Chapter 67: Chapter 67

Jiang Ye thought that duels in Beginner Mode would be the same as when he used the Duel Machine last time.

He expected to go to the second-floor lobby, find a seat, and operate the duel or spectate from there.

But the private version of the Golden-Tier Duel Machine obviously came with VIP treatment.

He didn’t enter a lobby-like environment, but remained in what looked like a luxurious private suite.

Either enter the first or second-floor lobby to find a public seat for operation,

Or stay directly in the deluxe suite to duel or spectate.

Jiang Ye didn’t dare waste time. He immediately searched for Duel Arena No. 18 and chose to spectate.

But just for this round of spectating, he was prompted to pay 10,000 game coins!

Meaning, for every 10 spectators, he could earn ten thousand in fees!

A thousand spectators would mean a million!

Just the spectating fee alone was more than the total bet and viewership rewards Jiang Ye earned in his fight with Zhao Yudie!

And in that match with Zhao Yudie, the actual viewership reward was only 60,000!

The gap between a War God Ranking player and an ordinary player really was massive!

A 10,000 coin spectating fee would definitely stop a lot of regular players.

So even with the popularity of the War God Ranking, Lin Jing might still not reach a thousand viewers.

However, anyone who could afford a seat in this viewing gallery probably wasn’t average either!

Jiang Ye only had 20,000 game coins left.

After hesitating a moment, he still paid the 10,000 to enter the spectator seats for Arena 18.

This Arena No. 18 also seemed different from the ones used by regular players.

Not only did it cover a much larger area, but huge electronic screens surrounded it, broadcasting key moments from the arena in real time so spectators could see more clearly.

In addition, the entire arena looked extravagant.

The floor was a dark black material, unknown what kind, with “War God” etched across it in dark silver lines.

The font of those two characters looked overwhelmingly bold and powerful.

It gave the whole arena an aura of dominance.

Moreover, the same “War God” characters in matching font were printed on the backrests of the audience seats.

Clearly, it gave proper status to a War God Ranking powerhouse.

When Jiang Ye first stepped into the spectator section, he still felt a little sting from spending that 10,000 coins.

But the moment he took in the atmosphere, he completely forgot about the cost.

All he felt was a surge of heroic pride—

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He should become a top-tier powerhouse, enjoying privilege and honor in the spotlight!

No wonder people became obsessed with power...

Jiang Ye used to think he didn’t care for fame or gain.

Only now did he realize...

It wasn’t that he was detached—it’s just that he’d never seen real prestige or tasted its benefits.

Clearly, among the surrounding spectators, there were other “country bumpkins” like him.

They were awestruck by the grand arena and exclaimed:

“D*mn! No wonder the spectating fee is so steep! This arena setup, this clout, it’s on a whole different level from the regular dueling arenas!”

“As expected of a War God Ranking powerhouse! I bet just this one match will net him tens of millions, easy!”

“I used to think calligraphy was a scam, like calligraphers were just con artists! But after feeling the impact of those two characters firsthand, I believe now—maybe calligraphers really are awesome!”

Jiang Ye felt the same.

But just then, a player in a black tactical jacket sitting next to that “country bumpkin” folded his arms and shot him a disdainful glance:

“That’s not ‘calligraphy.’ It’s ‘inscription art.’”

“Those two characters, ‘War God,’ were probably crafted with special inscription techniques, which is why they stir emotions and ignite fighting spirit.”

Normally, getting roasted like that would make anyone a little embarrassed.

But that “country bumpkin” was thick-skinned.

Not only was he totally unfazed, he even cozied up with a big grin and flattered the player in the black jacket:

“D*mn, how do you know so much? Don’t tell me—you’re also a War God Ranking powerhouse?”

“And your outfit—it looks just like Lin Jing’s on stage! Is this, like, the official uniform for War God Ranking players?”

The player in black just gave him another look of contempt, then turned his attention to the arena.

He glanced at Lin Jing’s opponent with the same disdain, then scoffed:

“No wonder the crowd’s so small. If I’d known, I would’ve waited for a few rounds before coming.”

Jiang Ye noticed it too—Lin Jing’s audience really wasn’t large.

Didn’t even look like it had reached 100 people.

And more than half of them were wearing the same black tactical jackets.

Who knew how many of these black-jacketed players were from Apartment 9999?

Jiang Ye even spotted a few familiar faces.

Like Wan Xin and Wang Chengjin, who he’d interacted with before.

He thought for a moment, then moved to the seat beside Wan Xin and asked this group-chat junkie:

“I remember someone in the chat saying War God Ranking players get matched with other districts’ War God players...”

