If only he could find a Survival Stone as soon as possible.

That thing was definitely valuable enough.

Maybe it could even be used to increase his number of Replicas!

But… that thing probably wasn’t easy to find.

Jiang Ye had a suspicion—

Since both the work mode and consumption mode distinguished between floors above and below the 20th floor…

Then it was highly likely that the precious Survival Stones were mostly found on floors above the 20th!

At this moment, Jiang Ye was feeling a bit impatient.

Holding his work badge, he instinctively wanted to pick a high-floor cleaning task.

For example, a cleaning task on the 20th floor—one job alone could earn him 8,800 game coins!

More earnings, plus more chances to find treasure chests and Survival Stones—it was definitely tempting!

However…

When the work badge popped up with the prompt 【Confirm task acceptance?】, Jiang Ye finally came back to his senses.

He was an 18-year-old senior in high school, but his mother had passed away when he was young, and his father was always away working, unable to take care of him.

As a result, he had been fostered by various relatives for a long time.

Living under someone else’s roof had made him more sensitive than others from an early age.

Instead of constantly expressing himself, he had gotten used to observing patterns in things.

He might not be particularly smart, but he had developed a certain pattern of thinking—

Most of the time, when something seemed irresistibly tempting on the surface, there was often hidden danger beneath it!

The task on the 20th floor not only offered high pay but also lured him in with Bronze Treasure Chests and Survival Stones.

Which meant, most likely, its danger level was also far beyond that of the lower-floor tasks!

But… should he give up on it and take a safer low-floor task instead?

If he didn’t make enough money for rent on the first day, he’d still end up dead!

For a moment, Jiang Ye was caught in a dilemma—

With his current strength, taking on a 20th-floor task was basically suicide!

But if he didn’t take the risk, he wouldn’t be able to pay rent, and he’d still die!

What should he do?

If only he could boost his strength before taking on a 20th-floor task!

Then… should he take on low-floor tasks first, search for treasure chests, and improve his strength before heading to the 20th floor?

But that would waste too much time!

Any task that required entering an apartment room would take several hours to complete.

And the probability of treasure chests appearing in low-floor apartments was extremely low!

Even if they did appear, they were just the lowest-grade Black Iron Treasure Chests, which wouldn’t be of much help!

Was there any way to quickly and efficiently improve his strength?

Just as he was stuck in his thoughts, Lu Shen, who was holding an Errands work badge, noticed him and took the initiative to chat him up:

“What’s wrong, Jiang Ye? Why haven’t you started your task yet?”

As he spoke, he leaned over to glance at Jiang Ye’s work badge and praised, “Given your situation, cleaning is definitely the fastest way for you to make money.”

Thinking Jiang Ye was feeling reluctant, he reassured him, “This Doomsday Apartment is basically just a game. We’re all just workers here—nobody’s gonna look down on you for doing cleaning tasks.”

“Money’s money, nothing embarrassing about it.”

Jiang Ye nodded in thanks and explained, “It’s not that I mind the job—I’m just worried about the unknown dangers.”

Lu Shen understood immediately.

After all, in this strange and eerie environment, everyone was scared.

It was only slightly better because they were all classmates. If they had been surrounded by strangers, they would’ve been even more terrified.

Lu Shen was quick-witted and immediately suggested,

“Actually, given your situation, besides working, there’s another option.”

“In the consumption mode, there’s the 【Duel Room】—the lowest level duels only cost 100 coins per match.”

“If you win against other apartment players, not only do you get your 100 coins back, but you also take the opponent’s money!”

“This is actually a pretty decent way to make money.”

“If I met the 【Duel Room】 conditions, I’d definitely give it a shot.”

Jiang Ye had considered making money through the 【Duel Room】, too.

But Lu Shen made it sound easy—just win, and you earn money.

In reality, this method wasn’t that fast.

And it wasn’t reliable!

With his current strength, his chances of winning against players from other apartments weren’t great.

Lu Shen seemed to sense what he was thinking and continued analyzing:

“You actually don’t need to worry too much.”

“If I’m guessing right, it’s likely that all of humanity has been transported into separate Doomsday Apartments.”

“In our apartment, you were the only one initially assigned to the 20th floor.”

“And among the 80 people here, your strength is actually above average.”

“The players in other apartments who were assigned to the 20th floor were probably randomized, too.”

“Their initial strength might not be any higher than yours!”

“There’s even a good chance that some of them have D-tier abilities and haven’t unlocked any skills yet. Based on what we’ve seen in our apartment, that’s actually pretty likely!”

“If you get lucky with your matchups, winning shouldn’t be too hard!”

Lu Shen’s analysis made sense.

But what Lu Shen didn’t know was—

Jiang Ye had already opened a Bronze Treasure Chest in his own 20th-floor apartment!

If that were taken into account, then the 20th-floor players in other apartments had probably opened a Bronze Treasure Chest as well!

Even if their initial abilities weren’t strong, they could have improved through those chests!

And the mask Jiang Ye had obtained from his own Bronze Treasure Chest was more of a support-type item.

And right now, his main body was using it.

That meant if his Replica entered a duel with other 20th-floor players, his chances of winning were actually quite low.

Plus, the earning speed from dueling wasn’t that great.

Unless he could absolutely dominate every duel opponent, his income wouldn’t increase significantly.

As he was lost in his thoughts—

The two of them suddenly heard a commotion coming from the direction of the Errands service station.

Lu Shen was about to go check it out.

But Jiang Ye’s eyes suddenly sharpened, and he directly warned him, “Check the chat group!”

Lu Shen glanced at his communicator—and immediately cursed, “Holy sh*t,” instinctively gripping the package in his hands tighter.

Because in the chat group, Ding Deng from Class 2 had just said that the package he was responsible for delivering had gone missing!

And the consequence of the lost package was—

If he couldn’t find it by midnight, he would either have to retrieve it or compensate for its full value!

And that package… was worth over 8,000!

There was no way Ding Deng could afford that!

He completely broke down, sobbing uncontrollably at the Errands service station.

Lu Shen frowned deeply as he read the message, then quickly noticed that a classmate had asked in the chat group:

【How could a package even go missing? Did someone steal it? There should be a way to get it back, right?】

But the devastated Ding Deng was too busy crying to respond to anyone's questions.

Soon, another message popped up—

Gao Chang: 【F***!! My package is gone too!!】

The moment that message appeared, all the students who had chosen the Errands job were stunned!

Gao Chang was one of the top-ranked players in combat power among their classmates!

How could even his package go missing?!

Luckily, Gao Chang was much calmer than Ding Deng. He quickly followed up in the chat group:

【Everyone doing Errands—do NOT take your package into the elevator!】

【Mine disappeared inside the elevator!】

【I have no idea what the hell it was, but in a split second, it snatched my package away!】

【I searched around in the elevator for ages, but there was no way to get it back!】

【At this rate, it’s probably gone for good, and I’ll have to pay for it.】

【Luckily, my package was only worth a little over 1,000, so I can barely afford the compensation.】

【Ding Deng, did your package also go missing in the elevator? @Ding Deng】