"Uh..."

Du Yuheng's expression clearly showed a moment of awkwardness.

However, after hesitating briefly, he nodded: "Alright, I'll give it a try?"

So, the group moved to the area behind the last row.

Jiang Ye was still looking up at the fish when suddenly his whole body "flew" up.

He was so startled he hurriedly braced against the wall, looking down behind him.

Good heavens, Du Yuheng's arms, which were gripping his waist, had stretched several meters longer!

Jiang Ye was directly lifted to the junction between the wall and the ceiling.

This transitional space was designed as an arc shape, and schools of fish were also flowing here.

After steadying himself, Jiang Ye looked up at the ceiling again.

Then, bracing against the ceiling's relief, he directed Du Yuheng below: "Try moving back a bit more, send me over to where the fish school and the giant beast reliefs meet."

Du Yuheng thought for a moment, then quickly nodded: "Alright, senior, hold onto the ceiling firmly."

After this instruction, he slowly moved backward as Jiang Ye had directed.

He only stopped steadily when Jiang Ye's hand pressing against the ceiling reached the junction between the fish school reliefs and the giant beast reliefs.

With one hand pressing on a small fish at the boundary and the other on the tail of the human-faced giant lion, Jiang Ye observed these pure white reliefs up close once more.

Before even activating his skill, a sharp shout suddenly came from the direction of the Grand Auditorium's front door: "What are you doing?!"

A buzz-cut youth had suddenly barged into the Grand Auditorium, naturally spotting Jiang Ye and the others messing with the auditorium reliefs at first glance.

An ordinary player seeing this might just watch for amusement.

However, the sharp shout from this buzz-cut youth clearly carried anger.

And immediately after, without any hesitation, his eyes abruptly turned red.

Two icy red beams shot from his eyes like lasers, aimed directly at Du Yuheng's elongated hands holding Jiang Ye up.

Du Yuheng frowned, about to take action, but felt a stiff, icy numbness rise again in his arms.

A dark shadow swiftly flashed through his eyes, but it vanished in an instant.

Then, the red light struck his arms, which were covered in the icy sensation.

A burning feeling pierced through the cold, though it was weakened by it, and he only felt a slight heat.

At the same moment, a figure flashed in from the back door.

A face covered in scars, a pair of gloomy, indifferent eyes, stared at the buzz-cut youth who had entered from the front.

This was Li Ku.

Clearly, the icy sensation Du Yuheng felt on his arms came from Li Ku.

The purpose was to protect him.

Jiang Ye also noticed the commotion below.

Noticing Li Ku's appearance, Jiang Ye no longer hesitated. Pointing his index finger at the tiny, sunken eye of the small fish connected to the human-faced lion's tail, he activated [Grudge Memory].

However, this time the situation was completely different from every previous instance!

No images surfaced in Jiang Ye's mind.

Instead, only the fingertip of his index finger, connected to the fish eye, suddenly transmitted an incredibly sharp burning sensation!

This burning sensation, even if only for an instant, was almost comparable to the Lightburn Jiang Ye had experienced before!

He almost instinctively jerked his finger back, contaminated by the burning feeling, like an animal's primal fear of fire.

Thus, the skill was interrupted after just a moment.

This strange phenomenon made Jiang Ye initially think the buzz-cut youth who had rushed in from the front had fired a red beam at his finger.

But he quickly realized...

That terrifying burning sensation didn't come from the buzz-cut youth.

It came from the skill he used on that small fish!

What's more...

Jiang Ye noticed—

The fish eye of the small fish he had used the skill on, originally just sunken and overall white, had now turned black at the spot his finger had touched!

It looked as if this fish eye had also experienced the burning sensation Jiang Ye felt!

This??

What's going on?

How can using a memory-stealing skill also change the wall's color??

Jiang Ye even started to doubt...

If he hadn't just used his fingertip to touch the fish eye but had covered the entire fish body with his palm...

Wouldn't the whole fish have turned black in advance?

Huh, wait, why did I say "in advance"?

Jiang Ye's thoughts jolted.

Right! Because subconsciously, he believed these fish schools, so similar to Crow Feathers, would inevitably turn black sooner or later!

So...

Could it be that the [Grudge Memory] skill could materialize the "future" ahead of time?!

