Why?

Jiang Ye's first thought was...

Match-fixing?

After all, based on what he understood about the duel mechanics, getting a hundred-win streak should be pretty difficult.

Veteran players usually block win streaks at key points, and without spending money to fix matches, it’s honestly really tough.

But even if you did pay for match-fixing...

Jiang Ye suddenly thought of something else—

Assuming Lin Jing’s strength had already reached the top of his region,

would he even still get matched with players of similar combat power?

Could it be that because he was the strongest, he always got matched with weaker opponents, which guaranteed his hundred-win streak?

Jiang Ye was still thinking and hadn’t answered yet.

Wan Xin chimed in again:

【Because God Lin has a talent that’s perfect for the Duel Room.】

A talent perfect for the Duel Room?

Could his ability also exploit some kind of Duel Room bug?

As he was wondering, Wan Xin explained:

【You’ve read some xianxia novels before, right? There’s always sword cultivators who achieve sword-body unity.】

【And for people without sword-related talents, no matter how hard they practice, it’s useless.】

【Doomsday Apartment has a similar setup.】

【Like the combat power shown on your data panel—it’s not something you can fully bring out.】

【Most players, without professional training, can only use about 80% of their combat power, and that’s already decent.】

【As for the attribute boosts shown on items, the actual benefit players get is even lower!】

【Like a silver-tier item that says +10 Stamina. In reality, you might only be getting +1!】

【This is also where professional training comes in—to build synergy between the player and their gear.】

【But, there’s a rare kind of talent—Weapon Mastery—that lets players bring out 100% or even more of a weapon’s bonus!】

【Just like in cultivation novels, where a sword immortal can unleash celestial power with even a broken wooden sword! That’s what a real sword genius is!】

Ah, that makes sense!

No wonder stat fruits are more expensive, even though item bonuses can seem stronger at the same level.

Because with a fruit, you can make use of 80% of it.

But with items, the effectiveness depends on the synergy between the player and the item.

Without talent support, that kind of synergy usually takes time to build, and requires deliberate practice.

No wonder Zhao Yudie got one-shotted by him even though she was wearing a full set...

At the end of the day, gear is just an external tool—it’s not the player’s true strength.

So now, Jiang Ye also guessed Lin Jing’s situation:

【Lin Jing has a weapon-based ability, and also a powerful weapon that matches it?】

Wan Xin: 【Exactly! Guess you’re not totally brain-dead.】

So that means, to make the most of his talent, Lin Jing probably bought a Survival Point weapon tailored to his ability!

It might even have really strong attribute boosts!

And his actual ability is likely pretty OP too!

If we go a bit over-the-top with the estimate, he could be unleashing 200% of a sword’s power.

Then a sword with +10 Stamina and +10 Energy could become +20 Stamina and +20 Energy under his talent bonus!

That’s f**king insane!

Even crazier than his own Replica Fusion!

After all, his No. 3 Replica hadn’t even reached +20 in stats yet...

Jiang Ye had just been feeling super confident, thinking he could get to a hundred wins easily.

But now that he thought about it...

He let his guard down!

If Lin Jing has this kind of talent, then other veteran players definitely do too!

And since he pissed off the Duoe Organization, when he gets blocked on his win streak, there’s a high chance he’ll run into one of those freakish veterans!

Sh*t!

Jiang Ye had just been thinking he was about to soar and was ready to flex a bit.

But after chatting in the group for a bit, that cocky mood got put out real quick.

At the same time, in the Blood Mist Space, the chaos was ramping up.

After most of the Twisted Tree Spirits were dealt with, the tremors on the ground grew more and more intense!

Until No. 3 Replica clearly saw cracks splitting across the ground!

One by one, the fissures deepened and widened, as if some monster underground was tearing the space apart!

No. 3 Replica dodged with difficulty, trying to stay on solid ground and avoid getting swallowed by the cracks.

Replica No. 2, who was with the main body, quickly created a Mirror Replica, always ready to fuse and support No. 3.

Replica No. 1 kept chatting in the group:

【I thought Lin Jing’s combat power was so overwhelming he couldn’t even get matched with players at his level...】

Sure enough, Wan Xin replied:

【You don’t have to overthink it, the War God Ranking works by different rules.】

【Anyone on the War God Ranking only gets matched with veteran players or other War God-ranked players from other regions!】

Other regions' War God-ranked players...

