"We'll find out if we try."
Lambert was clearly a man of action and few words. Following Han Xiao's instructions, he pulled off the masked man's mask and found that the face beneath it had no features at all. It was completely smooth, giving the other two a fright.
"Th-this isn't human, is it?"
Horrified, Lin Yao pulled off everyone else's masks. They were all faceless men!
Just then, the face of the faceless man Han Xiao had pointed out began to change. A black spider tattoo slowly emerged, growing darker as his features gradually took shape. Before long, he looked exactly like Black Spider. His wounds were gradually healing, too. Then the "corpse's" eyelids twitched, as though he were about to wake.
"Blow his head off!" Han Xiao said grimly.
Lambert immediately shot the faceless man dead.
Han Xiao kept repeating the process, picking out the next faceless man to change every time. Li Yalin and Lin Yao were astonished, but they suppressed their questions and followed Han Xiao's instructions, doing exactly as he told them.
Though they had no idea how Han Xiao knew Black Spider's secret, that did not stop them from trusting his judgment.
When they reached the last faceless man, Han Xiao said, "Don't kill him. Break his arms and legs."
The three of them did as told without objection.
This time, the last faceless man transformed completely into Black Spider. He snapped his eyes open and said in shock, "How did you know about my ability?!"
[Clone Parasitism], Black Spider's ability!
At regular intervals, Black Spider could create a faceless clone. The clones had no intelligence, but as long as they were within a certain range of his true body, they could follow simple orders. Otherwise, they fell asleep.
Each clone was another life for Black Spider. He could repeatedly revive in the nearest available clone, and as long as he had a clone, he could not die.
The ability had no offensive power, but it made him extraordinarily hard to kill, like an indestructible cockroach. His ability had altered the very nature of his existence: his flesh could no longer contain him, and his true body had become a mass of psychic energy residing in the clones he created.
As long as a clone existed, he could not be killed by physical means!
Black Spider could not believe it. He had never revealed his ability to anyone else. It was the secret he depended on for survival, so how had it gotten out?!
Could it be that he had been too active recently, causing someone to get an inkling of his ability?
Han Xiao looked at Black Spider's stunned expression on the screen and chuckled. If it had been some obscure minor boss, he might really not have remembered, but in his previous life, Black Spider had been famously hard to kill, making him memorable.
Black Spider had barely developed his ability at this point, making it the best time to deal with him. Han Xiao could see that the ability had enormous potential for development, but in his previous life, Black Spider had died too early to bring it to a higher level.
How had he died, you asked?
Though Black Spider's ability was troublesome, it was far from impossible to counter. As long as his soul was pulverized on the psychic level, he would be dead for good. But as mentioned before, psychic espers were exceedingly rare on Planet Aquamarine, and players simply could not kill Black Spider. As a result, Planet Aquamarine's players had put him on the list of the "hardest bosses to kill in version 1.0."
Well, Black Spider himself had thought so too. Then he met Hila, and then... there was no then.
Esper Class abilities came in all shapes and sizes. Unlike the other four superhuman classes, players had to awaken through a gene serum before they could change classes, and only then did they need to learn Esper Class knowledge. Each player had only one chance to take a gene serum. If they failed, that account could never change to the Esper Class. The success rate depended on the type of serum.
Your hunch was right. This was one of those legendary paid items from the game store.
The gene serum with the lowest success rate cost a whopping 398 euros. The one with the highest success rate, the [Supreme Deluxe Perfect Gene Awakening Fluid], cost as much as 4,999 euros, and even that had only an 18% success rate at best, with no guarantee of the awakened ability's potential grade.
Sixty percent of the players who could afford a gaming pod could just about afford a gene serum if they gritted their teeth, and they would all try their luck at awakening an ability. The game company made a fortune from it.
Han Xiao had gritted his teeth and bought one in his previous life too, but given his luck, the result went without saying. In the end, he came to one conclusion: Esper Class players were either blessed by the RNG gods or winners in real life.
Black Spider soon calmed down and said viciously, "I have countless clones. Even if you destroy this body, you still can't kill me. But you? Even if you hide at the ends of the earth, don't expect a single peaceful day. Sooner or later, I'll snap your necks myself!"
Lambert raised his gun to shoot, but Han Xiao hurriedly stopped him and told Li Yalin, "Repeat after me..."
Following Han Xiao's instructions through her earpiece, Li Yalin copied his words, putting on an inscrutable expression as she said calmly, "Countless clones? Don't bluff. You can have fifty clones at most! There are ten corpses here. You left the others in hiding places all over the world as your trump cards."
Black Spider's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief. It was one thing to guess the basic workings of his ability, but the exact details were his deepest secret. There was no way anyone else could know them!
Someone knew everything about his ability!
Who? Who was it?!
Could it be... an esper who could read minds?
"As long as this clone of yours is alive, you can't revive. We can't kill you, but we can lock you up for the rest of your life!"
