118: Chapter 118 Countermeasures Department

Main Body did not even have the patience to wait for the next grand court meeting before issuing an imperial decree to establish a new department called the Department of Hostile Action Countermeasures.

The previous Thirteen Offices were mainly focused on investigating and countering terrorist activities within the empire, but their countermeasures were passive and lagged behind, and they relied too heavily on Main Body's ruling power within the shared consciousness.

This new Department of Countermeasures, however, was designed to strike proactively, taking the initiative to turn defense into offense before external forces could act against the empire.

The first order Main Body gave them was to counterfeit the currency of the Corpse Emperor Empire and release it into the opposing economic jurisdiction, true to the saying: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

This new department was composed almost entirely of Cheng Yus Clones, with only a small number of foreign artists recruited externally as a cover.

The monetary system of the Corpse Emperor Empire was extremely chaotic, with almost no so-called universal currency. The only one with relatively strong liquidity was a coin called the Throne Coin. These coins were primarily made of gold, making them very difficult to counterfeit; after all, no matter how foolish the residents of the Corpse Emperor Empire were, if they couldn't even recognize gold, they wouldn't be able to survive in this galaxy.

The several Corpse Emperor worlds adjacent to the Cheng Yu Empire were already on the countdown to being captured by the expeditionary forces. Disrupting their economic systems at this point would only add trouble to the subsequent occupation work.

After meticulous analysis and intelligence assessment, the Cheng Yus of the Department of Countermeasures set their sights on the distant Far Eastern Star Region. This was the territory of the Ultramarines and the T'au, with developed governance, a prosperous economy, and decentralized electronic currency already in use as a medium for interstellar trade.

Some Cheng Yus Clones believed that they could utilize the technical power of the electronic demons from Warp to try and crack the coding logic of these electronic currencies. However, other Cheng Yus Clones argued that this would be too time-consuming and easily detected by the opponent, and that they should instead start by counterfeiting traditional paper currency, as this would be a more covert way to strike at the enemy nation.

These disputes were sent to the imperial presence, where Main Body was having some dough drop soup. "What are you arguing about? Are we short on manpower or what? Are you trying to mix everything together to make pissing beef balls? Idiots."

...

Wild Dog Cheng Yu's internet cafe business was a huge success. He had originally thought it would take at least a year or two of settling in before he could open a branch.

To his surprise, only half a month had passed, and the revenue he had collected was enough to open a second store.

The Hive City security station's prediction was basically correct: wherever a Slaanesh internet cafe opened, incidents of fighting and brawling would plummet by two-thirds.

With the dual benefits of ample funds and official support, Wild Dog Cheng Yu quickly opened a second and third branch. A Hive City would actually be saturated with about twenty stores; it's not that there were only that many people in a Hive City who wanted to go online;

rather, it was because Wild Dog Cheng Yu's patent rights were only valid for one year. The licensing period for this type of business innovation patent was just that short. Patents for technological innovations were lifelong—those were long, so if you had the ability, go for those instead.

In other words, after a year, various internet cafes would spring up in the Hive City like bamboo shoots after a rain, which is why Wild Dog Cheng Yu said that opening twenty branches in one Hive City was already saturation. This was the result of a precise calculation he made by combining his street experience and high school math knowledge.

As for the employees in the stores, they were easy to handle. Wild Dog Cheng Yu already had quite a few lackeys who, like him, were unemployed, and the Centaur Nun also had many sisters who had been living a gypsy-like life in the Underhive, half-wandering and half-begging.

With this move, Wild Dog Cheng Yu not only realized his own value but even solved quite a few employment problems in the Underhive. Every year, the Hive City would jointly select the Top Ten Outstanding Clones and Top Ten Outstanding Immigrants. The clones who came to use the internet all flattered him, saying that Wild Dog Cheng Yu had a good chance of being recognized in this year's awards.

During the operation of the stores, there were also some bad apple clones who came over wanting to cooperate on some illicit businesses, such as installing two tables for legends of the three kingdoms gambling in the back of the internet cafe, or smuggling some controlled items like tobacco or betel nut, but all of these were sternly refused by Wild Dog Cheng Yu.

He was now walking on the path to going straight, and the sun was shining bright.

The sun was soon obscured by dark clouds. One day, while Wild Dog Cheng Yu was counting money at the cash register, a strange clone suddenly arrived.

Although Wild Dog Cheng Yu did not have the clearance to know the identity of the other party, he could not sense the presence of this clone. Being unable to sense him meant that the other party's rank was very high.

"The village east end sent a telegram, telling you to bring something back." This clone handed him something similar to a USB drive and then left without looking back.

Wild Dog Cheng Yu knew he had no right to refuse. He had undergone secret training while being reformed on a penal planet, and now that the higher-ups had issued a mission, he had to complete it.

Otherwise, even though he had been granted amnesty, they still had an excuse to drag him back at any time.

It was just that Wild Dog Cheng Yu had done too many immoral things in the past—a whole pile of them, both confessed and unconfessed.

Wild Dog Cheng Yu inserted the USB drive into his computer. Inside, there were mission details that flashed by, telling him to set up a ladder to infiltrate the wide area network of the Far Eastern Star Region from the empire's local area network, and then release the electronic demons of Warp contained on the USB drive into the Far Eastern Star Region.

The higher-ups, of course, knew that Wild Dog Cheng Yu's computer skills were roughly equivalent to a dropout from an elementary school computer class. He didn't need to do the technical details; he just needed to provide cover.

A Space Dwarf will be coming to use the internet over the next few days. Wild Dog Cheng Yu needed to reserve a single-person private room for them and ensure that no one else saw exactly what this Space Dwarf was doing.

Wild Dog Cheng Yu breathed a sigh of relief. Although the mission had high secrecy requirements, it was not difficult to accomplish.

"Old Ma, hey, Old Ma." Wild Dog Cheng Yu shouted towards the internet cafe employee lounge.

"What's all the noise about? I'm doing my hair!" the Centaur Nun said impatiently.

"You should go out shopping this week; I'll cover your shift."

"Wow, you're actually that nice?"

"Nice? What are you talking about? You have to swap shifts and pay me back next week."

"Tch, got it."