19: Chapter 19 Without you, the Great Devourer will suffer the consequences.

"Practicing the crane's form, beneath a thousand pines, two scrolls of scripture."

Main Body went mad on his throne, flapping wings that did not exist.

The reason was simple: too many of his clones had drunk water from Warp and consumed creatures from Warp, and they had begun to corrupt.

However, no matter how fast the corruption was, it could not outpace the exponential rate of replication.

Every replicated individual would, at the moment of its birth, be restored to the state Cheng Yu was in when he first entered this world.

As another standard hour passed, Cheng Yu returned to normal.

"Cheng Yu, these are today's memorials."

A clone brought over all the memorials; there were many, mostly submitted by clones from various locations, with a few others from external officials.

Although they could share thoughts, this had more of a sense of ritual, and it was also convenient for archiving and records by the court historians.

Countess Dukaria submitted a memorial: "Your Majesty, all blessings be upon you. I have arrived at the vassal state and have begun preliminary colonization operations. The temperature here is extremely low, and there are almost no living creatures on the surface."

"This is a giant eagle I captured while hunting; I am sending it for Your Majesty to see something novel."

"Hm?" Cheng Yu became interested. "Where is the eagle?"

"Reporting to Cheng Yu, that giant eagle could not withstand the normal temperature and has already died from the heat. The taste is passable."

The next secret memorial was a summary from the clones on Liu Fei Planet; all the clones there had the duty of supervising and monitoring Aria.

"The Countess is reasonably diligent in her work, but she spends a very long time taking showers every day. We do not know what she is doing in there."

"She is always particularly focused on the operating conditions of high-power engines. We do not know what she intends to do."

"We suspect that she might be trying to contact her kin."

Cheng Yu thought for a moment and wrote a note on Aria's memorial.

"I have received your filial piety. In the future, there is no need to send such rare trinkets. If you discover any advanced ancient technology, let me know immediately."

At the same time, he issued an order to all the clones on Liu Fei Planet: there was no need to delve deeply into what Aria did before going to sleep every day. After all, she was a countess of the Cheng Yu Empire, and she should still have basic privacy rights.

However, they must closely monitor the situation around the planet. Once there is any spaceship suspected to belong to Aria's kin, or any unknown rift in Warp, they must report it to me immediately for a decision.

The next memorial came from the former State Church…

"Report!" A clone rushed into the main hall.

"Speak!"

"Some individuals who ate food from Warp have undergone physical mutations. Please, Main Body, take a look."

Damn Warp. I only ate a bit of your meat and drank a bit of your blood; why is there so much trouble?

Main Body immediately connected to the shared consciousness to investigate the situation.

The situation was quite serious.

Some clones had grown a new pair of arms.

Some clones' teeth had become like those of a pufferfish.

Other clones had awakened psychic powers.

"Hm… psychic powers?!"

Main Body immediately shifted his consciousness to the clones who had awakened psychic powers, feeling this strange and unpredictable force.

Perhaps because they had not eaten much, the psychic powers the clones awakened were all very weak.

Those who could breathe fire were only at the level of a windproof lighter.

Those who could spit ice could not spit out a single ice cube after half a day.

Only one clone had relatively strong psychic powers.

His psychic power was extraordinary luck.

Originally, this clone was building scaffolding inside a Hive City when a small earthquake occurred underground, and the scaffolding collapsed.

All the other clones present died, but he was completely unharmed.

This incident alone might have been a coincidence, but later, when he was reassigned to deliver food to the stubborn prisoners in the cells,

one of the female prisoners actually took a liking to him; not only was she willing to surrender, but she also wanted to marry him.

This could not be explained by common sense; after all, everyone looked exactly the same. It couldn't be that the tattoo on his forehead was particularly sexy, could it?

Cheng Yu used this clone's body to try rolling dice, and sure enough, he was exceptionally lucky; he could almost roll whatever number he wanted, with an accuracy rate of 98 percent.

"I hereby appoint you as the Minister of Internal Affairs and Construction, responsible for coordinating all construction planning matters for the Cheng Yu Empire. I will also grant you a marriage and a fief!"

"Thank you for your promotion, Cheng Yu."

"Eh… it is the Cheng Yu Empire's promotion, based on your personal performance."

Because the tattoo pattern on this exceptionally lucky clone's forehead looked like a clenched fist,

from then on, he was referred to as the Iron Fist Clan. All replicated individuals produced by him would henceforth be under his own control and no longer belong to Cheng Yu.

The noble rank of the Iron Fist Clan leader, Iron Fist Cheng Yu, was set as a First-Class Duke, two grades higher than Aria's Second-Class Border Countess, and his status was second only to Cheng Yu.

He was granted the Nine Bestowals, allowed to establish his own government office with status equivalent to the Three Excellencies, and put in charge of the construction and internal affairs of the Imperial Planet.

He was not only the first clone in the Cheng Yu Empire to have a title but also the first to have a fief.

Iron Fist Cheng Yu's fief was on the Cheng Yu Planet, very close to that black pyramid STC. It was not a large place, serving mainly as a symbol of status.

…

After finishing this matter, Cheng Yu was in a great mood. He picked up the memorial from the former State Church priest, Cassius.

"Lord Governor…" That damn old brat; to this day, he is still unwilling to call me Your Majesty. Clones, slap his face for me!

"The Hive City on Li Yu Planet has not yet been completely built, and this place has already been overrun by the Genestealer. Now the forces there refuse to negotiate with us; no matter what banner we fly, we are attacked by anti-aircraft orbital weapons."

"Insolent!" Main Body saw this and was so angry that he dumped the bowl of starch dough soup he was holding onto the imperial desk.

"Where does the Genestealer get the guts to defy my divine might!"

Priest Cassius's memorial was not finished yet. After turning the page, it read: "A force of The Great Devourer is heading toward Li Yu Planet and will arrive in a few days."

"Then that is not strange; that is not strange." Main Body smiled awkwardly and scraped the dough soup back into the bowl.

The Genestealer is a very unique existence; this kind of parasite has a cognitive filter.

Taking the case of parasitizing humans as an example, they use the host's original thoughts as a standard, viewing The Great Devourer as an angel of the Corpse Emperor and regarding other unparasitized humans as minions of Chaos.

Until the very moment they are turned into nutrients by The Great Devourer, they all believe they are bathing in the glory of the Emperor.

This cognitive dissonance has nothing to do with the influence of Warp; it is a purely pheromonal chemical effect.

"Damn The Great Devourer, how dare it toy with my subjects like this! I will organize the army and prepare for war to save my subjects from fire and water!"

Billions of clones began preliminary preparations; things like Thing-like warships, basic weapons, orbital weapons, and high-power engines went without saying.

Cheng Yu also had his own secret weapon: insecticide.

Cheng Yu had worked in a high-pollution, high-toxicity chemical plant in his previous life. That factory… although it was located in a low-lying, desolate area surrounded by various foul-smelling ditches,

there were no mosquitoes or insects all year round.