"Ding Deng, are you calling ghosts or something?! Damn, you scared the hell out of me!"

"Yeah! Why the hell are you screaming all of a sudden?!"

Everyone turned to Ding Deng from Class Two.

His face was pale, his eyes filled with terror.

"Check… check the chat group!"

"Chat group? There’s nothing shocking in the messages."

"Holy sh*t! Not the messages—the member list!"

"Look closely! It used to be (80/80), but now it’s (78/80)!"

"W-Wait… does that mean… two people are gone?!"

"Gone? How? I didn’t see any logout button in this game!"

"You idiot! ‘Gone’ means dead! Two of our classmates just died!"

"N-No way… people… really died??"

"It’s Fan Yuhang and Chen Yuan from Class Two!"

"They must’ve explored the hallway opposite the red glow… and got eaten by something!"

"Sh*t… stop talking about it! This is freaking me out!"

"Good thing we have the mutual aid group—if I had seen the member count drop by two while alone, I’d be too scared to even step outside!"

"But… what if we encounter danger while doing those jobs to earn rent?"

—

As soon as someone raised this concern, the high spirits from earlier instantly turned to unease.

Just as Gao Chang and Wang Lingling stepped forward to calm the group,

Jiang Ye remained deep in thought.

Actually, when he first heard about Wang Lingling leveling up, a theory had already crossed his mind…

He suspected—

Killing might be required to level up.

Although it was now confirmed that Wang Lingling hadn’t killed anyone,

Fan Yuhang and Chen Yuan might not have died at the hands of monsters—

but rather, at the hands of another classmate.

After all, some students who skipped the meeting might have also figured out that killing leads to level-ups.

And if someone thought of it, they might have acted on it!

—

Of course, this was just a theory.

But then…

A slightly chubby girl, red-eyed and on the verge of tears, suddenly sobbed:

"Maybe Fan Yuhang had an accident while exploring the hallway, but Chen Yuan was my best friend. She was extremely timid—I just can’t imagine her being like Sister Ling or Lu Shen, bravely exploring the hallway..."

—

Lu Shen’s expression instantly darkened.

He immediately analyzed the situation seriously:

"That’s true."

"As long as you don’t go too deep into the hallway, there shouldn’t be any immediate danger."

"A timid girl like Chen Yuan was unlikely to voluntarily explore the hallway."

"So logically speaking, she shouldn’t have died to the hallway’s dangers..."

—

Wang Lingling’s sharp mind caught on quickly.

"You mean…"

"She was murdered?"

—

Lu Shen nodded grimly.

"Not just her. Fan Yuhang too."

"They disappeared from the member list at almost the exact same time."

"My guess? They were on their way to the meeting when they ran into one or more classmates."

"Because they were familiar classmates, they let their guard down… and then—"

—

He didn’t finish his sentence, but everyone understood what he meant.

Many students looked shocked and afraid, their faces filled with disbelief.

Some immediately refused to accept it:

"No way!"

"We’re all classmates! We’ve never even killed a chicken before! How could anyone just… kill someone?!"

"Yeah! And two at that! That’s way too far-fetched!"

"I still think they were killed by monsters while walking together!"

—

Many people just couldn’t accept that a classmate had already started killing people.

But Lu Shen was completely unimpressed.

"Do you guys seriously not watch the news?"

"You’ve never heard of high schoolers committing murder, even burying people alive?"

"Forget high schoolers—even middle schoolers and elementary schoolers have committed murder!"

"When you have a big enough group, you’ll always have some psychos hiding in the mix!"

"In the real world, these things already happen—and now, in this Doomsday Apartment, everything is just magnified!"

"You guys are being way too naïve! Instead of calling my theory ‘malicious speculation,’ how about you wake the hell up?!"

—

But just as Lu Shen was getting frustrated—

Wang Lingling suddenly held him back.

She then calmly addressed the group:

"Lu Shen’s analysis makes sense, but I understand why some of you disagree."

"But as the saying goes—don’t harm others, but don’t let yourself be harmed either."

