“……”

“What the hell did you actually do?!! Didn’t I tell you to stay calm and not be impulsive?!”

“Damn it!! If I’d known it would turn out like this, I never should have given such an important task to you!!”

Visibly, Zhou Yuling, who was already going berserk, had now completely lost her mind…

Fortunately, Jiang Ye wasn’t standing in front of her.

Otherwise, who knew what impulsive actions she might take on the spot…

Jiang Ye felt somewhat speechless, emphasizing with a heavy tone:

“No, sis, listen to me!”

“I didn’t do anything! I didn’t (get the chance to) feed blood to the Formless Tree!”

“That little white snake of yours—it voluntarily burrowed into the Formless Tree on its own!”

“Even I’m completely baffled by the current situation!”

As he explained, the berserk Zhou Yuling finally calmed down.

Through the voice transmission bead, he could even hear her taking obvious deep breaths.

Jiang Ye asked again: “Well? Have you calmed down? What should we do now?”

“If it really happened as you described…” Zhou Yuling’s tone turned grave, “Then this situation is also beyond my expectations.”

“This Formless Tree… it can actually actively absorb the mist energy…”

Zhou Yuling was clearly pondering something.

Hearing her describe that milky-white gas transformed from the little white snake as “mist energy,” Jiang Ye’s mind also became active.

He immediately made a wild guess: “I remember when we exchanged information before, you and Xiao Bai said—”

“The little black snake feeds on the restricted zone’s radiation…”

“The little white snake feeds on mist gas…”

“Now looking at it, could this ‘Formless Tree’ be feeding on the little white snakes… forming a biological chain between them?”

“……” Zhou Yuling was utterly speechless: “Can you please not joke around at a time like this?”

“I’m not joking.” Jiang Ye swore his tone was completely serious. “I just mean, you should have seen the ‘Formless Tree’ too.”

“It’s completely charred black, with yellowish leaves, giving off a deathly still feeling.”

“So I’m wondering, if we feed it all the little white snakes, might the entire ‘Formless Tree’ undergo some special transformation?”

“……”

Zhou Yuling clearly took another deep breath.

Then she spoke through gritted teeth again: “Could you please stop your ‘bold ideas’!”

“Your hypothesis is only a minuscule possibility!”

“And if we really follow your idea and feed all the little white snakes to the ‘Formless Tree’…”

“Have you considered how we would bind the ‘Formless Leaves’ without the little white snakes?”

“That, I actually have thought about.” Jiang Ye answered very smoothly. “You must have seen the message in our ten-thousand-person group chat, right?”

“The one proposed by that Defender Wang Cheng whom chubby guy brought over—actually, there’s a delicate balance between ‘blood-drip acknowledgment’ and ‘those who bleed’.”

“That is… players who have stored their blood in advance!”

“Haven’t you also explored the Mirror Palace secret realm? When crossing the secret realm grid spaces, didn’t you use pre-stored blood from other creatures?”

Indeed.

The idea proposed by Wang Cheng could allow players to bind “Formless Leaves” without bleeding.

Of course, the prerequisite was that these players had to prepare their own blood in advance.

Most players didn’t have such a habit.

“The one proposed by that Defender Wang Cheng whom chubby guy brought over—actually, there’s a subtle balance between ‘blood-drip acknowledgment’ and ‘those who bleed’.”

Other followers in the group also expressed that they had no pre-prepared blood.

But Jiang Ye’s clone shared space had it!

Not only his own blood, but also Yang-Wan-Wen-Xin-Chao’s HIV blood.

This habit developed after he secretly infected Chen Cang using blood.

Since his blood was special, preparing some in advance might come in handy someday.

And now seemed to be that time.

Of course, using pre-prepared blood naturally couldn’t trigger the possibility of being drained into a desiccated corpse by the “Formless Tree.”

But they could still test whether they could directly bind with the “Formless Tree”?

Just as Jiang Ye was thinking this, he heard Zhou Yuling directly reject:

“You’re overthinking it—backup blood simply cannot be used for blood-drip acknowledgment.”

“The Defenders’ Alliance already conducted experiments—”

“The blood used for blood-drip acknowledgment must be fresh blood within 3 seconds.”

“Beyond three seconds, acknowledgment simply cannot succeed.”

“This actually makes sense—otherwise, couldn’t anyone just stockpile others’ blood and randomly perform blood-drip acknowledgment on various things?”

“……”

Alright, Jiang Ye also remembered the “fresh blood” requirement.

But deep down, he still had some doubts…

Other people’s blood might not work after 3 seconds…

But his blood might be special?

