Master... master?!!

Song Jie, Qi Anlin, and the two underlings present were all stunned by this bizarre form of address, their eyes wide with shock!

What the hell??

Although they had noticed from the start that Jiang Ye was different from the other newcomers.

They had also guessed that he must have an unusual identity.

Song Jie had even personally said to him, 'You're not like us'...

But the problem is...?!

This old man isn't just someone with the strength of full beast transformation!

The fact that he's sitting here in charge of selling blood undoubtedly means he's the Boss's man!

If the student council president holds the highest authority within the student body in this school environment.

Then this old man in charge of selling blood, his authority surpasses the entire school system!

According to Song Jie's speculation, he should be someone who can meet the Boss's true form outside of "Dreamland"!

In other words, he could be considered the Boss's "trusted confidant"!

But such an existence who should be high and mighty...

He actually calls this newcomer... master?!

Wait, what? You call him master? How do you expect our Boss to feel about that?!

Song Jie's brain was completely fried!

Qi Anlin and the two underlings were equally shocked, questioning their very existence.

However, as the saying goes—

Three cobblers with their wits combined equal Zhuge Liang the mastermind.

While their minds were reeling with shock, they did think of one utterly absurd and ridiculous idea that sounded insane just hearing it...

They were wondering...

This "Zhou Qiming," was he truly, from the very beginning, this old man's master?

Or... after that precious, incredibly valuable blood of his, which the old man coveted and could sell for 1 day's worth of survival time per 10cc, dripped onto the old man's tongue...

Did it directly cause the old man to... acknowledge him as master through blood-drip acknowledgment?

Hmmmmmm...

Although this line of thinking about blood-drip acknowledgment is quite novel and utterly ridiculous.

But isn't this kind of plot common in novels?

A piece of jade, drip a drop of blood on it, and a spatial realm appears?

So for a "pet," feed it a drop of blood, and it calls you "master," seems logically consistent, right?

So, even though this idea is absurd...

Actually, a similar thought was flashing through Jiang Ye's mind at that very moment.

From his first impression, this being who would call him "master" was most likely "Xiao Hei," right?

Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai's black snake could perfectly fuse.

And this being that could transform into a giant serpent, even if it wasn't Xiao Hei, was probably one of those black snakes raised by Xiao Bai?

So, Xiao Bai and Xiao Hei, they aren't dead!

They were also teleported by the center of the Forbidden Zone to this Doomsday Prison environment, whether it's an illusion or real time travel...

Moreover, they entered the Doomsday Prison earlier than the batch of 25 clones including Zhou Qiming entered the prison?

That makes sense.

That was Jiang Ye's first thought.

He almost instinctively wanted to follow this train of thought and reunite with "Xiao Hei" or the "little black snake."

However...

Just before he could speak, he thought of another possibility regarding "blood-drip acknowledgment of kinship."

What if this blood-selling supervisor wasn't Xiao Hei or a little black snake at all, but just a "pure passerby" within this prison setting...

Who simply, after sucking his two drops of blood, got "blood-drip acknowledged as his subordinate" by him?

Even though this idea of "one drop of blood making a senior call me master" is as absurd as "three sentences making a man spend 180,000 on me."

But it must be admitted—

Jiang Ye's blood is indeed very special!

Just now, looking at the snake scales displaying that colorful black similar to the Blackened Funeral Crow...

He couldn't help but have a crazy thought—

Let's just say, if it really is time travel, with his multiple clones arriving in batches at the most mysterious Day 1 and Day 2 in the historical process of the Doomsday Apartment.

Then could it be...

The legends about the blackened crow in "later generations"...

Were all created by Jiang Ye himself?!

So it's not that his blood resembles blackened crow blood...

But that the blackened crow's blood is inherited from him?!

Oh damn...

Jiang Ye swallowed hard.

He very appropriately acted out an expression of shock.

Then, looking at this old man, he asked:

"Master? Why are you calling me master? Did you get blood-drip acknowledged by me?"

When this ridiculous statement was voiced, Song Jie and the others fell into silence again.

This is freaking even more absurd than the Boss's trusted confidant calling you "master"!

Blood-drip acknowledgment...

Senior, why don't you try blood-drip acknowledging our Boss too?

Or just turn the entire Doomsday Prison into yours with a river of blood?

These guys were already shocked to the point of numbness.

But fortunately.

The "old man" quickly clarified the misunderstanding...