"I hope that within our mutual aid group, there will be no one who resorts to killing."

"But I also hope that everyone will stay alert and not be too trusting, just in case."

"My suggestion is this—if you ever get attacked by a classmate, leave their name in the chat group immediately."

"That way, even if something happens to you, the mutual aid group can avenge you."

—

With this statement, Wang Lingling once again won over the group’s trust.

Gao Chang, seeing her dominance, quickly jumped in to stay relevant:

"I think Sister Ling has a good point. Also, how about I go with her to investigate Fan Yuhang and Chen Yuan’s deaths?"

"If we find their bodies, maybe we can tell if they were killed by a classmate or a monster."

—

However, Wang Lingling calmly shook her head.

"Our movement is limited to our own apartment floor range."

"If Chen Yuan and Fan Yuhang died on a floor higher than ours, then we have no way to reach their bodies."

"So rather than wasting time searching for corpses, we should let everyone keep an eye out while working. If anyone happens to find their bodies, we can analyze the cause of death then."

—

Her logic was flawless, and the group agreed.

Gao Chang, however, looked embarrassed.

He was just about to suggest Jiang Ye investigate—since he had access to higher floors—

But before he could even speak, Wang Lingling cut him off:

"Jiang Ye could investigate, but his time is better spent making money—that way, he creates more value."

"Besides, we’ve already wasted too much time. Everyone needs to start working now—our top priority is paying today’s rent!"

—

This hit the key issue, and everyone nodded in agreement.

Only Gao Chang looked visibly frustrated.

He was increasingly annoyed that Wang Lingling kept outshining him.

Especially since… she was a girl.

I was the one who organized this meeting first… but now, she’s leading everything…

Between these two top players, the tension was undeniable.

—

But Jiang Ye?

He couldn’t care less.

His Replica had finally gotten the chance to act.

Among the four job options, he chose—

[Cleaning].

Because only this job could fully utilize his high-floor advantage.

As for tutoring? He didn’t even consider it.

After all, Doomsday Apartment didn’t seem like a place where people still needed to study Chinese, Math, and English.

So the tutoring job could involve unexpected and dangerous subjects.

He wasn’t willing to take that risk.

—

As for Personalized Services? The uncertainty was way too high.

And Errands? The tasks were too scattered—one order at a time.

Sure, high-floor deliveries paid better, but he’d also get low-paying deliveries to lower floors, which would be a waste of time.

Besides, Errands only required delivery to the door—it wouldn’t let him enter high-end apartments.

But Cleaning jobs did.

And Jiang Ye wanted access to luxury apartments to search for Bronze Treasure Chests.

So being able to enter apartments, while also making money, was perfect for him!

—

Of course, Cleaning might come with its own dangers.

But he had no choice—he needed to pick one job to earn money.

—

Most other students chose Errands.

After all, the shadow of death from two classmates dying still loomed over them.

They instinctively avoided direct interaction with other apartment residents.

So a job that only required them to deliver to the door seemed much safer.

—

Soon, everyone received their work ID badges from the four service stations and rushed off to start working.

Jiang Ye quickly examined his badge.

He found that each job type had a ranking system.

For example—

Errand workers could increase their rank by completing more deliveries.

Higher rank = higher pay per order.

Positive or negative customer reviews affected rank progression.

Since each job had its own ranking system, that meant…

The best way to maximize earnings was to stick to one job and grind up the ranks.

It was basically like specializing in a career, leveling up, and getting promotions.

—

Thinking about it this way—

Jiang Ye, with his Infinite Replication, had a massive advantage in grinding jobs!

Everyone else could only work one job at a time.

But he could organize a Replica workforce and outwork everyone!

And the more Replicas he had, the faster his earnings would explode!

—

However…

With two classmates already dead…

And the pressure of his sky-high rent hanging over him…

Jiang Ye felt incredibly uneasy.

He desperately wanted to create a second and third Replica as soon as possible!

—

The only problem was—

What "price" did he have to pay to create more Replicas?