Du Yuheng glanced at Li Ku again, "Just like Li Ku said, this Zhou Qun didn't show anything special in my reincarnation dreams either."

"At least in my dreams, he never exposed his identity as an Enforcer."

As he spoke, he squatted down again, reaching out to touch the scattered mechanical fragments left after Zhou Qun transformed into a mechanical body.

That mechanical body had originally been a fiery crimson red when it shattered.

However, as time passed, the crimson gradually shifted to a somewhat duller deep red.

It looked very much like the deep red of blood that had completely dried.

It also faintly outlined some black cracks.

Du Yuheng's fingers traced along the cracks.

Soon, his brow twitched, and he showed his finger to Jiang Ye.

The normal fingertip was visibly stained with black.

Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow, "Is this stuff what makes the Glyph Pattern Ability stronger?"

At these words, a flicker of movement passed through Li Ku's eyes, and he immediately squatted down as well, smearing a fingertip's worth of "black ash."

A shadow swiftly crossed his eyes, and then he smeared that "black ash" onto the scars covering his face.

Thus, the wounds that originally looked like they were cut by a sharp weapon were abruptly stained with black traces.

But what was even more eerie...

Those scars seemed to completely absorb the black ash Li Ku had smeared on!

And the scars after absorbing the black looked like black cracks.

Those black cracks abruptly covered a human face...

Paired with Li Ku's sharp, cold face.

It made him look utterly bizarre and terrifying.

Even Jiang Ye was somewhat surprised watching this scene.

Du Yuheng, however, had a complicated look in his eyes, "After my Glyph Pattern tattoo was stained with black, it showed the same effect."

"That is, the places that originally looked like ordinary tattoos, the black parts of the tattoo, appear as abyss-like cracks."

"And the Glyph Pattern Ability manifested by this abyss tattoo is naturally much stronger than the ability corresponding to an ordinary tattoo."

"So later in the dream, after all the fish in the entire auditorium turned black, after I discovered those black effects..."

"A large-scale melee broke out among the many veteran players with Glyph Pattern Abilities."

"The goal of the melee was to strengthen their Glyph Pattern Abilities."

"Of course," Du Yuheng looked at Li Ku, "In my dream, you became stronger than me, your whole body covered in cracks, and you should have become the strongest in the entire school..."

Clearly, Du Yuheng had known from the start that the scars on Li Ku's body were his unique Glyph Pattern.

And because of this unique Glyph Pattern, he absorbed a massive amount of the black energy from the Crow Feathers.

In this opportunity of burning the Crow Feathers, he gained the greatest benefit!

Li Ku obviously thought of this instantly. A flash of sharp light swiftly crossed his eyes.

After a moment of silence, he flipped his palm. On his palm, like a seed sprouting, a pair of black wings rapidly grew.

Then he said to Du Yuheng, "What you saw in the dream should be these wings, right?"

Du Yuheng nodded.

Jiang Ye was curious, "What's the special origin of these wings?"

Li Ku stated bluntly, "These are a pair of wings the Boss loaned me after I reported my dream."

"What the Boss said was, he'd lend me a pair of wings to help me chase my dream and fly."

"I didn't fully understand it then. Looking at it now, these wings should be meant for this moment."

As he spoke, he handed the wings to Jiang Ye.

At the same time, Li Ku snapped his fingers.

The youth who was willing to die for Li Ku while operating the sewing machine immediately flashed into appearance.

He was still expressionless, not saying a word.

Li Ku directly commanded, "Go persuade President Lin. Stabilize the people from Shang Wenshi, Zhang E, and Wu Zhu."

"Try to ensure all veteran players don't focus their attention on the Grand Auditorium at least ten minutes before the Ideological Reform session."

After finishing, that youth with an inherent aura of death remained expressionless and silent.

A moment later, he vanished again like a ghost.

Then, Li Ku looked at Jiang Ye.

He was silent for a moment, then tentatively said, "If you want the Glyph Pattern Ability, I have some Exile Fruits here..."

The hidden meaning in these words was very clear—

If Jiang Ye decided to awaken the Glyph Pattern Ability, then he and Jiang Ye would split this opportunity from the Crow Feather ashes.

They would go all out to enhance both of their Glyph Pattern Abilities.

But if Jiang Ye was not prepared to awaken the Glyph Pattern Ability...

Then, Li Ku was not planning to share this opportunity with anyone.

He wanted to monopolize the enhancement the Crow Feather ashes provided for the Glyph Pattern Ability!

