103: Chapter 103 The Path to Promotion for a Supreme Court Justice

Wild Dog Cheng Yu was released the next morning.

Before releasing him, the Hive City court gave him a brief evaluation, which made Wild Dog Cheng Yu lament once again that things were truly becoming more and more formalized.

According to the Hive City Judges' Joint Council's evaluation of Wild Dog Cheng Yu, he was judged to have an unstable mental state and harbored dissatisfaction toward the empire. He was required to report his ideological changes to the local Security Forces office regularly, and he was also assigned a new job: washing dishes in a restaurant—a mandatory assignment that could not be refused.

The newly appointed Apprentice High Judge Cheng Yu stamped the evaluation form for Wild Dog Cheng Yu, valid for five years.

"Next."

The life trajectory of Apprentice Judge Cheng Yu was completely different from those villainous Cheng Yus. After retiring from his battle group, he keenly realized... with millions of clones, a single battle could wipe them all out. If he wanted to avoid dying like that, he had to change his way of living.

Then, he began to study, especially focusing on administration and law. He soon became a judge's assistant and slogged his way to where he was now.

Outsiders who wanted to become officials had to take the imperial examinations, which offered the possibility of instant success. However, for the clones to become officials, they had to start from the grassroots level; as long as they didn't do anything too outrageous, there was a possibility of promotion.

After all, everyone was cut from the same mold, so there was no real difference in ability at the start; it mainly depended on one's attitude and patience in doing things.

Because the Hive City court was not yet fully established, a single court handled criminal law, civil law, and family law. It even handled mediation, adjudication, and enforcement all by itself. It was estimated that things would be subdivided in the future, but it was unnecessary for now.

"Your Honor, I want to file for divorce from my husband." The person here to appeal was an outsider woman.

"Oh, why? Did he commit some fault?" Apprentice Judge Cheng Yu began to type away on a typewriter; there was no help for it, as a clerk had not yet been hired.

"He's too ugly!" the woman said.

"Stop talking nonsense, or I'll charge you with contempt of court." Apprentice Judge Cheng Yu's sharp gaze shot out from over his glasses.

"No, no, Your Honor, you've misunderstood. My husband is also an outsider." The woman hurriedly explained.

"Why didn't you say so earlier? Name, passport number." Apprentice Judge Cheng Yu resumed typing to register the information.

"Jane. My name is Jane, and my husband is Raynor. We just arrived and haven't obtained passports yet. This is our marriage certificate from the Corpse Emperor Governor's Office."

"Oh?" Apprentice Judge Cheng Yu took the marriage certificate, eyebrows raised in alertness. "This is the Paradise World that the empire just recaptured. You came to the Imperial Capital to make a living so quickly?"

"It's like this: my husband said His Majesty is wise and martial, and that there are more opportunities in the Imperial Capital, so he brought me here to make a living. Who knew that after this man spent all our money, he wouldn't go out to work every day? He either drinks or beats me, wuwuwu..."

"Divorce granted!" Apprentice Judge Cheng Yu drew a red cross on the Corpse Emperor Empire marriage certificate, then issued a temporary ID card to both Jane and her ex-husband. "Remember to go to the Security Forces to exchange these for long-term ones after the divorce. They will arrange new jobs for you. Next!"

The discretionary power of the Hive City court was just that great. The outsider woman named Jane was stunned. This, this, this... shouldn't there be an investigation?

There was more for her to be surprised about; the temporary ID card Apprentice Judge Cheng Yu gave her had a special mark, meaning "I suspect this person is a spy; please investigate, fellow units."

The fake couple named Jane and Raynor were indeed spies for the Corpse Emperor Empire. Before the Paradise World fell, and even before the massive armies of the Cheng Yu Empire surrounded it, the Inquisition of the Corpse Emperor Empire had already joined forces with the Grey Knights to launch "Project Shrike" on that planet, aiming to deploy a batch of professional intelligence personnel to infiltrate the middle and lower levels of the Cheng Yu Empire.

It was not about stealing how much intelligence, because the Cheng Yu Empire was already leaking like a sieve.

The mission of this batch of grassroots spies was to cause sabotage. They did not contact each other, had no superiors, and did not form a network. They relied solely on their own judgment to carry out various sabotage activities against the enemy country. Robbing houses was allowed, spreading rumors and causing trouble was allowed, and even colluding with evil gods to cause massive destruction—such heaven-defying acts were all permitted.

From this, it can be seen that although the Cheng Yu Empire had not yet occupied many planets, it was already regarded by the Corpse Emperor Empire as a truly serious threat.

As someone who had been grinding away in the officialdom for quite some time, Apprentice Judge Cheng Yu, although he had not received explicit notice from his superiors, could feel the tension in the counter-espionage situation recently.

The higher-ups were not afraid of individual hostile elements causing destruction; a few sour fruits were not enough to make one's teeth ache.

However, combined with recent fraud cases, the superiors were very worried that some clones would fall into the enemy's traps, especially honey traps, inadvertently providing convenience for the enemy's actions.

Therefore, for some time now, whenever there was even a slight feeling of suspicion, Apprentice Judge Cheng Yu would mark the suspicious personnel and request the Security Forces or the higher-level Thirteen Offices to assist in the investigation.

If they found something, there was credit; if not... well, he had no responsibility anyway.

"Next!" Apprentice Judge Cheng Yu waved his hand, dismissing Jane.

The one who came in this time was a clone. Apprentice Judge Cheng Yu had the authority to access the shared thought network, so communicating with a clone just required accessing their stream of consciousness directly; there was no need to go through the trouble of asking back and forth.

"An economic case. You want to execute a debt liquidation against an import-export trading company under the Jinmen Group, and you have a loan contract. However, you should know that His Majesty issued an imperial decree at the beginning of the year, stating that private bridge loans are no longer recognized."

Apprentice Judge Cheng Yu said while typing away.

"His Majesty is divinely wise, and what he says is naturally without fault. However, Your Honor, you are well-versed in the spirit of the law and should naturally know the principle that the law does not apply retroactively. The loan contract between us was signed five years ago and is not within the scope of His Majesty's decree."

"You actually know a thing or two about the law." Seeing that he couldn't fool the other party, Apprentice Judge Cheng Yu issued a writ of execution. However, when the Hive City court collected debts, it only concerned the principal, not the interest. The principal was returned to the creditor, and any excess collected went to the Security Forces that carried out the enforcement; otherwise, without some benefit, who would go and be the bad guy for you?