Anyway, before Jiang Ye decided to enter the "Hidden Prison Room," he viewed it as a large-scale instance that could be "cleared."

That is, he understood it as an upgraded version of an "ordinary event."

However, everything he learned after entering this "School" gradually made him reconsider this idea.

After all...

According to the information revealed by "veteran players" like Song Jie and Li Ku, they have been staying here for a very long time.

And this "School" has always existed.

So, perhaps this place isn't a "large-scale instance," but rather a "large-scale containment facility"?

Of course, based on Jiang Ye's speculation, players should be able to leave this "large-scale containment facility."

As long as they find a way to change the "Youth" status in their Authority Level to another identity, they can leave automatically.

Setting aside the information obtained from the veteran players, what Jiang Ye is now reconsidering is—

Is this school a "large-scale containment facility" or a "large-scale instance"?

Can it actually be cleared?

Perhaps it has always existed, but no one has ever managed to clear it?

But if you think about it that way, how would one even go about clearing such a large-scale instance?

Jiang Ye has already made up his mind.

If Xiao Hei hasn't lied to him, then tomorrow at noon, he will go to Exile City.

So, with just this single day left, can he clear a school instance that has existed for who knows how long?

To be honest, hope isn't exactly nonexistent, but it's infinitely close to zero.

However...

Jiang Ye has cheats!

[Grudge Memory] can be used once every 6 hours on any individual.

So, for a single individual, he can use it up to 4 times a day.

If he uses it more times, the memory information he steals might become more crucial.

He might even continue stealing memories of the "future."

Then, he would essentially possess a prophetic ability, having the chance to obtain extremely critical information.

Thinking this, Jiang Ye asked He Yuliang again: "What is your talent?"

He Yuliang's expression shifted slightly, but he quickly lowered his voice and revealed: "My talent is SSS-grade [Luck]."

SSS-grade?

Good heavens?

So, are SSS-grade talents just common as dirt in the "Doomsday Prison" environment?

Are all the transmigrators in our batch equipped with SSS-grade talents?

Or is it because the crimes we committed were too severe, our initial execution times too low, that we all awakened SSS-grade talents?

Wait.

Jiang Ye suddenly remembered...

Before He Yuliang transmigrated, his talent was SS-grade Void Stomach!

One of its talent effects was that he could increase his attributes by devouring players' corpses!

Jiang Ye felt like he had grasped something and suddenly asked again: "When your talent was [Void Stomach] before, did you ever devour a player's corpse?"

Upon hearing this question, He Yuliang looked a bit awkward, but he quickly nodded: "Of course... After all, if it's there for the taking, why not?"

"However, my talent's method of devouring player corpses is different from those players eating human flesh in the cafeteria."

"My 'devouring' is like my stomach being a black hole; those corpses are directly swallowed into the black hole. I don't have the sensation of actually eating people."

However, after this explanation, he also guessed what Jiang Ye was thinking and sighed:

"But, this SSS-grade [Luck] talent of mine might really be related to my previous use of Void Stomach to devour player corpses?"

"Although my recorded crime is also 'Intentional Homicide,' perhaps that history of 'eating people' was also calculated into my crimes."

"So, my initial execution time was even less than 10 minutes."

"That's why I desperately triggered five 'events' in a short time, just to increase my time."

"Of course, it was also relying on the SSS-grade Luck talent that I dared to be so aggressive."

Jiang Ye nodded, thoughtful, and asked again: "What skills do you have under this talent?"

He Yuliang fell silent for a moment, then led Jiang Ye in another direction.

After making sure the other six people couldn't hear their conversation, he lowered his voice and said:

"I have a total of 4 Luck skills."

"The most amazing one is the SSS-grade skill [Reroll Life]."

"Its skill effect is similar to [Save File] in games. When I use this skill, it's equivalent to saving at that moment."

"If I die at any time afterward, I can return to the moment I used this skill."

"However, the cost of this skill is huge. First, once used, this skill permanently disappears. It's essentially a one-time use."

"Second, after using it, my Luck talent will randomly drop by 1 to 2 grades, meaning it could drop to SS-grade or S-grade."

