Chapter 243: Chapter 243
Although Chen Cang felt his scalp tingle and goosebumps rise all over his body just from hearing the words "AIDS," he couldn't help but admire that this kid "Lu Renjia" really had some skills.
Collecting blood was indeed a good habit.
He decided he would start doing it too!
With that thought, he glanced at Jiang Ye again, thinking to himself—he would observe the direction this secret realm took for a while.
If this "Lu Renjia" was hiding malicious intentions and eventually became experience for him, then he would collect his blood as well.
By the way, those two tubes of blood suspected of being from AIDS patients would also end up in his hands.
Chen Cang calculated this in his mind but kept a calm expression, nodding to signal Jiang Ye to go ahead and try.
So Jiang Ye first took Yang Wenchao’s blood, a tiny drop, and placed it on the mirror surface.
That drop of blood quickly fused into it and disappeared.
Immediately after, the entire mirror shattered completely.
The connected adjacent hexagonal space suddenly appeared before their eyes.
Seeing this, Chen Cang sighed, "Looks like any blood will do."
Saying that, he dashed to the next hexagonal space.
Jiang Ye hurried after him.
This next hexagonal space was still empty.
And the shattered mirror quickly restored itself to its original state.
After walking through an unknown number of hexagonal spaces, Chen Cang seemed to have gotten used to it.
He walked toward the mirror on the opposite side again: "Continue, try another bottle of blood."
Jiang Ye nodded and this time applied Wan Xin’s blood.
The result was the same.
The mirror still shattered, and shortly after they passed through, it restored itself again.
However, at this moment, Jiang Ye’s expression suddenly froze for a moment.
Chen Cang asked him, "What’s wrong?"
Jiang Ye nonchalantly replied, "I remember the void mirror palace that connects Apartment 9669 and Apartment 6996 has a special central area."
"Players inside that area are neither identified as members of Apartment 9669 nor Apartment 6996..."
"In the game, many players studied that area, but no one ever figured out much."
"I was just thinking, since this mirror palace secret realm looks so similar to the void mirror palace..."
"Could the central area of this secret realm also have some special characteristics?"
"But these six-sided hexagonal spaces make it hard to tell direction..."
"We don’t even know if the direction we’re going now leads to the central area."
He put on a serious face, pretending to think hard about how to break through the secret realm, explaining away his sudden odd expression.
But in truth, the real reason for his strange expression was—
He sensed a new clone!
Of course, if it were just a simple new clone, Jiang Ye would have long been used to it.
Because different clones might simultaneously interact with different people,
He was already accustomed to staying calm. One clone took care of its own tasks,
While the other clones’ situations were known through shared consciousness without causing him worry.
He wouldn’t reveal any flaws in his expression due to something happening with another clone.
So the reason his expression was slightly off just now was because—
This new clone was related to the current task of his light clone!
In that hexagonal space where he had stayed for a long time just now—
A clone seemed to have appeared out of thin air!
How did this clone suddenly appear?
Which player was impersonating him?
But that’s impossible! There shouldn’t be any players in that hexagonal space at the moment!
Then, if it’s not a player...
Could it be some other strange thing?
Jiang Ye didn’t dare act rashly and continued following Chen Cang.
Chen Cang didn’t seem to care much about his thoughts and said casually, "Who cares if there’s a special central area or not."
"We just explore everywhere, and naturally, we’ll find something new."
"Even if the direction we’re going isn’t towards the center, maybe the outermost edges of this beehive-shaped mirror palace have some special characteristics?"
This guy was clearly confident because of the Protagonist Halo.
Jiang Ye wouldn’t argue and just followed his lead to continue moving.
After getting used to it, their pace quickened.
What they didn’t know was...
More accurately, what Chen Cang didn’t know was—
In the mirror space where Jiang Ye stayed as "Lu Renjia" for a long time...
Shortly after they left,
A mirror humanoid suddenly condensed out of nowhere!
That mirror humanoid was exactly like "Lu Renjia."
It stayed in the mirror palace as if "Lu Renjia" had never left at all.
Moreover, it didn’t just stand still.
It would lean close to the mirror surface, mimicking the research gestures "Lu Renjia" made when in the mirror palace.
While studying, that thing even pressed its nose against the mirror.
Then, a barely noticeable blood mist quietly slipped into its nostrils.
The fake Lu Renjia inhaled the blood mist, showing a look of extreme enjoyment on its face.
Then its eyes darkened briefly.
Its gaze then targeted the mirror with Yang Wenchao’s blood that Jiang Ye had touched.
It leaned close again, pressing its nose to the mirror and happily inhaled another blood mist.
Next, this thing walked straight toward the mirror.
The mirrors that Chen Cang and Jiang Ye needed blood to break open—
This fake Lu Renjia acted as if the mirrors didn’t exist at all.
It first merged into the mirror, then passed through directly to the next hexagonal mirror space.
There, it repeated the same routine, pressing its nose to the mirror stained with Wan Xin’s blood.
This time, the expression of enjoyment was even more obvious!
Its eyes suddenly brightened several degrees.
It was like a hungry wolf enjoying a delicious feast!
Then it started following the direction Jiang Ye and Chen Cang had gone.
Chen Cang and Jiang Ye kept applying blood to the mirrors to break them.
Fake Lu Renjia followed behind, sucking the blood from the mirrors.
Chen Cang was completely unaware of this. The source of thɪs content is Novᴇl_Fire(.)net
Jiang Ye, however, knew through the clone connection that a clone was "tracking" him.
Naturally, he wouldn’t say anything and obeyed Chen Cang’s commands.
Every time, they walked toward the edge opposite the hexagon.
It was basically a straight line with no encounters along the way.
When they finally reached the target mirror, applying blood but still couldn’t break it, Jiang Ye exclaimed:
"What? What’s going on? Could we really have reached the outer edge of the void mirror palace?"
"What now? Should we study how to break this mirror? Or change direction and explore other mirrors?"
Chen Cang was decisive. He barely thought for ten seconds before making a decision:
"You study how to break this mirror here. I’ll return along the original path and try."
"If this really is the outer edge of the mirror palace, then returning along the original path should lead to the central area you mentioned before."
"If you find a way to break this mirror, send me a message."
"If I find the special central area, I’ll send you a message."
Chen Cang spoke casually, but Jiang Ye actually wanted to return along the original path.
He could also check out what was going on with that extra clone.
However, he didn’t cause trouble with Chen Cang and nodded without hesitation.
He even flipped his hand and took out two glass beads.
He kept one for himself and handed one to Chen Cang: "Take this voice transmission bead, boss. If anything happens, we’ll keep in touch."
The voice transmission beads were obtained from Zhang Minghan, and Jiang Ye had quite a few, so he didn’t mind giving one away.
Chen Cang took the bead without saying much and returned along the original path directly.
Jiang Ye was left behind, tapping casually on the unbreakable mirror.
Compared to studying how to break the mirror, he was obviously more interested in how this mirror palace hexagon created new clones for him.
Did you need to stay inside one hexagon for a long enough time?
Or were there other trigger conditions?
Chen Cang, who returned along the original path, had barely moved a few hexagons when he unexpectedly ran into the fake Lu Renjia who had been following and sucking blood all along!
At its birth, the fake Lu Renjia still looked somewhat glassy and not quite human-like.
But as it absorbed more blood mist, it looked more and more real!
When Chen Cang first saw it, he didn’t even react in time and shouted, "Lu Renjia? How did you end up here?!"
But Chen Cang was no fool.
After locking eyes with the fake Lu Renjia for a few seconds, he quickly reached a conclusion:
"No! You’re not Lu Renjia!"