42: Chapter 42 The Tides of Self

"Victor von Drake, for your meritorious service in slaying enemy commanders, I appoint you as General of Chariots and Cavalry, First Class Baron, with the rank of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Military Affairs."

"Your subject thanks Your Majesty for your great grace."

Victor's stature was immense; even when kneeling, he was taller than Cheng Yu standing, which forced Cheng Yu to stand on a stool to place the official cap on him.

Just then, the Astropath within the Imperial Navy fleet transmitted an alert, "Coalition fleet is attacking, please have the flagship 'dont eat cilantro' retreat!"

"Sigh..." Main Body sighed, "I had the heart to stop the conflict, but alas, they do not see my peace offering!"

"Your Majesty, I am willing to serve as the vanguard and slaughter those wretched birds until they throw away their helmets and armor!"

Victor had just received his official post and already wanted to achieve new merits; young people... they are too easily hot-headed and rash.

However, Cheng Yu had other plans for Victor and was not willing to let him die foolishly under macro-cannon fire.

"My clones! Spread my terror across the entire Tempestus Sector!"

Since everyone believed he was the Gene Tyrant and his army was a clone legion, then let them think so.

In all my life, why should I, Cheng Yu, need to explain my actions to others!

"Destroying warships, boarding first, rescuing allies, slaying enemy commanders—all will be tallied by the Merit Officers for you. The minimum reward is one thousand coins, which you can get just by killing one common soldier!"

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

The battle fell into the most brutal attrition from the very beginning.

The elegant sickle-shaped ships of the Craftworld Aeldari and the heavy Gothic warships of the Imperial Navy formed a seemingly impregnable joint offensive line.

The bright lances of the Aeldari ships wove fatal, elegant arcs in the darkness, and every precise volley could turn an entire small fleet of strange ships into brilliant fireworks.

The roar of the Corpse Emperor's macro-cannons was filled with the fanaticism of faith, and the overwhelming barrage, like a metallic storm, tore apart everything that approached.

Yet their enemies were neither the frantic creations of Chaos, nor the crude scrap ships of the Greenskins.

It was the torrent of the self of Cheng Yu: countless strange ships cobbled together from rough scrap iron, asteroid fragments, and looted shipwrecks.

The strange ships had no unified form, and the only commonality was the countless Cheng Yus Clones standing on their bridges, whose faces and figures were largely similar, along with their sanity-shattering, absolute numbers.

The Aeldari Farseers guided devastating psychic storms, enough to send an entire fleet of strange ships into the abyss of Warp, but after the storm, the vacancies were instantly filled by even more, even crazier strange ships.

The Imperial Navy general commanded a magnificent Emperor-class battleship, and a single broadside volley could evaporate hundreds of enemy ships, but what returned to him were thousands of weak yet dense laser beams and solid projectile fire surging from the shadows further away.

This was not a contest of tactics or technology, but the crushing of will by mathematics.

For every enemy the coalition fleet destroyed, they had to face ten newly appeared enemies.

Their ammunition was depleting, their psykers were exhausted, their soldiers were terrified, while the enemy's numbers were endless, knowing no fear, feeling no fatigue, and fearing no attrition.

A massive Aeldari carrier, after launching all its carrier-based aircraft, was overwhelmed and dismantled by the flood-like, swarming strange ships.

After destroying hundreds of targets, a human naval general's flagship had its engines destroyed by a suicide ramming attack, and like a stranded giant whale, it was dragged into the darkness; the last image on the bridge was countless similar, indifferent faces breaking through the windows.

This was a defeat destined long ago. Cheng Yu's fleet was a self-replicating tide, while the Corpse Emperor Empire's forces were merely the reefs destined to be submerged and assimilated before this tide.

The more heroically they fought, the more it highlighted the absolute horror of those cold numbers.

Their destruction was only a matter of time.

...

"How are the Chinese roses sold?"

On the "Cheng Yu" planet, Customs Registrar Cheng Yu had already bought a school district house in the Mid-Hive.

Right now, he was purchasing some daily necessities; if one wanted a rich variety of goods, it had to be the Underhive, where fish and dragons mixed together—even Necron weapons could be bought here. He didn't know how those smuggler Cheng Yus managed to get them.

"Three coins for one, ten for a bundle, forty coins." The florist Cheng Yu was picking at a corn on his foot, not even lifting his eyelids.

"Stall owner, where did you learn your math?"

"We graduated from the same school, have you forgotten?" Both Cheng Yus laughed out loud simultaneously; this was a meme that only Cheng Yus understood the humor of.

"Then if I buy ten Chinese roses one by one by one, how much?"

"That will be thirty coins." The florist Cheng Yu tied the flowers up and handed them directly to Customs Registrar Cheng Yu, "If I didn't price them like that, would you buy a bundle?"

Both Cheng Yus laughed out loud again, like two idiots.

"It's bad, run quickly!" Inside the Underhive free trade market, customer Cheng Yus and vendor Cheng Yus were fleeing in all directions.

"What's wrong? Did the city management clones come?" An Ogryn vendor was hurriedly packing up his things; he had to run, as he was an illegal immigrant.

"No, it's a gang turf war; it has nothing to do with you, just hide!"

"What gang turf war?!" Customs Registrar Cheng Yu was a man who lived a quiet life and usually didn't pay much attention to the shared consciousness.

However, the Cheng Yu who had just answered the Ogryn had already run far away, and Customs Registrar Cheng Yu also wanted to run, but he couldn't anymore.

He was already caught in the middle of two Cheng Yu gangs; these Cheng Yus all looked fierce, holding cold weapons and making a racket.

"Clone leader, just hug your head and squat down." The Ogryn was clearly experienced and was currently honestly hugging his head and squatting in defense, like a small mountain of meat.

The gang member Cheng Yus were clearing the area, and all the law-abiding Cheng Yus who hadn't escaped were all honestly hugging their heads and squatting on the ground.

Only Customs Registrar Cheng Yu stood out from the crowd, looking particularly conspicuous.

"You're a new face, where are you from?"

Cheng Yu's clones would develop subtle differences in appearance and temperament based on their work and state of mind; this was the blessing Slaanesh gave to Main Body.

"None of your damn business!" Customs Registrar Cheng Yu revealed the Gauss pistol at his waist; this was a remnant from his previous job.

"Heh, so it's a master from the Upper Hive!" Unexpectedly, the gang member Cheng Yu was not afraid at all; instead, he tapped Customs Registrar Cheng Yu's face with the machete in his hand, "Squat honestly, don't look for trouble!"

"Hmph! I'll squat then!" Customs Registrar Cheng Yu finally chickened out; a clone with shoes is truly afraid of a clone without shoes!

"F*** your high school homeroom teacher, who doesn't know that the meat, eggs, and milk in 'Yucai' Hive City are all supplied by me, 'Twin-Blade Cheng'? Is it your turn, you punk, to intervene!"

In the center of the free trade market, the boss-level Cheng Yus of the two gangs were negotiating; the rule among Cheng Yus was that cursing did not involve relatives, for reasons that were self-evident.

"Boss Twin-Blade, calm down. I, 'Overlord Cheng of No. 2 Middle School,' am not unreasonable. This matter was my fault, but I have so many brothers under me, and every day when I open my eyes, I have to find food for them. If I fall one day, if my little brothers go to your territory to eat one by one by one, Boss Twin-Blade, I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to handle it either."

"So that means there's nothing to talk about?" "Twin-Blade" Cheng Yu held two large machetes, and the muscles trembling on his arms were clearly much more robust than those of an ordinary Cheng Yu.