Chapter 242: Chapter 242

A whole wall-sized glass mirror shattered instantly, scattering shards all over the floor.

The originally sealed six-sided space suddenly gained a gap.

On the other side of that gap was a figure inside another six-sided space—

It seemed that Chen Cang was the one who broke the mirror connecting these two six-sided grid spaces!

Jiang Ye had specifically followed Chen Cang into this Mirror Palace secret realm.

Suddenly running into him now, his pupils constricted sharply.

His mind raced, countless thoughts flashing by.

But in the end, he didn’t run away.

He intended to speak to Chen Cang, but the shattered mirror shards suddenly began to move, reforming into the original mirror surface.

Great, the two six-sided grid spaces that had been connected instantly reverted back into a single sealed space.

Jiang Ye openly showed his shock, glancing at the restored mirror and then back at Chen Cang.

Chen Cang neither moved nor spoke; he just stared at him, seemingly lost in thought.

So Jiang Ye took the initiative to speak:

“Chen Cang? You’re Chen Cang, right?”

“How did you break the mirror? And how did it restore itself after breaking?”

Chen Cang remained silent for a while, then finally spoke calmly:

“How do you know my name is Chen Cang? I don’t remember introducing myself.”

Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow but was straightforward:

“Well, when I showed my data panel, you should have seen it—I have a skill called [Detection Technique].”

“Although the level isn’t high... but you probably didn’t deliberately hide your panel, right?”

“So... I saw everything.”

“Saw everything?” Chen Cang gave a faint, ambiguous laugh. “So, any thoughts?”

Jiang Ye saw him smile and smiled back, though cautiously, but his words were unreserved praise:

“You’re seriously incredible!! I’ve never seen such an awesome and magnificent data panel!”

“That lineup of talents surpasses what most experts have!”

“And that lineup of skills—you’d even need to ‘click to expand more’ to see them all!”

“Not to mention! SSS-level talents! I can’t even imagine!”

“I’d bet you’re the only one in the entire Novice Apartment with SSS-level talents!”

“Even if others have SSS talents, they probably hide them like scared turtles, afraid to reveal anything!”

“But you, your talents aren’t just amazing—they’re totally fearless of being envied! Seriously! Epic!”

To be honest, Jiang Ye had been a student before, not very sociable, and naturally never did this kind of flattering.

But recently, after obtaining Zhang Minghan’s memories, it opened a new world for him!

He used to despise people who flattered and kissed up to others.

But now it’s different; he thinks Zhang Minghan’s ideas make sense—

This isn’t called flattering.

This is providing emotional value!

In the survival apartment where the strong prey on the weak, many weaklings flatter the strong, hoping to latch onto a powerful ally.

But among all those bootlickers, only Zhang Minghan managed to clear the Novice Apartment.

Why? Just because he could adapt?

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More crucial than adaptability was his deep understanding of how to “provide emotional value.”

Most bootlicking is superficial.

Though the words sound good, often they don’t provide emotional value and instead generate disgust toward those brown-nosers.

True flattery that provides emotional value doesn’t make others feel you’re deliberately praising them.

Instead, it makes them feel you are genuinely shocked and in awe of their strength: “Wow! You’re amazing!! How did you do that? QAQ”

This genuine emotion is what provides real emotional value.

Not just any praise anyone can say.

Jiang Ye’s current admiration was filled with emotional value, fully satisfying Chen Cang’s vanity.

However, the stronger someone is, the higher their vanity threshold.

So these few compliments naturally wouldn’t be enough to make Chen Cang say something like, “You’re good, I got your back from now on.”

In fact, Chen Cang’s face showed no emotion change; he just stared at Jiang Ye a bit longer and said:

“Do you believe you won’t ‘meet a bad end’ because you have goodwill toward me?”

“Or do you think since I have the [Non-Action] skill, I won’t make the first move against you?”

Jiang Ye pretended to be startled, then answered: “Both!”

“I definitely have goodwill toward you, so I won’t meet a bad end.”

“And your [Non-Action] skill means you won’t kill me first if I don’t provoke you.”

Indeed, Chen Cang knew this kid was right.

Although the [Protagonist Halo] made him very lucky,

the [Non-Action] ability prevented him from starting trouble.

He could only wait for others to cause trouble, then defend himself.

This ability wasn’t bad at all.

He had summarized from experience—

Usually, people he disliked would provoke him first, allowing him to defend himself and reap benefits.

This kid was an exception.

When he first bumped into him outside Room 6996 of Apartment 9669, he already felt annoyed by this “Lu Renjia.”

At that time, Chen Cang had a premonition—

This kid was probably going to cause trouble.

Another experience package delivered, Chen Cang was quite pleased.

He even looked forward to this experience package bringing some real treasure.

Yet now meeting this kid again,

At first glance, he still disliked him.

This kid sincerely praised him.

And judging by his demeanor...

He didn’t harbor malice, but goodwill?

Chen Cang suddenly felt this kid wasn’t so annoying after all.