With a flicker of his figure, his entire appearance suddenly changed.

From a hunched, weathered old man.

In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a youth of about 18 years old.

A handsome appearance, eyes as dark as night, a somewhat silly-looking expression, paired with the eerie smile curling at the corners of his mouth...

The two underlings behind Song Jie just felt this youthful appearance looked very eerie.

But the more experienced Song Jie and Qi Anlin were once again shocked in their hearts!

Because this youth's eerie smiling appearance...

Made them think of the monster infants!

Players are categorized by age into human meat grades.

Premium players with premium human meat generally appear in an infant state.

Song Jie had the fortune of seeing a player in an infant state.

That "infant state" was very similar to the state of this old man suddenly transforming into a youth!

That seemingly silly expression perfectly resembled the innocent, worldly ignorance unique to infants.

But it was precisely this kind of creature, who should be innocent and ignorant, revealing that kind of smile, that seemed especially eerie...

How to describe it? Like the eerie smile of Si Nuo in "Detective Chinatown."

An angelic face showing a devil's smile.

What should be the most innocent, pure child revealing a devilish, eerie smile...

That was the feeling Song Jie and the others had looking at this "youth."

And Jiang Ye's feeling was...

"It really is Xiao Hei..."

"Yes, master, it's me!"

"..."

Well, this.

Actually, from Jiang Ye's perspective, he and Xiao Hei hadn't been separated for that long.

But at this moment, he clearly felt that Xiao Hei had changed quite a bit.

Not in terms of appearance, though.

At least the appearance he was presenting now was the same as when they first met.

The characteristic of liking to suck his blood and the "master" form of address hadn't changed either.

But whether it was possessing an "aged form" and a "giant serpent form," or his own demeanor...

They were all vastly different from the Xiao Hei of "back then"!

Back then, Xiao Hei, although he could communicate normally.

Clearly felt like his brain wasn't fully developed;when using language functions, he had a sense of innocent, worldly ignorance.

Also, aside from an obsessive fascination with his master's blood, Xiao Hei basically had no emotional fluctuations, appearing just dumb and silly.

But the current Xiao Hei clearly seemed like a normal person now.

His words and actions were like a normal person's, his emotions even more so.

However...

Jiang Ye didn't have that clone connection with him anymore.

This phenomenon made Jiang Ye retain some reservations in his heart.

Uncertain whether it was because, in the Doomsday Prison environment, he had indeed lost his clone ability.

Or because...

This Xiao Hei might possibly be an imposter?

Jiang Ye kept this doubt, continuing to stare at "Xiao Hei" with shock, looking him up and down.

He was incredulous but also filled with joy as he said:

"How did you end up here? And you're in charge of selling blood? Also, why were you using an old man's form just now?"

He had another question in his mind: why, in this Doomsday Prison environment, did the connection between him and his clones seem to be severed?

But because of his reservations about Xiao Hei's identity, he didn't directly ask this question.

After all, this was also his biggest secret.

If someone really was setting a trap for him targeting his clone ability...

Jiang Ye hadn't forgotten yet—

Before the Lin Ling missing incident, that "fake clone" that walked out of the red-lit elevator.

And the possibly existing "fake clone" in the Soul Resting Mound environment.

In the past, Jiang Ye and his clones shared consciousness;those impersonating clones were just clowns in his eyes.

But in this prison environment...

He really had to be cautious.

Xiao Hei, as always like "back then," answered his questions in detail.

And these answers were pretty much in line with Jiang Ye's speculations—

The environment currently called the "Doomsday Prison" seemed to truly be the Doomsday Apartment's Day 1 and Day 2, lost in the ancient history of the distant past.

It's just that this Day 1 and Day 2 were not the same as what many later-generation players imagined.

For example, the Doomsday Apartment at this time was instead called the Doomsday Prison.

For example, survival stones at this time weren't as rare as in later generations.

For example, at this time, special classes like "apartment boss" and "apartment administrator" didn't exist yet.

However, this era also had its own characteristics.

The most notable were those mechanical eyeball-like Enforcers.

And according to Xiao Hei...

Many "factions" aside from the mechanical eyeballs had already been controlled by the "master."

Including that mysterious Boss who commanded Song Jie and the others;he was also Xiao Hei's "master," meaning the same existence as Jiang Ye.

Meaning a clone...

According to Xiao Hei, Jiang Ye's clones did indeed enter the Doomsday Prison in different batches at different times.

