I'm Actually a Clone!

Mu Kingdom.

Capital city Qinggu, Pebble Prison.

Su Ze was in a cramped cell made of super-alloy, with only a small window the size of a human face on the cell door to let in a sliver of light.

It had been three days since he transmigrated, and he had already accepted the fact of his arrival.

The good news was that he had transmigrated into a top-tier rich, handsome man.

The bad news was that he was scheduled to be executed by firing squad tomorrow morning.

The even worse news was that three days after transmigrating, his cheat system still hadn't arrived!

Where is my cheat?

The original owner of this body, Zhao Lingxiao, was seventeen years old, tall and long-legged, sunny and handsome.

Zhao Lingxiao didn't just have a pretty face; he was also wealthy! As the only son of Minister of Finance Zhao Yuanyi of the Mu Kingdom, Zhao Lingxiao had been a master of the "money ability" since childhood.

Su Ze transmigrating into him should have been a perfect start, but Zhao Lingxiao had committed a catastrophic blunder a month ago, a crime that shocked the entire nation: raping and murdering a princess!

And it was the most favored princess at that.

The Mu Kingdom was a constitutional monarchy.

Unlike some constitutional monarchies on Earth in his previous life, where the so-called kings were mostly mascots, the successive kings of the Mu Kingdom held significant real power.

Especially the current King Mu, who was the strongest person in the Mu Kingdom, a Saint-level lifeform who had undergone four evolutions, and held considerable sway in the country.

The Princess Zhuzhi whom Zhao Lingxiao killed was King Mu's most beloved youngest daughter, known as the Kingdom Pearl, an unparalleled genius whom King Mu regarded as his successor who would surely surpass him.

It could be said that the fact Zhao Lingxiao wasn't executed on the spot after being brought to justice was already King Mu showing some respect for the law.

In Su Ze's view, Zhao Lingxiao certainly deserved to die, but what did the crime Zhao Lingxiao committed have to do with him, Su Ze?

He was not Zhao Lingxiao, and naturally, he was unwilling to accept his fate just like that.

For the past three days, whenever his head wasn't aching, he had been pondering ways to save himself.

Speaking of headaches, Su Ze felt his head beginning to throb again, and it showed signs of intensifying. Su Ze was already familiar with this headache; it had accompanied him for the past two days while he was merging with Zhao Lingxiao's memories.

But this headache was unusual, far more intense than the previous two days. Ten minutes later, Su Ze curled up on the wooden bed, his whole body trembling violently, causing the wooden bed beneath him to creak and groan.

The metal walls of the cell were not soundproof, and soon, cursing came from the next cell: "Damn it, you don't have to put in so much effort just because you're dying tomorrow!"

Su Ze had no time to pay attention to the murderer next door. Under the intense pain, it felt as if a lock in his mind had been broken, and some sealed memories surfaced.

In the memory, Su Ze—or rather, the previous owner of the body—was lying in a nutrient pod. Through the transparent glass lid, he saw someone looking down at him. It was a teenager of seventeen or eighteen, with a face that was both familiar and strange to him.

Zhao Lingxiao!

The person outside the nutrient pod was Zhao Lingxiao.

But that wasn't right!

How could there be two Zhao Lingxiaos?

This was Zhao Lingxiao's memory. Zhao Lingxiao was currently lying in the nutrient pod from a first-person perspective, yet he saw a second Zhao Lingxiao outside the pod!

Su Ze felt extremely strange and could not comprehend it.

He saw the Zhao Lingxiao outside the glass pod smile and say, "Dad, it worked! He's exactly like me!"

A handsome, elderly man in a crisp suit with a gentlemanly air walked over to Zhao Lingxiao, looked into the nutrient pod, nodded with satisfaction, and praised the person opposite him: "Professor Feng is worthy of being the leader of evolutionary science in our Mu Kingdom. Even I, as his father, cannot tell the difference."

This elderly man was Zhao Lingxiao's father, Minister of Finance Zhao Yuanyi.

The bald, chubby Professor Feng laughed: "Thank you for the compliment, Minister Zhao. We are only halfway there. The next and most critical step is to copy the original's memories and skills. These will require your son's cooperation."

Zhao Yuanyi nodded: "This step must not go wrong, otherwise he won't pass the identity verification before the execution. Time is tight; we have no chance to fail and try again. We must succeed in one go!"

"Don't worry, Minister Zhao. Cloning an unevolved lifeform and copying a mere two first-tier skills is something I am confident I can make look real. By then, we only need to block his memories from the last month, and even he will be convinced that he is Zhao Lingxiao," Professor Feng said confidently.

"No, 'that' skill must also be copied, otherwise King Mu will surely be suspicious."

Hearing Zhao Yuanyi mention "that" skill, Professor Feng looked troubled: "But..."