So, could one’s moral judgment of a person change?

Chen Cang didn’t figure it out but didn’t care.

Since gaining [Protagonist Halo], he didn’t bother thinking much.

Fate’s god would handle his troubles anyway.

And now, this kid really wasn’t causing trouble.

Thinking this, Chen Cang glanced at Jiang Ye again.

He walked over to the opposite mirror and finally answered Jiang Ye’s initial question:

“I’ve briefly studied this Mirror Palace secret realm—”

“Unlike the original Void Mirror Palace, the six mirrors on each side here cannot be broken by brute force.”

“However, they can be shattered automatically by dripping blood on them.”

Jiang Ye also walked over and asked, “Can blood shatter all six sides?”

Chen Cang nodded: “I tried; all six sides can be shattered.”

“But after shattering, the mirror will restore itself in about half a minute. Just like you saw just now.”

So that’s how it was, Jiang Ye nodded slightly.

This secret realm was indeed similar to the previous Void Mirror Palace.

But in the Void Mirror Palace, one or two of the six mirrors on each grid cell could be passed through.

So it formed a honeycomb maze.

Here, according to Chen Cang, all six sides could be passed through...

Then it wasn’t really a maze anymore.

And there were no wild monsters in this secret realm.

No fighting, no puzzles... then how was this secret realm supposed to be played?

While Jiang Ye pondered, Chen Cang took the initiative:

“Since you mean no harm, let’s work together.”

“My current idea is to explore; maybe some grid cells differ.”

He thought for a moment, then added, “I have a vague feeling it’s best not to stay too long in the same grid cell.”

Then he looked at Jiang Ye: “How long have you been in this cell?”

Jiang Ye said, “I pretty much jumped into this silver-white vortex right behind you, then got stuck here ever since.”

Chen Cang frowned slightly, stared at Jiang Ye a few more times, then sighed: “Forget it, let’s leave here first.”

Okay, Jiang Ye nodded, ready to wait for Chen Cang to demonstrate breaking the mirror.

But Chen Cang hesitated and said to him:

“You should have noticed—I have bloodline talents and a blood curse Glyph Pattern Ability.”

“So my blood might be different from others’.”

“I’ve verified it; my blood definitely causes the mirror to shatter automatically.”

“But I’m not sure about others’ blood.”

“So now you try—put your blood on the mirror and see if it shatters.”

Jiang Ye thought, My blood is precious!

In this apartment, he either kept a low profile when weak or went to crush others when strong.

He hadn’t bled due to accidents.

But he had bled voluntarily.

Previously soaking the lucky bracelet, he gave a bowl of blood;

And feeding Xiao Hei and Qu Xing, that also counted as voluntary bloodletting.

When he went to Room 6996 of Apartment 9669 to “rescue Huang Bo,” he faced Wang Hai and Wang Lin and used Xiao Hei’s Glyph Pattern Ability [Blood Mist Dispersion].

And at that time, it seemed he stealthily injected two streams of blood mist from Chen Cang’s nostrils and eyes into his body during their conversation. (Chapter 124)

But to avoid detection, those blood mist amounts were tiny.

And that wasn’t his original blood but blood mist from his clone merged with Xiao Hei and using Glyph Pattern Ability.

Jiang Ye soaked his lucky bracelet and gave a bowl of his own blood;

The blood fed to Xiao Hei and Qu Xing was also from his original body, and in considerable amounts.

Compared to that, the tiny amount used to secretly harm Chen Cang probably did nothing.

But who knew? Maybe it worked?

Maybe it already affected Chen Cang?

Speaking of Chen Cang’s bloodline talent and blood curse Glyph Pattern Ability—could it be related to Jiang Ye’s blood?

Jiang Ye thought quietly but showed no expression.

The “protagonist” had spoken, so his little brother naturally obeyed.

But he didn’t plan to use his own blood directly.

Because if his blood really had some special property, and a single drop stained the mirror, causing a big event or opportunity...

Then Chen Cang, who was here with him, would just casually snatch his opportunity!

What a joke! He’d truly become an experience package for the protagonist!

So Jiang Ye pretended to cooperate, ready to test with his blood.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, his eyes brightened:

“If we’re doing experiments, I have better blood here!”

He flipped out two reagent vials.

One vial was full of blood;

The other was half full, obviously used.

Chen Cang looked surprised: “Whose blood is this?”

Jiang Ye grinned: “I always thought this Novice Apartment was full of strange creatures, pretty uncanny.”

“So when I rarely got into conflicts, I deliberately collected blood.”

He held up the half-empty vial: “This blood supposedly came from an AIDS patient.”

Chen Cang’s face stiffened, the corner of his eye twitched slightly.

He even instinctively stepped back half a step.

Jiang Ye then held the full vial: “This blood came from a suspected AIDS patient.”

“He first said he had it, then said he didn’t; I don’t know for sure, but collecting a vial of blood isn’t troublesome.”

“Perfect for our experiment now—we can see if the two blood samples have different effects.”