Chapter 302: Chapter 302
The skin sand pit indeed appears in many secret realms, and once it shows up, it’s often a fairly large sandpit.
So this kind of common thing isn’t worth much in the Doomsday Apartment.
As for what happened in Apartment 4869, Jiang Ye could roughly guess the cause and effect—
At the start of the eighth day in the Doomsday Apartment, it must have been the Mask Master aggressively buying up mimic masks, which led some strong players to capture weaker ones and throw them into the skin sand pit to make mimic masks.
After all, killing those weak players only grants 1 survival point.
But if you use their faces to make mimic masks and sell them to the Mask Master...
The first ten masks sold for 100 survival points each!
This is absolutely a profiteering industry!
The mimic masks forcibly made from people in Apartment 4869 were obviously resold to the Mask Master.
As to why no one did this later...
The Mask Master isn’t an idiot.
Mimic masks made from different faces definitely have different values!
Masks made from the faces of top-tier strong players naturally command higher prices.
For example, the Nomadic Merchant, such a powerful existence, had his Nomadic Merchant mimic mask treasured by the Mask Master like a family heirloom.
But those useless wastes, forced to make mimic masks and who could die at any moment...
Their masks’ prices naturally wouldn’t be good.
So the Mask Master likely lowered the price of those trash masks later on.
Maybe ten thousand masks only gave 1 survival point each, so gradually no one did it anymore.
Actually, even 1 survival point for ten thousand masks is still profitable.
After all, skin sand isn’t valuable, and there are plenty of useless people.
But mainly, the customers qualified to enter the Mask Master’s Shop were generally wealthy strong players.
It’s like street vending can make money, but if you asked someone like Ma so-and-so to sell on the street, wouldn’t that be a joke?
So gradually, no one did that anymore.
And those wastes who were treated that way and turned into rigid people mostly died off.
After all, it’s incredibly difficult for the weak to climb out from the bottom.
For this Apartment 4869 guy to rise from a bottom waste buried in a skin sand pit to an administrator position today was definitely not easy.
It probably wasn’t luck either.
At least from Jiang Ye’s perspective, this guy was fairly lucky.
If it weren’t for his face being frozen and unchangeable, he’d already have been converted into a clone by now...
Of course, Jiang Ye could also choose not to convert him into a clone, but directly kill him to obtain the Apartment 4869 administrator permissions.
If he didn’t have the Nesting Inner Demons ability.
But now, he could just test the Eternal Witch Gui’s Glyph Pattern Ability on this guy.
Anyway, he still had five available slots.
In fact, the three slots already used by the original Witch Gui, Jiang Ye planned to convert those into clones.
So by then, another three slots would be freed up...
Therefore, Jiang Ye was more than willing to spend one of those slots on Nesting Inner Demons.
Then the eyeball of the plague doctor puppet seemed to stare at Apartment 4869 for quite a while.
Just as Apartment 4869 hesitated to speak, Jiang Ye said straightforwardly:
“This Apartment 4869 is my old nest. So naturally, I don’t want anything to happen to it.”
“And the guy who just attacked you could return at any time...”
Hearing this, Apartment 4869’s heart leapt with joy.
He didn’t expect this big shot to care so much about him!
Of course, because his face was too stiff, he couldn’t show that joy on his face...
He was about to verbally express his gratitude.
Then the plague doctor puppet directly raised a hand.
Its pointed wooden finger tapped the rigid forehead of the Apartment 4869 administrator.
Jiang Ye said in a low voice, “I’m leaving you a lifesaving method. Relax and don’t resist.”
“All right, all right!” Apartment 4869, being tapped on the forehead, became even more rigid and dared not move.
His stiff voice still had that awkward flattering tone.
But soon, his rigid body suddenly trembled.
Even his stiff voice trembled faintly:
“B-Boss... you, you are...”
Clearly, he had realized something.
Jiang Ye sharply interrupted, “Relax and don’t resist!”
“If I wanted to harm you, I wouldn’t have saved you just now.”
But what Apartment 4869 felt right now was like being invaded by a monster!
It felt like he would lose consciousness any moment and completely become a monster player!
Such a feeling was terrifying beyond control.
However, he thought again...
Generally, Reincarnation Ghosts had high self-regard.
Because they looked down on newbie players and didn’t want to invade players, they always stayed in the Novice Apartment cycle.
And the powerful Reincarnation Ghost big shot in his apartment could even create the Midnight Ring event!
Such a top-tier big shot, even if they chose players to invade...
