Chapter 238: Chapter 238

From the moment they started discussing killing Huang Bo to claim the bounty, Zhou Yuling had been deep in thought. Now facing Jiang Ye's question, she still wasn't in a hurry to answer, remaining immersed in her own contemplations.

When she finally snapped out of it, she didn't respond directly. Instead, without any warning, she suddenly raised her hand. A dark talisman paper went "whoosh" and stuck onto Jiang Ye Clone #1's forehead.

In that instant, Clone #1 completely lost consciousness. More precisely, it was as if the consciousness within this clone had been sealed away - unable to sense its own body or anything from the outside world. This state was exactly like how Ge Ge's clone had been sealed by Lin Ling.

Even its appearance rapidly stiffened like Ge Ge's sealed clone, turning puppet-like. Then, the talisman-stuck puppet quickly shrank until it was only about two inches tall - roughly the size of the talisman itself.

This abrupt transformation was witnessed in its entirety by the useless clone sitting on the other side of the sofa. Though initially shocked, it quickly calmed down.

Sure enough, Zhou Yuling simply told the useless clone, "I'll find a more secluded place to talk with you," before vanishing.

The other clones weren't particularly worried about Clone #1. After all, its condition was similar to Ge Ge's clone that Lin Ling had captured. Stick on the talisman, and the player turns into a portable mini-puppet; remove it, and they return to normal. It seemed to be that domineering woman's method of collecting players like items.

When Jiang Ye's Ge Ge clone had been controlled, he'd sensed that merging some clones over could probably break free from the talisman's effects. But to avoid provoking the woman, he hadn't attempted it. It was just a useless clone anyway - no harm letting it be a tool puppet.

Now with Clone #1, Zhou Yuling was clearly emulating Lin Ling's methods - using this approach when moving players around.

The vibrations beneath him confirmed it was indeed a vehicle. Zhou Yuling sitting across from him nodded directly: "The Mist Train..." Then she corrected herself, "To be precise, just a single abandoned carriage."

This completely shocked Jiang Ye again! He pulled aside the window curtain to look outside, but could see nothing through the thick fog enveloping everything. The mist was clearly outside the window - impossible to wipe away.

Turning back to Zhou Yuling with wide eyes, he asked, "The Mist Train... so you've dragged me into the mist?!" Other than that previous scene of "Jiang Ye clones everywhere," it was rare to see him so astonished.

She felt quite pleased by his reaction but quickly explained, "We are indeed in the mist, but we can't leave the carriage or determine its destination." Though she could tell Jiang Ye had many questions, she offered no further explanations.

Instead, raising her hand to change the subject, she said, "Don't worry, I brought you here for one simple reason - conversations here can't be spied on by anyone. This makes it easier for us to discuss how to kill Huang Bo and claim the bounty."

Without waiting for his questions, she waved her hand and began producing various items. "This—" she shook a pure black glass bottle containing what appeared to be dark liquid, "Shadow Abyss Bottle. What looks like dirty water inside is actually liquid shadow. It can distort light and, when splashed on Light, disable Light and Shadow Escape."

Jiang Ye knew about this - it was the same "dirty water" Zhang Minghan had used when ambushing Light. Zhang had nearly emptied his entire bottle during that attack, which Jiang Ye had found painfully wasteful. He hadn't expected this woman to have some too. Probably other players targeting Light carried similar items.

"This," Zhou Yuling picked up a small white porcelain bottle, "top-grade Light-Devouring Moth Powder. A pale phosphorescent powder from Abyssal Giant Moths. Spread it where Light might appear - if he touches it, the powder forms black patches that burn intensely in light form and hinder movement even after reverting."

"Next, Light-Corrupting Spore Capsule." She produced a strange mushroom-like plant. "Crush it to release spores that cause light to mildew within range."

"Then, Sun-Eroding Cocoon." A semi-transparent cocoon with shadowy outlines inside. "Trap Light inside, and he can't use light-based abilities."

"Also this, Rust Moon Veil..."

"Desecration Prism..." ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel⸺fire.net

Jiang Ye suddenly realized— his previous belief that Light and Shadow Escape was an ultimate survival skill was utterly laughable! Ultimate survival skill? More like ultimate death skill!

