Chapter 131: Chapter 131

Jiang Ye thought: Blood-related!

Closer than a real mom!

Of course, no matter how close he felt inside, on the surface, he still put on a serious face and argued:

“What do you mean I helped him break the Dark Spirit Barrier?”

“Where’d you hear that rumor? Totally slander!”

“I just realized what you told me before we signed the Contract was unreliable, so I went to Apartment 9669.”

“The reason I ended up in that room was because my classmate Lu Shen was there.”

“As for ‘breaking the Dark Spirit Barrier,’ that’s complete slander from Wang Hai and Wang Lin!”

“And the most important point—” Chapters fırst released on novelFirｅ.net

After laying out a string of reasons, he also presented the key evidence:

“You guys saw what happened at 4444, right?”

“Huang Bo has an insanely powerful weapon! It can tear through a Dark Spirit Barrier directly!”

“So he didn’t need me to save him at all!”

“If I had to guess, the ones spreading the rumor that I went to rescue Huang Bo are probably Wang Hai and Wang Lin!”

“They had a beef with me, so of course they’d talk sh*t about me!”

Gotta say, Jiang Ye’s defense actually sounded pretty reasonable.

The stuff at 9669—they had only heard about it verbally from Wang Hai and Wang Lin.

But to be fair, it wasn’t like Wang Hai and Wang Lin were totally making things up when they thought Jiang Ye was there to rescue Huang Bo.

Ouyang stayed silent for a moment, then said gravely:

“Wang Hai’s words were indeed one-sided.”

“But yours are as well.”

“Neither side is entirely trustworthy.”

“But based on what we know—”

“Huang Bo visited your 1010 Apartment and seemed to be hunting a player named Qu Xing?”

“And all that had nothing to do with you?”

Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow, his tone getting a little unfriendly:

“There are tons of players in 1010 Apartment, and there are also Reincarnated Eerie. Two players crossed over into 1010; why should that have anything to do with me?”

His attitude grew even more annoyed as he shot Ouyang a displeased look, then scanned the seven people inside the booth with a sharp gaze.

Only then did he say coldly:

“What gives you the right to interrogate me like I’m a criminal?”

“I went to 9669 because you guys lied to me before we signed the Contract.”

“If anything, I should be the one interrogating you!”

“When you guys requested to seal off 4444, the Light-type Replica wasn’t even in 4444.”

“The reason you gave—to kill the Light-type—was complete bullsh*t!”

“What exactly were you scheming? Targeting me? Or targeting the White-Clad Woman?”

A string of questions instantly shifted the momentum to his side.

Ouyang’s expression kept changing; he didn’t answer for a long time.

Instead, the booth’s barrier suddenly opened, and a slouchy youth inside spoke with a slightly cold tone:

“Come in. Let’s talk.”

Ouyang exchanged a look with him, then led Jiang Ye into the booth.

Jiang Ye didn’t hold back at all, swaggering in and slumping into a chair.

He locked eyes directly on the slouchy, sleepy-looking young man and spoke first:

“You guys should’ve heard everything I just said to Ouyang, right?”

“So? Are you going to keep interrogating me, or are you going to give me a reasonable explanation?”

Clearly, he had figured it out.

Among these eight people, this slouchy young man was the boss.

That’s why he locked eyes with him straight away.

However, the slouchy young man didn’t speak.

Instead, one of the other guys—an aggressive-looking, hot-tempered youth—snapped at him:

“Don’t get too full of yourself, Jiang Ye!”

“This is the Virtual Duel Space! No matter how strong you are, it’s useless here!”

Jiang Ye thought: How am I being arrogant?

I’m just sitting more relaxed, that’s all!

If being relaxed is considered arrogance...

No wonder the internet loves hyping up the whole ‘relaxed vibe’ thing.

At the same time, he analyzed from that hothead’s words—

These guys’ Duel Machines probably really had some kind of defense feature.

Normally you couldn’t fight inside the Duel Space.

But their Duel Machines were still sitting all over the 4444 Apartment.

It wouldn’t be hard for Jiang Ye to find them.

Yet, this guy, knowing Jiang Ye had strength, wasn’t scared at all...

That confidence probably came from the Duel Machines.

Hmph! Probably another trick by the Duoe Organization.

He noticed the slouchy young man didn’t bother to rebuke the hot-tempered youth.

