Chapter 70: Chapter 70

Of course, Jiang Ye was there too, but he just wanted to be a background character and quietly watch the drama.

He originally thought he’d get to see Xing Man—that guy who looked exactly like him and had such a powerful presence.

But who would’ve thought, Xing Man was actually pretty gutsy, really looked like he was about to go 1v1 with Yang Wenchao, and even showed up alone!

So, that means he’s pretty confident about going solo against Yang Wenchao?

Just as he was thinking that, Jiang Ye noticed—

Xing Man gave him a look.

His eyes were complicated, with a hint of killing intent.

In fact, that killing intent was even stronger than what he had toward Yang Wenchao.

Jiang Ye frowned slightly, just in time to see Xing Man turn back toward Yang Wenchao.

More than just plain hostility, their eye contact sparked with explosive tension.

Yang Wenchao fiddled with the pair of bracelets on his wrist, and slowly said to Xing Man:

“I thought you’d fall back on old habits and show up with your little lackeys and that so-called ‘thigh’ of yours to gang up on me.”

“Didn’t expect you to actually come alone.”

“You’re not afraid I’ll go back on my word and team up with Jiang Ye?”

Xing Man didn’t respond. His expression stiffened a little.

After all, he couldn’t just come out and say—

“From what I know about you, you’re not the type to go back on your word.”

If he said that, the contrast would be too brutal—

His understanding of Yang Wenchao: not likely to go back on his word;

Yang Wenchao’s understanding of him: always goes back on his word…

Wouldn’t that just make him look like a total scumbag?

What, does he not care about his reputation?

So instead, he forced himself to act tough and sneered coldly:

“Heh! Trash is trash! Even if you teamed up with every last one of your so-called ‘Top Class’ classmates, I wouldn’t be scared!”

And with that, not waiting for Yang Wenchao to reply, he darted straight toward him!

His footwork was lightning-fast, legs leaving afterimages.

At the same time, his fingers interlocked, then yanked apart with a shout: “Open!”

In that instant, the space in front of him looked like it was torn apart!

And Yang Wenchao, who stood directly where his hands pointed, seemed to be ripped in half by some overwhelming force!

Left and right halves dropped to either side.

It looked exactly like a log split in two by an axe...

Jiang Ye, still in full popcorn-munching mode, was totally dumbfounded!

No way? Yang Wenchao got one-shotted?

Jiang Ye remembered Xiao Likun and Wang Qiang describing Yang Wenchao’s fight with a monster in the group chat.

They mentioned one key word: Resurrection!

Just as Xing Man was looking a bit stunned by the insta-kill…

The two halves of Yang Wenchao’s body on the ground suddenly turned into black mist.

The black mist gathered fast and quickly reformed into Yang Wenchao’s shape.

Just like he thought! Yang Wenchao resurrected!

Xing Man, seeing this for the first time, was clearly shaken.

His expression immediately turned grim!

Even the way he had been closing in on Yang Wenchao shifted to a cautious retreat.

After arriving at Apartment 9999, Jiang Ye had picked up quite a bit of knowledge.

At this moment, he quickly realized—

Yang Wenchao’s resurrection ability probably wasn’t just simple resurrection.

It was… some kind of sketchy ability!

According to what Wan Xin said—

The more sketchy the ability in the Doomsday Apartment, the stronger it is!

So Yang Wenchao’s ability had to be even more powerful than your standard elemental types!

No wonder he dared to solo a level 6 like Xing Man when he was only level 4!

At the same time, Jiang Ye thought—

Wang Lingling’s ability was an S-tier Dark Element Affinity.

It probably had a touch of that sketchy vibe too.

So among the S-tier abilities, Wang Lingling was likely quite strong.

But Yang Wenchao’s ability seemed even sketchier!

Because he kept dying two or three more times.

And every time he came back, he looked stronger!

Xing Man clearly noticed it too. His expression wasn’t just grim now—there was sweat forming on his forehead.

And Yang Wenchao still had the nerve to taunt mid-fight:

“Already panicking? Is that all your strength amounts to?”

Xing Man was silently throwing out a ton of MMPs in his head!

Come on, this isn’t even a strength issue anymore!

He already one-shotted Yang Wenchao multiple times!

But every time, he couldn’t actually kill him for good!

Worse yet, each time Yang Wenchao came back, he got stronger!

He had to find a real way to kill him—take him out in one definitive hit!

Otherwise, this fight was only going to get worse and worse!

Once that clicked, Xing Man stopped rushing to kill Yang Wenchao and instead started dragging out the fight, trying to find the right way to truly finish him off.

Jiang Ye realized it too—

Yang Wenchao’s ability might be sketchy as hell, but there had to be a weakness.

There’s no way he could just resurrect forever.

The key would be to reduce his number of resurrections and then kill him for real!

Thinking of that, Jiang Ye remembered the time outside Duel Machine 1, where he saw Yang Wenchao lose to some female college student.

At that time, he noticed—

That girl clearly had the upper hand but didn’t immediately go for the kill.

