Huh?

Whether Li Ku's Death State could pass through the elevator was something Jiang Ye wasn't sure about either.

However...

If he also chose to pass through the elevator to go to the hidden space, wouldn't that mean separating from Lin Dong and the others as well?

Lin Dong and the others realized this point immediately and confirmed with him:

"You mean... we split up?"

Li Ku shook his head: "Not necessarily."

"What I mean is, if I can pass through here while in my Death State..."

"Then, I would be splitting up from you guys."

"And if I can't pass through..."

His gaze swept across the elevator, unable to accurately land on the Witch Gui Jiang Ye.

So it was best to just address the air: "Then, the monster following us... are you willing to separate from us alone?"

Jiang Ye thought for a moment, then said to Li Ku: "If you want to try, I can try with you."

Li Ku seemed thoughtful, and Jiang Ye made it even clearer:

"What I mean is, let me borrow your body to test your Death State."

"If your Death State can really pass through the elevator, then we'll go to the hidden space behind it together."

"If your Death State cannot pass through the elevator, then we'll stay together, temporarily not exploring the hidden space."

"In other words, I'm handing the choice to you—if you want to try, I'll accompany you in trying."

Li Ku pondered briefly, then spoke:

"Then I'll also leave the outcome to the Death State. If it can pass, we pass; if it can't, we stay."

His words clearly carried an element of gambling.

The others couldn't really say much, as whether they could actually pass through was still uncertain.

It was also possible that after all their persuasion and internal conflict, Li Ku's Death State might simply fail to pass through?

Thus, Lin Dong didn't say much more, just prepared in advance for the possibility of separating from Li Ku—

"If you do indeed go to the hidden space, I will record the time of our separation as '0'."

"Then, our group will continue to the space on the 49th floor."

"After that, we will return to the elevator precisely when the recorded time shows '180'."

Li Ku instantly understood the meaning of this statement.

So he also said: "Then I will also record the separation time as 0."

"If the hidden space isn't worth exploring, if we can smoothly return to the elevator..."

"I will also try my best to return to the elevator at the 180th second after separation."

This way, they could also test—

If they leave the elevator from two different directions and return to the elevator after the same time interval, will they meet in the same elevator space?

After agreeing on this, the Witch Gui Jiang Ye seized Li Ku's body.

It should also be because Li Ku offered no resistance to him, as the body seizure went quite smoothly.

However, Jiang Ye wasn't actually sure—

When he used Li Ku's body to transform into the Death State, would he still be in the state of having seized Li Ku's body?

After all, he felt that the "physical body" in the Death State might be like a kind of void existence...

Without the anchor of a physical body, the Witch Gui, a Conscious Soul Body, should find it very difficult to seize a body.

Just like how the Witch Gui couldn't seize the shadow phantom before.

But...

Perhaps because he had seized Li Ku in a non-Death State.

When switching to the Death State this time, he wasn't expelled from Li Ku's Death State body.

So, Jiang Ye didn't overthink it and used Li Ku's Death State body to move toward the opposite direction of the elevator door.

His movement wasn't slow, his whole person seeming like he was about to crash into the elevator's rear wall.

And the moment he crashed into it, that smooth elevator wall seemed to instantly transform into a mirror!

What was eerie...

This mirror reflected the image of the elevator door opposite it.

Yet, none of the players standing inside this elevator were reflected in the mirror!

That is...

The mirror seemed to reflect an empty elevator!

Apart from that, from Lin Dong and the others' perspective, they also noticed...

The image of Li Ku in Death State passing through this mirror, because the mirror reflected the elevator door, looked as if he was passing through the elevator door!

Only after Li Ku completely disappeared from the elevator, and that mirror vanished from the elevator wall...

Did Zhang E and the others snap out of their shock, then exclaim:

"Crap! We were too shocked just now, we forgot to start the timer!"

Fortunately, Lin Dong said: "It's fine, I remembered."

Zhang E asked again: "Was what you saw with your eyes the same as what we saw?"

"We saw this wall of the elevator turn into a mirror, but it didn't reflect us; instead, it reflected what seemed like an empty, unmanned elevator!"

Lin Dong was silent for a moment, then said: "What I saw wasn't a door reflected by a mirror, but a real door."

