This "video" call was quite advanced.

From the dark purple [Target Anchor] crystal chip, a projection directly shot out, bearing the exact same image of "Jiang Ye" as the avatar on the chip.

And this projection appeared right in front of the Cheng Lin-version Jiang Ye, seemingly within arm's reach.

At the same time, the very moment this projection appeared...

Jiang Ye sensed it!

The connection between clones!

In an instant, the clones directly shared consciousness, and both sides' memories synchronized immediately!

Thus, the Cheng Lin-version Jiang Ye instantly gained a massive amount of information!

First, he directly learned the origin of this Jiang Ye-version clone.

He was not a time-traveling clone who had crossed over from the Doomsday Apartment era to the Doomsday Prison era.

Rather, he was a clone generated by the Jiang Ye clone located in Exile City, right here in this Doomsday Prison era!

So, in other words...

The advanced clone in Exile City had indeed already regained some clone abilities!

However, what surprised Jiang Ye was...

The reason the Jiang Ye clone in Exile City could generate new clones in this era...

Was not because the main body had obtained clone skills.

In fact, the clone in Exile City had never found the main body from start to finish.

According to the predictions of that batch of Exile City clones, there was a very high probability that the main body had not yet traveled to this era!

This seemed logically outrageous.

After all, all of Jiang Ye's clones should exist dependent on the main body.

Although his [Infinite Clones] talent was so heaven-defying that every single clone could be considered a complete, separate individual player.

Deep down, Jiang Ye himself was very clear about the difference between clones and the main body.

The most significant characteristic was...

Only the main body's Data Panel possessed the [Infinite Clones] talent.

The other clones each had their own unique talents. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

And only the main body could comprehend clone-type skills using skill scrolls.

If other clones used skill scrolls, they could only comprehend skills corresponding to the talent held by that clone.

Previously, if the main body hadn't mastered the S-grade skill [Soul Link], connecting all the clones and allowing them to share the clone skills mastered by the main body...

Then all the clones would essentially still be purely separate individuals, only linked by the main body's clone skills.

Therefore, Jiang Ye was very clear that even though consciousness was fully shared between the main body and clones, and between clones themselves...

The main body and clones were simply not the same.

It was like a tree. Although everything about the tree was part of the tree.

The most important part of the entire tree was the trunk, or even the roots.

If all the Jiang Ye clones were compared to a tree.

Then his main body would be equivalent to the massive trunk with the roots.

All the clones would be equivalent to the branches, or even leaves, extending from the trunk.

But the current situation was like...

An entire tree, its roots and trunk, were still stuck in the Doomsday Apartment era.

Its branches and leaves had separately traveled to the Doomsday Prison era?

This seemed completely unreasonable!

Unless...

The idea Jiang Ye had previously conceived was correct.

That is...

What he considered the main body might not be the true main body.

But merely the clone closest to the main body, Clone Zero!

In other words, there was an even more massive, ultimate version main body that even Jiang Ye himself didn't know about, which was the root of all clones, and even of what he thought was the main body but was actually just Clone Zero...

This ultimate main body might even be so vast that it transcended the limitations of time and space.

So that's why Clone Zero, which Jiang Ye thought was the main body, was still in the Doomsday Apartment era, while the other branch and leaf clones arrived in the Doomsday Prison era ahead of the pseudo-main body?

Of course, these contemplations did not come from the Cheng Lin-version Jiang Ye synchronizing information at this very moment.

They were questions pondered by the Jiang Ye clone in Exile City a long time ago.

And the situation in Exile City indeed aligned quite closely with Jiang Ye's earlier speculations...

The so-called "Sacred Rite" of the entire Exile City was that all Moon People players joining the city had to pledge allegiance to the [Formless Leaf].

Therefore, all Moon People players in Exile City could essentially be considered Jiang Ye's clones!

Of course, they merely pledged to the [Formless Leaf] and had not reached the level of real clones sharing consciousness with all Jiang Ye clones.

However, they were also somewhat different from purely fake clones disguised as Jiang Ye.

They could barely be understood as fake clones with an additional clone BUFF stacked on them.

Jiang Ye could directly perform a body seizure on them, directly controlling their physical bodies, without needing to use a skill like [Clone Fusion].