She dragged the fight out.

That was the moment the Apartment Ranking Board announcement popped up and distracted Jiang Ye.

By the time he snapped out of it, Yang Wenchao had already lost.

So in the end, he never saw how exactly Yang Wenchao was defeated in that fight.

Jiang Ye was still thinking when he suddenly sensed something strange.

Almost without hesitation, he merged the mirror image of Replica No. 3 into Replica No. 1, the one currently spectating the fight.

At the same time, to avoid exposing the fact that he had Replicas, he didn’t use his Ice-type ability.

Instead, relying on the boost from his strong attributes, he cast Golden Light Technique.

A streak of golden light shot toward the hidden attacker.

Pshhh, the golden light pierced flesh!

Ran Ziyi’s figure was exposed!

Clutching his right arm with his left hand, his face went pale, twisted in pain, eyes filled with disbelief as he looked in Jiang Ye’s direction.

But there wasn’t even time to react further.

Another streak of golden light came flying in, at a speed that completely outpaced his nerve response, and stabbed straight into the center of his forehead!

Ran Ziyi’s pupils suddenly widened in horror and disbelief!

And then—quickly dimmed. Follow current novels on novel⦿fire.net

Inside Jiang Ye’s mind, a prompt sounded:

[Ding! You’ve killed a level 4 player. Congratulations, you’ve earned +1 Survival Point!]

Another Survival Point!

And it was legit self-defense!

Jiang Ye squinted toward Xing Man, still locked in combat with Yang Wenchao.

He thought to himself, there was no grudge between them, so why had Xing Man insisted on dragging him into this?

Turns out, that whole “kill Yang Wenchao first, then kill you” speech was total bulls**t!

What he really wanted was to have one of his lackeys ambush Jiang Ye during the fight with Yang Wenchao!

Xing Man really thought that highly of him, huh?

Jiang Ye instantly realized—

If Xing Man was willing to resort to sneak attacks to kill him,

then there's no way he’d play fair in a 1v1 against Yang Wenchao either!

He immediately raised his guard, becoming hyper-aware of his surroundings.

Meanwhile, Xing Man, still grappling with Yang Wenchao, watched in shock as Ran Ziyi, the second strongest in Class 9 after himself, got insta-killed by Jiang Ye!

His composure shattered.

Yang Wenchao, who had been on the defensive, suddenly thrust both arms forward!

The bracelets on his wrists flew off with a bang,

smashing straight into Xing Man’s forehead!

At the same time, the two bracelets suddenly expanded and trapped Xing Man’s whole body!

Next, Yang Wenchao followed up with a flying kick.

Trapped by the bracelets, Xing Man lost his balance, fell to the ground, and had his face stomped on by Yang Wenchao mid-air!

This position—humiliating to the extreme!

But the worst part was, his hands and feet were locked by the bracelets, and he couldn’t muster enough force to break free!

All he could do was lie there, getting his face stomped into a distorted mess by Yang Wenchao!

Like a cornered beast, bloodshot eyes full of rage, he glared at Yang Wenchao,

mouth twisted in fury and humiliation, letting out a muffled growl—but it was so garbled no one could tell what he was saying.

Yang Wenchao, foot still on his face, was in a great mood and started taunting again:

“Tut tut, so unwilling to accept it?”

“But what a shame—you’re out of chances!”

As he said this, he raised his foot, ready to crush Xing Man’s skull.

But in the next second—

A red mist appeared out of nowhere and suddenly enveloped Yang Wenchao!

Wrapped in the Blood Mist, Yang Wenchao instantly felt his attributes drop and his body weaken!

Xing Man was thrilled by the sudden turn, seized the chance, and flipped out from under Yang Wenchao’s foot!

In no time, he even broke free of the two bracelets trapping him.

Seeing Yang Wenchao completely covered in red mist, he went straight in for the counterattack.

And while doing so, he threw Yang Wenchao’s earlier taunt right back at him:

“No! The tide has turned!”

But because of Yang Wenchao’s sketchy Resurrection ability, Xing Man still didn’t try to finish him off with a single blow.

Instead, he launched a flying kick, aiming to stomp Yang Wenchao’s face in!

Yet the kick only sent the red-misted Yang Wenchao flying.

His foot hadn’t yet landed that sweet revenge stomp.

When suddenly, the red mist started floating back in his direction!

Now, it was Xing Man’s turn—his attributes plummeted, and his body weakened in an instant!

Yang Wenchao’s eyes lit up, his expression shifted slightly.

But even mid-fight, his reaction was fast.

With a quick kip-up, he counterattacked Xing Man again.

And of course, dropped another taunt:

“Not sure what’s going on…”

“But hey, looks like the tide’s turned again!”

Boom!—Xing Man got kicked flying again.

On the sidelines, Jiang Ye watched, eyes wide with shock!

Because he recognized that red mist!

Wasn’t that the Blood Mist from the Blood Mist Space?!

It really was that out-of-control Mirror Replica from before!

His eyes scanned the area in disbelief.

