Starting to Eat the Clone's Soft Rice from Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 37

Just then, Black Hat delivered the latest intelligence. Wei Yanwu set down his pipe, took the report with an air of nonchalance, and began flipping through it—only for his draconic eyes to snap wide open as he choked on his own smoke.

"Cough, cough, cough... What do you mean, a legion of at least a thousand Wendigos?!"

Meanwhile, in the Victorian capital, Londinium.

"What?! A legion of at least a thousand Wendigos?!"

Theresis, who held the position of Victoria's regent at the time, received the same intelligence and shot to his feet in shock, sending his chair flying backward. It nearly struck the Blood Demon Great Lord, who had just entered the room.

The Blood Demon Great Lord paid it no mind, however, picking up where Theresis had left off with additional details.

"Not only that. Based on certain side descriptions in the intelligence, it's certain that these Wendigos are among the elite of the elite, even by the standards of the royal court. A thousand is one thing, but even a few dozen would be more than a match for you or me if we encountered them."

Clearly, the Blood Demon Great Lord was already aware of the intelligence from Ursas and had made even more detailed deductions than Theresis.

But the question remained: where in this land had so many elite Wendigos come from? Not only were there over a thousand of them, but they could afford to form an entire legion.

Had the Wendigo clan been thriving that well since leaving Kazdel? Was the earlier intelligence claiming only a single pure-blooded Wendigo remained just a joke to fool fools?

"I plan to settle Londinium's affairs in the coming days. After that Drac named Talulah ascends the throne in half a month, I'll go watch the Military Parade in person."

After a moment's thought, Theresis spoke to the Blood Demon Great Lord beside him.

The Blood Demon Great Lord had no objection, merely nodding faintly.

"Count me in."

Ursas, Holy Steed Castle, within the palace.

An Xiu was currently in a room he had chosen himself, examining an octagonal stone engraved with a horse-shaped pattern in his hand.

This was the [Horse Talisman] he had purchased from the refreshed system shop's discount section this month. Originating from the Jackie Chan Adventures world, it had the ability to restore all living things and objects. Its original price was 10,000 points, but after the discount, it cost 5,000 points.

In truth, this wasn't the first time the system shop had refreshed since An Xiu arrived in the Arknights World. It had refreshed once shortly after his arrival, but back then, the discount section hadn't offered anything interesting to him, so he hadn't bought anything.

This time, however, the discount section had refreshed with plenty of good items. Besides the Horse Talisman, there were two other products that caught his interest.

[Shadow Troopers o Ninja Troopers] (40% off) Price: 3,600 points.

[Spirit Corridor o Winged Ones] (50% off) Price: 15,000 points.

Of the two, the Shadow Troopers also came from the Jackie Chan Adventures world. Purchasing them granted the ability to summon the Ninja Troopers from the Shadow Troopers. These summoned shadow ninjas possessed exceptional stealth, able to hide within shadows and move freely through them. They were excellent for infiltration and reconnaissance, while also possessing a certain degree of combat capability. The number summoned depended on the user's strength.

The stronger the user, the more shadow ninjas could be summoned. Moreover, the shadow ninjas could not die; upon receiving a fatal attack, they would simply revert to shadows, awaiting the next summoning. Their numbers were also virtually infinite.

The other item, the Winged Ones' Spirit Corridor, came from the No Game No Life world. The Winged Ones were the sixth-ranked race among the sixteen major races in that world, composed entirely of beautiful women. They had wings at the small of their backs and irregular halos above their heads, resembling angels. Every member of the race was immensely powerful; even the weakest Winged One possessed nation-destroying-level strength. The Spirit Corridor was the source of power for the Winged Ones—and indeed, for most races in the No Game No Life world.

Chapter 78: New Clone, Jibril

"It looks like the choice for my next clone is settled."

Having purchased both the Shadow Troopers and the Winged Ones' Spirit Corridor, An Xiu spoke.

With the iconic ability of the Winged Ones' Spirit Corridor in hand, the next clone he would manifest was, without a doubt, the Winged Ones' extra-species individual from the original No Game No Life work: Jibril.

Jibril's strength went without saying. After all, the Winged Ones were an absurdly powerful race. As mentioned earlier, even the weakest Winged One possessed nation-destroying-level strength. And within the entire Winged One population, Jibril, as an extra-species individual, ranked among the strongest.

Her body's constant defensive magic could withstand a hydrogen bomb at point-blank range without injury. Her maximum flight speed, combined with the Winged Ones' innate abilities, could reach 200,000 kilometers per second. A full-power attack could directly evaporate the four great oceans. Even when all her abilities were restricted in the original work's game against the Werebeasts, she could rely solely on her physical prowess to hold her own against the Werebeasts' strongest Blood Ruin individual.

These absurd stats far exceeded the nation-destroying level, reaching at least the surface-level tier. Moreover, she was a six-sided warrior with virtually no weaknesses, covering all angles. Placed in the One-Punch Man world, she could easily earn the title of a God-tier monster alongside the likes of Boros, Garou, and Orochi, serving as a final boss.

