsure how to deal with this Xiao Pang.

On the entire chessboard, Xiao Pang seemed to control everything.

After arranging everything, he smiled to himself and said, “Looks like everyone is having a pleasant chat, so…”

He casually threw a card toward the direction of the giant White Snake.

The previously listless White Snake suddenly regained spirit.

Then Xiao Pang snapped his fingers, and the White Snake transformed back into the towering White Tower…

Zhou Yuling watched this with wide eyes, shocked as if seeing a ghost!

Her expression seemed stunned and amazed that Xiao Pang’s tactics could even turn the White Snake into the White Tower…

Zhou Yuling didn’t dare say much to Xiao Pang and looked at Lin Ling for guidance.

Lin Ling’s expression was grave, showing no emotion.

After a brief silence, she said to Zhou Yuling:

“Just do as he says—”

“First take these two Defenders into the White Tower, then you can lead your team to explore the Court of Disorder.”

So naturally, Zhou Yuling complied and took Zhang Minghan and the other Defender into the White Tower.

Then she quietly whispered to Jiang Ye’s discarded clone: “Let’s go, it’s time for us to exit.”

“…”

Jiang Ye thought: I really don’t want to exit!

For exploring the Court of Disorder, other clones will do fine.

I want to stay here and watch the show!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep