Card Room (Rebirth)

That night, the group acted separately.

Shao Qingge and Ye Qi rushed to the orphanage overnight and found a big tree at the entrance. After so many years, the tree branches and leaves were lush and the trunk was thicker than the waist of an adult. Ye Qi and Shao Qingge exchanged looks before immediately digging around the roots of the tree. It didn’t take long for the two of them to dig out the wish bottle.

Ye Qi opened the wish bottle. It was filled with a smart chip for storing data.

At the same time, Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang wore the invisibility cloak and infiltrated the top floor of the Royal Star Hospital mentioned by Zhang Shaohua.

The door of the laboratory was closed tightly. There was a long corridor in front of the door with infrared detectors on both sides of the corridor walls. The door had a strict verification system that scanned pupils and checked fingerprints. If the verification was incorrect then sirens would be triggered… they couldn’t get in at all.

How could they open this door?

The two people thought about it for a moment before Yu Hanjiang spoke to Xiao Lou through Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings, “We can’t enter through the door but we can try to enter from the ceiling. A laboratory on the top floor will always have air conditioning vents.”

Xiao Lou understood the meaning. “Use Thumbelina to become smaller and then get in through the vents?”

Yu Hanjiang nodded and simply said, “Go!”

This method was amazing. The two of them immediately left the main door and climbed to the top of the building using the light footwork card. Then they used Liu Qiao’s Thumbelina card to reduce their size, found the vent for the air conditioner and quickly entered.

Two people the size of a thumb passed through the vent of the air conditioner smoothly. They entered the internal ducts of the building and jumped down from the air conditioner into the top floor laboratory.

There wasn’t much evidence left in this laboratory.

Apparently, someone had cleaned up here.

The laboratory was clean and tidy with many common instruments used in scientific experiments. There were no traces of nutrient solutions, glassware, cells or clones.

If outsiders entered then their first reaction would be that this was a very ordinary laboratory.

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang circled the laboratory and found no evidence in it.

Yu Hanjiang wondered through the mind channel, “Could it be that they abandoned this place and moved the cloning laboratory somewhere else?”

Xiao Lou looked around. He had a strange feeling. “The most dangerous place is the safest place. If insiders come here and find that the laboratory has changed a lot, the first reaction will be ‘they must’ve changed locations’ and then stop investigating. Perhaps it’s like they’re hiding the truth behind a mirage and the only thing we are seeing right now is the mirage itself?”

Yu Hanjiang thought about it and agreed. “It makes sense. We will search carefully. Perhaps there is another secret room in the laboratory.”

The two of them continued to search for suspicious mechanisms in the walls and the ground but nothing was found.

Xiao Lou stood in the middle of the laboratory and looked around carefully. “Don’t you think this laboratory is too small in size?”

Yu Hanjiang was startled. “Is the area smaller?”

“The size of the lobby on the first floor when we entered the hospital was very large. This building is a standard cubic building. It stands to reason that the area of the top floor should be the same as the first floor. Yet this laboratory… the area is only around 80% of the size of the first floor. A large number of instruments and equipment are placed here, making it easy to visually misjudge that the narrow space is due to the crowding effect of too much equipment.”

Xiao Lou quickly moved through the laboratory from beginning to end with measured steps. “However, distance won’t deceive people. I have just measured it with my footsteps. The first floor is 40 meters long and 10 meters wide. The top floor is 35 meters long and 10 meters wide.”

Perhaps it was because he was usually in a forensic laboratory that Xiao Lou was sensitive to laboratory space. Yu Hanjiang heard this and immediately reacted. “The missing length is five meters. There is a hidden room in here!”

Xiao Lou suggested, “Let’s carefully search the east end and west end.”

The width of 10 meters hadn’t changed but the length of 40 meters was shortened to 35 meters. Where was the remaining space of 5 meters x 10 meters? It must be a hidden secret room.

Yu Hanjiang went east and Xiao Lou west.

