The inside of the open elevator was a rectangular, column-like space.

It didn’t look much different from an ordinary elevator, except the lighting was dim, with a faint red glow.

Jiang Ye hesitated for a moment, but in the end, his replica still stepped inside.

Of course, he had no intention of joining that so-called Unity and Cooperation Team and letting others control him.

After all, once an organization like that formed, the real beneficiaries would always be the leaders.

The regular members? Just expendable labor.

And when necessary, the weak ones could easily be thrown out as cannon fodder.

Jiang Ye had never been the social type.

Naturally, he preferred to move in the shadows as a lone wolf.

But…

Now that Wang Lingling and Gao Chang had openly declared the formation of their Unity and Cooperation Team, those who refused to join would likely face exclusion and targeting.

Clearly, only the strong could afford to be lone wolves.

For the weak? Trying to go solo could be even worse than joining the team.

And right now—Jiang Ye was weak.

However, considering the nature of his ability, joining the team wasn’t necessarily a bad strategy for survival in the early stages.

After all, he was different from everyone else.

He could gain an additional replica every day!

And the one joining the team? Just a single replica.

His real body and other replicas would remain completely free!

For others, joining the team meant having their growth restricted.

But for him? As long as he stayed alive, he would grow stronger every day!

Besides, like the old saying—“The greatest concealment is hiding in plain sight.”

If he refused to join, he’d probably end up on Wang Lingling and Gao Chang’s radar.

But if he joined using a C-tier replica, he’d just be another average, unremarkable member in the team.

Neither Wang Lingling nor Gao Chang would pay much attention to him.

This way, he’d have a high chance of safely surviving the first two days.

So, by the time the elevator reached the first floor, Jiang Ye had already made his decision.

However… something felt off.

At this point, many classmates should be taking the elevator to gather on the first floor.

And from what he had seen, there was only one red-glowing elevator in the apartment hallway.

But strangely, during the entire descent, he hadn’t encountered anyone else.

The elevator didn’t stop even once from the 20th floor down to the 1st.

This apartment’s elevator…

There was definitely something strange about it.

Still, nothing actually went wrong during the ride.

As soon as Jiang Ye stepped out of the elevator—

"Holy sh*t!"

A startled voice came from the front.

"Jiang Ye! You scared the hell out of me!"

It was Lu Shen, the math class representative from Class 1.

Nicknamed "Lu God," he was a classic science genius—acing math, physics, and chemistry while constantly failing Chinese and English.

Lu Shen was clearly spooked, clutching his chest while exhaling sharply.

"Damn… I just came out of the elevator, and then you step out right after?! I thought I saw a freaking ghost!"

He glanced back at the elevator, frowning.

"This elevator is definitely weird. There’s only one of them, yet we exited one after the other without ever running into each other inside!"

As he spoke, the elevator doors opened again.

This time, stepping out was Bai Ruowan from Class 2.

She had fair skin, a round face, and big, bright eyes, the type of girl who gave off both a gentle and adorable vibe.

Even though they weren’t in the same class, she clearly recognized Lu Shen, a well-known figure.

Her eyes lit up in surprise the moment she saw him.

"Lu God! What are you doing here by the elevator? Waiting for someone?"

Lu Shen, ever the easygoing type, casually replied:

"Nah, I just got out of the elevator too—same as you."

"I think there’s something off about this elevator."

Hearing that, Bai Ruowan instantly shrank back, moving behind him like a scared little kitten.

That’s when she noticed Jiang Ye.

She hesitated, thinking for a moment before asking, "You’re from Class 1, right? That…"

Clearly, she didn’t remember his name.

Jiang Ye answered himself: "Jiang Ye."

"Oh, right! Jiang Ye!"

Bai Ruowan pretended to have just remembered, trying to cover up the awkwardness of not knowing him at all.

Jiang Ye didn’t care.

In fact, he preferred staying low-key—the less attention, the better.

Meanwhile, Lu Shen, after failing to find any clues about the elevator, gave up and sighed.

"Whatever. If there’s something weird about it, so be it. As long as it’s not dangerous."

"Anyway, what about you two? What’s your ability and combat power?"

Bai Ruowan, clearly confident in her ability, answered directly:

"I awakened a B-tier ability—Spatial Element Affinity, and I’ve unlocked my first passive skill, Pocket Space."

Her words startled both Lu Shen and Jiang Ye.

After all, some students had already revealed their abilities in the chat earlier.

Most Element Affinity abilities were based on common elements—metal, wood, water, fire, or earth.

Even rarer elements like wind, lightning, or ice were already considered uncommon.

And Wang Lingling’s Dark Element Affinity? That was exceptionally rare.

Some of the top students had even speculated that there might be a Light Element Affinity in the mix.

