Chapter 87: Chapter 87

But Wu Ying, watching this scene, wasn’t all that shocked.

Because he recognized this mech puppet.

To be precise, every member of the Duoe Organization recognized it.

Because this thing that could switch between a Duel Machine and a mech puppet—was their boss, Duoe!

And sometimes, this kind of mech puppet could appear in multiple places at once!

For example, on this entire 366th floor where Wu Ying had arrived, every single room had one of these Duoe Duel Machines.

Of course, in some rooms, the Duel Machine might already have taken the form of a mech puppet to carry out some organization task.

Duoe was a massive and mysterious organization.

The organization’s leader called themselves “Duoe” and always appeared in the form of a mech puppet.

Naturally, both outside the organization and within, there were two circulating theories.

One theory said that all those mech puppets were just Replicas of the boss Duoe.

The other theory claimed that all members outsiders encountered were just regular members,

and the unknown core members of Duoe were actually these mech puppets.

All mech puppets looked identical and called themselves Duoe.

But in reality, they were controlled by different players.

And those hidden behind the mechs were the real core members of Duoe.

Both theories were plausible.

After all, there was a clear pattern in how Duoe members cycled.

Every so often, a few strong members of the organization would all “disappear” at the same time.

And this disappearance always aligned with the time when Beginner Players finished their trial period and entered the Doomsday Apartment.

So every new batch arriving at the Doomsday Apartment also marked the Duoe Organization’s recruitment period.

To replenish those “missing” veteran players.

This periodic loss of veteran players and fixed recruitment cycle seemed to back up the idea of “core members.”

So many Duoe members were ambitious, working hard to improve their strength to one day become core members.

Whether it was true or not,

All these mech puppets presented themselves as “Duoe.”

So Wu Ying didn’t care whether it was a Replica of Duoe or a real core member,

he just instinctively called out to the humanoid puppet stepping out from the wall: For origınal chapters go to novel·fiɾe·net

Naturally, the mech puppet showed no expression.

Its emotionless mechanical eyes glanced at him once before speaking in the same deep tone as the black shadow on the screen:

“You don’t need to handle this matter anymore.”

“That includes the rookie—stop targeting him.”

Wu Ying was stunned: “So… I don’t need to investigate the Duel Machine I used before either?”

But the mech puppet simply walked toward the exit, its voice steady:

Wu Ying paused for a moment, then rushed out of the room—

and saw the mech puppet entering the Red Light Elevator in the hallway.

Just as he was thinking it over, he noticed a message pop up in the internal group chat for Duoe members:

Duoe (Group Admin):【Rookie Number 666—other than key win streaks, do not target him further. @all members】

An official order to lift all targeting against Jiang Ye!

At once, Duoe members began discussing it nonstop, and several directly messaged Wu Ying for answers.

But Wu Ying replied: 【I don’t know either! But that guy seems to have mastered Glyph Pattern abilities! The ability he used to kill me last match was definitely a Glyph Pattern ability!】

Tong Sang:【D*mn! Another rookie who mastered Glyph Pattern abilities on Day One! This batch is insane!】

Xu Chen:【I wonder if he’s still human or has become an Eerie?】

Qi Bai:【I’ve got a feeling… he might be another powerful Human Player!】

Wu Ying:【I’m leaning toward him being a Human Player too!】

Xing Xiu:【This is ridiculous! He was still a total noob at his three-win streak! The growth rate is way too fast!】

Zi Sang Haoyun:【I wonder what the boss is thinking? Could it be he wants to recruit this guy into Duoe?】

Tang Yi:【What if the “Core Members” really exist? Maybe the boss told us to back off because he's preparing to let a Core Member handle it?】

Wu Ying:【That’s definitely possible! After all, that guy used a Glyph Pattern ability to actually kill me! If regular members keep trying to go against him, it might be pointless!】

Tong Sang:【So… are we really saying our Duoe Organization has those legendary Core Members? Then maybe, when this trial period ends, I’ll get promoted to Core Member myself?】

Zi Sang Haoyun:【Tch! With how much time you waste chatting in the group, and you think you’ll make Core Member?】

Tong Sang:【Come on! You deadweight! You’ve got no right to laugh at me!】

It was true, Duoe had a ton of members.

But 99% of them rarely ever chatted.

And those few who seemed to live in the group chat 24/7—

they were just like Wan Xin from Apartment 9999.

