"......"

Jiang Ye actually wasn't very keen on acknowledging this counterfeit "comrade"...

After all, this guy wasn't one of his clones.

This "comrade" was obviously only referring to having traveled through time together.

However...

Jiang Ye really did want some time alone.

He exchanged a deep look with He Yuliang, then glanced at Song Jie and Lord Leopard.

Song Jie waved his hand dismissively. "We veteran players bring along newbies just for the nighttime 'Dreamland' moment, and for you to voluntarily join the Boss's faction."

"So your free time is, of course, your own."

That's what he said.

Yet that Lord Leopard's expression hesitated for a moment.

However, his gaze swept over Jiang Ye, then he looked indifferent, tacitly agreeing with Song Jie's statement.

He Yuliang heaved a huge sigh of relief and said bluntly, "I assume none of us eat human flesh, so why don't we just go to the dormitory building and rest for two hours?"

Before Jiang Ye could speak, that Lord Leopard reminded them, "If it's just for resting, there's no need to go back to the dormitory. You can go to the Grand Auditorium early to grab seats."

As he spoke, Lord Leopard sized up He Yuliang a few more times, then suddenly said meaningfully, "Given your current state, if you still insist on not eating dinner, you probably won't even last until entering 'Dreamland'."

"......" He Yuliang's face grew even paler, but he didn't say anything more, clearly still adamant about not eating dinner.

Jiang Ye also gave him a deep look, then nodded. "Then let's go to the Grand Auditorium to grab seats."

With that, this batch of players seemed ready to part ways after leaving the teaching building.

However, as they were about to split up, the youth who had been with He Yuliang also approached and whispered, "Actually, I'm also a 'comrade'. Shall we have a separate chat together?"

"......"

This nonsense, forget Jiang Ye, even He Yuliang didn't believe it.

He Yuliang nearly rolled his eyes out of his head, about to bluntly say they wouldn't include this guy.

But unexpectedly, this unfamiliar youth, as if giving a secret code, secretly mouthed two words: "Jiang Ye?"

???

Jiang Ye: ??

Upon hearing the familiar name, He Yuliang looked thoughtful.

He secretly glanced at "Zhou Qiming" again...

Speaking of which, He Yuliang didn't know much about "Zhou Qiming's" deeds.

But he vaguely knew that Zhou Qiming and Jiang Ye seemed to have a somewhat antagonistic relationship.

If this guy was giving a secret code, shouldn't it be for Zhou Qiming? Why did "Jiang Ye" pop out?

As for Jiang Ye, he was directly stunned!

What?

What did this guy mean?

Could this be a clone?

No! It couldn't be a clone!

If it was a clone, then when selling blood, his blood price wouldn't have been so low.

So why would this guy use "Jiang Ye" as a secret code?

Jiang Ye pondered this internally, but his expression remained unchanged. He just said calmly, "Since we happen to be newbies from the same batch, let's have a separate chat together."

He Yuliang didn't mind either way. He asked the youth, "So you're also not going to the cafeteria for dinner?"

The youth clearly hesitated for a moment, but quickly nodded firmly. "If we're not eating, then we're not eating. Let's go directly to the Grand Auditorium to have a little meeting!"

Thus, these three newbies split from the other players heading to the cafeteria and went alone towards the Grand Auditorium.

Of course, there were also a few other newbies who didn't want to "collude" with the fallen veteran players and didn't go to the cafeteria, choosing to go to the Grand Auditorium to grab seats instead.

Later, a few more individuals claiming to be "comrades" showed up, spouting all sorts of messy secret codes.

Jiang Ye originally wasn't going to pay them any attention.

But he was genuinely curious about the composition of these newbies.

So he simply included all the newbies who claimed to be "comrades" into the "have a little meeting" group.

In the end, they gathered a total of eight people, occupying a spot together in the Grand Auditorium.

These newbies who chose not to eat dinner were all somewhat disheveled to varying degrees.

But the most disheveled were still He Yuliang and the unfamiliar youth encountered in the blood-selling classroom.

Having been reduced to selling blood, the situation they faced was indeed worse than that of ordinary newbies.

Jiang Ye didn't stand on ceremony either. He directly addressed the five counterfeit "comrades":

"Since you all insist you are comrades, why don't you all voluntarily show your watch information?"

