CHAPTER 397: SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH THE FORMATION

Evil Infant Wulie?

Jiang Ye thought to himself, I'm from the countryside, I've never heard of him!

Wait a moment...

Evil Infant?

He seemed to have actually heard of it!

But not from his own experience—rather, it was from Zhang Minghan's memories of struggling through the filthy, wretched lower levels...

Zhang Minghan's memories were too depressing, so Jiang Ye had absorbed them hastily without proper digestion.

But even so, he had paid some attention to potentially useful information.

And regarding the "Evil Infant," it was indeed one of the pieces of information Zhang Minghan had heard about.

Throughout the Doomsday Apartment, it was generally accepted common knowledge that—

Most strong players were active above the 20th floor, or even above the 100th floor.

Below the 20th floor were the bottom-tier trash.

This dividing line was considered the most difficult chasm to cross in the entire Doomsday Apartment, a clear boundary.

Very rarely would strong players from above the 20th floor come down to the levels below.

And very rarely could trash from below the 20th floor cross class boundaries to live above the 20th floor.

Zhang Minghan was one of those "rare" ones—he had crossed from below the 20th floor to above.

And the Evil Infant he had heard about was also one of those "rare" ones who came from above the 20th floor to be active in the slums below.

Floors 1-10 of the apartment were all densely packed housing units like honeycombs.

Players there were also packed densely like little piglets.

Among these little piglets, there were naturally often losses due to conflicts or individual risky behaviors.

But generally, strong players from above the 20th floor wouldn't come to this pigsty on floors 1-10 to conduct large-scale slaughter.

Yet the Evil Infant was an exception.

When Zhang Minghan first arrived at the Doomsday Apartment, he lived in a honeycomb room on the 3rd floor that was so small he couldn't even lie down properly.

Even back then, he heard people say that their batch of newcomers was considered lucky.

Because the honeycomb apartment had just experienced a catastrophe, leaving many rooms vacant.

Otherwise, with his qualifications, he wouldn't have been able to live alone in a honeycomb room on the 3rd floor.

Instead, he would have lived on the 1st floor, with several people crammed into one honeycomb room!

And the root cause of that "catastrophe" was precisely the "Evil Infant"!

Zhang Minghan had never seen the Evil Infant, only heard about it—

That it was a dark-type creature that had completely lost its humanity, thoroughly corrupted to the bone.

No one knew what kind of Glyph Pattern Ability it had awakened, but the Evil Infant grew stronger by eating people!

Its strength clearly placed it in the strong player class above the 20th floor.

Yet the Evil Infant would often sneak down to their bottom-level honeycomb to feast!

At first, it was discreet, and since the honeycomb rooms were chaotically managed anyway, deaths were common, so no one paid attention.

But whether the Evil Infant gradually went mad from eating people or for some other reason, its actions in the bottom-level honeycomb rooms became increasingly brazen!

To the point where their bottom-level little piglets were being depleted at an almost visible rate!

This unusual phenomenon not only caused panic among the bottom-level piglets but naturally attracted the attention of the upper-level strong players.

However, after the upper-level strong players took notice, the Evil Infant became even more reckless!

In a very short time, it nearly depleted over half of the little piglets in the entire bottom-level honeycomb!

With such achievements, the surviving little piglets naturally had a deep impression of this terrifying big shot.

Moreover, it was precisely because of such a big shot that the bottom-level little piglets got to see large numbers of upper-level big shots gathering in their slums for the first time, jointly dealing with the Evil Infant.

Of course, the bottom-level little piglets only knew that the upper level was dealing with that evil thing.

As for the outcome or more information about the Evil Infant, they had no idea.

Oh right, regarding the name "Evil Infant," the bottom level did know the reason.

It was said that the evil thing was originally a decrepit old man.

However, after awakening that evil ability of eating people, the more people he ate, the younger he became.

And when causing trouble in the bottom levels, he had already "rejuvenated" to an infant state!

Survivors who had been lucky enough to see the Evil Infant's true appearance claimed that in its infant state, it looked like a tiny figure only a few inches tall, yet had all facial features, and its smile was extremely eerie.

That tiny figure was extremely fast and powerful, harvesting their bottom-level little piglets as if it were child's play!

If it didn't need to digest after eating people, their bottom-level losses would have been even greater, possibly even complete annihilation!

Of course, these were just verbal accounts from survivors.

Unsubstantiated rumors, sounding like urban legends.

Plus, there had been no further news about the Evil Infant afterwards, so Zhang Minghan hadn't paid it much mind.

He didn't even know the Evil Infant's name.

