On the other side.

Replica No. 1 sat in Room 2064.

Jiang Ye initially thought that this job of collecting hair might run into some problems.

But unexpectedly, the entire process went incredibly smoothly.

After searching every room in the apartment, he actually managed to gather exactly 10,086 strands of hair, all intact.

However, these hairs were rather strange.

Normally, a person's hair varies in length.

The thickness of the root and the tip is also different.

Yet the hairs he collected were all uniform in thickness, and even more bizarre—every single one of the 10,086 strands was exactly the same length!

When they were neatly arranged together, Jiang Ye couldn't help but feel an eerie chill crawl up his spine.

He was just about to overcome his fear and ask the Personal Assistant Robot what to do next with the hair—

When suddenly, a strange noise came from the direction of the living room!

He turned his head and saw that the massive TV in the living room had somehow turned on by itself.

And on the screen…

A woman in a white dress with long hair was crawling out of the TV!

A classic, overused horror movie trope.

Yet Jiang Ye found himself frozen in place, staring blankly at the screen.

And as he watched, he noticed something odd about this "Sadako crawling out of the TV" scene—

It was like an endless loop.

At first, Sadako crawled out of the TV.

Then, the scene shifted, revealing that the world outside the TV was actually just another TV screen.

So, Sadako continued crawling out.

But when she emerged again, it was still inside another TV screen!

She kept crawling. Again and again…

Jiang Ye lost track of how many TV screens she had broken through.

Just as he was growing numb from watching the repetition—

A sudden chill shot down his spine.

Something felt… different about this latest version of the TV escape?!

Holy sh*t?!

Wait!!

Th-th-this?!

Why is the actual giant screen TV in the living room broken?!

And this white-clad Sadako…

She—she—she actually crawled out of the TV!!!

Jiang Ye stood frozen in place, as if hit by a Binding Spell, unable to move an inch.

Meanwhile, the woman in white remained hunched at a 120-degree angle, her long, straight black hair covering her face.

At this angle, she shouldn't have been able to see Jiang Ye or her surroundings.

She simply took a few practiced steps forward.

Then, like a zombie, she stretched out her claw-like fingers and began clawing at the air.

What she was trying to grab was unclear.

But from Jiang Ye's perspective, it looked as if she was trying to tear through this very "TV world" itself.

Jiang Ye held his breath, not even daring to make a sound.

He thought that after enough clawing, this ghostly entity might simply disappear—vanish into thin air as if she'd never been there.

But instead, after clawing at the air for quite some time, she suddenly stopped.

Then, slowly, she straightened her back from that eerie 120-degree bend.

Her long black hair flipped back over her shoulders.

Revealing a face covered with a white facial mask.

The only visible feature was a single phoenix eye, its outer corner extending elegantly.

She scanned the apartment, then spoke in a sharp, eerie voice:

"I'm back."

Jiang Ye still didn’t dare to move.

Until the Personal Assistant Robot addressed her as:

"Master."

The woman in white ignored the robot and turned her gaze directly to Jiang Ye.

"Are you the cleaning service I requested?"

Jiang Ye stiffly nodded. "Yes."

The woman in white asked again, "How is the hair cleaning going?"

Jiang Ye wasn’t sure how to respond, but thankfully, the Personal Assistant Robot answered for him:

"All the hair has been collected and soaked in water."

The woman in white glanced at the glass tank filled with hair.

With just one look, she seemed to confirm the quantity, then praised Jiang Ye, "Not bad."

She continued instructing, "Next, apply hair care oil to them and then dry them."

Hearing this, Jiang Ye let out a small sigh of relief.

But before he could fully relax, the woman in white suddenly lifted her head to look at the ceiling. Then she added:

"The sun is up, and the weather looks nice today. Take them to the rooftop to dry in the sunlight."

…What?

The rooftop? Sunlight?

A sense of foreboding suddenly crept into Jiang Ye’s mind.

He hesitated, then cautiously asked, "Excuse me, but where is the rooftop?"

"The rooftop of the apartment, of course. You don’t know?" the woman in white replied as if it were obvious.

Jiang Ye’s stomach sank.

He tried to negotiate. "But according to the apartment rules, I can only take the elevator up to the 20th floor. I don’t have the qualifications to go to the 'rooftop.'"

