It was plain to see—both Jiang Ye and the other classmates were going through a mindset shift.

When he first arrived at the apartment and learned that the rent was over 120,000, Jiang Ye immediately considered exchanging a Survival Stone for money.

Meanwhile, the others believed that Survival Stones were the key items for clearing the Beginner Apartment. Each one less meant one fewer person who could survive.

So unless it was an absolute emergency, they would never trade them for cash.

But now…

After working themselves to exhaustion—

Jiang Ye had made money through the Duel Room, and instead of thinking about trading away a Survival Stone, he now just wanted to get one ASAP to ensure he could clear the Beginner Apartment.

On the flip side, the others had begun to think—

Plenty of people had already died anyway, so there must be leftover Survival Stones.

And after working their butts off for just a tiny bit of money, barely managing to pay rent, they could hardly afford to eat.

So why not just cash in a Survival Stone early and improve their quality of life?

At that moment, as soon as someone said they’d found a Survival Stone…

The previously quiet chat group instantly blew up:

【For real? You found a Survival Stone? @Yang Xiaoman】

【Where’d you find it? Give us the details, how’d you get it? @Yang Xiaoman】

【What does a Survival Stone look like? When we all meet on the first floor for the Mutual Aid Group meeting, show us! @Yang Xiaoman】

That’s right—the person who said they found one was a classmate named Yang Xiaoman.

However, Jiang Ye had no memory of that name whatsoever.

Sure enough, a few Class 1 students asked:

【Wait, is this Yang Xiaoman from our school? I’ve never heard of her. Could she be like those two new players, from another apartment?】

But that message was quickly shut down by Class 2 students:

【Class 1, don’t be ridiculous! Yang Xiaoman is in our Class 2! She just transferred here less than a month ago, so she hasn’t had time to get to know many people!】

A few other Class 2 students who hadn’t remembered her at first also started to recall:

【Ohhh right! Now that you mention it, I remember—there really is a girl like that in our class! Super slow, like a sloth, kinda short, always sitting in the last row.】

【Yeah, I remember now too… but something feels off… emmm, did she really find a Survival Stone?】

You Ziyu:

【Yang Xiaoman doesn’t seem to be part of the Mutual Aid Group. I don’t have her listed in the member registry.】

【Seriously? Now I’m really starting to doubt whether she actually found one!】

【Maybe she just wanted some attention since no one really notices her.】

A few guys with a habit of running their mouths started openly questioning Yang Xiaoman in the chat.

Of course, it was also possible they were trying to bait her into sharing more info about the Survival Stone.

But after that one message claiming she found one, Yang Xiaoman stayed silent for quite a while and didn’t respond to any of the buzz in the group.

Seeing that, the classmates got even more suspicious, thinking she was just trying to make a scene.

The debate didn’t last long, though.

To everyone’s surprise, Wang Lingling suddenly spoke up:

【I’ve talked to Yang Xiaoman before. She’s not the kind of girl who would lie just to get attention. So I believe she really did find a Survival Stone.】

With Wang Lingling backing her up, the doubters naturally quieted down.

Wang Lingling then tagged her directly:

【Xiaoman, are you hesitant for some reason? Don’t worry—we’re not going to force you to hand over the Survival Stone you found on your own.】

【I know you haven’t been here long and aren’t close with many classmates, so maybe it’s hard to trust everyone. But… would you trust me? @Yang Xiaoman】

【If you do, join the Mutual Aid Group. I’ll have your back. @Yang Xiaoman】

【And if you really don’t want to join, would you be willing to at least share some info about how you found the Survival Stone?】

【Or you could leave me a secret message—I’ll come find you. @Yang Xiaoman】

Gotta say, when it came to calming girls down, Wang Lingling was way better than the bunch of clueless guys.

Just from her tone in the chat, you could feel her warmth and patience.

The others all stayed quiet, letting her take the lead.

Jiang Ye was also watching intently, hoping Yang Xiaoman would share the details of how she found it.