"Of course, it did look like a mirror image compared to the real door."

"This might be the clever aspect of that hidden space."

"Thinking about this now is useless; let's go check the normal space first."

Thus, Lin Dong's group left the elevator from the direction of the normal elevator door.

And Li Ku and Jiang Ye did indeed arrive at a hidden space different from the previous 48 floors.

This hidden space wasn't shaped like a hexagonal palace.

Instead, it looked very much like the floors of the Novice Apartment in the later era!

A long corridor, with neatly spaced, orderly arranged doors on both sides!

Jiang Ye immediately released his seizure of Li Ku's body.

After regaining consciousness, Li Ku looked at this long corridor and exclaimed in shock: "This is... that abandoned Mental Hospital built within the World Tree ruins?"

"Does that mean... we've already passed through the space at the bottom of the Blood Pool and reached the roots of the World Tree?"

"Or... wait, no!"

After a moment of shock, Li Ku quickly realized again: "This place seems... it's not the abandoned Mental Hospital..."

"So, perhaps that abandoned Mental Hospital was modeled after this place?"

As he spoke, his gaze searched around again, asking the air: "Monster? Are you still there?"

Jiang Ye thought for a moment and corrected him: "You can call me Witch Gui."

"Witch Gui..." Li Ku didn't mind, then asked again, "Did you record the time we arrived in this space?"

Jiang Ye said: "If your Prison watch time is correct, then the time upon entering this place, displayed on your Prison watch, was 23 seconds."

Li Ku breathed a slight sigh of relief, then said: "We have 3 minutes; perhaps we can explore the rooms in this corridor?"

Jiang Ye thought the same: "You explore on your own, I'll just follow by your side."

Li Ku nodded and walked toward a door near the elevator.

Its doorplate displayed 4900.

The following numbers were 4901, 4902...

Li Ku then looked at the doorplate numbers on the other side of the corridor, which showed 4999, 4998...

"Judging by the doorplate numbers, there should be 100 rooms here."

Li Ku walked past them one by one and finally decided: "I'll go check room 4949."

If not for the Death State effect, he probably wouldn't take such a risk.

But with the almost "immortal" Death State, and unaware of the Light faction's existence, Li Ku had become much bolder.

Jiang Ye didn't stop him either, and watched as he directly reached out to knock on the door with the plate number 4949.

Of course, he was just knocking symbolically, not really expecting anyone inside to open the door for him.

However, just as he was about to switch to Death State to force his way in...

That 4949 door really was opened from the inside!

Even accompanied by a muttering voice: "Is it the delivery?"

Delivery?!

Li Ku was shocked!

Through the opened door, he saw what seemed to be a luxurious apartment room inside.

And standing at the apartment doorway was a drowsy-eyed... monster?!

It really was a monster!

That thing's appearance looked like a grotesque creature pieced together from various kinds of trash!

A big mouth like a toad's, button-like eyes, a pitch-black head stuck full of keys...

Below the neck, a body wrapped with white bandages stained bright red with blood.

Besides the torso, it had barely managed to wrap out limbs too.

But beyond those limbs, the parts equivalent to human hands were two fruit knives.

The parts equivalent to human feet were two kitchen knives.

This bizarre thing, its button-like pitch-black eyes, seemed to be looking at Li Ku.

Then, a slightly chilly voice repeated to Li Ku again: "Is it the delivery?"

Li Ku's brain went into overdrive.

He vaguely sensed that, seemingly because of his silence, this bizarre creature was getting angry!

The air at the doorway of 4949 was getting colder.

That kind of sinister cold.

Not knowing how to respond, he simply switched to Death State and forced his way in.

Thus, a black shadow, "whoosh," rushed into this 4949 room without permission.

The bizarre creature instantly flew into a rage, its pitch-black button eyes emitting red light, while the bandage-wrapped arm swiftly shot toward Li Ku's direction!

The cold silver fruit knife naturally stabbed straight at Li Ku too.

Of course, that fruit knife couldn't harm Li Ku in the slightest.

He used the fastest speed to tour the entire 4949 room.

Only to find...

This seemed to be just an ordinary, luxurious apartment!

