Chapter 282: Chapter 282

What do I think? Not much.

But Jiang Ye knew very well that even if he truly voiced his "I think," the White-Robed Woman would most likely reply, "I don't want your opinion, I want my own."

So he didn’t struggle or argue, instead nodding cooperatively and saying, "I think your analysis is spot on."

"However—" He shifted his tone, directing his gaze toward the third person still standing.

Yes, at this moment, on the entire radiation-soaked cratered ground, there were still three people standing—

The White-Robed Woman impersonating Zhou Yuling;

Jiang Ye impersonating Zhang Minghan;

And a round-faced young man.

That young man’s appearance was only average among this batch of Defenders, the kind easily overlooked in a crowd.

Previously, Jiang Ye hadn’t paid much attention to this little chubby guy.

But now, he took a closer look at the chubby guy and casually asked the White-Robed Woman:

"Isn’t there still a guy here who hasn’t expressed his opinion?"

"I’ll wait and see what he says."

So, the pressure fell onto the chubby guy.

The White-Robed Woman’s gaze followed naturally.

She also scrutinized the chubby guy carefully, and just like how she had treated "Zhang Minghan," she was rather unkind:

"Why haven’t you acted yet?"

The chubby guy carried the honest and sturdy aura of a simpleton.

He looked like someone without any tricks up his sleeve.

When questioned, he answered straightforwardly, sincerely:

"I did join the Defenders’ Alliance after a bone-washing process, that’s true, but my journey hasn’t been easy."

"Having suffered so many hardships and pains, I’ve grown to cherish my life even more."

"If I die carelessly, wouldn’t all the suffering I endured be for nothing?"

"So if you want me to believe your nonsense and explore this radiation soil, fine."

"But you have to go down first and show me how it’s done."

"If you dare go down, then I… I’ll follow!"

There was a “I’m weak, so I’m reasonable” kind of honest vibe.

His self-righteousness almost made Jiang Ye feel that as a strong person, one should yield to the weak…

He chuckled quietly to himself.

But the White-Robed Woman was genuinely angered into laughter by this chubby guy.

She sneered coldly, her aura surging fiercely, and she snapped without any politeness:

"Are you joking? Negotiating terms with me—on what basis?"

Her posture was exactly like Zhou Yuling when she was recruiting followers.

Jiang Ye’s heart tightened; he quietly watched the show.

But to his astonishment—

That honest-looking chubby guy, whether truly foolish or not, faced the clearly furious White-Robed Woman with unwavering fearlessness and replied:

"On what basis? Naturally, on the basis of strength."

Not only did Jiang Ye get shocked by this, but the White-Robed Woman was momentarily stunned as well.

She twitched the corner of her mouth and sneered condescendingly, "Strength, huh…"

"Are you saying you’re stronger than me?"

The chubby guy still looked honest and simple, but his calm and composed demeanor now gave off a vibe of playing dumb to hide his strength.

He slightly lifted his chin and said, "If you don’t believe me, you can try to make a move."

At this moment, the White-Robed Woman was appearing as Zhou Yuling.

Zhou Yuling, who followed Lin Ling, had developed a bold personality that resorted to fighting at the slightest provocation.

Without hesitation, the White-Robed Woman’s black hair instantly transformed into countless black snakes.

The black snakes moved with nearly imperceptible speed, swarming to attack the chubby guy!

Such a terrifying momentum would overwhelm an ordinary player!

Yet, the chubby guy finally showed something unusual.

His movements were slow and casual, just a simple wave of his hand.

But the speed of that move—

Jiang Ye quickly deduced—

In terms of speed, the chubby guy was faster than the White-Robed Woman!

And that wasn’t all; what shocked him even more—

Between the chubby guy’s casually waving fingers was a single Raven Feather!

Was specifically effective against Glyph Pattern Abilities!

At this moment, just like when Jiang Ye faced Zhang Minghan before,

The White-Robed Woman’s Glyph Pattern Ability was abruptly stripped away!

All her black snakes instantly vanished without a trace!

Even through the purple veil, even though the Abyss environment limited vision under the Owl’s Eyes, Jiang Ye still clearly sensed the shock in the White-Robed Woman’s eyes!

It was no wonder she was shocked!

The Raven Feather itself might not be that surprising to her…

But the fact that the chubby guy dared to use the Raven Feather on her was intriguing!

After all, "Zhou Yuling" was a Defender!

Defenders did not have Glyph Pattern Abilities.

They used Glyph Pattern tools to mimic those abilities.