"Professor Feng, I believe you can do it. After all, you are the only person in our Mu Kingdom who is proficient in cloning technology and has the experience," Zhao Yuanyi said pointedly.

Professor Feng gritted his teeth: "I will not fail Minister Zhao's trust!"

The memory ended there, and Su Ze's headache vanished. He lay on the bed for a long time, digesting the explosive information contained in this memory.

A moment later, he sat up abruptly, his eyes filled with horror.

A clone!

The original owner of this body was not Zhao Lingxiao, but a clone of Zhao Lingxiao, a scapegoat meant to die in Zhao Lingxiao's place!

Other transmigrators had parents who died; he had it even worse—he had no father or mother at all.

Su Ze guessed that it was because of his transmigration and the merging of two lifetimes of memories that this sealed memory had surfaced.

Just imagine, if he hadn't transmigrated, this clone of Zhao Lingxiao would surely have believed he was Zhao Lingxiao, accepted his fate, and faced execution, while the real Zhao Lingxiao would have faked his death to escape punishment and continued living under a new identity.

The Zhao father and son's schemes were so loud he could hear them rattling all the way from his cell.

Su Ze was shocked by the truth of his identity, finally understanding why he couldn't recall the cause or effect of the princess's rape and murder. He had previously assumed it was memory loss brought on by his transmigration, but now he knew his memories had been tampered with.

He had been confused by the final words exchanged between Zhao Yuanyi and Professor Feng, but now was not the time to dwell on them.

I must save myself; I cannot just sit here and wait for death!

Su Ze had felt wronged from the start, but now that he knew he wasn't the real Zhao Lingxiao, but merely his scapegoat, his resentment burned even deeper.

But how could he save himself?

Should he spill the secret that he was a clone?

That might implicate Zhao Lingxiao, but what would become of his own fate?

From the memories of Zhao Lingxiao, Su Ze knew that on this planet called Blue Star, the attitude of various nations toward cloning technology was much like that of his past life on Earth: the use of this technology on humans was strictly prohibited.

Especially since the dawn of the Evolutionary Era a thousand years ago, when the power of evolution had completely reshaped the genes of all living things and overturned humanity's previous understanding, cloning technology had become uncontrollable and extremely dangerous. To prevent catastrophe, every nation had enacted laws strictly forbidding the research and use of cloning technology.

In other words, Su Ze's current body was an illegal product. Coupled with the fact that he shared the same appearance, memories, and bloodline as Zhao Lingxiao, King Mu would certainly have no love for him.

Su Ze estimated that his best-case scenario was life imprisonment, while the most likely outcome was humane destruction.

If he wanted to save himself, that path was a dead end!

Since he couldn't reveal the truth, he couldn't shed his status as a criminal, and there was no way to escape through "legitimate" means.

Su Ze pondered back and forth. When all the main roads were blocked, the remaining narrow path—no matter how muddy or thorny—was the only way out.

If he couldn't walk out of the prison in broad daylight, he would have to sneak out.

That's right: a prison break!

But this Pebble Prison was known as the "Iron Coffin," the most heavily guarded prison in the Mu Kingdom. How could a jailbreak be easy?

His body was a copy of Zhao Lingxiao's. The seventeen-year-old Zhao Lingxiao hadn't even completed his first evolution yet and couldn't even defeat the prison guards of Pebble Prison; his success rate for a breakout was zero.

One had to remember that even the ordinary guards at Pebble Prison were evolutionaries in the Pupal stage who had completed their first evolution.

Anxiety gnawed at Su Ze, but he forced himself to remain calm and think. He was scheduled for execution tomorrow morning; today was his last chance.

In other words, he didn't just need to come up with a plan to save himself; he had to successfully execute it today to keep his life.

Su Ze paced back and forth in his cell, a habit from his past life. Whenever he was deep in thought, his legs couldn't stay still. Unfortunately, the cell was so small that he had to turn around after only two steps.

If only there were a sewing machine in this cell...

Perhaps it was because the sound of Su Ze's pacing had grown too loud, but cursing erupted from the next cell over.

Su Ze froze upon hearing the shouting. It was true that he couldn't break out of prison on his own, but he had fellow inmates!

Though his fellow inmates had foul mouths, every one of them was a person of talent.

Su Ze knew well that when a task exceeded his own capabilities, he had to rely on external forces to achieve it.

And the external forces he could leverage, besides these vicious inmates, were... his identity as Zhao Lingxiao!

Although he wasn't Zhao Lingxiao, no one else knew that. In the eyes of others, he was the only son of Minister Zhao Yuanyi, the young master of the Zhao family, Zhao Lingxiao.

With this status, perhaps he could borrow the strength of the Zhao family!

After long deliberation, a flash of light crossed Su Ze's eyes. He tapped on the metal wall and whispered to the next cell, "Brother, do you want to break out of prison?"