This crazy idea directly stunned Du Yuheng, who was standing to the side.

He waited until Jiang Ye explicitly refused to consume the Exile Fruit before exclaiming in shock to Li Ku, "You couldn't possibly... be planning to monopolize all the black energy overflowing when the entire school of fish turns from white to black?!"

Li Ku was quite calm.

That expressionless face, combined with the cracks covering his entire face, made him look like an Asura demon that had walked out of hell.

There was no fluctuation in his eyes, and he said quite calmly,

"According to what you said—"

"In your previous dream, I already became the strongest in the school by my own strength."

"So why can't I pursue a realm even stronger than in your dream, now that the situation in reality is even more favorable?"

"As for you, you didn't win against me in the dream either. Now, you want to use the future you foresaw to negotiate terms with me?"

"..." Du Yuheng's face turned slightly ugly.

After a moment of silence, he tentatively said, "If I were to negotiate terms with you..."

He wanted to ask in the second half how much black energy he could get. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

However, before he could finish that second half, Li Ku directly cut him off, "I refuse."

Quite blunt, with no room for negotiation.

Du Yuheng's face grew even uglier.

Jiang Ye, however, realized through this scene...

There was a reason Li Ku dared to dream so big.

This man's ambition far exceeded that of ordinary people.

On the surface, he offered the Exile Fruit, but he had actually anticipated Jiang Ye wouldn't eat it.

So from the very beginning, he was prepared to monopolize this opportunity from the burning Crow Feathers.

Jiang Ye was silent for a moment, feeling conflicted.

Should he really act as in Du Yuheng's dream, use his skill on all the fish one by one, turn all the fish eyes black, and then use his skill on the central relief, burning all the Crow Feathers?

To be honest, he wasn't sure if he should do this in reality.

There was a reason for this hesitation.

In the past, he acted somewhat recklessly.

He always felt that even if trouble came, he could just meet soldiers with generals and water with earthworks.

But the problem was, some troubles couldn't be solved.

Some things, once done, might not have a "regret pill" to fix them.

Oh no.

Strictly speaking, if time reversal really happened...

Then perhaps there really was a "regret pill" in this world.

Jiang Ye suddenly re-examined this matter he was hesitating about from another angle.

Assuming this matter was summarized as—whether to burn the Crow Feathers.

Then he had two choices, yes or no.

If he chose yes, that would be the choice from Du Yuheng's dream.

If he chose no, that would be taking a path different from Du Yuheng's dream.

Looking at these two choices, it seemed he didn't have strong logic to support which path to take and which not to.

But this choice itself felt very abrupt to Jiang Ye.

Why abrupt?

Because if there was no Du Yuheng.

Or more accurately, without Du Yuheng, the possessor of this reincarnation dream...

Then Jiang Ye wouldn't foresee the future at all, nor would he have any conflict or hesitation.

He would most likely, with an experimental mindset, use his skill on all the fish, and finally on the Giant Beast Relief.

But just by chance, this special existence, Du Yuheng, appeared in his life trajectory.

Du Yuheng's appearance, and even Du Yuheng's specialness, seemed like a kind of guidance in the unseen!

It let him know the consequences in advance and gave him the mindset to make a choice.

This kind of "unseen guidance," while not purely logical, was something Jiang Ye strongly resonated with.

And besides Du Yuheng as a special existence for guidance.

Jiang Ye actually had two others that could also be seen as "unseen guidance."

The first was He Yuliang.

He Yuliang himself wasn't special.

But his talent, to be precise, his skill 【Reroll Life】... was very special.

This skill seemed like a life-saving skill.

If He Yuliang accidentally died in the future, he could return to the moment of 【Reroll Life】 and start everything over.

Equivalent to living again.

But this kind of "starting over" wasn't necessarily focused on "living."

It could also be letting his future self, filled with regret, make a choice again.

That is to say, if the choice at this moment was important...

Then perhaps he could use He Yuliang's 【Reroll Life】 to 【Save File】 at this moment.

In the future, if he discovered the current choice was wrong, he could 【Load File】 to this moment and make the choice again.

Of course, this was a very idealistic concept.

But precisely because this concept existed.

And precisely because Jiang Ye encountered He Yuliang, who could 【Reroll Life】.

He couldn't help but feel...

Perhaps this was unseen guidance, telling him he had chosen wrong.

Yes, the him in Du Yuheng's dream chose wrong.

Even the him in the destined trajectory chose wrong.