Of course, Jiang Ye also vaguely guessed—

The burning sensation he just felt was probably the gain from this skill activation.

He had already determined earlier that [Grudge Memory]'s theft of memories wasn't just visual.

It also came with auditory, olfactory, and emotional empathy.

He could clearly feel all the sensations of the individual whose memory was stolen at the time the memory occurred.

So, the burning sensation he just stole might indeed come from the memory of these fish schools being burned in the future.

It's just unclear why...

This time using the skill actually directly changed the color of the fish eye...

Thinking this, Jiang Ye proceeded with his second experiment—

He almost without hesitation placed his finger again on another sunken, pure white fish eye nearby.

This time, the skill activated again.

He thought, since he was prepared, even if he felt that burning sensation again, he should be able to suppress the instinct to withdraw his hand through willpower.

However, unfortunately...

Even with prior preparation, he still couldn't suppress that instinct.

Just like how a player, no matter how strong-willed, cannot use willpower to force themselves to endure the pain of Lightburn.

Because that thing can directly destroy willpower.

Jiang Ye now felt the same way.

When the burning sensation reached his finger again, he had no willpower at all;he simply withdrew his hand directly.

Thus, the skill was interrupted again.

What he felt was still only that terrifying instant of burning sensation.

And that second fish eye also turned into a sunken black spot, just like the first one...

Good heavens!

So, did he really gain the ability to "turn white to black" on these fish-shaped reliefs?

Then, should he now turn all the fish eyes black one by one?

But damn, in such a huge auditorium, with so many densely packed small fish...

Completing all the fish eyes would absolutely be a massive undertaking!

The key issue is these fish-shaped reliefs are positioned too high, and Jiang Ye himself can't fly.

Going through them one by one would waste too much time!

At this moment, Jiang Ye once again felt extremely strongly that his memory-stealing skill was truly useless!

Like Du Yuheng's [Heart's Voice Externalized], it can be activated without physical contact.

But his [Grudge Memory] requires physical contact.

However...

As Jiang Ye was thinking this, he was lowered from the high position.

Du Yuheng's face was completely pale, vigorously rubbing his arms, muttering: "Holy crap! Ice and fire double torture! This is way too intense!"

As he said this, he explained to Jiang Ye: "No can do, senior, I really can't take it anymore."

At the same time, his gaze meaningfully shifted towards the buzz-cut youth who had already flashed over from the front door direction.

Jiang Ye didn't say much, just let his gaze linger on Du Yuheng's arms for a moment.

Before being lowered, a thought crossed his mind—

If he had Du Yuheng's Glyph Pattern Ability and could also stretch his hand that far...

Then he wouldn't need to be lifted up;he could reach the small fish himself.

If he moved faster, he could even wave both hands wildly and finish dotting all the small fish in minutes...

Hmm, of course, compared to having such a useful Glyph Pattern Ability.

Having a clone like that would naturally be even better.

Then, just one Clone Fusion.

Oh right, Clone Fusion.

He had been distracted by these fish school reliefs just now.

Before that, regarding the six newcomers having identical memories, Jiang Ye had another idea...

That was, fusion!

If these six people later became one person?

Then, would he only get one set of memories from these six people?

When he asked Du Yuheng "what would Yuan Fang think," he actually wanted to hear that kind of answer from Du Yuheng.

Of course, he suspected that flicker of emotion Du Yuheng wanted to hide might also be because he thought of this answer.

But, how could he possibly think of this answer?

Jiang Ye thought of fusion because he had the "Clone Fusion" clone skill and the characteristic that his main body could designate clone fusion at zero o'clock as a basis.

So what about Du Yuheng...

Jiang Ye narrowed his eyes slightly, ignoring the buzz-cut youth who had barged in to question them, and directly asked Du Yuheng in a lowered voice:

"Do you have any other way to lend me your Glyph Pattern Ability for me to use?"

Hearing this, Du Yuheng's face looked as if he'd seen a ghost.

His eyes widened in shock beyond measure: "What? Senior?? What are you thinking???"

"Glyph Pattern Ability this thing... how could it possibly be lent out? Why don't you just ask me to lend you my talent? Or straight up lend you my life?"

"That would be great~" Jiang Ye was truly not polite at all, his gaze growing even more meaningful.

