"Some classmates already asked the Apartment Administrator about canceling the lease."

"The rule here is: canceling in the morning requires paying 50% of the rent as a penalty; canceling in the afternoon requires paying 80%!"

"After 10 PM, the cancellation option is closed, meaning you’ll have to pay 100% of the rent."

"With your rent being so high, trying to save up half of it in the morning—60,000 as a penalty—is basically impossible!"

"And if you drag it to the afternoon, your penalty will be 100,000!"

"100,000! Your rent alone is more than the total rent of the other 79 of us combined!"

"You, you..."

You Ziyu wanted to say something else but hesitated with a complicated expression.

Both Lu Shen and Bai Ruowan could hear the unspoken part of his sentence—

In Jiang Ye’s situation, he might be eliminated on the very first day because he couldn't afford the rent!

Bai Ruowan, being a girl with a soft heart, instinctively wanted to say:

The mutual aid group has numbers; maybe they could help Jiang Ye gather enough for the lease cancellation penalty?

But in the end, she didn’t say it.

She was kind-hearted, but she knew that in this kind of environment, she couldn't act like a saint!

Besides, 60,000 or 100,000 in rent wasn’t a small amount!

You Ziyu had already pointed out—Jiang Ye’s rent was more than the total of all 79 other people combined!

If they wanted to help Jiang Ye, every member would have to pay a significant price.

But why should they?

They were just classmates, not Jiang Ye’s parents.

The mutual aid group was about helping each other, not charity work.

On top of that, Jiang Ye’s ability and skills weren’t particularly crucial, and he wasn’t especially well-liked.

Bai Ruowan knew most of the students from Class One and Class Two well, yet she barely remembered Jiang Ye.

In this situation, it was unlikely anyone would agree to help him.

So, Bai Ruowan stayed silent, pretending she didn’t understand what You Ziyu left unsaid.

Lu Shen felt the same way.

It wasn’t that he was unwilling to help—it was just that Jiang Ye’s rent was ridiculously high.

Jiang Ye felt a little anxious after hearing You Ziyu’s words, worried that he might not survive the first day due to unpaid rent.

But his Replica remained calm.

After thinking for a moment, the Replica suggested an idea:

"I remember the system mentioned that Survival Stones can be exchanged for game currency."

"If I can find a Survival Stone, I should be able to exchange it for a large amount of game currency—maybe enough to pay for this absurd rent?"

It was a good idea.

However, You Ziyu frowned and said, "But the system also said there are 100 players and 100 Survival Stones."

"Anyone without a Survival Stone by the end of the game will be eliminated!"

"If you exchange a Survival Stone for game currency, someone will die at the end of the game!"

Jiang Ye remained composed and analyzed:

"But if I get eliminated today for not paying rent, wouldn’t that just mean one more available Survival Stone?"

"If I can’t even make it past the first day, why should I even worry about the end of the game?"

That… made sense.

You Ziyu hesitated but didn’t dwell on it. "Anyway, we haven’t found a single Survival Stone yet. Your idea only works if we manage to find one on the first day."

Even so, Jiang Ye had a feeling—

Even if the mutual aid group found a Survival Stone, they probably wouldn’t trade it for game currency to pay his rent!

So, he had to find his own way!

At that moment, back in the apartment room, Jiang Ye’s real body finally put on the black mask.

Originally, he had planned to stay under the radar for as long as possible.

But now, the rent issue had become a sword hanging over his head, forcing him to take risks for survival.

Fortunately, when he put on the black mask, nothing dangerous happened.

Instead, a wave of warmth surged through his body, making him feel inexplicably stronger.

Jiang Ye’s eyes flickered as he quickly checked his status panel:

[Jiang Ye]

[Level: 0]

[Stamina: 1.6]

[Energy: 2.8]

[Combat Power: 3.5]

[Survival Points: 0]

[Ability: Infinite Replication (X)]

What?!

Jiang Ye’s Infinite Replication ability hadn’t boosted his stats or combat power.

So, it had to be the black mask that increased his Stamina by 1 point and Energy by 2 points!

These stats were even higher than those of his Replica!

However, his Combat Power was still lower than the Replica’s.

This suggested that abilities and skills also played a role in Combat Power.

His real body had raw stats but no usable skills, which explained why his combat power remained low.

But besides the attribute boost, the mask seemed to have another effect...

Once Jiang Ye calmed down, he realized—

Not only did he feel stronger…

He also seemed... bald?!

He quickly ran to the bathroom and checked the mirror.

And what he saw nearly made him think something paranormal was happening—

A bald middle-aged man stared back at him!

Jiang Ye was so startled that he almost thought he was being haunted.

But soon, he realized this wasn’t some ghostly trick.

It was the mask’s disguise effect!

When he took the mask off, the bald man in the mirror turned back into his own youthful, handsome face.

When he put it on again, he became bald.

After experimenting a few times, Jiang Ye was amazed—

The mask’s disguise ability far exceeded his expectations!

In typical martial arts novels, human-skin masks could only alter facial features.

But this disguise mask could even change hairstyle and body shape!

