Ah??

So...

The two vanished mechanical eyeballs shot into the eyes of the two fish??

And then... caused those two fish to turn black?

Shot into? Caused?

No, were those two eyeballs' actions active or passive?

If they were passive...

Then the correct way to say it should be—

The two fish eyes "absorbed" the mechanical eyeballs, then actively turned black?

If the mechanical eyeballs actively shot into the fish eyes.

Then Jiang Ye had misunderstood earlier;the buzz-cut youth revealing his mechanical body wasn't to target the players present?

And if the fish eyes sucked in the mechanical eyeballs...

Then, what does this change mean? Is it ultimately beneficial or harmful to them, these players?

Jiang Ye and the new and veteran players who witnessed this scene were all in a state of confusion and bewilderment.

Even worse, due to their fear of the authoritative Enforcers, they were still worried the vanished Enforcer eyeballs would reappear. Their emotions remained tense, not daring to breathe too loudly.

On the other hand, among those five pure newbies who had never seen Enforcer eyeballs, a few were the first to look around cluelessly, not understanding why the atmosphere was so strange now.

Finally, a pair of clear, naive eyes timidly landed on Li Ku, the veteran player.

"This...? What exactly is going on? Are we just going to stand here doing nothing?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere on the scene grew even more awkward.

Even Li Ku's scar-covered face revealed an indescribable emotion.

He gave the ignorant and fearless newcomer a strange look, then stared at the two black fish on the ceiling again, before finally looking at Jiang Ye and tentatively asking:

"Did you... do something to those two fish?"

Wow, Li Ku even used an honorific. His attitude towards Jiang Ye was even more cautious than before.

Jiang Ye even suspected in his heart, was Li Ku worried he was one of the authoritative "Superior People"?

After all, in the eyes of veteran players, Enforcer eyeballs were symbols of authority!

But now, two symbols of authority were seemingly absorbed by two little fish that Jiang Ye had tampered with?

Naturally, Li Ku's feelings were extremely complex, countless possibilities flashing through his mind.

Jiang Ye was also speechless. After waiting for a while with no other reaction, he frowned and said, "I dunno."

"I didn't do anything either."

"Judging by the buzz-cut youth's reaction just now... could it be that there was originally some secret hidden in this auditorium's relief carvings, and then that buzz-cut youth, no, to be precise, the two Enforcer eyeballs behind him, detected a certain secret, and thus actively shot into those two little fish?"

As he spoke, Jiang Ye logically seized the opportunity to ask in return: "Do you know that buzz-cut youth? He certainly didn't look like a newcomer."

"So among you veteran players, there were actually Enforcers mixed in!"

Li Ku was also shocked by this information for a moment.

But soon, he revealed what he knew:

"That guy is called Zhou Qun. His usual behavior showed nothing unusual. He also normally ate meat in the cafeteria, normally received newcomers, normally participated in the reform courses during non-free time..."

"But his personality is quite arrogant, and his attitude towards newcomers isn't great. Although he also formed a four-person team, basically the other three all obeyed him, and he often acted alone."

After this brief introduction, Jiang Ye stared at the scattered mechanical fragments on the ground and asked another question:

"So this guy, he's also a member of the Student Council, and joined that 'Boss's' faction?"

Li Ku nodded while his eyes flickered, quickly realizing:

"So this mechanical player is a Superior Person from a normal city, disguised as a mole to target the Boss?"

This was his first reaction.

However, considering the somewhat strange fate of those two eyeballs, Li Ku soon arrived at another conclusion:

"Or, have those two Enforcer eyeballs already been turned by the Boss? Or, from the very beginning, they were just fake, counterfeit Enforcer eyeballs created by the Boss?"

When he said the words "fake, counterfeit," Li Ku's emotions clearly fluctuated to the point of being uncontrollable.

After all, on his path to his dream, he had already envisioned a counterfeit version of the 【Blood Skin Coat】.

But in his conception, even a counterfeit 【Blood Skin Coat】 would be very difficult to achieve.

And if it were proven that counterfeit Enforcer eyeballs were already in existence...

Then perhaps a counterfeit 【Blood Skin Coat】 wasn't as difficult as he imagined!

That "Boss" capable of invading 「Dreamland」, his strength had probably already reached a level sufficient to shake the normal cities?!

Li Ku speculated in his heart about the "Boss's" strength and status.

Jiang Ye also speculated in his heart about which of the two possibilities Li Ku proposed was more likely—

Were the mechanical eyeballs that entered the fish eyes loyal to authority, or loyal to the "Boss"?

However, based on Li Ku's introduction, as long as this buzz-cut youth wasn't swapped out today, the real Zhou Qun replaced by a mechanical Zhou Qun.

Then these mechanical eyeballs must have come into contact with that mysterious "Boss"...

Thinking this, Jiang Ye actually felt a bit more relaxed in his heart.

After thinking for a moment, he looked at Du Yuheng again, continuing the previous topic: "Are you sure, really no way, to lend me your Glyph Pattern Ability to use?"

Du Yuheng's expression was a bit stiff.

He always felt there was something implied in Jiang Ye's words.

Just then, the heavily scarred Li Ku also gave him a cold stare.

Du Yuheng felt obvious pressure.

After a moment of silence, he finally sighed towards Jiang Ye: "You must have quite a lot of suspicions about me, right?"

Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow, tacitly agreeing.

Du Yuheng was silent for another moment, then continued asking: "You probably even completely doubted my initial, voluntary self-introduction?"

Jiang Ye nodded frankly.

Du Yuheng fell silent again, finally sighing: "I do indeed have a little secret hidden on me."

"And you have already guessed the correct answer."

"That's right, I am a 'Reincarnator'."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Ye was directly shocked.

Because, although he had thought of this possibility in his heart, he truly didn't think this guy was a Reincarnator.

Mainly, he didn't have that Reincarnator aura.

Of course, it could also be that his acting skills were extraordinary, deliberately hiding his true personality.

It could even be that he had directly 【Personality Split】, not needing acting skills to display a completely different personality with another persona.

But the problem is...

His final confession, "I am a Reincarnator," also lacked the Reincarnator aura!

What's the deal? Even after laying his cards on the table, he still wants to keep pretending about his aura?

Could it be that this guy really enjoys the fun of playing dumb and eating the tiger?

Or maybe, he has 【Personality Split】, so he perfectly concealed the Reincarnator aura?

Jiang Ye always felt something was off.

And when he heard Du Yuheng's subsequent explanation, he finally knew what felt off.

"Strictly speaking, I also entered the 'initial Prison,' but it was clearly different from your kind of 'initial Prison' with purely blank rooms."

"Didn't I say earlier that I accidentally killed someone, my parents smoothed things over, and then sent me to school?"

"Actually, I lied about this part. I killed someone and went to a real-life prison."

"And then in the real-life prison, I was fitted with this Prison watch."

"At the time, I thought it was some kind of tracking watch, because I'd seen in dramas before that in some foreign countries, particularly heinous rapists released from prison are forced to wear electronic ankle monitors to track such violent criminals."

"Anyway, I didn't think much of it in reality, but when I fell asleep wearing the watch at night, I would repeatedly experience dreams of being sent to this school."

"Yes, those dreams. I could clearly realize I was dreaming. But I know the concept of 'lucid dreaming'—in those lucid dreams where you know you're dreaming, the dreamer can control their own dreams."

"I heard those lucid dreams are amazing. Knowing you're dreaming, you're the master of your own dream, basically can do whatever you want, happy as a god."

"But my situation was different. I clearly realized I was dreaming, but couldn't control the dream."

"Even in the first night's dream, I died horribly because of my own arrogance."

"In the second night's dream, I also didn't survive the first day of school..."

"Starting from the third night, I fully realized my 'lucid dreams' were not under my control. I began carefully exploring my dreams."

"To be honest, at first I thought it was like those sci-fi movie plots—"

"Because I, a minor, brutally killed another minor, and the circumstances were heinous. They all said I had no humanity, was psychologically disturbed."

"So I thought this so-called 'Personality Reconstruction School' was a dream constructed by some scientist to treat or explore my psychological illness."

"That is, I had become a lab rat for scientists studying brain science?"

"But later, I ruled out this possibility."

"Because although everything in the dream was cyclical, each dream starting from the beginning..."

"The gains I made in past cycles would be carried over to the next cycle."

