"......"

Zhou Yuling was utterly speechless.

Her feelings were quite complicated.

She even felt like giving up completely and screaming at Jiang Ye's ears with the loudest voice possible!

But...

Obviously that wasn't realistic!

When under someone's roof, one must bow their head.

The key point was, if Jiang Ye were truly some despicable scumbag,

she wouldn't mind going all out - at worst, death would end everything.

But the problem was, while Jiang Ye was greedy and problematic in many ways,

he still had some humanity left.

Meaning, as long as Zhou Yuling didn't cross his bottom line...

she actually wouldn't end up in complete misery.

So, being stuck with this barely acceptable "master" was quite frustrating.

Giving up completely and dying would be a real loss.

But living under this "master's" rule...

Sigh.

Zhou Yuling felt utterly hopeless for a few seconds, but ultimately lowered her voice.

What's done was done - she stopped obsessing over whether Jiang Ye was doing this intentionally and started cooperating with his requirements.

If there were only three questions...

She first asked Jiang Ye again: "Does he have mind-reading abilities?"

Jiang Ye shook his head: "Probably, most likely not."

Zhou Yuling asked again: "Do you know how he determined there was a problem with the Formless Leaf's blood binding?"

Jiang Ye still shook his head: "No idea, but it's probably not mind-reading - more likely related to information he possesses or the Ice Crystal Tear Drop in his hand."

Analyzing it this way, Jiang Ye suddenly thought -

Was he getting a bad deal by only asking three questions now?

Perhaps after obtaining the Ice Crystal Tear Drop, he could gain some information?

Also, by subduing so many strong players, he could obtain considerable information himself.

While thinking this, he heard Zhou Yuling ask:

"By Ice Crystal Tear Drop, do you mean that ability that froze us?"

Jiang Ye nodded: "My trade with him is exchanging Jiang Wenxing's Permission Iron Piece for his Ice Crystal Tear Drop."

"By the way, judging from your expression earlier, you seemed to recognize Jiang Wenxing? How much do you know about him? And about this mysterious strong player? Tell me everything directly now."

"......"

Zhou Yuling wasn't quite used to Jiang Ye's commanding tone.

But circumstances forced compliance, so she quickly organized her thoughts and explained everything she knew about Jiang Wenxing.

First was Jiang Wenxing's permission identity.

According to Zhou Yuling...

Jiang Wenxing had been on the VIP leaderboard!

And he was number one on all three lists!

Meaning, he was the top among VVVIPs!

But that was quite some time ago.

Later on the VIP leaderboards, many people chose to hide their names.

So Zhou Yuling couldn't be certain whether Jiang Wenxing was still the triple-list champion.

Meaning, Jiang Wenxing's permission identity had two possibilities -

Either he remained the top-tier VIP player.

Perhaps this VIP identity had some special qualities?

Or he later changed his permission identity?

However, Zhou Yuling leaned more toward Jiang Wenxing using some method during the [Eighth Day Major Reshuffle] to advance his VIP permission identity.

As for permission identity advancement, Jiang Ye wasn't unfamiliar with it.

For example, his 4444 Administrator identity could advance into [Reincarnator].

Similarly, master-level professions could evolve into grandmaster levels, like Card Grandmaster, Rune Grandmaster, Guiwen Grandmaster.

So the VIP permission identity could most likely also advance.

However, what exactly the VIP identity advanced into, Zhou Yuling didn't know.

But she analyzed -

After all, Jiang Wenxing was a Reincarnator.

Other players grew through trial and error.

Their permission identities were basically whatever they stumbled upon, not carefully selected.

But Jiang Wenxing, having experienced reincarnation, undoubtedly understood better than ordinary players which permission identities were good and which were poor.

So, if he truly had an advanced VIP permission identity...

Then this identity must offer tremendous advantages!

Jiang Ye naturally agreed with this analysis.

However, he immediately asked Zhou Yuling:

"If someone with an advanced permission identity dies and drops it, and someone else binds it..."

"In this situation, does the permission identity revert to its initial stage, or can the new user directly inherit the advanced identity like inheriting property?"

Zhou Yuling shook her head: "I don't know that either..."

"To be precise, so far, there probably hasn't been any advanced identity strong player who was killed and dropped a Permission Iron Piece, right? Jiang Wenxing might be the first..."

"......"

Alright.

Jiang Ye himself had several permission identities.

However, identities like Administrator, Guiwen, and Mask Master were all obtained through clone transformation.

Meaning no Permission Iron Pieces were dropped.

The only permission identity obtained through killing was the 4444 Administrator.