Just as Jiang Ye was thinking this, he heard Zhou Yuling directly deny:

“You’re overthinking it—backup blood simply cannot be used for blood-drip acknowledgment.”

Jiang Ye thought to himself, how long has my main body been out of contact, and you’re telling me to value my life?

What life is there to value!

“Beyond three seconds, acknowledgment simply cannot succeed.”

So Jiang Ye didn’t directly feed his stored blood to the “Formless Tree.”

Instead, he continued discussing countermeasures with Zhou Yuling.

“You’re steady, you value life, you’re amazing, you’re noble—then tell me, what can we do in this situation?”

“I think…” Zhou Yuling answered bluntly, “You could try using your little red snake?”

“Isn’t my little white snake quite afraid of your little red snake?”

“Maybe you could use your little red snake to lure out my little white snake?”

Jiang Ye: “……” Do you think my little red snake is some kind of succubus, to “lure” it out…

He felt too exhausted to complain.

On the other end, Zhou Yuling added: “By the way, wasn’t your little red snake absorbed by the ‘Formless Tree’?”

Jiang Ye said directly: “I didn’t bring my little red snake with me.”

???

Zhou Yuling instantly lost it again: “Why didn’t you bring it? Did you predict something would happen to the little white snake??”

Jiang Ye felt speechless: “How would I have that ability to predict…”

“Didn’t I ask you for a bunch of blood poison corpse water before? That stuff was used for experiments on the little red snake…”

“After the experiments, the little red snake wasn’t really suitable for showing off everywhere, so I hid it.”

Of course, the real reason was that the pure black variant clone wasn’t suitable for public display.

And for the variant clone to survive, it needed to accept the little red snake’s bondage play.

Thus, the little red snake wasn’t brought along.

And now he understood Zhou Yuling’s subtext—

Perhaps if the little red snake appeared near this “Formless Tree,” it might also be directly absorbed by the “Formless Tree.”

Thinking this, Jiang Ye tried to persuade Zhou Yuling:

“Actually, when facing such tricky and unknown situations, both your solutions and mine are just guesses based on feeling, and they inevitably carry risks.”

“Rather than hesitating like you, we should be more decisive and follow my idea—feed all the little white snakes to the ‘Formless Tree’…”

“Maybe the ‘Formless Tree’ will truly evolve after consuming all the little white snakes, or become vibrant, causing those ‘Formless Leaves’ to drop down on their own…”

He felt too exhausted to complain.

“So now you have two choices—”

“Either, I feed all the little white snakes to the ‘Formless Tree’…”

“Or, I feed my stored blood to the ‘Formless Tree’…”

“Of course, you could also choose a third path.”

When Zhou Yuling heard him forcefully say “two choices,” she felt blood rushing to her head, wanting to kill someone any minute.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Ye suddenly mentioned a “third path” at the end.

So she forced herself to calm down and asked: “What’s the third path?”

“The third path is—”

Jiang Ye said with complete seriousness and mysterious confidence: “I feed both the little white snakes and my blood to the ‘Formless Tree’ :)”

“……” Zhou Yuling: “Let me thank your entire family on behalf of the ‘Formless Tree’ first…”

Jiang Ye: “Hey, no need to be so polite, this is all I…”

And for the variant clone to survive, it needed to accept the little red snake’s bondage play.

“I… holy shit?!”

Jiang Ye, halfway through his sentence, suddenly widened his eyes fiercely and exclaimed in shock!

On the other end of the transmission bead, Zhou Yuling, unaware of the situation, was even more startled and urgently asked:

“What happened? Have you started feeding it? Did you feed little white snakes or your blood? What happened to the Formless Tree?!”

“Damn it, speak quickly! This is maddening!”

“I’m not going to help you restrain the strong players anymore! I’m coming back to protect the Formless Tree!!”

“Actually, when facing such tricky and unknown situations, both your solutions and mine are just guesses based on feeling, and they inevitably carry risks.”

Because she knew very well that Jiang Ye was really the type whose boldness could scare people to death.

Very likely, while asking her to choose, he was already pulling some sneaky operation!

Indeed…

Just after urgently asking, Zhou Yuling heard Jiang Ye’s stunned, astonished voice through the transmission bead:

“The Formless Tree… it’s bleeding!”

???

Zhou Yuling also widened her eyes: “What situation? Explain quickly!”

“It’s just… on this charred black trunk, a tiny crescent-shaped blood mark suddenly appeared…”

“Not exactly a crescent either—this tiny mark is much smaller than a crescent…”

“Let me compare… hey! It really is, just the size of a fingernail, exactly…”

The second half of Jiang Ye’s “hey” sound froze abruptly.

