Chapter 275 - 209: Shadow of the Clone

Words : 2006 Updated : Oct 14th, 2025

Chapter 275: Chapter 209: Shadow of the CloneThe next morning, Ji Xinghuo arrived at the Qinling Base of the Sword Bureau, and as soon as he entered Zhou Yishang’s office, he saw Zhou beaming with excitement. "Director Zhou, did the mind interrogation yield any results?" "Exactly!" Zhou Yishang nodded, "Kaminda spilled everything he knew and did. We’ve made significant progress. Take a look for yourself." He pushed a document across. Having carefully read through the document, Ji Xinghuo realized why Director Zhou was so delighted. Kaminda had confessed everything. Ten days ago, just three days after the lizard’s video was uploaded, someone found Kaminda in Kakamega, the capital of the East Africa Kingdom, with a request to kill an international hunting team that had entered East Africa Kingdom a few days earlier. The payment was a batch of arms worth 200 billion Ya Yuan, offered to him at seventy percent of the price. This meant Kaminda earned 60 billion Ya Yuan. In Africa, where warlords were rampant, arms were the most valuable commodity, even more desirable than cash. Armies equipped with arms were the basis for establishing a foothold in Africa, whether they were government forces, rebels, private militias, or warlords, all were in constant need of arms. Kaminda could not resist this temptation, although he was one of the eight most trusted generals of the Black King; he was in fierce competition with the other generals. Killing a few foreigners to purchase arms worth 200 billion was indeed an outstanding deal. Moreover, he reported the matter to the Black King and was permitted to proceed. However, when Kaminda reported, he did not mention the thirty percent discount; he pocketed that three-tenths discount as a kickback. The arms were delivered in two batches. The first batch arrived the day after the deal was finalized, and the remaining half was to be delivered after the mission’s completion. The other party was an infamous arms dealer named Victor Nicol. The document included information about Victor Nicol. Victor was born in 2158 in the Roman Empire, currently 73 years old, and a Super Mutant. He entered the arms trade in his thirties and became an arms dealer. His main clients were mostly in Africa, but he also dealt with rebels in South America. Wherever there was turmoil on Earth, his shadow could be found. However, Victor was extremely cautious about his own whereabouts and was flanked by a group of powerful elite mutant bodyguards. He also never provoked any of the four major powers. In Africa, there were many arms dealers like Victor, who could acquire products from regular arms companies, build factories privately, and some even sold weapons manufactured by alien civilizations. The Sword Bureau’s branch in Africa had been covertly investigating these arms dealers to understand their backers and networks. Victor was probably among the top five private arms dealers globally. He had no prior interactions with the Sword Bureau. This time, Victor entered the radar of the Sword Bureau, and it was newly understood that he was involved with the Qianyuan Association. Seeing the end of the documents, Ji Xinghuo asked, "Is this Victor a member of the Qianyuan Association?" "Most likely." Zhou Yishang stated, "Previously, our African branch had control over an arms factory Victor established in the ’West Africa Alliance,’ which was one of his strongholds. However, since it posed no threat to our country, we had not moved against him." He switched the projection screen, which displayed multiple synchronized images, "Our people are already on their way there, and they’ll arrive shortly." Ji Xinghuo watched the scenes on the screen. Three medium-sized Sky Fighters were carrying six Sword Teams and a platoon of Titanium Cobalt Dragon Men, racing through the sky. The destination was a place called ’Kunba,’ located in West Africa, just a few dozen kilometers from the coastline. Kunba was a city in the West Africa Alliance. The three major powers of Africa, East Africa Kingdom dominated most of the region in eastern Africa, while West Africa constituted the "Sahel-Niger River Countries Alliance." This alliance, formed by seven countries from the Sahel region and the Niger River basin with similar ethnic groups and languages, controlled the "Abuja Star Gate" located in West Africa, with Abuja, where the Star Gate was situated, as the capital of the alliance. Internationally, these seven countries were collectively referred to as the West Africa Alliance. The overall strength of the West Africa Alliance was the strongest in Africa, with a population of nearly two billion and three Heavenly Kings. However, among these three kings, only one was black, while the other two were not native Africans. They often hindered each other and could not unite in will, often engaging in internal strife, making the alliance internally loose. The countries were self-sufficient but incapable of external expansion. The border of the alliance was more relaxed than that of the East Africa Kingdom, with easy entry and exit. A few minutes later. The three Sky Fighters arrived at Kunba, which was still in the dead of night in Africa. The Fighters hovered mid-air, and the Swordsmen and Titanium Cobalt Dragon Men parachuted down directly to a factory concealed in the mountains. The scene immediately erupted in battle, but it quickly ended. The Sword Bureau took control of the arms factory and captured everyone inside, but Victor Nicol was not found. Through on-site interrogation, it was learned that Victor was there a few days ago, but he had left overnight a few hours before, with no known destination. "He escaped." Ji Xinghuo was not surprised. The news of Kaminda’s capture had already spread online. At that time, several elite hunting teams were in the canyon, witnessing the process, and the Titanium Cobalt Dragon Men had not completely annihilated them, so the news could definitely not be concealed. The Sword Bureau was betting that Victor did not know that they had located his arms factory. Now