Jiang Ye’s expression looked like he was trying to recall something.

Yang Wenchao couldn’t hold back and repeated himself: “Don’t tell me you’re seriously some kind of do-gooder, like a living Lei Feng? Did so many good deeds that you forgot which one?”

Jiang Ye immediately shook his head. “Of course not!”

“Honestly, I rarely meddle in other people’s business, and I haven’t really done anything good…”

As he spoke, he still looked completely clueless about who the bald guy actually was.

But as Yang Wenchao listened to his description, his eyes became slightly unfocused.

He felt like this guy really had some bizarre luck—

“Rarely meddles,” but just happened to help him;

“Hasn’t done any good deeds,” but just happened to save the bald guy’s life…

The world really is strange like that.

Some people do good all their lives, yet end up sick and miserable;

Some people do just one good thing their whole life, but they get rewarded and live in luxury.

“Good people get good karma”—that saying really is selective, huh!

Yang Wenchao even started to suspect—

Do good people actually get rewarded, or is it just that some people are fated to be lucky?!

Doing good might just be fate’s crappy excuse for favoring someone!

While he was deep in thought, feeling all kinds of emotions—

Jiang Ye suddenly looked like he remembered something, and exclaimed excitedly:

“I remember now!”

“When I was really young, I saved a little girl who almost got kidnapped!”

“But that was a long time ago. I can’t even remember what she looked like.”

“All I remember is, it was freezing cold, and she was dressed super bulky, like a fat little penguin!”

“So that little girl grew up and became my classmate?”

But even after saying all that…

He clearly only remembered that he saved someone,

Still had no clue who the person was…

But seriously, isn’t this way too much like a soap opera?

Childhood fate, reunited as grown-ups?

Yang Wenchao felt another wave of weirdness, shooting Jiang Ye a strange look and said:

“Why don’t you check the group chat and see which girls have gone offline lately—see if any of them might be that bald guy?”

As soon as Jiang Ye heard that, it hit him—

So when a cross-apartment player leaves their original apartment, it’s basically like they’re “offline”!

But after the apartment fusion, those arrogant classmates from Class 9 started a killing spree.

In just this short time, quite a few classmates had gone offline!

At the moment of fusion, the member list still showed 108 people.

But now, it had already dropped to 96!

That meant 12 people had died in a short span of time!

Panic was once again spreading through the chat group.

But just then, members of the Mutual Aid Group who had previously teamed up with Yang Wenchao stepped up to try and calm everyone down.

Especially Wang Lingling—she finally stood up to take charge:

【Things are a bit chaotic right now. Mutual Aid Group members, don’t gather on the first floor!】

【In the entire Beginner Apartment, the safest place for players is your own apartment room!】

【If you’re scared, go hide in your apartment room right now!】

【As for those arrogant killers, the Mutual Aid Group will figure out how to handle them!】

Right after that, a classmate excitedly responded:

【Sister Ling, are you confident you can take down Xing Man?】

【If the Mutual Aid Group teams up, plus Yang Wenchao and the mysterious bald guy, we might really be able to beat Xing Man, right?】

Wang Qiang: 【I still think Yang Wenchao can beat Xing Man all by himself! After all, he’s the guy who one-shotted those cross-apartment big shots!】

Clearly, Wang Qiang had become Yang Wenchao’s number one fanboy.

In his eyes, Yang Wenchao was basically invincible!

And then, he actually shouted at Xing Man directly in the group chat:

【Xing Man, weren’t you asking who killed Wang Rui? @Xing Man】

【Well, I can tell you—it was Yang Wenchao who killed Wang Rui!】

【Two cross-apartment bosses showed up before, and Wang Rui said she wanted to cross apartments too, to reunite with her parents.】

【Yang Wenchao said he could send her to reunite with them—and then she died!】

【If you really want to avenge her, go after Yang Wenchao! But I bet you don’t even dare!】

【Because my Bro Chao can one-shot cross-apartment bosses!】

【Sure, you’re a higher level than him, but if he wants to kill you above his level, it’d be like slicing a melon—easy as pie!】

【So tell us, Xing Man—you still dare talk about killing my Bro Chao? @Xing Man】

Holy sh*t?!

This Wang Qiang…

He’s way too bold, isn’t he?!

Isn’t he just painting a big target on Yang Wenchao’s back?

What if Xing Man and Yang Wenchao team up and take him out first?!

But the truth was—Wang Qiang didn’t think he was dragging Yang Wenchao down at all.

He genuinely believed Yang Wenchao could one-shot Xing Man!

He was just showing loyalty!

As for whether Xing Man would deal with him first?

No worries there—he was already hiding in his apartment room.

That place should be absolutely safe!

