Walk alone in the abyss

At noon on the second day after the Elder's Court forced the palace, public opinion throughout the empire was still boiling.

Yang Ming, who slipped away to rest under the pretext of recovering from his injuries, was dragged out of the bed by Catherine just after sleeping for less than eight hours.

Several maids sent by the emperor had been waiting outside the door for a long time.

"yawn……"

Yang Ming's eyes were full of hot tears, just because he loved Di Xing deeply.

Yang Ming asked: "How is it?"

"The elders' house is temporarily controlled by the defense forces, and the elders are preparing to enter the palace one by one to accept the emperor's inquiries and bribes."

Catherine sat on the edge of the bed and sighed softly:

"With your help, His Majesty the Emperor not only won the Elder's House, but also won the hearts of the people. According to the survey just conducted, the people's respect for the Emperor has substantially improved."

Yang Ming raised his eyebrows, and said with a smile: "Public opinion is a double-edged sword. The reason why the emperor can attract the attention of the whole people is because he rarely appears in front of the public on weekdays. If he shows up a few times more, the sense of mystery and distance will disappear. It doesn’t matter if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

"But you're probably in a much more dangerous situation now."

Catherine looked at Yang Ming worriedly, took the initiative to hold the back of Yang Ming's hand, and said in a low voice:

"Protect yourself, don't go against His Majesty's will, don't think about what you can get.

"You have shown too much limelight in front of the emperor, Hanton, your appeal and influence to the people has exceeded the limit that an autocratic emperor can tolerate."

Yang Ming frowned and looked at Catherine.

He suddenly felt that the girlfriend in front of him seemed a little different from usual.

"Catherine, did you think of these yourself, or did someone tell you?"

Catherine smiled and said: "The super reformers are all under house arrest. Except for me, our communicators have been confiscated. Who can tell me this? I am worried about you, Hanton, even if you are a knife in His Majesty's hand." , this knife looks too dazzling."

"Well, I know this," Yang Ming smiled, "Isn't it, a bomb blew me up, it's okay, at worst, let's leave Emperor Star together."

Catherine stared at Yang Ming, bit her mouth lightly.

"What's wrong?"

Yang Ming raised his hand to caress Catherine's cheek, and said softly:

"Don't think too much, the emperor can't directly attack me. He will give me titles, rewards, and some honors, and he will deliberately not give me what I want most. But at this stage, the emperor Will only continue to use my influence among the people.

"Catherine, have you ever thought about what the emperor's pursuit is?"

"What?"

"History," Yang Ming said, "every emperor's desire is almost related to his own historical position."

Catherine was thoughtful.

"Okay, rest first, I won't kiss you until I brush my teeth," Yang Ming pinched her face, "Don't worry about the super-reformers, the emperor will probably arrange for you to carry out a second thought mark."

Catherine whispered: "You can fight against the branding of thoughts, right?"

"Huh?" Yang Ming looked into Catherine's eyes, "What do you mean?"

"Bligh once told me that he can plant a spiritual imprint on other super-reformers. If this spiritual imprint is strong enough, it can resist the ideological imprint planted by the machine."

Catherine subconsciously glanced outside the door, leaned close to Yang Ming's ear, and whispered:

"I don't want to be bound again, plant a spiritual brand on me, Hanton, let me love you, love you madly for you, or make me obsessed and obsessed with some small things, don't let me become a slave of the empire again.

"I've had enough of this empire.

"Help me, Hunton."

At this moment, the surprise in Yang Ming's heart was like seeing Kigrove for the first time.

Now, Catherine is not affected by the imprint of thought?

He suddenly raised his hand and hugged Catherine tightly, holding her arm tightly. Catherine's breathing trembled slightly, and her tense body gradually relaxed in Yang Ming's embrace.

"I will help you," Yang Ming said softly, "Don't think too much, and don't worry, I can help you settle anything."

"Well, I'm fine," Catherine replied gently.

Yang Ming kissed her lightly on the forehead, but some bad thoughts came to his heart.

She is free now.