Although there were some eerie presences, most of it looked like a normal apartment.

And the monster living here, after discovering its attacks couldn't hurt Li Ku at all, seemed to realize something.

It directly retracted its bandage arm and attack methods, its kitchen knife feet clacking on the floor as it dashed out of the 4949 room and ran toward the direction of the red-lit elevator!

Li Ku chased out from the 4949 room, staring at this scene, completely stunned!

"What the? The creatures in this hidden space actually ride elevators too?"

"By the way, what the hell is that thing? Is it a monster formed after a human's death? But how can a monster look so grotesque?"

As he spoke, Li Ku also chased to the red-lit elevator area.

Jiang Ye followed him, looking at that familiar elevator, a premonition rising in his heart—

Wanting to leave this hidden space as they wished within 3 minutes probably wouldn't be that easy.

Returning to the elevator now, or returning to the elevator at the agreed 3 minutes with Lin Dong...

Where they returned to might not be the original Blood Pool elevator anymore.

Li Ku vaguely had a similar premonition.

In the end, he temporarily didn't enter the elevator to chase that monster, but instead fixed his gaze on room 4900.

This time, no one came to open this door.

Li Ku switched to Death State but still couldn't enter.

No choice, he went to knock on other rooms.

While analyzing as if talking to himself: "That bizarre creature seemed to want some delivery..."

"Should I go somewhere and find a delivery?"

Seemingly talking to himself, but actually somewhat asking Jiang Ye.

Jiang Ye didn't answer, numerous thoughts rising in his mind, unable to be certain for now.

And when Li Ku knocked on 4903...

Still no one opened the door, he was about to continue to 4904, when Jiang Ye reminded him:

"4903 has someone inside."

Li Ku was stunned, quickly understanding Jiang Ye's meaning.

The being inside 4903 was probably afraid of him, so it pretended no one was there.

He didn't go back to knock on 4903, but continued to 4904, this time shouting toward the inside: "Delivery!"

Result, no response.

4905, also shouted "Delivery," also no one.

When he got to 4906, he knocked on the door while shouting "Delivery," and sure enough, someone inside responded: "Coming!"

Then, another bizarre creature came to open the door.

This time, it was a monster shaped like a square cardboard box, with four wheels below replacing feet, and two pitch-black holes on top, looking at Li Ku like eyes.

It was also from these holes that the voice came: "Where's the delivery?"

Li Ku, still disregarding martial ethics, directly switched to Death State and barged inside.

The cardboard box monster seemed to freeze for a moment, then cursed "Damn."

The two holes on its top instantly merged into one, then aimed in Li Ku's direction.

Result... nothing happened.

The cardboard box froze again, but it didn't run. Instead, its wheels chased after the black shadow running amok in its apartment, directly questioning:

"Who the hell are you? Trespassing! Aren't you afraid I'll report you to the apartment administrator?!"

Jiang Ye was instantly shocked!

Apartment administrator?!

An apartment administrator exists in this hidden space?

If so...

His guess was indeed correct!

The red-lit elevator on this floor probably wasn't the previous Blood Pool elevator anymore!

He and Li Ku might not easily return to the Blood Pool elevator either!

Taking the red-lit elevator would probably...

Lead to other floors of the apartment?

Like the 1st floor... could it be the apartment lobby, the service base for deliveries, cleaning, etc.?!

Holy crap! Jiang Ye even began to doubt momentarily...

Could it be that this hidden space behind the 49th leads to another time??

Had he and Li Ku traveled to the later apartment era again??

Various speculations popped into Jiang Ye's mind.

Li Ku also finished touring the apartment and returned in front of the cardboard box monster.

He directly asked: "What is an apartment administrator? And what are you?"

The cardboard box monster seemed to freeze again, its "eyes" reverting to two holes, glaring at Li Ku.

And still from these holes, the cardboard box monster made sound: "Are you a newcomer? Didn't you hear the apartment announcement??"

Yet the next second, the cardboard box monster refuted this statement itself: "Impossible! A newcomer this strong couldn't possibly not have heard the apartment announcement! You... what the hell are you?"

Li Ku fell silent for a moment, found an excuse to fish for information: "I seem to have lost my memory, can you tell me what the situation is here?"