The earliest should be that Pure Black Mutated Clone that fused with half of the shadow phantom's body.

The second batch to enter were Xiao Hei and the little black snake.

Including the shadow phantom, and Xiao Bai, Xu Gou, Peng Gu, whom Jiang Ye thought were already dead...

Even those mutated Defenders who seemed to have died in the Forbidden Zone!

They all seemed to have been sent to the Doomsday Prison!

The third batch to enter was that desiccated corpse clone wearing the blood skin.

Hmmm...

According to Xiao Hei's introduction, Jiang Ye's afternoon "sewing machine" class was actually serving the blood skin clone.

And Jiang Ye's batch, the players from the black ice domain, could tentatively be considered the fourth batch to enter.

This batch of players should have the most "later-generation" people mixed in.

The black ice domain might just be one of them.

The Mirror Palace secret realm side might have also used some special principle to come here.

Besides that, there's also the Court of Disorder...

Xiao Hei suspects...

Oh no, to be precise, it's Xiao Hei's "master" who suspects that the suspected true body, possibly Jiang Ye #0, should also be coming.

It's just that the timing can't be determined.

He might already be here, or still on the way...

And the current Doomsday Prison environment, converted to the Doomsday Apartment, should only be "Day 1."

Jiang Ye's earliest mutated clone to come here has already survived for several hundred thousand days.

Converted to years, that's over five hundred years!

And these "days" spent over five hundred years were only judged based on the execution time on the prison watch.

The mutated clone didn't experience that "big day" transition from Day 1 to Day 2.

So the mutated clone actually isn't sure whether the "Day 1, Day 2" speculated by later generations truly exists.

And according to Xiao Hei, the "Boss" in Song Jie and the others' minds is precisely that earliest mutated clone!

Over five hundred years of accumulation have made him the current "Boss" who controls the entire Land of Exile...

And whether it's "recruiting newcomers" or "collecting blood," they are both methods to quickly identify "comrades."

Because Song Jie and the others were present, Xiao Hei didn't speak too bluntly, also describing "clones" as "comrades."

Finally, he suggested to Jiang Ye:

"Master, there's no need to waste any more time in this school. I'll take you directly to Exile City to farm 「Merit」?"

"Exile City? Farm... 「Merit」? Is that the 'merit' from merit and virtue?"

"Yes, it's the 「Merit」 from merit and virtue, and also the 「Merit」 from 'using merit to atone for crimes'."

Xiao Hei thought for a moment and explained simply: "Master must have farmed 「Retribution」 before, right? The kind where Enforcers remind you 'good people get good retribution, evil people get evil retribution'?"

"Farming good 「Retribution」 can slightly extend execution time, with an extremely, extremely small probability of changing authority level."

"But farming 「Merit」 can extend execution time to a much greater extent and also has a higher probability of changing authority level." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Of course, the most important thing is to obtain 「Pardon」 as soon as possible, then enter the inner city of Exile City to live."

Hearing this, Jiang Ye quickly understood—

The "events" he triggered in the prison's empty rooms were essentially farming 「Retribution」.

But farming 「Retribution」 is very inefficient.

For players to quickly shed their criminal status, the fastest path is to farm 「Merit」.

After completely obtaining 「Pardon」 and shedding the criminal status, they can enter the inner city of Exile City...

Jiang Ye's eyes shifted, just about to ask.

Then he heard Xiao Hei proactively explain further: "From the inner city of Exile City, you can go to other normal 「cities」."

"Master doesn't have the scent of Exile Fruit on him, so from normal 「cities」, you can obtain a truly authoritative identity in the proper sense."

He thought for a moment and elaborated more: "This world hasn't been completely swallowed by the mist."

"The location of the Land of Exile is where the mist is heaviest."

"Whereas normal 「cities」 haven't been eroded by the mist and can even see the 'sun and moon'."

"Master, meaning the 'Boss,' he is very interested in the 'sun and moon' of normal cities, probably speculating that will be the origin of the 【Moon Phase Clock】?"

"The Land of Exile might evolve into the Reincarnation Graveyard?"

"Of course, this is just the mutated master's speculation..."

As he spoke, Xiao Hei glanced at his watch and confirmed with Jiang Ye again:

"Does master want to stay in this school for a while, or go directly to Exile City?"

Jiang Ye didn't answer immediately, instead glancing towards Song Jie and the others.