Sitting inside the vehicle, the two-layered shield that once enveloped the Shadow Blade Headquarters building was nowhere to be seen. Immediately after, the ground-level doors swung open on both sides. A convoy emerged from within, and simultaneously, at the approximately one hundred and fifty-meter and one hundred-meter marks on the building’s facade, two more gates opened, each releasing a convoy.

Since these were hover-vehicles, even with doors opening mid-air, there was no concern about them falling.

At the very same moment, convoys also streamed out of three separate secret passages, totaling six teams leaving the building in near synchronization!

After listening to the account from his clone, Klin immediately stated, "Six of the seven leaders have departed. That means the only one left in the building should be the President."

The clone replied, "Then we deal with the President who remains."

The other six clones attached themselves to one convoy each and quickly vanished from sight.

Although Klin could not see the six cloaked clones, he was aware of their existence, and thus was unconcerned about the six convoys leaving the building. He remarked, "The defense system has just powered down, and I imagine the guards are lax. This is the perfect moment to make our move. However, there is one thing to note: although the external shield is down, the internal specialized monitors are still active. These monitors can detect powerful psychic energy, capable of spotting Level Two and Level Three masters. Even concealing one's aura is useless against them; they will immediately trigger an alarm upon detecting an intruder, and simultaneously initiate a full evacuation protocol for the leaders inside."

The clone inquired, "Will they detect me even when I’m invisible?"

Klin shook his head. "Yes, they will. When the entire defense system was first installed, the Organization had Talin test it out. He was discovered almost instantly. The alarm blared so loudly the entire building heard it; even Talin’s invisibility technique couldn't evade those specialized monitors."

The clone fell silent for a moment. Through psychic resonance, all the clones and Yang Ying’s main body became aware of the situation simultaneously. A collective sigh passed through them. This was the first time they had encountered reconnaissance equipment capable of detecting invisibility. Talin’s stealth was slightly inferior to that of a Dark Templar, as it betrayed a faint trace of killing intent during use, but the difference was negligible; if it could detect Talin, it could ninety-nine percent detect him too.

However, this was inevitable. Since Volungas joined Yang Ying’s faction, he had disclosed massive amounts of intelligence. Therefore, Yang Ying was well aware that many high-level civilizations in the Orion Arm possessed technology to detect invisibility. Sooner or later, he wouldn't be able to roam freely using stealth. He was already prepared for this day.

The clone pondered for a moment, then smiled. "Only Level Two and Level Three masters are detected? What about Level One?"

"Level One?" Klin shook his head. "Their presence is too weak; they haven't reached the threshold for the specialized monitors to pick up. Moreover, any ordinary Level One master wouldn't even get past the building’s defensive weaponry. And there will always be a Level Three master overseeing the Headquarters, plus the President himself is Level Three. A Level One master, even if they got inside, wouldn't cause much trouble."

"Won't cause trouble?" The clone sneered. He relayed his action plan, conferred briefly with Klin, and concluded, "You wait here."

Although Klin was the highest-ranking assassin in Shadow Blade, his knowledge of the headquarters was superficial. Everything he knew had already been transmitted to the clone via telepathy; going further in wouldn't make much difference for him now.

The clone shed his black robe and transformed into the Blade Emperor form. He then transferred the majority of his psychic power to the other available clones, suppressing his own psychic strength down to Level One, activated his stealth technique, and stepped out of the hover-vehicle.

Entering the building, he saw people on both sides chatting and laughing, completely unaware of his arrival, discussing utterly trivial topics, showing no tension whatsoever.

Just then, a figure clearly in charge walked over and barked a few words at a group of people. The clone, speaking in Haisen language, couldn't understand the words, but it was obvious he was reprimanding them for their slackness. Immediately, the group, who moments before lacked seriousness, adopted earnest expressions and began attending to their duties.

The clone knew these people were merely peripheral members of the organization; they didn't even realize they were currently at the heart of an assassin syndicate. The upper floors were staffed by personnel serving the assassins. The reason these people were housed in this building was that assassination was not a legitimate profession. Shadow Blade Headquarters needed a legitimate facade, so they established a security company run by these peripheral members, whose actual business was murder.

Walking past a specialized monitor, the clone saw that no alarm sounded, and he smiled, continuing forward. He didn't go upstairs directly, but instead proceeded to the building's Security Control Room, located in the basement. It occupied a large area, where dozens of technicians monitored most of the building’s sectors.

In one corner of the control room was a small office. The door bore an electronic sign. Although the Haisen text clone couldn't read it, he had asked Klin about the sign when outside and knew what the characters implied. He had come specifically for this room: "" (Security Supervisor Office).

"Security Supervisor's Office. That’s right, this is the place," the clone stated, arriving at the door. He peered through the small window beside it. Inside, a corpulent Haisen individual was reclined on a chair, humming along to music—a picture of pure enjoyment.

"A lower-tier Level Two, piece of cake." Although the clone currently possessed only Level One psychic power, his physical conditioning was equivalent to a peak Level Three master. Coupled with his current understanding of swordsmanship, dealing with an ordinary Level Two master would be a one-move affair. But he wasn't here to kill.

Just then, another Haisen person approached, holding a beverage. He pressed the intercom button on the door. The Security Supervisor inside recognized him and opened the door. The clone slipped in smoothly behind the visitor.

After handing over the drink, the Security Supervisor waved the visitor away without a word, then picked up the beverage, took a slow sip, and resumed listening to his music.

The music playing in the room—the clone instantly recognized it as a song by the singer Ren—made him inwardly smirk. Seeing no one else around and no specialized monitors in the room, he instantly restored his full power. With his peak Level Three psychic strength, he unleashed a mental control command, drawing the Security Supervisor into his allegiance.

The supervisor didn't offer even the slightest resistance. The disparity in psychic power—a difference of hundreds of times—was simply too vast.

The clone materialized, using telepathy to issue a command: "Shut down the specialized monitors throughout the entire building."

The Security Supervisor responded via telepathy, "I cannot do that. My clearance only allows me to disable the monitors in the lower half of the building. The upper half's surveillance system is managed by another security control room."

"Where is the other security control room?" the clone asked.

"The forty-second floor," the supervisor immediately replied.

"Tell me everything you know about this building," the clone then commanded.

After more telepathic exchange, the building’s defense architecture was largely mapped into the clone’s mind. Next, the clone did not press the issue of shutting down the monitors; he simply instructed the supervisor to continue his duties as usual. Then, the clone cloaked himself again, shifted his psychic power back down, and left the supervisor's office to proceed upstairs.

After a journey fraught with potential danger but no actual peril, he reached the forty-second floor. The clone found that nearly every corner here was equipped with specialized monitors, creating absolutely no blind spots. Furthermore, the personnel patrolling the corridors were no longer predominantly Haisen, as seen downstairs, but a mix of various races. Most were patrol units, moving with meticulous discipline. Many exuded palpable killing intent, or possessed expressions that were either utterly detached or rich in emotion but with eyes that were chillingly icy.

The clone murmured internally, "This is the true Shadow Blade. These patrols, perhaps the lowest-ranking assassins, already possess psychic power. There isn't a single ordinary person here."

It was fortunate, too, for the Dark Templar stealth technique. Although the clone’s psychic power was only Level One, he could still evade the notice of the patrolling Level Two assassins.

"How do I infiltrate?" When the clone discovered the Security Control Room presented the same situation—layered, multi-directional, comprehensive monitoring—he realized repeating the easy recruitment process from below would be nearly impossible.

"Do I really have to sound the alarm?" the clone pondered.

At that moment, the first piece of good news arrived from the six dispatched clones: one clone had successfully approached a Shadow Blade leader and executed a mental control spell, bringing one of the seven leaders into his grasp.

When that clone, perched on the rooftop, unleashed the mental control spell remotely, the unmistakable orange-yellow light enveloped the target’s head. It indeed drew the attention of several bodyguards. The target himself was an upper-tier Level Two psychic, who managed a brief resistance, not enough time to scream for help from the bodyguards. His mental defenses were breached, and the man was turned.

Several bodyguards were also psychics. They sensed the powerful mental energy fluctuation when the control spell was cast and immediately questioned what had happened, attempting to alert others. Seeing this, the clone ordered the controlled leader to command them to stop.

Next, to silence the bodyguards, the clone had the leader slam on the brakes, causing a collision with the vehicle behind, staging an accident. Simultaneously, the clone used a simplified Great Vortex spell to immobilize the bodyguards, then, through the leader's hands, sent them to their deaths.

When the bodyguards from the front and rear vehicles rushed to the leader's car, all they saw was an enraged leader loudly denouncing the bodyguards for their assassination attempt. As for the orange-yellow light, no one knew of it anymore.

"Good! We have one secured," the clone thought. "Why should I remain indecisive here? If we have to make noise, then so be it. As long as we can control seven leaders, what can the rest do? Even if we cause chaos, controlling four or five will be enough to bring Shadow Blade under our control."

The collective clones reached a consensus.