Chapter 74: The Consequence of Offending Duoe |
"……"
What the f**k!
Could you not be so creepy?!
Jiang Ye lost his vision the moment his eyes were covered, and it totally threw him off!
The worst part? The blackened Replica actually said this looked “good”!
He couldn’t help but suspect—
Was this blackened Replica using this method to teach him the lesson of "don’t do to others what you don’t want done to you"?
In his eyes, the blackened Replica’s smile was terrifying.
But in the Replica’s eyes, using severed hands to cover the eyes was “good-looking”!
And at the same time, stopped trying to force his own aesthetic standards on the blackened Replica.
So, the blackened Replica kept the one-hand-over-the-eye pose, admiring himself in the mirror, looking very satisfied.
Though in the end, he went for two severed hands.
One hand over each eye, symmetrical—and now it was even more “good-looking.”
Jiang Ye thought: Fine, whatever. I guess you get used to it after a while.
Still, staring at those two severed hands, he couldn’t help but ask,
"How many of those severed hands can you make, anyway?"
Please don’t tell me it’s like that white-robed woman’s hair—up to 10086 or something.
But the blackened Replica answered, "Nine."
As he spoke, he really summoned seven more severed hands to float around him.
The scene was… deeply unsettling.
But then, Jiang Ye suddenly noticed—
Among those nine hands, one had what looked like a tattoo near the base of the thumb!
That sight triggered a sudden thought in his mind.
So he immediately ordered the blackened Replica to put all the hands away.
Then, he and the Replica took the Red Light Elevator and left the first-floor lobby.
However…
Just as they stepped into the elevator—
At the front desk on the first floor,
The fused Apartment Administrator—still the deadpan middle-aged man from Apartment 1008—
Was sitting with his head lowered, reading a thick black tome.
At that moment, he suddenly looked in the direction where Jiang Ye had left.
A moment later, he looked down again and turned a page.
Then, his index finger pressed down on the page where it said “2025.”
For the first time, a cold smile crept onto his eternally emotionless face.
But this little detail, no one noticed.
Not even Wang Lingling and the others who were secretly watching from the stairwell.
Wang Lingling and the rest only came out to the lobby after Jiang Ye and the “Blood Mist Big Shot” had left.
A group of over a dozen people stood there, completely silent. A deathly quiet filled the air.
In the group chat, though, one bold classmate tentatively spoke up:
【Xing Man’s name just disappeared from the Ranking Board... did he... did he die?】
No one replied in the group.
But among the Mutual Aid Group members gathered in the lobby, someone did finally snap out of it.
Top student Xu Yuewan swallowed nervously and murmured to herself:
"That really was some amazing chemical reaction..."
"But the one with strong oxidizing power wasn’t Yang Wenchao—it was Jiang Ye!"
Her voice, though soft, noticeably quivered with shock and excitement when she said "Jiang Ye."
That same shock quickly spread to the others nearby.
And then, the dozen or so core members of the Mutual Aid Group all started chiming in:
"Holy sht!!! Xing Man’s so-called big shot actually looked exactly like Jiang Ye!!"
"And he really was weird—he ignored Xing Man and listened to Jiang Ye instead!!"
"When did Jiang Ye suddenly become so strong?!"
"No, it’s not that he got strong—his big shot is strong!"
"Didn’t you hear him show off to Yang Wenchao? The Bald Big Shot, the Blood Mist Big Shot, and Yang Wenchao—they’re all backing him!!!"
"Dmn! Just give me one of those three to cling to and I’d be flying too!!"
"That dog Jiang Ye! His luck is f**ing insane!!"
"Dmn! I’m calling it—I’m gonna cling to Jiang Ye too!!"
"In your dreams! You think it’s that easy to cling to a big shot? You got Jiang Ye’s kind of luck? Better not try and screw yourself over instead!"
"But now that he’s got three big shots on his side, he should have no problem paying that sky-high rent, right?"
"Ugh! His rent is beyond what we should be worrying about anymore!"
"What we should be grateful for is that Jiang Ye isn’t like Xing Man, randomly killing people! Otherwise, he could totally become the next Xing Man and have the Blood Mist Big Shot kill everyone on command!"
"But I still think, relying on a big shot can’t beat having real strength! Didn’t Xing Man cling to the Blood Mist guy and act all smug? And look how he ended up—killed by the same big shot!"
"Jiang Ye himself isn’t strong enough. He probably can’t even control the Blood Mist guy! If that guy turns on him, Jiang Ye won’t stand a chance. He could easily end up just like Xing Man!"
