"Cough..."

When Chen Cang and Li Si were present, Du Yuheng had practically no presence at all.

But now, facing Jiang Ye's question, his expression turned slightly awkward, yet he cautiously reminded:

"That thing..."

"The content of our transaction is—me, obtaining the [Salvation Domain] skill."

In other words, he was only covered by the [Salvation Domain] skill but hadn't actually obtained the skill.

According to Chen Cang and Li Si's plan...

Du Yuheng and He Yuliang would return from exploring the Blood Pool in about 100 minutes, then make contact with each other, triggering the "Salvation" judgment effect.

That was when Du Yuheng would obtain the [Salvation Domain] skill.

So, this guy had managed to drag things out again.

However, he was also worried that Jiang Ye might not be able to tolerate it, so he added:

"Of course, if we don't explore the Blood Pool and directly proceed with the 'Salvation' judgment, allowing me to directly obtain the [Salvation Domain] skill... then our transaction could also be completed directly."

Meaning, whether he explored the Blood Pool or not was entirely up to Jiang Ye to decide.

This guy's posture was practically as low as it could get.

Jiang Ye didn't intend to make things difficult for him either.

After a moment of silence, he asked directly, "By the way, is your detection-type skill really [True Sight Eye]?"

"Uh..." Du Yuheng clearly realized that the red glow in his eyes had been noticed by Jiang Ye, revealing a clue.

He cautiously defended himself, "Basically, rounding up, it can be considered [True Sight Eye]. But it might be slightly, just slightly stronger than the average [True Sight Eye]..."

"Slightly?" Jiang Ye's gaze swept over him coolly.

Du Yuheng shrank his neck, awkwardly forcing a smile, "Yes, yes, there is a bit of a difference."

"That thing... after I obtain the [Salvation Domain] skill, I can show you this detection-type ability of mine."

Hearing him say this, Jiang Ye could basically judge—

This guy's so-called "True Sight Eye" was probably an ability so powerful it could make others want to kill him.

But what truly puzzled him was—

"Can you first tell me why you won't be afraid of death after obtaining the [Salvation Domain] skill?"

"This skill only provides 100 minutes of Survival Time."

"What about after 100 minutes? When this skill is in Cooldown..."

As he spoke, Jiang Ye suddenly realized, "Don't tell me you have some ability or method that can directly eliminate a skill's Cooldown time?"

"..." Du Yuheng thought to himself: Your imagination is way too rich.

But it actually made quite logical sense.

He was even tempted to just admit it outright.

However, in the end, he didn't choose to deceive with this lie.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly brought up the information Li Si had just revealed:

"What are your thoughts on that Sun Person elder who proposed the 'Sun and Moon Sharing the Same Guilt' viewpoint?"

Jiang Ye certainly had many thoughts about that Sun Person named "Chen Ji."

But from Du Yuheng's words, he could tell—

What Du Yuheng really wanted to ask was his opinion on the "Sun and Moon Sharing the Same Guilt" viewpoint.

After all, Li Si had mentioned that Sun Person's name was "Chen Ji."

But Du Yuheng didn't seem to care about his name; instead, he focused more on the "Sun and Moon Sharing the Same Guilt" viewpoint.

After some thought, Jiang Ye developed some ideas but didn't answer Du Yuheng. Instead, he countered with a question:

"What unique insights do you have regarding the 'Sun and Moon Sharing the Same Guilt' viewpoint?"

Du Yuheng fell silent for a moment but didn't answer directly.

Instead, he began recounting his own experience:

"Before entering this 'Doomsday Prison,' I was indeed a student. And a student who had gotten a tattoo."

"You should also know—in this world, Glyph Pattern Abilities manifest as tattoos on players."

"Even some people who already had tattoos before might directly awaken a Glyph Pattern Ability when dragged into this Doomsday world."

"I was one of them—because I had a tattoo, I directly awakened a Glyph Pattern Ability."

"And when I was getting tattooed at the tattoo shop, I met another customer who was also planning to get a tattoo. He was also a student who looked like a youth."

"He chose to tattoo a string of English letters on the back of his neck."

"That string of English was—S, I, N, N, E, R."

"Sinner. Do you know what this word means?"

