40: Chapter 40 A surge of alcohol, and a feeling of invigorated.

"Envoy, please drain your cup!"

The Rogue Trader Kaelus kept urging Cheng Yu to drink.

In truth, the moment the first cup touched his lips, Cheng Yu felt something was wrong; the wine had definitely been drugged.

But what did it matter? If they dared to poison his avatar, he would turn their entire families into specimens!

"The envoy is truly a young talent, and so dashing."

Alliance Leader Hermann shot a look at Kaelus, who immediately asked, "How old are you this year?"

"Me?" Cheng Yu took another large gulp of the fine wine. "I am twenty-four years old this year."

Truth serum itself was not lethal, nor did it guarantee that someone would speak the truth.

Its effect was to make a person say whatever came to mind; if they talked enough, the truth would naturally slip out.

"How many troops does your dynasty have?!" Vice Leader Marek suddenly slammed the table and asked.

"I haven't counted, maybe less than five hundred billion, but the proportion of elites is very low, less than one percent," Cheng Yu said casually.

"Is there something wrong with your lousy drug?" Marek glared at Kaelus, gritting his teeth.

"Are you a man?" Kaelus probed.

"What kind of bullshit are you asking? Do you need me to take it out and show you?"

Cheng Yu didn't know what truth serum was; he assumed he had been given some kind of stimulant, as his mind was currently filled with the urge to curse and even fight.

"Envoy, please calm down, calm down." Alliance Leader Hermann was a hero who knew when to bend and when to stretch; he wasn't angry despite being cursed. "I wonder what the psychological bottom line for negotiations is for your country's tyrannical… Emperor?"

"Finally, we're getting to the point." Cheng Yu pretended to pull out a small slip of paper and began to read.

"I was born in the wilderness and raised in the flames of war; I have exterminated thirty-six uprisings and pacified seventy-two bands of bandits… I hereby command you to surrender all territory, armaments, populations, household registers, and technical documents, and you shall be spared from death. Thus it is decreed."

"Insolent!" Alliance Leader Hermann could no longer endure it, no matter his composure. He slammed the table and drew his power sword. "Envoy, are you trying to test the sharpness of my blade?!"

"My sword is also quite sharp!"

Envoys were not supposed to carry weapons, but this avatar's physical body had been specially selected by Main Body.

The psychic power he had mutated was similar to Kimimaro's; every bone in his body was a weapon.

At that moment, a three-foot-long bone sword extended from the palm of the avatar, pointing straight at Alliance Leader Hermann.

"Sir, why must it come to this?"

The Rogue Trader Kaelus stood up to mediate again; if it weren't for him, this coalition might have already fallen apart.

"I will give you one standard day to consider. If you do not surrender, your fate will be the same as this table!"

Cheng Yu swung his sword down, splitting the hardwood wine table in two. The wine on the table splashed onto the floor like blood.

The leaders of the various factions present all wore strange expressions, unsure of what to think.

...

On the Liu Fei Planet, Aria was throwing a tantrum and smashing things.

Because she only smashed the cheap items and not the expensive ones, her attendants judged that she hadn't truly descended into madness, but was just putting on her usual act.

Incidentally, all of her attendants were also avatars of Cheng Yu.

Cheng Yu was a man who was not only adept at being an emperor but also excellent at being a subordinate; he was truly a high-value workhorse trained in the 2K era.

"Come here!" Aria beckoned to her Chief Guard.

"Does my lord have any orders?" Chief Guard Cheng Yu asked, cupping his hands in a salute.

"Do you think I am beautiful?" Aria asked, her eyes brimming with tears.

"My lord's beauty is the greatest I have ever seen in my life!"

Chief Guard Cheng Yu was already used to this; Aria would have a similar breakdown every couple of days, and coaxing her was enough to settle it.

"Then are you willing to serve me?" Aria patted her throne. It was crafted to be exceptionally large, resembling a bed.

"I am already serving you, my lord."

"Don't play dumb; you know what I mean."

Aria stood up and took a step forward, and Chief Guard Cheng Yu stepped back half a step.

"Oh… then I am not willing."

"Why? Are you discriminating against the Aeldari?!"

Aria's stunning face twisted, and the other guards nearby already had their hands on the hilts of their power swords.

The avatars only followed Countess Dukaria's commands; they were not truly her slaves.

If Aria dared to use force, the avatars would have to properly teach her how to be a decent noble.

"Because I am already engaged. My lord, you wouldn't want your Chief Guard to be a scumbag who cheats on his partner with his superior, would you?"

Chief Guard Cheng Yu's reasoning was sound, and his attitude was neither humble nor pushy, instantly handling Aria.

"Huh?" Aria was shocked. "With whom? When? Why didn't I know? Why didn't you ask for my permission?"

"…" Chief Guard Cheng Yu didn't want to answer these stupid questions; he had no obligation to tell Aria these things.

A couple of days ago, when Chief Guard Cheng Yu went to the Imperial Capital to hand over the tithe documents, he met a woman named Seraphie.

She worked at the Water Purification Guild. That unit had good benefits, and she was in a technical, permanent position. She was beautiful and had a gentle temperament.

Aside from the slightly delicate matter of her being a spy for the Inquisition, Chief Guard Cheng Yu was quite fond of her in every respect.

In fact, spies weren't such a big deal; among the foreign population that had recently been naturalized into the Empire, at least half were spies sent by various surrounding factions.

Let them go ahead and gather intelligence; one by one, they would all be silenced.

In any case, Chief Guard Cheng Yu had already proposed to her, and Seraphie had agreed.

However, she requested to buy a house in the Imperial Capital for their marriage, saying it would be better for their future children's schooling, and that the Dukaria Territory had no future.

The couple planned to get married next month, so Chief Guard Cheng Yu had originally intended to apply for a transfer to the Ministry of Internal Affairs within these next two days.

He wasn't going to put up with this temperamental Aeldari woman any longer!

"Get out, all of you, get out!"

Aria started smashing things again. After she finished, she felt heartbroken over her lost property, then collapsed onto her throne to cry, and eventually fell asleep.

Chief Guard Cheng Yu did not mean to discriminate against the Aeldari; he only discriminated against Aria.

However, what neither Aria nor Chief Guard Cheng Yu noticed was…

There was an avatar hiding in the shadows, quietly recording their conversation, expressions, and demeanor.

The avatars were all able to sense each other's locations, but this avatar hiding in the shadows was not sensed by the others.

The only explanation was that the main body had granted permissions, allowing certain avatars the choice to hide themselves from being sensed by other avatars.

And the leader of these special avatars was… Middle Chamberlain Cheng Yu.

As the number of avatars grew and the scale of the imperial court expanded, Cheng Yu could no longer process all the avatars' affairs in real-time, even though they were absolutely loyal.

In other words, Cheng Yu trusted his own loyalty, but sometimes he didn't quite trust his own brain.

To prevent his avatars from being deceived, he had to use espionage to counter espionage, and use underhanded tactics to fight back against underhanded tactics.

"Your Majesty, the memorials are piling up; such minor matters should be handled by us."