Just reading that first message, Jiang Ye immediately felt something was off.

Like when Huang Qi had first dropped into their 1008 Apartment—

Everyone’s first reaction had been confusion.

It took a whole round of discussion before someone even guessed “cross-apartment.”

But in this Apartment 9999…

The very first message directly called out the term “cross-apartment.”

And the tone? Like they didn’t take this “cross-apartment player” seriously at all.

What really caught their attention wasn’t that he was cross-apartment…

It was the fact that he was only Level 1—and that came with a condescending kind of surprise.

A bad feeling hit Jiang Ye, and he quickly opened up Apartment 9999’s Ranking Board.

What he saw nearly made his brain short-circuit.

【Beginner Apartment 9999 – Ranking Board】

【#1: Lin Jing (Lv. 10)】

【#2: Wang Chengjin (Lv. 10)】

【#3: Ke Peng (Lv. 10)】

【#4: Jiang Wenhan (Lv. 10)】

【#5: Li Junqi (Lv. 10)】

【#6: Sha Bo (Lv. 10)】

……

【#42: You Ya (Lv. 10)】

【#43: Cheng Qun (Lv. 9)】

……

【#118: Wan Xin (Lv. 8)】

【#119: Jiang Ye (Lv. 1)】

What the—??

Jiang Ye felt like he’d entered the Twilight Zone!

This Apartment 9999 had over 80 people on its ranking board?!

Had it also been through an Apartment Fusion?

Or were there just that many cross-apartment players packed in here??

Whatever the reason, this Ranking Board was ridiculous!

Before Jiang Ye arrived, even the last ranked player in this apartment had been Level 8!

Now that he’d dropped in…

He, as the new #119, was completely out of place compared to the 118 players above him.

They were all 10s, 9s, 8s—

And he was… Level 1.

This was the very definition of a baby noob stumbling into a high-roller server.

And another thing—

Those names in the top six… they looked familiar.

If Jiang Ye remembered right…

Those six were all listed on the Duel Room’s 【War God Ranking】 under “Stubborn Bronze”!

So…

What the hell kind of apartment was this 9999?!

Why were there so many top-tier players crammed into one place?!

While Jiang Ye was still reeling, the high-level players in this apartment were already chatting about him:

【A Level 1 cross-apartmenter? And of all places, he comes here?】

【No way this guy isn’t a total newbie who just stumbled in by mistake. Otherwise, I just can’t believe a sane player would dare jump into our Apartment 9999 at Level 1…】

【Think he’s hiding his true power? Like, maybe he’s got an SSS-tier ability, maxed out on Attribute Fruits, and rocking a full set of Survival Point gear?】

【I mean seriously—if a newbie takes one look at our Ranking Board, they should be running for their lives!】

【The fact that he hasn’t run yet after seeing our chat—maybe he’s actually a high-tier beast in disguise?】

【Or maybe he’s just too dumb—a noob who burned his only Survival Point to come here and now doesn’t have enough to “run for it”?】

“……”

Jiang Ye: …Crap, they nailed it. -_-||

Yeah, he did want to run.

But he didn’t have the Survival Points to go anywhere!

F***!!

If only his No. 2 Replica had finished off those two lackeys of Xing Man—

He could’ve had enough points for the return trip right now…

But no, he’d gotten greedy for a fourth Replica and didn’t think it through.

He thought cross-apartmenting would be like Huang Qi’s situation—

Dropped into a strange apartment, surrounded by strangers,

No way back, so just go all in and start killing people.

And yeah, he was ready to go all in.

But could he even kill these “strangers”?

So now his No. 2 Replica’s only real option was to find a place to hide out in 9999 and wait until midnight for fusion.

Though wait—

Would a cross-apartment Replica even be able to fuse at midnight?

This whole thing was getting ridiculous.

He started wondering—

That last person on the 9999 Ranking Board, Wan Xin at Level 8…

How strong was his combat power?

Did his Replica have any shot at taking him down through Fusion?

Probably not.

His gut told him—

The Level 8s in this apartment were on a whole different level from the Level 8s in any other apartment.

Trying to kill one of them at Level 1? Yeah, no chance.

While he was deep in thought, Jiang Ye suddenly felt like… someone was watching him.

But when he scanned the area, there was no one in sight.

He instantly tensed up, hand resting on the rooftop control panel,

Pretending to look calm and ready to jump apartments at any moment.