Naturally, these secrets were unknown to those Moon People players who entered Exile City and pledged to the [Formless Leaf].

They still thought that the [Formless Leaf] had recognized them as masters...

In short, the entire Exile City was essentially a complete force belonging entirely to Jiang Ye!

Of course, the [Formless Tree] in Exile City was also somewhat peculiar.

Logically speaking...

The [Formless Tree] was resurrected within the [Formless Domain] before the [Court of Disorder] session began...

Then...

Why did a [Formless Tree] already exist at this time point when Clone Zero Jiang Ye, the pseudo-main body, hadn't even crossed over yet?

The conclusion later reached by the Exile City clones through analysis and contemplation was...

Before the session began, Clone Zero, the pseudo-main body, clearly heard from the announcement that the [Formless Tree] at that time was in a "resurrected" state...

Literally meaning... the Formless Tree had "died".

Therefore, there was a very high probability that the [Formless Tree] in this era was one that had not yet died!

The facts also showed that the [Formless Tree] in this era was covered in [Formless Leaves].

The number of those human-shaped leaves far exceeded the 100,000 session slots corresponding to the [Court of Disorder].

Moreover, those leaves did not possess the characteristics of the resurrected version of the [Formless Tree] seen in the [Formless Domain].

It gave Jiang Ye the feeling that...

The so-called "resurrected version" of the [Formless Tree] that Clone Zero Jiang Ye saw in the [Formless Domain] was like a giant prop temporarily generated to determine the session slots.

In contrast, the [Formless Tree] in this era seemed more like a truly living, towering giant tree.

And much of the work of the Jiang Ye clones in Exile City revolved around that [Formless Tree].

Firstly, the so-called "Sacred Rite" developed using the [Formless Tree] utilized the [Formless Leaf] to control all Moon People players joining Exile City.

Secondly, after pledging to the [Formless Leaf], the Jiang Ye clones in Exile City could directly use various clone abilities—including but not limited to clone skills like [Clone Fusion], [Clone Swapping], [Clone Sacrifice], as well as the ability to generate clones, and the ability to have clones kill clones and then transform them...

In short, the clones living in Exile City, from many subjective experiences, couldn't help but suspect—could that Formless Tree actually be his true ultimate main body?

Of course, this was just a relatively early thought among the clones in Exile City.

As time passed, as the clone army grew and developed...

The old clones in Exile City, who could be called "veteran players," gradually grasped more information.

And that additional information gradually made the old clones realize...

That seemingly terrifying enough Formless Tree, even called the "World Tree" by more ancient players...

Perhaps still wasn't the so-called "ultimate main body."

Because the old clones in Exile City gradually detected the peculiarities of the Misty Forest of Oddities.

Using scalps as the ground and hair as trees to form an entire forest of oddities...

Jiang Ye compared himself to a tree to more easily understand the concepts of "main body" and "clones."

But in essence, he wasn't a tree; he was a person.

So this metaphor might not be entirely appropriate.

So...

He might not be a single tree.

He could also be an entire forest!

Coincidentally, not long ago, the Cheng Lin-version Jiang Ye saw a Misty Forest of Oddities different from the current one in the eyes of the Giant Skeleton by the Blood Pool.

And in the information held by the old clones in Exile City, there indeed existed such a Forest of Oddities, different from the current Misty Forest of Oddities.

Therefore, that [Formless Tree] understood by more ancient players as the "World Tree"...

Most likely was also not the so-called "ultimate main body."

In short, the old clones in Exile City had grasped some information, but there were still many things they continued to explore.

Oh, right...

The entire Exile City was essentially founded by Jiang Ye clones.

Including the existence introduced by Li Si not long ago, understood by all Moon People players trapped in various prisons as the "Boss," was indeed a Jiang Ye clone.

Exile City was established by this "Boss" clone.

Including the [Formless Tree], it was also transplanted by that "Boss" clone from Qiankun Land to the Land of Exile, and then Exile City was built around it.

And that "Boss" was precisely Jiang Ye's pure black mutated version clone!

This pure black Boss clone did not wear a Prison watch.

Therefore, he was not affected by the authority of Sun People players.

There were also some minor incidents when the Boss clone transplanted the [Formless Tree].

