I am the Clone of a Death Row Inmate

“In short, the leader is always the strongest member of a race at any given time!”

This was the first time Su Ze had heard such a thing. ‘Every Intelligent Race has a leader, and they automatically possess the complete Origin Gene of their race?’

He suddenly made a connection. He had heard before that if a race’s strongest member was one of the Corrupted, the race would be in grave danger.

He hadn’t understood why before, but now, combined with this concept of a “Leader,” it all made sense.

‘If a race’s leader is a traitor… what would the consequences be?’

However, a new question popped into Su Ze’s mind. ‘If that’s the case, why haven’t I become the Leader of the Human Race?’

‘I’m already a Sun God. Could there really be someone in the Human Race stronger than me right now?’

‘Then again, it’s not impossible. The Human Race is deeply hidden, scattered and in hiding. Maybe some old relic even stronger than me is tucked away somewhere.’

Just as he had this thought, Mr. Ao spoke again. “To become a race’s leader, there are, of course, requirements and restrictions. You must satisfy two conditions. First, you must be the strongest member of your race. Second, you must have at least evolved into an Ancestral God. That’s why I’ve been urging you to become an Ancestral God as soon as you can!”

“Because the Human Race needs a new leader!”

It dawned on Su Ze. So that was it. He hadn’t become the leader because he wasn’t yet an Ancestral God.

‘It seems Mr. Ao was the leader of the Human Race when he was alive. He only died a thousand years ago, so the Human Race probably hasn’t produced a new Ancestral God since then.’

‘Once I become an Ancestral God, I’ll be the undisputed leader of the Human Race and obtain the complete Human Origin Gene.’

‘That alone would be a tremendous boost. A race’s own Origin Gene provides a massive enhancement to one’s power. A member of the Human Race who obtains the complete Origin Gene of their race would effectively be an Ancestral God right away, and that’s not even counting the boost I have from the Origin Genes of many other races.’

“Next, let me tell you about a War of Annihilation. It’s not about one race slaughtering another to the last individual. Instead, it’s when one leader kills and plunders another, seizing the Origin Gene that was bestowed upon them by the will of their race. When that happens, every member of the defeated race will permanently lose their Racial Talent, their race’s Origin Gene, and all privileges of being one of the Intelligent Races.”

“In this fiercely competitive and cruel universe, where the weak are fodder for the strong, losing one’s Racial Talent and Origin Gene means losing all potential for further evolution. They become lesser than even beasts and Spiritual Plants. Annihilation becomes a matter of when, not if.”

“As for the plundering side, after their leader kills and plunders the other, they permanently integrate the defeated race’s Origin Gene into their own. This results in a permanent, overall enhancement of their entire race’s Origin Gene strength and Racial Talent. This is the reason why those Dominator Races are so incredibly powerful.”

“Of course, a successful plunder is no simple feat. In fact, it’s exceedingly difficult, because the ‘Leader’ status is constantly shifting. If you kill the leader of another race, the moment they die, another Ancestral God from their race will become the new leader. Therefore, to truly annihilate a race, you must kill every single one of their Ancestral Gods!”

“There is another possibility. Even if you kill all of a race’s Ancestral Gods, their final Ancestral God might escape just before death. They could go into hiding, their location unknown. Their body might lie in some secret place, undecayed for eons, but the Power of Origin within it would have long since dissipated.”

“In such a case, the race would temporarily lose its ‘Leader.’ However, as long as they produce a new Ancestral God, that individual will become the new leader, and their Origin Gene and Racial Talent will remain intact. This is the very situation the Human Race finds itself in right now.”

“Back then, I was pursued. I escaped when I was gravely wounded and on the verge of death. I did not fall into enemy hands, and thus I preserved the Origin Gene of the Human Race. The generations of Human leaders before me all did the same. In the future, when you become the leader of the Human Race, you must escape at all costs, even if it means dying. You must not fall into enemy hands! That would bring the calamity of annihilation upon our entire race!”

“Unless… the Human Race produces a second Ancestral God… otherwise, you must master a means of escape that can guarantee your safety. For every leader of the Human Race, escape methods have always been the top priority. It is better to die than be captured, and even in death, your body must never fall into enemy hands!”

“If you do not have an escape method that can guarantee your getaway one hundred percent of the time, you must remember to lie low. Do not go roaming the universe. Because once you become the leader, your life is no longer just your own. If you die and our Origin Gene is plundered by another race, billions of Humans will die with you!”

Su Ze was deeply shaken. Before, he had coveted the privileges of being the leader of the Human Race. Now, however, he felt the immense burden that rested on the leader’s shoulders. This was a pressure and responsibility that no ordinary person could bear.

But the thought of backing down never occurred to him.

‘If I don’t become the leader, someone else will sooner or later.’

Rather than entrusting his fate and that of the entire Human Race to someone else, Su Ze would rather take on the burden himself.

He had no desire to die a senseless death one day due to someone else’s recklessness.

Mr. Ao’s words contained an overwhelming amount of information, and Su Ze took a moment to sort through it all.

‘Simply put,’ he thought, ‘the ‘Leader’ status is like a buff. It automatically applies to the strongest member of a race, but that person must be at least an Ancestral God.’

‘When that strongest individual dies, the Leader buff transfers to the next strongest person among the living.’

‘Even if you capture a leader alive and try to plunder them, the moment their Evolutionary Material is taken, their life force fades. In other words, the leader would die before you could even get to the Origin Gene bestowed by the will of their race.’