[But I think it’s probably a young girl. She was naive enough to worry about whether scamming people is immoral!]

Xu Jingyao casually complained in her message.

To her surprise, Li Ran hesitated before replying:

[If she’s really just an innocent girl with no experience, wouldn’t it be a bit too cruel for us to scam her?]

Xu Jingyao immediately responded:

[Sister Ran, think it through! The world has changed! And besides, since she agreed to a challenge, that means she wants to scam others too! If she loses money in the end, it’s her own greed to blame. She deserves it!]

[And it’s just the Duel Room! It’s not like anyone’s actually dying!]

[Sister Ran, your job is to pretend to be a naive girl. Don’t actually start acting like one at the critical moment!]

Li Ran didn’t reply after that.

Meanwhile, still in disguise as a bald man, Xu Jingyao led Jiang Ye up the stairs to the second floor. Once they reached the emergency exit, she pointed in a direction.

"See that girl over there in the white school uniform?"

"Go over and ask if she’s willing to accept a challenge."

"She’ll definitely ask about your combat power first. Don’t tell the truth. Just say it’s 1-point-something or 2-point-something, and that you haven’t learned any skills. She’ll fall for it and accept your challenge."

"Oh, and by the way, that schoolgirl lives in the same apartment as her family. Her parents gave her a lot of money."

"When you challenge her, make sure to bet big—one or two thousand isn’t a problem!"

Jiang Ye looked flustered.

"I don’t even have one or two thousand! I only have 500 total, and that’s from a loan from the Apartment Administrator. I already paid 100 for the Duel Room entry fee, so I only have 400 left!"

Hearing that, Xu Jingyao felt even more certain that this was a done deal.

A loan limit of 500 meant even the Apartment Administrator didn’t think he had much potential!

But after all that effort, scamming just 400…

Forget it.

Even 400 was better than nothing. Random matchmaking could easily result in losing money instead.

She reassured Jiang Ye a bit more before urging him to go find Li Ran.

The second-floor lobby was much larger than the first floor.

It was laid out like a movie theater, packed with rows upon rows of seats.

When a player sat down, a control panel automatically appeared in their mind.

This panel displayed maps of both the first and second floors, marking each player as a red dot.

That’s when Jiang Ye realized—

In challenge mode, he didn’t even need to see his opponent in person.

He could simply issue a challenge directly through the map in his mind.

Besides that, players could also spectate ongoing battles.

However, spectating required an extra fee:

100 Survival Points to watch battles in the Black Iron Duel Room

1,000 Survival Points to watch battles in the Bronze Duel Room

Of course, whether or not a battle was available for public viewing depended on both fighters agreeing to it.

If either of them chose to keep it private, no one else could watch.

Additionally, players on the War God Ranking had the privilege of setting their own spectating fees.

And 10% of the total spectating fees would go to the winner of the match!

For example—

If 100 people paid to watch a Black Iron-level battle, the winner of that fight would earn 1,000 Survival Points just from spectators!

On top of that, spectators could also tip the fighters.

However, only 50% of the tip actually went to the recipient.

But considering most Beginner Players were probably broke, there likely weren’t many people willing to pay for spectating or tipping.

For most regular players, their fights were unlikely to be watched.

Of course, for top-tier fighters on the War God Ranking or celebrity players with a fanbase, making money from spectators was definitely a viable strategy.

After reaching the second floor, Jiang Ye didn’t immediately go straight to the schoolgirl Xu Jingyao had pointed out.

If he was going to scam, he had to do it professionally. He couldn’t make it too obvious.

He sat down in an empty seat first, carefully studying the control panel in his mind.

Once he had figured it out, he scanned the massive second-floor lobby, pretending to be just another newbie looking around.

Only after making it seem natural did he finally start walking toward the schoolgirl in uniform.

Meanwhile, Li Ran sent another message to Xu Jingyao:

[Are you sure this bald guy is just a naive little girl? The way he’s scouting for a target doesn’t look like someone blindly following your instructions to come straight for me.]

Xu Jingyao, still watching from the stairwell, had to admit—Jiang Ye didn’t seem as clueless as she initially thought.

After hesitating for a moment, she replied:

[Maybe he’s just naturally good at scamming?]

[Either way, don’t worry, Sister Ran. His loan limit is only 500, and he only has 400 left in hand.]

Li Ran read this and finally relaxed a little.

Seeing the "bald guy" approaching her, she quickly pretended to be focused on her control panel, as if completely absorbed in studying it.

It wasn’t until Jiang Ye sat down next to her and actively struck up a conversation that she reacted.

"Hey, which school are you from?"

Li Ran blinked, putting on an innocent expression, and looked at Jiang Ye before nodding obediently.

"Yeah, uncle, do you need something?"

"Ah." Jiang Ye casually made something up.

"My son is about your age—he’s in high school too."

"He’s not in the same Beginner Apartment as me, and I’m a little worried about how he’s doing."

This was him setting up a "loving father" persona—a responsible, concerned middle-aged man.

Li Ran was momentarily stunned.

She thought to herself—was this guy actually bald? Maybe he hadn’t used a Disguise Mask at all, and this was just his real appearance?

But even if his Bronze Treasure Chest had given him some other item, she was still confident she could beat him.

Keeping up her sweet, innocent act, she reassured him,

"Uncle, don’t worry too much. The Beginner Apartments seem to group players within a set range."

"It could be an entire class, an entire neighborhood, or even everyone from the same bus ride…"

"Your son is probably in an apartment with his classmates, so they can look out for each other. He should be fine!"

"Sigh…" Jiang Ye let out a deep sigh, looking sorrowful.

"I just hope he’s not as unlucky as me. Starting out on the 20th floor… I can’t even afford rent."

"I don’t even know if I’ll ever get to reunite with my son again…"

At first, Li Ran felt a slight pang of sympathy.

But she quickly reminded herself—

Sympathizing with the weak will only make you weak!

What this "uncle" was saying might not even be true.

And even if it was, it was his bad luck. No one else’s fault!

She had read a post on Little Green Book that said—

"When you sympathize with someone, you take on their misfortune!"

For a girl who wanted to rise to the top, she couldn’t afford to be softhearted!

With this mindset, she put on her most sympathetic expression and offered sweetly,

"Uncle… how about you challenge me?"

"I live with my parents in the same apartment, and with the Apartment Administrator’s loan, I can definitely afford rent. I’d like to help you if I can."

"Ah?" Jiang Ye put on an embarrassed look.

"That… that doesn’t seem right…"

"It’s fine! It’s just a challenge. I’m pretty weak, so who knows? Maybe I’ll even get lucky and beat you!"

Li Ran smiled warmly, like an innocent little angel.

Jiang Ye hesitated.

Then—

He suddenly went off-script and improvised,

"You know what, little sister… let me be honest with you instead…"