That tree, while in Qiankun Land, was revered by Sun People players as the "World Tree."

And beneath the roots of the "World Tree," Sun People players had buried a large number of strange creatures.

Those strange creatures seemed able to absorb the power of the "World Tree's" roots, developing various strange abilities.

The Sun People players' development of the "World Tree" was less than one hundred-thousandth of its potential.

Yet even so, they relied on the "World Tree" to gain many benefits.

When the Boss clone was transplanting the "World Tree," he also discovered the Black Snakes buried beneath it...

Those Black Snakes seemed to be exactly the ones on the White-Robed Woman's head!

Among them, there was even a Xiao Hei clone!

This batch of Black Snakes had been buried beneath the "World Tree" roots for who knows how long.

But when they were dug up along with the "World Tree" being transplanted by the Boss clone...

They had already mutated with rather bizarre abilities.

And the reason the Boss clone could successfully transplant the "World Tree" from Qiankun Land to the Land of Exile, establishing the so-called "Exile City"...

Was, of course, also aided by those strange creatures dug up from beneath the "World Tree."

However, the entire transplantation of the "World Tree" was not perfectly successful.

Simply because the root system of the "World Tree" was truly intricate and complex, unfathomable in its depth.

Back then, the Boss clone dug deep into the ground for who knows how long.

The endless, continuous and unbroken roots seemed to have no end.

So ultimately, while the transplantation of the "World Tree" did dig up a massive amount of roots.

In Qiankun Land, within the ruins of the "World Tree," an even larger quantity of roots remained, not dug up.

And for many years after that, the reason Qiankun Land did not launch a counterattack against the Boss clone was very likely because they gained benefits from the residual root system at the "World Tree" ruins.

In short, although on the surface, the "World Tree" was renamed the "Formless Tree" and grew in Exile City within the Land of Exile.

It was undeniable that part of its root system remained in Qiankun Land...

For many years after that, Qiankun Land and the Land of Exile developed, barely considered to be keeping to their own territories without interfering with each other.

Of course, this was only the surface appearance.

In reality, the Boss clone still had his eye on the part of the [Formless Tree] root system deeply hidden in Qiankun Land.

And the Sun People players also never forgot the "World Tree" that originally belonged to them.

So essentially, the incident experienced by Li Si, where 6 Sun People players disguised themselves and entered Exile City to explore during the [Solar Eclipse]...

Was essentially a minor move made by Sun People players trying to reclaim the "World Tree."

Such minor moves occurred in Exile City from time to time.

And the results were mostly always...

That batch of Sun People players were directly transformed into Moon People players.

Or, they were transformed into Jiang Ye clones.

That is, the kind of existence Li Si saw, where stripped eyes could reflect scenes.

Actually, what Li Si didn't reveal was...

In the eyes of the top-tier Sun People players, those so-called special players whose stripped eyes could reflect scenes were merely players marked by the Exile City Boss.

In the understanding of Sun People players, these players were essentially the running dogs of the Exile City Boss!

Of course, they knew those players had become running dogs, but the Sun People players didn't know how they became running dogs.

And as a reciprocal courtesy...

The Boss of Exile City could turn Moon People, and even Sun People, who set foot in Exile City into his running dogs.

The Sun People of Qiankun Land could also turn the Moon People of the Land of Exile into Sun and Moon People.

This kind of "reciprocal courtesy" could also be considered a form of protracted tug-of-war.

And the so-called "abandoned Mental Hospital" where Chen Ji was located was actually inside the former World Tree ruins within Qiankun Land.

And the reason this particular Jiang Ye clone ended up in Chen Ji's hands...

Was essentially a transaction.

This Jiang Ye clone was handed over to Chen Ji for research.

Simultaneously, another batch of clones, under the cover of Chen Ji and the forces behind him, were able to deeply explore the residual root system within the World Tree ruins.

Also, there seemed to be an explanation for why the Cheng Lin-version Jiang Ye didn't sense this batch of clones when he set foot in Qiankun Land.

The root system within the World Tree ruins also retained an energy similar to the mist, capable of isolating clone connections.

However, within those ruins, what permeated wasn't the milky white mist.

But a kind of mist that appeared black.