5: Chapter 5 Yu Empire

The gray, hazy sky was pierced by the exhaust plume of an Imperial transport, which descended slowly like a cautious seven-spotted ladybug onto the clearing cleared by Cheng Yus Clones.

The cargo bay door opened, and a squad of Astra Militarum soldiers in khaki uniforms stepped out, their expressions tense.

Their lasguns were gripped tightly, and their eyes scanned the surroundings continuously—countless, identical-faced Cheng Yu were watching them in silence, the silent pressure almost suffocating.

The commanding officer was a scarred veteran who forced himself to remain calm as he walked up to Main Body, who was surrounded by his clones.

The others all had tattoos on their foreheads, but this person's forehead was clean, so he must be the one with the highest status.

Colonel Gohl looked at the unremarkable face before him, which was nevertheless surrounded by countless identical faces, and his Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily.

"I am from the Astra Militarum Cadian 88th Regiment; you may call me Colonel Gohl."

He tried hard to keep his voice calm and authoritative.

"According to Imperial law, this planet must submit to administration and pay the tithe. Are you the governor here?"

Main Body sat on a contraption cobbled together from Ork scrap that could barely be called a "throne."

This bizarre, ugly throne was carried by countless clones, slowly crawling over the sea of people.

He sat with one leg crossed, his face wearing an expression somewhere between boredom and amusement.

"That is I." He raised his hand lazily. "Welcome to the beautiful and prosperous... uh, Cheng Yu Planet. What brings you gentlemen from so far away?"

Colonel Gohl looked at the dense crowd of hollow-eyed "citizens" around him, then at Cheng Yu's obviously flippant attitude, and frowned deeply.

"Governor, please explain why your... subjects all look exactly the same? This is a serious violation of the Imperial laws regarding genetic purity..."

"Oh, you mean that!" Cheng Yu slapped his thigh as if he had just remembered.

"Our planet, well, the feng shui is bad. There is some unknown, ghostly radiation underground."

"After staying here for a while, heh, you just automatically grow up to look like me. It saves a lot of trouble!"

Cheng Yu stepped down from the throne, and a clone bowed to support his arm, helping him walk steadily from the strange-looking throne.

Cheng Yu leaned closer to Colonel Gohl and lowered his voice.

"I see you gentlemen are physically strong, but it is best not to stay too long. In case you go back and your superiors find that your subordinates have all turned into clones cut from the same mold, that... would be hard to explain, right?"

Colonel Gohl and the soldiers behind him subconsciously took a half-step back, their expressions becoming even uglier.

They looked at the endless sea of people around them and recalled the terrifying numbers observed from orbit earlier.

Reason told them that keeping their distance from this bizarre phenomenon was the only choice.

"...Even so," Colonel Gohl struggled to maintain official protocol, "the Imperial tithe..."

"Pay! We must pay! We will definitely pay!" Cheng Yu waved his hand, appearing incredibly generous.

"We are the most loyal subjects of the Empire! Look, we just drove away a bunch of greenskins, captured some junk, and were just preparing to hand it over!"

He pointed to the wreckage of an Ork starship in the distance that was being rapidly dismantled.

"Those lumps of iron, take whatever you fancy! And our local specialty—high-quality starch, all you can eat! We have as much as you want!"

Colonel Gohl looked at the crude, oil-stained Ork parts, then at the handful of unappealing white powder that Cheng Yu held out, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

This was quite a bit different from the tithe he had imagined.

"Governor, Imperial taxes usually include..."

"I know, I know, fit labor force, right!" Cheng Yu interrupted, wearing an "I understand" expression.

"But if our people go out, it's easy to cause misunderstandings, right? How about this, we'll give more food! We don't have much else, but we have plenty of food! I guarantee the soldiers on the front lines will be well-fed and have the strength to fight heretics!"

His performance was so "cooperative" and even "enthusiastic" that it left Colonel Gohl speechless.

A tough attitude? The opponent's numbers were despairingly high.

Reason with them? The other side was spouting nonsense.

Start a fight? Look at those silent faces around them, still increasing in number; they were silently closing in from all directions.

In the end, Colonel Gohl could only nod stiffly.

"...I will report the situation. Before that, Governor, please maintain the status quo. The Empire... will not forget its subjects."

After saying this platitude, he took his soldiers and returned to the transport at a speed that was almost a flight.

The transport took off in a panic, fleeing this hair-raising planet.

Cheng Yu watched the speck of light disappear into the horizon, and the playful expression on his face vanished instantly, turning cold and sharp.

"Seize the time." His consciousness spread across the entire network. "Before they come back with something more 'reasonable,' we need things that can reason."

Four hundred million Cheng Yu acted again, more frantically dismantling, modifying, and devouring.

The crudeness of Ork technology, the fragments of Aeldari knowledge, and the infinite food brought by the STC were giving birth to a unique, hungry army.

The Empire's gaze had already fallen; the time left for Cheng Yu might not be much.

...

"Colonel, shall we report it? Those things must be xenos; no radiation could make people look exactly the same."

On the transport, an adjutant asked Colonel Gohl for instructions.

"Sure, you go report it, and then you take the troops to suppress them."

Colonel Gohl sneered; the young man was still too young.

In this chaotic and decaying 41st Millennium, there were too many bizarre and terrifying things in the galaxy.

Whoever reports it, whoever handles it, kicks the bucket.

Did the other side attack them? No.

Not only that, they didn't even mind the fact that they had taken a macro-cannon shot earlier, and they were even willing to pay the tithe.

Whether they are Genestealers or whatever, let it rain, let the thirteenth prince marry an Aeldari, let it be.

"Report to the Imperial Administratum that the death world at this coordinate has been restored to prosperity by loyal Imperial citizens, and request that they send a commissioner to assess the tithe quota."

Colonel Gohl gave the instruction; he would still rather go to the frontier sector to fight greenskins. Although greenskins were brutal, they didn't have so many bizarre schemes.

Fighting to the death meant exactly that; dead Orks were dead and wouldn't suddenly turn into soul-entities and jump on your face to bite you again.

...

"Long live the Emperor, whose literary and martial virtues unify the galaxy! Ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand thousand years!"

On Cheng Yu Planet, Cheng Yu had already ascended the throne; mainly because he was bored, and his imperial ambitions were expanding.

Cheng Yu declared his empire to be called the Cheng Yu Empire, meaning a bright future and domination of the universe.

The Cheng Yu Empire was an empire where all power belonged to Cheng Yu, and all clones had the responsibility of obedience to Cheng Yu, but the Emperor had no obligation to take care of any clone.

The Cheng Yu Empire was currently a vassal state of the Imperium of Man, but that was only temporary.