Jiang Ye remembered—the top five on the War God Ranking all had 100% win rates!

So their perfect win rates are actually way more legit than those of regular players!

But getting on the War God Ranking probably comes with perks too, right?

Jiang Ye recalled the bald scammer saying that players on the War God Ranking could set their own spectator fee.

There should be other privileges too.

He was just about to ask more about the War God Ranking—

When suddenly, Lin Jing popped up and @'d him directly.

【There’s a Quick Battle Card in the daily rewards from the Golden-Tier Duel Machine. I’m willing to pay 20 million for it. @Jiang Ye】

Twenty million?!

Jiang Ye replied right away: 【Game coins or Survival Points?】

Lin Jing: 【Cut the crap. Just tell me, are you selling or not?】

“Cut the crap”—what dialect is that from? Could it be a pun on “shao ping” (baked flatbread)?

Jiang Ye replied in his head with “beaker” as a code word, then responded seriously:

【I was just browsing the exchange list and haven’t had time to look into what this ‘Quick Battle Card’ does.】

Lin Jing: 【Wan Xin, explain it to him. He’s got five hours to decide. After that, I’m not interested.】

As soon as he said that, other players in the group started cheering:

【Five hours?! Does that mean God Lin can hit a hundred-win streak in just five hours?!】

【As expected of God Lin! Seriously, that fast?!】

【And that’s without using the Quick Battle Card! With it, it’d be even faster! He wouldn’t even need five hours!】

【If God Lin really uses the Quick Battle Card, he might become the first player in any region to hit a hundred-win streak! There might even be a server-wide announcement!】

It was plain to see—the players were getting visibly excited.

Jiang Ye, on the other hand, was mentally calculating his own chances of hitting a hundred wins within five hours.

At the same time, he saw Wan Xin explaining the Quick Battle Card in the group chat:

【To weak players, the Quick Battle Card is not only useless—it’s a money sink.】

【But to truly strong players, it’s basically a god-tier item!】

【When you use the Quick Battle Card, you’ll be asked to set a goal for the number of matches—up to 100.】

【Meaning, without playing a single match yet, you can instantly set it to clear a hundred wins with the card!】

【Of course, that’s only if you actually have the strength to pull it off.】

【During the Quick Battle process, you must complete all the set matches in one go. The matchmaking speed becomes extremely fast, and the rules are slightly different.】

【Normally, if you wager 100, you’re only matched with players wagering between 100–900.】

【But under the Quick Battle effect, you can match with players from all wager ranges.】

【And the final wager amount will scale upward.】

【For example, if you wager 100 and get matched with someone wagering 1 million, and you win, you take their full 1 million!】

【Normally, with a Combat Power of 50, you'd only match against players with CP around 50.】

【But under the Quick Battle effect, you can match with any CP player!】

【Of course, during the duel, the stronger side will have their power suppressed to match the weaker player’s level.】

【So, if you have 50 CP and match with a 500 CP powerhouse, the system will weaken their stats, skills, etc., until their panel shows 50 CP like yours, and then the match begins.】

【Basically, during Quick Battle, you can match with anyone in the entire player base, no restrictions, and it all happens lightning fast!】

【There are also some extra effects to the Quick Battle Card—】

【If you lose even one match during the set streak, you’ll be kicked out of Quick Battle mode.】

【Also, the winnings from your first match automatically become the wager for the next.】

【For example, if you bet 100 in the first round and win 1 million, then your next match wager becomes 1,000,100.】

【It keeps stacking like that—the more matches you win, the bigger your wager gets!】

【But if you fail to complete the full Quick Battle streak and lose even once, everything before that is for nothing. You walk away with zero.】

【Only by completing all matches can you claim the total accumulated prize pool!】

Tssss—

Holy sh*t!

That’s high stakes!

When Jiang Ye first heard the start of it, he thought the card’s main perk was just faster matchmaking.

But now he realized—this card was something only true powerhouses could dare to use.

Because only if you cleared the entire streak would you actually get the benefits.

Otherwise, losing just once meant everything was wasted—the card and your efforts!

That Lin Jing dared to offer twenty million to buy it?

It showed he had absolute confidence in his own strength!

