"......"

Jiang Ye: Ah yes yes yes!

The opportunity is yours.

And you... are mine!

The Heart Demon Nest of the Witch Gui Jiang Ye is right on Chen Cang's body.

Moreover, that doll itself is Jiang Ye.

So, Jiang Ye has absolutely no need to snatch this opportunity.

After all... I am the opportunity itself.

It's not like... I would snatch from myself, right?

However...

He had no need to snatch it.

But the "villain" was late yet inevitable.

Almost immediately after Chen Cang uttered his ecstatic cry about a heaven-sent opportunity...

Another voice, barely able to conceal its shock, abruptly rang out from behind him—

"Cursed Doll?!"

Startled by the sound, Chen Cang instinctively retracted the Fire Chain and the doll.

Then, he turned to look at Li Si, who had appeared out of nowhere.

Chen Cang stared at Li Si, his brow twitching slightly, his heart filled with astonishment.

The reason was quite simple—

Thanks to the Mysterious Existence's explanations, Chen Cang had some understanding of common knowledge in this era.

When the Cheng Lin-version Jiang Ye first bumped into Chen Cang, he was chopping down a Hair Tree.

Therefore, Chen Cang clearly knew—

If a player could chop down a Hair Tree, it was equivalent to obtaining a key to an instance space.

And that Fire Chain, transformed from the Hair Tree, was obviously the key to the "Blood Pool and Forest of Flesh" space.

Although Chen Cang hadn't completely refined that "Blood Pool and Forest of Flesh" space into his personal exclusive instance space yet.

But since he already held the "key," logically speaking...

Players already inside the "Blood Pool and Forest of Flesh" shouldn't be able to easily leave that space without his permission.

Yet, Li Si had left...

Either he had also left the Blood Pool and Forest of Flesh the moment the great fire burned out;

Or, this guy's methods were powerful enough!

Previously, due to the Moon Infant incident, Chen Cang had already maintained vigilance and hostility towards Li Si.

So now, having obtained an opportunity and seeing Li Si again...

Chen Cang naturally felt somewhat uneasy in his heart.

As for Jiang Ye, he was slightly startled by Li Si's exclamation.

Li Si called that [Prometheus Doll] a "Cursed Doll"...

It wasn't unusual for one item to have other aliases.

What Jiang Ye truly cared about was...

During the early days of the Doomsday Apartment, when Xiao Hei first appeared in his apartment...

Jiang Ye had heard the term "Cursed Wooden Doll" from Yang Wenchao.

At that time, Yang Wenchao was describing "the more sinister something is, the more powerful it is" and gave the example of an item called "Cursed Wooden Doll."

According to him, the characteristic of the Cursed Wooden Doll was—it targeted a fixed biological entity within its fixed range, imitating the target's expressions, movements, and voice.

And through imitation, it eroded the target's soul.

Ultimately, the Cursed Wooden Doll would replace the biological entity it imitated, and the replaced entity would become the Cursed Wooden Doll.

Back then, Yang Wenchao was just casually giving an example from the "sinister" perspective.

He even seemed to be subtly warning Jiang Ye to be wary of Xiao Hei.

However, Jiang Ye at the time didn't pay much attention to this example or Yang Wenchao's warning.

After all, Xiao Hei wasn't some sinister item; he was his clone!

He never expected...

At this very moment, he would hear a term similar to "Cursed Wooden Doll" from Li Si's mouth again—Cursed Doll.

Was this... just a coincidental similarity in naming?

Or did these two things actually have some connection?

Actually... the information description of the [Prometheus Doll] also mentioned something similar about "devouring its master."

And the "Cursed Wooden Doll" Yang Wenchao used as an example essentially seemed to be... devouring a player's soul and then replacing them.

Moreover...

Back then, Yang Wenchao was only arguing the point of "being sinister," so the "Cursed Wooden Doll" in his description might have differed from the real "Cursed Wooden Doll."

It's just unknown whether Yang Wenchao had personally encountered the "Cursed Wooden Doll" in the game or had just heard about it somewhere.

Speaking of which...

Jiang Ye wasn't even sure if Yang Wenchao had also descended into this era.

However, after learning about the Mysterious Existence of the Reincarnation Mirror Palace, he vaguely realized—

That Mysterious Existence from the underground Burial Ground...

His target was probably also in this Doomsday Prison era.

The Mysterious Existence of the Reincarnation Mirror Palace had placed its bet on Chen Cang;

The Mysterious Existence of the underground Burial Ground had placed its bets on Lin Jing and Yang Wenchao.

So, there was a very high probability that Lin Jing and Yang Wenchao had also descended into this era.