This request, compared to directly showing their Data Panels, wasn't actually too excessive.

After all, the information displayed on the watch was basically only "Name" and "Time," which were the only effective pieces.

He Yuliang was the first to voluntarily show his. His name displayed as "He Yuliang," and his countdown timer showed 38 hours.

That "comrade" youth was the second to show his. His name displayed as "Du Yuheng," and his countdown timer showed 42 hours.

Their time was obviously from the proceeds of He Yuliang selling 800cc of blood.

A total of 80 hours, split evenly between them.

Later, after the mining settlement, He Yuliang was hit with "Additional Punishment," causing his time to drop to 38 hours.

The style of the remaining five newbies was clearly different from He and Du's.

Their time was measured in days.

The most had a whopping 4,889 days—this was a straight-up probation of over ten years!

And the least among them still had 582 days.

They were just... clearly not on the same level.

However, these five newbies obviously didn't grasp the situation, thinking that He Yuliang and Du Yuheng were truly ruthless people who had actually killed.

Jiang Ye originally wanted to interrogate them separately to prevent collusion, but he felt these five pure newbies were genuinely as pure as college students, with "naive stupidity" practically stamped in their eyes.

So, he didn't bother with any prisoner's dilemma tactics. He simply swept his gaze over the five and asked:

"First, let's confirm one question. I hope you won't lie."

The five pure, innocent newbies all nodded obediently.

Jiang Ye then asked, "In your initial prison chat group, were there individuals claiming to be 'comrades'?"

Silence followed this question.

Clearly, these counterfeit "comrades" were feeling quite guilty.

So Jiang Ye said bluntly, "Don't worry. Since I've brought you into the group, I don't care whether you are truly 'comrades' or not."

"On the contrary, if you aren't comrades, you can give me more information."

Upon hearing this, that Du Yuheng, who had been with He Yuliang, was the first to speak up. "Then I'll be honest—"

"I don't know about the initial prison or chat group you mentioned, so naturally, I haven't experienced any 'comrade' talk in a chat group."

This answer startled Jiang Ye.

It did, however, make the other five people secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

So the five pure newbies also spoke up one after another:

"Me too, no initial prison, no chat group. I was directly sent to this school."

"Me too, I don't even know why I have to go through this..." The youth saying this was the one with 4,889 days. As he spoke, he almost started crying.

This tearful voice also made the atmosphere at the scene somewhat somber.

The other four almost couldn't hold back and started tearing up as well.

Jiang Ye frowned at the sight and asked directly, "So tell me, what did you all experience that led you here?"

Du Yuheng was again the first to speak. "Me? I accidentally caused someone's death. My parents smoothed it over for me, but later they said they were sending me to a school for reform."

"I initially really thought this 'Adolescent Personality Reconstruction School' was the school my parents arranged to send me to."

"If it weren't for Lord Leopard showing me supernatural phenomena, I'd probably still think I was just in a school..."

The youth with only 582 days chimed in, "Me too!"

"I was also tricked by my parents into going to a school they arranged. But I didn't kill anyone! I was just addicted to gaming, and my parents couldn't stand it anymore, saying they'd send me to a school for reform!"

"I also initially thought this 'Personality Reconstruction School' was the school my parents sent me to. I never expected to be thrown straight into a supernatural world!"

"Those veteran players seem to have given up on going back. Do you think we can still go back..."

"I suspect our parents were scammed! If they knew they got me into such a terrible situation, they'd definitely regret it to death!"

Another youth pushed up his glasses and analyzed rationally, "My parents didn't say they were sending me to any school. They just gave me a watch..."

"This one I'm wearing now." The bespectacled youth pointed at the Prison watch on his wrist. "Then when I went back to school, I appeared in this weird school."

This statement also resonated with two other youths:

"Yes! Me too! My parents also tricked me into wearing this Prison watch, and then when I went back to school, I ended up at this school!"

The bespectacled youth immediately summarized, "So we can confirm that we were all sent to this weird school by our parents, and the trigger for being sent here is this damned watch!"

As he said this, a flash of hatred passed through the bespectacled youth's eyes.

A youth beside him quickly echoed, "So we were all screwed over by our parents? Were they collectively scammed?"

The six youths discussed more and more heatedly.