So the him at this moment had these two people appear by his side, hinting he chose wrong.

Du Yuheng used the reincarnation dream to guide him to the consequences.

He Yuliang used 【Reroll Life】 to provide a way out.

Plus, the suddenly appearing buzz-cut youth Zhou Qun.

This "Zhou Qun" might be neither the Zhou Qun Li Ku knew, nor the Zhou Qun Du Yuheng encountered in his dreams.

Perhaps it was a third piece of guidance!

Remember one line from the zero o’clock prompt the main body heard in the prison was—

【The reliefs of the Holy Temple open a thousand stone eyes;】

Just this line sounded very much like the current scene.

But the understanding of this line might have two layers.

The first layer was that Jiang Ye needed to use his skill on all the fish first, turning all the fish eyes black.

And the second layer was what "Zhou Qun" demonstrated with its life just now—

Opening a thousand stone eyes wasn't just about fish eyes turning black.

It also required pairs of mechanical eyeballs to merge into them!

If he thought from this angle, then the current Jiang Ye was still insufficiently prepared.

He could take a path somewhat different from the dream—

Find a way to obtain mechanical eyeballs corresponding to the number of fish.

Inject mechanical eyeballs into all the fish eyes.

He felt this line of thinking might be correct.

Because in the zero o’clock prompt, the very next line was—

【The burned Crow Feathers stand as the Spear of Judgment;】

Although he didn't know what this "Spear of Judgment" foretold.

But Du Yuheng's dream obviously didn't have this thing.

And the mechanical eyeballs were prompted by the system as "Enforcers"...

Enforcers themselves carried a meaning close to "judgment."

So, the idea of injecting mechanical eyeballs into fish eyes naturally aligned more closely with the riddle.

Thinking this way, Jiang Ye was basically certain—

He was not prepared to act according to Du Yuheng's dream.

At the same time, he had a different understanding of the four people: Du Yuheng, He Yuliang, Li Ku, and Zhou Qun.

First, "Zhou Qun," this guy was known not to be a pure, normal Enforcer from a normal city;he was either an existence turned by the behind-the-scenes "Boss."

Anyway, he definitely had contact with the "Boss."

Second, Li Ku, he reported his dream to the "Boss" and even received a pair of wings as a key prop from the "Boss."

So he too had received guidance from the "Boss."

The remaining Du Yuheng and He Yuliang...

Du Yuheng, in his reincarnation dreams, the beginning of every dream was enrolling in this school.

So he must have also contacted that "Boss."

Jiang Ye thought about it and simply asked Du Yuheng directly, "The 【Mind Reading】 talent you obtained on the Eighth Day you lived the longest, was it obtained from the mysterious 'Boss' in Dreamland?"

Du Yuheng hesitated for a moment, cautiously nodded, but clearly didn't want to say more.

But Jiang Ye was basically certain, this guy had also received guidance from the "Boss."

That left He Yuliang...

On the surface, he had just enrolled in the school and hadn't had time to have any contact with the "Boss."

But another thought arose in Jiang Ye's mind.

To verify this thought, he held the pair of black wings and asked Li Ku,

"According to what you said, these wings were 'loaned' to you by the 'Boss'."

"If I'm not mistaken, your Boss, is he dressed in pure black? And you players under the 'Boss' can exchange various items with the 'Boss'..."

"What I mean is, your 'Boss' is like a pure merchant?"

After these words, both Li Ku and Du Yuheng nodded.

And Jiang Ye noticed He Yuliang's expression suddenly changed.

Clearly, He Yuliang also thought of a famously powerful existence in the later apartment—the Nomadic Merchant!

However, Jiang Ye stared at He Yuliang's gaze and actively asked him, "Did you have contact with the Nomadic Merchant during your time in the apartment?"

He Yuliang snapped back to reality.

He didn't overthink Jiang Ye's question.

He only thought Jiang Ye simply associated the "Boss" with the Nomadic Merchant.

He nodded without any defense, "Yes, I've traded with the Nomadic Merchant."

Just this sentence basically confirmed—

Zhou Qun, Li Ku, He Yuliang, Du Yuheng...

All four of them had contact with the "behind-the-scenes Boss"!

And this behind-the-scenes Boss...

Had a high probability of being the Nomadic Merchant!

Of course, it could also be Jiang Ye himself.

At this point, Jiang Ye wasn't in a hurry to ask these four anything more.

He was silent for a moment, pondered for a long time, and suddenly said to He Yuliang,

"Try it, from this moment, reroll life."