Looking at Wen Yuās retreating figure, Sequence Number 1 curled his lip.
"How rude. He left without even a goodbye."
Lin Haifeng stared at Wen Yuās retreating back, an unreadable light flickering in his eyes.
"Can you kill him?"
"Why? It seems youāre not as indifferent as you claimed just now."
Lin Haifeng remained silent. After a long moment, he heaved a deep sigh.
"Although the plan was made long ago... he is, after all, my son... Seeing Kuangliuās corpse now, my heart aches terribly..."
A hint of mockery touched the corners of Sequence Number 1ās eyes as he spoke unsparingly, "And what were you doing before this became a problem?"
Lin Haifeng remained silent.
After a while, he rubbed his temples heavily.
"Never mind. Kuangliu didnāt die in vain; at least he managed to hold Wen Yu in check for a while. By the way, can you actually kill Wen Yu?"
"Yes!"
Sequence Number 1 nodded confidently.
"Thereās a twenty percent chance of successfully killing him. Due to the existence of the Netherworld, thereās a seventy-nine percent chance heāll escape. The remaining one percent? Thatās the chance I lose to him. So, want to gamble on those odds?"
"Would you kill him?"
"No."
Sequence Number 1 nodded confidently again, then stated firmly, "Absolutely not! I hold no grudges against him. Why should I, for your sake, provoke such a formidable troublemaker?"
"Then letās drop it. Weāll put Wen Yu aside for now; we donāt have any good methods to deal with him at the moment."
Hearing Lin Haifeng say this, Sequence Number 1 grinned, baring his white teeth. "A wise decision."
"By the way, how are things with Kasu?"
"Heās stubbornly refusing, what else did you expect? Surely you donāt plan to use such tactics to trick Kasu, do you? Let me be clear upfront: I wonāt assist you with these kinds of underhanded schemes."
"Forget about him. Notify Qin Min, and have Fang Bai and Michael return as well. Halt the pursuit of Akad."
"What? Has the situation changed again?"
Lin Haifeng nodded in confirmation. "The Sequence Control Plan has been a miserable failure, I must admit. Weāve reached a point where Wen Yu and Akad have openly turned against us. Even Kasu is full of grievances. The plan is temporarily halted. Moreover, I need to deal with some destabilizing elements within the Earth Community, and for that, Iāll need your capabilities. Your workload might increase significantly in the near future."
"The capable always have more to do. I donāt mind."
Then, Sequence Number 1 muttered under his breath, "I just wonder if you, old fox, will try to pull the same tricks on me..."
Lin Haifeng didnāt hear him clearly. "What did you say?"
"I said, no matter how much I contribute, itās nothing compared to what youāve put in," Sequence Number 1 chuckled.
...
Lin Haifeng once again glanced at Kuangliuās and Claireās bodies on the ground. The flicker of emotion that had just appeared in his eyes quickly vanished. After a moment, he spoke.
"Retrieve Kuangliuās and Claireās bodies. I want to extract their skills."
Sequence Number 1 nodded, unsurprised that Lin Haifeng possessed the means to extract skills from the dead.
"Condense!"
With that single word, the shattered remains of Kuangliu and Claire on the ground rapidly reformed. In less than three seconds, their complete bodies appeared before Sequence Number 1.
Their faces were peaceful, as if they were merely asleep, showing no trace of the battle.
Looking at Kuangliu, who seemed to be peacefully sleeping, a complex expression flickered in Lin Haifengās eyes. He sighed and said, "You... you should have resurrection authority, right?"
Sequence Number 1 nodded. "Yes, but are you sure you want the kind of resurrection service provided by the Dominator? Itās akin to a perfect Clone. That method of resurrection leaves them without a Soul. They canāt use the Exchange Stone Pillar; theyāre merely robots in human skin. They are currently Level 5 and Level 4, and they would remain at those levels for their entire lives. Plus, if you extract their skills, theyāll be resurrected as utterly helpless weaklings."
Lin Haifeng was silent for a long moment before speaking softly, "Then, let me ask you something... If two of these so-called perfect Clones, revived as you described, were to have a child... would that child possess a Soul?"
Lin Haifengās question rendered Sequence Number 1 completely silent.
After a long pause, Sequence Number 1 shook his head. "I donāt know."
"Then letās try it... Kuangliu is dead, but his mission isnāt over! At the very least, Kuangliu must leave me an heir to inherit my bloodline and my will. Claire... she barely qualifies to be Kuangliuās wife. As for their strength, thatās no longer important..."
Sequence Number 1 considered this for a moment, then nodded.
"Whatās the official line for the American military?"
"Tell them Wen Yu killed Sequence Number 3 and Sequence Number 5. Their bodies were mangled together, inseparable, so you brought them back to be buried together."
"Alright. At least most of it is true."
Sequence Number 1 retrieved Kuangliuās and Claireās bodies into his space ring, then turned and departed.
In his office within the Yanjing Assembly Site, Lin Haifeng sat, gazing blankly into the distance, lost in thought.
After a while, Lin Haifeng solemnly took a photograph from his space ring.
It was a family portrait of four.
Gently caressing the smiling face of a young Kuangliu in the photograph, Lin Haifeng paused for a moment before taking out his communicator and dialing a number.
The line rangāBEEP, BEEP, BEEP. After a short while, a pleasant female voice came through the communicator.