Chapter 300: Chapter 300

At this point, Jiang Ye’s tone and expression gradually shifted from shock to frustration and regret.

Because he had already given the disguise mask of Zhang Minghan to the Mask Master!

Even though, at that time, he had already questioned why the Mask Master was so obsessed with collecting disguise masks...

Now, his entire body seemed to be filled with four huge words—bitter regret beyond redemption!

Seeing him , the Mask Master felt inexplicably pleased.

He thought to himself, the Black Swan event isn’t something that happens so easily.

No matter how clever Zhang Minghan’s mind was, or how mysterious his trump cards were, he was still just an ordinary player.

The gap between an ordinary player and a permission player was like a chasm!

Even though he gave Zhang Minghan a chance for a death battle, it was impossible for Zhang Minghan to truly kill a powerful permission player!

That confidence belonging to the strong returned to him once more.

He looked at Jiang Ye and burst out into the cheerful laughter he had shown at their first meeting:

“What’s the matter? Regret now?”

“Regret starting a death battle with me? Or regret trading the disguise mask with me? Or maybe, both?”

“It’s just a pity that now, your regret is already too late!”

He threw the black blade in his hand toward Jiang Ye’s direction, then continued:

“Now, for the sake of the experiment, I’ll give you the chance to kill me. Make sure you grasp it well.”

As the Mask Master said “grasp it,” Jiang Ye caught the black blade.

The black blade, without a handle, was extremely sharp.

When he reached out to catch it, it cut into his palm, drawing blood.

So, he transferred the black blade to his left hand and wiped the blood on his right palm against his lips.

The next moment, holding the blade in his left hand, his figure flickered.

At this moment, the scene on the arena suddenly changed!

The two Jiang Yes, who had just been standing opposite each other at some distance...

Now, with the same height and face, stood very close—almost pressed together.

Around them, the sea of masks continued to emit eerie giggling and laughter.

The black blade in Jiang Ye’s hand was now firmly stabbed into the Mask Master’s chest!

Time seemed to freeze at this instant...

The Mask Master’s “Jiang Ye face” showed a stunned, dazed expression.

He almost in disbelief shifted his gaze from Jiang Ye’s face to his own chest.

There, at the position of his heart, was the black blade.

Or rather, the black blade was almost completely embedded in his chest!

So much so that Jiang Ye’s left hand pressed against the Mask Master’s chest, exactly where the heartbeat was.

At this seemingly frozen moment, the Mask Master’s heartbeat slowed down, becoming very slow, almost faint.

Yet this incredibly slow heartbeat strangely drowned out all the noise in the world...

Including the originally eerie and sinister laughter, which seemed to vanish in that instant...

In this moment of near suspension, an unprecedented sense of panic arose in the Mask Master’s heart.

With his experience, he wasn’t unfamiliar with death.

But the fear of death he had ever experienced was not even one percent of what he felt now!

At this moment, the Mask Master was afraid, regretful.

He seemed to sense something...

But it was all too late!

The “Jiang Ye face” pressed close to him whispered softly into his ear:

“Thank you for the chance...”

“I have grasped it well.”

Then, Jiang Ye pressed the black blade even harder toward the other Jiang Ye’s heart...

[Clone kills clone, you may choose:]

[1. Convert clone to survival points]

Jiang Ye naturally chose without hesitation: 2. Clone revival!

At this moment, it was as if the previously frozen time began flowing again.

The eerie laughter returned in waves:

It wasn’t the first time Jiang Ye heard such giggling laughter.

But only this time, a chilling feeling arose deep in his heart.

Because he inexplicably felt that this laughter was mocking the Mask Master’s death...

And this strange feeling even reminded him of the crow he saw when trading with the Nomadic Merchant.

At that time, the crow’s call was “Yaya,” somewhat eerie but hard to discern any emotion.

Now, Jiang Ye strangely felt—

While Salvation was enduring extreme pain and losing the crow...

The crow perched on the Nomadic Merchant’s shoulder was laughing. Read full story at n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net

This bizarre sensation made him increasingly uneasy.

This uneasiness was like...

Witnessing a newborn baby suddenly stabbing the mother who gave birth to it...

Such a weird feeling diluted the joy of gaining a new permission player clone.