But now, the chubby guy confidently used the Raven Feather…

This indicated he recognized that she was using a Glyph Pattern Ability, not a Glyph Pattern tool!

He might have even figured out she wasn’t really Zhou Yuling!

This chubby guy… truly was playing dumb to hide strength!

Jiang Ye silently admired him.

But he wasn’t too surprised.

After all, if the chubby guy dared to stay until the end and still refused to explore the radiation soil, he was either truly foolish or actually something impressive.

Jiang Ye leaned toward the latter.

Now that the White-Robed Woman and the chubby guy were fighting, Jiang Ye was more than happy to watch from the sidelines.

At this point, he even thought—

In this situation, if he went to the Mask Master’s shop, the White-Robed Woman probably wouldn’t find any fault with that.

But right now, instead of going for a mask, he preferred to enjoy the show.

After the White-Robed Woman’s Glyph Pattern Ability was stripped away, she immediately threw a talisman paper at the chubby guy.

Jiang Ye was very familiar with that dark talisman paper.

It was crafted by Lin Ling’s hand, the kind that could lock a person’s consciousness and turn their body into a miniature puppet!

Jiang Ye’s pupils suddenly widened!

Even facing the talisman paper, the chubby guy remained unfazed!

In fact, he seemed to have anticipated the talisman before it was thrown, closing his eyes early!

Jiang Ye had been stuck by that talisman paper before, so he knew its power very well!

Almost as soon as players saw it, their whole body was immobilized!

That terrifying pressure made it impossible for players to make any resistance!

Yet now, the chubby guy simply closed his eyes calmly and shouted at the talisman paper, "Break!"

The talisman paper that was about to stick to him exploded!

At this moment, both the White-Robed Woman and Jiang Ye were stunned!

Jiang Ye recalled that when he asked Zhou Yuling for that talisman paper, Zhou Yuling mentioned it had two major drawbacks.

One hidden drawback she hadn’t told him about.

She only revealed that if the hidden drawback was mastered, even players with the lowest stats could evade the talisman’s control.

Judging by the chubby guy’s reaction now—

The hidden drawback must be that if a player doesn’t see the talisman paper, they won’t be affected by its terrifying pressure and have a chance to avoid it?

But it’s really hard for ordinary players to use this hidden drawback to dodge the talisman.

After all, eyes are the most important tool in a fight.

When the talisman is thrown, it’s hard not to see it.

So the only way is, chubby guy, to predict in advance and close your eyes beforehand?

However, even if avoided, the talisman paper itself is hard to destroy!

Yet this chubby guy, using some unknown method, easily blew up the talisman paper!

Could it be that he also has a Rune Mastery talent?

In the blink of an eye, the Glyph Pattern Ability was stripped away, the powerful talisman paper was exploded…

The White-Robed Woman instantly fell into a disadvantage!

Visibly, the chubby guy’s strength was indeed superior to hers!

Jiang Ye continued watching the fun, curious if the White-Robed Woman had any other tricks up her sleeve.

Meanwhile, at 4444 Apartment.

To better negotiate the resurrection of the Jade Flask, Lin Ling asked Administrator 4444 to help her conduct an experiment.

She gave Administrator 4444 a Raven Feather with attached Glyph Pattern Ability.

She wanted him to test if, using only one Raven Feather, it was possible to resurrect a monster through an empty coffin in the Reincarnation Graveyard.

Jiang Ye cooperated with her experiment.

The result, naturally, was no.

It made sense; even if the Raven Feather absorbed Glyph Pattern Ability, it was still just a tool.

If it could resurrect a monster, the Reincarnation Graveyard would be truly amazing!

As agreed, Jiang Ye took back the Raven Feather after the experiment, and kindly comforted Lin Ling:

"According to the plan, when I have time, I’ll study the resurrection coffin carefully using this Raven Feather."

"But from what I guess, if you really want to use Glyph Pattern Ability to resurrect the Jade Flask, you probably need to use the Jade Flask’s Glyph Pattern Ability to revive its soul body first."

"Like in those immortal dramas, when Ye Hua resurrected Su Su, with that soul summoning lamp?"

"In any case, you definitely need to find a way to condense the soul. Just throwing a Glyph Pattern Ability into the resurrection coffin is definitely not enough."

He seemed to be kindly analyzing the resurrection method for Lin Ling.

But in truth, he thought Lin Ling probably knew better than him.

Moreover, that madwoman was probably already trying to figure out how to condense the Jade Flask’s soul.