They probably wouldn’t look down on a mere Apartment 4869 administrator, right?
Although administrators were stronger than new players,
There were many administrators more powerful than him in Apartment 4869.
Even if the Reincarnation Ghost big shot really wanted to invade an administrator, they probably wouldn’t pick him...
And even if this big shot wanted to invade him, he couldn’t resist at all.
So Apartment 4869 kept reassuring himself and forcing himself to relax.
Although Jiang Ye had Witch Gui’s memories, this was his first time using Nesting Inner Demons, so he was a bit unfamiliar.
Because this whole process was very similar to monster invading a player.
He feared he might accidentally mess up and really invade this administrator...
Fortunately, everything went smoothly.
Around Apartment 4869’s heart, a special parasitic soul nest space appeared.
Jiang Ye’s mind flickered, and the Witch Gui soul transferred from the plague doctor puppet to the Nesting Inner Demons nest in Apartment 4869.
Apartment 4869 naturally sensed something but didn’t quite understand the situation.
He was about to say something when a voice suddenly sounded directly in his mind:
“I have built a special nest space inside your body.”
“Using this nest space, I can occupy your body at any time.”
“And if you encounter danger, you can directly call out to the nest space, and I will come to save you immediately.”
At first, Apartment 4869 was a bit afraid hearing the big shot could occupy his body anytime.
But hearing the big shot say he could come to rescue anytime, he relaxed.
The big shot himself wasn’t without a body, so he wouldn’t occupy his body long-term.
Also, as Apartment 4869 administrator, he could only operate within Apartment 4869.
And the big shot still wanted to roam around, so surely no time to always occupy his body.
So this nest was obviously more beneficial than harmful to him.
Anytime he encountered danger, just call the big shot—possess the body!
From now on, he, Apartment 4869, had someone to rely on!
Apartment 4869’s heart was joyful when suddenly he lost consciousness.
Jiang Ye tried to occupy his body and found that the dual-soul fusion could indeed realize a dual-identity.
The Eternal Witch Gui was a special permission identity;
Apartment 4869 administrator was an apartment-related permission identity.
These two permission identities overlapped in Apartment 4869 at this moment.
Of course, the original Witch Gui knew this too.
That was why the Witch Gui sent Guan He to kill Administrator 4444—to help Guan He obtain that identity.
The Witch Gui clearly valued Guan He as a nesting target.
Jiang Ye briefly studied Apartment 4869’s situation, then quickly returned to the plague doctor puppet’s body.
After casually instructing Apartment 4869 to guard the apartment well, he returned to Room 2218.
The Void Mirror Puppet was still tangled in red threads.
This thing probably wasn’t smart and had a bad memory.
It seemed to try to break free from the red threads again, only to get tangled even worse...
Jiang Ye did not immediately return to the Void Mirror Puppet’s body.
Instead, with a thought, he tried to enter the nest inside Guan He’s body.
He wasn’t too surprised.
After all, his attempt to swap consciousness with the light clone also failed.
Guan He’s situation was obviously similar to the light clone’s.
Their physical bodies seemed trapped in a very special place.
Like Lin Ling’s glass bottle.
Trapped inside, Light and Shadow Escape couldn’t break free, and other methods couldn’t intervene or escape.
Jiang Ye increasingly suspected Lin Ling’s glass bottle was made of the same material as the Reincarnation Mirror Palace!
Unable to enter Guan He’s Nesting Inner Demons nest for now, he shifted his mind to a Reincarnation Ghost’s nest.
With a flash of consciousness, the scene before Jiang Ye’s eyes changed from Room 2218’s apartment to a vast stretch of yellow sand.
He was very familiar with this yellow sand.
Earlier, Zhang Minghan gathered the Defenders here.
Obviously, this was still the Twilight Sands in Apartment 0000.
But now, there were a few figures around this Reincarnation Ghost.
Jiang Ye flicked his mind and returned from controlling the Reincarnation Ghost’s body to the Nesting Inner Demons nest.
Then, he directly sent a voice message inside the Reincarnation Ghost’s mind:
“Hey, Little Wang, what are you busy with here in the Twilight Sands?”
This Reincarnation Ghost’s surname wasn’t actually Wang.
His name was disgusting—Wu Wang...
Anyone hearing this name sounded like a dog barking.
So the original Witch Gui always called him “Little Wang.”
When Little Wang was still weak, the Witch Gui was his backing.
He accepted this name well;
He respected the big shot who helped him grow.