Black Spider's expression finally changed to one of horror, and he tried to bite through his tongue. Lambert beat him to it, dislocating his jaw.
Unable to kill himself, Black Spider stared daggers at Li Yalin, both shocked and furious.
"Scared now, are you?" Seeing Black Spider's shock, Li Yalin knew Han Xiao had been right about everything.
The three exchanged glances, the same thought occurring to all of them.
Who exactly was Han Xiao?
Why did the Thirteenth Bureau consider his identity confidential?
Why did he know such secret information?
Reinforcements soon arrived, put Black Spider in a straitjacket, and loaded him into a vehicle to take him away.
Meanwhile, back at headquarters, Han Xiao received a notification that the mission was complete.
[E-rank mission [Black Spider] complete. You have received 5,000 experience.] [Hidden objective: "Capture Black Spider" complete. Please select a special reward: 40,000 experience / Mind Stabilizer.]
The Mind Stabilizer increased mental resistance and provided a degree of immunity to telekinesis and psychic attacks. It was a mechanical device designed to counter magic civilizations.
Planet Aquamarine had no telekinesis or mage classes, and there were few psychic espers. The Mind Stabilizer had limited uses, so Han Xiao naturally chose the more practical 40,000 experience.
Hila? He probably would not face her for a long time.
[You have received 40,000 experience.]
"Not a bad haul." Han Xiao was delighted.
The three returned to the Secret Operations Department, and as soon as they entered, Li Yalin rushed over. Blinking her big eyes, she asked curiously, "How did you know about Black Spider's ability?"
Han Xiao smiled enigmatically. "Give me a million, and I'll tell you."
Li Yalin immediately deflated.
"By the way, what are you going to do with Black Spider?"
Lin Yao scratched his head. "I heard the higher-ups are sending him to Death Knell Island Prison. He'll wear a straitjacket around the clock and be kept alive on a liquid diet, so he won't be able to die even if he wants to."
Death Knell Island Prison was a supermax prison jointly established by the six nations. Isolated out at sea, with no way to escape, it held the most heinous figures: supercriminals, wandering warlords, powerful figures and leaders of underground forces, and so on.
Setting foot on the island was like hearing the death knell for one's life. Freedom was lost forever, and there was no way out except death. That was the meaning behind Death Knell Island's name.
Han Xiao was satisfied with this arrangement. Black Spider's ability really was a thorny problem, and being targeted by a madman who could not be killed would mean a lot of trouble down the road.
Their first operation had been a perfect success, and the team had developed a little rapport. After saying goodbye to one another, they prepared to head their separate ways and go home.
Just then, Feng Jun walked over, looking helpless.
"The Internal Affairs Department wants you to undergo a review."
Seeing that something was wrong, Han Xiao asked, "Wasn't my joining the bureau already approved?"
"Internal Affairs has requested a second review of you. Uh, that's within their legitimate authority, so the higher-ups have no reason to object. Besides, as you know, your former identity is rather sensitive."
Feng Jun lowered his voice. "There are two camps among the higher-ups when it comes to you. The conservatives, including the Intelligence Department and Logistics Department, favor friendly cooperation with you, but the hardliners led by Internal Affairs don't see it that way. I'm afraid they'll hold you back."
Han Xiao understood. Wherever there were people, there was bound to be intrigue.
At the Internal Affairs Department, Han Xiao had his height and weight measured before being taken to an interrogation room for a one-on-one investigation by an Internal Affairs reviewer.
"Name."
"Han Xiao."
"Sex."
"Female."
A vein bulged on the reviewer's forehead, but he decided to let it go.
"Age."
"Thirty... oh, no, thirty-one."
The reviewer slammed the table and shouted, "Cooperate!"
Han Xiao said casually, "Don't bother asking about my sex and age. You don't care about those things anyway. Why not skip straight to the background check?"
The reviewer snorted angrily. "Moving on. Family relations."
"I'm an orphan. I have no relatives."
"Where were you born?"
"Mount Buzhou."
"Nonsense! We found no record of your birth!"
Sure enough, no one in another world would get the reference.
Han Xiao smacked his lips. "Ask your superior."
The higher-ups could hardly reveal confidential information about him to ordinary members. This review was just a formality; Internal Affairs merely wanted to warn him, or rather, annoy him.
The reviewer listened to instructions through his earpiece and dropped the matter. Holding back his anger, he began the psychological assessment.
The assessment consisted of questions describing various scenarios and asking Han Xiao to make choices. Han Xiao answered them at random, and the reviewer sealed the records to submit to the higher-ups. That concluded the review.
The reviewer suddenly said coldly, "We in Internal Affairs will be watching you at all times. Don't let us catch you slipping."
"So you can't do anything to me right now, is that it?" Han Xiao raised an eyebrow, turned around and patted his butt at the reviewer, then left in high spirits.
The reviewer's face turned livid. Veins bulged on the hand gripping the records, and his knuckles cracked.