Jiang Ye once again found Wan Xin in the spectator seats of Lin Jing’s Quick Battle match.

At that moment, Wan Xin was watching his tenth match in a row.

With three minutes before the match started, and Lin Jing’s opponent still not on stage, most of the spectators were casually chatting.

Next to Wan Xin was a conversation partner, and the two were chatting casually.

But as soon as he saw Jiang Ye, Wan Xin dropped the chat and turned to ask him:

“Not even fifteen minutes have passed. How many wins are you up to now?”

Jiang Ye glanced at Wan Xin’s conversation partner—he vaguely recognized him as a big shot from Apartment 9999, but didn’t know his exact name.

He quickly looked away and replied to Wan Xin with a sigh:

“I was aiming for thirty, but ran into a bit of trouble midway. Only made it to twenty.”

He said it like it was no big deal, but honestly, it was pretty flaunty.

Wan Xin didn’t mind. He gave a thumbs up and said:

“No matter what, with a record like that, you’re already killing it on our zone’s War God Ranking!”

“After all, ten wins is already tough—getting twenty or thirty, the difficulty multiplies!”

“Who knows, you might actually catch up and become the second in our zone—after God Lin—to hit a hundred-win streak!”

“Though, it’s hard to say. I bet there are others like you, staying low-level on purpose to grind win streaks.”

“They’re probably hiding in other Apartments—never showing up on the ranking board and not daring to come to our Apartment 9999.”

As he was saying that, his eyes lit up again and he asked Jiang Ye:

“Since you hit 20 wins, what reward did you draw?”

“Bodhi Enlightenment Fruit,” Jiang Ye answered directly.

Then he added with a sigh: “I’m thinking of trading it.”

As soon as he said that—

Wan Xin and his chat partner both widened their eyes, their gazes sparkling.

Especially Wan Xin—his eyes spun quickly before he raised a thumb again and praised:

“Absolutely the wise choice!”

"Someone like you, with lousy luck, really isn’t cut out for probability-based items."

"Besides, even if you gain an extra Ability or skill, the impact in the early stage isn’t all that noticeable."

"But still, just the chance of getting another Ability makes the Bodhi Enlightenment Fruit insanely valuable!"

"If you trade it, there’ll be plenty of strong players willing to offer you good stuff!"

Wan Xin swept his eyes across the increasingly crowded spectator stands and raised an eyebrow:

"This match with God Lin is packed with hidden powerhouses!"

"There might be more than a few strong players here willing to give you great stuff in exchange for that Enlightenment Fruit!"

At first, Jiang Ye thought Wan Xin was planning to trade with him himself, judging by that gleam in his eyes.

But then he thought again—

Wan Xin had said his luck sucked and that he’d never pulled anything from the Distorted Box.

So of course, he wouldn’t be the type to pay big for a gamble-based item.

Still, Jiang Ye looked over the spectators and asked curiously:

"You can trade directly here in the spectator area?"

Wan Xin shook his head. "Of course not."

"But if you can chat, then you can at least agree on a method to trade."

Wan Xin was just about to start explaining some trading methods when the guy sitting to his right—a player from Apartment 9999—cut in:

"But making deals with total strangers is not only troublesome, it’s easy to get scammed."

"You’d be better off… considering me."

Jiang Ye looked past Wan Xin and asked, "And you are…?"

"I’m Cheng Qun—you’ve probably seen me in the 9999 Apartment chat group?"

Jiang Ye nodded. "You seem familiar."

What he remembered more clearly, though, was Wan Xin roasting this guy for getting two fingers bitten off by an Eerie while pulling from the Distorted Box.

He glanced at Cheng Qun’s hands and noticed he was wearing black gloves.

He didn’t dwell on the guy’s injury and just asked flatly, "What are you offering in return?"

Cheng Qun didn’t answer directly. Instead, he asked, "What kind of item are you looking for, exactly?"

Jiang Ye didn’t hold back at all:

"I want to master an S-tier skill in a short time."

As soon as he said it, Cheng Qun’s expression froze and he frowned:

"Come on. That Enlightenment Fruit of yours? It’s a total gamble whether it even awakens an Ability!"

"For all I know, I could eat it and just learn some low-tier, basic skill!"

"And whether it’s awakening an Ability or gaining a skill, it’s still capped at A-tier!"

"Which means the best I could get is B-tier!"

"And you want me to give you an S-tier skill in return?"

Clearly, he thought Jiang Ye was asking way too much.