Soon, Yu Hanjiang heard Xiao Lou’s voice from the Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings channel. “I found it!”

The westernmost wall looked like a wall but it was actually a huge hidden door that was opened and closed using a nearby instrument. This instrument happened to be the computer for genetic sequencing. Xiao Lou turned on the instrument and entered the password Noah’s Ark, which was the first line of Morse code left to Shao Qingge by his father.

The whole wall opened slowly.

Xiao Lou saw a shocking scene.

In this space of nearly 50 square meters were two coffin-sized glass containers standing quietly, filled with a blue nutrient solution.

Xiao Lou couldn’t be more familiar with the two people lying quietly inside the containers.

One was his father.

***

The information found among the merpeople was missing the parts about the emperor and Xiao Rou.

The data found with the bugs was based on the merpeople’s data and included the plans of chip implantation and the bug gene improvement. Some clones had the invisibility of the merpeople and could be produced in a streamlined manner.

The invisible man was originally from version 3.0.

This was an artificially manufactured product after optimizing the genes of the three major races.

The invisible man who sneaked into the Twin Palaces was obviously a tool controlled by the star thief leader Rod Bell with the chip. He left Xiao Lou with the words ‘the one who lives to the end is the winner’ in order to lead Xiao Lou to leave the palace and go to Azure Planet to investigate. This way, he could implement the hunting plan for Xiao Lou’s team.

On the merpeople’s side, if Liu Qiao wasn’t smart and Xiao Lou wasn’t cautious enough, they would’ve all died in the deep sea. After the failure of the first hunting plan, the hunters used the clone of Chu Huaying to lead Xiao Lou’s group to the starship and they almost died along with the starship’s crash!

From the beginning, the invisible man who sneaked into the Twin Palaces was a trap.

Now the truth had finally come out.

***

There was one day left until the wedding between the crown prince and Lin Yan.

Xiao Lou once again called his teammates to determine the plan of action for the wedding day.

On August 1st, the weather was clear and cloudless.

Prince Xiao Lou and Miss Lin Yan set off from the palace. The prince was wearing luxurious clothing and looked elegant. The prince’s fiancee wore a white wedding dress that was bright and moving. The two of them walked hand in hand along the red carpet and looked very well matched.

They received the blessing of the people and boarded a luxurious carriage from the imperial palace.

The carriage took the two people all the way to Jinsha Castle and entered the most sacred church.

Lin Yan’s father, General Lin Zecheng and her mother, Professor Zhang Shaohua were the only relatives and friends accompanying them.

Zhang Shaohua had been pretending to be stupid for years and she had a dull expression. Therefore, General Lin specifically gave her a half-veil hat that covered her face, lest she lose her manners at the wedding.

Lu Jiuchuan and Tang Ci pretended to be guards and followed General Lin and his wife.

To the surprise of the two, Xiao Rou actually came.

It wasn’t known how she persuaded Prince Herman but she came to her brother’s wedding in person and walked beside the emperor.

The guests entered the church and took their seats in turn.

Chu Huaying had sneaked into the church in advance and secretly kidnapped the priest, replacing him.

She dressed as a man and wore a priest’s hat as she read aloud the oath, “Today, we are gathered here under the gaze of God to witness the wedding of Prince Xiao Lou and Miss Lin Yan. This is a sacred, pious and serious moment. If anyone has any reason to oppose their union, please step forward now or remain silent forever…”

During the oath, the priest asked if anyone had any objections but it was just a routine. Xiao Lou and Lin Yan stood in front of the priest and neither of them took it seriously.

Yet the moment Chu Huaying’s words finished, a clear voice suddenly rang out inside the church, “I object.”

Everyone at the scene looked back in unison.

Xiao Lou, dressed in the same white royal clothing as the groom, walked forward on the red carpet. Next to him was Yu Hanjiang, the captain of the royal guards in a handsome military uniform.

The entire audience was stunned.

How… how come there were two crown princes?