However, manifesting Jibril with just a Spirit Corridor alone was certainly insufficient. The innate abilities of other Winged Ones and the various magics Jibril herself knew would likely add up to no small expense.

With that thought, An Xiu opened the clone interface and silently commanded in his mind.

"System, manifest clone."

"Ding! Manifesting clone Jibril requires 50,000 points. Confirm manifestation?"

Fifty thousand points. Adding the original 30,000-point price of the Winged Ones' Spirit Corridor before the discount brought the total to 80,000 points—30,000 more than the 50,000 points An Xiu had spent to manifest Mobius earlier.

However, the cost of manifesting Mobius had mainly gone toward her intelligence and the vast knowledge in her mind, while manifesting Jibril's cost was purely due to her strength.

An Xiu had anticipated this, so his expression remained unchanged as he simply nodded.

"Confirm manifestation."

The newly purchased Winged Ones' Spirit Corridor vanished from the system space, and a white light flared before An Xiu's eyes.

A tall, slender figure slowly emerged within the light. Gradient hair shifting from pale pink to rainbow hues, angelic wings at the small of her back, an irregular halo above her head, and a curvaceous, pristine white body wrapped in a white blouse and pale yellow skirt—she was as perfect as a masterwork carved by the creator's divine hand.

As the light faded, the angelic figure opened her eyes, and a powerful aura began to surge from her body. In mere moments, everyone in Holy Steed Castle felt an inexplicable pressure. Fortunately, the sensation came and went quickly.

In the room, the young woman who had just released such a formidable presence was now kneeling on one knee before An Xiu. Her slender white left hand and black-gloved right hand pressed together, her wings folded at her back, and her halo flickered as she spoke in a voice both light and solemn.

"A pleasure to meet you, my master. Jibril of the Winged Ones greets you."

"My strength, my everything—anything that can serve as a foundation for my master's will belongs to my master. If this body can make even the slightest contribution to my master, it would be my utmost honor."

Hearing this, An Xiu nodded.

"Rise first."

"Yes."

At An Xiu's command, Jibril rose from her kneeling position and flew to stand behind him.

"By the way, when I was adapting to this world's power system earlier, I might have caused a bit of a stir. I hope I didn't cause you any trouble, Master?"

"It's nothing major, no need to worry about it."

An Xiu shook his head as he spoke.

"More importantly, Jibril, can you sense any change in your strength now that you've adapted to this world's power system?"

"No change at all. It's exactly the same as my original strength in my memory—no weakening whatsoever."

Jibril knew what An Xiu was getting at. In the world of No Game No Life, the source of all races' abilities lay in a special race called Spirit Particles, which were converted through the Spirit Corridor to draw power from the invisible spirits drifting in the air. Under normal circumstances, once she left her original world, without Spirit Particles in another world, Jibril's strength would be reduced by at least half, since she couldn't convert power through the Spirit Corridor.

This was akin to a mage from a magical world arriving in a modern world devoid of magic—Jibril's situation was the same.

Fortunately, the system's adaptive function was robust enough that even someone of Jibril's caliber suffered no impact, her strength remaining undiminished.

Tap, tap, tap...

Just then, footsteps sounded from the doorway, followed by a knock.

"Come in."

An Xiu, already aware of who was outside through his perception, spoke.

The next second, the door opened, and Talulah strode in briskly, holding a stack of documents in her hands.

"Mr. An Xiu, did you feel that strange oppressive pressure just now?"

Though the aura Jibril had emitted while adapting to her power came and went quickly, and most ordinary people might dismiss it as their imagination, Talulah, FrostNova, Patriot, and others with a certain level of strength could be certain their senses weren't mistaken.

Thus, the moment that sensation faded, Talulah chose to seek out An Xiu for his opinion.

But as soon as she entered, she saw a figure standing—no, floating—behind An Xiu.

A halo behind the head—was this a Laterano native? But why did they also have wings?

"That commotion just now—don't worry about it. It was something I accidentally caused, not an enemy."

An Xiu explained unhurriedly, then introduced Jibril beside him to Talulah.

"This is Jibril. Her relationship with me is similar to Mobius's."

"Miss Jibril, hello."

Hearing this, Talulah greeted Jibril, who smiled and nodded in return.

Yet, from this woman, Talulah could constantly sense a dangerous aura that made even her feel stiff all over—even more intense than when facing Mobius.

Clearly, this woman named Jibril was no easy character to deal with either.

Chapter 79: The Ursus Nobles Seem a Bit Too Eager for a Culling

"You came to see me—aside from the commotion earlier, there must be something else, right?"

Looking at the documents in Talulah's hands, An Xiu asked.

"Yes. These are some national policies Ursus plans to enact in the near future. They need your review before being officially issued."

Handing the documents to An Xiu, Talulah replied.

"Why not send them directly to Mobius?"

"Actually, these came from Miss Mobius. Most of the policies were proposed by her, so I felt it necessary to have you double-check them, Mr. An Xiu, to avoid any issues."