But he didn't inherit any "legacy" from the original 4444 Administrator.

So he felt internally...

That if you kill someone and bind their permission identity, you probably can't directly obtain their advanced identity.

Instead, you should get the most basic identity.

For example, if he killed Lin Ling,

he would most likely obtain only [Rune Master] rather than [Rune Grandmaster].

The subsequent identity advancement would need to be completed by himself.

Of course, these were just his speculations.

In reality, as Zhou Yuling said, there were no clear cases.

But if his speculation was correct...

Then even if this mysterious strong player obtained Jiang Wenxing's permission identity, it should only be the initial pre-advanced identity?

But even the initial identity made this mysterious strong player so covetous?

Combined with Zhou Yuling's analysis -

As a Reincarnator, Jiang Wenxing's permission identity was undoubtedly carefully selected.

So his permission identity might indeed be quite important.

Then, were there special secrets hidden within VIP-type permission identities?

Or did Jiang Wenxing later abandon his VIP identity and obtain another permission identity?

These things, Jiang Ye didn't know.

Nor was he sure whether he should use one question slot to seek the answer.

Regarding Jiang Wenxing, besides providing this uncertain information about permission identity,

Zhou Yuling had another significant confirmed piece of information!

Jiang Ye had previously witnessed Zhou Yuling possessing a [Mist Train Carriage]

that allowed her to walk through mist.

Including raising her White Snake, which she did within the mist.

The reason she could recognize Jiang Wenxing by appearance...

was because she had seen Jiang Wenxing while walking through the mist!

The other party possessed a quite luxurious Mist Train!

And with high probability...

he also possessed [Mist Energy]!

The so-called [Mist Energy] was the milky-white gas that the White Snake transformed into.

Zhou Yuling had previously revealed that other factions or strong players in the apartment might also possess [Mist Energy].

However, the [Mist Energy] they researched didn't exist in the form of a white snake.

It might be stored in some container, or transformed into items of other shapes.

For example, Zhou Yuling had seen someone crush a stone that transformed into mist energy.

This matched Jiang Ye's experience with his clone disconnecting in [Soul Resting Mound].

That was probably stone-transformed milky-white gas.

Since Jiang Wenxing had appeared in the mist, he most likely also had [Mist Energy].

But when Zhou Yuling previously lured away strong players, Jiang Wenxing didn't consider using [Mist Energy] to modify the Formless Tree at all.

Meaning, he might have known from the start that this method wouldn't work.

[Mist Energy] might have other special significance for the Formless Tree?

Did this mysterious strong player before them also possess [Mist Energy]?

And did he know about the significance of [Mist Energy] for the Formless Tree?

This question held considerable importance for Jiang Ye.

He had many questions he wanted to ask.

But if prioritizing by importance...

he naturally wanted to understand information related to the Formless Tree more.

After all, that might concern his main body's growth!

Jiang Ye thought for a moment, then asked Zhou Yuling: "Besides appearing in the mist, did Jiang Wenxing frequently operate within the Doomsday Apartment?"

Zhou Yuling shook her head: "I don't know about that."

"But based on my speculation, he normally shouldn't be in the Doomsday Apartment."

"After all, with his arrogant personality, if he stayed long-term in the Doomsday Apartment, he would have likely become famous long ago. He might have even gone on killing sprees..."

Meaning...

Jiang Wenxing almost never operated within the Doomsday Apartment.

The Novice Apartment clearly had no legends about him either.

So his operational area was most likely the mist where Zhou Yuling had encountered him!

Then...

Jiang Ye asked: "What about those Reincarnators? Do they mainly operate within the mist too?"

Zhou Yuling shook her head: "I don't know that either."

"Besides raising my White Snake at fixed locations in the mist and using the Mist Train to travel between the mist and apartment, I have no other understanding of the mysterious mist world."

"But based on available information, your speculation might be correct -"

"Reincarnators might indeed operate within the mist."

"Then following this speculation..."

"there might be Reincarnators within the Defenders' Alliance too."

"Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to raise White Snakes in the mist."

"And that time I encountered Jiang Wenxing in the mist, he showed no intention of attacking me, probably because of the Reincarnators in the Defenders' Alliance?"

These speculations made sense too.

Jiang Ye thought for a moment, then couldn't help asking: "Could Lin Ling be a Reincarnator?"

Zhou Yuling shook her head: "Don't know. But probably not, right?"

"I think there should be Defenders stronger than Lin Ling. Perhaps she's a pawn cultivated by the mysterious Reincarnators in the Defenders' Alliance?"