He couldn’t help but ponder—

What exactly do the so-called “permission identity” and the “second phase of Doomsday Apartment” truly mean?

Is the destruction of permission players as NPCs in the “second phase” of the apartment the same kind of destruction that ordinary players face in the “first phase”?

Do the “permissions” and “identities” granted to permission players really belong to themselves?

Could it be that the so-called “permission players” are just more ornate containers?

And the so-called “permission” and “limit” are just patterns on these exquisite containers?

Jiang Ye contemplated this word and naturally recalled the “physical body” topic he discussed with Zhou Yuling.

Whether it was the resurrection feature of the Reincarnation Graveyard or the Defenders’ Alliance research Zhou Yuling revealed,

It seemed to point to—

The player’s “physical body” was not their true body.

It was generated by Doomsday Apartment...

Even if the “physical body” was destroyed, it could be regenerated using the Reincarnation Graveyard.

Thus, this kind of physical body was like a certain specific kind of container...

At this moment, after clone killed clone and clone revival, the “death battle” was still not over.

On the arena, the two Jiang Yes still stood very close.

Now the question was...

No matter which Jiang Ye killed the other next, it would inevitably trigger the [Clone kills clone] effect.

So, is the only way to end the “death battle” to sacrifice one clone?

And if after clone kills clone he does not choose clone revival...

Could the clone sacrifice ability still trigger?

For a moment, Jiang Ye did not immediately end the “death battle,” but fell into deep thought...

His two “physical bodies” stood opposite each other.

His four eyes simultaneously gazed at the strange masks floating around.

Suddenly, he felt that perhaps every person’s physical body was like these masks.

A tool, a container, and also an involuntary restraint on everyone.

For the first time, Jiang Ye tried to stand in the shoes of the Mask Master he transformed, standing in the perspectives of Zhang Minghan, Wu Ying, Zhou Qiming, and others, to think about what had happened to them...

Just thinking about it was terrifying!

Just because they used someone else’s face, they were judged to be clones of that person...

This forced judgment mechanism, isn’t that the very definition of involuntary?

When Jiang Ye stood from the perspectives of the other players he turned into his clones, he couldn’t help but feel—

To break this “involuntariness,” one must break the restraint of the “physical body”!

Perhaps the reincarnation method of the previous Administrator 4444 was fundamentally wrong?

Perhaps true reincarnation should not choose those inferior “containers”…

Or maybe, containers are not needed at all?

When Jiang Ye traded with the Nomadic Merchant before, he felt—

The Nomadic Merchant and the crow seemed to exist in a different dimension than other players.

So, in what form do they exist?

Do they not need “containers”?

Or do they possess higher-level “containers”?

Actually, Jiang Ye’s ability to transform clones could also be understood as modifying the “containers” other players inhabit.

When the other players’ “containers” changed appearance, they were branded as his clones...

So, he could understand why his Infinite Clones talent reached X-tier: because it touched on the underlying concept of “containers”?

Therefore, even though he and the Nomadic Merchant looked alike, he could not sense the Nomadic Merchant as his clone.

Because they were simply not the same version of “containers”?

When Jiang Ye asked the Nomadic Merchant about his appearance, the answer was—formless.

Perhaps that was the trait of a higher-level “container”?

Then where did the Nomadic Merchant mask’s “appearance” come from?

Was it the “appearance” of a lower version of the Nomadic Merchant’s discarded “container”?

Or... was it deliberately fabricated?

Just like how the Card Grandmaster created the [Time-Limited Instant Kill] card??

Speaking of which, Jiang Ye had yet to use his [Time-Limited Instant Kill].

Speaking of which, Jiang Ye happened to have a special clone who could freely change “containers”—the Eternal Witch Gui clone!

Actually, there was another clone that didn’t need a container—the Observer clone!

But the Observer clone was with the main body.

Right now, Jiang Ye was essentially divided into two parts.

One part of the clones followed the main body, trapped somewhere, suspected to be in the Court of Disorder;

The other part of the clones was outside, free to move.

At this moment, Jiang Ye’s Eternal Witch Gui clone, which could freely change containers, was also moving freely.

It did not use any of Jiang Ye’s other clone bodies as a container.

