Chapter 294: Chapter 294
Seize the apartment boss's body?!
Well, that sounds great!
Deep down, Jiang Ye was actually eager to quickly seize the apartment boss’s identity!
That way, he could not only gain more information but also add another fierce warrior to his clone army!
He almost happily agreed right away.
Suddenly, he had a belated realization—
Lin Ling was asking him to seize the apartment boss’s body just like the White-Robed Woman issued a mission.
She expected him to complete it himself and had no intention of intervening!
And if Lin Ling didn’t step in, why should Jiang Ye be able to kill the apartment boss on his own?
The crucial point was to make the target become his face.
When facing Zhang Minghan, he used Qu Xing’s Glyph Pattern Ability to control Zhang Minghan’s mind, making him unknowingly become his face.
When facing the Eternal Witch Gui, he had already arranged for Guan He to use Huang Bo’s face;
When facing Zhou Qiming, Zhou Qiming believed that becoming Jiang Ye’s face was necessary to enter the Reincarnation Graveyard.
But how could he get the apartment boss to obediently become his face?
Use Qu Xing’s Glyph Pattern Ability for mental control?
To be honest, he thought it wouldn’t work.
Use other methods to trick him?
But how to trick him?
He didn’t even have a chance to meet the apartment boss’s face!
Therefore, whether it was making the apartment boss “change face” or killing him, it was extremely difficult to achieve.
If Lin Ling didn’t intervene and expected him to act alone, it was simply impossible.
Even if the chubby guy tried, it would probably be difficult.
Thinking this through, Jiang Ye vaguely realized— ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novelFirｅ.net
Lin Ling’s request was probably not just to obtain apartment boss A’s memories.
It was also to test his strength!
If he truly was the Nomadic Merchant or had some connection to the Nomadic Merchant, killing the apartment boss shouldn’t be hard.
If he really was the Nomadic Merchant, just like he wouldn’t kill Duwu before the Ninth Day Major Reshuffle began, he also wouldn’t kill the apartment boss before then.
But if he merely had connections to the Nomadic Merchant, that restriction wouldn’t apply.
In any case, this trade Lin Ling proposed was like killing three birds with one stone for her.
First, it could eliminate the prime culprit harming her Jade Flask;
Second, she could gain the apartment boss’s memories and acquire a wealth of information;
Third, it could test Jiang Ye.
And what she paid was just that glass bottle.
Moreover, that glass bottle might have hidden traps like the incomplete Life Stone and the Lightburn Ribbon.
At first, Jiang Ye thought—
Since he was going to kill the apartment boss anyway, agreeing to this request was no big deal.
But now, after thinking it through…
He didn’t directly reject Lin Ling.
Instead, his gaze landed on the glass bottle, scanning it for a few seconds, then he gave a meaningful chuckle:
“If it weren’t for the traps with the Life Stone and Lightburn Ribbon, I might have agreed to this deal.”
“But now, your credibility with me is completely gone. How can I trust trading with you again?”
Lin Ling looked deeply at him, unsure whether he was pretending or genuinely distrusting.
If he really was the Nomadic Merchant, distrust would be impossible.
Honestly, Lin Ling herself didn’t truly believe Jiang Ye had been “seized” by the Nomadic Merchant.
She more so thought he was somewhat entangled with the Nomadic Merchant.
To be precise, she suspected the true one connected to the Nomadic Merchant was Administrator 4444.
This Jiang Ye might have been seized by Administrator 4444, or maybe not…
In any case, the Nomadic Merchant, Administrator 4444, and Jiang Ye must be connected.
Lin Ling regarded this as a “seizing line,” though she hadn’t yet sorted it out clearly.
However, Jiang Ye’s reaction did not surprise her.
With a wave of her hand, she released Yang-Wan-Wen-Xin-Chao from the glass bottle.
This dual-soul fusion body had been dizzy and disoriented inside the bottle.
Suddenly freed, the figure staggered, still a bit dazed.
Whether it was actual dizziness or the dual souls’ lack of coordination over the body was unclear; as he staggered, he accidentally stepped his left foot on his right and “smack”—fell flat on the ground…
Lin Ling paid no attention to these two.
She just picked up the glass bottle again.
The bottle flowed like liquid in her hand.
Quickly, it transformed from a reagent bottle into a smooth piece of glass.
In an instant, under Lin Ling’s control, it changed into a glass diamond ring.