Every single item was designed to counter Light—specifically targeting Light and Shadow Escape! Any non-dark player with these tools could easily deal with a light user. Well, at least ordinary light users. Cheaters like Jiang Ye didn't count.

Now he understood why the light faction promoted light-dark hybrids. Light abilities were too easily countered! Without Glyph Pattern Abilities... once light powers were blocked, they'd have to rely on items. But if enemies had better items... Losing their light advantage and lacking glyph abilities would make winning nearly impossible...

No wonder players in the Doomsday Apartment, while fearing Light, never doubted veterans could handle light users. Veteran players' item collections completely outclassed newbies'.

But... watching Zhou Yuling casually produce this arsenal, Jiang Ye couldn't help frowning: "All these items counter light abilities, mostly targeting Light and Shadow Escape. But honestly, is all this really necessary just for that one skill?"

After brief consideration, Zhou Yuling explained: "You've probably only seen Huang Bo's Light and Shadow Escape, so you wouldn't know. His version is likely S-rank. But if he's hiding his true strength and it's actually SS-rank..."

Jiang Ye started: "What would SS-rank Light and Shadow Escape be like?"

"Extremely powerful and unpredictable," she stated firmly. "I don't know specifics, but as a high schooler, you must have heard the term—Invisible Light."

Initially, Jiang Ye took "Invisible Light" to mean "cannot be seen." But combined with her "high schooler" remark, he quickly realized— she meant the physics concept.

Light divides into visible and invisible spectra. Invisible light mainly includes infrared and ultraviolet, plus highly penetrating X-rays and gamma rays, as well as microwaves and radio waves for communication/radar...

This sudden physics lesson thoroughly disoriented Jiang Ye. According to Zhou Yuling, all electromagnetic waves counted as light?!

Right—he vaguely recalled a textbook stating: broadly, light refers to electromagnetic waves; narrowly, just the visible spectrum. His own SS-rank light affinity and S-rank skills had limited his understanding to the narrow definition.

But at higher levels... light meant electromagnetic waves in their entirety! Depending on wavelength, frequency, and "wave source," they could produce vastly different effects. Even the terrifying radiation from sci-fi movies could theoretically be achieved with sufficiently advanced light abilities!

Come to think of it, his Entropy Scythe felt like some form of light radiation—whatever it struck was utterly annihilated, even disintegrating...

Holy shit! Just moments ago he'd thought light abilities were weak, countered by so many items. But now he realized— his light clones were the weak ones, still limited to just three skills...

Light faction members were undoubtedly far stronger than Huang Bo. With higher-tier light affinity and skills... one radiation blast might surpass glyph abilities!

"This won't do!" Jiang Ye abruptly changed his tune. "These items aren't enough! Huang Bo has powerful backers! If he's hiding true electromagnetic wave-level abilities, these tools might not restrain him!"

Zhou Yuling wasn't surprised by his sudden concern. True, Huang Bo mainly threatened dark creatures. Most non-dark players considered light users weak—relying solely on Light and Shadow Escape to flee, otherwise helpless without it.

Only core Defenders' Alliance members like Zhou Yuling understood: truly powerful light users didn't just dominate dark types—they overwhelmed ordinary players too! Their strength bordered on fundamental forces... This was why the Alliance, including Lin Ling, humored Wang Hanmo—not out of respect for light, but for sheer power.

But Huang Bo, being new, clearly hadn't reached that level yet. After storing all the anti-light items into a spatial ring for Jiang Ye, she continued:

"Don't worry—while powerful light users are formidable, these items are more than enough for someone like Huang Bo."

"Damn it," Jiang Ye thought, "why so overconfident? Overconfidence is terrible when you're supposed to be my ally!" Fortunately, Zhou Yuling wasn't finished.

After some deliberation, she seemed to reach a major decision. Giving Jiang Ye a deep look, she exhaled heavily: "If just giving you these items was all, I wouldn't have needed to bring you to the Mist Train..."

Jiang Ye's heart raced—the real deal was coming!