Zhou Yuling didn't reply imdiately.
Just as Jiang Ye was wondering if she might have recklessly charged into the cycle grid like his light clone and lost contact...
Zhou Yuling finally responded:
"What's up? Weren't you supposed to get items from Administrator 0000 to capture Qu Xing? Why do you suddenly have ti to contact now?"
This seemingly ordinary reply made Jiang Ye in the 4444 Apartnt narrow his eyes sharply.
He couldn't help but suspect—
Could Administrator 0000's actions be connected to Lin Ling as well?
He had suspected before that Administrator 0000 and Lin Ling might have so shady dealings.
Now, this suspicion grew stronger!
Originally, he had contacted Zhou Yuling to gather information about the Mirror Palace secret realm.
Yet here she was, probing him instead.
Was she testing whether he had noticed his missing clone's problem?
Jiang Ye remained composed, avoiding any ntion of Administrator 0000, and got straight to the point:
"Of course I'm contacting you for a reason. Weren't you planning to gather 100,000 players to enter the Court of Disorder together to see if we could trigger its highest difficulty?"
"I've had so small fortune recently—I can barely manage to produce 100,000 clones at once."
"With these 100,000 clones, even without bounty rewards, we should be able to enter the Court of Disorder."
"So I'm asking—do you want to pause exploring the Mirror Palace secret realm and tackle the Court of Disorder first?"
Hearing this, Zhou Yuling in the Mirror Palace was visibly startled.
She almost blurted out several questions:
"100,000 clones?! Did you obtain 100,000 survival points?"
"Or are these clones made through other ans? Can those clones count as individual players?"
These questions touched on Jiang Ye's privacy, so he naturally didn't reveal anything, simply stating:
"Don't worry about that. Just tell when you plan to enter the Court of Disorder—I guarantee these 100,000 clones can function as 100,000 normal players!"
He sounded completely confident.
But Zhou Yuling remained silent for quite a while.
When she finally spoke again, her tone was hesitant:
"I might be... temporarily unavailable..."
"......"
Jiang Ye's eyes flickered with thought.
From their previous conversations, it was clear Zhou Yuling valued exploring the Court of Disorder greatly.
In fact, this should have been her primary purpose for coming to the Novice Apartnt as an experienced player.
Yet now, for the Mirror Palace secret realm, she was postponing this crucial matter...
Her change in attitude definitely wasn't about bounty rewards.
Had she discovered sothing worth exploring in the Mirror Palace?
Or was there another reason for delaying the Court of Disorder expedition?
Various thoughts raced through Jiang Ye's mind.
However, he didn't want to reveal his eagerness to explore the Court of Disorder.
So he didn't press the issue, instead asking: "Unavailable? Does that an you've made progress in the Mirror Palace?"
"If there was no progress, you wouldn't be 'unavailable,' right?"
Zhou Yuling remained silent for a mont before explaining:
"I'm not sure if it counts as 'progress,' but I've co up with a bold idea."
"I've already started implenting it—if I leave now, it would an abandoning it halfway."
"That's why I want to see this through first."
Jiang Ye asked directly: "What exactly is this 'bold idea'?"
Zhou Yuling chuckled lightly: "You're not willing to tell how you're making 100,000 clones either, are you?"
The implication was clear—this was her private matter, not to be shared.
But Jiang Ye also laughed and said bluntly: "Is your bold idea about creating a large number of Mirror Palace puppets?"
"......" Zhou Yuling stiffened briefly before recovering: "You have clones in the Mirror Palace too?"
Jiang Ye smiled: "If I can make 100,000 clones, sending one to handle small tasks isn't difficult :)"
Zhou Yuling fell silent.
Jiang Ye continued: "If you won't tell , I'll just help you through actions."
"Should I have my clones create nurous Mirror Palace puppets in the secret realm? Would that help you?"
"......"
Zhou Yuling was speechless.
Since Jiang Ye already knew about the Mirror Palace's situation,
if he really started mass-producing Mirror Palace puppets, he would quickly discover her so-called "bold idea."
After so thought, Zhou Yuling compromised: "Fine, I'll tell you."
"My bold idea can be summarized in two words—raising puppets."
"Simply put, it's about utilizing the Mirror Palace's unique properties to cultivate nurous Void Mirror Puppets."
"Since you have clones here, you must have noticed—"
"The entire Mirror Palace secret realm is currently filled with Void Mirror Puppets."
"If you stay longer and observe carefully, you'll realize—"
"There's a certain 'law of energy conservation' operating within the Mirror Palace."
"That is, the energy between the mirror surfaces forming the palace and the Mirror Puppets created by players remains constant overall."
"When players intentionally create many Mirror Puppets, they're transferring energy from the mirror surfaces to the puppets."
"So when this energy conversion reaches its limit, can you guess the outco?"
Jiang Ye nodded and stated the final result directly:
"If all energy transfers to the Mirror Puppets, the extre scenario would be—all mirror surfaces forming the palace grids would disappear."
"Exactly."
Zhou Yuling nodded, but before she could continue, Jiang Ye questioned:
"But I've noticed—those nurous Mirror Puppets are clearly rging with each other."
"Wouldn't the final resulting Mirror Puppet beco too powerful to control?"