Gao Chang nodded in agreement, then said generously,
"But no matter what, Jiang Ye helped us out of the crisis Xing Man caused."
"If he really does get betrayed by the Blood Mist Big Shot, and by then we’re strong enough, maybe we can give him a hand."
Wang Lingling and Lu Shen both nodded too:
"At least we’ve learned a lot more now. Our growth should start speeding up."
"From here on, we’ll split the Mutual Aid Group into three teams—"
"Group A will focus on fighting monsters and leveling up; Group B will work jobs to earn money; Group C will break into the apartments of classmates who’ve already died and see if they can recover any Survival Stones."
"A bunch of students are already dead, so that means more Survival Stones we can trade for cash."
"Once we’ve got enough Game Coins, we’ll level up even faster!"
Soon, the group chat was buzzing again.
The Mutual Aid Group had reassembled.
Group A, for monster hunting and leveling, was led by Wang Lingling;
Group B, for working and earning money, was led by test-grind specialist Wang Hengyi;
Group C, for searching for Survival Stones, was led by Yang Xiaoman, who had already recovered one before.
The three groups took off in separate directions.
After surviving the threat from Xing Man, everyone seemed a lot more "united."
Of course, behind that "unity" was a burning hunger for strength.
None of them ever wanted to experience that terrifying, helpless feeling of hiding in a closet, trembling in fear, again.
And more than that, they were all teenagers full of fire and pride.
To be humiliated by those losers from Class 9 like that—and not even have the guts to fight back...
That was just too frustrating!
They were desperate to grow stronger, desperate to level up!
So at this moment, their “unity” carried a strange sense of unspoken understanding and tragic resolve.
As for Jiang Ye, he didn’t pay too much attention to what his classmates were doing.
His focus was already back on Apartment 9999.
To be precise—on Replica No. 2 in the Duel Room.
While Replica No. 1 was handling Xing Man,
Replica No. 2 had a smooth run through his five-win streak.
The reward he received was the same as Yang Wenchao’s—a Privilege-Exempt Card.
His 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th wins were all smooth sailing too.
At this rate, getting ten consecutive wins didn’t even seem like it would take 30 minutes.
However...
Something unexpected happened on the tenth match!
His opponent for the tenth win was still a black-robed player wearing a mask.
When the countdown hit three-two-one and the duel began, Jiang Ye skillfully performed Replica Fusion and one-shotted his opponent.
That’s right! He really did one-shot the opponent! He was absolutely certain of that!
But! The duel didn’t end!
Jiang Ye’s nerves instantly went on high alert.
He stood at the center of the Frozen Domain, eyes scanning the entire duel arena.
The first thing that came to mind was resurrection—like Yang Wenchao’s ability.
But Yang Wenchao could still be seen by others after reviving!
So where the hell did this opponent go after reviving?!
There wasn’t a single trace of them anywhere in the arena!
Staying alert, Jiang Ye carefully shifted his footing.
Moments later, he realized—
His body felt heavier somehow?
Was this... some kind of domain skill?
No! That wasn’t it!
Still in Absolute Focus, he cautiously moved again, and realized—
It wasn’t his body that got heavier.
It was... his shadow?!
Yes! The shadow!
Jiang Ye’s eyes snapped down to the floor beneath his feet, his expression turning grim and tense.
At that moment, a voice actually came from his shadow.
Relaxed and laid-back, but full of smug arrogance:
"Found me this quick? Your battle instincts aren’t bad."
So it was hiding in the shadow!
Jiang Ye tensed even more and immediately cast another Frost Mist Invasion, targeting the shadow.
However...
The shadow didn’t seem affected at all. That same relaxed, smug voice carried on leisurely:
"But man, you’re really something. Your Combat Power was under 80 during matchmaking, but shot up to 400 during the fight!"
"No wonder you managed to pull off ten consecutive wins so easily, even when we were trying to block you."
"With a broken ability like yours, I’d believe it if someone said you could speedrun a hundred-win streak."
"Too bad though—you ran into me."
"No wait, more accurately—too bad you offended the Duoe Organization!"
There it was!
The Duoe Organization!
Deliberately targeting his win streak to intercept it!
But the attempts from win five to win nine weren’t all that impressive. He breezed through them.
This guy blocking his tenth win, though, seemed like he was specially tailored to counter Jiang Ye’s abilities.
Jiang Ye was feeling uneasy, but he wasn’t panicking.
After all, he had multiple Privilege-Exempt Cards.
Even if he lost the duel, the streak wouldn’t break.
Plus, now that his blackened Replica had returned, he had an extra trump card for Replica Fusion.
Still, a trump card is a trump card.
Since he hadn’t figured out what was really going on yet, Jiang Ye didn’t act recklessly.
It felt like the Duoe Organization had something they wanted to say to him.
Sure enough, that nearly immune-to-damage shadow slowly started speaking again in that same arrogant voice:
"Duel number 666—this must be a personal Golden-Tier Duel Machine, right?"
"Still in the Beginner Phase, and you’ve already got a Golden-Tier Duel Machine... Not bad. No wonder you dared to ignore Duoe."
"But it’s also kind of unfortunate. This kind of personal duel machine has its perks, but the downside is just as obvious—"
"Anyone from Duoe who wants to match with you only has to target number 666."
"I bet you’re thinking right now—"
"'Whatever, I’ve got Privilege-Exempt Cards. Even if I lose this one, it’s no big deal.'"
"But let me ask you this—how many of those cards do you have?"
"I can tell you clearly—"
"Every time you use a card to skip the tenth win, the next match will still be with me!"
"So this ten-win streak..."
"You’re never getting through it!"
"And this—is what happens when you offend the Duoe Organization!"
D*mn! This guy’s cocky as hell!
In game terms, this was like corpse camping someone until they dropped back to level 0, right?
If he kept blocking Jiang Ye’s tenth win, even a pile of Privilege Cards wouldn’t be enough.
But seriously—this guy was way too confident.
While Jiang Ye was thinking all that,
The arrogant voice from the shadow piped up again:
"Oh-ho? Your Combat Power dropped back to 78?"
"So your power-up only lasts for 3 minutes?"
"Looks like your ability’s got quite a few flaws. Lots of people in Duoe could counter someone like you!"
True enough—his Replica Fusion had timed out.
And the thing in his shadow had noticed right away!
But while that guy was running his mouth,
Replica No. 3 successfully created a Mirror Replica.
And the blackened Replica had also returned to Room 2025.
Jiang Ye had no patience for the yapping thing hiding in his shadow anymore, so he cut straight to the point:
"You’ve been talking my ear off this whole time—Duoe must have something to negotiate with me, right?"
The presence inside the shadow gave a soft laugh.
Then, in that same arrogant tone, let out a mocking chuckle:
"That’s right, the Duoe Organization does have something to say to you."
"But only after you suffer ten straight losses in your Ten-Win Streak!"
"So now, enjoy this moment—"
"Here comes your first loss stuck on the tenth win!"
This creepy-ass voice—man, it was really cocky!
That "enjoy the moment" line sounded like, “watch this blade in slow motion, it’ll look cool as hell.”
It actually made Jiang Ye a little tense.
His Mirror Replica and blackened Replica were both standing by for Fusion.
But then…
Right in the middle of the shadowy guy’s smug monologue—
Jiang Ye’s main body suddenly noticed something:
In his 【Replica Fusion】 skill menu, there was a new selectable target!
Meanwhile, on the Duel Arena, Replica No. 2 saw it with his own eyes—
The guy who’d been talking from his shadow just a moment ago…
His shadow flickered—and in an instant, he transformed into someone who looked exactly like Jiang Ye!
Yes. Exactly the same!
He looked just like another Replica!
Oh hell no?!
Wait, wait, wait—
A chilling thought hit Jiang Ye like a brick—
The new target that had suddenly appeared in his 【Replica Fusion】 list…
Could it be this opponent on the field, the one who just turned into him?!
No way, right?!
Just because someone turned into him, the game actually counted it as one of his Replicas?!
So then what happens if he uses Replica Fusion on that?
Well, Jiang Ye wasn’t one to back down—he was bold for a reason.
Besides, he had Privilege-Exempt Cards. So why not try it out?
So, just as the opponent—who looked exactly like him—launched an attack,
Jiang Ye’s main body activated Replica Fusion on him.
Yup, fused him directly into Replica No. 2 in the duel.
And then…
Only one player remained in the arena—Replica No. 2.
Per the duel system’s rules, that meant Jiang Ye won the match.
Immediately, system prompts rang in his mind:
【Ding! Congratulations on winning this duel. You’ve earned a wager of 320,000!】
【Ding! Congratulations on completing a random match Ten-Win Streak. Please select your Win Streak Reward!】
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