And like Chen Cang, they probably hadn't descended in a Formatted state like Ordinary Players.

Instead, they had most likely received some benefits from the Mysterious Existence.

Actually...

The Mysterious Existence of the Reincarnation Mirror Palace and the Mysterious Existence of the underground Burial Ground might even be the same existence?

Even if they weren't the same existence, they probably had similar goals.

In this era.

Or, to be precise, by the next solar eclipse...

Just as Jiang Ye was pondering these doubts in his heart.

Chen Cang also frowned and asked Li Si, "Cursed Doll... what do you mean?"

Li Si's face was still covered by the black cloth concealing his eyes.

Yet even so, his entire body exuded an exceptionally grave aura.

And his voice when he spoke was even more solemn—

"As the name implies—a Cursed Doll is a doll that has been cursed."

"I know that from the doll's information description, you see [Prometheus Doll]."

"Even the doll's innate SSS-rank [Fire Theft] talent seems extremely enticing."

"But I can tell you clearly—the birth of this sinister item comes with a curse!"

"It must be sealed with the Fire Chain as soon as possible and then buried within the roots of the World Tree! Otherwise, not just you, but the entire world, all players, will encounter misfortune!"

After these solemn words were spoken, Jiang Ye wasn't surprised—Chen Cang's face showed an expression of complete disbelief.

However, Li Si had anticipated his disbelief and immediately added,

"If you don't believe me, you can use the Deduction Mode inherent in the [Salvation Domain] to deduce and verify—exactly how terrifying a curse this Cursed Doll will bring!"

Deduction? A terrifying curse?

Jiang Ye thought to himself, could it be that the deduction would show this "Cursed Doll" turning all players in the world into his clones...

That would indeed be quite terrifying for other players.

But Jiang Ye didn't think that was it.

To be honest, the him from the Exile City version had considered this issue—

He could, of course, transform all players into completely identical clones.

But actually, there was no need.

If this world only had him left, what would be the point?

He had no desire to become that kind of world-ending calamity.

So, generally, when Moon People players joined Exile City, they merely pledged allegiance to the Formless Leaf and weren't completely transformed into Real Clones with shared consciousness.

Only those Sun People and Sun and Moon People who harbored hostility towards him, who infiltrated Exile City with ulterior motives...

Those kinds of existences he wanted to kill would be considered for transformation into Real Clones.

Since the Jiang Ye of Exile City already had this awareness.

Then the Jiang Ye after that would most likely not seek to destroy everyone on sight, transforming all into Real Clones.

Therefore, the so-called terrifying curse of the "Cursed Doll" that Li Si mentioned...

Probably had nothing to do with him, right?

And to be honest, Li Si's claim wasn't necessarily true.

It was also entirely possible that he had fabricated this story because he wanted to obtain the Prometheus Doll and the Blood Pool and Forest of Flesh Fire Chain himself.

Obviously, Chen Cang harbored similar suspicions in his heart.

Especially...

After pondering slightly, Chen Cang frowned and said,

"But the problem is, only Level II and Level III Salvation Domains can use Deduction Mode. A pure Level I Salvation Domain doesn't have Deduction Mode."

"And Level II and Level III Salvation Domains must be generated after physical contact triggers the Salvation judgment."

The key point was, Chen Cang's original plan was to utilize the Salvation judgment, with him choosing "trust" and Li Si choosing "betrayal," then he would use the Protagonist Halo to randomly obtain the "Rebirth state."

In that scenario, Li Si would exclusively enjoy the Level III Salvation Domain, while Chen Cang would fall into a 100-minute "near-death" state.

Meaning, he probably couldn't trigger a Level II or Level III Salvation Domain to perform a deduction.

Pretending not to know Chen Cang's plan, Li Si followed his words and stated straightforwardly, "That's simple—"

"We can conduct a Salvation trial right now."

"Then both choose 'trust,' that way we can upgrade the Level I Salvation Domain to Level II, and you can try the S-rank Deduction Mode."

"At that time, you'll naturally be able to determine from the deduction that what I just said wasn't alarmist talk."

Li Si's proposal indeed had no flaws.

But the problem was...

If he said both should choose "trust," could they really both choose "trust"?

What if Chen Cang chose trust, but Li Si chose betrayal?

Chen Cang pondered in his heart and realized that if Li Si really didn't do as he said, agreeing to choose "trust" but actually choosing "betrayal"...

Then it would simply mean that he, Chen Cang, would first experience a 100-minute "near-death" state, then randomly obtain the "Rebirth state."

That just happened to coincide with his original plan.

So, it seemed they could really give it a try. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

They could even take the opportunity to test Li Si's loyalty?