"..." Fortunately, Jiang Ye was in his third year of high school. If he had worked for a few years, he might have "lost all his skills" and forgotten this word.

He gave the answer directly, "Sin, sine function, sin, crime, guilt."

"So sinner means, a person who has sinned, a person who commits crimes, that is—a sinner."

Sinner.

They, the Moon Person players in the Land of Exile, seemed to be called "sinners."

Then the "Sun and Moon Sharing the Same Guilt" viewpoint meant that Sun People and Moon People alike were guilty, were sinners.

This was what Jiang Ye could think of.

And Du Yuheng's story continued.

He first gave an embarrassed laugh, "It's kind of embarrassing to say, but I wasn't passionate about studying, so I didn't know this word."

"At the time, when I only saw 'sin,' I thought that guy had tattooed a trigonometric function on himself, and I even mocked him for it..."

"Of course, the result was that the guy mocked me back, saying I didn't even know a simple word like 'sinner.'"

"I felt ashamed for a moment, a bit angry and embarrassed, so I continued arguing with him—I pointed out that he was crazy, tattooing 'sinner' of all things."

"Then the guy mocked me back again, saying I not only failed at English but also lacked basic cultural knowledge."

"The reason he tattooed 'sinner' was because he was a Christian."

"So in his belief, everyone in this world is sinful."

"And this kind of 'sin' isn't necessarily the kind that breaks the law, like murder or arson."

"But a kind of 'sin' that is inherent to being human, innate from birth."

"Under such faith, people live in this world to atone for their sins."

When the story reached this point, Du Yuheng deliberately paused, then met Jiang Ye's gaze with a meaningful look.

Such a gaze was no different from directly reminding Jiang Ye—

His next sentence would be the key point of the entire story.

And his next words were—

"All 'sinners' are seeking 'salvation.'"

Salvation...

Hiss—

"Cheng Lin's" talent was exactly the SSS-grade [Salvation], wasn't it?!

So...

Jiang Ye took a deep breath and gave Du Yuheng another deep look.

After a moment of silence, he finally spoke:

"So because of this viewpoint, you believe the [Salvation] talent related to the concept of 'sinner' is special."

"That's why you're so determined to obtain the [Salvation Domain] skill?"

Du Yuheng nodded. After another moment of silence, he explained:

"I think, after learning about He Yuliang's [Luck] talent, you probably believe all SSS-grade skills can produce a 'Rebirth state'..."

"But I think perhaps only the [Salvation] talent can produce a 'Rebirth state.'"

"It's even very likely that only your [Salvation] talent can overturn this world."

He spoke solemnly, and the unspoken words between them, Jiang Ye vaguely sensed them too.

Clearly, in Du Yuheng's belief, he probably also agreed with the "Sun and Moon Sharing the Same Guilt" viewpoint.

That is, people are born sinful.

And what he understood as "Rebirth state" was perhaps a state of being saved, of "washing away sins."

So...

Jiang Ye looked at Du Yuheng again and said bluntly:

"So you followed He Yuliang's so-called 'previous life' and waited for me here in advance..."

"All to obtain the [Salvation Domain] skill?"

"Even, perhaps you understand this skill better than I do?"

At this point, Du Yuheng didn't answer. Instead, he asked:

"Your skill Cooldown should have ended by now, right?"

Jiang Ye checked. Indeed, during their conversation, the skill Cooldown had ended.

So he didn't ask anything more and used the [Salvation Domain] skill on Du Yuheng and He Yuliang.

Holy white light enveloped the two of them.

Du Yuheng appeared calm.

But in He Yuliang's heart, many emotions stirred because of their conversation.

Before entering the Forest of Oddities, he had wondered why Du Yuheng wanted to contact Cheng Lin in advance with him.

At the time, Du Yuheng's answer was that Cheng Lin and Zhou Qiming were likely both "Jiang Ye."

He Yuliang had been too shocked at the time and subconsciously thought Du Yuheng just wanted to contact "Jiang Ye" or uncover the secret of "Jiang Ye" disguising as other players.

But now he realized...

Du Yuheng's real target was actually the [Salvation Domain] skill!

This Du Yuheng made He Yuliang also want to obtain the [Salvation Domain] skill.

Just as he was thinking about how to get this skill for himself, he saw Du Yuheng wave at him and say:

"We only have 100 minutes. So now, let's time it according to the Prison watch."