"For example, the people I killed made my initial time shorter with each cycle;"

"For example, if I consumed Exile Fruit in past cycles, then the Glyph Pattern Ability could also be brought into the new cycle;"

"Including my Mind Reading talent, also obtained within the cycles."

"And..."

Here, Du Yuheng paused for effect before continuing: "The Glyph Pattern Ability I awakened in the dreams would manifest as tattoos on my real-world body."

"At first, I still thought it was brain science researchers messing with me, tattooing me while I slept."

"Because they were just tattoos;I couldn't use the Glyph Pattern Ability in reality."

"But when I gained a talent, I found my Mind Reading talent could be used in reality!"

"So earlier, I did tell another small lie—I knew my eyes flashed red when using 【Heart's Voice Externalized】 because I'd possessed this talent for a long time."

"Of course, it was also because of this talent that I began to overturn my initial hypothesis."

"Because I noticed that among all the people I came into contact with, none had thoughts suggesting they were brain science researchers studying me."

"And the fact that I could truly read others' thoughts... that probably couldn't be given to me by brain science research either..."

"That's why I realized the cyclical dreams I experienced weren't some brain science research at all, but a real supernatural event!"

"Unfortunately, my talent isn't very lethal, and my Glyph Pattern Ability can't be used, so I didn't manage to turn things around in reality because of this supernatural event."

"I actually wanted to use this cyclical dream as my golden finger, find a way to obtain a lethal talent, and then go on a rampage in the real world."

"But, alas..."

He said this, looking at Jiang Ye with a complex expression.

Jiang Ye was quite speechless.

The Reincarnator he had in mind in his thoughts was a Reincarnator who reincarnated throughout the entire world.

But Du Yuheng understood it as a Reincarnator who had cyclical dreams...

Of course, his current statements could still be lies.

Jiang Ye stared at Du Yuheng, lost in thought.

After a moment of silence, he asked, humoring him: "According to your account, you can distinguish between dream and reality? So are you still in a dream right now?"

Du Yuheng shook his head: "No."

"I also thought I would keep cycling in the dreams."

"However, until the previous cycle, you all appeared."

His "you all," his gaze pointed towards He Yuliang and Jiang Ye.

Jiang Ye instantly got his meaning: "So in your cyclical dreams, we weren't there."

Du Yuheng nodded: "Yes, you weren't there."

"So when variables like you two appeared in the dream, I immediately focused my attention on you."

He Yuliang was also shocked by this claim.

He couldn't help but admire Du Yuheng's acting skills, as the two of them had registered for school almost one after the other.

But at their first meeting, he truly hadn't noticed at all that Du Yuheng knew him.

But then again, after repeatedly experiencing cyclical dreams, his acting skills must have been perfected.

It was understandable that He Yuliang couldn't detect anything abnormal.

But suddenly, He Yuliang sorted through his thoughts—

This Du Yuheng could experience cyclical dreams...

Then the influence he exerted on reality under the guidance of the dreams, did that count as modifying life experiences?

Could it be that his 【Paradox Protection】, this paradox skill, was activated by Du Yuheng, this Reincarnator?

Thinking this, He Yuliang looked at Du Yuheng with quite a complex expression.

Jiang Ye, however, directly asked Du Yuheng again: "And then?"

"You said that in the previous cycle, you had already encountered us."

"Then how did you transition from the dream to reality?"

When this question was asked, Du Yuheng looked at him even more strangely.

"This..." Du Yuheng looked somewhat embarrassed, looking up at the ceiling again.

He pointed at the two black fish and said weakly:

"In the dream, because I had foreknowledge, plus I could restart if I died, I was actually quite arrogant..."

"So in the previous cycle, our relationship wasn't very good."

"And also in this Grand Auditorium, you used a skill to ignite all the fish..."

"And I, relying on the dream, was the first to discover that the charred black color on those fish could actually be wiped off, feeling like black ash."

"I felt that black ash was useful to me."

"So I wiped off some black ash and smeared it on my Glyph Pattern tattoos."

"And then after waking from that dream, the Glyph Pattern Ability I had smeared with black ash suddenly became usable in reality."

"But, after I used the Glyph Pattern Ability to kill someone in reality, this watch sent me to the initial Prison..."