Free Super Transformer.

But Catherine's original "positioning" was to be used as a humanoid weapon to monitor and control Bligh. Her golden mask can resist mental shock, and her brain is implanted with a chip. If a mental imprint is detected, it will detonate on its own.

She wanted to take the risk.

Yang Ming did not dare to let her take risks easily.

...

Yang Ming really didn't expect that he usually deceives others, but this time he was deceived by the old emperor!

When he arrived at the palace, the old emperor was holding a family banquet. Hundreds of direct and collateral members of the Sherman family were present, and they were all socializing normally among nobles.

When Yang Ming was brought in by the maid through the side door, all eyes suddenly fell on Yang Ming.

Yang Ming glanced across, the elegant prince nodded to Yang Ming, the beautiful princess gave Yang Ming appreciative glances, and those young and handsome princes looked at Yang Ming with eagerness, as if they wanted to communicate with Yang Ming. Ming forges friendships to gain the old emperor's attention.

Yang Ming stepped forward and gave a military salute to His Majesty the Emperor. His Majesty suddenly raised his hand to make a gesture, and dense footsteps appeared on both sides of the hall.

Is there an ambush?

Yang Ming had already started rehearsing from the bottom of his heart, how to make a violent attack on the emperor, hold the old man in his palm and find a way to escape from Emperor Star.

But fortunately, Yang Ming's psychological quality is strong enough, he neither showed fierce eyes nor showed any tendency to attack.

Then, two rows of guards of honor in fine attire ran to both sides of Yang Ming, drew out the metal sabers at their waists, and formed a crossed 'sword' gate above Yang Ming's head.

The old emperor stood up, clapped his hands, and the music stopped immediately, and the fixed-point amplifying equipment made the old emperor's voice spread throughout the banquet.

"Look, this is the hero of our Sherman Empire! The true guardian of the emperor's star glory! Hanton!"

Suddenly there was applause everywhere.

The old emperor waved to Yang Ming affectionately, Yang Ming greeted him with a smile, and stood in front of the old emperor.

The old emperor took the long sword from the maid at the side, pressed the tip of the sword on Yang Ming's left and right shoulders one after another, swept it lightly towards the outside, then threw the long sword to the maid, and stared at Yang Ming with a smile.

The etiquette officer reminded: "Viscount Hanton, according to the imperial etiquette, you should kneel down to accept your majesty's canonization."

Yang Ming nodded with a smile, stepped back with his right leg, bowed his head and knelt down on one knee.

Made!

The old emperor must take the opportunity to pose for a photo!

Sure enough, the old emperor stepped forward, leaned over to support Yang Ming's arm, and the photo ball flew by to take a series of photos in succession.

Yang Ming was helped up.

The old emperor smiled and said, "My knight, the empire is proud of you."

"Your Majesty, what is the situation?"

"Of course it's a reward for you." The emperor squinted and smiled, took the box from the etiquette officer, and handed it to Yang Ming, "Open it and have a look."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

When Yang Ming opened the box, he saw a golden tulip badge, and underneath was a small scroll.

The Royal Medal of Valor is the top three individual honorary medals in the Sherman Empire. With this medal, you can enjoy the same treatment as a member of the royal family in any area of ​​​​the empire. - only formally equivalent.

That scroll was amazing, Yang Ming opened it and looked at it, and found that the material of the paper was very special, and the content on it also caught his eyes.

The honorary earl of the empire, conferred by the emperor himself, can arbitrarily designate a small administrative star as a private territory for a period of one hundred years.

Private territory!

A livable planet!

Although it is only a 100-year period, it is not a private domain that can be passed down as a family inheritance, but it is also a real reward!

Not only does he own 8% to 50% of the tax revenue of this small administrative star, but he also has the right to set up a private fleet, and he can use this small administrative star as the home port of his own fleet!

Thank you, Great Elder.

Yang Ming sincerely expressed his gratitude to the First Elder.