“So among these spectators, could there be people from other districts too?”

Wan Xin glanced around, shook his head, then nodded:

“There are spectators from other districts, but not because of the War God Ranking. It’s due to a hidden effect of the Quick Battle Card.”

“Quick Battle Card, also known as the ‘Show-Off Card for Powerhouses.’”

“If you’re gonna show off, you need an audience, right?”

“So after using this card, if you enable spectating access, then players from all over the Huaxia region can come and watch!”

“But unfortunately, Lin Shen doesn’t have a Region Announcement Card. So news of his ‘Quick Battle’ hasn’t spread yet.”

“This is just the first match with the Quick Battle Card, so there are only this few spectators for now.”

“Once the news gets out, the later matches could easily break 10,000 spectators—or even 100,000 wouldn’t be hard.”

One hundred thousand...

Jiang Ye quickly did the math in his head.

100,000 spectators, each paying 10,000 in spectating fees, with the winner getting 10%...

That would be—10 million!

Holy sh*t! A hundred million game coins—how many Attribute Fruits could that buy?!

With his current number of Replicas, would it even be enough to feed them all?!

Just the thought made Jiang Ye swallow hard.

And when he looked at Lin Jing on the arena stage again, it was like seeing a steaming-hot fresh bun straight out of the oven.

However, Wan Xin remained surprisingly calm in the face of “100 million game coins.” He even couldn’t help but complain: “Game coins are basically useless. There’s a very limited range of things they can actually buy.” “So Lin Shen predicted it long ago—” “Using 1 Survival Point to trade for 100,000 game coins from apartment peddlers? That’s basically getting your pants ripped off!” “If you have strong connections and can find a powerhouse player for a private exchange, it’s easy to get a rate of 1 Survival Point for 1 million game coins!” “And that’s just within the first three days of the beginner period.” “After three days, the exchange rate could go even crazier!” “By the time the beginner period is about to end, game coins might be like hell money—no one would take them no matter how much you have!”

Jiang Ye thought about it and figured it made sense. After all, the initial announcement did mention— Survival Points and Survival Stones can be carried over. But game coins are limited to the beginner period only.

In that case, once the beginner period ends, the 【Beginner Mode】 on his Golden-Tier Duel Machine, which uses game coins for wagers, will probably disappear too, right?

As he was thinking about that. Wan Xin glanced at him with a slightly sour expression: “Do you know why even Lin Shen can’t help but covet your Golden-Tier Duel Machine?”

Jiang Ye raised a brow: “Aside from the Quick Battle Card, there’s another reason?”

Wan Xin nodded hard: “The other reason is the 【Exchange List】!” “When the beginner period is about to end, players won’t be able to take their game coins with them, and they won’t be able to sell them either, so the only option is to exchange them for items.” “But items in the 【High-End Mall】 are limited in supply each day.” “Especially Silver-tier items—the purchase restrictions are super strict.” “But the 【Exchange List】 of the Golden-Tier Duel Machine doesn’t have any of those purchase limits.” “In other words, on the last day, even Lin Shen might come to you looking to exchange his game coins for Silver-tier items!”

Lin Jing asking him to exchange for Silver-tier items? Jiang Ye mulled it over, then suddenly asked: “Once a Golden-Tier Duel Machine is bound, can’t it be unbound?”

That question came out of nowhere. But the implication was obvious.

Still, Wan Xin was on Lin Jing’s side. Even if Lin Jing had openly said he appreciated Jiang Ye, Words of praise are just words—they can’t feed you. For all he knew, Lin Shen was just trying to lull the kid into a false sense of security, right?

So Wan Xin didn’t directly explain the unbinding conditions. Instead, he said deliberately: “Unbinding a Golden-Tier Duel Machine has extremely harsh requirements. Normally, it’s impossible to meet them during the beginner period.” “So when the beginner period is coming to an end, you’ll definitely be able to make a fortune off that Golden-Tier Duel Machine!”

Wan Xin wasn’t sure what Lin Jing was really planning. But if the goal was to lull Jiang Ye... Then saying this would only make the kid more relaxed, wouldn’t it?

Yeah. Jiang Ye did get “lulled” a little in his head. He was becoming more and more suspicious— Lin Jing may look all righteous and upright on the outside, but he was definitely scheming on the inside!

Calling him to team up against the Apartment Administrator… Probably just planning to use him in that fight, right?

As he was thinking about it. Lin Jing’s first Quick Battle officially began.

