Chapter 536: The Secret of the Sun King

Chapter 536: The Secret of the Sun King

The Sun King paused for a moment, his emotions stabilizing as he turned his gaze from the distant presidential palace back to the hall, taking in the mess he had made.

"Anthony!" he called out.

A female secretary immediately entered from outside the door.

She was an "Air Step" mutant, able to run at great speeds without making a sound, all while maintaining an elegant demeanor. With her exceptional looks and competent aura, she smiled respectfully at the Sun King and addressed him as, "Mr. President."

The Sun King held no official position within the American Federation, nor was he affiliated with the military. Yet, he possessed numerous prestigious titles.

He was the honorary chairman of the American Mutant Association, the chairman of the House Committee on Superhuman Affairs, and the president of the New Empire State Group, to name a few.

Depending on the occasion, he was addressed differently.

In private, Anthony preferred to be called "President," setting himself apart from the previous two Sun Kings.

"Irina, clean this mess up," Anthony ordered.

"Yes, sir," Irina replied.

Irina waved her hand towards the door, and a team of mutant cleaners swiftly entered with their tools, efficiently removing the trash, repairing the floor and walls, and restoring the hall to its former state with practiced ease, indicating that this was not their first time doing so.

The Sun King walked over to his large desk and sat down, not sparing the cleaners a glance as if they were invisible. "Irina, has there been any change in public opinion online?" he asked.

Irina's face stiffened momentarily before she carefully replied, "Mr. President, I've already asked the government to control public opinion. All the major media outlets in the country have been informed to be mindful of their stance to minimize negative impact."

"What about abroad?" the Sun King inquired further.

"The doubts in the Western Alliance and half of South America have been suppressed, but as for the other countries..." Irina's expression became difficult, and she did not continue.

"Hmph," the Sun King grunted, his eyes narrowing.

It went without saying that public opinion in other countries was highly unfavorable towards him, but the American Federation had no control over it, exceeding Irina's capabilities.

Not even the intervention of the President of the American Federation would have made a difference.

This was not merely an issue of propaganda and public opinion.

Ever since the top spot on the Global Power Ranking was snatched by Ji Xinghuo, the merger of South Asia into the Asia-Pacific Community, and now, the Sun King's clone being punched to pieces by Ji Xinghuo, with him dare not accepting the challenge—a series of blows had led many countries on Earth to believe that the American Federation's dominance was waning, and some had even switched sides, openly siding with the Asia-Pacific Community.

His image had been completely shattered!

"Mr. President," Irina chose her words carefully, "I've discussed this with several experts from the think tank, and we believe it's necessary for you to respond forcefully to Ji Xinghuo's provocation. This could help salvage some of your personal image."

"How do you suggest I respond?" The Sun King's eyebrows arched inquisitively.

"You don't have to fight Ji Xinghuo's main body directly. Defeating and killing one of his clones, filming it, and then editing and releasing the footage will be enough to break his undefeated image," Irina proposed.

The Sun King stroked his chin, considering her suggestion seriously.

In the end, he shook his head. "That's easier said than done."

Irina was perplexed.

"You haven't personally fought Ji Xinghuo, and as a super mutant yourself, you should understand how formidable his power is now," the Sun King explained, a hint of gloom passing through his eyes. "Even defeating a single clone would be extremely difficult."

Irina's face paled in horror.

As the Sun King's closest assistant and one of his lovers, she was also a core member of his think tank, granting her access to many confidential pieces of information.

Over the past few months, the intelligence department of the American Federation had been tirelessly gathering information on Ji Xinghuo and analyzing it.

It had been confirmed that Ji Xinghuo's clones were indeed shadow clones—a total of sixteen of them.

If even one shadow clone proved challenging to defeat, then there was no chance of killing Ji Xinghuo himself, not with the combined might of all sixteen shadow clones!

Previously, she had held absolute faith in the Sun King's strength and had made excuses for his refusal to engage in battle. But now, she finally understood the harsh truth—the Sun King's power truly paled in comparison to Ji Xinghuo's, and he was afraid.

Irina's heart sank in disappointment.

However, she skillfully masked her true thoughts, not revealing a hint of them to the Sun King.

Unaware of his assistant's inner turmoil, the Sun King continued, "He can shift between his shadow clones during battle, and a shadow clone can become the main body at any time, although there should be a distance limitation to that ability."