Du Yuheng's face changed colors repeatedly again.

As for the buzz-cut youth who was utterly ignored, seeing the two so disregard him, his entire buzz-cut head turned red, looking extremely angry.

Red beams shot from his eyes again.

And this time, the buzz-cut youth's pair of eyeballs abruptly transformed into the mechanical eyeball form of the Enforcers from before!

This change instantly made He Yuliang and Jiang Ye, who had seen mechanical eyeballs in the "initial Prison," turn pale.

The other five newcomers who hadn't experienced the "initial Prison," although their expressions also changed.

They obviously only considered these mechanical eyeballs as some method of the buzz-cut youth, lacking that extreme fear of authority felt by inferiors.

And this also proved they weren't lying—

They hadn't experienced the initial Prison, so they hadn't seen the "Enforcers" mentioned in the system prompts!

As for Du Yuheng's expression...

He was also somewhat shocked, and like the five newcomers, lacked that extreme fear of authority.

It seemed he also hadn't seen the mechanical eyeball form of "Enforcers."

But for some reason, Jiang Ye felt his emotions were different from those of the five pure newcomers!

Of course, in this critical moment, Jiang Ye had no time to think more!

Because, if the mechanical eyeballs transformed from the buzz-cut youth's eyeballs were truly Enforcers...

Then...

Perhaps this buzz-cut youth's true identity was the "Superior People" disguised as "sinners" that Song Jie mentioned!

Then such "Superior People" held absolute authority over "sinners" like them, even capable of directly ordering their "Immediate Execution," easily Erasing them!

In this instant, even Li Ku, who had just been trying to stop the buzz-cut youth for Jiang Ye, looked on the verge of collapse, clearly terrified and desperate to the extreme!

He understood better than anyone that for "sinners" like them, those "Superior People" were gods who controlled their life and death!

Even if he wanted to run now, it would be utterly futile!

For "Superior People" to Erase "sinners" was just a matter of a command!

Jiang Ye also stiffened all over, his heart pounding in his throat.

He felt with extreme clarity that the aura of death was exposed within the gaze of that pair of eyeballs!

His first reaction was to try summoning the black scale pressed into his brow.

Honestly, in this situation, he wasn't sure if the scale given by Xiao Hei could influence a "Superior Person's" decision...

He just instinctively chose to believe Xiao Hei, to believe those earlier-transmigrated "selves."

However, unfortunately!

His hand merely pressed against his brow, before he could take any action...

His entire body seemed to be hit by a paralysis spell, completely immobilized!

Not only was his body unable to move!

Even more absurdly, he couldn't even move his eyeballs, couldn't continue breathing!

In this state, even without being Erased, he probably wouldn't last long before dying of suffocation!

This...

Was truly terrifying!

Jiang Ye suddenly experienced with profound intensity the despair and powerlessness from Song Jie's memory!

And the extreme fear this world's "sinners" had towards "Superior People"!

However...

In this atmosphere of extreme tension, as if the next second would bring a one-sided crushing...

Jiang Ye's unmoving eyeballs watched helplessly—

After the buzz-cut youth's eyeballs transformed into mechanical eyeballs and jumped out of their sockets.

His youthful body also instantly transformed into a pure black mechanical version.

Then...

That entire mechanical body rapidly changed from black to red, then disintegrated, shattering into pieces that clattered to the ground.

Immediately after, that pair of mechanical eyeballs shot upwards rapidly as if ascending on the spot.

Because even his eyeballs couldn't move, Jiang Ye couldn't look up to see where the mechanical eyeballs flew.

Only about half a minute later, as he felt suffocated from being unable to breathe, he suddenly sensed a burning heat descending from the direction of the ceiling...

This scorching sensation was quite similar to the burning feeling he felt when using his skill while pressing the fish eyes.

At the same time, it carried a hint...

Of a subtle sensation akin to a Light faction skill descending?

Soon, as the scorching sensation intensified, Jiang Ye regained control of his body.

His first action was to look towards the two small fish on the distant ceiling that he had used his skill on.

Looking over, he discovered—

The two eyeballs that had ascended on the spot were already gone.

And the two small fish, which had only had a sunken black dot at the eye, were now completely pure black!

Thus, among the dense schools of fish in the entire auditorium reliefs, two black small fish abruptly appeared...