A Manual for Surviving a Weird World

Chapter 369 Ji Boying is Ji Bochang
Above the sea of ​​suffering, the misty waves stretch endlessly.

Beneath the sea of ​​suffering, all beings are sinking into oblivion.

The ferryman's bamboo pole gradually slowed down, the small boat beneath him slowed down, and a thud came from the bow, as if it had hit something.

Ning Zhe raised his head thoughtfully. The fog in front of him gradually dissipated, and a concrete dam tens of meters high emerged from the fog. The words "Qin Fen" were clearly engraved in red on the gray-white dam body.

"Qinfen Reservoir?" Xia Yubing stared at the concrete dam above her head, her eyes unblinking.

She actually came back here...

Ning Zhe looked around and confirmed that the two of them were at the foot of the Qinfen Reservoir dam. They could get off the small wooden boat at the dock and walk directly into the dam's staff maintenance passage. After crossing the dam, Xia Yubing's hometown was at the bottom of the reservoir.

“Let’s disembark here.” Ning Zhe took out a folded notepad and handed it to Xia Yubing: “Go give this to your aunt. I remember that your Xia family’s main business is in Qinfen City. You should be able to find her here.”

Xia Yubing took the note: "Aren't you coming with me?"

“I have other things to do.” Ning Zhe shook his head: “After you get ashore, open your notebook and turn to the latest page. It says today’s fortune. After you finish reading it, tear that paper off and burn it. Then, do your best to complete the ‘auspicious’ tasks on it in a way that is as inconspicuous as possible. We both need luck today.”

Xia Yubing nodded solemnly: "Understood."

"Very good." Ning Zhe nodded and didn't say anything more.

A passenger disembarked, and the ferryman picked up his bamboo pole again, poled it away from the shore, and Xia Yubing stood on the bank watching the small boat disappear into the mist, her heart filled with unease: "Am I helping him like this?"

Unable to find an end to her thoughts, Xia Yubing turned and left.

A hazy mist filled the view once more. Ning Zhe leaned against the side of the boat, looking down at the shimmering sea below. Underwater, a construction site was underway, a couple was paying respects to the dead in a cemetery, and a girl sat by the window, lost in thought, as if waiting for someone.

Ning Zhe waited quietly until another body of water appeared beneath the surface.

"Yunmengze..."

A loud bang came from ahead, and the small boat had reached the shore.

Ning Zhe looked up at the sky, and the fog above him dissipated, revealing the Hanjiang Bridge with its suspended steel cables slowly emerging from the mist. Ning Zhe leaped from the small boat and onto a bridge pier. Looking back now, the old boat and the ferryman on its pole had vanished without a trace.

"Back in Yundu?" Ning Zhe squinted at the golden reflection of the sun on the Han River, then leaped into the river and disappeared as quickly as a fish.

There is a time difference of more than 6 hours between Vivian Port and Yundu. Ning Zhe left Vivian Port at a little after 2 a.m., but arrived in Yundu at 9 a.m.

Following the Han River downstream, Ning Zhe disembarked at a deserted riverbank outside Yundu City. As he walked, he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and wrote a line on it with a pencil:

[I've arrived in Yundu.] A reply quickly appeared on the paper: [Come find me at the West Suburbs Science and Technology Park.]

Ning Zhe did not reply. He burned the paper to ashes and then transformed into a peregrine falcon, flying straight to the western suburbs of Yundu City.

Yundu City West Suburbs Science and Technology Park is an industry invested and established by Ji Bochang during his lifetime. It houses many emerging technology companies, mainly in the field of biomedicine. The core is naturally Yunshan Pharmaceutical Group, which is 41% owned by Ji Bochang himself. They secretly conduct research and clone human bodies here for Ji Bochang to deceive the God of Wealth and earn copper coins.

After Ji Bochang died, Lan Shiwen confiscated his property, and all of his shares and businesses were taken over by the Yunzhou government. Now, this place can be considered a semi-state-owned enterprise.

Upon arriving at the entrance of the science park, Ning Zhe switched to the identity of Yu Ziqian and encountered no obstacles along the way. Accompanied by several armed guards, he entered the circular dome in the center of the science park. Afterward, the guards stayed at the entrance to stand guard, while Ning Zhe passed through three layers of security doors alone and arrived at the hive where Ji Bochang used to store his clones.

Lan Shiwen had been waiting here for a long time.

"Time is of the essence, so I won't waste any more words. Ji Boying is inside. How much you can get out of him depends entirely on your abilities." Lan Shiwen led Ning Zhe to a huge rectangular glass window. Through the window, one could see a thin old man with white hair and beard and a wrinkled face imprisoned inside. At first glance, he looked exactly like Ji Boying in his lifetime.

"You really are twins, Ji Boying and his brother Ji Bochang look exactly alike," Ning Zhe said thoughtfully.

Lan Shiwen shook his head and corrected, "They're not brothers, they're the relationship between a clone and the original. Ji Boying is Ji Bochang. Ji Bochang cloned himself tens of thousands of times and finally created this monster as his escape route when he had nowhere else to go."

"I've figured it out." Ning Zhe nodded.

Those who have ascended to higher status have no concept of kinship, yet Ji Bochang sent his younger brother to Europe early on and spared no expense in spending a large amount of copper coins to cultivate relationships for him, just so that his 'brother' could gain a foothold in a foreign land... Ji Bochang didn't even care about the life and death of his own children, so how could he treat his younger brother so generously?

Unless this so-called younger brother was actually himself from the beginning.

“But then again, if Ji Boying is a clone of himself created by Ji Bochang, doesn’t that mean he didn’t actually have a twin brother?” Ning Zhe frowned and asked, “You guys haven’t noticed this suspicious point all this time? Is this all the government is capable of?”

Lan Shiwen shook his head: "I'm sorry you guessed wrong, because Ji Bochang really did have a twin brother, whose name was also Ji Boying. However, Ji Bochang killed him and replaced him with his own clone."

"A ruthless person." Ning Zhe nodded with satisfaction: "No wonder you were able to fool your eyes."

"Alright, I didn't call you here for idle chatter." Lan Shiwen looked displeased. "Your methods won't hold Fenwu back for long. He'll realize it soon enough. We don't have much time. If you hadn't assured me so confidently that you could extract something from Ji Boying's mind, I wouldn't have risked cooperating with you like this. You must hurry up and interrogate him."

"Look, you're in such a hurry again." Ning Zhe smiled slightly: "Thank you for your trouble, I've already asked."

Lan Shiwen was slightly taken aback, a hint of surprise flashing across his eyes: "It seems I underestimated you."

Lan Shiwen looked through the glass window at Ji Boying in the room. This clone of Ji Boying was still sitting quietly on the bed, his casual gaze occasionally glancing towards the window, completely unaware of the two people standing outside the window.

(End of this chapter)