He looked at Irina. "Have someone pull up the traceable movement trajectories of each of Ji Xinghuo's shadow clones and perform a data analysis to calculate the distance for the shift."

"Yes, Mr. President," Irina replied, wisely taking her leave.

By the time the two had finished their conversation, the cleaners had already restored the hall to its original state, with the decorative pieces arranged identically to before.

However, when he switched to foreign websites, he was bombarded by that photo: in the sky, Ji Xinghuo trailed a dazzling lightning bolt, his fist exploding a cloud of blood. One could barely make out that it was a human form, and the eye-catching flag cape within the blood mist was unmistakable.

The flag cape of the American Federation—this had become an exclusive symbol of the Sun King.

There were also multiple other photos.

The standoff between the two in Asuncion, the high-speed pursuit before the punch, the tattered cape, Ji Xinghuo standing proudly in mid-air...

The Sun King propped his hand on his lips, trying to keep his emotions in check. His eyes, cold as water, quickly scanned through editorials from numerous major global media outlets and countless netizens' comments, almost unanimously mocking.

The term "Turtle King" appeared most frequently.

Every time he saw those words, the Sun King's eyelid twitched, and the muscles in his face involuntarily twitched as well.

But he couldn't help but continue reading, wanting to know if anyone was speaking in his defense.

There were indeed some.

However, they were very few, a proportion so low it could be ignored.

"Idiots!"

"Humans are all a bunch of stupid lower life forms!" The Sun King finally lost control and shouted angrily, "That was just one of my clones, and it wasn't even fully mature! It doesn't represent the strength of my main body!"

His eyes lit up with laser-like intensity, and he subconsciously wanted to unleash his anger and destroy something, but then he remembered that the office had just been repaired, so he held back.

"Hoo..."

The Sun King stood up, seething with anger.

After a long while, he took several deep breaths to calm himself down, but his expression remained grim.

"Ji Xinghuo."

"Ji Xinghuo..."

The Sun King muttered the name over and over, looking up at the eastern sky. It was dawn in North America, and the sunrise shone into the New Empire State Building, causing him to squint slightly.

However, what the Sun King didn't know was that at this very moment, Ji Xinghuo was over 4,000 kilometers away in space, watching his every move and listening to every word he said.

"Perplexing."

Ji Xinghuo found it amusing to hear the Sun King repeatedly calling out his name, as if he were gritting his teeth in rage.

It was like the fury of the powerless.

He didn't know what the previous two generations of Sun Kings had suspected in private, but this generation, Anthony John, had a personality that was vastly different from his public image. He was like an arrogant, sensitive, and cowardly man-child.

It was a wonder how the previous Sun Kings had chosen him as their successor.

However, Ji Xinghuo did not underestimate his opponent.

Based on the Sun King's conversation with Irina and his reaction when alone, it was clear that he had something up his sleeve.

Ji Xinghuo continued to watch.

At this moment, the Sun King entered the elevator and descended underground.

The New Empire State Building stood over 2,000 meters tall above ground, but it also extended more than 300 meters underground, creating a vast underground space divided into dozens of layers. It housed a small nuclear power plant that provided energy for the entire building and supported a superconductor shield array capable of withstanding a nuclear blast.

Below Level -20 lay the Sun King's true secret kingdom, accessible only to him.

Due to its depth underground, Ji Xinghuo's Macro Cosmic Eye could not completely see through it.

If not for his possession of the "Xuan Kun Giant Abyss," which allowed him to see through the void, many physical obstacles would have blocked his Macro Cosmic Eye.

In the Earth's space, the barriers were even more challenging to penetrate.

Ji Xinghuo had to concentrate and focus his Macro Cosmic Eye specifically on the underground of the New Empire State Building to vaguely see its interior, revealing the spatial layout and silhouettes of figures.

The Sun King descended to Level -40, the deepest basement level.

He walked alone through the corridors, inputting passwords and undergoing facial recognition scans. He passed through one heavy metal gate after another until he finally reached a sealed hall with an area of over 2,000 square meters. It resembled a laboratory.

"This should be the Sun King's secret!"

Ji Xinghuo's spirit lifted.

His Macro Cosmic Eye swept through the entire secret room, immediately noticing something unusual.

Firstly, there were rows upon rows of shelves that took up most of the space, hundreds of them, each standing at a height of seven or eight meters and divided into twenty layers. Each layer was filled with ether crystals, stacked like gold bars and shimmering with energy.

"So many ether crystals..."

Ji Xinghuo was astonished. He estimated that there were over 2 million ether crystals in this room.

"Where did he get such enormous wealth?" Ji Xinghuo's gaze turned grave. The Sun King wielded extraordinary power and influence in the American Federation, but he was just one man and couldn't monopolize all the power and wealth. The true power brokers behind the scenes were those dozen or so conglomerates.

Even if all the wealth of the American Federation were given to the Sun King, with Earth's power and channels in the Starry Realm, it still wouldn't be enough to amass this many ether crystals.

The Sun King must have close connections with a certain force in the Starry Realm!

Ji Xinghuo didn't delve further into this thought for the moment.

Because, in addition to the Sun King himself, there were three other people in this secret room.

However, they all looked exactly like the Sun King, with identical builds and wearing the same battle attire. They were the Sun King's clones. The three clones each lay on what resembled an operating table, their eyes closed as if they were asleep.

There were a total of four platforms, and one of them was empty.

The four platforms surrounded a massive machine in the center, occupying several square meters and standing several meters tall. It looked extremely heavy, its outer shell a combination of metal and some sort of biological material. Pipes connected it to the four platforms surrounding it.

Energy pipes ran from the machine's base, drawing energy from the building's small nuclear power plant to power the machine and the shelves, which were a part of it.

It drew energy from the ether crystals and transmitted it to the clones on the platforms.

The Sun King walked over to the machine.

A fleshy panel rose, and he operated it for a moment before turning to the empty platform and slicing open the veins on his arm, allowing his blood to drip into the groove in the center of the platform.

He stopped after losing about a liter of blood, and his wound healed.

Hmm...

The massive machine began to operate at high power, drawing electricity and energy from the ether crystals and channeling it into the platform.

The blood in the groove began to writhe and distort, as if something were trying to break free from within. After a few minutes, as the blood color faded, a human-shaped infant appeared on the platform.

On the adjacent shelf, over 50,000 ether crystals turned into stones.

Upon witnessing this, Ji Xinghuo immediately guessed that this must be some kind of cloning technology far surpassing Earth's scientific level.

The infant on the platform grew at a visible rate.

Soon, he became an adult.

His appearance and build were identical to the Sun King, but this was likely just an outer shell that was still absorbing energy to increase its strength.

The other three clones that had been created earlier were evidently more powerful.

"I wonder what percentage of the main body's combat strength they can ultimately reach?"

Ji Xinghuo's gaze fell on the machine, and he focused his Macro Cosmic Eye on it. After a few seconds, an interface popped up before his eyes.

[Treasure: Blood Pact Cloning Platform]



[Grade: Apocalypse Four-Star]



[Function: Create clones with one's own genes and energy, capable of reaching 100% of the main body's strength, possessing superpowers and stellar power. The maximum number of clones is four. Product of the Pan-Human Interstellar Alliance.]



Ji Xinghuo's heart trembled as he finished reading the information.

An Apocalypse Four-Star treasure! The value of weapons, equipment, and treasures of the Apocalypse grade increased exponentially with each additional star.

One-star and two-star items could still be purchased with ether crystals in places where resources were concentrated and powerful beings were numerous. As for Apocalypse Three-Star items, they were like a needle in a haystack and could be considered a clan's most prized possession. As for Apocalypse Four-Star, they were basically only in the hands of Saint-level Beast Tamers.

While this Blood Pact Cloning Platform was bulky, inconvenient to carry, and couldn't directly enhance a mutant's combat strength,

The clones it created were incredibly powerful!

They possessed 100% of the main body's combat strength.

There was also another restriction. The stronger the main body, the more energy was required for the clones to reach their full potential.

Since the Sun King was very strong, his clones required a massive amount of energy to mature fully, hence the vast number of ether crystals in this secret room, all meant to empower the four clones. Moreover, it would take a long time for them to reach maturity.

The Blood Pact Cloning Platform also had a drawback.

If it were destroyed, all the clones would die simultaneously.

"In that case..."

Ji Xinghuo pondered, realizing that destroying this Blood Pact Cloning Platform would be a surefire way to defeat the Sun King in the future.

As he was still considering how to deal with his opponent, he saw the Sun King standing in front of the newly formed clone, deep in thought. Suddenly, the Sun King stripped off his battle attire, and the other three clones crawled off their platforms.

"What the fck?!" Ji Xinghuo's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end