The First Order

Ren Xiaosu had given it careful consideration before he resorted to using the shadow clone. It wasn’t because he was afraid that he would reveal himself as a supernatural being, since why would he care about that if he was close to death?

He was only afraid that he would reveal his power that could copy other people’s powers. Ren Xiaosu only pretended to be Xu Xianchu because he knew that Xu Xianchu had not been captured yet, while he was sure that the Qing Consortium had already found out about Xu Xianchu’s powers from Liu Bu.

Ren Xiaosu had already come across several supernatural beings. Yang Xiaojin could pull an unparalleled sniper rifle out of thin air, Xu Xianchu could create a shadow clone of himself, Luo Xinyu could travel through the shadows, and Qing Zhen’s bodyguard could materialize white fans in his hands.

Ren Xiaosu got a false sense that supernatural beings were a dime a dozen.

But his superpower was different. A superpower that could copy other people’s superpowers, just how would that be rated? Ren Xiaosu did not know.

If the Qing Consortium discovered he could copy other people’s powers and took an interest in him, who knew what they might do to him.

When Ren Xiaosu was escaping, he was wondering about how many supernatural beings existed in this world. Was it a lot?

But upon careful consideration, it didn’t seem to be so. It was probably the Jing Mountains and Qing Zhen that attracted all of them over here.

When Xu Xianchu heard Ren Xiaosu’s roar, his doubts from earlier were all answered. He immediately updated everyone through the comms channel, “The intel earlier was wrong. Target isn’t Ren Xiaosu, it’s Xu Xianchu!”

In reality, they had determined Ren Xiaosu to be Ren Xiaosu simply because they thought that as a refugee, he would be more interested in the gold. However, there wasn’t any direct evidence to prove that his identity was Ren Xiaosu. First of all, they had never seen what Ren Xiaosu looked like. Second, even if they had seen Ren Xiaosu and Xu Xianchu before, Ren Xiaosu’s face was dirty beyond recognition. Moreover, Ren Xiaosu was wearing Sun Junzheng’s uniform, so he was actually dressed in the same outfit as Xu Xianchu.

According to the intel the Qing Consortium had gained, Xu Xianchu was known to be able to create a shadow clone of himself to fight in battles. Furthermore, its combat strength was extremely strong, and it could even block bullets.

Although this shadow clone of Ren Xiaosu’s was black in color and different from Liu Bu’s description, Xu Man felt that this could be due to the lighting. Perhaps, this shadow clone would turn gray in the daytime.

When the troops of the Qing Consortium heard Ren Xiaosu courageous declaration of “Xu Xianchu at your service! Who dares challenge me!”, they thought their target wanted to challenge them to a fight to the death. However, their target turned around and fled!

Several shots had brushed past Ren Xiaosu, but he remained unharmed so far.

He knew that it wasn’t because he could duck well, nor that the Qing Consortium’s troops were bad at aiming. It was because Yan Liuyuan’s wish… was taking effect.

Ren Xiaosu frowned in worry as he wondered how Liuyuan was doing. He had to quickly get away from the Qing Consortium and stop risking things here.

Only when he ran out to about a 100 meters away did he finally recall his shadow clone!

The shadow clone was running rampant in the crowd, and Ren Xiaosu was not even controlling it to aim at the vital points of the enemies anymore. Instead, he made it use its body to ram them into a pulp.

Remember, Ren Xiaosu’s strength was nearly equivalent to three adult men’s, and the shadow’s attributes were double that!

So there wasn’t a need to aim for the vital points. Whoever the shadow clone ran into, it would give that person broken bones all over his body.

In the perimeter the Qing Consortium had set up, the shadow was fighting by itself like a lone sampan. The soldiers felt like it would start waning away at any moment, but the shadow clone surprisingly battled on like it could go on forever no matter how much it got beaten up or how many injuries it received.

There were many troops standing between Ren Xiaosu and the shadow clone. When Ren Xiaosu recalled it, the shadow clone smashed into everyone in the crowd like a train on tracks!

With the shadow clone recalled, Ren Xiaosu would have to merge with it. Likewise, when Ren Xiaosu wanted it to be released, it would only be able to come out from behind him.

When the shadow clone came back to Ren Xiaosu’s side, there were a lot of injuries and scars on its body. Ren Xiaosu could feel the injuries it suffered like they were his own, and the pain was unbearable. While the shadow clone was making its escape, it was also shot at by the troops a few times. The pain nearly made Ren Xiaosu cough up blood!

Large beads of sweat were rolling down his face and back as Ren Xiaosu endured the pain while continuing to make his escape.

It was no wonder Xu Xianchu’s shadow clone made him look all pale after it shielded him from the bullets. So there was actually a “side effect” from using the shadow clone as well.

But what Ren Xiaosu didn’t know was that if Xu Xianchu saw this, he would be incredibly surprised.

Xu Xianchu had tried it out for himself once before. After the shadow clone experienced a high intensity workout, it would lead to the main body feeling mentally exhausted. When that happened, the main body would experience nausea, vomiting, chest tightness, and the user would feel that they might be better off dying!

But Ren Xiaosu’s shadow clone was utterly different from his.

Ren Xiaosu had once asked the palace whether his mental strength could be assessed. In the end, the answer he got was: “Unauthorized to answer.”

…

Ren Xiaosu continued making his escape in the forest, and the pain brought on by remerging with the shadow clone did not fade away even after a long time. It was at this time that Ren Xiaosu realized he should not use the shadow clone without good reason. If he intended to let the shadow clone take his place in death, then he would have to be prepared for the pain it would bring him.

If the shadow clone died once, he would have to “die” once as well.

Ren Xiaosu was violently gasping. He had been injured before, but this pain was much more intense than how a real wound felt.

But Ren Xiaosu was comforted in the fact that the shadow clone did not dissipate even after all the injuries, so he still had an ally in battle.

The Qing Consortium’s troops behind him were like a pack of black hunting dogs that continued hounding him. If Ren Xiaosu were not advancing at a faster speed than them, he would already be in a lot of trouble. Ren Xiaosu did not run in a straight line. Instead, he was trying to slowly shake off the dogs that were chasing after him. Soon, the Qing Consortium’s troops began to wonder which direction Ren Xiaosu was.

It was only at this point that Ren Xiaosu was able to breathe a sigh of relief. After all, it was way too stressful to be chased by several hundred people. He was prepared to hide in the forest for a while to catch his breath.

But it was at this moment that he suddenly heard the rattling of chains up ahead.

Ren Xiaosu stopped in his tracks and clutched his chest as he let out a sad laugh. ‘What the fuck…’

He lamented, “Dead ends are everywhere in life.”

Ren Xiaosu had seen the Experimental that Qing Zhen had locked up in a cage from afar. However, he did not hear what Qing Zhen had said at that time, so he didn’t know there was more than one of these Experimentals.

Ren Xiaosu thought that the greatest obstacle in his path as he escaped northwards would be the volcano, but how could he have guessed it would turn out to be these Experimentals?

Based on the source of the sounds, Ren Xiaosu instantly knew that the enemy was coming from three directions. In that sense, it meant he had encountered at least three of these Experimentals!

The rattling of chains was getting closer and closer. Ren Xiaosu could once again hear the sound of the Experimentals’ saliva dripping onto the decomposing leaves on the forest floor.

The shadow clone stood side-by-side with him. Ren Xiaosu made a rough estimation in his mind and thought that the shadow clone might be able to take on two of those Experimentals. However, he did not know whether he could go up against the remaining one all by himself.

There were three Experimentals ahead and several hundred people behind. All of them were looking to do Ren Xiaosu in.