Chapter 266: Chapter 266

Jiang Ye took the black talisman with some surprise in his heart.

He directly asked Zhou Yuling, "Isn't this strange? With Lin Ling's strength, couldn't she handle Qu Xing herself?"

"If she acted personally, not only would it be faster and more precise, but she could also save this talisman, right?"

Zhou Yuling glanced at him, "You clearly haven't realized how terrifying the [Time-Limited Instant Kill] is."

"The effect of [Time-Limited Instant Kill] is negligible for ordinary players. After all, they can revive after death and continue fighting Qu Xing."

"But for some players under special circumstances, its threat is terrifying."

"What counts as special circumstances?"

"For example, Huang Bo, who has a bounty on him. Using [Time-Limited Instant Kill], one can claim the bounty rewards without paying;"

"Or take Administrator 4444—in his undead state, he's practically unkillable. But using [Time-Limited Instant Kill] can strip him of his administrator privileges!"

"Because according to the apartment's judgment system—players lose their privileges upon death."

"But the false death caused by [Time-Limited Instant Kill] can fool the apartment system's judgment!"

"In other words—the death is fake. But temporarily losing administrator privileges is real."

As she spoke, Zhou Yuling gave Jiang Ye a look that said, "Figure it out yourself."

Jiang Ye immediately understood, "So that's how it is!"

"So Lin Ling's administrator privileges are powerful! She's afraid that..."

Before he could finish, Zhou Yuling interrupted, "Just keep it to yourself. No need to say it out loud."

"Also, don't be so casual calling her 'Lin Ling.' Address her with respect like I do—Left Alliance."

"Fine, fine, Left Alliance." Jiang Ye nodded repeatedly, then pinched the talisman and asked, "Then these talismans of Left Alliance's... couldn't they be granted by her administrator privileges? What's her identity? Talisman Master? Talisman Artist? Taoist Priest? Taoist Nun?"

"..." Taoist nun your ass! Taoist nun your whole family!

Zhou Yuling was speechless, "That's none of your business."

"Alright then." Jiang Ye didn't press further and asked again while holding the talisman, "So how do I use this talisman? Just throw it at someone's forehead?"

As he spoke, he mimed throwing it at Zhou Yuling's head.

Zhou Yuling quickly waved her hands, "Stop. You can't just throw it. You need to activate it using your innate ability or Glyph Pattern Ability."

"Oh right, you're not even Level 10 yet... In that case—"

"Try sealing your mouth, nose, and breathing, then focus on sensing."

"If your innate ability is primarily spirit-based, you'll feel a slight warmth in your head."

"Correspondingly, if it's primarily physique-based, you'll feel warmth in your abdomen."

"After sealing your breath, do you feel like you're suffocating?"

"Use that suffocating feeling to channel the warmth in your head or abdomen."

"Of course, if you feel warmth in both your head and abdomen, I suggest focusing on the head."

"Because some newbies below Level 10 trying to activate physique-based abilities for the first time... might accidentally fart..."

"...Pfft—cough cough."

Jiang Ye couldn't hold back and exhaled sharply, choking on his own breath and coughing violently.

Zhou Yuling scooted away from him, her face full of disgust,

"Are you using the coughing to cover up your farting?"

"..." What the hell?! Is this girl even decent?!

Jiang Ye coughed a few more times while holding his throat, unable to resist retorting, "Are you some hairy dude wearing a female mimic mask?"

"Tch. Are you saying I don't seem like a girl?"

Zhou Yuling gave him a disdainful sidelong glance and said coldly, "Then let me make it clear—the kind of girls you think are 'girly' either become playthings for the strong or are already dead."

"Can't handle hearing the word 'fart'? Then you haven't adapted to what 'might makes right' means!"

"When someone far stronger than you tells you to eat shit, you either die or eat it obediently and praise its flavor. What would you choose?"

Though her words were crude.

Jiang Ye, having inherited Zhang Minghan's memories, knew she spoke harsh truths.

The survival conditions of the weak in this apocalyptic environment were far beyond Jiang Ye's understanding.

Even beyond the understanding of most strong individuals.

Back in the rule-of-law society, Jiang Ye had heard of the "dark web."

In this lawless environment...

The extreme ugliness ordinary people never encountered in civilized society was now exposed and inflicted upon the weak.

At the same time, the weak had no dignity, no rights to speak of.

So everyone, regardless of personality, had to fight, snatch, and grow stronger.

Just as the ancients realized—the backward will be beaten.

This was indeed an eternal truth.

Jiang Ye was fortunate to walk among the "strong," but at heart, he was still a kind and simple honor student.

The twisted scenarios the weak endured made him uncomfortable just thinking about them.

So he quickly stopped dwelling on it.

He didn't argue with Zhou Yuling either and instead sealed his breath again.

Actually, based on Zhang Minghan's memories, he knew—

Players above Level 10 could easily activate their innate abilities.

And using abilities to activate items was far more powerful than when newbies below Level 10 did it.

The difference was like a child playing with toys versus Guan Yu wielding his glaive.

Including post-Level 10, players' skill effects were significantly stronger than pre-Level 10!