Because he remembered…

Before being dragged into this Doomsday Apartment…

He had a similar crescent-shaped birthmark on his left shoulder!

It looked like a scar someone had dug out with a fingernail!

When letting little black suck his blood before, he had noticed the birthmark’s disappearance.

Later, after learning that players’ physical bodies in the apartment weren’t their real bodies from reality, and that even illnesses wouldn’t be brought into the apartment…

He naturally took it for granted that his birthmark wouldn’t be brought into the apartment either.

So that disappeared crescent birthmark had been completely ignored by him.

Until now, when he saw the “Formless Tree” bleeding, he didn’t think of that connection at first.

Only when comparing the blood mark’s size with his fingernail did he suddenly remember!

So…

This crescent blood mark that suddenly appeared on the “Formless Tree”…

And the crescent birthmark he used to have on his body…

Was there some connection?

Zhou Yuling was truly frantic with worry.

On the other end, Zhou Yuling, hearing his voice suddenly cut off, urgently asked:

“What’s wrong? A fingernail-sized blood mark? And then?”

“Did this blood mark appear from feeding little white snakes or from feeding your blood?”

Jiang Ye snapped back to reality and shook his head: “I haven’t done anything yet…”

“I suspect it might be from that one little white snake that was absorbed by the ‘Formless Tree’?”

“So if we feed it all the little white snakes, the entire ‘Formless Tree’ might really undergo greater changes?”

“……”

This time, unprecedentedly, Zhou Yuling didn’t stop him.

However, she remained relatively cautious:

“Since the ‘Formless Tree’ has actually changed, then the idea of feeding it little white snakes might really have some effect…”

She just wasn’t sure whether that effect would be good or bad.

But honestly, Zhou Yuling didn’t have any better ideas right now.

So…

“Continuing to feed little white snakes might work, but can we be more cautious? For example, first study that blood mark?”

She didn’t need to say it—Jiang Ye was of course also prepared to study that blood mark.

Before being dragged into this Doomsday Apartment…

Just as he hesitated about whether he should actually touch that blood mark with his skin…

Suddenly a sharp gust of wind shot diagonally from his side and behind!

Before he could react…

He felt a slight, knife-cut-like stinging pain appear on his right cheek!

And along with this stinging sensation, his eyes suddenly widened!

He naturally assumed that his birthmark wouldn’t be brought into the apartment either.

That sharp leaf flying from somewhere had directly cut his cheek…

Causing blood to seep from the skin on his right face!

Bleeding…

In the “Formless Domain,” those who bleed die!

In this moment, Jiang Ye felt extremely shocked.

But honestly, he wasn’t too panicked…

Because a thought flashed through his mind—

Perhaps the Nomadic Merchant, seeing him dawdle, proactively helped him bleed?

However, this beautiful and naive thought was quickly shattered by reality.

Just half a meter behind him to the side, a dark figure suddenly appeared.

Simultaneously came a sinister, chilling sneer.

Clearly…

The person who attacked wasn’t the Nomadic Merchant!

But a VIP player hidden here!

The one Zhou Yuling called… a cunning dog!

And this cunning dog’s purpose was very clear—

To make him bleed and be erased!!

Jiang Ye instantly understood all this.

But unfortunately, while his brain worked quickly, his body stiffened even faster!

He had thought erasure would be like in the apartment rules—the entire person instantly turning into light points…

This time, unprecedentedly, Zhou Yuling didn’t stop him.

But at this very moment, the “erasure” he was experiencing even shocked the cunning dog watching from behind him!

As could be seen, blood seeped from the wound on his right cheek, transforming into a wisp of blood mist…

And this wisp of blood mist, like the little white snake absorbed by the “Formless Tree” earlier, directly seeped toward the tiny crescent-shaped blood mark on the “Formless Tree’s” trunk!

And as the first wisp of blood mist was absorbed by the crescent…

Jiang Ye, completely stiffened and unable to move, once again felt that sensation of great terror!

All the blood in his body seemed out of control, continuously seeping from the wound on his right cheek!

Transforming into wisps of blood mist, directly invading that crescent blood mark on the “Formless Tree”!

Thus, the feeling he experienced when the little red snake drained his blood before played out once again…

She didn’t need to say it—Jiang Ye was also prepared to study that blood mark.

And the little red snake, coiled around the variant clone’s body, slightly raised its snake head, emitting “hissing” sounds.

As if distantly responding to something…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep