【1008 Beginner Apartment Ranking Board】

【1st Place: Yang Wenchao (Level 2)】

【2nd Place: Wang Lingling (Level 1)】

【3rd Place: Zhang Jintian (Level 1)】

【4th Place: Gao Chang (Level 1)】

【5th Place: Ke Zhengfei (Level 1)】

【6th Place: Lu Shen (Level 1)】

【7th Place: Jiang Ye (Level 1)】

【8th Place: Xu Yuewan (Level 1)】

This ranking board became the third player feature, alongside the data panel and chat group.

It looked empty and desolate, displaying only eight names.

But the moment it appeared, the chat group exploded!

【Damn! No way?! There are already 8 people who reached Level 1!!】

【Gao Chang is so strong, yet he’s only ranked 4th?!】

【This ranking must be sorted by the time of level-up for players with the same level.】

【Zhang Jintian and Ke Zhengfei have been keeping a low profile and never joined the mutual aid group, yet they’ve already reached Level 1 too!】

【Wait… Jiang Ye reached Level 1 as well?! Did he level up when he killed Ding Deng?】

You Ziyu: 【Jiang Ye probably didn’t level up from killing Ding Deng. I heard that leveling up causes a flash of golden light, but he didn’t show any at the time.】

【So he got chased by monsters later? And he actually survived AND leveled up?!】

【Does that mean the monsters aren’t that strong?】

【Not strong, my ass! I remember Yang Wenchao saying that Jiang Ye had opened a package! He must’ve gotten some powerful item from it, which is why he was able to kill the monster and level up!】

【F***! I want to go steal packages now!】

【Don’t be reckless! Package stealing is pure luck! You might get something good, but you’ll definitely have to pay a massive compensation fee!】

【Still, I’m so jealous! Those who reached Level 1 are not just stronger but also get to be on the ranking board! Meanwhile, us Level 0s are literally nobodies, like background cannon fodder in a novel!】

【Exactly! I really want to level up too! It’s like that Maslow’s hierarchy thing—paying rent and working is just the lowest-level survival need. Leveling up and getting stronger is the real higher pursuit!】

【By the way, those who reached Level 1, can you share how you did it? Maybe the rest of us can follow your example!】

A heated discussion about leveling up erupted in the chat.

But none of the eight ranked players responded.

Just then—

On the screen of Duel Room Machine #1, a bold 【FAIL】 notification popped up!

Xiao Likun and Wang Qiang, who had been distracted by the chat, snapped back to reality, their eyes wide in shock.

"No way?! Yang Wenchao actually lost?"

"100,000… just gone like that?!"

"I remember the rent for a room on the 20th floor is only 120,000 per day! He… he really is stupidly rich!"

"I bet Yang Wenchao is in a bad mood after losing 100,000! Should we leave before he takes it out on us?"

"Yeah… let’s get out of here!"

Without hesitation, Xiao Likun and Wang Qiang quickly fled the Duel Room.

Jiang Ye, staring at the "FAIL" on the screen, also felt uneasy.

He wanted to use the Duel Room to fight strong players from other apartments.

But using it cost money.

And right now, he had debt, not money.

So, after leaving the Duel Room, Jiang Ye headed straight to the Apartment Administrator’s front desk.

A few students were still gathered there, nervously avoiding eye contact with him.

Jiang Ye ignored them and asked the administrator directly:

"How much is my loan limit?"

When his No. 1 Replica had asked before, the administrator had set his limit at 50,000.

But now, it was No. 2 Replica asking.

The administrator glanced at him expressionlessly and answered:

"300,000."

The moment this number was spoken, the students nearby were left absolutely stunned!

When they looked at Jiang Ye again, their eyes were filled with shock and disbelief—as if they were looking at a ghost!

They had already guessed that this bald guy was one of their disguised classmates.

But they never expected this classmate to have a 300,000 loan limit!!

For normal students, getting a few hundred in loans was already a blessing!

Very few could even break 1,000.

As for loans over 10,000? They had never seen it happen!

And yet, this bald guy just casually got 300,000?!

What the hell kind of insane privilege was this?!

Everyone here knew that loan limits were based on a player’s potential in the administrator’s evaluation.

The higher the potential, the higher the loan limit.

In other words, this mysterious bald classmate was absolutely not ordinary!

Could he be Zhang Jintian or Ke Zhengfei, the two low-key players who had made it onto the ranking board?

The students began throwing out all sorts of wild theories about Jiang Ye’s true identity.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ye calmly inquired about the loan interest rates.

In the end, he only applied for a 500 loan, agreeing to repay 600 by the next reset at midnight.

As he took the loan voucher and prepared to return to the Duel Room, the chat group suddenly exploded with activity again!

The cause?

Some students had started bragging about how strong their apartment’s players were, boasting that having 8 Level 1 players in such a short time was an impressive feat!

As more students enthusiastically praised the ranking board’s top players—

Yang Wenchao, who had just lost 100,000, suddenly rained on their parade.

【A measly few Level 1 players, and you guys are already getting cocky? You really have no idea how small you are.】

【I’m probably the strongest in our apartment.】

【But in the Duel Room, the players I encountered from other apartments were everywhere—stronger than me, equal to me, or just outright monsters!】

【There are countless players just as powerful as me, if not even stronger!】

【If you all keep being this naive and carefree, with zero sense of urgency, you’re guaranteed to become cannon fodder. You won’t even pass the Beginner Apartment’s test!】

If any other student had said this, they probably would’ve been mocked and dismissed.

But coming from Yang Wenchao, it made a huge impact.

Many students instantly felt the pressure.

As the mood in the chat shifted from excitement to anxiety…

Yang Wenchao suddenly spoke again:

【After gambling in the Duel Room, I’ve realized one thing—if you're strong enough, making money is ridiculously easy.】

【You could casually win 80,000 to 100,000 from a single battle.】

【Of course, that’s only if you can win.】

【And I just lost 100,000 in a single match.】

The entire chat group fell into stunned silence—then exploded in shock!

They didn’t even have 100,000 for ten days of rent, yet Yang Wenchao lost that much in one fight?!

What the hell?!

The gap between them and the top players was just too massive!

No matter what kind of environment they were in, those at the top of the pyramid always left the ordinary people in the dust.

As the students were still reeling from the shock, Yang Wenchao continued:

【100,000 is nothing. If I get stronger, I’ll win it back in no time.】

【So, I’m planning to organize a team to explore the depths of the 3rd-floor corridor and see if we can level up together.】

The chat group instantly went wild!

【Holy sh*t! Team leveling?! That’s genius! I’ve been dying to level up!】

【And we get to level up with a top player leading us? This is too good to be true!】

【F***! Brother Chao is a legend! From now on, if anyone dares to talk sh*t about him, I, Xu Kaixuan, will personally fight them!】

【Brother Chao is the best! I’m dropping everything right now to join his team!】

Clearly, after the ranking board appeared, the desire to level up had reached an all-time high.

Hearing "team leveling" from Yang Wenchao made everyone incredibly excited—it was the perfect opportunity to latch onto a powerful ally!

However, Yang Wenchao quickly followed up with another message:

【Exploring the corridor depths will be dangerous, even in a team.】

【I need people who can fight and handle risk, not deadweights looking for a free ride.】

【So, if your Combat Power is below 20, don’t bother coming.】

【If your Combat Power is over 20 and you want to level up fast, meet me at the 3rd-floor elevator in 10 minutes.】

His decisive statement instantly changed the mood.

Students with low Combat Power started wailing in disappointment, realizing they had just gotten excited for nothing.

But those with over 20 Combat Power?

There weren’t many of them.

They hesitated.

On one hand, leveling up was a huge opportunity.

On the other… Yang Wenchao had killed people before.

His brutal and unpredictable nature was well known.

What if he just killed his teammates?

However, teaming up with someone as strong as Yang Wenchao would make exploring the corridor much safer.

The pros and cons were clear—but that only made the decision harder.

Jiang Ye hesitated as well.

Should he join the team first, level up, and then go to the Duel Room?

Or should he go straight to the Duel Room, make money, and observe how the corridor exploration played out from the sidelines?