But now...

Jiang Ye combined that memory and looked at the child around ten years old.

Clearly, this guy was the legendary Evil Infant.

But why wasn't he in infant form, but rather a child around ten years old?

Probably... his strength had regressed?

Or perhaps...

Jiang Ye couldn't help but suspect—could this guy surviving from the Seventh Day to the Eighth Day after being infected with Lightburn be related to his special Glyph Pattern Ability?

He pondered this internally.

Salvation beside him naturally knew more about the Evil Infant than he did.

Salvation had always been an arrogant character.

Even when facing Fu Li, he dared to show a cold attitude.

But now, he clearly felt this Evil Infant's disdain toward him.

So, Salvation sneered and retorted without holding back:

"You're the Evil Infant Wulie? But the Evil Infant I heard about was clearly in infant form, hence the name 'Evil Infant.'"

"How come you..." His mechanical eyes deliberately scanned up and down, "look like a ten-year-old child?"

He wasn't questioning the identity, but rather subtly poking at the other's sore spot.

Sure enough, the once arrogant and unruly Evil Infant, who had caused the "catastrophe," immediately darkened his expression.

However, this guy had a "tender face" and loved to smile.

He immediately showed an innocent, harmless smile and said:

"It seems Salvation doesn't want to know the method for crossing zero o'clock after being infected with Lightburn?"

Salvation certainly wanted to know—in fact, that was precisely why he had agreed to let these three into the Apartment Rooftop.

But wanting was one thing;

he still needed dignity and face!

So, Salvation's mechanical face also formed a mechanical smile as he retorted unkindly:

"It seems the little Evil Infant child doesn't care about methods to suppress Lightburn pain?"

"That's right, just Lightburn pain—with the Evil Infant's methods, you can easily endure it :)"

As he spoke, his gaze fell on the black cloth wrapped around the Evil Infant's left hand fingers.

As if with just a thought, he could retrieve that black cloth!

That single glance made the childlike tender face stiffen abruptly.

The originally innocent, childlike eyes instantly surged with horrifying, sinister malice!

It was only then that Jiang Ye realized—

The survivors' descriptions in Zhang Minghan's memories weren't exaggerated.

This "Evil Infant" had truly and completely lost its humanity!

That look in its eyes...

Jiang Ye prided himself on having Perfected acting skills, but he admitted he couldn't fake that.

He even felt that probably many "people" couldn't fake it either.

Truly... just one glance was enough to make one's heart creep.

Thinking this, he genuinely wanted to retrieve the black cloth wrapped around this thing.

Or even outright kill this eerie evil creature to avoid unnecessary future trouble!

However, before he could take any action, he saw the dark purple figure standing high in the air suddenly "whoosh" down to the ground.

He stood before the three figures, facing Salvation and the direction of the Moon Phase Clock, and said solemnly:

"I see the Moon Phase Clock is almost ready. We really can't afford to bicker at this time."

"As for Wulie..."

He glanced back, then turned his gaze forward again, his tone cold: "This thing is indeed used to being arrogant, otherwise it wouldn't have dared to do such audacious things back then."

"But please calm your anger, Salvation. He's still useful for now. Let's focus on the main business first."

Salvation then turned to look at the Moon Phase Clock.

He didn't look at Fu Li again but scanned the apartment bosses and commanded directly:

"Then follow the usual procedure. You few, go test the waters first."

Clearly, this was indeed routine, as the apartment bosses didn't say much. Several figures suddenly transformed into streaks of dark light, "whooshing" as they shot toward the Moon Phase Clock from different angles.

Jiang Ye didn't know what their "usual procedure" was, but he followed with his eyes, watching the six dark streaks shoot into the Moon Phase Clock from six different angles.

The Moon Phase Clock had eight moon phases in total—

From left to right on the top were "Waxing Gibbous," "First Quarter," and "Waxing Crescent."

From left to right on the bottom were "Waning Gibbous," "Last Quarter," and "Waning Crescent."

On the horizontal line dividing top and bottom, left and right were "Full Moon" and "New Moon" respectively.

The six dark streaks shot into the six moon phase patterns excluding "Full Moon" and "New Moon."

Now, with the Moon Phase Clock's abnormal movement, those six patterns were glowing with faint blood-red light, appearing eerie and unpredictable.

When the six figures shot in, the blood light intensified greatly, causing the numerous crow feather patterns on the clock face to vibrate even more noticeably!

Salvation and Fu Li watched this scene without changing expressions, as if this was also part of the "usual procedure."

As the vibrations became more pronounced, the numerous crow feather patterns, which had only been emitting red light before, now actually began to seep blood!