But no one had expected something like Space Element Affinity to exist!

And Bai Ruowan actually had it!

Even though it was only B-tier, it was probably rarer and stronger than most B-tier elemental abilities!

Of course, Bai Ruowan was fully aware of how special her ability was.

She was extremely satisfied with it.

But, just like top students pretending they didn’t study before acing a test, she put on a troubled expression and sighed dramatically:

"I don’t think my ability is that great… My Pocket Space skill just lets me store items—it has no attack power at all."

Lu Shen immediately reassured her:

"Pocket Space might not be offensive, but it’s incredibly useful!"

"Besides, that’s just your starting skill. You might unlock even stronger spatial abilities later!"

"Like in novels—spatial teleportation, spatial blades, that kind of thing!"

"Especially spatial blades—those can cut through space itself! They might be able to ignore all defenses!"

Just talking about it got Lu Shen excited.

His gaze toward Bai Ruowan was filled with envy and a hint of something else.

Bai Ruowan, of course, was quietly pleased with all the praise.

But she pretended to be frustrated, sighing again:

"Ugh, unlocking skills isn’t that easy… Anyway, enough about me. What about you, Lu God? What’s your ability?"

Lu Shen shook his head, sighing dramatically.

"Sigh… Now that’s what you call bad luck. I only awakened a C-tier Fire Element Affinity."

Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow.

He hadn’t expected Lu Shen to have a C-tier ability, just like this replica of his.

But thinking about it, among his classmates, C-tier abilities were probably the most common.

Neither too strong nor too weak—just average.

At this moment, Bai Ruowan’s expression showed an unmistakable hint of disappointment upon hearing Lu Shen’s ability.

However, Lu Shen quickly added:

"But maybe I have pretty good comprehension."

"Even though my ability is only C-tier, I actually managed to unlock a C-tier skill—Rain of Fire, and a D-tier skill—Explosive Fireball."

That statement shocked both Bai Ruowan and Jiang Ye!

After all, based on what had been shared in the chat group, most students unlocked skills that were one or two tiers lower than their ability.

Some students didn’t even unlock any skills at all, despite awakening an ability!

Even the two so-called top dogs, Gao Chang and Wang Lingling, had S-tier abilities but did not awaken S-tier skills.

Yet here was Lu Shen—despite having only a C-tier ability, he had awakened both a C-tier and a D-tier skill!

That could only mean one thing—Lu Shen’s "comprehension" was extremely high!

If he had a way to increase his ability rank in the future, his potential might be huge.

And just judging by his skills alone—

Lu Shen’s initial combat power was probably comparable to someone with a B-tier or even A-tier ability!

Realizing this, Bai Ruowan no longer dared to look down on him and quickly praised:

"Lu God truly lives up to his name! Your comprehension is way above average. If you ever get the chance to increase your ability rank, you’ll be unstoppable!"

Lu Shen sighed dramatically, "That’s exactly why I say I’m unlucky. My comprehension is solid, but my ability rank is just too low."

"Anyway, enough about me. What about you, Jiang Ye? What ability did you awaken?"

Jiang Ye, as always, kept to himself.

If no one directly asked, he wouldn’t go out of his way to volunteer information.

Now that they asked, he simply answered calmly, without any change in expression:

"I awakened a C-tier ability—Gold Element Affinity, and my initial skill is a D-tier one—Golden Light Technique."

Lu Shen reconfirmed, "Only one skill? Just a D-tier Golden Light Technique?"

Jiang Ye nodded.

Lu Shen sighed, "So for most people with C-tier abilities, they usually awaken a D-tier or E-tier skill."

He seemed to realize that his words might sound offensive, so he quickly added:

"Ah—Jiang Ye, I wasn’t saying your ability is bad or anything, emmm… I was just making an observation based on trends."

Clearly, having Jiang Ye as a "normal" C-tier ability reference only made Lu Shen feel even more confident in his superior comprehension.

But it was such a shame—

If only he had awakened an S-tier ability, he might have directly comprehended an S-tier skill!

At that point, Gao Chang and Wang Lingling wouldn’t even be relevant anymore!

What a waste, what a waste…

Lu Shen silently lamented his own misfortune.

Meanwhile, as Jiang Ye’s replica walked and talked with Lu Shen and Bai Ruowan…

His real body wasn’t just lying around.

He got up from the sofa and began inspecting his massive 250-square-meter apartment.

In such a luxurious space, his main goal was to check for surveillance cameras—he was worried that the apartment administrator might somehow discover his ability to create replicas.

But instead of finding any cameras…

He found something else.

Inside the glass display case of the walk-in closet…

A dimly glowing Bronze Treasure Chest sat there in silence!