This bizarre situation was truly peculiar.

If Jiang Ye didn't know that all those black ribbons capable of suppressing Lightburn pain had instantly lost their effectiveness, he might have suspected it was some kind of advanced illusion technique.

He cautiously circled around this chess grid several times.

After confirming that no abnormalities could be detected throughout the entire chess grid space, and regardless of which direction he faced, the voice persistently echoed in his mind...

Jiang Ye finally calmed his mind.

Testing the waters, he sternly shouted at the air with a serious expression:

"Who?! Who's pretending to be a ghost!"

That agonizing voice indeed sounded like ghostly wails now.

She no longer shouted the name "Jiang Ye," and even the phrase "save me" gradually transformed into "kill me," eventually becoming so excruciating that she could only stutter out a single word: "kill."

That desperate emotion, mixed with the pained voice, sounded genuinely creepy.

Jiang Ye frowned and shouted sharply again: "Who? Where are you? How do I kill you?!"

However, the voice sounded dazed and unclear, uncertain whether it heard his sharp shouts, only continuously transmitting fragmented "kill" sounds...

Jiang Ye's frown deepened as he hesitated about whether to call Lin Jing, Ouyang, and the others over to discuss together.

But then he saw the southern boundary of this chess grid ripple with invisible barrier fluctuations.

In the blink of an eye, a familiar figure appeared.

However, quickly enough, that figure's gaze met Jiang Ye's... or more accurately, met Jiang Ye's Zhou Qiming clone.

That guy's pupils trembled violently, and he immediately retreated back through the barrier.

Jiang Ye slightly frowned, about to chase after him.

But then he seemed to remember something and suddenly paused his steps.

Sure enough, after waiting only about half a minute, that barrier rippled with even greater intensity.

This time, a group of over twenty people appeared from the barrier.

Clearly, they were operating as a team.

The Gao Chang who had ventured alone earlier was only responsible for scouting.

Seeing only one person in this chess grid space, he quickly retreated to report the situation.

Then came the main force - a full 25 people arriving together.

Jiang Ye's gaze subtly scanned the 25 people while contemplating their situation.

Among these 25, he recognized a full 21 of them—

They were respectively the 18 classmates who had previously volunteered to explore the 0000 Apartment.

Plus He Yuliang, Lu Shen, and Lu Fang whom he had encountered during the void mirror palace operation surrounding the light clone.

As for the remaining four, there was one young, handsome unfamiliar man whom he had previously seen through Lin Ling's water screen imaging.

At that time, through the water screen, he could only tell that the man seemed friendly with Yang Xiaoman.

And now...

After all this time had passed.

Three more people had gathered around that man, subtly regarding him as their leader.

Even Jiang Ye's 18 classmates showed subtle reverence toward the four people led by that unfamiliar man.

Yes, not simple fear, but reverence.

It seemed these four had won "popular support"?

Of course, Gao Chang's gaze toward these four, besides reverence, also carried some complexity.

While the slightly stronger He Yuliang and Lu Fang maintained a roughly equal standing with these four.

In just a simple glance, Jiang Ye had analyzed about seventy to eighty percent of the dynamics among these 25 people.

Although 21 of the 25 knew Jiang Ye.

The person currently present here was Zhou Qiming.

They knew Jiang Ye but didn't recognize Zhou Qiming.

Now it was 25 versus 1 against Zhou Qiming...

Jiang Ye waited to see how this group planned to "deal with" him.

It was apparent that the young, handsome unfamiliar man was quite cautious, exchanging glances with the slightly stronger individuals around him.

Suddenly, Yang Xiaoman from the back came forward and cautiously whispered a few words in his ear.

The voice was very low, but with Jiang Ye's abilities, he naturally heard everything clearly—

"If I'm not mistaken, this boy might be Zhou Qiming who wreaked havoc in the 4444 Apartment before..."

Jiang Ye was somewhat surprised that Yang Xiaoman could guess his identity.

Previously, Zhou Qiming had mostly worn the mimic mask, appearing with a bald head.

Many people knew this name, but few knew this appearance.

The unfamiliar man nodded toward Yang Xiaoman, saying nothing more as he gestured for her to retreat to the back.

Then, the leading four, along with He Yuliang and Lu Fang, stepped forward a few paces.

The leading unfamiliar man spoke:

"You probably heard Xiaoman's words just now. I wonder if her guess is correct?"

Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow but didn't answer.

His flamboyant, arrogant demeanor quite fit Zhou Qiming's character.

The young man didn't get angry, basically confirming from this attitude that Yang Xiaoman's guess was correct.

So the man looked meaningfully at Jiang Ye and slowly said:

"I've heard your name, but neither from the battle room nor from the 4444 Apartment leaderboards..."

"But from the apartment boss."

Whoa!

Hearing this, Jiang Ye was secretly shocked internally.

This unfamiliar young guy had contact with the apartment boss?

Regardless of whether it was true or false, this person deliberately saying this implicitly elevated his own importance.

After this statement, he didn't continue leveraging the apartment boss's influence but instead introduced himself:

"My name is Feng Cheng, from D District's 9999 Apartment. My game identity is the K District Newcomer King from the third-to-last batch of Novice Apartments."

After he finished, the three people beside him also introduced themselves—

A punk youth with tattoos on his arms, looking like a small-time gangster, said with a smirk:

"Liu Re, from E District's 9999 Apartment. Never been a Newcomer King in the game..."

After saying this, he deliberately grinned: "But in real life, I've gotten tattoos and killed people :D"

...

Another bespectacled youth, slightly shorter and chubbier, looking like a deadbeat otaku.

He spoke quite politely but only briefly: "Li Peng, from B District's 9999 Apartment."

...

The last one, slightly older, wearing a white lab coat, with shrewdness gleaming in his eyes, also spoke politely: "Zhao Dongliu, C District's 9999 Apartment."

Whoa, all four had crossed districts to come here!

And all were talents from various districts' 9999 Apartments!

Tsk tsk!

Clearly, they indeed had some relationship with the apartment boss.

Just as Jiang Ye was about to say something, he heard introductions coming from behind him:

"Lin Jing, A District's 9999 Apartment."

Followed by: "Ouyang, A District's 9999 Apartment."

Then...

Wu Wang's gaze swept over this group but showed no intention of introducing himself, silently standing behind Jiang Ye.

These three had clearly come through the barrier behind Jiang Ye.

For a moment, two groups faced off, 4 versus 25, standing in opposing directions.

However, the atmosphere wasn't particularly tense.

Just as Lin Jing was about to speak on behalf of A District Apartment, unexpectedly, "Zhou Qiming" spoke first:

"Since you can conduct cross-district operations, you should be the apartment boss's people?"

"Coming so uniformly into this black ice domain, does the apartment boss have some arrangements?"

Such straightforward questions—he didn't expect these people to be honest with him.

Sure enough, the leading young man called "Feng Cheng" didn't even change expression as he explained:

"We came across districts, naturally wanting to help your A District resolve the biggest hidden danger together."

The term "hidden danger" was used quite well.

On the surface, A District indeed had a hidden danger that made all dark-type creatures panic—the Light faction's Huang Bo!

But actually, A District's Jiang Ye had probably long been a thorn in the apartment bosses' eyes.

So roughly speaking, these people were actually targeting Jiang Ye.

Thus Feng Cheng's intention of accommodating Jiang Ye's old classmates became quite subtle.

But then this Feng Cheng continued politely:

"As for what you said about 'uniformly' entering the 'black ice domain'..."

"To be honest, we don't know anything about any 'black ice domain.' We just happened to discover this special space while exploring the 0000 Apartment and coincidentally entered to explore."

"Actually, we four only met by chance during our exploration within what you call the black ice domain and decided to act together."

"We entered quite easily, but now we can't find any way to leave..."

"From what you four said, you seem to have some understanding of this 'black ice domain'?"

Clearly, this seemingly polite Feng Cheng had deep cunning.

He hardly revealed anything about his own situation, instead trying to gather information from them.

Jiang Ye unhesitatingly snorted with laughter, then lazily gave Lin Jing a look.

The meaning was clear—he couldn't be bothered with hypocritical politeness.

So Lin Jing took over: "We do have some understanding of this black ice domain, but..."

He threw the conversation back.

It was clear Feng Cheng was smart and would naturally follow his lead in negotiations.

However, what Lin Jing didn't expect was—

Feng Cheng's gaze carefully met his for a moment, then suddenly said:

"I heard your 9999 Apartment administrator changed?"

A simple, abrupt statement.

But Lin Jing wasn't stupid and instantly understood the deeper meaning.

These four from different districts' 9999 Apartments had probably all received instructions from their respective 9999 Apartment administrators.