"Don't bother me with this next time. Mobius's opinion is my opinion."

Casually flipping through the policies recorded in the documents, An Xiu quickly lost interest and handed them back to Talulah.

In truth, there wasn't much to see. Neither An Xiu nor Mobius had a knack for politics. These so-called policies were just Mobius copying from An Xiu's memory based on the situation.

Though they had tried their best to align with Ursus's current conditions, there were bound to be some mismatches—both An Xiu and Mobius were prepared for that.

But it didn't matter. Ordinary politicians might have to consider various interests when drafting policies, leading to constraints. Mobius and An Xiu were different. As long as they held absolute military power, coupled with Mobius's scientific research capabilities, even if a policy harmed certain groups' interests, those groups could only swallow it. Unsuitable decrees could be forcibly made suitable through Mobius's research. So An Xiu and Mobius only needed to ensure the general direction was correct; the rest wasn't a problem.

"How are the preparations for the coronation ceremony in half a month going?"

Shifting away from policy matters, An Xiu asked Talulah about the coronation.

"Everything else is going smoothly. The nobles and lords of major cities across Ursus are willing to recognize my status and have expressed congratulations for the coronation in half a month. However, aside from a few nobles, most—including several dukes who command the remaining Group Armies—are unwilling to attend the coronation in person. Some have even outright refused to come."

Speaking of this, Talulah couldn't help but show a troubled expression.

Simply put, aside from working day and night in the palace handling various tasks, she also had to learn royal etiquette under an etiquette master's guidance. Especially having to wear inconvenient royal robes for daily outings—all of this had already worn her out. And now those nobles were stirring up new problems.

An Xiu wasn't surprised by this.

After all, anyone familiar with the nobles and rulers of the Arknights world knew exactly what they were like.

It would be strange if those degenerates actually cooperated obediently to let Talulah complete her coronation smoothly. Causing trouble behind the scenes was the norm.

In fact, the fact that those old and new noble factions were willing to verbally recognize Talulah's ascension as the Emperor of Ursus was already surprising enough. It was likely not out of genuine intent, but because they saw Talulah's two Group Armies, the Reunion's infected army, and the Wendigo Legion—which was probably known to many by now—and chose to back down out of fear.

The problem was, even knowing they held such overwhelming power, those idiots still clung to unrealistic fantasies, only willing to bow verbally. It truly refreshed An Xiu's understanding of the lower limits of human intelligence.

Oh, right—aside from the Doctor, there seemed to be no pure humans left in Terra.

"Since they won't obediently fall in line, just kill them."

Without any intention of coddling those nobles, An Xiu directly told Talulah to look over the list of nobles unwilling to attend the coronation and wipe them all out before the ceremony in half a month.

"But what about the dukes who control the Group Armies?"

To the ordinary nobles, killing them was as simple as a word for An Xiu's people now, but those grand dukes who commanded the Group Armies would inevitably spark another great battle if confronted head-on.

"These people can be handed over to the Inner Guard for disposal. The former Emperor of Ursus voluntarily abdicated, and you're practically the next emperor of Ursus now, so the Emperor's Blades likely won't refuse your orders."

"As for the specific locations of those grand dukes, I'll have someone investigate and pass them on to you when the time comes."

An Xiu spoke with complete indifference.

As long as he had the exact locations of the targets, few in this world could withstand an assassination by the Inner Guard. Coincidentally, the Shadow Troopers he had recently purchased were experts in reconnaissance.

So, from start to finish, An Xiu never took those troublemaking nobles seriously.

Besides, even if some minuscule probability led to the Inner Guard failing, did An Xiu have no other way to deal with those nobles?

Glancing at Jibril, who had been clinging to him the entire time, An Xiu curled his lips into a cold sneer.

If the Inner Guard truly failed, then An Xiu wouldn't mind letting the newly manifested Jibril stretch her limbs a little, wiping out those nobles along with their cities and armies. Even if those nobles had heaven-defying abilities and summoned Giant Beasts, it would be useless.

In fact, the Giant Beasts of this world had better pray that Jibril didn't take an interest in them anytime soon. Otherwise, if she got carried away and decided to resume her old hobby of collecting the heads of powerful creatures, An Xiu wouldn't bother stopping his clone's pastime.

Given the scale of the Arknights World, aside from threats like the Lumberjack lurking in the background, Jibril would have no opponents here. As long as An Xiu didn't mind, she could single-handedly add a new IF Doomsday Timeline to the civilizations of Terra.

From the perspective of Arknights' natives, this new doomsday timeline could probably be classified as the Laterano Doomsday Timeline?

Tsk, if that old cat found out that such a thing had appeared on Terra, what kind of reaction would she have?

Speaking of Kal'tsit, the Doctor should still be sealed in the Stone Coffin, frozen away in Chernobyl by now, right?

Since he had already decided to wipe out a batch of nobles, Talulah would likely need a group of capable talents soon, and the Doctor was a good choice.

He just wondered whether this Doctor was male or female. Female would be best. If it was a male Doctor, then he could stay frozen in the Stone Coffin.