Huh?

I've only heard this name before...

And the way Li Ku came to hear this name seems different from how the 4444 Apartment players described it.

Jiang Ye thought for a moment, then suddenly sent another message:

[The Jiang Ye that the 4444 Apartment players mentioned... you haven't heard of him?]

Upon seeing this, Li Ku was genuinely shocked.

After all, how long had he just entered this "Hidden Space Dungeon"?

How could he possibly know a name that some players within this "dungeon" hadn't even heard of?

And this was something the Guiwen, who came to this "dungeon" with him, should know!

Therefore...

The one asking this question definitely wasn't Guiwen!

Then... it was Ji Zixuan!

Did something suddenly happen to Guiwen, causing him to stop seizing Ji Zixuan's body?

Or perhaps...

That infant's crying and laughing that caused all the monsters to lose control also affected Guiwen?

Li Ku and Ji Zixuan had previously tested each other to see if they were NPCs.

Coupled with the absolute power gap, Li Ku didn't have any intention of engaging in convoluted mind games with Ji Zixuan.

Since he had a suspicion, he directly replied: [You're not Guiwen, you're Ji Zixuan!]

Jiang Ye: No! I'm not Ji Zixuan! I'm Guiwen!

When this thought surfaced in Jiang Ye's mind, it was originally tinged with a bit of guilt.

But after the entire sentence formed, he inexplicably felt that this might actually be the truth!

Even though it seemed quite absurd...

Jiang Ye thought it over and also had no intention of playing mind games with Li Ku. He directly sent back what he believed to be a very sincere truth:

[You might not believe this, but I really am Guiwen.]

[That infant's crying and laughing affected me... just a tiny bit.]

[Like the other monsters, I also lost control for a period of time.]

[However, I don't know what method I used, but I managed to restore myself to normal.]

[The result is, while I did return to normal, my eyes are now bloodshot, and I've completely lost my memory.]

Looking at these messages, Li Ku's first reaction was that it was ridiculous, definitely a lie fabricated by Ji Zixuan.

But upon second thought, Guiwen could seize Ji Zixuan's body at any time.

As long as Guiwen was present, what purpose would Ji Zixuan have for fabricating lies?

So, either Guiwen really was in trouble...

Or...

Li Ku carefully pondered these messages and actually sensed a genuine tone of sincerity within them.

So... could it really be that Guiwen lost control, returned to normal, and then lost his memory?

Thinking about it carefully, it really did seem possible!

Because Li Ku suddenly realized...

This suddenly appearing "Jiang Ye" might also be related to Guiwen's loss of control and memory loss?

Perhaps this "Jiang Ye" was originally bound to Guiwen?

After losing his memory, Guiwen forgot certain methods, thus releasing the "Jiang Ye" bound to him?

Regarding the "Jiang Ye" that appeared in Zhou Qiming's and Guiwen's mind-reading effects, Li Ku had some speculations.

Initially, he didn't think it was a person's name.

Instead, he suspected it was a type of leaf from the World Tree, similar to the "Formless Leaf".

In Li Ku's hypothesis, perhaps there were also "River Leaf", "Lake Leaf", "Sea Leaf", forming a "Rivers, Lakes, Seas" combination.

Or at the very least, "Jiang Leaf" and "Lake Leaf" forming a "Jianghu" (martial world) combination?

In short, he genuinely suspected that "Jiang Ye" was a type of leaf produced by the World Tree.

And both Zhou Qiming and Guiwen had bound themselves to this type of leaf.

Just like how the Exile City players were all bound to the "Formless Leaf".

That's why the mind-reading effects of Zhou Qiming and Guiwen coincidentally displayed the "Jiang Ye" they were bound to.

However, in this current "Hidden Space Dungeon", "Jiang Ye" was confirmed to be a player...

A player suspected to have died on the Eighth Day.

Li Ku strongly suspected that this "Jiang Ye", understood by the 4444 Apartment players as an Eighth Day player, might be the key to cracking this "Hidden Space Dungeon"!

After some contemplation, he directly asked: [Is Jiang Ye a player? Is he right next to you now?]

Jiang Ye also didn't know whether Li Ku believed his story or not.

He directly replied: [Yes.]

Receiving the expected answer, Li Ku then told Jiang Ye his own speculation:

[If I'm not mistaken, Guiwen, you probably bound "Jiang Ye" to yourself. But the recent infant's crying and laughing caused you to lose control and your memory. In that state, you released the bound "Jiang Ye".]

[And this "Jiang Ye"... is very likely the key to us clearing this dungeon! So, even though you've lost your memory, Guiwen, you must protect this "Jiang Ye" at all costs.]