If the Great Elder hadn't given him this opportunity, how could he have completed the promotion of the title in such a short period of time, and even got a small administrative star of the Sherman Empire as a territory with a 100-year period!

Afterwards, Yang Ming blinked at the emperor, and whispered: "Your Majesty, cell."

"What?"

The old emperor looked at Yang Ming with a pair of old eyes full of innocence and kindness.

Yang Ming coughed, and whispered: "Your Majesty, you promised me the cells of the ancient god's living body."

"When will you be promoted to the Duke?" The old emperor patted Yang Ming's arm lightly, "Don't worry, son, I believe you can do it... I asked you to toss the elders' house, but I didn't expect that you almost broke the elders' house. After tossing until it fell apart, now there is a pile of mess waiting for me to clean it up, how dare you want ancient god cells?"

Yang Ming: ...

Isn't this being cheated?

The old emperor turned his head and said loudly: "The banquet continues, move a table and chairs here, I want to have a good chat with the honorary Earl of Handon."

The music played again.

Yang Ming felt a little depressed, and sat down on the right side of the emperor, and began to mutter something to the old emperor in front of the members of the royal family.

"Hanton, there are a few questions that I can't think of clearly."

The old emperor wondered:

"In the core area of ​​the shaped bomb, the energy released in an instant is comparable to that of a main battleship's naval gun. Based on the fact that the Valkyrie's physical strength cannot withstand the 200-meter-class gunboat, even if your body is stronger than the Valkyrie, you shouldn't be able to survive. Just come down.

"how did you do that?"

"Your Majesty, this is also my question."

Thoughts flashed through Yang Ming's mind quickly, but on the surface he remained calm and said in a low voice:

"Your Majesty, this is my question too, I received an anonymous message that reminded me ten seconds before the explosion.

"I kicked the car out of the suspension lane, and I was barely injured by relying on the super-strong material structure area of ​​the suspension lane.

"It's just a pity for those innocent people."

"That's not important," the old emperor said casually, and then wondered, "I sent someone to carefully investigate the regional communications at that time, but no relevant information was captured."

Yang Ming didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Does Your Majesty suspect that I planted the bomb myself?"

"I had this conjecture, but I quickly dispelled this doubt. You didn't get the bomb." The old emperor sighed, "I found the murderer who installed the bomb, but I think you already know the relevant information." .”

Yang Ming nodded in recognition, but did not deny the information.

The old emperor asked: "What did you do to Elder Pisen?"

"I used some tricks."

"There was a large area of ​​confusion in the memory of his brain, but I had his brain dissected out, and the data was sorted out. There are a lot of criminal records about the great elder's interest group."

The old emperor clicked his tongue:

"And what is certain is that this guy named Pisen has not received any form of memory modification surgery, and in his memory, there is no news of giving instructions to the murderer.

"The bomb was not set by the elders' house."

"Military department?" Yang Ming frowned and asked, "Or the divine religion?"

The old emperor glanced at Yang Ming, and said with a smile, "Why don't you suspect it's me?"

"Because Your Majesty doesn't need to do such a thing," Yang Ming said, "The military power is in His Majesty's hands. You have a hundred ways to clean up the Elder's House, the only difference is the intensity and whether the method is beautiful or not."

"Hmm," the old emperor shrugged slightly, "You underestimated the elders' house, and I could only make a compromise when they forced the palace, but you, with your tricks, caught them off guard. Public opinion is like a knife, hurting everyone." It is the ancestral motto of our Sherman family to hurt others, and this time I actually made an exception."

Yang Ming nodded slowly.

The old emperor said with a smile: "The feeling of being admired by all the people is quite good."

Inexplicably, Yang Ming felt a little vigilant in his heart.

The old emperor seemed to be very clear-headed, and he was not very easy to fool around.

"Hantton, don't worry about who planted the bomb. There are only a few possibilities to do this in the Emperor Star. I think I already know the answer."

The old emperor clicked his tongue and continued:

"We still have to consider the subsequent impact of the incident.