Jiang Ye’s first instinct was honestly not to sell the card.

After all, he still had the crazy dream of hitting a hundred-win streak before Lin Jing did!

If he sold the card to Lin Jing, wasn’t that just handing him the victory on a silver platter?

Sure, Lin Jing said he admired him and didn’t cause him trouble later…

But Jiang Ye didn’t feel grateful in the slightest, and of course wasn’t inclined to sell Lin Jing any favors.

However…

After hearing all the effects of the Quick Battle Card,

Jiang Ye suddenly came up with a bold new idea—

First off, Quick Battle allows full-server matchmaking.

Meaning…

Normally, Jiang Ye’s CP wouldn’t let him match with someone like Lin Jing.

But under Quick Battle, he could.

And the prize pool of Quick Battle keeps growing…

So if someone defeats the Quick Battle player right before they finish their streak—

They’d win the entire prize pool all at once!

It would be like…

Someone works their ss off grinding Quick Battle, and some sneaky bstard swoops in at the end and takes everything they’ve built up…

F**k!

What a dirty move!

Jiang Ye looked down on it.

So he replied to Lin Jing directly:

【Alright, I’ll sell you the Quick Battle Card—but I’ve got a few conditions. @Lin Jing】

Lin Jing: 【Say it. Just don’t get ridiculous.】

Jiang Ye: 【First, price—20 million isn’t enough. You need to pay more.】

Lin Jing: 【Fine. Since you responded this quickly—30 million. Not a cent more.】

Jiang Ye: 【Deal. Second condition—I want to spectate your Quick Battle session. I need to observe so I can prep for using my own card tomorrow.】

Not too unreasonable of a request.

So Lin Jing agreed as well: 【Fine. But you’ll pay your own spectator fee.】

He figured enabling spectators during Quick Battle wasn’t a bad idea.

With his reputation, and being the likely first-ever user of the card,

he could set a high spectator fee and rake in even more profit.

Seeing that his goals were met, Jiang Ye followed up:

【Also, I want to verify the effects of the Quick Battle Card for myself, to make sure Wan Xin didn’t scam me.】

【You can get the trade prepped on your side. In about 5 minutes, once I confirm the card’s effects are legit, we’ll make the deal.】

Lin Jing: 【OK】

He agreed pretty straightforwardly.

Jiang Ye did the math—30 million could buy him 6 Silver Attribute Fruits.

3 for Stamina, 3 for Energy.

That would fully max out the fruit limit for his No. 3 Replica.

As for Gold-tier Attribute Fruits, he didn’t have any way to get them yet, so he’d let that go for now.

But there was still one problem—

The Blood Mist Space!

The number of fissures in the ground kept increasing,

and No. 3 Replica had fewer and fewer safe spots to stand!

One misstep and he’d fall into an abyss!

He was on high alert, not daring to make a single mistake!

But then...

After the Twisted Tree Spirits were completely wiped out,

a chilling sensation suddenly surged up from the cracks!

And it wasn’t the cold from Ice-type abilities.

But rather, it was a Dark-type cold—gloomy and bone-chilling...

No. 3 Replica, with his Ice Element Affinity, usually felt a kind of familiarity with cold.

But right now, he felt a chill running down his spine—a deep, unsettling fear.

Thankfully, the ground had stopped shaking.

He stood somewhat stiffly between two of the fissures.

But soon, he suddenly saw—

along with that piercing cold, something was crawling out of the crack...

It was actually a ghost-like, shadowy-gray mist creature!

He immediately unleashed Frozen Domain and Frost Mist Invasion.

But unbelievably, they had zero effect on the mist creature!

Even the Ghost Ring Blade slashed through like it was hitting air—completely ineffective!

What the...

Jiang Ye’s nerves instantly tensed to the max.

Meanwhile, in Room 2064, the white-robed woman watching TV lazily let out a curious noise—

“Huh? That kid got tainted by a dark creature?”

Just as she spoke, the creature on the screen suddenly lunged—

and charged straight into Jiang Ye’s body!

In that instant, Jiang Ye felt like he was being hit with an upgraded version of Frost Mist Invasion!

He felt like his entire body, his lungs and internal organs, were about to dissolve in an instant!

Even his consciousness—

felt like it was about to be swallowed by that icy, dark mist!