She seemed to deliberately perform this trick for Jiang Ye, slipping the glass ring onto her finger before glancing at Yang-Wan-Wen-Xin-Chao on the ground, then saying to Jiang Ye:
“This is my sincerity.”
“The trade I mentioned will remain valid until before the Ninth Day Major Reshuffle.”
“As long as you seize apartment boss A before then and decide to use the Life Stone,
you can come to me for exchange anytime before using the Life Stone.”
After finishing, there was a “ding” sound.
The red-lit elevator opened.
Ouyang, having been soul-searched, naturally couldn’t escape like Lin Jing did.
He stepped out of the elevator, surprised to see, besides Jiang Ye and Lin Ling, the “Yang Wenchao” who had gotten up from the ground.
He had witnessed the situation in the underground graveyard and knew that the body of this “Yang Wenchao” still housed Wan Xin’s soul…
However, he did not ask further and quickly respectfully reported to Lin Ling:
“I recorded my actions inside the elevator using a shadow recording talisman.”
He handed the talisman to Lin Ling and continued:
“I pressed the seven groups of buttons as you instructed, but didn’t see the ‘Safe Exit’ you mentioned.”
Jiang Ye was somewhat surprised by this news.
Then, watching the footage on the talisman, he confirmed what Ouyang said.
Again, no “Safe Exit” appeared!
This suggested that after the elevator password, there was another layer of password.
If the second password was not unlocked, the elevator password couldn’t take effect.
What Zhou Qiming had obtained was only the elevator password.
The other layer was most likely controlled by the apartment boss.
Lin Ling seemed to have considered this too; her face darkened as she held the shadow recording talisman.
Ouyang saw this and trembled nervously, unsure if her earlier words about releasing him still held true.
Meanwhile, Yang-Wan-Wen-Xin-Chao, who had gotten up, was silent, seemingly confused about the situation.
Jiang Ye took the opportunity to sigh:
“Originally, I thought the apartment boss had set some trap hiding the housing from you...”
“But now it seems he doesn’t want you to enter the hidden housing. Could there be some secret in the hidden housing you’re not supposed to discover?”
Lin Ling glanced at him, quietly pondering, remaining silent.
Jiang Ye, ever the talkative one, offered a suggestion:
“By the way, don’t you have a voice transmission bead to contact the apartment boss? Why not try calling to probe?”
Lin Ling didn’t reply but indeed flipped out the voice transmission bead.
Just as Jiang Ye prepared to watch their conversation and enjoy some gossip,
Lin Ling suddenly vanished in a flash.
Jiang Ye was stunned.
Ouyang, however, reacted quickly.
Almost immediately after Lin Ling disappeared, he left the “trouble spot” as well.
Soon, only Jiang Ye and Yang-Wan-Wen-Xin-Chao remained at the elevator entrance.
The dual-soul fusion’s state was uncertain—whether they were still struggling—since “Yang Wenchao” remained silent for a long time.
Jiang Ye took the initiative and directly ordered:
“Is Yang Wenchao’s soul still present? Come out and talk to me.”
“If Wan Xin still wants to cling to me, behave yourself.”
This order was indeed more effective than Yang Wenchao’s own struggle for bodily control.
Wan Xin obediently let Yang Wenchao take the lead.
To be honest, Jiang Ye didn’t want to have someone cling to him, feeling like a burden.
But even if he turned Yang Wenchao into a clone, he couldn’t use the Life Stone to steal memories again.
And honestly, he somewhat disliked Wan Xin’s HIV blood…
So, if he had to cling, he would allow it for now, but had no plan to turn that unlucky thing into a clone.
He then directly asked Yang Wenchao, “It’s Yang Wenchao now, right?”
Yang Wenchao nodded, somewhat impatient:
“Is there any way to purge the dirty stuff inside my body?”
“…,” Jiang Ye waved his hand, “Let’s not talk about that first. I want to ask, when you interacted with NPCs in the game, did you have any special feelings, or directly, did you find anything?”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ye saw Yang Wenchao’s eyes flicker with change.
He thought to himself, as expected!
There really was a difference between game players!
Some detail-oriented players might have gotten hidden information from NPCs, who were previous permission players!
Jiang Ye squinted slightly, saying no more, just watching Yang Wenchao with that look.
Yang Wenchao understood that since Jiang Ye asked this, he must have discovered something.
“I did hide some things from you before.”
“My digging into the secrets of 4444 Apartment, painstakingly uncovering the secret graveyard, and repeatedly exploiting bugs to bury numerous accounts was not just on a whim…”
What Jiang Ye most suspected was Yang Wenchao’s phrase “I was once light.”
