Miss Cannon Fodder No. 1 Takes Action

Ye Qian found it rather interesting.

She handed the crafting task to Cannon Fodder No. 1. This clone changed into a relatively conservative long dress, left the house, went to a nearby shop to buy a large bag of iron sheets and the necessary tools, then brought them home.

"Begin crafting."

Using a miniature welder, she welded the iron sheets together. Then, picking up a small knife, Cannon Fodder No. 1 carefully traced the patterns from the parchment onto the surface.

Perhaps because the required precision was too high, once she finished drawing, she realized the pattern did not look nearly as good as she had imagined.

"Time to infuse it with spiritual power."

There should have been a specific method for this. Among Ye Qian's clones, only Ye Xin knew how to do it, mainly relying on Spirit Threads.

So she called Ye Xin over and fused the threads with the iron ring, injecting power into it bit by bit.

Before long, a strange aura emerged from the iron ring.

"Looks like it's finished."

Comparing it to the Explosion Ring carried by the main body, she felt that the one she had made was truly ugly.

There was no doubt that it was defective, and that would greatly reduce its power.

Cannon Fodder No. 1 took the thing outside, arriving at an unpopulated patch of open countryside. She released a trace of mental energy and threw it out.

Boom—

An explosion rang out.

She covered her ears.

"Not bad."

Its power was probably twenty to thirty percent of the genuine product.

"I'll go back and figure out how to make it better."

After returning home, Cannon Fodder No. 1 used a thin sheet of paper and overlapped her vision with the main body's to reproduce the ring's pattern as perfectly as possible.

Then she cut it according to that perfect pattern.

This new one was far better than the previous attempt.

After testing it, its power had basically reached eighty to ninety percent of the original Explosion Ring.

"Let's start mass-producing them."

All the clones in the house began working together.

By nightfall, she had made a total of twenty-two qualified Explosion Rings, with power exceeding eighty-five percent, and thirty-five defective ones.

Even the defective ones were still quite powerful. Throwing several at once would produce considerable force. Besides, under normal circumstances, no one who saw them would realize they were magical items.

After distributing the rings, each body carried a few. Then she had Combat No. 1 bring ten qualified ones to the hotel where the main body was staying. Only then was she satisfied.

"My basic combat strength is no longer lacking. There are still plenty of weaknesses, but normally, I won't have the main body fight any brutal battles."

Ye Qian was fairly satisfied with her current preparations.

Moreover, following the method described on the parchment, she had mentally bound the rings. More or less, only she could detonate them; it would be extremely difficult for anyone else to do so.

In that case, the three rings she had obtained at the beginning were actually risky, because anyone could use them.

Ye Qian gave those highest-powered, high-risk items to Cannon Fodder No. 1.

That was right. Although Cannon Fodder Misses was the weakest, using these things made up for the difference.

"Next comes the real business, then."

With her personal combat power temporarily improved, Ye Qian began considering how to prepare for her advancement.

Based on the experience she had gained before, there were two ways to advance.

1. Hold the corresponding ritual and break through.

2. Request the aid of a god in the corresponding domain, or certain beings beyond the mortal world, to help her ascend.

Without question, the first method was safer and more reliable. Just thinking about the latter made it sound dangerous.

"But obtaining information about rituals will probably be no ordinary trouble. The Shadow Bureau likely has it, but asking rashly would not only get me nowhere—it might also make them suspicious."

For now, Ye Qian placed her hopes on the gathering.

Or, going a step further, she could start with the Insect Blood Society, an organization that very likely had Transcendents.

"Looking at this situation, do I need to take some risks?"

She definitely had to deal with the Insect Blood Society. After all, they had already made moves against her several times. Ye Qian had simply been lucky: whenever they used various methods, she happened to possess the corresponding abilities to counter them. Otherwise, she would already be dead.