The big moves she made in the Black Ice Domain and her forced exploration of the Abyss Restricted Zone were likely part of the resurrection plan.

And when it came to collaborators, Lin Ling did not hide anything.

Her face darkened as she spoke bluntly:

"I’ve already started trying to condense the soul."

"But besides that, there’s one small matter I need your help with."

Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow: "Go on."

Lin Ling rotated the Eye of Judgment in her palm.

The Eye of Judgment contained footage of Zhou Qiming in the Reincarnation Graveyard.

Lin Ling stared at Zhou Qiming’s face in the footage and said in a deep voice:

"The place where the Jade Flask died, the hidden room 9999, I need Zhou Qiming to tell me how to get inside."

That was indeed important.

Jiang Ye nodded: "I can help you ask and then relay the message."

"But I can’t hand Zhou Qiming over to you directly. After all, my special bond with him makes me cautious, so I want to study him a bit."

Lin Ling didn’t mind: "As long as you can get the information… cough—"

She was speaking when her expression suddenly changed, and she coughed strangely.

But Jiang Ye, who had many clones, knew—

Lin Ling’s change in expression coincided exactly with the moment the chubby guy broke her talisman paper on the outer edge of the Abyss Restricted Zone!

So the talisman paper was damaged, and Lin Ling actually had a reaction?

Were all talisman papers , or just that specific one?

Could there be some of her blood mixed in?

Jiang Ye thought about this, then asked with a timely look of surprise, "What’s wrong? Why does your face suddenly look bad?"

Lin Ling furrowed her brows, flipped her hand, and crushed a water balloon.

The steam inside condensed into a water screen, and the water screen displayed the battle between the White-Robed Woman and the chubby guy.

Zhang Minghan even appeared in the footage.

Of course, the pure bystander Zhang Minghan was just a background figure.

The protagonists were the White-Robed Woman and the chubby guy.

The chubby guy still kept his eyes tightly shut, but seemed able to “see” the White-Robed Woman.

He seemed to realize that the White-Robed Woman wanted to run and casually warned:

"If you’re smart, you’ll obediently stand still."

"If you try to run, you might lose your life for nothing."

The White-Robed Woman didn’t look desperate.

After all, the chubby guy only neutralized her attack but hadn’t actively attacked.

Hearing his clear threat, she obediently stood still, not daring to run.

Even through the purple veil, Jiang Ye could feel that Xiao Bai’s face was probably as dark as it could get.

Her voice when she spoke again was no longer arrogantly domineering, but faintly cautious, speaking in a low tone toward the still-eyes-closed chubby guy:

"You’re not a Defender! Who are you?"

The chubby guy didn’t answer, but suddenly glanced up into the air.

From Zhang Minghan’s perspective, the chubby guy’s action was very strange.

But from Administrator 4444’s side, Jiang Ye was shocked again by this chubby guy!

Because from the angle the chubby guy looked at the water screen…

It felt like the chubby guy in the water screen glanced at him.

Oh no, more accurately, he glanced at Lin Ling.

The chubby guy even knew someone was spying on him.

Using Administrator 4444’s voice, Jiang Ye directly asked out loud:

"Is this guy a Permission Player? At the same Master rank as you?"

Lin Ling didn’t answer, just waved and shattered the water screen, leaving him with a hurried sentence:

"The resurrection deal for the Jade Flask will be discussed later."

"I have urgent matters, I must leave first."

With that, she disappeared in a flash.

Administrator 4444 shrugged indifferently and returned to the Reincarnation Graveyard.

Meanwhile, Zhang Minghan’s clone in the Abyss Restricted Zone tensed up upon speculating that the chubby guy was a Permission Player at Lin Ling’s level.

Just as he was tense, the chubby guy, who had been looking up at the sky, suddenly glanced in his direction…

Of course, the chubby guy still had his eyes closed.

Jiang Ye wasn’t sure if he actually saw him.

But fortunately, the chubby guy only glanced once before turning his head away.

Following the direction he turned his head, a familiar arrogant aura surged like a tidal wave!

Jiang Ye marveled inwardly—

Lin Ling’s speed was simply unbelievable!

The White-Robed Woman, sensing Lin Ling’s arrival, visibly relaxed.

At the same time, the chubby guy casually raised the Raven Feather that had stripped the White-Robed Woman’s Glyph Pattern Ability and returned her ability back to her.

Then, still with eyes closed and that honest aura intact, he spoke to the approaching Lin Ling:

"Although I’m sorry for targeting your people, I bear no ill will."