The Mysterious Strong Player fell silent for a moment.

He didn’t say much—just casually raised a hand.

In an instant, a tiny Ice Crystal Tear Drop formed on the tip of his right finger.

Then, as if it were nothing, he flicked his hand and tossed the object toward Jiang Ye, adding casually, “Just borrow it for a while.”

?

Jiang Ye had assumed there would be some process to unbind it.

He hadn’t expected...

He caught the tear drop with caution.

He used his left hand, in his palm.

But the thing behaved like a living creature and immediately leapt to his fingertip.

When it touched his fingertip, a slight chill did appear.

That chill, however, felt more like an eerie, dark cold than a simple coolness.

Of course, the eeriness wasn’t strong.

Rather...

his fingertip suddenly felt as if bitten by a mosquito—tiny pricks of mild pain, itchiness, and numbness.

Along with that odd sensation, a prompt sounded in his mind.

No—

More accurately, it was a voice.

And this voice was noticeably different from the apartment’s system notification tone.

It sounded lighter and sweeter, a childlike voice neither clearly male nor female.

[Ping—]

[You are about to enter into symbiosis with a Luminox Larva. Do you consent?]

[Yes/No?]

???

Wasn’t this an Ice Crystal Tear Drop?

What the hell is a Luminox Larva?!

And...

what does symbiosis mean?!

Could this thing...

not be a mere item, but a living organism??

To symbiotically bond with such a creature...

what if there were hidden traps?

Jiang Ye was about to choose [No]—to wait, gather information about the Luminox Larva, and then decide whether to enter symbiosis.

But the Mysterious Strong Player seemed to read his thought and said bluntly:

“If you don’t choose [Yes] within three minutes...”

“Then most likely, from now on you will never be able to enter symbiosis with the Luminox Larva again :)”

“……”

What the—?

Jiang Ye frowned and asked directly, “So, after bonding with this thing, what risks are involved? And can the symbiosis be undone later?”

The Mysterious Strong Player froze for a moment at the question, then confirmed:

“You heard a prompt that said the Luminox Larva will ‘symbiose’ with you?”

Jiang Ye immediately detected the implication in that phrasing:

“What do you mean? When you formed a relationship with this Luminox Larva, the prompt didn’t say ‘symbiosis’?”

The Mysterious Strong Player didn’t answer directly.

After a brief pause, he looked at Jiang Ye and said frankly:

“I can tell you everything I know about the Luminox Larva.”

“Including how I obtained it, the prompts and risks when binding it, and what the apartment bosses have researched and speculated...”

“But that will consume one of your question tokens.”

Right—Jiang Ye had three question tokens.

He’d planned to ask about the Ice Crystal Tear Drop after obtaining it to save a token for questions specifically about the tear drop.

But now...

with only three minutes on the clock, Jiang Ye didn’t hesitate and made a decision:

“Fine. Use my first question token to get information on the Luminox Larva!”

The Mysterious Strong Player nodded and explained one point after another:

“First, whether it was me or other apartment bosses in the A-P sector...”

“When we bound the Luminox Larva, the prompt we heard was—You are about to be parasitized by the Luminox Larva, do you consent?”

Parasitized...

And from what he said...

this Luminox Larva Ice Crystal Tear Drop had been bound by many apartment bosses!

And the Mysterious Strong Player essentially admitted openly—

He was Apartment Boss Q!

Or more precisely, Apartment Boss Q was one of his identities!

Then Boss Q continued:

“Second, this unique Luminox Larva was obtained by Salvation and Apartment Boss A together from the core of the Moon Phase Clock’s hand.”

“Third, whether the symbiotic relationship with the Luminox Larva can be undone later—I can’t be certain. After all, the experiences other apartment bosses and I had were described as parasitism.”

“And the result is clear—we were able to freely terminate the parasitic relationship with the Luminox Larva.”

“However, once terminated, you cannot form a parasitic relationship with it again.”

“Just like if you choose [No] now, you’ll never be able to symbiose with it later.”