And sure enough—next second, a wave of red mist appeared right in front of him.

Not far off, Xing Man’s panicked shout echoed:

“You’ve got it wrong! Blood Mist Guy! Move your Blood Mist away!”

And the “Blood Mist Guy” he was talking about…

Suddenly appeared right in front of Jiang Ye!

And yep—looked exactly like him!

The only difference was…

This guy was surrounded by a faint, eerie red mist.

And when he heard Xing Man yelling, for whatever reason, he actually did move the mist away from Xing Man.

But—he didn’t send it back over to Yang Wenchao.

Instead, he retracted it back onto himself.

Next thing you know, the Replica shrouded in Blood Mist and Jiang Ye locked eyes in a good ol’ face-to-face stare down.

Well—more like same-sized eyes staring at each other.

Although… the Replica’s eyes did look a little darker.

Jiang Ye had been all ready to throw down with this darkened version of himself.

But at that moment, during the big-eye-stare-down with the darkened Replica…

He realized—this Replica didn’t seem hostile toward him.

In fact, this intense eye contact… almost felt like it was waiting for him to give a command??

For a moment, Jiang Ye was a bit stunned.

But he thought to himself—

If Xing Man could cling to this thigh,

Then someone like him, who had a connection with this thigh, should be able to cling too, right?

So he gave it a shot and greeted the darkened Replica: “Hi… hello?”

The darkened Replica looked pretty creepy.

Shrouded in Blood Mist, jet-black eyes with an innocent look, but the corners of his mouth curled into a chilling smile.

With that same creepy smile, he greeted Jiang Ye back: “Hi… hello?”

“……” Jiang Ye was momentarily speechless, then tried to keep things friendly:

“Uh, hey, could you maybe help me grab that Xing Man guy over here so I can kill him?”

The darkened Replica blinked and nodded. “Sure.”

Whoosh—the Blood Mist once again engulfed Xing Man.

And in an instant, dragged him right in front of Jiang Ye.

Yang Wenchao, who was just about to land a killing blow on Xing Man, got completely kill-stealed and froze in place.

He turned sharply toward Jiang Ye, looking absolutely dumbfounded.

That expression—like he’d just seen a ghost.

Jiang Ye, looking pure and innocent, gave a cheerful wave to Yang Wenchao: “Hi… Brother Chao?”

Yang Wenchao cursed in his heart.

But then, his gaze swept over to that figure wrapped in Blood Mist who looked exactly like Jiang Ye…

His expression instantly turned wary—he didn’t dare make a move.

After all, he’d experienced the attribute drain under the Blood Mist firsthand.

That feeling of weakness—way too dangerous, and way too unbearable!

When Jiang Ye saw Yang Wenchao just standing there ignoring him, he turned to Xing Man instead and gave him a little wave:

“……” Xing Man’s whole body froze, swirling in chaos inside the Blood Mist.

Jiang Ye, playing totally clueless, looked as harmless as ever as he cheerfully asked Xing Man:

“Brother Man, where’d you find this thigh to cling to? And why does he look exactly like me? Is his way of protecting people just wrapping them in this red mist?”

Inside the Blood Mist, Xing Man was about to lose his mind!

Once he confirmed that the Blood Mist Big Bro he was clinging to looked exactly like Jiang Ye, he knew things had gone south.

He had everything planned out—

First, ambush Jiang Ye, the unpredictable variable.

Then the whole apartment would be his to command!

But who would've thought, Jiang Ye actually one-shotted Ran Ziyi!

And this Blood Mist Big Bro, who looked exactly like Jiang Ye, turned out to be a traitor—ditched him and started following Jiang Ye instead!

After having his face stomped on by Yang Wenchao and now being “humiliated” by Jiang Ye ,

Xing Man didn’t answer Jiang Ye. He just glared at the Blood Mist Guy, bloodshot eyes full of unwilling fury, and roared:

“Blood Mist! I’m the one who brought you into my apartment! You promised you’d repay the favor! You can’t be this ungrateful!”

“Move! Move this Blood Mist off me right now!”

The moment Jiang Ye heard that, he realized—

This darkened Replica of his was probably brought back by Xing Man from the far end of the 3rd floor hallway?

So that means—the far ends of each hallway might actually be connected to some other spatial zone?

Or maybe, every floor's hallway has a passage like that, linking to a different instance or dimension?

Could it be that the way to farm monsters in the Doomsday Apartment is to break through each floor’s hallway and enter instance zones through those spatial passages?

That Blood Mist Space he entered through the white-robed woman in the Gloomy Forest—maybe that counts as one of those instance zones too?

As he thought about all this, his darkened Replica suddenly looked down at Xing Man.

Those jet-black eyes held an innocent purity—

Yet also a cold detachment, untouched by any emotion.

Tainted with sinister energy, this Replica didn’t seem the least bit bothered by words like “ungrateful.”

So, he completely ignored Xing Man’s accusations and simply corrected him:

“Not your apartment. My apartment.”

Then pointed at Jiang Ye and added, “This ‘me.’”