"I heard the Shadow Bureau intends to investigate them, but dealing with an organization that hides so deeply and may have considerable power behind it will probably take quite a while. My advancement is imminent. Looks like I really can't rest..."

Actually, Ye Qian felt it was unlikely that the Shadow Bureau would immediately act against the Insect Blood Society. At the very least, Shi Jing had been unable to come into contact with anything related to it afterward.

Of course, he was only in a branch bureau. There were just a few team members, and even the captain was not especially strong. If they truly wanted to deal with them, it would certainly require the headquarters.

Besides, Ye Qian still had no access to what exactly the Shadow Bureau was like or what forces stood behind it.

This damned world involved powers of a higher level. No matter what, she had to be careful.

Cannon Fodder No. 1 Takes Action

"Fine. The Insect Blood Society is hiding too deeply. I definitely won't find them by taking the initiative. The only option is to lure the snake out of its hole."

Ye Qian thought about it. If she lured the snake out, the snake would definitely come for her. If they sent even stronger people next time, it was hard to say whether she could withstand them.

The last battlefield had been right beside the main body's home. Through the location of the battle, the corpses, or perhaps some remaining traces, they might have pinpointed her location. They might be able to do the same this time. Therefore, the best method was to completely cut off every clue connected to the main body after luring them out, leaving them unable to find her.

She sat before the table and stared at her notebook for a long time. Then inspiration struck, and an idea formed.

"Cannon Fodder No. 1 disguises herself as someone else and livestreams, claiming to be from the Insect Blood Society to provoke the Shadow Bureau?"

The Shadow Bureau might not currently have enough motivation to deal with the Insect Blood Society. But if they were directly provoked and some exaggerated stunt was pulled, that might change.

Once it was done, Cannon Fodder No. 1 would self-destruct, and the Mystic Thread would be severed. Naturally, they would not be able to trace her. Even if they did investigate, at most they would find a dead person.

Propping her chin up with one hand and biting a pen between her lips, Ye Xin looked at the lines she had drawn and finally shook her head.

"Cannon Fodder No. 1 has a direct connection to me. Her death does not mean the main body is safe. Otherwise, the Insect Blood Society could not have traced my main body through a clone before. Add another layer of insurance. Have Cannon Fodder No. 1 find a stranger, then have that stranger find another stranger to livestream and say those words. Of course, by livestreaming, I mean giving a streamer a huge donation and having that streamer read the words aloud in public. Once it's done, Cannon Fodder No. 1 can use an Explosion Ring to self-destruct and completely sever the connection."

If they could still trace her under those circumstances, then the Shadow Bureau and the Insect Blood Society were truly capable.

And even if they really could trace her, it would probably take a long time. After all, Cannon Fodder No. 1 and the main body were essentially two different people. Once she died, even the sole connection between them—the Mystic Thread—would no longer exist.

Not to mention that the Mystic Thread was originally a purely conceptual thing that did not exist. Therefore, something nonexistent ceasing to exist would have no effect at all.

"But I can't harm someone else, either. Once that streamer reads those words, the Insect Blood Society might target her."

Ye Xin considered it for a moment, then suddenly remembered a streamer with a shady past whom she had seen online before.

For example, there had been a female streamer who cheated on her boyfriend and slept around with fans. Her boyfriend had traveled a great distance to raid her streaming room at home, only to discover that there were actually nine top-ranking donors inside, all of them naked.

The instant he entered, he caught them red-handed.

The man angrily recorded everything and exposed it online. A major fight broke out, the boyfriend was injured, and he left in agony.

After that mess, the female streamer's popularity had taken a huge hit. Yet a large number of people still supported her in the streaming room, even donating more money. Naturally, that included the top-ranking donors.

This streamer, named Xi Lulu, was currently very popular. However, because she belonged to a local streaming platform, most of her fans happened to be concentrated in Konghai City. Moreover, the incident had not spread widely across the national internet, making her an ideal choice for Ye Qian.