"Our optimal exploration time is 40 minutes."

"After 40 minutes, prepare to turn back."

"That way, in about eighty minutes, we'll meet back here and initiate the 'Salvation' judgment."

"Of course, this is based on you having an SSS-grade [Luck], with a high probability nothing unexpected will happen."

"I don't have SSS-grade Luck, so I'll probably consider turning back after about 30 minutes of exploration to avoid accidents."

This reasoning was sound.

Chen Cang and Li Si had agreed on something similar.

So, He Yuliang nodded, and the two of them headed deeper into the Blood Pool to explore.

At this point, the entire Blood Pool and Forest of Flesh space was left with only Jiang Ye.

He stored the dark purple crystal chip [Target Anchor·Chen Ji] into the mechanical eyeball.

Soon, a new dark purple light screen appeared in his vision.

Now that he was more proficient with using this crystal chip, he quickly pulled up the light screen with his own avatar, placing the two light screens side by side.

Then, he sent a message to this Chen Ji whom he had never met:

[Hello, I'm Cheng Lin, introduced by Li Si, a Moon Person player who wants to learn about your research.]

After sending this self-introduction, a sentence immediately popped up in the dark purple light screen belonging to Chen Ji:

[Have you heard of the Moon Phase Clock?]

?

Jiang Ye was initially stunned but quickly realized.

This Chen Ji was probably asking if his identity was that of a "transmigrator."

Instinctively, of course, he didn't want to admit it.

However, since the other party asked so blatantly...

After some thought, Jiang Ye replied:

[If I say no, does that mean Li Si's referral won't work?]

Chen Ji: [Yes. So have you heard of the Moon Phase Clock?]

Jiang Ye thought for a moment but directly countered: [Has Li Si heard of the Moon Phase Clock?]

Chen Ji: [No, he hasn't. He belongs to this era.]

With these words, it was practically laid bare.

This Chen Ji, he came from the era of the "Doomsday Apartment"!

And most likely, he had already determined that Jiang Ye and he came from the same era!

So, Jiang Ye didn't hold back and got straight to the point:

[Li Si said I could contact you to meet some of the special Moon Person players you keep in Captive Breeding.]

Chen Ji seemed quite easy to talk to and replied directly: [You mean the kind of players whose detached eyeballs can reflect scenes, like you, right?]

Jiang Ye admitted directly: [Yes.]

Chen Ji asked again: [Do you need me to send such players to you, or just use the "Target Anchor" to have a video call with such players?]

Jiang Ye, of course, hoped to directly meet these players who were suspected to be his clones.

But he was very wary of this "Chen Ji."

Worried that this guy would also come to meet him in person...

The key was, he really wanted to know what effect using this [Target Anchor] between clones would have.

So, after some brief consideration, he replied directly: [Let's do video first.]

That researcher named Chen Ji didn't seem surprised by his choice and immediately arranged a "video call."

The so-called "video call" was actually when both parties who had each other's [Target Anchor] could use the [Target Anchor] crystal chip to see each other and have a kind of remote conversation similar to a video call.

Jiang Ye's own [Target Anchor] crystal chip had already been sent by Li Si to the abandoned Mental Hospital.

To have a video call with the so-called "special Moon Person," he still needed to obtain the "special Moon Person's" [Target Anchor] crystal chip.

But this wasn't difficult either.

Soon, a dark purple [Target Anchor] crystal chip was transmitted from Chen Ji's side.

When it first arrived, the crystal chip was extremely tiny, invisible to the naked eye, stored in Jiang Ye's mechanical eyeball.

He took out the crystal chip, enlarged it to the Size of a Fingernail, and upon seeing the "avatar" on the chip, he froze completely!

Because that "avatar" clearly showed Jiang Ye's face!

Yes, not the altered appearance of a mutated clone!

But exactly Jiang Ye's own face!

Even more, Jiang Ye soon saw Chen Ji send another message:

[This special Moon Person is named "Jiang Ye." You've probably heard this name, right?]

!!

Jiang Ye thought to himself: I've not just heard of it!

Uncertain of this guy's intentions, Jiang Ye didn't reply. Instead, he tried to start a "video call" with this [Target Anchor·Jiang Ye] crystal chip...