“Fourth, regarding the risks of being parasitized by the Luminox Larva, none of the apartment bosses who were parasitized experienced definite losses.”

“But keep in mind we were all parasitized, not true symbiosis. Your case—symbiosis—might differ.”

“Fifth, you might be wondering—”

“If parasitism carries no clear risk, why did Salvation agree to end his parasitic bond and let it move to Apartment Boss A?”

“Why did the apartment bosses keep passing the Luminox Larva like a relay baton?”

“The answer lies in the Luminox Larva’s trait—its near-unconditional, continuous reproduction!”

“Like I showed you earlier, all those Ice Crystal Tear Drops came from a single Luminox Larva!”

“And each player can carry up to nearly 100,000 Luminox larval offspring without strain.”

“Once it exceeds 100,000, the newly spawned larvae will seek other hosts.”

“But the larval offspring won’t form a safe, stable parasitic relationship with a new host.”

“So any other host that gets even a single larval offspring will be instantly frozen.”

“That freezing ability I showed earlier—releasing a single Luminox larval offspring—was precisely that.”

I see...

Others didn’t have the Luminox Larva, so when infected by an offspring they were instantly frozen...

A player parasitized by the Luminox Larva could at most sustain about 100,000 offspring.

That trait might not be problematic by itself.

But its incredible reproduction speed probably terrified Salvation and the other apartment bosses.

So...

Jiang Ye considered this, then listened as Boss Q continued:

“You should know Salvation has many mecha clones.”

“And apparently that form of ‘clone’ is recognized by the Luminox Larva as a host.”

“So each of Salvation’s mecha clones could carry nearly 100,000 offspring.”

“Even so, Salvation was alarmed by the Luminox Larva’s reproduction speed...”

“So, before it spiraled completely out of control, he actively unbound from the Luminox Larva.”

“The moment he unbound...”

“All the offspring that had been reproduced died instantly.”

“When a new host is parasitized by the Luminox Larva, it will begin to reproduce offspring again.”

“Interestingly—”

“Players who had once been parasitized could still carry nearly 100,000 larvae in their bodies afterward.”

“That means—”

“The more hosts the Luminox Larva is passed through, the greater its reproductive space becomes!”

“For example, when the Luminox Larva reached me...”

“Before I entered the Court of Disorder, other apartment bosses and Salvation’s mecha clones were already carrying massive numbers of offspring.”

“They could use those offspring to freeze players who had never been parasitized by the Luminox Larva.”

I see.

Jiang Ye lightly organized the information and realized...

this Luminox Larva trait matched his clones very well.

Salvation’s mecha clones likely couldn’t match Jiang Ye’s clone count.

And Jiang Ye possessed an X-tier Infinite Clones ability...

He could seemingly generate limitless clones for the Luminox Larva to reproduce on.

So this thing was indeed special for him.

Moreover, the maximum of 100,000 offspring on a player strikingly resembled the Formless Tree’s provision of 99,999 Formless Leaves.

While thinking about that 100,000 number, he heard Boss Q continue:

“All of the above is the reliable information we have about the Luminox Larva.”

“The remaining research and speculation may not be accurate, but they’re worth your consideration—”

“For instance, you’ve probably wondered if the host limit of 100,000 offspring is related to the Formless Tree’s 99,999 Formless Leaves?”

“To be honest, before entering the Court of Disorder we didn’t know the Extreme Court needed 99,999 slots, nor that the Formless Tree would produce 99,999 Formless Leaves...”

“It’s all coincidence, but even before that coincidence, we thought about the near-100,000 limit.”

“Our conclusion was—”

Boss Q suddenly paused and raised an eyebrow at Jiang Ye:

“Do you know approximately how many hairs a human has on their head?”

“……”

Who knows that?

Jiang Ye only remembered ancient poetry that referenced “three thousand black strands,” but real human hair surely far exceeds three thousand.

Combining that with Boss Q’s line of thought, Jiang Ye guessed:

“About one hundred thousand?”

