Chapter 156: Chapter 156

Unlike human players, who could possess multiple Glyph Pattern Abilities,

Wu Ying, as an Eerie Player, was inherently limited to just one Glyph Pattern Ability!

So, once that single ability was crippled, an Eerie Player was basically done for.

Generally speaking, there’d be no coming back from that.

But Wu Ying, of course...

You could call him unlucky, but when luck turned in his favor, it was downright ridiculous.

In theory, Eerie Players could undergo a process called "Tattoo Cleansing" to completely erase their existing Glyph Pattern Ability.

After that, they could attempt to channel another Eerie to acquire a new ability.

But in reality, both steps were life-threatening trials.

A Glyph Pattern Ability, at its core, was a form of Eerie Soul Power.

To remove it entirely meant cleansing the soul itself!

The entire tattoo-cleansing process was incredibly dangerous—

Almost on par with a human player acquiring ten Glyph Pattern Abilities!

Keep in mind, even the most elite VIP players in the Doomsday Apartment usually only had seven or eight abilities.

Those with nine were extremely rare.

As for ten? Wu Ying had never even heard of anyone with ten, let alone confirmed they existed.

That alone showed how insanely difficult it was for an Eerie Player to cleanse their tattoo.

It was a thousand times harder than Wu Ying ever becoming a dream-achiever.

And on top of that, having become a cripple, it was nearly impossible for Wu Ying to find a reliable player willing to help with the procedure.

So, when memory-Wu Ying decided to go through with it...

Even he didn’t believe he’d survive.

He told others he was going for a tattoo cleanse—

But in reality, it was nearly the same as giving up on life. Chapters fırst released on novel[f]ire.net

That near-impossible event actually happened to him.

He really did manage to cleanse his Fleshweaving ability—

But the second step—obtaining a new Glyph Pattern Ability—was equally brutal.

Eerie Players couldn’t be possessed twice, so they couldn’t acquire a second ability the same way.

Even without his previous ability, Wu Ying’s nature as an Eerie remained.

And for an Eerie to be possessed by another Eerie? That was basically instant death.

The only way forward...

Was to call down an Eerie into his body while standing at death’s edge.

And that kind of survival rate? Even lower than tattoo cleansing.

But again, that near-zero probability...

It was during that do-or-die moment that he acquired a brand-new Glyph Pattern Ability: Phantasm Parasitism.

Come to think of it, the ability suited him well—

It, too, was something you could only obtain through high-risk, high-reward situations.

So, having turned the impossible into possible, Wu Ying instantly bounced back from despair.

He felt like he was chosen by fate!

After all, he beat such absurd odds!

If that wasn’t divine favor, what was?

He felt like a main character—

Crushed by setbacks, only to make a grand comeback!

At that point, Wu Ying was more fired up than ever—

Even more so than when he had first entered the Doomsday Apartment.

At the time, he still had no intention of joining Duoe.

He was determined to keep raiding Secret Realms, level up fast, and take revenge on the veteran who screwed him over.

He joined one third-rate Secret Realm org after another—

The kind where the entire team wiped out every single run.

He believed that through grit and his “Chosen One” luck,

He’d definitely rise quickly.

Every run brought more misfortune, more brushes with death...

And in the end, before he could get much stronger,

He was crippled again.

Yes, Wu Ying was back to square one.

This time, he was infected with an untraceable Dark-type Curse.

It caused his Phantasm Parasitism ability to stall at Tier 3, unable to progress.

And he had no clue how to break the curse.

What made it worse was—

Phantasm Parasitism’s first three tiers only increased the number of identities he could replicate.

It wasn’t until Tier 4 that the ability not only doubled his Eerie count but also boosted resurrection priority—

Meaning he could resurrect at higher Death Priorities!

So being stuck at Tier 3 essentially crippled the ability’s full potential.

In those memories, when Wu Ying realized this...

He was devastated, questioning his entire existence.

What if he tried tattoo cleansing again?

If he truly was fate’s favorite, maybe he’d survive again?

What kind of "Chosen One" gets this unlucky??

Clearly, the countless failures in Secret Realms,

The repeated beatdowns after being crippled,

And all the bad luck that clung to him—

Had gradually crushed his spirit.

In the end, Wu Ying stopped gambling.

Even if he succeeded, there was no guarantee the new ability would be better than Phantasm Parasitism.

But if he failed... he’d be dead for real.

Was just like most idealistic young men who eventually got worn down into numb middle-aged shells.

Like all Run Tus who would, in the end, bow their heads and cry “Master.”

Eventually, the cruel reality broke him.

He gave in, gave up, resigned himself to fate...

He accepted the lack of privacy, the soul-searching.

He joined the group that Doomsday Apartment players joked was the retirement home: Duoe.

Low risk, low reward—

The core was comfort.

Through Wu Ying’s memories,

Jiang Ye now had a decent grasp of how Duoe operated.

The org always maintained over ten thousand regular members,

So it counted as a top-tier force in the Doomsday Apartment.

It was also a very unique organization.

Unlike others, Duoe had no competitors.

The Secret Realm orgs had the Four Giants, constantly competing.

The resurrection-based orgs had Three Giants, dominating the field.

The Glyph Cultivator orgs that helped players awaken abilities had Four Major Guilds, setting the industry standard.

But only Duoe monopolized its field—Duel Rooms—with just one organization.

And Duoe was deeply mysterious.

Even after joining, regular members had zero access to the org’s core.

And those who became core members...

Vanished. They were never seen interacting with regulars again.

There were conspiracy theories in the Doomsday Apartment—

That core members were sacrificed the moment they were promoted, dying quietly and without a trace.

But the more popular theory was—

Every core member received a shared new identity: Duoe.

Yes, all of them became “Duoe.”

They shared that single identity and jointly ran the entire organization.

Supporters of this theory believed—

In any normal top-tier org,

You’d expect not just ten thousand regulars,

But hundreds of VIP players.

Duoe’s regular members had zero VIP players.

So those must be hidden among the core, shared-identity members.

Otherwise, without that many VIPs backing them,

How could a single organization dominate the entire industry?

And because it had total monopoly, no one could even get a foot in the door.

The number of VIP players in the outside world’s speculation about the Duoe Organization varied widely—

Some guessed 200, some guessed 500, and the more outrageous even said over a thousand.

In any case, while Duoe might look like a chill retirement group,

Its position in the Doomsday Apartment remained mysterious, unique, and absolutely unshakable.

As for Duoe’s business operations, they mainly fell into three categories—

First, dealing with new players through Win Streak Blocker sales and Win Streak Packages.

Second, everything related to veteran player battles—duels, sparring, wager matches, and so on.

The third was a bit more unusual, referred to as "Guiding the Fated Ones".

Or more accurately—"Guiding the Resourceful Ones" (有元人).

Any player in the Doomsday Apartment who was willing to spend money could buy services from Duoe.

As long as the price was right, anything was possible—

Fake matches, fame farming, revenge contracts, Secret Realm coaching...

And so on, and so on.

If it could be solved with money, Duoe would take the job.

Of course, the prerequisite was: the money had to be worth it.

Since Wu Ying’s Phantasm Parasitism was stuck at Tier 3,

He could only handle business on the new player end.

The other two arms—dealing with veterans and handling monetary contracts—

He only knew a rough outline, with no insider access.

Aside from that, Wu Ying’s memories finally helped Jiang Ye understand what VIP players really were.

As the name implied, VIP players were a privileged subset of players.

And they mainly came from the three core ranking boards in the Doomsday Apartment:

The Combat Power Ranking, the Survival Ranking, and the Secret Realm Ranking.

The first two were easy to understand—ranked by Combat Power and Survival Points.

The Secret Realm Ranking was based on cumulative points from Secret Realm runs.

Each board had 10,000 slots, so in theory, up to 30,000 VIP players could exist.

But in practice, the boards could overlap.

One top player might appear on all three—Combat, Survival, and Secret Realms.

Such a player was referred to privately as a VVVIP.

A player on two boards could be called a VVIP.

Of course, these were just terms players used among themselves.

In official Doomsday announcements, only “VIP” was used.

Because one player could occupy up to three board slots,

The actual number of VIP players was less than 30,000.

Wu Ying had once heard rumors while in the Asura Organization—

That there were other ways to become a VIP player,

Though someone at his level would never come close to that knowledge.

In short, VIP players were the ones sitting at the very top of the Doomsday Apartment hierarchy.

Symbols of identity, wealth, power, and privilege.

The kind of players ordinary ones could only dream of becoming.

Naturally, they enjoyed all kinds of special perks.

From what Wu Ying knew—

VIP players could post Announcements,

Found first-tier organizations,

Access higher floors of the Apartment,

Gain certain privileges in Secret Realm Apartments,

And even get interest-free survival point credit loans.

And, as Jiang Ye was already familiar with—

They could fuse Beginner Apartments.

Though, in truth, fusing Beginner Apartments wasn’t as simple as just spending a privilege point.

Because right before being teleported to the Secret Graveyard,

The members in Wu Ying’s Duoe Group Chat had been discussing the fusion of Apartment 4444 and Apartment 1010.

At that time, they only knew that the fusion was happening.

They hadn’t yet learned the outcome.

Still, just like the Administrator,

They all assumed 4444 would come out on top—there was no suspense there.

What everyone was really debating was the VIP player who triggered the fusion—Mo Chayuan.

Because VIP players also had the ability to hide their names on the ranking boards,

Not all VIPs were publicly known.

In fact, nearly half of all names on the three boards were anonymized.

So, this was the first time many Duoe members had even heard the name “Mo Chayuan.”

What really caused a stir, though,

Was when a seasoned player in the group dropped this bombshell—

"This is insane! Completely insane! I just confirmed it with a VIP I know—Special Apartments like 4444 can’t be fused by regular VIPs at all!"

"So this obscure guy Mo Chayuan is most likely a VVIP, or even a VVVIP!"

"And Apartment Fusion isn’t just some privilege you spend—it comes at a cost!"

"In all previous years, there’s NEVER been a fusion involving a Special Apartment!"

"This 4444 fusion is totally bizarre! And this VIP Mo Chayuan must be something else!"

"Could he be at the level of an Apartment Boss, trying to save 4444 from early destruction by pulling off a fusion as a last resort?"

Tong Sang’s theory got widespread agreement from the other Duoe members.

But from his Administrator perspective, Jiang Ye knew—

The one who contacted Mo Chayuan was likely the 4444 Administrator himself.

Based on Jiang Ye’s earlier analysis,

4444 and the Apartment Bosses were enemies.

So there was no way Mo Chayuan was an Apartment Boss.

Maybe 4444 had already planned to save itself via fusion all along.

They just hadn’t chosen the right target.

Then Jiang Ye showed up—so 4444 went with the flow?

And judging by how much these Duoe members were hyping up Mo Chayuan,

It was clear he was no ordinary VIP.

So how exactly had 4444 met this mysterious VIP and convinced him to act?

Naturally, Mo Chayuan became one of Jiang Ye’s top-priority people to track.

And beyond that, Jiang Ye also uncovered another intriguing bit from Wu Ying’s memories—

The VIP player Yu Yuewan,

Who had previously fused Apartment 1008 and 1010.

Jiang Ye had barely noticed her name back when it appeared in the Fusion Announcement.

But now, he suddenly realized—

Yu Yuewan had participated in Duoe’s “Eye That Sees Heroes” event...

And had predicted early on that Jiang Ye would become this year’s Rookie King!

The h*ll?! Coincidence?

Did this VIP notice him during a duel and then choose to fuse his apartment?

Or had she been watching him from the very start?

Jiang Ye had a hunch... it was probably the latter.

After all, before the apartment fusion,

He had only fought a handful of duels in the Duel Room.

Maybe only the one against Xing Xiu—a Three-Win Streak—

And the one with Zhao Yudie, which was only slightly noteworthy.

Was that enough to get him noticed by a VIP?

What was it that drew her attention from the beginning?

After going through all of Wu Ying’s memories,

Jiang Ye just felt mentally drained.

He briefly organized the information in his mind.

Meanwhile, elsewhere,

Replica No. 1, who had split off from Yang Wenchao and Wan Xin,

Had gone to meet up with the White-Clad Woman.

He was ready to collect the Phase Two task reward from her,

Then arrange for a Replica to enter the Personal Instance.

Following the apartment fusion, the White-Clad Woman was once again in Room 2064.

Also in her room was a figure in red—

More precisely, the red-clad Guan He was now a Reincarnated Eerie.

When Replica No. 1 Jiang Ye arrived at Room 2064,

The White-Clad Woman immediately barked at him:

“You really sent that Light-type Player into the Administrator’s PK Battle Arena?!”