A sneer flickered in Jiang Ye’s heart.

On the surface, his expression stayed cool as he raised an eyebrow:

“Looks like your Duel Machines are really something, huh? Even Huang Bo’s black scythe weapon can’t break them?”

He said it casually, but there was an undercurrent of threat hidden inside.

The hot-tempered youth immediately shot back: “And you still dare say you and Huang Bo aren’t in cahoots?! If you weren’t, why would you use him to threaten us?!”

Jiang Ye almost laughed out loud: “Dude, were you top of your high school reading comprehension class, or did you never even go to high school?”

“I used Huang Bo to threaten you? How?”

“Lin Jing, you tell me. Did anything I just said sound like a threat?”

Lin Jing stayed silent.

Because honestly, reading into someone's words is a whole art form.

Just like those exam questions where the test makers invent all kinds of 'author's intentions' the author never had.

Jiang Ye’s words could very well have been just probing about their Duel Machines' strength.

Even if he really was threatening them, it could just be him bluffing, using their suspicion of his ties to Huang Bo to intimidate them.

Lin Jing, getting called out, could only helplessly answer after a moment:

That tilted things in Jiang Ye’s favor.

Jiang Ye chuckled coldly at the hothead.

The hot-tempered youth was about to snap back again.

Finally, the slouchy young man made a move.

He didn’t scold either side; he just calmly tapped the low coffee table in the middle.

The hot-tempered youth immediately fell silent.

Only then did the slouchy young man look at Jiang Ye and introduce himself:

“My name is Zhou Qiming, considered one of the original residents of Apartment 4444.”

“‘Considered’?” Jiang Ye immediately latched onto the wording, “‘Considered’ as in what? Either you are or you aren’t. What do you mean, ‘considered’?”

Just as he finished speaking—

Just as things had finally quieted down, the hot-tempered youth suddenly snapped at him again: “Watch your mouth!”

“Tch!” Jiang Ye immediately shot back, “Were you being polite yourself?”

This time, the hothead was silenced by a sharp look from Zhou Qiming.

The moment he shut up, it was obvious he was still full of resentment.

The look he gave Jiang Ye remained hostile.

Jiang Ye couldn’t be bothered and turned his attention back to Zhou Qiming.

However, Zhou Qiming didn’t intend to answer his earlier question at all.

Instead, he simply said:

“I can believe you weren’t trying to threaten us with Huang Bo.”

“But if I’m not wrong, you and Huang Bo do have some kind of connection.”

Some kind of connection.

Through the Glass Orb and the White-Clad Woman, and also from what Huang Bo said in the Graveyard about sparing Wan Xin for Jiang Ye’s sake, Jiang Ye indeed had been building the impression that he and Huang Bo had a relationship.

But that information hadn’t been leaked to Zhou Qiming yet.

So how had this guy guessed it?

Could it be... there were surveillance devices in the Graveyard?

Maybe there really were!

Considering what the Eye of True Sight revealed, that Raven Egg was a Mythical-level item—it couldn’t possibly be discarded in the Graveyard like trash.

So there might really be surveillance in the Graveyard!

Fortunately, Jiang Ye had been cautious from the start, worried that the Administrator might be hiding nearby, and hadn’t exposed any real secrets.

Especially after Wan Xin came out, Jiang Ye had been even more careful.

Throughout, he and Huang Bo had stayed separated.

Even when there was no one else around, their interactions had been normal, without anything suspicious.

Thinking this, Jiang Ye decided not to deny Zhou Qiming’s “guess,” and straightforwardly admitted:

“There is some connection.”

“The White-Clad Woman wants to kill the Apartment Boss;”

“And Guan He, whom I met later in 9669, also wants to kill the Apartment Boss.”

“The three of us all hoped to ally with the Light-type.”

“So yeah, I did try to cozy up to the Light-type.”

“But our relationship is kind of like…”

“Emmm, like you and that idiot over there?”

He naturally meant the hot-tempered youth, jerking his chin toward him deliberately.

But before the hothead could explode, Jiang Ye grinned and clarified:

“I’m basically the idiot, and you’re basically Huang Bo.”

“Huang Bo says jump, and I wouldn't dare say anything else.”

“Even when he went berserk and wrecked 4444, putting me in danger since I didn’t have a Survival Stone, I didn’t dare complain.”

