117: Chapter 117 Counterfeit Money Case

Main Body was still there, lost in thought while staring at an imagined portrait of Slaanesh in the archives, when suddenly an urgent memorial was delivered.

In a trans-galactic super empire, a few interstellar wars hardly warrant troubling the Emperor; anything starting with the word "Urgent" is invariably a major event capable of shaking the very foundations of the empire.

"What happened?" Cheng Yu opened the memorial, and two identical banknotes fell out—they were twenty-qian legal tender of the empire.

The legal currency of the Cheng Yu Empire had undergone many revisions, and it was currently in its seventh edition. The denominations in circulation were the 1-qian, 5-qian, 10-qian, 20-qian, 50-qian, and 100-qian notes.

There were also registered bank reserve promissory notes not in circulation, which came only in a denomination of 1 million qian.

The empire's legal tender was backed by a basket of commodities produced by the empire, rather than being a currency issued on the credit of the imperial court. After all, in this purgatory of a galaxy, who the hell trusts anyone? There was simply no soil for credit-based currency to grow.

A certain amount of imperial legal tender could be exchanged at any time at the Empire's Ever-Normal Granaries for goods of equal value. Therefore, the Cheng Yu Empire's currency was essentially a commodity exchange voucher. Printing counterfeit money was like cutting flesh directly from Cheng Yu—a bloodletting with no discount whatsoever.

"Blasphemy! My money!" After reading the memorial, Cheng Yu was furious. This time, it wasn't an act; he was genuinely enraged.

The memorial indicated that Hive City Bank had recently received several high-fidelity counterfeit notes, all in the 20-qian denomination. They were indistinguishable from the real thing in appearance and feel. If the printing craftsmanship on the counterfeits hadn't been slightly more exquisite in detail than the genuine currency—attracting the attention of a bank teller who was also a coin collector, one of the Cheng Yus Clones—it might not have been discovered to this day.

When the Emperor is enraged, a million corpses fall.

Cheng Yu first ordered a heavy reward for the clone who discovered the situation, then ordered the secret department, Thirteen Offices, to take over the matter directly. If it were the work of someone inside the empire, it would mark the beginning of a great purge; if it were the work of an external enemy, it would mark the beginning of another war.

It had been a long time since a pyramid of heads had been piled; people were starting to mistake the tiger for a tabby cat.

Next, Cheng Yu issued another order: immediately begin designing and printing the eighth edition of the legal tender, and strictly review past operational procedures. He would provide whatever budget was required.

...

The matter of the counterfeit money was currently top secret, and all civilians who already knew about it had been detained.

Attendant Cheng Yu first suspected the discoverer; he had developed the personality trait of doubting everything.

However, a simple investigation cleared the individual of suspicion. The empire had a special unit called the Slaanesh Followers; with their assistance in interrogation, no mortal could hide a secret, not to mention that Attendant Cheng Yu possessed the highest shared-thought access privileges outside of the Cheng Yu himself.

Next was the origin investigation. Although there were few surveillance cameras in the Hive City, Hive City Bank was the exception; there was more surveillance here than during a driving test.

After finding the people who deposited the money and engaging in a "friendly" exchange of inquiries, they helped them recall the upstream source of the funds, and so on, constantly tracing it back.

Eventually, all clues pointed to the underground legends of the three kingdoms casinos in the Hive City. The speed of capital exchange there was simply too fast; even if you beat those gambling addicts to death, they wouldn't be able to recall who exactly gave them the counterfeit money.

The Emperor had issued multiple decrees banning any form of gambling, and even sternly rejected the so-called "charity lotteries" suggested by high-ranking court officials. Yet these people dared to gamble in secret. Gambling was one thing, but they had also caused this counterfeit money incident.

The law enforcement had warmth, and their batons had force. The agents of Thirteen Offices stormed into the casinos and struck everyone they saw on the head. Underground casinos in every Hive City were instantly thrown into chaos; banknotes and chips flew everywhere, and gamblers and dealers wailed in agony.

Wild Dog Cheng Yu's internet cafe had just opened, and directly across the street was a so-called "leisure chess and card room" that was a front for other activities.

When he first saw the agents of Thirteen Offices hitting people, he subconsciously wanted to hug his head and squat in defense. It was Centaur Nun who grabbed him and pulled him up. "What are you afraid of? You're running a legal business now!"

"Oh, right. I'm a legal businessman now." Wild Dog Cheng Yu stopped shaking his legs, straightened his back, and stood there grinning foolishly, not even considering whether his internet cafe would have any business left after today's commotion.

As an aside, Centaur Nun was now the poster girl for the Slaanesh internet cafe. She had even brought over many of her little sisters to brew lemonade or do similar things. In any case, given the psychic talents of most Cheng Yus Clones, they couldn't see their true forms at all.

...

After repeated and patient beatings, a spy from the Corpse Emperor Empire finally confessed that they had taken advantage of the casino owner's lack of attention to secretly mix some of the counterfeit money into the cash flow.

Just because you confessed doesn't mean you don't get beaten, right?

Anyone who had eaten with this Corpse Emperor Empire spy during this time, met them, spoken to them on the phone, or even just brushed shoulders with them—as long as surveillance had captured even the slightest trace—was rounded up for interrogation.

Before Main Body took his afternoon nap, there were only a few dozen suspects involved. By the time he finished dinner and went for a stroll, the number of suspects had reached several thousand.

Among them, Cheng Yus Clones only accounted for a small portion. Basically, they had all used the counterfeit money unknowingly, and they could be released on bail after paying a fine. Main Body hadn't gone so insane as to kill his own clones to establish authority.

However, the empire was not so polite to those outsiders. The empire gave you the opportunity to live and work in peace without asking for anything in return; you only needed to behave yourself. If you couldn't even manage that, then don't blame the Emperor for being cruel.

Main Body had originally planned to pile a pyramid of heads to deter criminals, but thinking of his son who was about to be born, he decided to accumulate some virtue for him. He changed the punishment: all males were exiled to mining planets for lifelong hard labor, and all females were forcibly married off to the clones, regardless of personal wishes.

Damn it, I just tried to be a little bit civilized in this cesspool of a Warhammer galaxy, and these people treat my place like a spittoon.

Main Body thought about it and was still angry. He crawled out of bed in the middle of the night and ordered Attendant Cheng Yu to go and hang the dozen or so ringleaders of the counterfeit case. Their bodies were to be cured like dried meat and hung in the Mid-Hive commercial street.

Only after doing this did he feel his anger subside, and he fell asleep while holding his two concubines.