They might have even received substantial benefits directly.

Including the fact that these four could coexist harmoniously now was probably due to prior arrangements by their respective district's 9999 administrators.

Feng Cheng's words were testing—

With A District's 9999 administrator changed, Lin Jing might not have received "instructions" and "benefits."

So their negotiations with Lin Jing would likely remain superficial, unable to go deeper.

Lin Jing nodded, about to carefully grasp the negotiation boundaries according to this line.

But then he saw "Zhou Qiming," who had just handed negotiation authority to him with a look, suddenly frown.

Lin Jing's heart stirred, somewhat unable to figure out "Zhou Qiming's" meaning.

Jiang Ye sighed and said bluntly:

"Negotiating like you guys would take forever?"

"I really have no patience to play those mind games with you."

His voice wasn't loud, and his tone sounded polite.

But these words...

Made the atmosphere instantly stiffen.

Both opposing sides showed subtle expressions.

The tattooed punk on the other side was the first to narrow his eyes.

A flash of killing intent was concealed within his gaze.

When he looked at Jiang Ye again, this guy actually showed an expression of great minds thinking alike, even regretting not meeting sooner:

"This big shot who disdains self-introduction is definitely Zhou Qiming, right?"

"Although your words aren't polite, they really match my taste!"

"Honestly, I also dislike watching others negotiate politely with words. This back-and-forth not only wastes time but might not achieve anything!"

"If you ask me..."

The punk narrowed his eyes again, smiling:

"We might as well exchange a few moves first—that would speed up negotiations considerably!"

"Zhou Qiming, seeing how impatient you look, acting so cocky, you probably wouldn't dare refuse, right?"

"..."

As soon as these words were spoken, the bespectacled deadbeat next to the punk adjusted his glasses, while the shrewd white-coated man slightly frowned.

The leading Feng Cheng's face showed nothing.

Lin Jing's face also showed nothing.

Only his gaze deeply looked at Zhou Qiming... and the Wu Wang behind him.

Jiang Ye also glanced at Wu Wang and said bluntly: "Can you capture them alive?"

These simple four words instantly transformed the surrounding atmosphere.

The previously subtly calm atmosphere instantly gained a hint of gunpowder tension.

And that punk Liu Re's narrowed smiling eyes instantly turned sharp.

His entire figure flashed and suddenly disappeared from sight.

Meanwhile, around Jiang Ye, densely packed black needles came flying from all directions.

Jiang Ye didn't even blink as he saw a black cloak sweep out with powerful wind, instantly gathering all the black needles.

Even the next second, the black needles instead flew toward the group led by Feng Cheng!

Jiang Ye's old classmates instantly turned pale.

However, Feng Cheng still stood before them.

He didn't abandon these classmates but casually raised a hand, causing those black needles to transform into silver needles before him, melting away like ice and snow.

This was just the simplest exchange, but what Jiang Ye sighed internally was—

No wonder Wu Wang could stay by Guiwen's side for so long.

He probably couldn't be 100% certain about Zhou Qiming's relationship with Guiwen.

But even just the possibility made him treat Zhou Qiming with the same level of importance as he did Guiwen.

Next, they saw the black cloak fly back behind Wu Wang.

He flew up into the air, while numerous flickering flames appeared on the ground around Feng Cheng's group.

Seemingly considering Jiang Ye's "capture alive" instruction, those flames mainly targeted only the few cross-district "big shots."

While Jiang Ye's classmates were scared into retreating repeatedly.

He Yuliang and Lu Shen's expressions changed variably, ultimately not offering assistance.

After all, they were also A District players.

Helping cross-district players against A District players didn't seem right.

Moreover, Lin Jing also had prestige in A District.

But now, even Lin Jing hadn't made a move.

Only the mysterious person behind Zhou Qiming was taking on four alone...

Wrong!

He and Lu quickly sensed something wrong.

Lu Shen was the first to react, shouting: "The flames are problematic!"

They thought the flames were attack methods, not daring to touch them.

But now, even without touching them, the weaker ones were already feeling dizzy and weak-legged!

Soon enough, they fell down one after another!

The four cross-district big shots also looked serious.

Clearly they were also affected, though it didn't seem severe...

Not at all!

Suddenly the flickering flames dramatically enlarged!

Layer upon layer, completely trapping those three within!

While from somewhere in the air came the first disappeared punk's scream!