The “all classmates” mentioned here naturally included Yang Wenchao himself.

This guy couldn’t possibly be confident enough to think that just because he was a “game player,” Jiang Ye wouldn’t dare kill him, right?

So if he dared reveal this kind of information, he clearly had a backup plan.

Yang Wenchao had never intended to keep it a secret, so he nodded without hesitation: “That’s right.”

“Normally, the only way to move between apartments is by killing all the other players.”

“But our apartment is a little... special.”

At this point, he paused, as if waiting to see if Jiang Ye could figure out what made their apartment different.

Jiang Ye thought of a certain special item he’d seen in Huang Qi’s spatial watch.

He gave a knowing smile and guessed on his own:

“The special part is that our apartment already had two players from other apartments.”

“And in their hands, they had items that bypass the apartment boss and allow cross-apartment movement?”

D*mn!

He guessed it again!

Yang Wenchao looked at Jiang Ye with increasingly complex and surprised eyes—and even a hint of caution.

He pressed his lips together and nodded:

“That’s right.”

“Yu Xiangming and Huang Qi each had a cross-apartment item they got from their own apartment bosses.”

“And these cross-apartment items can also be used by other players.”

That was all Yang Wenchao said.

But the meaning was clear—

In the group chat, it was pretty much assumed that Yang Wenchao had killed those two cross-apartment players.

So his unspoken message was: he had two cross-apartment items in his possession!

But Jiang Ye knew better—this guy only had the item he got from killing Yu Xiangming.

The one that belonged to Huang Qi was actually in Jiang Ye’s hands.

However, Yang Wenchao clearly didn’t know that Huang Qi had been killed by Jiang Ye.

At the time of Huang Qi’s death, “Baldy” had been in the Duel Room.

So Yang Wenchao was just trying to create the illusion that he had two items—

And use that as a bargaining chip in his negotiation with Jiang Ye.

Jiang Ye thought for a moment, but didn’t expose him. Instead, he played along, raising a brow:

“So if you’re offering a cross-apartment item as your bargaining chip...”

“Then you’re saying this so-called ‘pay-to-win mode’ can only be achieved by moving between apartments?”

Yang Wenchao nodded. After a short pause, he continued on his own:

“Let me put it plainly—”

“The pay-to-win way to clear the Beginner Apartment is to kill the Apartment Administrator before the apartment self-destructs.”

“But obviously, the Apartment Administrator isn’t someone regular players can deal with.”

“He even has the authority to erase players!”

“So killing the Administrator requires meeting extremely harsh conditions.”

“Just in terms of power alone, you’d definitely need Survival Point Items.”

“Survival Point Items are items you exchange using Survival Points.”

“These are way stronger than anything we can buy in the High-End Mall!”

“But to trigger the exchange for a Survival Point Item, you need more than 100 Survival Points in your Survival Jade Token.”

“And in a single Beginner Apartment, even if you killed all the new and veteran players, you still couldn’t collect 100 points.”

“After all, even if there were 100 people... you can’t exactly kill yourself too, right?”

“So basically, to exchange for those items, you have to move between apartments and kill enough people to hit that 100-point threshold!”

What Yang Wenchao said matched exactly with what Huang Qi had mentioned before.

But Jiang Ye was more interested in something else than the Survival Point Items:

“The Apartment Administrator has the authority to erase players? I assume that kind of authority needs a specific counter item?”

“Exactly!” Yang Wenchao raised his brow, his voice lifting slightly. “I can say this with certainty—”

“No matter how many Survival Points you offer to the shadow to trade, you’ll never be able to get the item that counters the erasure privilege.”

“And that piece of key intel is one of my main bargaining chips for our cooperation.”

Alright then, that was definitely an important piece of information.

And considering how much Yang Wenchao had already shared, he was showing quite a bit of sincerity.

Jiang Ye thought for a moment, then simply responded:

“Alright, let’s hear it. How do you want to cooperate?”

Yang Wenchao’s eyes turned as if he’d thought of something, then suddenly asked out of nowhere:

“You’re a girl, aren’t you?”

Huh?!

Jiang Ye was momentarily stunned.

But Yang Wenchao had the look of someone who was sure he was right. He began analyzing seriously:

“You live on the 20th floor. You know 1 Survival Point equals 100,000, yet you’ve never killed anyone.”

“And in your match against someone like Zhao Yudie, you didn’t show even a hint of mercy.”

“So I’m guessing you’re a strong female player, like Wang Lingling.”

“And you still care about your classmates, so you’re reluctant to attack people you know for no reason.”

Holy sh*t...

What the f**k!

Being so confidently labeled as a girl by Yang Wenchao felt more than a little weird.

But then Jiang Ye remembered how this guy had confidently denied that he was Jiang Ye just a while ago.

And he relaxed.

Yang Wenchao might look like he had a ton of confidence,

But in terms of reading people, he was just average.

It was only that overwhelming self-assurance that made him seem convincing.

Since Jiang Ye was trying to keep his identity hidden anyway, he couldn’t be bothered to correct him. He just quietly watched Yang Wenchao keep going with that self-righteous confidence:

“You don’t want to randomly hurt classmates you know—I get that.”

“But killing strangers in another apartment shouldn’t be a problem for you, right?”

Jiang Ye raised his brow slightly—an expression that clearly meant “I’ll allow it.”

Seeing no objections, Yang Wenchao continued:

“Then the first step of our cooperation is this—”

“I’ll give you a cross-apartment item and tell you how to move between apartments.”

“And you’ll need to gather more than 500 Survival Points on your Survival Jade Token within three days.”

“After that, we’ll regroup here at this apartment, and I’ll tell you the next step.”

What Yang Wenchao called the “first step” of their partnership looked like he was asking Jiang Ye to earn 500 Survival Points in three days.

But in reality, it didn’t impose any real restriction on Jiang Ye.

If they didn’t sign a contract or anything, it was basically just handing him a free cross-apartment item!

And Jiang Ye knew full well—

Yang Wenchao only had one cross-apartment item on him!

If he gave that one and only item to Jiang Ye, what was he planning to use to move between apartments himself?

Kill all your classmates to earn the favor of the apartment boss?

If you look at it from that angle...

Yang Wenchao’s so-called “cooperation” might just be a smokescreen!

His real goal could be a diversion tactic!

To lure Jiang Ye—the one person who might pose a threat to him—out of the apartment, so he could maintain his status as the undisputed top dog here.

And once Jiang Ye’s gone, Yang Wenchao might have something else up his sleeve.

Jiang Ye’s presence here would only get in the way.

Of course, it could also be that both things are true—the diversion and the cooperation.

By getting Jiang Ye to leave the apartment, Yang Wenchao would gain three full days to grow and prepare on his own.

Then when they regroup here in three days for the so-called “next step” of the partnership, the power dynamic might no longer favor Jiang Ye.

After all, Yang Wenchao had more intel and was far more ruthless in how he operated.

He probably believed that in three days, he could surpass Jiang Ye in strength.

Then, when it was time for “step two,” he’d be the one calling the shots.

In that instant, Jiang Ye ran through all of Yang Wenchao’s possible motives.

He was just about to try squeezing out a little more game info—

But then, out of nowhere, a system announcement echoed in his mind!

【Emergency Announcement from the Beginner Apartment:】

【VIP Player Yu Yuemei is initiating a fusion between this apartment and Beginner Apartment No.1010!】

【The two Beginner Apartments will complete fusion in 10 minutes!】

【Fusion rules are as follows:】