But once he grew powerful, he naturally became arrogant.
Especially when the weak around him began to revere him.
He no longer showed the humble submissive attitude he once had towards the Eternal Witch Gui.
He grew to resent the “Little Wang” title, a superior calling the inferior.
He also resented the Eternal Witch Gui for frequently coming back to possess his body.
However, since the Witch Gui decided his life and death, Wu Wang fell silent for a moment, suppressing all emotions, and replied mentally:
“Not busy with much. It’s just that Apartment 0000 opened early, and old players arrived early too, so I brought the brothers from the alliance to try our luck.”
As for what luck to try, there were many kinds.
Secret realm entrances could appear anytime in the Twilight Sands.
Also, encountering the red-lit elevator could lead to exploring other floors.
Additionally, some who met old players might have killing, looting, or family recognition events.
Killing and looting was easy to understand—it could be killing an old player or being killed by one.
The family recognition event was also understandable.
Like Lin Ling searching for her deceased Jade Flask.
Other old players were also looking for deceased relatives.
Wu Wang’s rise partly relied on the Eternal Witch Gui’s help, and partly because he found a relatively successful old player relative.
Plus the Reincarnation Ghost’s reincarnation needing materials in advance,
So every time Apartment 0000 opened, Reincarnation Ghosts would come to try their luck.
Wu Wang’s answer was naturally flawless.
But it was vague and didn’t reveal any other information.
Jiang Ye wasn’t sure if the Witch Gui cremains’ loss was related to this guy but didn’t rush to ask.
He directly ordered in a commanding tone:
“Find a way to leave this ghost team first. Find a place where no one is around. I have a secret mission that can’t be seen, and I need you to carry it out.”
“...” Of course, Wu Wang was extremely unwilling inside.
But he knew refusing was useless.
After all, he had no control over his own body.
If he refused, the Witch Gui would directly take over his body to act.
Then he would offend the Witch Gui and might expose problems, causing suspicion from others around him.
So Wu Wang answered “yes” in his heart, then told the Reincarnation Ghost team:
“You guys keep exploring. I have something to do. I’ll be back soon.”
Saying that, Wu Wang indeed left the team and moved toward a secluded spot with no one around.
One of Jiang Ye’s discarded clones, after driving a Soul Locking Nail into its body, headed straight to the Return Soul Abyss in Apartment 0000.
The Return Soul Abyss really was an abyss shaped like the Chinese character “return.”
Honestly, this “return” shape reminded Jiang Ye of the inner and outer circles on the top floor of the apartment.
The large opening of the “return” character corresponded to the top floor’s outer circle, and the small opening corresponded to the inner circle.
Even the aerial area of the Return Soul Abyss was roughly the same as the apartment’s top floor.
But here, the inner and outer circles were not flat ground but bottomless black holes stretching as far as the eye could see.
So the volume of the Return Soul Abyss was reflected in the vertical dimension.
Of course, there were footholds at the abyss boundaries.
These footholds were made of marble-like material similar to the top floor’s outer circle, quite grand-looking. It was unclear if these were player-built or natural.
In this space roughly the size of the top floor, Jiang Ye naturally saw the Apartment 0000 administrator waiting here in advance.
He stood still and waved directly to the Apartment 0000 administrator:
“Boss! Over here! I’m here!”
The Apartment 0000 administrator flashed and appeared beside him.
Jiang Ye grinned shamelessly, “I’m here to get the tool to conveniently capture Qu Xing alive :)”
He had been too wild lately and almost said “get it for free” instead of “get it.”
The Apartment 0000 administrator glanced sideways at him.
Actually, the two had met before.
When Jiang Ye traded with the Nomadic Merchant, he had seen the Apartment 0000 administrator and had even mistaken him for the apartment boss.
Jiang Ye really thought that the one captured with Salvation by the Nomadic Merchant should have been the apartment boss.
But for some reason, the apartment boss was not captured; instead, this Apartment 0000 administrator was. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs NoveI(F)ire.net
From just this detail, Jiang Ye naturally didn’t dare to underestimate the Apartment 0000 administrator.
And now, the Apartment 0000 administrator’s attitude was no longer as cautious as when facing the Nomadic Merchant.
His gaze scrutinized Jiang Ye openly.
After all the shameless inspection was done, he said expressionlessly:
“If you really want a tool to help you capture Qu Xing alive, you could have traded for it by exchanging Soul Locking Nails with me.”
“So you specially arranged to meet me here in the Return Soul Abyss. You must have other business, right?”