"This time you are too much in the limelight, and the noble group may have developed deep dissatisfaction with you. A quarter of the seats in the Presbyterian Court are vacant. I need time to arrange for people who are absolutely loyal to me to enter.

"What do you think you can do next?"

Yang Ming: "Cultivate yourself, take a vacation, and get a rare vacation."

The old emperor turned his head and glared at him.

Yang Ming: ...

"Of course, Your Majesty has the final say."

"Now that the public opinion is boiling, I want to carry out noble rectification activities throughout the entire territory," the emperor said with a smile. "Next, you will be my special envoy, patrolling the empire, noble courts and local defense forces, as well as a main fleet Will follow your orders."

Yang Ming smiled and said, "Your Majesty, what do you want me to investigate?"

"Go and cleanse the nobles of the elder's lineage," the emperor said indifferently, "the war has made the treasury turnover a little tight, and the empire needs to squeeze the water storage on its body."

"I see, Your Majesty, do you have anything else to say?"

The emperor smiled and said: "To be well-founded and convincing to the public, if during the investigation, you find out who flirts with foreign forces such as the New Federation, you can deal with it more seriously, attracting the public's attention to you, and shifting the class." contradiction."

Yang Ming nodded slowly.

Then, he looked up at the emperor, thought for a while, and said, "Your Majesty, I have a personal request."

"Just talk."

"The group of super reformers, is Your Majesty going to promote the second ideological branding?"

The emperor cleared his throat and whispered:

"Look to the left, at the farthest corner, there is that sloppy old man with gray hair, the one wearing glasses, that is my uncle, the youngest child of my grandfather, he is now the head of the Imperial Dimension Ascension Laboratory.

"He doesn't look down on this kind of banquet. He usually opens his mouth to me, either asking for money or talents, but this time, he is here.

"Do you know why?

"Hahaha, because he heard that the super-reformers organized troubles, and more than a hundred super-reformers were found to be ideologically branded as loyal to the elders' house."

The emperor's eyes flashed a bit ruthlessly:

"The experiment of dimension ascension requires materials. Super-reformers were born for this experiment. These more than a hundred people have been sent to the ascension laboratory, and they will be brainwashed and imprinted immediately later. Perhaps through their dedication , allowing the empire to obtain some key data of the four-dimensional universe."

Yang Ming said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, I want to talk about my girlfriend."

"Captain Catherine? She is fine," said the emperor. "She also led a group of super-reformers to resist the orders of the elders' house and try to prevent the situation from escalating."

"She has a chip in her brain, so she can't accept the second thought imprint." Yang Ming deliberately confused the thought imprint and the spiritual imprint, "You can verify this matter through the super-reformer organization. She takes it with her."

The emperor groaned a few times, leaning on the seat and thinking.

"Hantton, I will let the super reformer organization review and discuss this matter, and the super reformers on the emperor star will also return to the training base on the emperor star circle.

"However, my personal suggestion is that you try to keep some distance from the overhauler."

The emperor said softly:

"I don't want to see a group of fighters with super strength huddled together, rest assured, I will let them take care of Catherine, and will not let her be wronged in the slightest.

"But she has to go back to the overhauler base to see if there is a way to take out the chip in her brain.

"The overhauler must be loyal to the empire."

Yang Ming wanted to say something else, but the emperor sighed:

"Do you know, Hanton, what will happen if a super-reformer harbors hatred for the empire, but with a one-in-a-billion chance, survives a dimension-ascension experiment and becomes a high-dimensional life? "

The emperor looked a little far away, staring ahead:

"Emperor Star will be destroyed in an instant.

"Ants in the high-dimensional world may have a dimensionality reduction blow to us.

"That's the crux of the matter."

"Okay," Yang Ming spread his hands, "Thank you, His Majesty the Emperor."

"As long as you do things for the empire with peace of mind, Catherine will never have any problems. I assure you, in the name of the emperor." The old emperor patted Yang Ming on the shoulder and blinked again. You have prepared a gift, and Catherine is with you, which is inconvenient."

Yang Ming: ...

woman?

He guessed right, but not quite right.