But instead of spilling the info, Yang Xiaoman replied calmly and rationally:

【Actually, I hadn’t planned to say anything about finding the Survival Stone.】

【But now that over ten of our 80 Beginner Players have already died…】

【I feel like I need to remind everyone—】

【If we truly want to find as many Survival Stones as possible, we really shouldn’t keep killing people at random.】

【Because if I’m not mistaken—】

【Each one of us who’s still alive corresponds to one Survival Stone.】

【And finding the Survival Stones of those who’ve already died is extremely, extremely difficult.】

【In other words, every time a player dies, the odds of locating their corresponding Survival Stone drop significantly.】

And with that, her message ended.

The chat went quiet again for quite a while.

Anyone with half a brain could see—Yang Xiaoman’s message was clearly aimed at Yang Wenchao!

After all, no one in their apartment had killed more people than he had.

Right before this, he’d even killed several girls who had wanted to reunite with their families.

But from that perspective, some classmates started doubting again.

Maybe Yang Xiaoman never found a Survival Stone—maybe she just brought it up to send a warning to Yang Wenchao?

Jiang Ye, however, was more inclined to believe she wasn’t lying.

From her wording, it was clear she referred to everyone as “players” instead of “classmates,”

which showed that, just as she said, she hadn’t formed emotional connections due to her short time at school.

Her logic made sense too.

And if she were lying, she’d have to consider—

What if Yang Wenchao actually knew the real situation with Survival Stones?

Yang Wenchao had already shown abilities and knowledge far beyond the rest of the class.

If Yang Xiaoman were bluffing, would she really dare assume her story could fool him?

So most likely—she wasn’t lying.

Which meant, if she was right…

Then each player corresponds to one Survival Stone.

A living player has a much higher chance of finding their own stone.

But once the player dies, it becomes much harder to locate that specific one.

Thinking from that angle…

Where would a Survival Stone be hidden?

The first thing that came to Jiang Ye’s mind—

was the apartment.

More specifically, the initial apartment room assigned to each person.

But the problem was—

All 80 students had probably turned their initial apartments upside down when they first arrived.

Jiang Ye had too.

And none of them, himself included, had found a Survival Stone.

So, maybe it wasn’t the apartment? Could it be tied to each person’s identity info instead?

Or were there hidden mechanisms in the rooms they hadn’t discovered yet?

As Jiang Ye pondered this, the rest of the chat group was also murmuring with scattered discussions.

Some were doubtful, some speculating, others directly calling on Yang Xiaoman to share more info.

But no matter how patiently Wang Lingling tried to guide the conversation, Yang Xiaoman didn’t post another word.

Meanwhile, classmates were starting to head down to the 1st floor in small groups.

And Jiang Ye’s Replica No. 1 had already followed the white-robed girl to the rooftop, carrying a huge water tank filled with exactly 10,086 strands of hair.

By the time he returned to Room 2064, the ten-minute time limit had already passed.

According to the white-robed girl, that meant he’d get a bad review.

Still, a bad review was better than getting the order canceled and having to pay a Penalty Fee.

And honestly, the “bad review” threat seemed more like an intimidation tactic than anything else.

When Replica No. 1 returned, the white-robed girl’s face mask was gone, and she had changed into a loose, white bathrobe.

Looked like she’d taken a shower during that ten-minute window.

Even though the robe was dry, she still looked like she was wrapped in a layer of damp mist.

Her long, black, straight hair that had once resembled Sadako’s was now completely wrapped in a towel.

When she saw Jiang Ye return late, she gave him a sideways, blade-sharp glare.

But in the end, she didn’t say much—just told him to bring the hair-care toolbox and the water tank, and follow her to the rooftop.

Of course, they didn’t take the Red Light Elevator up.

Instead, she used the same ultra-wide-screen TV she had originally “appeared” from, like some horror movie ghost.

By the time Jiang Ye got back earlier, the TV screen that had been shattered was already perfectly restored.

When she was ready to take him to the rooftop, she simply pressed her hand against the screen.

Then told him to place his Cleaner badge on the screen too.

Honestly, Jiang Ye had been a little nervous.

After all, he had literally seen her crawl out of that TV like Sadako.

Luckily, this was just a C-tier Replica.