Only He Yuliang and Jiang Ye exchanged glances, not participating in the discussion.

After the six had vented some of their emotions, He Yuliang proactively asked, "What are your Authority Levels?"

Again, Du Yuheng answered first. "I am a 'Malicious Youth'."

The bespectacled youth answered, "I am an 'Indifferent Youth'."

The remaining four—

One: "I am a 'Foolish Youth'."

Three: "Me too!"

Their identities were all "Youth".

But compared to the previous chat group of comrades, there was an additional adjective—Foolish.

And this adjective probably ranked before Indifferent.

The estimated order of sin level was tentatively—

Foolish <Indifferent <Malicious <Evil <Sinful?

And the Authority Levels of these six people had clearly not undergone any changes.

Their original identities were "Youth".

They hadn't experienced those so-called "prison events"...

It was as if they were directly sent to this "Adolescent Reconstruction School".

Jiang Ye and He Yuliang exchanged another glance.

He Yuliang leaned close to Jiang Ye's ear and whispered, "Could these people be... similar to the 'NPCs' in those events?"

NPCs?

Jiang Ye indeed had the same thought.

But he was quite surprised. Why would He Yuliang think that?

After all...

Those so-called "NPCs" in the "events" didn't have watches.

Yet the "students" in this "school" that was actually a "prison" all wore watches.

The reason Jiang Ye suspected these watch-wearing "students" might be "NPCs" was that during the Bus Incident, he had speculated that the bus driver who didn't wear a watch was also a Prison Player.

But on what basis did He Yuliang have such a speculation?

Jiang Ye pondered for a moment internally, then tentatively questioned, "But these people have watches..."

He Yuliang also hesitated slightly and nodded. "Yes, they have watches. But their watches might not be real. Whether someone wears a watch isn't necessarily the standard for judging if they are a Prison Player."

"To be honest, before I mustered the courage to enter the 'Hidden Prison Room,' I had a theory. The so-called 'Hidden Prison Room' might be a large-scale 'event'."

"What we need to find might still be the hidden mechanism that triggers the 'end of the event'."

Hearing his analysis, Jiang Ye's confusion grew even stronger.

But he temporarily suppressed his doubts and asked curiously, "How many prison 'events' have you experienced? What hidden mechanism for triggering 'event end' did you deduce?"

He Yuliang thought for a moment and answered truthfully, "I experienced five events. The event end mechanism was always me killing a certain NPC."

"And based on my speculation, events with more NPCs have higher difficulty."

"Conversely, events with fewer NPCs have lower difficulty."

"And after the final event settlement, the time increase I received should be related to who I killed during the event."

These speculations were quite similar to what Jiang Ye had thought.

But he still confirmed, "For all five events you experienced, the settlement result was a time increase?"

He Yuliang nodded. "Yes, all were time increases, varying degrees of time increase."

Hearing this, Jiang Ye reflected on the two events he had experienced.

First, it could be confirmed that in the Car-Stopping Event he experienced, his performance should be considered excellent.

Because after the event settlement, he not only got a time increase but also had his "Authority Level" changed.

Yet He Yuliang's five events didn't result in any Authority Level changes.

So, changing Authority Levels should be considered a hidden option in those "events".

Basically, killing anyone randomly could yield a time increase.

But changing Authority Levels...

Perhaps required...

killing a hidden NPC?

In the Car-Stopping Event, if Jiang Ye hadn't chosen to stop, then in his field of view, there would only have been the man stopping the car.

The pregnant woman hidden in the Small Grove could perhaps be understood as a hidden NPC?

Then, in the Bus Incident, the condition for triggering an Authority Level change might also require him to kill a hidden NPC other than the bus passengers?

A hidden NPC on the bus?

Did the bus need to reach a stop?

Or perhaps, right on the bus, there existed a hidden NPC he couldn't see with his naked eye?

The crowded bus indeed had quite a bit of luggage.

Who knows if those passengers' suitcases could have hidden people inside?

Hidden inside a suitcase? Could they still be alive?

Of course, reflecting on this now probably didn't mean much anymore.

However, if we must compare the ordinary events in ordinary prison rooms to the "school event" triggered by entering a hidden room...

Then perhaps we could indeed adopt a whole new perspective to view this "school"?