Above the massive arena, a commanding voice rang out: 【First match of Quick Battle No. 18, countdown begins—】 【Three—】 【Two—】 【One!】

Maybe it was a hidden feature of the Quick Battle mode. That “three-two-one” countdown was way faster than usual.

Jiang Ye figured, if you didn’t enable spectating for Quick Battle, it’d probably run like a gauntlet— Match after match with zero breaks in between. That would definitely be fast. But it’d also wear you down fast. The later the matches go, the worse your condition’s likely to be compared to the first round.

But if spectating is turned on, not only do you get to show off and make money at the same time, you also get a three-minute break between matches. So yeah, pros and cons.

He was thinking that when he noticed the fight on the stage wasn’t quite what he expected— Earlier, he saw the guy in the black tactical jacket look at Lin Jing’s opponent with total disdain. So Jiang Ye assumed Lin Jing would one-shot his opponent and end it in a flash.

But to his surprise— Lin Jing looked dead serious, totally focused. As soon as the countdown ended, he suddenly held his right hand out in front of him. At the same time, a pitch-black long blade appeared in his palm!

Yeah, a blade. So Lin Jing’s ability isn’t sword mastery—it’s blade mastery?

He was just thinking that when he noticed red dots forming along the black blade. Jiang Ye was still puzzled—why was Lin Jing’s opponent just standing there like an idiot, not moving at all?

But soon, he realized— Those red dots on the black blade… They weren’t red dots at all!

They looked more like… Bloody eyeballs?!

No doubt about it! He was sure! He could even see those blood-red eyes spreading rapidly across the blade, blinking in sync!

Even watching from the spectator seat, Jiang Ye felt an overwhelming sense of creepiness! He couldn’t even imagine what Lin Jing’s opponent onstage was experiencing right now…

That guy who had been frozen stiff in fear, eyes wide with terror— His eyeballs turned into the same bloody eyes on the black blade!

And then— With a bang, a juicy burst echoed through the arena! Those two blood-red eyeballs exploded on the spot!

A few “country bumpkin” spectators screamed in horror from the stands. But on stage, Lin Jing’s opponent didn’t even have time to let out a single cry of pain.

Instead, he suddenly moved like a puppet on strings—

Face full of eerie blood-red streaks, staring with empty, eyeless sockets...

Then suddenly grinned wide and let out a bizarre laugh.

What was even more twisted—

He wasn’t laughing at his opponent Lin Jing.

He was laughing at the spectators!

What was supposed to be a duel between two people,

Had now become a solo performance by Lin Jing!

His supposed opponent had turned into nothing more than a puppet minion,

Grinning at the audience, showing off Lin Jing’s victory for him...

The scene made many spectators’ scalps tingle!

Some were so scared they couldn’t even scream—they were frozen silent!

At last, the guy onstage finished his creepy grinning, bowed to the audience,

Then smacked his own forehead with a palm.

The first Quick Battle match ended.

The winner: Quick Battle side, Lin Jing.

As the authoritative announcement echoed above the arena,

Jiang Ye still felt kind of dazed, his whole body tingling.

After the duel ended, the spectators didn’t leave right away.

Naturally, Jiang Ye stayed too.

When he came back to his senses, he couldn’t help but turn to Wan Xin and awkwardly say:

“So... Lin Jing’s fighting style is, uh, pretty unique, huh?”

Wan Xin didn’t seem surprised at all. He raised an eyebrow and gave Jiang Ye a look:

“You mean creepy, right?”

Jiang Ye fell silent.

Wan Xin let out a dry chuckle and said:

“Then you probably don’t know the saying that goes around in Doomsday Apartment—”

‘The creepier something is, the more absurdly strong it is!’

“In a lot of literature, they always say stuff like ‘evil can’t triumph over good,’ but that’s all bullsh*t.”

“Evil versus good is just dimensional crushing.”

So that’s how it is...

Suddenly Jiang Ye remembered what the woman in white had told him not long ago—

That the wooden ornaments were definitely ‘dirty things.’

But... not as dirty as him.

She wasn’t insulting him.

She was praising him, huh?

No wonder that woman in white, who looked super shady, was also so powerful.

From that angle, Jiang Ye even started to feel like his Replica Reflection Mirror wasn’t so creepy after all.

Like, seriously, what’s creepy about it?

It’s obviously warm and thoughtful!

Just as his Replica No. 2 was getting ready to “let Lin Jing bask in the spotlight for a while” while he went and scored his Five-Win Streak,

Back in his main body’s Apartment 1010, a new Apartment Announcement suddenly rang out!