"As for the other two, I should find people without any reputation, and with unpleasant reputations at that. Or... should I find some freeloading fat shut-in? Pretend to seduce him and trick him, but not let him take even the slightest advantage. Just make him my tool... Cough, cough... Isn't that too shameless?" Ye Xin quickly shook her head.

For something this simple, money could solve it.

The only difficulty was making money.

"I'll sell the Purple Gold Coin at the next gathering."

However, Ye Qian did not intend to truly wait until then. Instead, she had Cannon Fodder No. 1 set out immediately.

Several hours later, she took a car to a street fifty kilometers away.

"Looks like it matches the address online. Is that guy nearby?"

After waiting for an hour, a man entered her sight.

"A shut-in... Hmm, not fat, but definitely a shut-in."

Cannon Fodder No. 1 immediately walked past him, as though they were about to brush shoulders.

Her mature, perfect figure and breathtakingly beautiful face immediately stunned the shut-in.

Then, as they passed each other, Cannon Fodder Misses pretended she had failed to hold onto something. With a slap, she let a card in her hand fall before him.

She immediately walked over in embarrassment, picked it up, stood, brushed back her hair, and blushed. "Sorry."

The shut-in swallowed and hurriedly said, "It's fine. You..."

"Eh, you're... Min Xingyuan?" Cannon Fodder No. 1 revealed a surprised expression.

"Ah!!" The shut-in froze, immediately becoming embarrassed. "How did you know?"

Bullshit, I came here specifically to find you.

"I saw news about you before."

His family had substantial assets, but he was uneducated and useless. After rebelliously running away from home, his family sent people to persuade him to return, and he threatened to jump from a building. That mess had made the news, and it could still be found online.

Sure enough, such a thing was still incredibly humiliating for a shut-in. Hearing that, he wanted nothing more than to crawl into a crack in the ground.

"I, um..."

"Haha, it's fine. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. I understand. I was like that too a few years ago," Cannon Fodder No. 1 said with feeling.

Her pleasant voice and pure, beautiful face made the shut-in's heart race.

"Um, I... can I add you as a friend? I..."

Well, damn. I was still wondering what excuse to use. I didn't expect you to be this proactive.

"Sure, but I have something a little troublesome to deal with right now. Even after adding each other, I might not be able to contact you immediately."

"Something troublesome?" Min Xingyuan looked confused.

"Mm, maybe you can't help me. After all..." At that point, as though she had something difficult to say, Cannon Fodder Misses fell silent.

"It's fine, tell me."

The shut-in had never had any romantic encounter in his life. This girl looked under twenty, around his own age. He was truly smitten, and he could no longer see anyone else.

"Um, is this really okay? We don't know each other well. But... just telling you is fine. Do you know... Xi Lulu?"

"Xi Lulu?"

"She's a streamer. You can look her up online."

He immediately took out his phone and searched, only then discovering the incident from not long ago.

"This person..."

"She has many fans watching her, and my brother was captured by an organization called the Insect Blood Society. Those people are very bad. Oh, do you know the Shadow Bureau?"

Min Xingyuan was dumbfounded.

"What is that?"

"You can think of it as a department that deals with evil forces. Saving my brother is impossible with just me, but I have no way to let the Shadow Bureau know. So I hope someone can donate money to Xi Lulu and have her read these words aloud."

Cannon Fodder No. 1 handed him a sheet of paper.

Min Xingyuan looked it over, his expression turning strange.

"If you don't want to, forget it. I can reimburse you for the money, but it's inconvenient for me to do it because those people know my accounts, and my phone also..." At that point, Cannon Fodder Misses seemed to steel herself. She gritted her teeth and said, "If you're willing to help me, and it really succeeds, I... I'll do anything you want..."

After saying that, Cannon Fodder No. 1 deliberately blushed and lowered her head.

The shut-in Min Xingyuan was completely stunned.

Communication

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