Jiang Ye couldn't help but feel shocked internally.

After all, if this truly allows "saving"...

Wouldn't that be equivalent to "time travel" again?!

Traveling back from the moment of death to the moment of the "save"...

However, Jiang Ye couldn't help but suspect internally—

Even if you truly load a save and start over, some things might still remain unchanged...

He pondered briefly and quickly deduced from He Yuliang's expression: "You haven't used this one-time save skill yet, have you?"

He Yuliang gave a bitter smile: "Indeed, I haven't."

"To be honest, before deciding to enter the hidden room, I hesitated and somewhat wanted to save."

"But the problem is, an SSS-grade talent! It's way too precious, I really couldn't bear to let it downgrade!"

"Moreover, I have other Luck skills, thinking I probably wouldn't be too unlucky, right?" 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Jiang Ye indicated he could understand and asked: "The remaining 3 skills?"

He Yuliang continued introducing them:

"The remaining three skills are S-grade [Fate's Compensation], S-grade [Danger Sense], and SS-grade [Paradox Protection]."

"[Fate's Compensation] is an active skill. Its effect is to enter a 'Child of Destiny' state for the next 1 hour, but the cost is sacrificing a major opportunity in my future life."

"I haven't used this active skill yet either, as I think the 'Child of Destiny' state is best used to trigger effects like 'Finding Hope in Desperation,' so I plan to use it only when completely trapped in a desperate situation."

"[Danger Sense] is a passive skill. Its effect is essentially enhancing my intuition for danger, allowing me to sense danger in advance through physical discomfort."

"Of course, some environmental factors causing physical discomfort might confuse my intuition."

"For example, in the environment of the mine just now, I was in a constant state of physical discomfort, so the effect of this passive skill was weakened."

"Finally, this SS skill [Paradox Protection] is also a reason why I'm reluctant to use up the SSS-grade [Reroll Life] skill."

"After all, based on experience, a skill's grade won't exceed the talent's grade."

"If my talent drops to S-grade, then this SS-grade skill would probably disappear directly."

"But to be honest, I don't really understand this SS-grade skill. Its skill description is like this—"

"Effect One: When you experience a probability-based event, automatically modify your life experiences, causing the probability event to proceed in a direction favorable to you."

"Effect Two: When you experience a judgment-based skill, automatically modify your life experiences, causing the judgment skill to resolve in a direction favorable to you."

"Effect Three: When you experience a settlement-based effect, automatically modify your life experiences, causing the settlement effect to resolve in a direction favorable to you."

"Effect Four: When your modified life experiences exceed your real life experiences, you will enter a Confusion state; when all your life experiences have been modified, you will enter a Rebirth state."

"PS: In Effects One, Two, and Three, the degree to which life experiences are automatically modified each time does not exceed the degree to which you have already modified your life experiences."

He Yuliang paused before continuing:

"Just looking at Effects One, Two, and Three of this skill, it seems pretty awesome. Simply put, whatever happens will inevitably happen in a direction favorable to me."

"Of course, Effect Four's 'Confusion state' and 'Rebirth state' are very confusing; I have no idea what those states actually look like."

"The key is that final supplementary note just left me utterly speechless—"

"The extent to which life experiences can be modified in Effects One, Two, and Three depends on the extent to which I have already modified my life experiences..."

"Simply put, if my life experiences have been modified by 10%, then the modification degree when Effects One, Two, and Three activate is 10%."

"But the problem is, in the initial state of this skill, my life experiences haven't been modified at all. So, doesn't that mean Effects One, Two, and Three are completely ineffective?"

"I really haven't figured out this skill, but it's an SS-grade skill after all, so it should still be pretty amazing."

"And up to now, to be honest, I have no idea whether my life experiences have been modified or not..."

"If they have been modified, then Effects One, Two, and Three of this skill can take effect."

"If they haven't been modified, then this skill is purely a decoration..."

He Yuliang looked quite exasperated while saying this. Finally, he speculated:

"I even suspect that this SS-grade skill might only become effective after I use [Reroll Life] to load a save and personally modify my life experiences?"

This...