Meanwhile, Jiang Ye was pretending to scan the member list to figure out the bald guy’s identity,

But really, he was just watching the group chat.

It was then that he suddenly noticed something important—

According to what Yang Wenchao said…

That diamond chip used for cross-apartment travel came from the Apartment Owner.

And the condition to earn the Apartment Owner’s favor was—to kill all the players in the apartment!

But if players just hide in their apartment rooms, wouldn’t they be completely safe?

So how do you kill players who are holed up inside their rooms?

But Huang Qi also said he wiped out all the players in his apartment.

Which meant Yang Wenchao probably wasn’t lying…

So that means—

Even a player’s initial apartment room isn’t absolutely safe?!

What the h*ll?! Jiang Ye suddenly felt a bit anxious.

After all, no matter how wild his Replica got outside, he wasn’t worried.

As long as the main body stayed safe in the apartment, everything would be fine.

But now he’d just found out—even the apartment wasn’t safe!

And his main body had once heard a knocking sound at Room 2025!

To this day, he still didn’t know exactly what had caused it!

Jiang Ye’s mood instantly turned tense, worried about the main body left behind in the apartment.

After all, his main body was currently in a paralyzed state…

No matter how strong his Replicas became through fusion,

If someone managed to take out the main body, he’d be completely done for!

In that moment, all Jiang Ye wanted was to rush back to Apartment 2025, give the Attribute Fruit to his main body, and have a Replica protect it.

But before that, he nervously turned to Yang Wenchao and asked,

“If we hide in our apartment rooms, are we really safe?”

And almost at the exact same time he asked this—

A message suddenly popped up in the group chat, like a twisted coincidence—

Xing Man: 【You really think hiding in your apartment room makes you safe?】

Seeing that made Jiang Ye’s pupils contract!

Because based on what Xing Man was saying…

He actually could break into other people’s apartments and kill them?!

No, not “could”—he definitely could!

Sure enough, Xing Man went on arrogantly:

【You goody-two-shoes are really naive to the point of being dumb!】

【Forming some brain-dead Mutual Aid Group was one thing, but you actually recorded member info in a booklet?!】

【And the best part—those records didn’t just list your starting abilities, they even included your room numbers!】

【Hahahahaha that’s just too stupid!】

【@Zhou Qiong, Miss Zhou, come take a look! These are the Class 1 students you always praised in Class 9!】

【Looking at these top students now, don’t you wonder if their brains are all scrambled? @Zhou Qiong】

Xing Man’s words were still as cocky as ever.

But Jiang Ye suddenly realized something important—

A player’s room number might be even more valuable information than their initial ability!

Yang Wenchao was clearly keeping an eye on the chat too.

He wasn’t waiting on Jiang Ye’s guess about the bald guy, and he didn’t care much either.

That guy had already left anyway.

Whether he’d make it back alive was still a big question.

Compared to the bald guy,

It was this overly arrogant Xing Man who was really getting on his nerves.

Yang Wenchao frowned, noticed Jiang Ye’s stiff expression, then raised an eyebrow and asked,

“You exposed your room number too?”

Jiang Ye nodded like a chicken pecking rice.

Yang Wenchao sneered, “So dumb.”

“……”

Without answering Jiang Ye’s earlier question, Yang Wenchao just jumped straight into the chat:

【Xing Man? Sounds like you’re due for release.】

【Weren’t you just saying how you’d kill me and Jiang Ye on the rooftop? So why is it your two little flunkies ended up dead instead? @Xing Man】

【Both your lackeys are gone, and I’m still here on the rooftop. Why haven’t you come up to settle things yet? @Xing Man】

【Also, that thing Wang Qiang said was true—Wang Rui was killed by me.】

【If you want revenge, come on. Rooftop. I’ll give you three minutes.】

【If you don’t show in three minutes, I’ll just assume you chickened out. From then on, if you see me, take the long way around. And quit yapping in the chat like an eyesore. @Xing Man】

That arrogant tone wasn’t any less cocky than Xing Man’s!

It instantly made the students of Class 1 and 2 feel like they had a backbone again, cheering with joy!

Especially Wang Qiang—Yang Wenchao had actually mentioned his name in his message!

That was it! He felt like his life had just peaked!

So of course, Wang Qiang started yelling again like a maniac:

【Told you! Bro Chao’s not scared of Xing Man at all! But Xing Man—he knew Bro Chao was on the rooftop and only dared send his lackeys up first to test the waters!】

【What does that say? It says he’s scared!】

【Hahaha Bro Chao is the f***ing best! That Xing Man from Class 9 is nothing but trash!】

Other classmates were fired up too.