Boss Q nodded. “We asked specialists. The answer—the number varies, but on average it's around 100,000.”

“That’s real-world data.”

“And in the Doomsday Apartment, don’t laugh—”

“We apartment bosses actually counted!”

“The number of hairs on a player’s head is roughly around 100,000!”

“More precisely, slightly under 100,000.”

“Some players may have plucked hair for items or arcane rituals, so their count is lower.”

“But a brand-new newbie entering the Novice Apartment usually has very close to 100,000 hairs.”

“So we suspect the number of offspring a player can carry might be related to hair count.”

“Whether the Formless Leaf’s 99,999 has anything to do with hair, we don’t know.”

Jiang Ye listened thoughtfully.

Boss Q suddenly reminded him kindly: “Three minutes are almost up, right? It’s time for you to decide.”

Indeed.

Jiang Ye no longer had time to hesitate.

He’d dragged things out with Boss Q specifically for this Luminox Larva.

So he couldn’t choose [No] now.

Even if it had issues...

he could unbind later, right?

So Jiang Ye selected [Yes]!

The instant he made his choice...

the mild pricking, itching, and numbness on his fingertip turned into a faint stinging.

Then he saw that tiny crystal clinging to his left index finger slowly begin to draw his blood!

The Ice Crystal Tear Drop acted like a miniature vessel, gradually shifting from ice-blue to blood-red as it filled...

Until the whole Ice Crystal Tear Drop turned fully red.

Then it abruptly “drilled” from Jiang Ye’s fingertip into his body!

Strangely, despite the tear drop’s small size, something that pierced the human body would normally leave a mark.

But there was no trace on Jiang Ye’s finger.

Not even the tiniest puncture—his previous feeling of a mosquito bite seemed like an illusion.

At the same time he could easily sense—

inside him flowed an insignificant, tiny life, like a droplet.

If he didn’t focus, it seemed nonexistent.

But with attention, it became distinctly perceptible.

And...

in just a short moment, Jiang Ye felt the single droplet become two!

Hiss...

It reproduced already?

Jiang Ye thought quickly. On his fingertip, another small Ice Crystal Tear Drop hovered.

Also ice-blue...

But this one was merely an offspring larva.

He tried to extract the Luminox Larva’s main body, but failed.

Boss Q explained further:

“Offspring larvae can be removed freely and placed on any player...”

“But the unique Luminox Larva—if forcibly removed—it’s equivalent to completely ending the parasitic relationship.”

“All offspring produced after it bonded with you will die as well.”

I see...

Jiang Ye frowned, “Are you sure its reproduction is unconditional?”

“Or—aren’t you worried its reproduction consumes some energy from the host?”

Boss Q shook his head slowly: “Salvation worried about that at first.”

“But we had Defenders’ Alliance researchers study it specifically and ultimately found—”

“Offspring reproduction is not dependent on the player’s body.”

“In other words, even in extreme environments, the larvae reproduce, including the radiation-filled Abyss Restricted Zone and forbidden zones outside the apartment shrouded in mist...”

“Those places can be reached by the larvae, and they can reproduce there.”

Boss Q sounded confident, but Jiang Ye couldn’t help frowning.

He immediately raised two more doubts:

“Given that unbinding happens when the Luminox Larva leaves its host...”

“Then the Defenders’ Alliance researchers must have been studying only the offspring, right?”

“Isn’t it possible that offspring reproduction truly has no conditions or risks, while the parent Luminox Larva’s reproduction and survival do carry risks?”

“Also—”

“If offspring can reproduce anywhere like you said...”

“Then Salvation and the apartment bosses would have no reason to give up parasitism just because they couldn’t carry more offspring, right?”

“Couldn’t they relocate those offspring to other places—say the Abyss Restricted Zone, the mists, or anywhere larvae can reproduce?”

Boss Q didn’t answer immediately.

After a moment’s thought, he asked Jiang Ye:

“Have you heard of a creature called a ‘tardigrade’?”