Chapter 91: Chapter 91

"That’s easy to understand."

"Abilities between humans and Eeries often counter or restrain one another. That’s very common."

"Like the battle you described not long ago—Red Handkerchief Woman versus Lin Jing."

"Back then, Red Handkerchief Woman’s techniques were specifically effective only against Eeries."

"And human players usually don’t get Eerie-targeting abilities until they reach at least S-tier skills."

"The Beginner Phase is when human players are at their weakest and Eerie Players are at their strongest."

"Because during that period, it’s rare for human players to have S-tier skills."

"Skills comprehended at the start are usually one or two tiers lower than the Ability Rank."

"To start out with an S-tier skill, you'd generally need an SS or even SSS-tier Ability, plus high Comprehension and a bit of luck!"

"And even then, most S-tier skills that target Eeries are only effective against Eeries."

"But the one you described—it can seal both Glyph Pattern abilities and any Ability below S-tier…"

"That’s what’s truly suspicious about the skill."

The Blackened Replica analyzed calmly.

Jiang Ye was stunned listening to all that: “So… it really can seal even a ninth-tier Glyph Pattern ability?!”

The Blackened Replica nodded: “Of course, even if it's sealed for 0.000001 seconds, it still counts.”

As long as it seals, that’s enough.

No need to ask for more.

By the time he encounters a ninth-tier Glyph user, he’ll probably be invincible anyway.

At that point, this No. 5 Replica probably won’t even make the lineup.

Right now, though, this No. 5 is perfect for battling Lin Jing!

If he seals Lin Jing’s Glyph and Ability, the fight would be ridiculously easy! Thɪs chapter is updated by nοvelfire.net

But still, Shadow Puppet needs time to nurture.

And Lin Jing’s Quick Battle Mode doesn’t have much time left.

With that in mind, Replica No. 2 hurried to finalize the deal with Wan Xin.

Wan Xin, who had just been one-shotted, had a pretty complicated mood.

His tone was noticeably off when talking to Jiang Ye.

Still, the previously agreed deal went ahead smoothly.

Jiang Ye received a partial version of the guide. He flipped through it briefly, then said to Wan Xin reassuringly:

“Hey, no need to feel bad, Brother Wan. That Rank 96 spot—let’s be honest—it wasn’t yours to hold anyway.”

“Now that you’ve passed the hot potato to me, it’s not really a loss.”

“Plus, you’ll still get the reward for my Thirty-Win Streak, right?”

“You’ve seen my power. Shouldn’t take even half an hour to get it to you.”

The first line alone nearly made Wan Xin explode.

What do you mean, “wasn’t yours to hold”?

If he really wanted to, he could’ve kept his spot on the War God Ranking.

It would’ve just taken more time and effort.

Still, Jiang Ye’s final line counted as a bit of comfort.

He lost the War God Ranking position, but Jiang Ye’s thirty-win reward was pretty much guaranteed.

“But don’t let your guard down just yet.”

“Once you're on the War God Ranking, your next match will be with War Gods from other zones!”

“Of course, the Matchmaking System still pairs you with players of similar Combat Power.”

“So you’ll most likely be facing ‘War Gods’ from other zones who also won rigged matches.”

“Some zones might even have abnormally weak War Gods.”

“Either way, matching against War God players from other zones should open your eyes a bit.”

Jiang Ye nodded and thanked him, then casually asked:

“By the way, Brother Wan, do you know which of our apartments has an extreme Dark Element environment? I kind of need a guide on that.”

Since they’d already made the deal, and the guide info was coming eventually anyway, Wan Xin didn’t need to hold back.

Still, his mind couldn’t help but wander—

What’s this guy doing in a dark-type environment?

Wan Xin had decided to give up his War God Ranking spot partly due to watching Lin Jing’s matches.

After observing several duels, he gradually realized—

this Doomsday Apartment wasn’t an exact replica of the game.

There were gameplay elements that didn’t exist in the game at all.

Lin Jing’s eerie abilities…

and some of the stronger opponents he’d randomly matched with also showcased bizarre abilities.

Wan Xin had bad luck, sure—but he wasn’t stupid.

This guy Jiang Ye wasn’t even a Game Player, yet he’d surpassed most players in growth.