Instead, it still borrowed the body of the Void Mirror Puppet.

However, this Eternal Witch Gui clone parasitizing the Void Mirror Puppet did not return directly to the Mirror Palace secret realm in the form of the Void Mirror Puppet.

Instead, it first went to Apartment 4869.

More precisely, to room 2218 of Apartment 4869.

That was the original base of the Eternal Witch Gui.

Speaking of which, among all administrators, the Administrator 4869 was not a special administrator.

Whether in the strategy given by Wan Xin or in all administrators’ knowledge, Apartment 4869 was not considered special, nor did it have any particular traits.

From the Eternal Witch Gui’s memories, it was easy to see—

Room 2218 of Apartment 4869 was indeed special.

Not only because Eternal Witch Gui was born there.

But also visibly, this room in Apartment 4869 was completely different from other apartment units.

First, it had a jet-black wooden door.

The door number “2218” was written in fancy font, which looked more like “221B.”

Second, as soon as the door was opened, one could feel an old atmosphere mixed with haze, tobacco, and chemical reagents.

The entire interior decoration and architectural style were filled with a strong Victorian English flavor.

Brass gas lamps, a fireplace of the same color tone, and a faded Turkish carpet with suspicious stains scattered about.

An old mahogany desk held various chemical instruments.

A Bunsen burner flickered with a ghostly blue flame, and it was unclear what fuel supported it when Eternal Witch Gui was not present.

The original Eternal Witch Gui had not figured this out either.

Facing this special room, Jiang Ye did not dwell too much.

His main focus, or rather goal, was the fireplace.

On the fireplace mantle, bullet holes formed the letters “VR.”

Above the fireplace on the wall, numerous letters, drafts, photos, and clippings were pinned densely.

These clues were connected by red threads, forming a “Memory Wall.”

This Memory Wall was the very birthplace of Eternal Witch Gui!

Jiang Ye thought briefly and hooked his finger to pull the red threads on the wall.

Then, after wrapping the “self” tightly in the red thread, he flashed a thought and entered the text of the Memory Wall with his soul.

His physical body, namely the Void Mirror Puppet, finally regained consciousness.

The Void Mirror Puppet still wore the form of “Lu Renjia.”

It was completely unaware of what had happened.

Upon regaining consciousness, it found itself tightly bound by a tangle of red threads, unable to move.

But this was not a problem for the Mirror Puppet.

Its outer shell quickly transformed into a glass mirror surface.

Then, the glass surface flowed like water, seemingly able to be pinched, rounded, or flattened at will, changing shape.

As it changed shape, the red threads followed, sticking tightly to it, unable to be shaken off!

Moreover, since one end of the red thread connected to the Memory Wall, it couldn’t even leave with the threads attached!

The Void Mirror Puppet struggled desperately, utterly hopeless.

But soon, it lost consciousness again.

The one who reoccupied this body was naturally Jiang Ye’s Witch Gui clone returning from the Memory Wall.

As soon as it returned, Jiang Ye’s expression turned somewhat grim.

Not because the Mirror Puppet had made a mess of the red threads.

The cremains deciding Eternal Witch Gui’s fate were missing!

After obtaining the Eternal Witch Gui clone, Jiang Ye’s main concern was the Witch Gui cremains.

After synchronizing memories, the first thing he planned was to store the cremains in his Clone Shared Space.

In his view, that was the safest place.

But in the end, when he rushed back to find the cremains, they were gone!

Who stole Eternal Witch Gui’s cremains?!

Was it a ghost from the Hundred Ghosts Alliance who stole the cremains before Jiang Ye transformed Eternal Witch Gui into a clone?

Or was it Lin Ling, who after using the Life Stone to steal Witch Gui’s memories, took the cremains first?

Jiang Ye naturally leaned toward the latter.

But the former was also possible.

Though the Hundred Ghosts Alliance was founded by Eternal Witch Gui, it was not a dictatorship.

One could even see this from the name—

Any organization with “Alliance” in its name was a coalition of multiple powerful individuals.

That is, multiple strong forces united for common interests.

While benefiting together, they also mutually restrained each other.

The situation of Eternal Witch Gui within the Hundred Ghosts Alliance was especially unique.