31: Chapter 31 Beauty is all in comparison

To be fair, Inquisitor Vera did have some skills; she possessed a xenos artifact capable of short-range warp jumps.

If the jump distance of this xenos artifact hadn't been so short, she might have actually escaped. Fortunately, after some effort, she was finally captured.

[Your Majesty, we've captured a beautiful one. She's an older sister type, just your style.]

Within the shared mind, this message was marked as "highly important" and sent directly to the imperial throne.

[How is her character?] Main Body's main body indeed replied in a split second.

[How is her character?] "Sharingan" Cheng Yu asked young Drake.

[Terrible!] Young Drake gritted his teeth in hatred. [Abusing her power for personal gain, insatiably greedy, arrogant and rude, and a coward who fears death. If you guys hadn't come, I was ready to blow myself up with her!]

[Your Majesty, she... is very special.] A faint purple light flashed in the eyes of the "Sharingan" clone.

[Send her over. I'm conducting exams here. Hanging up now,] Main Body's main body replied.

...

On "Cheng Yu" Planet, the imperial civil service examinations had reached the stage of the palace exam.

Thanks to the cooperation with the Lord of Pleasure, warp travel throughout the entire "Cheng Tianxiao" star system was incredibly peaceful, without a single ripple, as stable as the Webway.

Therefore, in this imperial exam, candidates from the surrounding star systems actually made up a larger proportion.

Cheng Yu had spent half of his past life taking exams, so this was his first time examining others.

Those who could be brought before him had already been evaluated from all aspects and were generally outstanding talents.

[Rex von Gottfried... judging by your name, you're a noble. Why did you fill in "Underhive" for your background?]

[To report to Your Majesty, my family has reached the twenty-eighth generation by the time it came to me. Originally, the entire family lived in an estate on an agri-world. With food in our granaries and land to till, life was boundlessly joyful...]

[Get to the point, Rex, get to the point.]

[I got into a jealous rivalry with another noble and mortgaged the estate. In the end, that woman took everything and ran, and twenty-eight generations of family assets all went to someone else.]

[Good, Rex. You are very honest, and I appreciate that. You can even tell the truth about such an embarrassing matter. What is that woman's name, and where does she live? I'll seize her for you!]

[Arya Drukhari. She is an Eldar. I do not know where she lives.]

[...] Cheng Yu was amused to the point of laughter. [Rex, let bygones be bygones. There is a kind of love called letting go, and a kind of foolishness called looking back.]

[I think your essay on "Strategies for Waste Heat Recovery in Hive City Water and Sewage Pipe Networks" is quite well-written. From now on, you will work in the Ministry of Interior. Start as an intern official, and if you perform well, I will naturally promote and reward you.]

[Your humble servant thanks Your Majesty for your grand grace.]

After that, Cheng Yu interviewed over a dozen more outstanding talents, all of whom were highly promising young people.

special imperial exams are great; we should hold more of them.

[Your Majesty, it is time for your meal,] Palace Attendant Cheng Yu said with cupped hands.

[Very well. There is no need to be too extravagant today. The empire has just been founded, and all industries are waiting to be rebuilt. We must still be frugal in everything; every thread and every grain should remind us of the difficulty of production.]

[Rest assured, Your Majesty. There are only sixteen dishes today. As per your instructions, we won't be serving sixty-four dishes anymore.]

[Mm, good.] The guards had already tied the napkin around the main body and laid out the luxurious precious-metal tableware, all of which had been presented as tribute by Countess Dukaria.

[Serving... Imperial Broth Dough Knots, Salt-Baked Starch Paste, Charcoal-Grilled Starch Flatbreads, Savory Starch Balls, Fried Starch Crisps, Steamed Starch Cake, Hollow Grass Jelly...]

Palace Attendant Cheng Yu announced the dishes in a clear, bright voice.

[Wait a minute, wait a minute. Is there no meat to eat today?] Cheng Yu's stomach turned sour now whenever he heard the word "starch."

[To report to Your Majesty, normal meat supplies have been completely depleted.]

[This is indeed a problem...]

Cheng Yu gently stroked his beard. Although there was all kinds of meat in Warp, eating them would almost certainly cause physical mutations. Although they could occasionally catch some Orks, the quantity was too small, and they tasted absolutely terrible.

[How is the matter of trying to breed Tyranids that I asked you to test last time going?]

Cheng Yu projected his consciousness into the shared mind.

This was a top-secret project.

When they annihilated the Tyranids / Tyranid vanguard last time, several fragments of Leviathan were not killed on the spot.

These fragments were transported to the bottom of the Hive City on Li Yu Planet, where about twenty thousand of Cheng Yu's clones were researching the controlled breeding of Tyranids.

This matter was too shocking; Cheng Yu was afraid of scaring away the immigrants in his territory, so he classified it as top secret.

[To report to Your Majesty, it is not going very smoothly.]

The Cheng Yu clone with the "pipette" tattoo replied, [According to our observations, after losing their freedom of movement, the Tyranids' vital activity becomes extremely low. Although they can still grow and differentiate, the speed is too slow... making breeding and farming them pointless.]

[Understood. Keep looking for a solution. I will also think of other ways to solve the meat problem here, but remember to keep this project strictly confidential.]

[Understood.]

...

[Do you know who I am? Do you know who my father is? By the way, who are you guys?!]

Although former Inquisitor Vera Istvan had been imprisoned, her attitude remained extremely arrogant.

According to the custom of the Cheng Yu Empire, such noisy prisoners would have their faces slapped—one slap for every insult, until they were left speechless.

However, all the clones on the ship knew that this woman might become a concubine in the imperial harem.

Although unlikely, it was entirely possible!

They could only let her rage in her cell.

[Stop wailing. Our master is coming to see you in a moment, so behave yourself.]

"Sharingan" Cheng Yu toyed with the xenos artifact—which resembled a dodecahedron Rubik's cube—with four of his hands, while his remaining two hands cupped in salute toward the empty air.

He didn't know how to use this thing, nor did he dare to mess around with it. If he used it incorrectly and it dismembered him on the spot, he would have nowhere to complain.

[Mm.] Vera sucked in a breath of cold air and behaved very obediently. No matter how many times she saw it, "Sharingan" Cheng Yu's appearance was extremely sanity-draining.

[That thing is gene-locked to me; you can't use it.]

[His Majesty arrives!] a clone shouted loudly outside the prison.

In fact, Cheng Yu had shouted it himself; he had just transferred his consciousness over... Hehe, it was a bit embarrassing to admit, but having heard that Inquisitor Vera was exceptionally beautiful, Main Body's main body was a bit impatient to see the beauty and couldn't wait for Drake and the others to return.

[Is this it? She looks average to me.] Main Body's expectations had been too high, so he was a bit disappointed upon seeing her in person.

[Your Majesty, everything is relative. Why don't you take a look at the other female prisoners in the cells?]

Cheng Yu focused his gaze again using this method, [How can there be such an absolute beauty in this world!]

(Thanks to "Hupilie Who Loves Egg Yolk Pies" for the "Generate Power with Love *2" donation; thanks to "Tongliao Ash-Laying Worker" for the "Bobo Milk Tea *1" donation; thank you all for your support!)