However, leveling from 10 to 11 wasn't as simple as killing monsters.

It was like upgrading from [Nameless Black Iron] to [Stubborn Bronze] in the training room—players had to pass a trial.

And the trial had to be accepted in the secret realm tower of the Doomsday Apartment.

So the level cap for newbies in the Novice Apartment was Level 10.

Thus, veteran players were practically bullying newbies!

Still, players below Level 10 could forcibly activate innate abilities.

It just required self-exploration and came with heavy costs.

Fortunately, Jiang Ye's Clone No. 1 had three stacked innate abilities and had long maxed out his attribute fruits.

After just two quick attempts, he successfully channeled the warmth in his head.

Guiding that warmth to activate the talisman, he immediately sensed that the seemingly ordinary talisman now felt different!

It had become part of his body.

He could control it, stick it wherever he wanted!

The feeling was probably like "object manipulation" in xianxia novels, right?

Maybe he could even sword-fly in the future?

Though he knew the energy cost for sword-flying would be absurdly high.

Probably even higher than Clone No. 1 using Light and Shadow Escape.

Jiang Ye's level was too low, so after testing the talisman activation, he withdrew his innate energy.

He asked Zhou Yuling again, "I get how to activate it, but how do I retrieve it after sticking it to someone's forehead?"

"Is it also activated to retrieve? If someone else picks up a puppet I've stuck the talisman to, can they retrieve it by activating it?"

"Of course not." Zhou Yuling shook her head repeatedly. "This talisman essentially seals a player's consciousness within it."

"As long as the consciousness remains sealed, the talisman can't be removed."

Jiang Ye nodded and pressed, "Then how do you release the sealed consciousness?"

But Zhou Yuling shook her head again, "That involves complex rune knowledge on the talisman. At your current level and strength, explaining it would be pointless." Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn Nov3lFɪre.ɴet

"So just leave the unsealing to me."

"Your job is to seal Qu Xing and bring him back."

Jiang Ye was instantly speechless!

Why the hell would I seal Qu Xing?!

The whole reason I wanted this talisman was to learn how to unseal it!

And now you're telling me everything except how to unseal it?!

Jiang Ye was at a loss for words.

But one thing was certain—

Sticking the talisman was easy; removing it was hard.

Trying to remove the talisman from Administrator 4444's forehead on his own would be difficult.

Not only would it require stronger ability activation, but also knowledge of runes...

Jiang Ye remembered that Lu Fang, Lu Shen's younger brother, had an S-grade [Rune Mastery] innate ability!

And his skills included a B-grade [Rune Analysis]!

Could it decipher the runes on Lin Ling's talisman?

Jiang Ye's mind began racing.

Clone No. 1 stopped pestering Zhou Yuling.

However, just as he was about to bid her farewell to go practice acting with Qu Xing...

The entire 4444 Apartment suddenly underwent a drastic change!

To be precise, this change had been set in motion the moment the corpse puppets arrived.

In the other dozen-plus apartments where corpse puppets had appeared, administrator clones in fused states were battling them.

But in the 4444 Apartment, two corpse puppets stood like impartial judges, coldly staring at Zhang Jintian.

Zhang Jintian's scalp tingled, his body stiffened, but he could do nothing.

And as the earlier corpse puppet had said—

It gave Administrator 4444 three minutes.

If he didn't appear in three minutes... bear the consequences yourself!

Now, three minutes had passed, and with the talisman still stuck to Administrator 4444's forehead, he naturally couldn't appear.

The corpse puppets battling administrator clones in the other apartments suddenly stopped.

They too stood like impartial judges, their stiff, pitch-black eyes gleaming coldly.

Their dry, broken voices, rusted yet authoritative, spoke simultaneously across different apartments:

"We'll deal with you later!"

With that, the corpse puppets suddenly burst into flames!

Sapphire-blue flames, seemingly icy, soon emitted the scent of incense ash.

Then, layers of grease oozed from the burning corpses.

The grease quickly merged into the flames, leaving the talismans unharmed.

The previously ordinary talismans suddenly glowed with deep blue light!

In the blink of an eye, the talismans seemed to dissolve into that deep blue, vanishing entirely.

The dozen-plus administrator clones all frowned.

Meanwhile, the two corpse puppets in the 4444 Apartment suddenly had the same deep blue flicker in their pitch-black, lifeless eyes.

The talismans on their foreheads fluttered without wind.

As they swayed, they emitted a bone-chilling coldness.

Zhang Jintian, already stiff with fear, shuddered violently.

The interrogating corpse puppet suddenly cast him an icy glance and uttered:

"Now, it's time to demonstrate 'bear the consequences yourself.'"

With that, the corpse puppet suddenly raised its hand and swallowed the other puppet holding the crystal ball whole...

Yes! It swallowed it clean in one bite!

All the invading corpse puppets were suddenly reduced to just one!

That sole remaining corpse puppet suddenly pressed a hand to its forehead.

The talisman on its forehead seemed to dissolve into deep blue, merging into its body.

Then, it wiped its hands over its eyes, plucked out two sapphire-blue eyeballs, and smashed them onto the ground!