And right then, a new message popped up in the Apartment 9999 chat group:

Wan Xin: 【Holy sh*t!!! I knew it! This guy’s totally a sleeper beast! Guess who this Level 1 who dared cross into our apartment is?!】

You Ya: 【Who? Who?! One of those whales from the Game Rankings?】

Cheng Qun: 【Even if he was a whale back in the game, that doesn’t mean much here in the real apartment system, right?】

Wan Xin: 【Wrong! All of you are wrong! He’s not from the game! He’s that mysterious bald guy who stirred up a storm in the Duel Room not long ago!】

Li Junqi: 【Holy sh*t? The mysterious bald guy who beat Zhao Yudie, possibly pissed off the Duoe Organization, and even caught the attention of a VIP player??】

Wang Chengjin: 【You sure you’re not mistaken? With those Disguise Masks, anyone can tweak themselves to look bald.】

Wan Xin: 【I’m positive! I watched the match where he one-shotted Zhao Yudie with my own eyes! No way I’d mistake that.】

Wang Chengjin: 【Bro, just say it straight—are you the guy who one-shotted Zhao Yudie? @Jiang Ye】

Wan Xin: 【Bro, you came to our apartment to challenge us to a Life-or-Death Duel? @Jiang Ye】

Zhou Qi: 【That can’t be right? That bald guy had insane combat instincts, sure—but if he matched with Zhao Yudie, then he’d have about 50+ Combat Power, which does line up with his Level 1.】

【But even then—Level 1, 50-ish Combat Power—and he dares to walk into our apartment? He’s not worried we’ll snap our fingers and turn him into Survival Points?】

Wan Xin: 【This guy must’ve come prepared! Look, he’s got his hand on the control panel like he’s ready to teleport out at any second.】

【Probably waiting to see our attitude—if we want to talk, he’ll talk. If not, he’s ready to bounce.】

Wang Chengjin: 【Bounce? He really thinks he can escape?】

【If Master Jing makes a move, even if this guy has his hand on the panel, even if he’s got lightning-fast reflexes—he still ain’t getting away.】

That “Master Jing” mentioned in the message clearly referred to “Lin Jing,” the #1 on Apartment 9999’s Ranking Board—

Also the top of the Duel Room’s 【War God Ranking】!

As Jiang Ye was still piecing things together,

The next message hit, and its sender name was none other than: “Lin Jing.”

Lin Jing: 【Tell us what you came here to talk about. Be direct. @Jiang Ye】

The whole Apartment 9999 group chat exploded in an instant!

Before, only a few people had been talking—

Now? The floodgates had opened. Lin Jing’s message was buried in a tidal wave of excitement.

【Holy sht! Lin-god is here!!】

【Lin Jing actually came out for a Level 1 newbie!!】

【How many more wins does Lin-god need for 100 straight? Think he’ll make it today??】

【If he takes out the Administrator on Day 1… f**, I’m getting chills just thinking about it!】

The fanboying was wild—Jiang Ye could barely keep up.

Still, he caught a few key bits of info:

Lin Jing was apparently going for a 100-win streak in the Duel Room?

And…

These Apartment 9999 players were planning to take down the Administrator too?!

Plus, that talk about “whales”…

From all this, he could deduce:

The players here, like Yang Wenchao, were from the game.

But not just any players—they were elite even among gamers!

They were clearly aiming to clear the apartment using the “pay-to-win mode” Yang Wenchao mentioned.

Some were even crazy enough to try and take down the Administrator on Day 1!

As Jiang Ye was processing all this, he also had to figure out how to respond to Lin Jing.

It seemed like Lin Jing—and everyone else—thought he’d come here to negotiate.

But the truth was…

He’d just picked a random faraway apartment, and stumbled in by accident!

He had no idea what this place was, let alone any plan to talk or fight.

But if he told the truth now...

Yeah, his end wouldn’t be pretty.

So Jiang Ye thought for a moment, then decided to double down:

【I want to challenge a Life-or-Death Duel. @Lin Jing】

Truth be told, he didn’t even know what a Life-or-Death Duel was.

But one of the players earlier had speculated that’s why he came,

So he just rolled with it.

As for what it meant…

Sounds like a duel where people die?

He’d figure it out later.

If he could fight, he would. If not, he’d stall till midnight and try to merge with his main body to escape.

Just as he was thinking that, Lin Jing responded again:

Lin Jing: 【Report your record. @Jiang Ye】

Crap.

Jiang Ye felt like his noob status was about to be exposed.

What the h*ll did “record” mean?!