Yet the woman in white responded just as matter-of-factly:

"It’s fine. You don’t need the elevator—I have a way to send you directly to the rooftop."

Jiang Ye paused.

He wanted to curse.

Damn it! Why the hell does it have to be the rooftop?!

Who—or what—is waiting up there?!

More importantly, he had opened packages before.

Which meant that stepping out of his apartment room put him at risk of being hunted by monsters at any time!

Then again…

Risk and opportunity often go hand in hand.

No other player had access to the rooftop.

If he was the first to go up, maybe he could find something valuable?

Of course, if not for his Replica ability, Jiang Ye would never take such a risk.

And right now, the woman in white didn’t seem to be giving him any room to refuse.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Ye cautiously asked:

"Before heading to the rooftop, can I go back and make some preparations?"

The woman in white, her face still hidden under the white facial mask, didn't reveal any expression.

But the aura she exuded was both cold and imposing.

Jiang Ye thought she would refuse.

Unexpectedly, after a brief moment of contemplation, she agreed:

"I'll give you ten minutes. If you exceed that time, I'll leave a bad review."

"Of course, if you don't come back at all, this cleaning job will have been for nothing. Not only will you not get paid, but you'll also have to pay an additional penalty fee."

Jiang Ye nodded. "I'll be back within ten minutes."

With that settled, Replica No. 1 left Apartment 2064.

Worried that even the short distance down the hallway might get him hunted by monsters, he barely stepped outside before immediately pulling out a Bronze Treasure Chest from his Spatial Ring and opening it on the spot!

The Lucky Lantern was still on him.

So maybe—just maybe—this chest would be a jackpot!

However, when the Bronze Treasure Chest opened, all that was inside was… a blank sheet of white paper.

It was completely blank—no patterns, no text, just a smooth, glossy texture that felt somewhat like an oil film.

Jiang Ye wasn't disappointed. He directly summoned Little Bing, the Personal Assistant Robot, and cast Detection on the paper.

A moment later, Little Bing’s screen displayed the item’s details:

【Skill Scroll (Bronze Tier)】

【Tearing it open has a high chance of granting a skill that does not exceed the user’s Ability Rank, but there is a small chance of obtaining nothing.】

Holy sh*t! A skill-learning scroll! This was a great find!

After all, equipment and items were just external tools.

But Attributes, Abilities, and Skills were things that truly belonged to oneself!

Even though boosting stats on the data panel would increase Combat Power, which wasn't an advantage in Matchmaking Mode, survival in Doomsday Apartment wasn’t just about duels.

True strength was the key to survival!

So Jiang Ye was very satisfied with this Skill Scroll.

He even considered using it right away while the Lucky Lantern was still active.

But on second thought—

The higher one's Ability Rank, the better this Skill Scroll would be!

Since the skill gained wouldn’t exceed the user’s Ability Rank, using it on a C-Tier Replica was far less valuable than using it on his X-Tier main body!

Who knows? He might even get an SSS-Tier skill out of it!

…Actually, wait. That was probably wishful thinking.

The item description didn’t outright state any limits.

But the bold "Bronze Tier" label was hard to ignore.

If a Bronze Tier scroll could grant an SSS-Tier skill, what would that say about future Silver Tier and Gold Tier scrolls?

So in all likelihood, the skills obtained from this scroll wouldn’t be too high-level.

Jiang Ye continued towards Apartment 2025, holding the scroll while checking the group chat.

And that’s when he noticed—

The chat was blowing up again!

This time, it had nothing to do with the Mysterious Bald Guy or Yang Wenchao’s team leveling up.

The issue was with the Ranking Board!

【Holy sh*t! Guys, check the Ranking Board! Two people just parachuted into first and second place, pushing Yang Wenchao down to third!】

【WTF! I see it too! Two Level 3 players!】

【What’s going on?! How did two people suddenly hit Level 3 out of nowhere?】

【Yeah! When the first players hit Levels 1 and 2, it triggered a system announcement! Why didn’t these two getting to Level 3 trigger an announcement? Can level-up announcements be hidden?】

【Wait—doesn't anyone find it weird that their names are completely unfamiliar? Do we even have a Huang Qi and Xu Xiangming in our classes?!】

【Now that you mention it… I don’t recall anyone by those names. Does anyone else remember them?】

【Holy sh*t!! Guys! Major discovery! Check the member list!】

【It used to say 80 members… Now it says 82!!】

Jiang Ye was stunned.