it seemed that Victor was well aware that his factory had been exposed. "Cunning fox," Zhou Yishang grunted but showed no sense of defeat, and said firmly, "As long as he wishes to continue in this line, he has to appear sometime. He might escape temporarily but cannot escape forever. Moreover, his network of connections... if we trace it back, we’ll eventually catch him." Ji Xinghuo nodded slightly. Private arms dealers operate primarily on social connections, bribing high-ranking officials in various national armies, clearing transportation routes and customs, and engaging in money laundering and disposing of stolen goods among other illegal and gray-area activities, all leaving many traces that could be followed. Unless Victor stopped his activities or was silenced, he wouldn’t be able to evade capture by the Sword Bureau on Earth. Therefore, Zhou Yishang was not particularly anxious. He ordered, "Destroy the factory, then withdraw the team!" He also didn’t forget to capture several of the factory’s executives, perhaps Mind Interrogation could reveal some useful clues. Ji Xinghuo asked, "What should we do with Kaminda?" "Trial, execution," Zhou Yishang responded, "He killed seven of our Swordsmen, he must pay with his life, to deter the villains. But we won’t make it public, just let potential enemies know the consequences." He looked at Ji Xinghuo and cautioned, "The Qianyuan Association has tried to assassinate you three times without success. I expect they will lie low for a while, but they might also become more desperate. You cannot be complacent." "I understand," Ji Xinghuo nodded. All three assassination attempts involved stronger assailants and bigger incidences each time. If they still dared to attack despite knowing he had the Purple Lightning Sword, only a Heavenly King Level expert would dare to act. When a Heavenly King acts, it’s impossible to conceal his identity. It would be a fight to the death, and the enemy wouldn’t care about revealing their organization or identity then. Ji Xinghuo believed it wouldn’t come to that. Sёarᴄh the NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Throughout, the Qianyuan Association wanted him dead because they suspected he had acquired something critical or significant information from Shen Yucheng; thus, they wanted to silence him. Zhou Yishang has asked many times. However, Ji Xinghuo truly knew nothing other than the name of the Qianyuan Association. He hadn’t taken anything from Shen Yucheng. He had completely been misled into trouble by Shen Yucheng! "Shen Yucheng..." Ji Xinghuo muttered the name and finally said, "Director Zhou, I’ve always suspected that Shen Yucheng might not be dead." "Why do you think that?" Zhou Yishang’s gaze flickered. Ji Xinghuo didn’t know how to explain, which is why he hadn’t said anything until today. At the time, he had killed Shen Yucheng, brought back his blood for a genetic test, and confirmed it was indeed him. Moreover, Shen Yucheng’s strength matched the information on his file; replacing him with another Swordsman would have been difficult. Had it not been for missing the Spiritual Origin Ability, he wouldn’t have developed a suspicion. "It’s just an intuition," Ji Xinghuo could only say that, "Shen Yucheng’s actions and behavior seemed like he came intentionally to die. Could he have had some method, like the golden cicada shedding its shell?" Zhou Yishang pondered for a moment, "Are you suggesting a Clone Twin?" "Very likely!" Ji Xinghuo thought the same. Clone Twin is a core Ability of the ’masses’ to create an exact duplicate of the original body, but it takes away half of the Star Power. Although the clone has only half of the Star Power, its thoughts are synchronized with the original body and it possesses identical Abilities. Includes genes, iris, and all other bodily data, indistinguishable from the original. Genetic tests couldn’t tell them apart. It was precisely because he only had half of the Star Power that Shen Yucheng fought so desperately in the battle, squandering his Star Power to decide the outcome quickly, or more precisely, to hasten his death, thus not exposing the flaw of insufficient Star Power. Then he revealed the existence of the Qianyuan Association, prompting the Sword Bureau to start an investigation. In doing so, the Qianyuan Association’s attention shifted to confronting the Sword Bureau, neglecting whether Shen Yucheng was truly dead or had faked his death to escape. It was an incredibly clever scheme! Hence, the inexplicable words from Shen Yucheng, "Good luck." "Damn it." Every time Ji Xinghuo recalled this, he couldn’t help but curse inwardly; Shen Yucheng had successfully escaped, while he became a thorn in the side for the Qianyuan Association. If he were any less capable, even nine lives wouldn’t have been enough to save him. After listening to Ji Xinghuo’s analysis, Zhou Yishang looked grave, "If your guess is correct and Shen Yucheng is still alive, where could he be now?" "Star Realm," Ji Xinghuo blurted out. Originally, when Shen Yucheng had just defected, he had entered the Star Realm, then returned to Earth, appearing in Immortal City. Zhou Yishang nodded, "The one who returned was likely just a Clone Avatar, Shen Yucheng’s original body has always been in the Star Realm." As he said this, he couldn’t help but feel troubled. "Looking for someone in the Star Realm is too difficult, as you know better than I do." "Hehe..." Ji Xinghuo gave a wry smile. Ever since the Star Gate opened, all sorts of criminals, defectors, or those wanting to hide their tracks have chosen the Star Realm as their first destination. "I will inform the Swordsmen in the Star Realm to keep an eye on Shen Yucheng, but I can’t be hopeful," Zhou Yishang continued, "Currently, our main breakthrough should be Victor Nicol. The Sword Bureau will continue to pursue him and focus on him. We are sure to catch him." "I’ll inform you if there’s any news; you take care of yourself," he added as a reminder. "Yes, Director Zhou." Ji Xinghuo stood up to take his leave and left the Qinling Base.

Chapter 275 - 209: Shadow of the Clone

Comments (0)