If he asked outright, he’d look dumb.

But if he guessed and got it wrong, he’d look even worse.

100-win streak, Life-or-Death Duel…

It probably meant win streak, right?

Jiang Ye hesitated, then cautiously answered:

【Four-win streak in the Duel Room... does that count?】

The group chat went dead quiet.

For a long time, not a single new message appeared.

Then, finally:

Wang Chengjin: 【Bro, are you kidding me? You don’t even have a ten-win streak and you wanna talk Life-or-Death Duels??】

Wan Xin: 【Seriously, man? You dragged out Lin-god for this—and you’ve only got a freaking four win streak?!】

You Ya: 【No offense, but hahahahahaha I really wanna see the look on Lin-god’s face right now hahaha!】

Cheng Qun: 【You can look at mine—I bet it’s the same as his right now -_-||】

You Ya: 【Hahahahahaha】

Jiang Ye: ……

So… he guessed right about what “record” meant.

But his streak was way too lame, huh?

What could he do? It was literally four wins!

And what, four wins is trash now?

He’d only had four matches!

What if by the time he hits 100 matches, it is a 100-win streak?

Maybe he’d even hit that milestone before Lin Jing!

Ever heard the phrase “Don’t underestimate the young and poor”?!

Jiang Ye silently stared at the flood of “hahaha”s.

Then decided, screw it—it’s just a Replica anyway. Let’s get thick-skinned.

So he boldly dropped this line in the chat:

【What if I hit a 100-win streak before your Lin-god does?】

The chat went dead silent again.

After a long pause, someone finally replied:

【Bro… if you’re gonna brag, at least make it believable.】

【Exactly! Do you even know what 100 consecutive wins means? Do you know how many wins Lin-god already has?】

Jiang Ye thought to himself: Nope, don’t know, don’t wanna know [cold_face.jpg]

I was just casually talking sh*t—treat it like a joke, guys, please don’t take it seriously :D

He had no idea how to walk this back now.

Then suddenly, the highly respected Lin Jing finally responded to him.

Well—technically, it wasn’t a “response.”

It was more like… a command.

Lin Jing: 【You’ve got ten minutes—get a ten-win streak, and we’ll let you join us. If you don’t… we’ll “send you off.”】

That “send you off” was obviously the same kind of euphemism Yang Wenchao used when he “reunited” Wang Rui with her parents.

From his hidden spot on the rooftop, Wan Xin—who’d been secretly observing—couldn’t help thinking:

Looks like this arrogant bald guy’s about to tuck his tail and run.

After all, ten wins in ten minutes…

Impossible.

Even if this guy already had a four-win streak and technically only needed six more wins,

the 5th and 10th matches were Win Streak Blockers run by veteran players.

If it were anyone else, maybe they could buy the Five-Win and Ten-Win Streak Package and skip the blocker fights.

But this bald dude had already pissed off the Duoe Organization, the ones managing the win-streak services.

Which meant… he’d have to beat both blockers on his own.

And he’d likely be targeted by Duoe members while doing it.

In fact, because of him, Duoe had linked over one million veteran player duel machines to the duel system.

Granted, that didn’t mean one million players were online,

but the chances of matching with a veteran in a normal duel had just skyrocketed!

Under these conditions, trying to get to ten consecutive wins in ten minutes…

Flat-out impossible.

So logically, the smart thing for this guy to do now…

was bail.

What these big shots didn’t know, though—

Jiang Ye had been trying to run for a while now!

Problem was… he didn’t have the funds to leave!

All he could do was grit his teeth and keep up the act.

So, in the group chat, he sent a reply that looked bold as hell:

【OK, no problem. But you’re all big names here, right? I’m assuming none of you would go back on your word and start spewing crap like a fart, yeah?】

The tone—wildly cocky.

As if he actually had the confidence to win ten matches in ten minutes,

and was more worried that Lin Jing wouldn’t keep his promise.

The chat went quiet again for a long while.

Then came a barrage of sarcastic replies:

【Wow, someone sure thinks highly of himself.】

【Exactly! One life’s only worth 1 Survival Point! With Lin-god’s strength, he wouldn’t even blink at that.】

【Do you even know what it means to win ten matches in ten minutes?】

【It means your value is equal to unlimited Survival Points! No one would be dumb enough to break their word and kill you after that!】

Lin Jing: 【Wan Xin, take him to the 99th floor.】

【Ten minutes—timer starts once he enters the Duel Machine.】