[Also, your suggestion for us to split up and act separately probably wasn't just for me to randomly encounter the shadow by luck. There must be something else you planned to do alone.]

[Where are you now? If you've really lost your memory, being alone is too dangerous. Should we meet up first?]

While saying this, Li Ku actually had another speculation in his mind—

His initial guess was that the infant's crying and laughing caused Guiwen to lose control and his memory, which led to the release of the bound "Jiang Ye".

But upon second thought...

Guiwen chose to split up and act alone because there was something he needed to do by himself.

Could that thing he needed to do alone be "releasing Jiang Ye"?

Because the process of "releasing Jiang Ye" was a secret, that's why Guiwen needed to act alone?

So Li Ku speculated—

Could it be that "releasing Jiang Ye" itself caused Guiwen to lose control and his memory?

Or even further, could the sudden infant's crying and laughing in this apartment also be caused by Guiwen "releasing Jiang Ye"?

It's just that this infant's crying and laughing appeared too bizarrely.

There was no warning at all.

It was something that suddenly happened after Guiwen went off alone.

It was hard for Li Ku not to suspect that Guiwen was the cause.

However, in the end, these were all just suspicions.

Li Ku felt it was better to meet up with Guiwen first, learn more about the situation, and then make a more accurate judgment.

Coincidentally, after meeting up with Guiwen, he could also personally see that "Jiang Ye" who made him extremely curious.

From Jiang Ye's perspective...

He wasn't actually sure whether he should meet up with Li Ku. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Although, judging from the chat, Li Ku didn't seem to harbor any ill will towards him.

And according to the meaning in Li Ku's words...

This so-called apartment world seemed to be some kind of dungeon that Guiwen and Li Ku were clearing?

Guiwen and Li Ku seemed to be teammates clearing a dungeon together?

But teammates...

are they necessarily trustworthy?

What if Li Ku appeared sincere on the surface but was actually waiting for him to be weak to finish him off?

Jiang Ye realized he seemed to have quite a suspicious mind.

However...

More than suspicion.

Jiang Ye found that what he cared about more was that "original body" whose existence was unknown but was definitely waiting for him to rescue!

And in his conversation with Li Ku...

Li Ku didn't seem to know about the existence of the "original body".

But he did have some additional understanding of "Jiang Ye".

Jiang Ye thought for a moment and directly asked Li Ku: [Is the dungeon we're clearing only being cleared by the two of us?]

Actually, he wanted to test further whether Li Ku truly didn't know about the "original body".

As a result, Li Ku seemed to have misunderstood and replied: [What do you mean?]

[But it is indeed possible that other players came to this dungeon via the Blood Pool Elevator!]

[Lin Dong and the others definitely didn't enter, but Lin Jing's group, and the entities that previously descended into the Blood Pool, are all possibilities...]

[However, according to the apartment's settings, players appearing in the apartment would be directly displayed on the member list.]

[So, either they didn't enter the dungeon, or they didn't enter Apartment 4869.]

[The latter is also possible. After all, the reason we came to Apartment 4869 might be because your residence, Guiwen, is in this apartment.]

Actually, Jiang Ye, with amnesia, couldn't fully understand everything Li Ku said.

But it wasn't difficult to grasp the general idea of what Li Ku wanted to express.

His cognition had already been completely led astray by Li Ku, making him believe he was clearing a dungeon with Li Ku.

And what was now confirmed was—

Li Ku didn't know about the existence of the "original body".

Naturally, he also didn't know whether the "original body" had entered the dungeon or not.

Therefore, Jiang Ye also couldn't determine whether the original body he needed to save was inside the dungeon or outside of it.

However, if the infant's crying and laughing was the cause of his memory loss...

Perhaps he could find a way to recover his memories?

Weighing these thoughts in his mind, Jiang Ye hadn't replied to Li Ku's "meetup request".

But he did figure out that his current location was the rooftop of the entire apartment building.

According to Li Ku's words...

After Guiwen and Li Ku separated, Guiwen came to this apartment rooftop.

And this apartment rooftop...

Jiang Ye saw quite a few control panels.

He was just about to go over and study them to deduce what Guiwen came here to do.

But suddenly, he heard the elevator *ding*.

He saw two figures step out of the elevator.

The first figure was exceptionally burly, with piled-up muscles that looked intimidating!

Coupled with flashy tattoos all over his body...

He looked like a professional enforcer from the underworld.

The other figure looked normal, but his arm was also wrapped in a full-sleeve tattoo. His eyes were sinister and fierce, making him look equally unapproachable.

Jiang Ye, with amnesia, naturally didn't recognize anyone. He didn't even know if Li Ku was among them.

While he was sizing up these two, they were naturally also sizing him up... or to be precise, sizing up "them".

