Peerless Bodyguard of a Stunning Beauty

Listening to Zhao Rong’s words, Yu Lan had a flash of insight. ”Zhao Rong, I get it now!” she said. ”You lured the clone up here to lock him in the bathroom. You’re going to interrogate him to find the mastermind, right?”

Zhao Rong nodded. ”You’re right, Yu Lan. That’s exactly the plan.”

Lili gave Zhao Rong a thumbs-up. ”Zhao Rong, you’re a master of misdirection! We really thought your assistant was a real person. I can’t believe how convincing your act was. You actually managed to trick him into the bathroom and catch him!”

Just then, the real assistant walked in. He was looking at his chat history with Zhao Rong on his phone as he spoke. ”Zhao Rong, thank goodness you warned me,” he said. ”Otherwise, I would’ve definitely been tricked by those crooks on my way here.”

As it turned out, when Zhao Rong discovered that a mastermind was lurking inside the Magic Academy and using clones to target them, he had immediately sent the full story to his assistant via WeChat, warning him to be vigilant. Following the plan, the assistant had beaten them at their own game, overcoming numerous challenges and tricking several people before finally finding Zhao Rong’s dormitory.

Cold sweat dripped from the assistant’s forehead. He said with lingering fear, ”Zhao Rong, you have no idea. On my way in from outside the Magic Academy just now, I ran into six men who looked exactly like you.

”I saw seven women who looked exactly like Lili.

”Eight women who looked exactly like Xue Lianmei.

”Fifteen women who looked exactly like Yu Lan.

”And twenty men who looked just like me!”

Hearing the assistant’s report, Zhao Rong felt a chill run down his spine. He did a quick mental calculation and said, ”My god... I had no idea the villain had already cloned so many of us. It looks like we have a fierce battle ahead.”

Lili’s expression was grim. ”It seems this ultimate mastermind has been hiding in the shadows, cloning us this whole time.”

Yu Lan voiced her speculation. ”Zhao Rong, do you think it’s possible that the ultimate mastermind is the headmaster of the Magic Academy?”

Xue Lianmei felt it was highly likely. ”I think the headmaster is extremely suspicious,” she said. ”Didn’t you notice how overly enthusiastic he was when he welcomed us? It was a little too much.

”Moreover, while arranging our dormitories, he kept deliberately brushing up against us. He was trying to collect our DNA to analyze it, find our genetic sequences and maps, and then use that information to create clones to harm us.”

Hearing the two women, Zhao Rong shook his head. ”I don’t think it’s the headmaster. It’s just a gut feeling.”

With that said, Zhao Rong walked to the bathroom door, opened it, and dragged out the conscious clone of his assistant. After tying him up securely, he began the interrogation. ”Alright, clone,” he said, ”start talking. Who’s the mastermind pulling the strings?”

But before Zhao Rong could even finish his question, the clone bit down on something hidden in the collar of his shirt. He swallowed a dose of hydrogen chloride, spat out a mouthful of blood, and died on the spot.

Seeing the clone commit suicide, Zhao Rong sighed in frustration. ”It seems trying to get any clues from the clones is impossible.”

Lili asked, ”Zhao Rong, how are we supposed to find any clues now? We can’t just stumble around in the dark like headless chickens.”

Yu Lan’s eyes lit up, reminding him. ”Zhao Rong, you’re forgetting something!” she said. ”Whenever we’re at our most desperate, you just have to pull out your phone, and we three immediately feel a glimmer of hope! So please, take out your phone now, open the Paradise Shopping Cart, and find a weapon that can get us out of this mess.”

Taking Yu Lan’s advice, Zhao Rong promptly pulled out his phone, opened the Paradise Shopping Cart app, and typed into the search bar: Mastermind Terminator.

Instantly, a listing for a tiny robot appeared on the screen.

When the three women and the assistant saw the tiny robot, they were baffled. ”Zhao Rong, is that little toy robot really the ’Mastermind Terminator’?”

It was Zhao Rong’s first time buying something like this, so he was just as uncertain. ”I have no idea if this thing will work,” he admitted, ”but it’s the number-one bestseller. Let’s just buy it and give it a shot. Who knows, maybe it’ll work a miracle.”

With that, Zhao Rong tapped ’Purchase’.

The moment the purchase went through, the seller used a high-speed delivery cannon to fire the small robot directly to Zhao Rong’s location.

When Zhao Rong got his hands on the Mastermind Terminator, he examined it curiously. ”I have no idea how this thing is supposed to work,” he mused. ”How is it supposed to find the mastermind?”

Lili remained skeptical. ”If the mastermind could be found that easily, there wouldn’t be any villains left in the world, and espionage wouldn’t exist.”

Xue Lianmei also had her doubts. ”Zhao Rong, I think the seller tricked you,” she said. ”People who sell things online often buy their own products to inflate the sales figures. And you, Zhao Rong, you never buy the best or the most expensive item—you always buy the one with the highest sales. You don’t realize that those top sellers could have fake numbers. The sales data might not be real at all.”

Meanwhile, Yu Lan stepped forward, cradling the robot in her hands. She tried talking to it. ”Hey robot, can you tell me... are you really as amazing as they say?”

Before Yu Lan could even finish her sentence, the robot replied, its voice clear. ”My dear masters, how may I be of assistance?”

When Zhao Rong and the three women heard the robot speak, they realized it was a true A.I. They exclaimed in surprise, ”I can’t believe we actually bought a high-tech artificial intelligence robot from the Paradise Shopping Cart! This is an incredible bargain!”

With that, Zhao Rong began to study the instruction manual, preparing to unleash the Mastermind Terminator to find and eliminate their hidden foe.