The skill description of [Paradox Protection] genuinely left Jiang Ye confused as well.

That final "PS" and "Effects One, Two, and Three" indeed form a paradox.

In the initial state, the degree of modification to He Yuliang's life experiences is 0.

Then the degree to which Effects One, Two, and Three automatically modify his life experiences for him is also 0.

Meaning Effects One, Two, and Three are automatically ineffective.

But without relying on Effects One, Two, and Three, how is he supposed to modify his life experiences?

Does he really have to use [Reroll Life]?

But what if he didn't have the [Reroll Life] skill initially?

Then would this SS skill [Paradox Protection] be purely a decoration?

But to be honest, just looking at this skill, it very much resembles a type of game skill.

After all, game characters don't have real lives.

And the lives set and stored in a database can be arbitrarily modified.

Looking at it this way, could the "memories" Jiang Ye steals through [Grudge Memory] also just be data stored in a database?

Database...

Hiss...

Jiang Ye temporarily halted this line of thought from expanding further. Instead, he took the opportunity to ask He Yuliang: "Do you think this modification of life experiences would appear in your memory and be detectable by you?"

He Yuliang directly shook his head: "I don't know."

"If it could be detected, then right now my life experiences haven't been modified, because I truly haven't detected anything."

"And if it cannot be detected, then this Paradox skill might have already taken effect."

"Already taken effect?" Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think it has? Have your life experiences already been modified?"

He Yuliang shook his head: "I just suspect, could it be that my initial state is one where my life experiences have already been modified?"

"Or even that everyone is in a state where their life experiences have been modified?"

"Of course, this is just my guess. The main reason I think the [Paradox Protection] skill has already taken effect is naturally because my luck has indeed been pretty good..."

"Of course, it might also just be me being full of myself."

After some thought, Jiang Ye casually bluffed: "I actually have a method that could help test whether this Paradox skill has taken effect."

He Yuliang's eyes lit up: "What method?"

Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow: "I have a skill that can steal your memories."

"Of course, you might think that the memories I steal are also just the memories in your mind, unrelated to the modification of life experiences."

"But I can tell you clearly, this memory-stealing skill of mine, much like your Paradox skill, might also have some issues."

"When I stole Li Ku's memories before, it seemed like I stole memories that didn't exist in his mind."

Upon hearing this, He Yuliang was shocked.

Memories that don't exist in the mind...

Can also be stolen?

The key is, he wanted to ask Jiang Ye: How can you be sure the memories you stole didn't exist in Li Ku's mind?

However, meeting Jiang Ye's gaze, He Yuliang ultimately didn't voice this skeptical question.

His mind raced, and he vaguely came up with an answer internally.

So, after a moment of silence, he asked Jiang Ye: "Stealing my memories... How do I cooperate?"

"Give me your hand." As he spoke, Jiang Ye took He Yuliang's finger and placed it on the spot between his own eyebrows.

This time, he specifically reminded: "Try to clear your mind, let go of your guard against me."

He Yuliang obediently complied.

Jiang Ye then used the skill again.

This time, however, the memory scene he stole was also quite bizarre.

His entire visual perception sensed a sinister, dark red, as if his entire pupil had mutated, losing normal vision.

In the dark red field of view, he could vaguely see some floating, flickering creatures, but couldn't make them out clearly at all.

He could hear some sounds in his ears, but they were like the howls of vengeful spirits, utterly impossible to discern what was being said!

And the emotions surging in his chest were the most complex Jiang Ye had ever felt since he started stealing memories.

He couldn't describe what kind of emotion it was...

Like hatred? Like regret? More than anything, it seemed like out-of-control madness?

This...

When Jiang Ye fully regained his senses, his brows were tightly furrowed.

He Yuliang, however, couldn't wait to ask: "What did you see?"

"Hiss..." Jiang Ye inhaled sharply, then put on a serious expression.

He looked He Yuliang up and down, finally saying in a grave tone:

"Two possibilities—"

"Either, you are not He Yuliang, but some monster in disguise."

"Or, you are He Yuliang, but in the future, after entering the 'Confusion state' due to [Paradox Protection], you turned into a monster."