After all, even though the consciousness was shared, visually, there were two Jiang Ye standing here.

One was the Level 0 Calamity Leaf, with a combat power of only 5 points.

The other was the Ji Zixuan clone with bloodshot eyes.

The young man with the green dragon tattoo let his sinister gaze linger on the Ji Zixuan clone's red eyes for a moment.

Then he looked up and down at the Calamity Leaf.

Afterwards, Jiang Ye noticed a message pop up in the Apartment Chat Group—

Li Hongbin: [Confirmed on behalf of everyone, this so-called "Jiang Ye" is indeed just a small Calamity with the same name.]

Almost the instant he saw this message.

Jiang Ye inexplicably felt his whole body tense up, his scalp go numb, clearly sensing a threat of death!

As if in the next second, his head would roll!

And that was indeed the case—

Li Hongbin revealing the "same name" message in the group wasn't just about sharing information.

He was planning to show off a little.

That is, in the second after sending this message, he would instantly kill Jiang Ye.

That way, the people in the group would see the message one second and discover the name "Jiang Ye" grayed out the next.

Naturally, they would know it was him, Li Hongbin, who instantly killed Jiang Ye.

However...

Just as he was about to act, Li Hongbin suddenly had a flash of insight, realizing a logical BUG.

According to the messages discussed in the group...

This "Jiang Ye" neither belonged to Apartment 4869 nor to Apartment 4444.

Meaning, he suddenly appeared in the merged apartment.

There were only two possibilities for this phenomenon—

Either, he suddenly crossed apartments to arrive at Apartment 4444;

Or, he appeared in the underground Burial Ground of Apartment 4444 through the "resurrection mechanism".

If it was the first, then the probability of "same name" was high.

But if it was the second...

It meant this "Jiang Ye" was also a game player.

Then, he could very well be the "Jiang Ye" from the Doomsday Apartment's Eighth Day, resurrected in the Burial Ground after death.

At first glance, Li Hongbin naturally probed Jiang Ye's information.

So he subconsciously felt that such a weak, combat power 5 Calamity could only be a case of "same name".

That's why he spoke in the group and prepared to erase this small Calamity who shared the name of a former strong player, to satisfy his own vanity and show off a bit.

But, the problem lay in...

This Calamity was weak to an abnormal degree!

Level 0.

Talent C-grade.

Not even a single Glyph Pattern ability!

This... couldn't possibly be from crossing apartments, nor from Burial Ground resurrection!

So, why did this small Calamity suddenly appear in the merged Apartment 4444??

It was precisely upon thinking of this doubt that Li Hongbin put away his complacency and didn't rashly make a move.

He directly spoke to Jiang Ye: "You saw the message in the group, right?"

"So, am I correct? You and the 'Jiang Ye' we discussed... are just sharing the same name?"

While saying this, Li Hongbin stared intently at Jiang Ye's eyes, as if trying to see through him.

Jiang Ye wanted to say: I don't know either!

But he already sensed that this Li Hongbin harbored killing intent towards him!

As long as he confirmed Jiang Ye posed no threat...

This guy could act at any moment!

It was also at this moment that Jiang Ye realized—

The inherent dangers of this "dungeon" world itself might be more worthy of his vigilance than the danger posed by his teammate Li Ku!

Therefore, meeting up with Li Ku might be the wiser decision.

So, his Ji Zixuan clone finally sent Li Ku a message about his location.

Of course, it also included the message that he was being targeted.

He could only hope that Li Ku, as a teammate, was truly reliable and could come to rescue him as soon as possible...

And to buy time, Jiang Ye forced himself to appear calm.

He discovered his acting skills were genuinely not bad.

Even his psychological resilience was quite good.

At such a dangerous life-and-death moment, he actually managed to calm down instantly.

He deliberately put on the demeanor of an inscrutable, powerful expert. Instead of answering, he asked a question in return: "What are you planning to do by appearing here?"

This attitude really managed to somewhat intimidate Li Hongbin.

He frowned slightly, thinking, what else would one come to the rooftop for if not to cross apartments?

However...

After pondering slightly in his mind, he came up with another answer through his own assumptions.

Li Hongbin looked up at the sky.

From the pitch-black sky above Apartment 4444, the eerie infant's crying and laughing continuously sounded.

Even on other floors, one could tell the sound came from "above".

So, could this sound be coming from "above" outside the apartment?

Did this "Jiang Ye", who was weak to a strange degree, appear here because he was targeting the infant's crying and laughing?

Thinking this, Li Hongbin simply answered accordingly:

"Well, this bizarre infant's crying and laughing appeared above Apartment 4444. I came to the rooftop to take a look, maybe I'd discover something."

"You appeared here earlier than me. Have you already found something?"