There had to be some kind of opportunity behind it!

Probably the same kind Lin Jing had!

Which explained why Lin Jing “admired” him.

They were the same kind of people…

While thinking this over, Wan Xin couldn’t help but imagine Jiang Ye’s situation.

In his mind, Jiang Ye must have raised an Eerie!

Like those cultivation novels where someone has a powerful old man living in a ring.

Maybe there really was a grandpa Eerie living in Jiang Ye’s ring.

And that grandpa needed to absorb Yin energy to survive—hence Jiang Ye needed an extreme Dark environment!

Yeah, that had to be it!

Wan Xin was convinced he’d uncovered Jiang Ye’s “cheat,” but he pretended not to notice and answered directly:

“Extreme Dark Element environments are basically eerie environments, and there are actually quite a few in the apartments.”

While speaking, Wan Xin thought for a moment and suddenly asked: “By the way, have you cleared your Personal Instance yet? That might be an extreme Dark environment.”

Jiang Ye’s eyes lit up: “You mean the one in your Initial Apartment Room, the instance that lets you find a Survival Stone?”

Wan Xin nodded: “Yeah, that’s the one.”

“If you clear your Personal Instance, you get your own Personal Space, which is way safer than renting an apartment.”

Jiang Ye looked delighted, but then sighed and said:

“That instance gets triggered by items in the apartment, right?”

“But I’ve touched everything in the apartment, and still haven’t triggered anything like a Personal Instance.”

Wan Xin frowned in thought, then commented, “Then you better be careful.”

“Instances that are hidden more deeply usually have higher difficulty.”

“By the way, did you ever hear strange knocking while inside your apartment?”

Aside from Xing Man’s knock at the door, Jiang Ye had heard three eerie knocking sounds in total.

The second time was when the White-Clad Woman came to his door.

The third time was when the Apartment Administrator impersonated Ding Deng and came to kill him.

But the first time...

It happened when Replica No. 1 went off to do an Errand in Room 2064, and his Main Body, exhausted from controlling two replicas at once, collapsed on the sofa.

At that time, the Main Body was too tired to check through the peephole.

So even now, he had no idea what had caused that knock.

He’d considered whether it might’ve been the Traveling Merchant from the 20th floor of Apartment 9999 proactively coming to deliver a Survival Jade Token.

Because shortly after, Replica No. 2 did get a Survival Jade Token from the Traveling Merchant.

But whether it was that or not, he wasn’t sure.

Now hearing Wan Xin mention the eerie knocking, he took the chance to ask.

Wan Xin was stunned: “You actually heard it? Then your Personal Instance must be seriously difficult.”

“If that’s the case, you’d better wait until you reach Level 10 and your Combat Power breaks 500 before attempting it.”

“But if you hear another eerie knock, pay attention—that means something inside your Personal Instance is calling you.”

Something is calling…

With that thought, Jiang Ye figured his Personal Instance might really be an extreme Dark Attribute environment.

Still, since Wan Xin advised him to wait until Level 10, he also listed a few other apartments with Dark environments—

“As for other Dark environments, let me think…”

“Room 303 in Apartment 2333—it’s an abandoned psychiatric hospital.”

“Apartment 4444 has a creepy cemetery on Basement Level 1, but you’ll need to ask that apartment’s Administrator how to take the Red Light Elevator to floor -1.”

“And Room 5678 in Apartment 1234 is a bizarre library.”

“These three count as relatively safe Dark environments.”

“The rest… they’re basically life-and-death zones. Once you go in, it’s hard to get out. I’ll compile them later along with the guide.”

Then Wan Xin seemed to recall something and added:

“Those three I mentioned? In the game, they were just spooky horror scenes.”

“They were mostly for gutsy players who’d treat them like haunted house tours to experience the jump scares.”

“But in real life, things may differ. If something happens to you, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Wan Xin figured, Jiang Ye had an Eerie grandpa backing him, so he’d be fine going into eerie environments.

And since he was on a Win Streak, he couldn’t spare a body to go exploring right now.

He’d probably wait until he was done with the streak.

Jiang Ye didn’t know what was going through Wan Xin’s head.

On his end, he was already calculating.

This Shadow Puppet from Replica No. 5 had to be nurtured somehow.

Because the curse that sealed Abilities and Glyph Pattern abilities was just too powerful and too important!

And now, he had four options for extreme Dark Attribute environments—

The abandoned psychiatric hospital, the eerie cemetery, the eerie library,

and the hidden Personal Instance inside his apartment room.

The first three required Cross-Apartment travel, which cost a Survival Point.

Jiang Ye had exactly one Survival Point left.

But the power of Replica No. 5 made him itch with anticipation.

The effect from the [Crown] roll on the Dice of Fate was still active.

While his Luck was boosted, shouldn’t he spend the Survival Point on creating a new replica instead?

Using it for Cross-Apartment transfer would be such a waste!

With that in mind, Jiang Ye didn’t overthink it—he created a sixth replica on the spot!

Again, he used the Replica Mutation skill.

But this time, during the mutation process, he had a sudden premonition—

This new mutated replica could actually take on the same appearance and name as Replica No. 5.

Meaning, he could make two “Qu Xing”!

But after a moment of thought, Jiang Ye abandoned the idea of duplicating the same appearance.

So Replica No. 6 came with a brand-new face and name.

The only issue? This sixth replica’s face value was abysmal.

Shifty-eyed features, pockmarked skin, crooked teeth, and dyed yellow hair…

The body might be different, but the soul was still Jiang Ye’s.

And he was kind of a sucker for looks.

Seeing himself look from the replica’s perspective… it nearly crushed his spirit.

It wasn’t that he was shallow—

But that face just didn’t scream “good guy”!

He actually started regretting not copying Replica No. 5’s appearance.

Look how handsome and youthful No. 5 was—bright, energetic.

Meanwhile, this No. 6 looked like a stereotypical villain—dead-eyed, gloomy, like he was halfway to the grave…

Jiang Ye sighed internally and turned his focus to No. 6’s Data Panel.

Not because of the Ability or anything—

But because the first thing he saw was this replica’s name…

He was named: Huang Bo.

Oh hell no, that pun?!

Jiang Ye had already judged this guy’s looks,

But now, all of a sudden, he thought… maybe the replica didn’t look that bad.

It was the vibe, the aura—it gave his barely-passing face a unique flavor.

But scrolling down further on the Data Panel, Jiang Ye was stunned again.

Because Replica No. 6’s stats looked like a mirrored version of No. 5’s:

[Ability: Light Element Affinity (SS)]

[Skills: Holy Judgment (S), Divine Purification (S), Lightstep Escape (S)]

This was too much of a coincidence!

No. 5 had SS-tier Dark Affinity, and No. 6 had SS-tier Light Affinity…

Same base stats, and both started with three S-tier skills!

They looked like a matched pair—

but in reverse, one Light and one Dark.

Even their appearances matched their elemental affinity in strange ways—

Replica No. 5 had pale skin, noble and righteous looks—yet his affinity was Dark.

Replica No. 6 looked like a shady villain—yet had a Light affinity.

Really goes to show: never judge a book by its cover…

Reflecting on that, Jiang Ye checked No. 6’s three S-tier skills:

[Holy Judgment (S): Summons a massive cross of holy light, dealing (Stamina ×5 + Energy ×10) Light damage to targets in range. Deals +1000% damage to Dark-type creatures and inflicts Light Burn.]

[Divine Purification (S): Purifies the target, removing curses (up to S-tier). If the target is Dark-type, also applies Light Curse and Light Burn.]

[Lightstep Escape (S): Turns into a beam of light and rapidly escapes.]

At first glance, these three skills didn’t look that special.

But the effects of “Light Curse” and “Light Burn” made Jiang Ye’s eyes go wide with shock!

[Light Curse (Dark-type targets only): Under holy light, all darkness shall be annihilated and all filth expelled! The cursed will lose their eerie abilities and die at the next midnight.]

[Light Burn (Dark-type targets only): A special Light-infused burn that gradually erases the soul until the Eerie Soul is annihilated.]

This-this-this-this???

Wasn’t this way too broken?!

Jiang Ye stared at the two Light-type effects, absolutely dumbfounded.