45: Chapter 45 Lovely Woman

The next secret memorial made Cheng Yu jump up with joy, and he happily began to flutter around the massive command cabin like a moth.

"The squalor of the past is not worth mentioning; today, my indulgence knows no bounds!"

Cheng Yu was ecstatic because the secret project had achieved phased results.

Regarding the project to cultivate Tyranids, the Cheng Yus Clones had successfully mass-produced a type of Tyranid unit through the combined use of interferons and growth hormones, naming it the "Acid-Burst Bug."

This bug looked like a bloated sheep's tripe on the outside and was filled with organic acid on the inside. However, due to the regulation by the Cheng Yus Clones, this acid had no lethality and was similar to vinegar.

The various descriptive data written on the memorial were very complex, but to sum it up in one sentence... once you cut this thing open, it's just a pre-made dish: Vinegar-Stir-Fried Tripe.

And this thing was actually quite delicious.

It turned out that Tyranids could be artificially cultivated; they were neither animals nor plants, and not even purely insects.

According to research by the Cheng Yus Clones and some external scientists, Tyranids were very likely... a type of insect-borne fungus with a collective consciousness, like Cordyceps!

That was why it could infect animals to form Genestealers, and why it could grow into whatever shape it wanted, because this thing was inherently an archaic biological form.

But these trivial matters were not important to Cheng Yu. From now on, everyone would have meat to eat—that was what mattered!

"Everyone is promoted two ranks..." Cheng Yu was generous with rewards for those who contributed, regardless of whether they were his own clones.

"Your Majesty, why haven't you come yet? Your concubine has been waiting impatiently!" Vera let out an extremely bewitching voice from the inner room.

"...Strive even harder, this is imperial decree!" Cheng Yu finished reviewing the memorial, feeling refreshed and invigorated.

Hehe, tonight, Concubine Vera Istvan is going to have a rough time.

...

"Cheng Yu" Planet, Water Purification Guild platform control room.

Seraphie had just received a breakup letter from her fiancé. He didn't give any reason, just saying that he suddenly didn't want to get married anymore.

"Scum!" Seraphie tore up the letter in anger. She had indeed only wanted to find a clone to use as a cover at the beginning.

But as for the "Captain of the Guard" Cheng Yu, she was actually quite fond of him after meeting him.

He had a decent appearance, good temperament, and seemed like a reliable person to settle down with. She didn't expect that she would eventually misjudge him.

"You clones are all no good!"

Seraphie angrily scolded her apprentice to vent her frustration.

Her apprentice was, of course, a Cheng Yus Clone who was learning technology from her and was also one of the secret clones monitoring her.

Not to mention that one clone had to work two jobs, but after getting off work, this clone would occasionally run errands and deliver food in the Mid-Hive; he was such an overachiever.

Overachiever Cheng Yu didn't mind being scolded by her, but the Cheng Yus Clones above were always putting pressure on him, asking for intelligence.

However, it was clear that Seraphie was currently in a state of silence; she worked and rested normally every day, so where was there any intelligence to spy on?

"Boss, Master, please don't be angry anymore!"

Overachiever Cheng Yu brewed a cup of synthetic coffee for Seraphie.

"Men are all fickle bastards. If he missed out on you, that's his misfortune. The next one... the next one will be better. Out with the old, in with the new. Master, have some coffee."

"You didn't put anything weird in this, did you?" Seraphie often gave others truth serum, so she was quite vigilant about things like drinks.

"...What do you mean? I don't understand." Overachiever Cheng Yu truly didn't understand; there was no methodology for drugging people in the shared consciousness of the Cheng Yus Clones.

Although the Gene Tyrant was brutal, he was not base. Even if he really needed to interrogate someone, he would certainly use torture and beat them to death; he wouldn't play any tricks.

Seeing the innocent look on Overachiever Cheng Yu's face, which didn't seem fake, Seraphie couldn't continue to be unreasonable.

"Pack up the tools and come with me to the 'Yucai' Hive City to inspect the instruments. A lot of people died in a brawl two days ago, and it's likely that corpses are blocking the pipes. We need to cooperate with the maintenance department to troubleshoot."

"Alright, Master. The Underhive is not peaceful, so I'll go to the security department to get two guns first." Overachiever Cheng Yu gave a casual salute with two fingers.

"You're a smart kid." Seraphie scolded with a smile.

...

"Yucai" Hive City, near the large garbage incinerator at the bottom.

This was the place with the highest average temperature in the entire Hive City, and usually, no clones would hang around here.

Even the clones who worked here would work for an hour and rest for most of the day; otherwise, they really couldn't stand it.

However, there were some clones who liked to meet here to do some "hot" activities.

"Did you bring the stuff?" One sneaky clone met another sneaky clone next to the high-temperature steam pipe.

Both of them were sweating profusely from the heat, but they were still covered tightly with hats, sunglasses, masks, and scarves, and it was unclear what the point was.

"Brought it. Where's my money?!" Melon-cap Cheng Yu patted his leather bag. "These are all hard-to-get goods obtained from the Water Extraction Point in Warp. I want at least... this price!"

"Just this much. Take it or leave it!" Felt-hat Cheng Yu slapped 12,000 currency notes onto the other person's chest and then hurriedly started inspecting the goods.

In the entire Cheng Yu Empire, there were currently only about less than a thousand Cheng Yus who were married.

The vast majority of Cheng Yus... they were suffering from repression!

Slaanesh had pity on them and was willing to send some exciting books and picture albums for these clones to circulate and copy, to alleviate their pain.

What a merciful god; it was a mystery how she could be considered an evil god by the Corpse Emperor Empire.

"This one seems to be a duplicate. Are you sure?"

"Bullshit. The last one was black and white; this one is full color. You remembered it wrong!"

"I didn't remember it wrong. This one is a duplicate. No way, refund me 1,000 currency!"

"You just remembered it wrong. No refund!"

The two were about to start fighting, when suddenly, out of the blue, a voice came from the side...

"They didn't remember it wrong; the last one was full color."

"Damn it, there are city inspectors!"

"How did they catch us here!"

The two smuggler Cheng Yus took off running, with dozens of City Inspector Cheng Yus chasing after them.

...

Seraphie and her clever little apprentice finished inspecting the instrument room in the Mid-Hive and found no problems.

They could only climb all the way down to see if the waste heat collection pipeline was blocked.

It was unknown which genius came up with the design to use the heat from burning garbage to distill purified water.

The idea was good, but he hadn't considered that the metal smelting level of the Cheng Yu Empire was average... which resulted in the water often having a garbage smell.

"Pin him down!"

Seraphie wasn't paying attention for a moment, and Overachiever Cheng Yu was suddenly pinned down by several City Inspector Cheng Yus who had appeared out of nowhere.

Without a word, the few City Inspector Cheng Yus swung their rubber batons and beat Overachiever Cheng Yu mercilessly.

"Master, save me! Master, save me!"

"What right do you have to hit people?!"

Seraphie instinctively drew her gun, but she suddenly thought... could this be some kind of test? No, I can't be this proficient; I need to be more panicked.