In an instant, large amounts of blood color spread across the Moon Phase Clock's face, completely covering the original crow feather patterns.

Jiang Ye didn't understand what was happening and thought this was also part of the "usual procedure."

But soon he noticed that the atmosphere in the air seemed wrong!

Salvation was a mecha person, so his expression couldn't be read, but Jiang Ye faintly sensed his stiffness.

Fu Li was wrapped in a robe, only his eyes visible, and Jiang Ye noticed those eyes trembling slightly!

So...

This current scene wasn't part of the "usual procedure"?

Then... could something go wrong?

As he thought this, he heard "bang bang bang" sounds.

Four of the six figures that had just shot into the Moon Phase Clock were flung out all at once!

Those four figures seemed to have been thrown out by tremendous force, landing awkwardly on the ground, their eyes filled with fear and astonishment as they looked toward the Moon Phase Clock.

Jiang Ye quickly observed and compared, discovering that the two figures not thrown out were located in the "First Quarter" and "Last Quarter" moon phase patterns respectively.

He had no idea what had happened.

But it didn't matter—there were big shots here to handle it.

Sure enough, he saw the genuine Salvation mecha flicker.

After several quick movements, he had visited all four figures lying on the ground.

It seemed he used some healing method, as the four figures quickly recovered and stood up.

Without needing to ask, the four reported one after another:

"The array disk I was operating got stuck for some reason and couldn't be moved no matter what. In my anxiety, I used brute force, then the array disk glowed intensely with blood light and ejected me."

"Same here!"

"Me too, the array disk couldn't be moved!"

"I... I was different. When I saw the array disk couldn't be moved, I didn't use brute force but observed carefully nearby without touching the array disk. Yet even so, I witnessed the array disk glowing intensely with blood light and ejecting me too..."

The fourth person's account differed from the first three.

And he quickly analyzed: "Our actions of moving the array disks couldn't have been synchronized."

"But we were ejected at the same time."

"So, the array disks glowing with blood light probably isn't related to you using brute force."

The other three thought for a moment, then quickly nodded in agreement.

Then their gazes turned toward the Moon Phase Clock, specifically the "First Quarter" and "Last Quarter" moon phase patterns.

One of them suddenly murmured: "I wonder if these two moon phases are special? Or if Boss A and Boss C have special methods?"

After hearing this, Jiang Ye vaguely understood—

So there were arrays set up within those eight moon phase patterns of the Moon Phase Clock?!

Hiss...

Looking at it this way, the 【Array Grandmaster】 permission identity was truly impressive!

To be able to play with arrays on the Moon Phase Clock!

So his previous guess that the 【Array Grandmaster】 was on good terms with the apartment forces seemed correct.

However, this "friendly" relationship might not be very solid.

For example, this current problem with the array disks being inoperable...

Jiang Ye originally thought it was probably caused by the clone he was using as Crow.

After all, when Crow was used before, there were no issues, but now that he replaced it with his own clone, problems arose—so it was likely his clone's fault.

But now that he knew about the array disks' existence.

And knew that the 【Formation Master】 was causing trouble in the black ice domain.

He couldn't help but suspect...

That the problem with the array disks in the moon phase patterns might possibly also be the 【Array Grandmaster】's doing?

Just as he was thinking this, he saw the figure who had just been murmuring while looking at the "First Quarter" and "Last Quarter" patterns suddenly speak to the Salvation mecha again:

"I wonder if it's still possible to call the Formation Master at this time?"

Hearing this, Jiang Ye perked up!

After all, he hadn't seen the Formation Master yet.

But to his disappointment, the genuine Salvation mecha directly shook his head: "With that old stubborn's personality, it's definitely too late..."

However, as he spoke, Salvation suddenly turned to Fu Li and asked:

"I wonder if Alliance Leader Fu Li, with your connections, could immediately summon the Formation Master?"

Fu Li didn't answer verbally, just turned his gaze behind him.

Then the beautiful woman suddenly let out an affected, coquettish light laugh.

"Giggle giggle, it's just arrays..." Her laughter sounded like a chicken clucking, very eerie.

Accompanied by the eerie laughter, she batted her eyelashes at Salvation:

"If Salvation doesn't mind, this little girl is willing to risk herself and actively enter that moon phase pattern to take a look at that disobedient little array giggle giggle oh hoh hoh..."

"..." Jiang Ye got goosebumps all over and really wanted to slap this big sister to make her stop laughing...

He strongly suspected that these "seniors" who had been long-term infected with Lightburn might not be entirely mentally normal?