He checked the member list, and sure enough—

It had changed from 80 members to 82!

The chat exploded.

【WTF?! Does this mean these two Level 3 players just appeared out of nowhere in our apartment?!】

【Could they be students from other classes in our school?】

【No way! Even if they were from other classes, how the hell did they suddenly end up in our apartment?!】

【Could they be the so-called Old Players?!】

【But the system announcement said Old Players were only supposed to enter on Day 8! It's still Day 1—why would they break the rules and let Old Players in now?】

【Honestly, I’ve always been curious—wasn’t the entire world thrown into this Apartment Survival Game at the same time? So why do Old Players even exist?】

【Maybe the Old Players are a batch of people who entered before us?】

【Were people from around the world thrown into the apartment in different waves? Or was there some kind of closed beta test? Is that what the Old Players are?】

【Or, hear me out—what if there are other human worlds besides ours? What if the Old Players are from another world and entered this apartment before us?】

【Actually… doesn’t Yang Wenchao kind of give off Old Player vibes? Maybe he knows something?】

【Not necessarily! Just because someone is strong doesn’t mean they’re an Old Player. Maybe he’s just naturally gifted and adapts quickly to this kind of environment.】

【Well, since Huang Qi and Xu Xiangming are now in the member list, shouldn’t they be able to chat here too? Should we ask them directly? @Huang Qi @Xu Xiangming】

But no matter how many people mentioned them,

The two new players remained silent.

And that silence only fueled everyone’s unease.

After all, there was a saying—

"Those who are not of our kind must have different hearts."

Sure, they were all human. They had no past grudges.

But on one side were familiar classmates, and on the other were two total strangers who had just appeared out of nowhere…

Fear and hostility were instinctive reactions.

Jiang Ye also felt a sense of unease at their sudden arrival.

Fortunately, his journey back to Apartment 2025 was uneventful.

However, elsewhere—

Replica No. 2's match had run into some trouble.

In his third random duel, his opponent was a young man dressed entirely in a black robe and wearing a black mask.

At first, he was covered so thoroughly that even his gender was unclear.

Jiang Ye only realized he was male when the fight began—

Because as soon as the match started, the black-robed youth lazily engaged him in a drawn-out battle of attrition.

His stance showed no urgency to end the fight—he even took the initiative to chat.

"This must be one of your three-win streak or five-win streak random matchups, right?"

Jiang Ye's heart tightened—his situation had been seen through instantly.

But in a battle, he couldn't afford to be careless, so he didn't respond.

Of course, he also didn't activate Absolute Focus or Combat Stance yet.

The black-robed opponent wasn’t going all out either, still fighting with ease. As they exchanged blows, he casually explained:

"There’s a hidden mechanic in this Duel Room called Win Streak Blockers."

"In other words, when a player is about to hit a three-win or five-win streak and earn a Duel Room reward, they’ll run into someone like me—a high-level player specifically assigned to block their streak."

"Of course, you could also think of me as—an Old Player."

"I can tell you very clearly, if we fight normally, you have no chance of winning this match."

Jiang Ye's stomach dropped.

No way.

What the f***?! This Win Streak Blocker system—wasn't this just like a casino rigging the game?!

They set up win streak rewards, only to prevent players from actually claiming them?!

Then what’s the point of even having win streak rewards? Just for show?!

…No.

This kind of setup didn’t make the rewards fake.

It just made winning streaks much harder to achieve.

And those who could still reach a win streak under these conditions—were true powerhouses!

Jiang Ye had thought getting three consecutive wins would be easy with his strength.

But now, he realized—that mindset was completely wrong!

His mental pressure skyrocketed.

But on the surface, he remained calm, showing no signs of wavering.

After a few more exchanges to test the waters, he finally spoke, his voice steady:

"You didn’t tell me all this just because you're bored and looking for conversation, did you?"

The black-robed opponent let out a faint chuckle and said approvingly:

"You’re one of the most impressive new players I’ve seen—both in skill and mentality."