That statement definitely hid something!
Thinking this, Jiang Ye directly took out a Life Stone, speaking in a low tone:
“This thing is called the Life Stone…”
Just as he was about to introduce it, Yang Wenchao suddenly interrupted: “I know.”
Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow: “Fine, since you know, then be straightforward—”
“Either you explain your problems clearly yourself.”
“Or I force you to use the Life Stone.”
Yang Wenchao’s face tightened, but he blurted out: “Do you know what negative effects I’ll suffer from using this incomplete Life Stone?”
Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow: “You mean the trap of the incomplete item?”
“Well, I know that. Precisely because I know, I’m giving you a choice.”
“Otherwise, I wouldn’t waste words; I’d just force you onto the Life Stone.”
“…” Yang Wenchao fell silent again.
He didn’t know how long he had been imprisoned by Lin Ling.
But he could clearly feel Jiang Ye’s growth.
Not just in strength, but in vision.
Of course, his strength growth was probably shocking too.
Damn it, this Jiang Ye was basically cheating!
Yang Wenchao sighed again.
The 4444 Administrator in the Card Master’s small shop had originally planned to persuade the chubby guy to help kill Administrator 0000 or the apartment boss.
But whether killing Administrator 0000 or the apartment boss, there was a difficulty—
How to make such a big shot become his face!
Without changing his face, there was no way to create a transformed clone!
And even if he changed his face…
The step forcing the opponent to change face would definitely arouse the chubby guy’s suspicion.
Jiang Ye killing the Mask Master could skip the induction step of changing the Mask Master’s face.
Because previously, when Zhang Minghan went to get the mask, the Mask Master voluntarily changed into Zhang Minghan’s face.
So Jiang Ye could directly kill the Mask Master without exposing the hidden condition of changing face.
Therefore, the target Jiang Ye liked most in his heart was still the Mask Master.
No way around it—who told him he was easy to kill?
While planning to kill the Mask Master,
If later when he returned to the Mask Master’s shop, and the Mask Master was not disguised as Zhang Minghan…
He could actually use the Nomadic Merchant Mimic Mask to induce the Mask Master to change face.
This thought immediately opened up his mind!
If the Nomadic Merchant Mimic Mask could cause the Mask Master to be recognized as his clone…
Then he could also use the Nomadic Merchant Mimic Mask to induce Administrator 0000 and the apartment boss to complete the face-changing step!
However, this idea brought a new problem—
Would others wearing the Nomadic Merchant Mimic Mask also become his face?
Would wearing the Nomadic Merchant Mimic Mask to become his face also be recognized as his clone?
With this doubt, he decided to try.
After all, he had a test subject right in front of him.
So just as the chubby guy was growing impatient, Jiang Ye flipped out the Nomadic Merchant Mimic Mask.
When not worn on the face, the mimic mask’s appearance was indistinguishable.
The chubby guy looked at the mask, initially puzzled.
But seeing Jiang Ye’s solemn expression, he suddenly gasped, guessing: “This disguise mask…”
“Is the Nomadic Merchant Mimic Mask you want,” Jiang Ye finished his sentence.
The chubby guy’s eyes became serious.
He looked at the disguise mask, no different from others, with a mixture of shock and curiosity.
Soon, he asked Jiang Ye: “What does this mean?”
Jiang Ye answered plainly:
“I just came up with a theory about the Nomadic Merchant Mimic Mask and want you to wear it to verify my guess.”
The chubby guy’s eyes suddenly widened but soon frowned: “You want me to wear the Nomadic Merchant Mimic Mask…”
“But won’t that offend the Nomadic Merchant?”
Jiang Ye rolled his eyes at him without mercy: “Stop pretending to be a harmless pig.”
“You’re acting very well, but your fear of both the Professional Alliance Leader and the Nomadic Merchant is way over the top.”
“If you keep acting , I’ll start suspecting you’re the Professional Alliance Leader!”
“…” The chubby guy’s expression stiffened briefly.
But he quickly returned to normal.
He sneered and took the Nomadic Merchant Mimic Mask.
Jiang Ye reminded him: “If you really don’t want to offend the Nomadic Merchant, I suggest you just cooperate by wearing the mask and don’t use mirrors or special abilities to see the Nomadic Merchant’s face.”
The chubby guy drooped his eyelids, sneered again,
and casually said as he put on the mask:
“So, the Nomadic Merchant’s face hides some secret?”