Infinite Protagonist Project!

"Have you ever heard of the Six Desires Demon-Splitting Chapter?"

The superpowered people in the meeting room, who had been getting ready to leave, stopped at the sudden voice.

They turned around and saw the young man who had spoken. Their faces darkened.

The speaker was an eighteen-year-old boy wearing a headset. In the underworld, he went by the nickname King of Bad Jobs.

Not only did this guy love trotting out bad jokes from before the Great Cataclysm, he also occasionally came up with astonishingly stupid ideas. People called him the King of Astonishing Ideas.

"King of Bad Jobs, every time I start to think I should show you some respect, you open your mouth."

Ji Donglai couldn't help saying, "Hand in your thirty-thousand-word report and self-reflection first. Then you can tell me about your idea."

"Boss, please trust my astonishing wisdom as the King of Ideas."

King of Bad Jobs thumped his chest and said, "You all adopted my previous ideas, after all, whether it was the Y-Pose Contest or Carnival Day."

Damn it, every time we just went along with your crazy bullshit. The superpowered people present cursed him silently.

Looking at King of Bad Jobs' feverish expression, Ji Donglai fell silent for a moment, then said, "Fine. You've got two minutes to tell us your idea."

"Heh heh. The so-called Six Desires Demon-Splitting Chapter is a cultivation technique from an online novel written before the Great Cataclysm. Simply put, it lets you split off different personalities, then devour them to increase your strength." King of Bad Jobs explained to the people present.

"So?" Ji Donglai asked, looking at this archaeologist who was an expert on the Great Cataclysm era. "What are you planning to do?"

"I want to do the opposite," King of Bad Jobs said seriously.

"If people need Idealism to cultivate techniques from other worlds, why not have mental ability users erase those people's personalities completely, then replace them with new ones?"

"So...what good would that do?" one superpowered person asked.

"Plenty!" King of Bad Jobs said, raising his phone to show everyone.

On his phone were countless folders, and their names read:

Battle Through the Heavens, Martial Universe, Shrouding the Heavens, Golden Scales Are Not Objects in a Pond, Young A-Bin, Storm Riders, Silent Slaughter, Dragon Ball...

Some of those present knew enough about entertainment from before the Great Cataclysm to recognize these as online works from that era, but they didn't know why King of Bad Jobs was showing them now.

Looking at the fools around him, King of Bad Jobs said smugly, "Most online novel protagonists have exceptional willpower. They're all steadfast, impossible to sway—in short, perfect material for practicing martial arts."

"Since this technique requires Idealism, we can have mental ability users implant the experiences of these novel protagonists into the minds of clones and mass-produce protagonists."

"Just imagine it: a horde of monsters with the memories of Xiao Yan, Ye Fan, Li Anping, Tang San, Gu Chensha, Li Huowang, Lan Mu, Zheng Zha...and more. Is that not Idealist enough?"

At this, King of Bad Jobs flashed a smug smile. "Look at my astonishing wisdom! Combine cloning technology with mental superpowers and Idealist Martial Dao, and just imagine what kind of monsters we could create!"

At King of Bad Jobs' suggestion, everyone fell silent, unsure how to respond.

After all, this idea seemed...to have something to it?

"But how do we trick them into believing they're themselves?" a beautiful superpowered woman objected.

"One moment, they believe they're invincible, and the next, they're ordinary people again, in a completely different world with a different cultivation system. That makes no sense."

"It's simple. Tang San reincarnated in another world, so these people can too. With their willpower, starting over is nothing. If that doesn't work, just tell them they're Heroic Spirits we summoned." King of Bad Jobs grinned.

This time, nobody objected. After all, there didn't seem to be any holes in the protagonist reincarnation theory.

"So...why don't we give it a try?" one superpowered person asked, looking to Ji Donglai for a decision from their nominal leader.

"That...sounds fine. Let's test it with ten thousand clones first," Ji Donglai agreed. "We can launch this project alongside the ordinary people's martial arts training. Let's call it the Infinite Protagonist Project."

"Woohoo!" King of Bad Jobs cheered at the approval.

He wasn't really interested in whether it was Idealist or not. He just wanted to see what kind of sparks would fly when a bunch of clones with the memories of various novel protagonists collided.

Put simply, he wanted to see blood flow like a river.

"Since you came up with this project," Ji Donglai said, looking at King of Bad Jobs, "you'll be in charge of it."

"Understood, Boss!" King of Bad Jobs saluted with a grin. "Then I'll start by cloning a hundred God King Tangs. He's been reincarnated before, so he has experience."

Ji Donglai didn't object. He looked at King of Bad Jobs and said,

"You're in Z City, right? Then we'll choose Z City as one of the pilot cities. We're planning to hold Carnival Day there too, so we might as well do both at once. Since you're nearby, you can keep an eye on things."

King of Bad Jobs didn't object. He was already grinning as he opened the door and started making preparations for the cloning.

Deep in the deserted back hills of a school in Z City, Fang Can stood before a tree as thick as a water bucket.

"I should be able to test what a 3% mutation rate can do." Fang Can stared at the ancient tree before him.

He slowly raised his hand. Without another word, he clenched his fist. The muscles in his pale arm tightened, and the next moment, he swung forward with all his might.

BOOM!!!

A cannon-like blast rang out almost instantly, but Fang Can's whole body was sent flying backward.

The thunderous impact startled a flock of birds. Fang Can got back to his feet, looking a little helpless.

"Did I really forget about the recoil? Could the laws of physics just stop applying as a matter of common sense for once?" Fang Can sighed.

He slowly lifted his head. A bowl-sized dent had been blasted into the sturdy old tree before him.

At its center was a clear fist mark. Fang Can's right fist, meanwhile, was completely unharmed apart from a slight redness on the skin.

"Now that I've tested my strength, I can try my speed."

As Fang Can finished speaking, he vanished from where he stood, his body turning into a blur as he raced around a Zhu Ancient Tree.

The wind from his sprint made the nearby shrubs sway. Clear footprints appeared one after another in the firm, dry earth.

He sprinted at full speed for about half an hour before finally coming to a stop.

His face showed no sign of being out of breath.

The light shining down on him was automatically absorbed to replenish his stamina.

With his body's self-healing on top of that, it was now hard for him to feel tired.

Fang Can stated confidently, "Even relying on my physical abilities alone, I can now rank among the best in the Martial Arts Hall."