17: Chapter 17 Our Brothers and Sisters Are Suffering

Cassius was teaching the clones how to activate and maintain the Geller Field.

Main Body, on the other hand, was boredly flipping through the lectitio divinitatus, the very copy annotated by this priest.

For instance, the Emperor once said, "There are no gods in the universe, only scientific truth."

Father Holt had annotated, "This is a grave error; the Emperor is the one and only true god."

"Father Holt, you have some nerve; as a priest of the State Church, you dare to slander the Corpse Emperor."

Cassius remained silent; Cheng Yu had already seen the slanderous words he had written in the lectitio divinitatus.

Even if Cheng Yu were to let him return to the Empire now, he wouldn't have the courage to go back.

The Geller Field was indeed impressive; as long as the field was active, ships could navigate through Warp normally.

However, due to the lack of trustworthy navigators, they could not yet undertake long-distance travel, and could only cruise and explore the nearby sectors using the star charts provided by Ivankov.

The "Cheng Tianxiao" star system was located in the southern part of the Tempestus Sector, and there were quite a few habitable planets here.

But the vast majority were in a state of living hell.

Some planets were plagued by Orks; these greenskins were truly like weeds that could not be burned away and grew back with every spring breeze.

Others had been sucked dry by the vanguard of The Great Devourer, leaving not a shred of organic matter on the entire planet.

But even more habitable planets were caught in a chaotic three-way struggle between the Corpse Emperor's Hive City, Chaos Warbands, and Eldar pirates.

Whenever he thought of the many kind and simple creatures in the galaxy suffering repeatedly at the hands of these corrupt and incompetent fools, Main Body felt heartbroken.

He wished he could immediately storm Terra, seize the throne, and become the sole ruler of the galaxy.

Then he would deal with all this miscellaneous trash properly.

"The next target is right here!"

Main Body pointed to a habitable planet on the star map.

It was a moon of the fifth planet from the inside out in the "Cheng Tianxiao" star system.

It didn't matter what this planet used to be called; from now on, it would be known as "Li Yu Planet."

By the way, Li Yu was another one of Main Body's past loves.

According to intelligence provided by Ivankov, the jurisdiction of "Li Yu Planet" belonged to the Imperial Administratum, and it was currently in the midst of transitioning from an agricultural world to an industrial world.

The fertility of its soil had been completely exhausted, and the tens of millions of agricultural workers on it were about to face unemployment.

These poor people had worked their entire lives, yet they couldn't afford a single ticket to escape their cage.

According to Imperial custom, most would be turned into Promethium, and only a small portion with basic education could be converted into industrial workers.

"What kind of logic is that? You didn't provide basic education, so how can you demand they have basic literacy?!"

"We are going to that planet to save our brothers and sisters and prevent them from becoming fuel for the Corpse Emperor or Chaos!"

Cheng Yu's clones repeated these words over and over again to the prisoners.

In truth, they didn't need to say much; the vast majority of these Imperial soldiers came from Hive City worlds, industrial worlds, or agricultural worlds.

They knew all too well what the world under Imperial rule was like.

They hadn't dared to speak up before because they were afraid of losing their decent jobs in the Astra Militarum, and even more afraid of being summarily executed by an Inquisitor.

But now it was different; they had Cheng Yu backing them up.

The die-hards had split into two groups.

One group thought, "Damn it, might as well surrender," but the other group still believed that Cheng Yu's side was some kind of genetic cult that would eventually consume them as raw materials.

Cheng Yu knew that adding just a little more fuel to the fire would be enough.

...

That afternoon, as the first noble to be enfeoffed in the Cheng Yu Empire, Cheng Yu held a grand investiture ceremony and farewell for Aria.

Tens of millions of clones and all the outsiders participated in the ceremony.

On the magnificent high platform, Cheng Yu placed the Skull Warhammer on Aria's shoulder.

"Arya Drukhari, I now enfeoff you as Countess Dukaria, Governor of all military and internal affairs on 'Liu Fei Planet,' with the authority to establish your own administrative office. In times of war, you must obey my summons; in times of peace, you must pay taxes to me."

"My sword... my warhammer is the Emperor's warhammer."

Main Body handed the Skull Warhammer to her. This warhammer was the signature weapon of the Ork Warlord Oguluk, and it could be considered as having completed her original assassination mission for her.

Over a thousand combat squads with decent armament boarded the strange-looking ships; they were to follow Aria to her new fiefdom.

Although their equipment was completely inadequate by the average standards of the entire galaxy.

However, over ten million young and strong men, neat in military appearance and bearing a murderous aura, still looked quite imposing.

Especially since they all looked exactly the same, with only the tattoos on their foreheads differing, which added a touch of eerie horror to this imposing display.

"Aria, take care of yourself!" Watching the elf gradually move away, Main Body called out affectionately, his voice amplified by the audio equipment to a very, very long distance.

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty!" Aria shuddered, only then remembering that there was still a part to play.

She raised her warhammer, cranking her brainwashing psychic powers to maximum output, "The Empire shall last forever, and Your Majesty shall remain healthy forever!"

"Ten thousand victories! Ten thousand victories! Ten thousand victories!"

Tens of millions of clones shouted in unison, giving the outsiders present a huge fright.

"How can their population be so large?"

Zachary, the diplomatic envoy of the Necron Dynasty, wasn't startled, because he had been startled constantly over the past few days and had already gotten used to it.

Utilizing the advanced technology of the Necron Dynasty, Zachary could scan the entire planet anytime and anywhere to determine the number of living beings on it.

So now, his entire skeleton was completely numb; he had no idea... where the hell so many identical humans were coming from.

"Quick, level that mountain for me; it's blocking my view of Countess Dukaria's heroic bearing."

Even though Aria had already boarded the ship, Cheng Yu was still acting; he was doing it for these outsiders to see, to let them know how desperately he thirsted for talent.

In reality, his private order to those ten million-plus clones was... keep a close eye on this little girl, don't let her run away, she must have more good stuff on her, and you must dig it out of her at every opportunity.

It was rare to have everyone gathered together, so they couldn't just do this one thing.

Cheng Yu also took the opportunity to announce the official system of the Empire, which was also a hook.

Those who defect early get official positions; those who are late won't even get a scrap.

Imperial officials were mainly divided into six sectors.

They were "Internal Affairs + Construction," "Military Affairs + Operations," "Diplomacy + Exploration," "Science + R&D," "Legislation + Judicial Practice," and the "Domestic Affairs + Imperial Gospel Propagation" department specifically for serving the Emperor himself.

The minister positions for these six departments were all currently vacant; those interested could sign up directly, and the Emperor himself would conduct the interviews—BOSS Direct Hiring.