Jiang Ye actually wanted to learn more details from Zhou Yuling about the Defenders' Alliance and the mist.

However, time was truly limited now.

Clearing the Court of Disorder was the top priority.

Other questions could wait until he had more time.

As for Jiang Wenxing's information, Zhou Yuling actually didn't know much.

She had basically told Jiang Ye everything she knew.

Regarding the mysterious strong player, she said she had no idea who he was.

But she had several speculations -

First, coinciding with Jiang Ye's thought, she speculated he might be Wang Cheng, caught by the Card Grandmaster as a replacement.

Second, Zhou Yuling speculated he might be Chen Ji, a Researcher from the Defenders' Alliance.

Third, she speculated he might be another VIP player.

However, most truly powerful VIP players had hidden their names on the leaderboards.

So she couldn't say for sure who it was.

Still, Jiang Ye remembered two VIP players.

For example, Yu Yuewan, the VIP player who previously merged Apartments 1008 and 1010.

This name had even been the first to bet on Jiang Ye as "Newcomer King" in the Duoe Organization's [Recognizing Heroes] event.

Meaning, this VIP player paid considerable attention to Jiang Ye.

However, this person was most likely female.

Of course, this mysterious strong player was clearly disguised - he might be a woman disguised as a man?

The other memorable VIP player was Mo Chayuan, who helped Jiang Ye obtain the 4444 Administrator identity.

That was the one who merged Apartments 1010 and 4444.

Later, during various transactions with Lin Ling, Lin Ling mentioned that Mo Chayuan seemed interested in contacting Jiang Ye.

However, his purpose for contacting Jiang Ye was obvious without thinking...

It was undoubtedly for the Reincarnation Key.

After the Reincarnation Key went to the Nomadic Merchant, attention on the 4444 Administrator decreased significantly.

But...

Jiang Ye was curious: "If someone is already a VIP player, would they still need to snatch Jiang Wenxing's permission identity?"

Zhou Yuling "uh"-ed, then corrected herself: "That was my earlier speculation."

"Earlier I truly didn't expect this mysterious strong player to have no identity..."

Yes, only those without permission identities could bind Permission Iron Pieces.

This mysterious strong player was actually this powerful without any permission identity!

To be honest, Jiang Ye's first question still wanted to clearly understand this mysterious strong player's identity information.

After all, after this transaction, he would most likely need to seek revenge against this guy and take back the traded permission identity.

If he didn't even know who the other party was, how could he talk about revenge?

Zhou Yuling had no objections to this idea of his.

The remaining two questions needed careful consideration.

Just as Zhou Yuling was about to share her views, she saw Jiang Ye suddenly turn toward the mysterious strong player and say:

"Regarding my third condition, 'taking my clone out of the Court of Disorder'..."

"Can it be changed to 'sending my clone out'?"

Just changing "taking" to "sending."

The mysterious strong player understood instantly.

"Taking" meant it could only happen when the mysterious strong player left.

"Sending" meant it could happen right now.

The mysterious strong player didn't answer directly, but instead asked:

"Does this count as your first question?"

Jiang Ye said expressionlessly: "Do you want to taste the second Dice of Fate?"

"...Ahem." So the mysterious strong player didn't argue further and said directly: "Whether 'taking' your clone out or 'sending' it out, I need to bind the Permission Iron Piece."

Meaning...

This ability to leave the Court of Disorder came from Jiang Wenxing's permission identity!

To be honest, Jiang Ye wavered for a moment - should he abandon the Permission Iron Piece trade?

But soon, his eyes flickered, and he said to the mysterious strong player:

"In that case, let's do this -"

"My first condition, you've already satisfied."

"The remaining second and third conditions will be fulfilled after we complete the transaction."

Hearing this, the mysterious strong player was puzzled:

"Aren't you worried I'll just run away after completing the transaction?"

Jiang Ye smiled and nodded: "Exactly, so I've thought of a quite perfect foolproof strategy :)"

When he said "foolproof strategy," his tone was very confident.

But that familiar smile...

made the mysterious strong player instinctively frown.

So much that his tone became somewhat stiff: "What foolproof strategy?"

Jiang Ye continued smiling: "Very simple -"

"This kind of Permission Iron Piece can actually be dropped upon death."

"And my third condition requires binding the Permission Iron Piece to achieve..."

"So we can completely do this -"

"I'll first bind the Permission Iron Piece myself, then send a clone out."

"After that, I'll have the clone bound to the iron piece die, drop the Permission Iron Piece again, then trade it to you!"

"Don't you think this is a perfect foolproof strategy?"