Zhou Yuling paused, seeming to sigh lightly before continuing:
"Actually, if you've explored enough secret realms, you'd know this thod of clearing them is quite common."
"First, you 'raise a boss' in specific conditions..."
"Then fight the fully-raised boss."
"Win, and the realm is cleared; lose, and it isn't. Simple as that."
"So my current plan follows this experience—raise the boss, then fight it."
"If we ultimately can't defeat it..."
"Then so be it. I'll temporarily abandon the Mirror Palace and join you in exploring the Court of Disorder."
"Since I've already progressed sowhat in 'raising the boss,' that's why I said I'm 'temporarily unavailable.'"
Jiang Ye indicated his understanding.
After so thought, he suddenly asked:
"During this 'boss-raising' process, are you feeding the Mirror Puppets with your own blood?"
Zhou Yuling shook her head: "No. I've just been shuttling between two palace grids."
"Stay in Grid A for a while, move to Grid B, letting Grid A generate Mirror Puppets."
"After enough ti in Grid B, return to Grid A, letting Grid B generate Mirror Puppets."
"I've been using blood collected from other players for this back-and-forth."
Jiang Ye frowned, considering this before saying gravely:
"But your thod is too inefficient! How long would it take to reach the extre scenario?"
Zhou Yuling sensed his implication and raised an eyebrow: "So you're planning to...?"
Jiang Ye nodded: "Exactly. I'll send a batch of clones to assist."
"Your solo efforts are too slow."
"With my clone army, we can produce nurous Mirror Puppets in the sa tifra."
This idea didn't surprise Zhou Yuling.
What truly surprised her was—
"Wow, you're quite bold now."
"Aren't you worried my 'bold idea' might be a trap for you?"
"If you generate many Mirror Puppets resembling you..."
"The final boss-level Mirror Puppet will likely take your form too."
"Aren't you afraid such a powerful, you-lookalike boss might harm you?"
Jiang Ye thought—
As long as that final boss still looks like ,
it can't possibly harm !
Of course, he couldn't say this directly.
He played dumb instead: "What harm could it do? Weren't you planning to 'raise puppets' personally too?"
"Like you said, if we can't defeat the boss, we'll just abandon the Mirror Palace."
This sounded reasonable.
But Zhou Yuling's real concern was—
Didn't Jiang Ye suspect this might be her sche against him?
Yet Jiang Ye seed completely unconcerned...
Was he truly oblivious, or did he have other confidence?
Zhou Yuling didn't dwell on it and said plainly: "Fine, send your clone army over."
"The sooner we raise the boss-level Mirror Puppet, the sooner we'll see the results."
"Deal. I'm coming." Having stated his position, Jiang Ye ended the communication.
True to his word, he began transferring the 2,000 puppet clones previously created in the Reincarnation Graveyard to the Mirror Palace via Clone Swapping.
Since crossing palace grids required "feeding blood,"
and entering from outside randomly assigned grids,
Jiang Ye positioned the swapping point outside near the silver vortex.
This way, each clone would automatically enter different grids.
While his clones waited in various palace grids to generate Mirror Puppets,
a new idea erged—
Should he try using his own blood to feed the mirror surfaces?
Initially cautious, Jiang Ye had worried about unknown risks.
But now he saw a new angle—
If the final boss-level Mirror Puppet resembled him...
No matter how powerful or strange it beca, it couldn't harm him.
It would essentially beco another clone!
Perhaps, like Xiao Hei, it might even beco loyal to him?
The thought intrigued him.
Previously, he'd avoided using his blood mainly because of Chen Cang's presence.
But now, with Zhou Yuling's plan causing mirror surfaces to disappear from energy loss,
any anomalies from his blood could be attributed to the massive energy conversion!
Having decided, Jiang Ye instructed all 2,000 clones to use his blood when generating Mirror Puppets.
As he waited for the puppets to form,
Zhou Yuling's voice ca through his voice transmission bead again.
Perhaps after consulting Lin Ling, she asked directly:
"You ntioned you could produce 100,000 clones at once?"
Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow while holding the bead:
"What? Want to know how I'm making them?"
"Not exactly." Zhou Yuling sounded tentative. "From what you said earlier, you plan to send all 100,000 clones into the Court of Disorder?"
This confused Jiang Ye: "Yeah? Any problem with that?"
After a pause, Zhou Yuling said gravely: "If the Court's highest difficulty truly requires 100,000 players..."
"I only need you to provide 90,000 clones. I'll supply the remaining 10,000 player slots myself."
Jiang Ye knew she ant her 10,000 followers.
Surrendering 10,000 slots out of 100,000 was acceptable—
Having the entire Court filled with his clones would make Zhou Yuling uneasy.
So Jiang Ye agreed readily:
"No problem. After all, exploring the Court was originally your plan—you only approached because you lacked manpower. I'll follow your arrangents."
His response seed generous.
Yet unexpectedly...
After another pause, Zhou Yuling added:
"Actually, what I ant was..."
"Of the Court's 100,000 players, I'll provide 10,000, you provide 90,000, and the remaining 10,000 will be mortgaged to ."
???
Jiang Ye was montarily confused: "Remaining 10,000? What remaining 10,000?"
Zhou Yuling's voice grew slower and heavier: "From your original 100,000 clones—90,000 enter the Court, and the remaining 10,000 are mortgaged to ."
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