The two people looked exactly the same and no differences could be seen in their facial expression. However, the prince who came from outside the church was calm and composed in his steps. His innate dignity was brilliantly set off by his suitably tailored clothing.

He walked under the sunlight, surrounded by a golden halo.

On the other hand, the expression of the Xiao Lou standing in the shadows of the church suddenly became a bit gloomy.

The eyes of the two men met in the air. Xiao Lou smiled and said, “Clones can never replace the real person. The order of the human world shouldn’t be broken by scientific experiments without an ethical bottom line.”

His words were so incomprehensible that the guests at the scene were puzzled.

The emperor sitting in the front row suddenly stood up. “Somebody, come and capture this man who dares to impersonate the crown prince!”

The moment the emperor spoke, the guards didn’t even have time to respond when Yu Hanjiang already acted. He raised his gun and moved to the emperor’s side in an instant. He used one hand across the emperor’s chest to control him while the other hand held the gun against the emperor’s head. “Who dares to move?”

At General Lin’s side, Lu Jiuchuan and Tang Ci acted at the same time and quickly subdued Lin Zecheng!

Chu Huaying, who had been reading the oath, came behind the fake Xiao Lou unnoticed and pressed the spider dagger against his neck. She whispered, “Don’t move.”

Lin Yan was frightened and dismayed. “Who are you? Is this a rebellion plot?”

Xiao Lou waved calmly. Tang Ci enlarged the projection screen with his communicator. The two video meetings of the Noah’s Ark project more than 20 years ago were clearly presented in front of everyone.

“Cloning humans is like copying data. We are just making our own data backups!”

“However, can these clones be treated as human beings?”

”We can guarantee that they won’t enter human society…”

The voices of the young emperor, General Lin and many familiar faces in the meeting room 20 years ago echoed clearly in the church.

The senior military officials, government officials and businessmen present turned pale.

Xiao Lou looked at Princess Xiao Rou sitting in the front row and said softly, “Sister, I was personally brought up by you when our mother became ill. You are the only one who can prove who is the real prince and who is the clone.”

Xiao Rou stood up calmly. She looked between Xiao Lou and the Xiao Lou held hostage by Chu Huaying. A moment later, she took a deep breath and pointed to the Xiao Lou who was taken hostage by Chu Huaying. “He is my brother because my brother’s forehead has never been scarred. You are the clone and you have a scar on your head from an accident.”

Xiao Lou touched the scarred corner of his forehead, his face still holding a smile.

Sure enough.

If he hadn’t guessed in advance that Xiao Rou had a problem, Xiao Lou would’ve definitely been caught off guard by Xiao Rou. Yet now looking at Xiao Rou performing hard in front of him, he just found it ridiculous.

Xiao Lou asked her, “Where is Rod Bell?”

Xiao Rou was stunned. “What are you talking about?”

Xiao Lou said, “Is he manipulating you through the chip? My cloned sister.”

Before Xiao Rou could respond, Xiao Lou made a gesture and Chu Huaying suddenly acted.

The speed of the spider queen wasn’t comparable to most people. Huaying was the best at moving like a ghost. Before the people in the church could see what was going on, Chu Huaying flashed behind Xiao Rou and cut off her right hand with the sharp spider dagger!

A shrill scream broke out as people saw the slender hand fall to the ground and roll along the red carpet to Xiao Lou’s foot.

“Ahhh—”

The guests were stunned by the changes at the wedding.

Many people at the scene instinctively wanted to escape but they were forced back by Tang Ci’s mechanical spiders. Long Sen, who was responsible for guarding the church today, stood at the entrance and directly sealed it with Old Mo’s marble brick.

None of them could run away!

Xiao Rou’s face was as pale as paper as she screamed, “What are you doing, you imposter?!”

Xiao Lou looked at her severed hand. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

A few seconds later, the blood from Xiao Rou’s cut wrist completely solidified. The wound suddenly began to heal. From the cut area… a new hand grew.

The white, thin fingers grew from the cut parts like the buds of a plant. The skin was as smooth as jade.

Everyone who saw this scene sucked in a breath.

“Oh my god, how did her hand grow out?”

“Am I having a hallucination?”

”H-Her broken hand is still on the ground but she has a new one?”

The guests at the scene couldn’t believe this bizarre sight.

Xiao Lou said, “The biggest difference between a clone and human being is that the body heals automatically after injury. No matter how good you act, you can’t hide this instinct. This is your advantage but it has also become a sign to identify you.”

The moment he finished speaking, Lu Jiuchuan shot General Lin Zecheng in the head. Chu Huaying moved like the wind behind Xiao Lou and Lin Yan and cut off their fingers. Yu Hanjiang even shot the emperor’s head in public view!

The situation was completely out of control!

Long Sen had built a circular marble wall outside the door to stop the guards from supporting the emperor. There were only a few guests who entered the wedding venue and this incident surprised all those present.

Then they saw that the bodies of the emperor, General Lin, Prince Xiao Lou and Lin Yan actually healed.

The emperor was shot in the head but not only was he alive but the wound on his head was restored to its original state?

The emperor’s eyes instantly turned red. He stared viciously at Xiao Lou and ordered in a low voice, “Kill him.”

In the present situation, there was no need for acting. Several clones rushed fiercely toward Xiao Lou as if someone pressed the start button.

Yu Hanjiang immediately rushed to Xiao Lou’s side and held him to narrowly avoid the attacks of Xiao Rou and the emperor.

A soft piano piece was suddenly heard from outside the church.

It was Ye Qi. He estimated the distance of 100 meters and played the piano outside the church so that no one inside the church could move. His teammates such as Xiao Lou couldn’t use cards but they could continue to move.

Xiao Lou walked to the position where the priest had been just now and glanced around the church. “You have seen the videos about the Noah’s Ark project. You should already know who proposed this and what they are studying.”

“My father, the emperor, experienced the pain of losing a son and decided to clone me as a backup. Unexpectedly, this plan was used by people with other interests. Now, the clones are already humanoid weapons. Some people want the clones with evolutionary capabilities to replace humans and rule the world. We must stop this crazy plan.”

“From today onward, I will inherit the throne of the Locke Empire. It is time for these fake and shoddy clones to disappear completely from our eyes.”

He looked at Yu Hanjiang and Yu Hanjiang spoke to Ye Qi through Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings.

At the moment when Ye Qi’s piano playing stopped, Yu Hanjiang, Lu Jiuchuan, Chu Huaying and Tang Ci acted simultaneously. They poured the prepared alcohol on the clones and set them on fire right then and there. The clones let out heart-wrenching screams as the flames swept over their bodies.

These screams sounded extremely weird. There was a human voice that was mixed in with the roars of the bugs.

The people present looked away, their expressions extremely ugly.

Xiao Lou, the crown prince, actually burned the emperor and usurped the throne in public? There had been many royal battles since the founding of the empire but this was the first time that a prince like Xiao Lou had appeared…

The shocking truth was in front of them but it was difficult for everyone to accept and digest for a while.

The emperor, the crown prince, his fiancee, the princess, General Lin…

The guests watched these people gradually becoming charcoal and were afraid to take a breath.

Xiao Lou looked at the people in the church. “The whole thing will be explained to you by Major General Yu, the captain of the Royal Guards and Major General Lu Jiuchuan, the captain of the Arrow Corps. Regarding today’s wedding, the media won’t report a word about it. Everyone present shouldn’t remember too much, right?”

Xiao Lou looked calm standing on the stage but the implied majesty in his voice shocked people.

The young crown prince was now the only heir to the throne.

The real emperor had dominated the Noah’s Ark plan and thought he was clever enough to make a clone of himself. He never expected that one day, he would be backstabbed by his own clone.

Now he could only lie in the cold culture solution in a coma.

Those who challenged the bottom line would end up facing the consequences.

Partially proofread: Paranoid Kitten

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