He mustered up some courage and pressed the badge to the screen.

Suddenly, it felt like a powerful suction pulled him in!

In the blink of an eye, he was surrounded by a forest of leafless, lifeless trees.

Each branch had pure white bed sheets hanging from them—

And some of those sheets were stained with eerie red splotches…

The trees looked totally dead, radiating a cold, ghostly vibe.

The whole place felt like something out of a horror film.

And yet, the white-robed girl was totally calm as she strolled among the creepy trees.

She led him around until she picked out one particular white sheet that wasn’t stained red.

Then she pressed her hand against it and gestured for Jiang Ye to press his badge to it too.

Gotta say, Jiang Ye was pretty bold.

Even in that terrifying environment, he made a point to remember which tree and sheet she had picked.

He quietly cooperated and pressed the badge again.

Once more, he felt that suction sensation—

And the scene around him shifted instantly.

The gloomy, horror-movie atmosphere vanished in an instant—

Replaced by a blinding, radiant sunlight that made him squint reflexively.

In the apartment, whether it was the brightly lit 1st floor lobby, the dim corridors, or the pitch-black Red Light Elevator,

you basically never saw any sunlight.

Jiang Ye hadn’t been in the apartment that long,

but the sudden sensation of sunlight genuinely made him feel like he was alive again.

Even his main body—currently lying limp on the bed in Room 2025 from the strain of controlling three Replicas—

felt an unexpected sense of comfort.

If he wasn’t still holding that huge water tank full of hair, he would’ve loved to stretch out and bask in the sun!

That creepy, ghost-like white-robed girl—

now basking in the sun, looked totally content.

She adjusted the towel wrapped around her head and looked up, sighing:

“This sunlight is so rare… My little hair strands, you’re in for a treat today!”

That “little hair strands” nickname… yeah, that one gave Jiang Ye serious goosebumps.

The white-robed girl then pointed at him and instructed:

“Out here around the edge, apply hair oil to my 10,086 strands one by one, and lay them out in the sun. Once that’s done, your job’s complete.”

Jiang Ye squinted into the light, finally adjusting to the sun, and took a good look at what she called the rooftop.

It was huge.

And the area he was in now seemed to be what she called the “outer ring.”

The whole outer ring resembled a massive square corridor, with elegant marble flooring and plenty of sunlight.

In the center, surrounded by this outer ring, was what you might call the “inner ring.”

The floor there was pitch black, made from some unknown material.

And all over the square-shaped inner ring were half-human-height black consoles.

Some of the consoles clearly had owners—random items lay scattered on top, or strange unknown objects were spread out to dry.

Others looked untouched—clean and unused.

Jiang Ye started to wonder:

Was this what Huang Qi had meant when he talked about transferring to other apartments via the rooftop?

He really wanted to check out one of the unused consoles.

But the white-robed girl seemed to only want him to operate within the marble-floored “outer ring.”

No choice.

After a moment of thought, Jiang Ye decided to finish the cleaning job first.

At the same time, while Replica No. 1 applied hair oil strand by strand under the sunlight—

Replica No. 3, still in Room 2025, began inspecting the TV in his apartment.

Since Replica No. 3 was also a valuable asset,

he swapped it out for a cheaper Mirror Replica and had it poke and prod the huge screen in the living room.

Jiang Ye wanted to see if the TV in his own apartment might also have hidden functions.

Maybe it was a key item in finding a Survival Stone?

But no matter how much the Mirror Replica touched or pressed, the TV didn’t respond at all.

Then he thought of the work badge.

But the only badge he had in the apartment belonged to his main body.

The newly generated Replica No. 3 hadn’t gotten a badge yet.

And risky stuff—he definitely wasn’t letting his main body handle that.

Especially when he was still paralyzed and weak.

Meanwhile, Replica No. 2 had finished eating and was heading toward the High-End Mall.

He wanted to see if he could buy some stat-boosting fruits to raise his main body’s attributes.

But just as the bald-headed Replica No. 2 approached the High-End Mall—

a figure in a black tactical jacket stepped in front of him.

“Hold up, classmate.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep