Chapter 158: Chapter 158
Jiang Ye thought to himself—
I am the hidden Light-Type Player, isn’t that obvious?
But then he suddenly shuddered!
He remembered that in some novels he’d read, there was a type of ability called mind-reading...
He wondered—could something like that exist in Doomsday Apartment??
Whether it did or not, he decided—
Better to cut down on inner monologues from now on...
He needed to act like a mature and steady person!
With that in mind, he completely lost interest in arguing with Guan He and instead spoke into the glass orb again:
“If you dare weasel out of it, don’t blame me for flipping the table on you!”
As he said this, he suddenly glanced at Guan He and warned coldly: “Hold it. Don’t you dare transform!”
“…” Guan He really held her breath, nearly choking. She couldn’t help coughing a few times.
From the glass orb, Little Bai’s voice finally came through, with a hint of helplessness:
“Alright, alright. I’ll deliver it.”
With that, the massive TV screen in Room 2064’s living room suddenly began to flicker.
Light and shadow interlaced, and all kinds of images seemed to flash across the screen.
Only, the flickering was so fast it was hard to make out what those images actually were.
The way the screen flashed looked exactly like a classic ghost movie scene with a haunting spirit.
As Jiang Ye’s attention was drawn to the flickering screen, a familiar system prompt sounded in his head:
【SSS-Tier Confidential Quest Phase Two: Kill the Apartment Trader (SS-Tier)】
【1. Survival Points ×500】
【2. Golden Treasure Chests ×10】
【3. Abyssal Veil (Incomplete)】
【4. Chaos Furnace (Incomplete)】
【5. Fortunes Turn (Incomplete)】
【Special Setting by Yinsu: Phase Two rewards will be delivered upon quest acceptance】
【Quest Failure Penalty: None】
【This phase is mandatory and has been automatically accepted.】
The familiar tone and structure were just like the prompts from Phase One.
Once again, the White-Clad Woman had pre-set the Phase Two rewards in advance.
And these rewards were way more generous than Phase One!
Even though the last three items all had the word “Incomplete” attached to them—
Jiang Ye already knew—
Wang Chengjin’s Mercy of the Reaper had “Incomplete” in its name too!
And that item could reverse time!
That had already blown Jiang Ye’s mind.
Any item marked “Incomplete” probably wasn’t simple! Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net
They were likely one-time-use items, but absurdly powerful!
Aside from those three unfamiliar incomplete items—
The treasure chests this time weren’t just Golden-Tier, which couldn’t even be bought with game coins.
There were ten of them!
And on top of that, he got 500 Survival Points!
Sure, when dealing with the Apartment Trader, 1 Survival Point could only be exchanged for 100,000 game coins.
But that’s just the official price.
Usually, only total newbies during early game would foolishly go to the Trader to convert points.
Or losers with no connections, who couldn’t earn game coins on their own—those kinds of small fries might try it.
But anyone with a bit of network could easily sell 1 Survival Point for over a million in private trades!
So 500 Survival Points equaled five hundred million in game coins!
And realistically, among top players, game coins were worthless—only Survival Points were recognized as real currency!
For example, in the Administrator Trading Zone, nobody used game coins for trades.
At this stage, Jiang Ye’s economy should definitely upgrade from game coins to Survival Points.
And now with an extra 500 Survival Points, whether he used them to create more replicas or trade for high-tier items, he wouldn’t be strapped anymore.
He’d previously gotten a piece of info from Huang Qi.
Once a player’s Survival Point assets passed 100—
If they encountered the Apartment Trader again, they wouldn’t just be able to exchange points for coins—they could also trade for items.
The Replica Reflection Mirror was something Huang Qi had exchanged from the Apartment Trader!
Huang Qi was already dead, and Jiang Ye still had many unanswered questions about him.
But if he could meet the Trader, maybe he’d learn more about the details and secrets of how Huang Qi got that Replica Reflection Mirror.
At the same time, Jiang Ye himself could start trading for items.
Better skill scrolls, attribute fruits, even powerful gear—he could start stocking up!
If he really had what it took to kill the Apartment Trader—
Then wouldn’t he be able to skip paying altogether, and just loot everything off the corpse?
Wouldn’t that be a straight-up jackpot?!
No wonder in cultivation novels, people always killed others to steal their treasures.
Just thinking about it, Jiang Ye felt the truth in that old saying—“Kill and burn for a gold belt.”
Jiang Ye had technically killed two Administrators now.
He got a ring from killing 1010, and inside were not just a Substitution Badge, but a bunch of other goodies.
But after killing the 4444 Administrator in the PK Arena, he’d only gotten a cross—nothing else.
Of course, before that, acting as Huang Bo, he’d also helped Little Bai kill 4444 and received an item for mass-producing replicas.
That proved the 4444 Administrator had been wealthy.
But Jiang Ye hadn’t gotten any of his assets from the PK battle…
So maybe that guy had hidden his stash before the fight?
When Jiang Ye went to look for the Raven Egg later, maybe he could check around to see if 4444’s hidden assets could be found?
Just as he was thinking that—
The flickering TV screen suddenly emitted the White-Clad Woman’s voice again:
“Speaking of which, in previous Beginner Apartments, there have been Administrator deaths—more than once, in fact. It happens nearly every batch.”
“But the Apartment Trader has never been killed by a player.”
“Even old-timer players who arrive on Day 8—none of them ever dared mess with the Trader.”
“You probably haven’t heard of any cases either, where a player has killed the Trader.”
He didn’t need the White-Clad Woman to say it—he could already imagine—the Apartment Trader had to be insanely powerful!
After all, he carried tons of Survival Point-based items.
If he didn’t have the strength to protect them, how would he still be alive?
And if even veteran players didn’t dare target him...
Then the Trader’s strength was probably even more ridiculous than Jiang Ye had imagined.
Maybe even stronger than the 4444 Administrator?
Then again, it might not be sheer power—
He might just be really hard to kill.
Jiang Ye kept analyzing the situation in his head.
Sure enough, he heard the White-Clad Woman continue explaining:
“And at its core, the reason why the Apartment Trader is even harder to kill than an Administrator is—”
“His mobility is insane.”
“I don’t know the exact ability,”
“But what I do know is—”
“The Apartment Trader can instantaneously travel across all Apartments, on any floor!”
“That’s right! In an instant—his speed is comparable to Huang Bo’s Light and Shadow Escape!”
“No! More accurately, it should be even faster than Light and Shadow Escape!”
“After all, Light and Shadow Escape is only as fast as light traveling through space…”
“But the Apartment Trader’s movement—should be a terrifying spatial teleportation ability.”
“Between two points, sure, light is the fastest.”
“But with space abilities, those two points can be overlapped, the distance eliminated—so the speed naturally exceeds light!”
Ah, so that’s how it is…
Jiang Ye listened, and found himself suddenly interested in spatial abilities.
He had a Spatial-type Replica too.
But it probably couldn’t compare to the Trader’s level.
“The Phase Two reward, Abyssal Veil (Incomplete), is an item specifically designed to counter space abilities.”
“With it, you can effectively restrict the Apartment Trader’s mobility.”
“But even with that, the Apartment Trader is still extremely difficult to kill.”
“Based on speculation among us Reincarnated Eeries—”
“The Apartment Trader not only has powerful space abilities, but likely also possesses a large number of replicas, along with multiple resurrection mechanisms.”
“It’s very possible—you think you’ve killed him, but it was only one of his Replicas.”
“Some of those Replicas might even have resurrection capabilities themselves!”
“And unless you completely kill both the Trader and all of his Replicas…”
“It doesn’t count as a true kill.”
“He could rise again at any moment, thanks to a hidden Replica you didn’t even know existed!”
As she said this, the White-Clad Woman’s tone was filled with deep wariness.
But Jiang Ye, on the other hand, was stunned!
Dmn! If what she said was true…
Then the Trader’s ability was almost identical to his own!
As long as a Replica survives, the Trader lives…
He could reappear at any time from some hidden clone…
Sht! That’s basically himself!
If it were just that their abilities were similar, it wouldn’t be a big deal.
After all, the White-Clad Woman had said that Replica abilities weren’t all that rare.