“To him, my only value is probably—when he runs into tough non-Dark-type players, I might be able to help out.”

As he said this, he casually glanced at the hothead again and muttered:

“But what’s this idiot’s value?”

It sounded like random trash talk, deliberately insulting the guy.

But actually, Jiang Ye was secretly speculating—

This hot-tempered youth, and the four other players clearly submissive to Zhou Qiming...

Were probably players Zhou Qiming had dug up from the Graveyard too!

Including Zhou Qiming himself…

Being called an "original resident" of 4444—what did that mean?

He hadn't explained what he meant by “considered.”

But Jiang Ye had a guess…

It might mean that this guy wasn’t a normal player who entered the Beginner Apartment at 0:00 on Day 1 of Game Time.

Instead, he might have been buried under those grave mounds long ago!

Maybe... he was a player from the previous generation?

In other words, a Reincarnated Player?

Jiang Ye remembered something Xing Man had once mentioned.

In the game, there had been a player who triggered a Server-wide Kill-on-Sight Order.

At the time, after the Kill Order was issued, that player was betrayed and killed by his own teammates.

The player who was marked for server-wide hunting wasn’t just killed in the game.

He also coincidentally “dropped dead” in real life.

Back when Jiang Ye first heard Xing Man talk about this, he didn’t know much about the game yet.

But now, having seen real revival happening in the grave mounds…

He couldn’t help but wonder—

Was that player, the one hunted and killed both in-game and in reality...

Someone who had entered the game even earlier than everyone else?

This Zhou Qiming... really did seem different from the others.

At first glance, with his dark circles and sleepy look, he seemed like a punk who’d spent three days straight in a net café.

But spending a little time with him made you realize—

There was a certain confidence, pride, and dignity to him, the kind that comes from growing up wealthy.

It wasn’t obvious, but it reminded Jiang Ye of Lu Shen, who had a similarly privileged background.

And if he remembered right, Xing Man had also said that the player who "suddenly died" was a rich second-generation kid, a heavy spender in the game.

While Jiang Ye was busy speculating over here,

Back at the Graveyard, Jiang Ye’s Light-type Replica was having new developments.

Or more precisely—Wan Xin.

That unlucky guy had dug up a second Resurrection Coffin!

Repeating the same method, the Light-type Replica flickered over, circling the coffin once with the Entropy Scythe.

But this time, even before the coffin was fully destroyed, there was no cry for help from inside.

Instead, before the coffin was completely broken, a black shadow suddenly leapt out, launching a fierce attack at Wan Xin!

In that instant, Jiang Ye really experienced firsthand Wan Xin’s "bad luck for himself, good luck for others" curse.

There were three people around the coffin, and Wan Xin wasn’t even standing the closest.

Yet the one attacked first was still him...

Luckily, with an Eerie Ability and S-tier Super Stamina, Wan Xin was way stronger than before.

A massive palm appeared in front of him—like some divine Buddha's Palm—trying to push the black shadow away.

The Light-type Replica reacted even faster, circling the black figure with Light and Shadow Escape, even exclaiming:

“You’re not afraid of me?!”

He could clearly feel the Dark Attribute from the black shadow, something Light normally despised.

Yet this Dark Being wasn’t scared of Light at all?!

The black shadow looked almost ghostly—no facial features, no human form.

If it hadn't come from the coffin, it would've looked like a regular Eerie Being.

But after being tightly wrapped by the Light-type Replica’s light-speed movements,

It froze, not daring to move recklessly.

Wan Xin let out a sigh of relief, though now that he was closer to the Light-type, he was also frozen stiff, heart pounding with fear.

While grappling with his instinctive terror, he suddenly heard a stiff yet steady voice coming from the black shadow:

“Being controlled by instinct is the nature of beasts.”

“The nobility of man lies in—restraining instinct, overcoming fear.”

“Light... huh, what’s there to fear?”

“I too was once Light.”

You were once... Light?!!

Those words were pure gold!

Jiang Ye’s interest was instantly piqued!

Could it be—he had guessed wrong?

Maybe Zhou Qiming wasn’t the player who triggered the Server-wide Kill Order.

Maybe it was this black shadow?!

And maybe the real-world sudden death was because he entered the game earlier than anyone else?!

But just as he was thinking that—

The black shadow suddenly said: