"Answer my question!" Mandarin coldly asked, staring at the subordinate kneeling below him.
"..Master, we are still unclear about what happened, but I've already notified our people in North America to increase the investigation..." The questioned subordinate was sweating profusely.
With a cold grunt, Mandarin raised his hand, and a beam of purple light shot toward the sweating subordinate!
Before the subordinate could even scream, he was transformed into a small Shiba Inu dog, barking towards Mandarin as if trying to say something.
This was the power of Mandarin's Matter-Rearranger Ring, aka Remaker, located on his right thumb, one of the Ten Rings.
It could reshape the target's substance to a certain extent, with effects such as turning a person into an animal or even transmuting stones into gold.
"Stop barking, or I'll turn you into a cockroach!" Mandarin looked down coldly at the transformed subordinate.
The Shiba Inu immediately shook its head, silencing itself.
"I'll change you back in a month, but whether you survive until then depends on your luck..." Mandarin coldly gazed at the dog, "Now get out. Don't let me see you again before I change my mind." (TL/N: Bro's in China, he is definitely becoming food)
The Shiba Inu quickly nodded and scurried out of the room, tail between its legs, not daring to voice any objections.
The other subordinates, witnessing this, were filled with fear!
This wasn't the first time Mandarin had done something , and often, there was no chance for the person to correct their mistake.
Some subordinates who had been turned into animals had yet to be changed back, and no one knew whether they were alive or dead.
Such an outcome was worse than being killed outright.
The one who was turned into a Shiba Inu was lucky—if he didn't die within the month, there was a chance to return to his original form, though he would likely endure suffering during that time...
Seeing that the others were silent with fear, Mandarin's anger slightly subsided. He turned to two of them and ordered, "Harrison and Joey, you two will investigate this matter. I want a definite answer within a week!"
"I hope you don't disappoint me. Otherwise, it won't be as simple as turning into a dog..." Mandarin rubbed his fingers together and deliberately twirled the "Remaker Ring" on his right thumb, making sure the two noticed it.
The two subordinates quickly bowed and responded, "We will complete the task!"
Mandarin waved his hand, signaling them to leave.
Only then did everyone breathe a sigh of relief and hurriedly leave the room.
Once the room was empty, Mandarin muttered to himself, "Is someone deliberately targeting me? Otherwise, why would this happen at such a critical moment when the delivery is about to happen..."
"Without Kilian's shipment, the 'Kunlun' operation will be delayed again... Damn it!"
"Whoever is behind this better hope I don't find out, or I'll make sure you regret it. You'll wish for death!" Mandarin was filled with rage, tossing a nearby coffee table to the ground.
The teapot and cups shattered, and the room was left in chaos.
After coming down from the rooftop, Raymond had mostly confirmed his previous assumptions.
After several tests and comparisons, he drew a few conclusions:
First, sub-personalities could indeed be transferred to shadow clones, but only to his own shadow clones.
It wouldn't work with Itachi's shadow clones.
This suggested that the sub-personalities were not independent souls, as he had previously suspected.
Second, once a sub-personality was transferred to his shadow clone, it could only last half as long as it would if attached to his true body.
For example, if he could maintain a high-intensity battle for twenty minutes while using the Tao Pai Pai sub-personality, transferring it to his shadow clone would only allow for a maximum of ten minutes of high-intensity battle.
Additionally, the sub-personality's version of the shadow clone could display its original strength but had weak life force.
Once it took real damage, it would immediately dissipate.
Take the Akainu sub-personality as an example.
The Akainu sub-personality's shadow clone also had full strength and could elementalize, making it immune to regular attacks while in elemental form.
So it could maintain high-intensity combat for ten minutes, and the time would be longer in a non-combat state.
However, if someone could inflict real damage on him while he wasn't in elemental form, that would destroy the clone.
Once the Akainu sub-personality's shadow clone took real damage, it would immediately dissipate and return to Raymond.
The same applied to other sub-personalities. They could exist externally as shadow clones, except they couldn't take real damage.
Another point was that when the sub-personality version of the shadow clone dissipated, Raymond would receive all its memories—just like with original shadow clones.
Previously, Raymond had tried to make the Deathshot sub-personality's shadow clone jump off the building to see if this effect would happen.
Naturally, the Deathshot sub-personality strongly disagreed.
In the end, Raymond had to personally "invite" him to jump off the rooftop.
When he hit the ground, the immense impact caused the shadow clone to dissipate, and the Deathshot sub-personality immediately returned.
Raymond quickly received all the memories of that shadow clone, from when it was created, to being possessed by the Deathshot sub-personality, to being "invited" off the rooftop and finally meeting its end.
With this, Raymond had a general grasp of how shadow clones worked and was quite pleased.
"Looking at it this way, the reason I can't transfer other sub-personalities to Itachi's shadow clone is likely because the shadow clone Itachi creates, when he controls the body, isn't 'recognized' as part of my body…"
"Only my own shadow clones are recognized, so I can transfer the sub-personalities to them."
"That means, they are probably not independent souls but are essentially one soul with multiple aspects?"
"Or, even if they are independent souls, the system has branded them, making it impossible for them to truly leave my body."
"Only shadow clones that are 'recognized' as part of my body, such as the clones I create, can transfer them. Anything else is not possible?"
In the office, Raymond sketched a few relationship diagrams in his notebook, ones only he could understand, and connected several points, finally clearing up the situation.
At least from what he understood so far, this was the case.
This also meant he didn't need to worry about the sub-personalities suddenly betraying him, and he could use shadow clones to further harness their power. Since they essentially couldn't leave his body, this couldn't be changed, just as they wouldn't develop the intention to harm him. This was a baseline set by the system.
With this in mind, the possibility of betrayal was effectively blocked.