At Lin Yuan's question, the corners of Lao Jiu's mouth curled upward.
"Hmph, good question."
"The Deputy City Lord's origins are mysterious. He had never appeared before, and only showed up suddenly some time after Minglong City was founded."
"Before that, this man had neither a known name nor any deeds to his name. He seemed to have appeared out of thin air."
"But the moment he appeared, Minglong had already appointed him the highest-ranking Deputy Authority Holder of Slaughter, above all the commanders."
"And the commanders had no complaints about it. Whenever Minglong was absent, they obeyed the Deputy City Lord without question."
"There are rumors that the Deputy City Lord is Minglong's son, that he grew up in the City Lord's Mansion and was therefore unknown to outsiders, and that Minglong's affection for him earned him the commanders' acceptance."
"But those are rumors. Minglong has never had a woman. That much I can say for certain."
Lao Jiu did not explain why he was so certain, but since he was so adamant, he presumably had his own basis for that judgment.
Lin Yuan did not dig deeper into that subject and asked directly:
"Then what exactly is the Deputy City Lord...?"
Lao Jiu narrowed his eyes.
"The Deputy City Lord... heh. In my judgment, he's most likely Minglong's own clone!"
"A clone?" Something stirred in Lin Yuan's mind. That would explain a few things.
His sudden appearance and the commanders' loyalty could indeed be explained by his being a clone.
More importantly, the Deputy City Lord had clearly not sublimated the power of Slaughter within him into the power of Destruction. He should have been far less affected by Pollution than the commanders, yet he displayed the most severe mental problems of them all.
If he was Minglong's