But Jiang Ye just raised an eyebrow and didn’t budge in the slightest:

"If you’re not interested, I’ll find someone else."

Sure, what Cheng Qun said made sense at first glance.

If you used the Enlightenment Fruit and only got a low-tier skill,

then maybe it wasn’t worth that much.

But you couldn’t evaluate the Fruit’s worth that way.

It gave players the chance to awaken a new Ability.

That alone made it incredibly valuable!

Even if the chance of awakening was just 1%,

its value still outclassed any Skill Scroll!

Skills could come from Skill Scrolls, or players could gain them through self-realization.

But awakening an Ability? That wasn’t nearly so easy.

It was just like in a cultivation novel—

Skill Scrolls were like spells or divine techniques.

While the Enlightenment Fruit was akin to a rare treasure that could turn a triple-root cultivator into a dual-root one!

In those stories, once a treasure like that appeared, the whole cultivation world would go up in flames!

And from Jiang Ye’s perspective, this Enlightenment Fruit was that kind of treasure.

Even from Wan Xin’s reaction, he could tell—

asking for an S-tier skill wasn’t overreaching.

Thinking this, Jiang Ye ignored Cheng Qun and turned back to Wan Xin to ask about how players typically conducted trades.

But they had barely exchanged a few words when another alert rang out in Jiang Ye’s head:

【Beginner Apartment Emergency Announcement:】

【Apartment 0000 will open at the next 0:00!】

A short and simple notice—

left Jiang Ye stunned.

Apartment 0000… hadn’t been open before?

Was there something special about its opening?

He quickly turned to ask Wan Xin,

but before he could speak, the previously indecisive Cheng Qun suddenly said:

"Items that help players comprehend skills almost never have a 100% success rate."

"And the higher the skill’s tier, the lower the chance of learning it!"

"Usually, if a player doesn’t gain an S-tier skill when they awaken their Ability, then they’re basically locked out of it for the whole beginner phase."

"Because rookies just don’t have the experience. Even if you’re loaded enough to use a Diamond-Tier Skill Scroll, you’ll probably only learn a C-tier or D-tier skill!"

"It’s like asking an elementary school kid to read a university textbook—there’s just no way to comprehend it!"

"So at this stage, using high-tier Skill Scrolls is a waste."

"If you don’t believe me, ask Wan Xin, or any of your other trusted friends."

Jiang Ye looked at Wan Xin.

Without even needing to say anything, Wan Xin nodded:

"It’s true. If you insist on trading the Enlightenment Fruit for an S-tier skill, the value lines up."

"But the issue is—you’re only Level 3 right now. You probably haven’t used the Training Room or Enlightenment Room much yet.

As for those high-end, insane enlightenment facilities—you’ve probably never even heard of them."

"So at this stage, using a high-tier Skill Scroll really would be a waste."

Jiang Ye was just about to ask more about those top-tier enlightenment places.

But Cheng Qun jumped in again, clearly eager:

"If it’s a skill you need urgently, I can give you two Golden-Tier Skill Scrolls—each can unlock up to B-tier skills."

"That’s the best match for where you’re at right now. Any higher would just be wasted."

Golden-Tier Skill Scrolls…

Neither the Golden-Tier Duel Machine exchange list nor the High-End Mall sold items of that tier.

In other words, Golden-tier items could only be bought from roaming vendors in the Apartment using Survival Points!

So yeah, Golden-tier items were already rare.

But Jiang Ye still wasn’t satisfied: "Not enough."

Cheng Qun wasn’t surprised. He calmly continued: "I can add more. What else do you want?"

Jiang Ye raised five fingers: "Five Golden-Tier Attribute Fruits—Stamina and Energy, five of each."

This time, not only Cheng Qun—even Wan Xin’s mouth twitched.

Before Cheng Qun could say anything, Wan Xin patted Jiang Ye on the shoulder and explained:

"I think you’ve got a misunderstanding about Golden-Tier Attribute Fruits."

"At the Golden tier, Attribute Fruits are crazy expensive!"

"Even compared to other items of the same tier—not even Skill Scrolls come close in price."

"If you don’t believe me, go ask any of the top dogs in the spectator stands—there’s no way anyone’s dumb enough to accept that kind of trade."

Jiang Ye had just been testing the waters anyway, so he quickly adjusted his offer:

"Alright then—Silver-Tier Attribute Fruits. Stamina and Energy, fifty of each?"