It completely transformed him into someone else!

With this ability, Jiang Ye’s mind started racing with ideas.

He had been worried that—

If both his real body and Replica left the apartment to explore, and someone discovered there were two Jiang Yes...

His Infinite Replication secret would be exposed!

But now, with this disguise mask, his real body could move around freely.

However, all 80 Beginner Players were still high school seniors.

If they saw a bald middle-aged man, it would instantly attract attention and speculation.

While Jiang Ye was still struggling with this thought, he suddenly spaced out—

Because the bald man in the mirror had disappeared!!

He raised his hand and touched his face, only to realize…

He had turned invisible!

Only when he took off the mask did his body become visible again.

Putting the mask back on—he vanished from the mirror once more!

Holy sh*t!!

So!

Aside from disguise, this black mask also had an invisibility effect!

That meant its full effect was—

Stamina +1, Energy +2;

Effect 1: Disguise;

Effect 2: Invisibility!

And this was just a Bronze-tier item?! How ridiculously overpowered was this?!

By comparison, the fruit Xu Yuewan got from the Black Iron Treasure Chest, which only increased 0.5 Energy, was downright pathetic!

But after a moment’s thought, Jiang Ye realized it wasn’t a fair comparison.

Xu Yuewan’s stat boost was permanent. No one could steal it from her.

Whereas Jiang Ye’s mask, despite offering better boosts, could be taken away.

More importantly, it came from a Bronze Treasure Chest!

Looking at it this way, the items from Bronze Treasure Chests gave massive power-ups for Beginner Players at this stage!

If he could find more Bronze Treasure Chests…

His chances of surviving the first day would be much higher!

But Bronze Treasure Chests weren’t easy to find.

Jiang Ye calmed down and suddenly had a thought—

Maybe these Bronze Treasure Chests were a kind of compensation for his ridiculously high rent.

Otherwise, players assigned to luxury apartments would have no chance of surviving the first day!

Following that logic…

Could it mean that—

The more luxurious the apartment, the higher the chance of finding a Bronze Treasure Chest?

If he wanted more Bronze Treasure Chests, shouldn’t he target the luxury apartments on the top floors?

—

While Jiang Ye’s real body was analyzing the treasure chest mechanics in his apartment,

his Replica had joined Lu Shen and Bai Ruowan at the mutual aid group near the lobby front desk.

After officially joining, he quickly gained access to some basic information about the apartment.

Most of it was what Gao Chang had already mentioned during the gathering—about the special facilities on the first floor.

These facilities were mainly divided into two categories: earning money and spending money.

Right now, everyone was most concerned about how to earn money—how to pay rent.

There were a total of four service stations that offered jobs:

Errands

Tutoring

Cleaning

Personalized Services

The first three were self-explanatory—

Errands were like being a delivery worker. In addition to food delivery, they also handled package deliveries.

Tutoring meant providing lessons for children in the apartment complex, though the subjects might be a bit… unusual.

Cleaning was exactly what it sounded like—housekeeping services.

As for Personalized Services, residents could request custom tasks, such as haircuts, massages, or pet care.

That last part was a bit vague.

Some male classmates even joked about whether there would be special in-home services…

They were immediately met with eye-rolls from the girls.

—

Among the four job types, there was also a special restriction—

Players could only provide services up to their own apartment floor!

For example—

If Zhang San lived on the 8th floor, he could only serve floors 2 to 8.

If Li Si lived on the 18th floor, he could serve floors 2 to 18.

And the higher the floor, the higher the service fees!

This was where Jiang Ye’s 20th-floor apartment gave him a huge advantage!

He could serve residents from 2nd to 20th floor, meaning he could earn money much faster!

However, some of the top students had already done the math—

Even if Jiang Ye worked himself to death, he still wouldn’t be able to pay his rent!

Living on a higher floor meant higher earnings, but the cost-effectiveness was abysmal!

Even if he maxed out his workload, he’d be lucky to earn 20,000 to 30,000 game currency in a day.

His rent was 120,000—completely impossible!

Even the 100,000 penalty for canceling his lease was out of reach!

His only hope was exchanging a Survival Stone for game currency.

But right now, no one had any clue where to find Survival Stones.

So, Jiang Ye was almost certainly going to die on the first day!

—

But now, his classmates’ attitudes toward him became… a little strange.

Even if Jiang Ye wouldn’t survive the first day…

He would still earn 20,000 to 30,000 game currency before dying.

That was a huge inheritance—enough to cover ten days’ rent for several people!

So, suddenly, everyone started comforting him, using Survival Stones as bait.

They told him not to give up, to keep working hard, and to stay hopeful.

"Who knows?" they said. "Maybe you'll find a Survival Stone while working!"

Even Gao Chang, the highly respected leader, personally encouraged him:

"I believe the heavens will reward those who work hard."

"Maybe there really is a Survival Stone waiting for you to discover it while you’re out working."

Jiang Ye listened, feeling nothing but ‘heh.’

But deep down, he hadn’t completely given up hope.

Because if his theory was correct—

The higher the floor, the higher the chance of finding a Bronze Treasure Chest!