If Li Si kept his word and also chose "trust";

Then Chen Cang would try using the "S-rank Deduction Mode" to see if the curse he mentioned truly existed.

If Li Si went back on his word and chose "betrayal."

Then Chen Cang would just take the opportunity to obtain the "Rebirth state."

Only...

If Li Si really chose "betrayal," Chen Cang would experience a 100-minute "near-death" state.

The so-called "near-death" state was essentially being one step away from death, which could be described as "one touch away from death."

Even though Chen Cang had the [Protagonist Halo], he couldn't help but worry that something might happen to him during the "near-death" state.

Even if the [Protagonist Halo] could protect him from death, what if Li Si took the opportunity while he was near death to snatch the doll and the Fire Chain?

Moreover, even if he successfully reached the "Rebirth state"...

Wouldn't he still have to go through the process of being devoured by the Moon-Devouring Giant Toad?

Could he really rely 100% on the [Protagonist Halo] to smoothly transition from the "Rebirth state" to the "Birth of the Moon Infant"?

And to be honest, that Moon Infant...

Seemed to only have a grand spectacle at birth, issuing a system-wide announcement.

But in reality, he hadn't even figured out what use that Moon Infant had...

In an instant, many thoughts flashed through Chen Cang's mind.

In the end, he still leaned towards—

Perhaps he could first try the so-called "Deduction Mode."

Wait until he had sufficient confidence before considering randomly obtaining the "Rebirth state"?

But if that were the case...

After some contemplation, Chen Cang suddenly smiled at Li Si, meaningfully saying,

"Easier said than done, during the Salvation trial, we both choose 'trust'..."

"But what if you choose 'betrayal'? Or aren't you afraid I'll choose 'betrayal'?"

Without waiting for Li Si to speak, Chen Cang smiled again, "I heard you want to clutch my thighs?"

"Then, what do you think, how does the S-rank Deduction Mode compare to the SSS-rank Deduction Mode?"

These words...

The subtext was—Chen Cang wanted to experience the SSS-rank Deduction Mode.

But to experience it, he needed to trigger a Level III Salvation Domain.

Meaning he must choose betrayal, and Li Si must choose trust.

Coupled with his earlier words, it was directly saying—

Since you want to clutch my thighs, do you dare to sacrifice for me once?

Chen Cang's tone carried some teasing.

But it also faintly carried an air of impending confrontation.

Obviously, if Li Si didn't dare... that would mean confrontation!

However, even Jiang Ye didn't expect...

Li Si's response was actually: "Alright then—"

"You choose betrayal, I choose trust."

"I'm willing to believe your [Protagonist Halo] can help me randomly obtain the 'Rebirth state'!"

He said this frankly and openly, making Chen Cang feel somewhat ashamed and couldn't help but doubt...

Were all his previous suspicions towards Li Si unnecessary?

Was this person truly so loyal to him?

Or...

Li Si's unwavering belief in the [Protagonist Halo] made Chen Cang waver again...

Was his [Protagonist Halo] really that amazing, to the extent that his underlings could also benefit from it?

While pondering, Li Si continued,

"However, if I really also borrow your [Protagonist Halo] to randomly obtain the 'Rebirth state'... I ask that you also help me be born smoothly."

This time, without seeking Chen Cang's guarantee, he urged again,

"Our Salvation Domain has already lasted for quite a long time. The time left for us to trigger the Salvation trial is running out."

This again...

Back in the Giant Toad's stomach, and during the Birth of the Moon Infant, Li Si was always urging him with time constraints.

Chen Cang had developed a rebellious mindset against such urging in his heart.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly took out the Fire Chain again and said solemnly, "I remember He Yuliang and that other guy, they also need to conduct a Salvation trial, right?"

"How about I release them, let them conduct the Salvation trial first, setting an example for us?"

His tone was consultative, but Chen Cang had no intention of consulting with Li Si.

As soon as he finished speaking, he released He Yuliang and Du Yuheng from the Blood Pool and Forest of Flesh space.

Actually, the two of them also wanted to come out.

Perhaps because the defensive effect of the [Salvation Domain] was too strong, they couldn't explore anything in that Blood Pool.

At most, they discovered that the Blood Pool seemed bottomless.

With a mere 100 minutes, they probably couldn't reach the bottom of the Blood Pool...

Now, suddenly released from the Blood Pool space by Chen Cang, Du Yuheng looked grave, while He Yuliang had a flash of confusion in his eyes, then caught sight of something and exclaimed in surprise,

"Whoa? That Hair Tree was chopped down? No wonder we couldn't get out..."

(As per routine, taking a day off on the 1st for rest_(:з」∠)_)