Maybe the Apartment Trader had an SSS-tier Replica Ability?
But what freaked Jiang Ye out was—
If the Trader had such overpowered Replica skills...
Why the hell would he sell the Replica Reflection Mirror, an item that boosts Replica abilities, to Huang Qi?!
No way he didn’t know how powerful the item was, right?
Thinking of this, for the first time, Jiang Ye found himself more curious about the mysterious Apartment Trader than even the Apartment Boss!
His brain started spinning, and he immediately asked the White-Clad Woman for more info:
“So what exactly is the Apartment Trader’s background?”
“Is he just one person, with tons of Replicas roaming through the Beginner Apartments?”
“All these seasons of Beginner Apartments—and it’s always been the same guy?”
“The Survival Point items he holds, and those Survival Jade Tokens he gives players—where do they come from?”
“Does he have a superior? Are those items meant to be sold to players, or can he use them himself too?”
A barrage of questions.
The White-Clad Woman could clearly see Jiang Ye was now very intrigued by the Trader.
She wasn’t surprised.
After all, Jiang Ye also had a Replica ability.
And the Trader’s ability clearly dwarfed his own.
So it made sense for Jiang Ye to be curious.
Thinking this, she answered patiently:
“As for the Trader’s origins, I don’t really know.”
“But he’s definitely gone through more cycles of the Beginner Apartment than I have...”
“From what I know, his spatial and Replica abilities are the ones we Reincarnated Eeries have confirmed.”
“As for what other hidden powers he might have—nobody really knows…”
Jiang Ye listened and felt speechless.
Just a moment ago, he’d thought the Phase Two quest rewards were generous.
Now he couldn’t help but scoff—
You expect me to kill the Apartment Trader with this measly reward?
The f***? That’s basically daylight robbery!
The White-Clad Woman seemed to sense his thoughts and continued soothingly:
“Yes, the Apartment Trader is strong. The unknown Replica count and resurrection methods are indeed despair-inducing.”
“But really, you don’t have to be so pessimistic.”
“Because you already have the perfect trump card against him—Light!”
“That’s right! Light! The suppression Light has over Dark-type players is beyond your imagination.”
“You’re not a Dark-type player, so you wouldn’t feel it yourself.”
“But real Dark-type players? They don’t just fear Light physiologically—more importantly, they’re completely suppressed!”
“Take the Trader for example…”
“No matter how many Replicas or resurrection tricks he’s got…”
“If even one of them gets touched by Light Scorch, it’ll stick—and he’ll never shake it off!”
At that, Jiang Ye’s eyes lit up. He quickly confirmed with her:
“If even one of his Replicas gets marked by Light Scorch…”
“Then all of them will be marked?”
“And even after death and resurrection, the mark won’t go away?”
The White-Clad Woman affirmed: “As far as we know, there’s currently no method that can remove Light Scorch.”
No wonder Dark-type creatures always run from the light!
God really played favorites, huh?
When He said, ‘Let there be light’, He clearly didn’t give a dmn about the dark side’s feelings!
Jiang Ye snarked inwardly, but couldn’t help asking:
“I heard the core members of the Duoe Organization all share the same identity—‘Duoe.’”
“If one of them gets infected by Light Scorch, does that mean they all get infected too?”
The White-Clad Woman hadn’t expected such a mental leap, but still answered patiently:
“That would depend on the actual connection between the various Duoe identities.”
“If there really is some special link, then yes—Light Scorch might infect all of them through one body…”
“Which reminds me—you’d better be careful too.”
“If you ever become a Dark-type player, the same thing will apply to you.”
The White-Clad Woman hesitated for a moment, then cautiously added: “Aren’t you a Dark-type player?”
Clearly, she wasn’t entirely sure.
She had called Jiang Ye “filthy” before.
But she’d also seen that he wasn’t afraid of light...
Could his Replica Ability really separate his types that cleanly?
The White-Clad Woman had her own suspicions, but Jiang Ye didn’t offer any answers.
After accepting the Phase Two quest rewards, he was about to ask the White-Clad Woman about that “surprise” she’d mentioned earlier—
But just then, he suddenly sensed—
He’d just gained… no! Two more Replicas!