Especially those who had run back to their apartments and thought they were now safe—they all started egging Xing Man on:

【Hahahaha Bro Chao is the f**ing best!! Go kill that bstard Xing Man already!】

【Exactly! Xing Man, weren’t you gonna kill Yang Wenchao and Jiang Ye? They’re waiting for you on the rooftop, go do it! I bet you’re too scared!】

【Can’t you see? Xing Man only bullies low-level noobs like us who haven’t even made it onto the Ranking Board! He can’t handle Yang Wenchao at all!】

【A whole Level 5 scared of a Level 3 like Yang Wenchao! Where does Xing Man get off acting all high and mighty?!】

They were provoking him on purpose, hoping that Xing Man would take the bait and actually head up to the rooftop to fight Yang Wenchao.

And since Yang Wenchao was so bold, they figured he probably could take Xing Man down.

Sure, Yang Wenchao was arrogant and had killed people too,

But at least he wasn’t as reckless and murderous as Xing Man…

In their eyes, Yang Wenchao was still a fellow classmate from the same apartment.

Xing Man, on the other hand, was an outsider from the fused apartment—a total invader!

Getting Yang Wenchao to deal with the invader was the top priority!

Honestly, the best-case scenario would be both of those arrogant guys taking each other out on the rooftop!

Then Wang Lingling’s Mutual Aid Group could take back control of the apartment!

Compared to them, Wang Lingling’s group was way more trustworthy!

Some of the students even started fantasizing—

In the rooftop showdown, Yang Wenchao and Xing Man would beat each other half to death,

And then Jiang Ye, who was also on the rooftop, could swoop in and finish them both off!

Sure, that would be a huge win for Jiang Ye.

But Jiang Ye didn’t seem like someone who killed randomly.

If someone had to benefit, better him than letting Xing Man or Yang Wenchao survive!

And just as these students were hiding in their rooms, thinking they were safe,

While fantasizing and hyping each other up to push Xing Man toward a rooftop battle with Yang Wenchao…

Xing Man suddenly dropped another line in the chat:

【Alright, alright! In that case, let our classmate Wang Qiang tell everyone—why am I this arrogant? :)】

The message was kind of cryptic.

The chat went quiet for a moment.

Then Xing Man added:

【Go on, Wang Qiang, weren’t you just full of it a second ago? @Wang Qiang】

Another long pause.

And then, a broken, stuttering message finally appeared from Wang Qiang in the chat:

【I... I-I was wrong... Please, please let me go... Brother Xing, Lord Xing... I-I don’t want to die...】

As soon as that message appeared,

Class 1 and 2 erupted in shock!

What the hell?

Wang Qiang, who had been so arrogant just a moment ago—why was he suddenly begging for mercy?!

And even though it was just text...

His stuttering tone clearly sounded off!

What happened next made everything crystal clear—

Wang Qiang, like he was being threatened, actually started cursing Yang Wenchao in the chat:

【Yang Wenchao... worthless! Yang Wenchao you f***ing idiot! Wahhh please let me go...】

【Wahhh... help me! Somebody save me!! Bro Chao save me!! Ahhh—】

After that last miserable plea for help...

Wang Qiang’s name in the member list went gray.

At the same time, all of his recent messages vanished!

That...

There was no doubt left in anyone’s mind!

Just now, Wang Qiang had died!

Killed by Xing Man!

And even worse, right before he died, Xing Man had forced him to insult Yang Wenchao in the chat!

But…

But hadn’t Wang Qiang hidden in his own apartment room?!

How could he still be killed like that?!

In an instant, the terrifying realization washed over everyone who had thought hiding in their rooms meant safety.

Fear gripped them all over again!

The lower-floor apartments were nowhere near as luxurious as Jiang Ye’s place on the 20th floor.

Some of the more run-down ones didn’t even have more than a bed and a wardrobe.

Freaked out beyond belief, some students rushed into their closets, shaking with fear, terrified they’d end up just like Wang Qiang!

And yet, Xing Man continued sending messages into the chat:

【Let’s see who else is in this lovely little Mutual Aid Group registry—】

【Ge Zining, Apartment 0602.】

【Yang Wei, Apartment 0836.】

【Bai Ruowan, Apartment 1208.】

【Lu Shen, Apartment 1444.】

【Jiang Ye, Apartment 2025.】

Line after line, listing everyone’s apartment numbers—it was like reading off a hit list!

And when he got to the familiar name “Jiang Ye,” Xing Man even added a mocking comment:

【Oh? This Jiang Ye is a 20th-floor tenant, huh?】

【But since he’s on the rooftop right now, the apartment should be empty, right?】

【As for Yang Wenchao… what, just because you tell me to go to the rooftop, I’m supposed to go? That’d make me look pretty damn weak, wouldn’t it?】

【How about this—you come over to Jiang Ye’s Room 2025. Let’s see if you’re all talk, or if you’ve actually got some real skills! @Yang Wenchao】