"Hero of the Empire, the White Ghost Hanton, requests an audience with the great Emperor."

Elder Pison bowed his head and bent forward, calling loudly as he advanced.

Yang Ming followed closely behind Elder Pison, with a stern face and a straightened posture.

He tried to look straight ahead, but the crystal elements decorating the room and the coolly dressed maids everywhere dazzled him.

The Emperor of the Sherman Empire sure knew how to enjoy life.

This should be a reception hall, Yang Ming estimated, with an area of several thousand square meters. Several rows of supporting pillars were surrounded by fountains, flower clusters, and artworks, perfectly integrated with the ship's cabin structure itself.

The carpet on the floor seemed like one whole piece, covering the area within Yang Ming's line of sight.

There were one or two hundred human women in the hall, divided into two groups based on work type.

One group consisted of maids free to move around, responsible for routine tasks like serving tea, delivering water, and offering fruits.

The other group was 'spatial' models, part of the reception hall's decoration, wearing various artistically styled clothes that did not cover more than thirty percent of the body surface, remaining still in different areas and changing poses every half to five minutes.

Yet no matter the work type, they were all stunning beauties with figures that were either tall and slender, slightly plump, or trim and captivating, with looks resembling spring orchids, autumn chrysanthemums, summer peonies, competing in beauty.

No wonder, Yang Ming often saw jokes poking fun at the Sherman Empire's Emperor's debauchery when intergalactic surfing.

How could this be debauchery?

This should be systematic, thoughtfully indulgent self-gratification.

Yang Ming took only a sweep of the eyes, then slightly lowered his head, stepping forward behind Elder Pison.

The styles of these girls' clothes gave him many clues about the Emperor's personal preferences.

A futuristic style with silver and white as the base was the mainstream artistic style here.

After advancing more than fifty meters, Yang Ming saw the steps ahead, and Elder Pison also stopped, inadvertently making a gesture to Yang Ming, signaling him to pay respects together.

Swoosh!

The military uniform on Yang Ming's body made a clear noise as it vibrated.

He clenched his fists, positioned his right hand forward and left hand back, giving a standard imperial military salute, and following through by looking straight ahead.

The Emperor sat on the throne some twenty meters away.

Within that twenty-meter distance, Yang Ming found at least twelve layers of energy protective shields, at least six maids who were actually transformed soldiers, saw seven or eight Empire ministers and elders dressed in intricately patterned imperial vintage robes, and three familiar old generals of the Empire.

This was the core of the Empire's power!

And that Old Emperor, at the first glance, Yang Ming negated his previous deductions.

This was a living organism, not an intelligent machine.

At this moment, the Emperor, with an elegant smile, was scrutinizing the young man below, then slightly turned his head to face the adjacent recording orb, and with an exaggerated voice akin to a theatrical actor, exclaimed:

"Oh, look who it is! Our Empire's great hero, Hanton! The White Ghost!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Yang Ming's voice was sonorous and powerful, his eyes intentionally revealing undisguised fervor.

"To receive your summoning is the highest reward I've achieved in all my efforts!"

The Old Emperor's smile became much more genuine.

He lightly sighed and continued to speak slowly as per the script he designed beforehand:

"The Empire has existed for tens of thousands of years, and every era produces heroes of its own kind. The emergence of someone like you in this era is a blessing for my Sherman Empire.

"I have always been following you, Hanton. Although limited by the Empire's laws from directly interfering in these non-essential political affairs, I have always told them to treat our heroes kindly, with more tolerance and understanding.

"I have long been aware of your experiences.

"Out of loyalty to the Empire, you selflessly volunteered for the gene fusion experimental transformation. Amidst danger-ridden environments, you saved hundreds of researchers in a scientific team. Persecuted by international political influence from the New Federation, you were imprisoned but persistently resisted these evil forces, never uttering a single word to tarnish the Empire.

"When the Empire was plunged into the crisis of the insect plague, you infiltrated New Federation territory to investigate and gather evidence, contributing the critical insect detection technology patent to the Empire with some ancient technology you acquired by chance.

"When the plague broke out, and my dear citizens fell into despair and helplessness, you stepped forward once again.

"To this day, you have directly saved four hundred million Empire citizens, inspiring countless Empire citizens with patriotic sentiments who were ideologically harmed by foreign forces.

"When I saw this number, I was greatly shocked.

"Hanton, I am proud of you."

The Old Emperor slowly stood up, seemingly getting excited from himself speaking, and moved toward Yang Ming.

"Your Majesty..."

A nearby maid responsible for security frowned and reminded.

The person standing below was not just a hero of the Empire.

The records showed that this was a low-ranking officer who had been forcibly subjected to a gene experiment by the Kigrov experiment team, was betrayed by the surviving scientific research team, was abandoned by the Imperial Military Intelligence Bureau, and nearly got bombarded directly by the Imperial Dreadnought, a powerful transformed body.

This was an unstable individual, potentially prone to extreme behaviors.

But the Emperor ignored this reminder.

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