Two consecutive reports had Uti in a thunderous fury. He first directed his rage at his table, then jumped from his high chair, and paced back and forth.
In order to disguise his short height, he had had the expensive golden silkwood chairs and table specially modified. The three-meter-tall chairs even required escalators to get onto. When Uti sat upon it, it made him seem a dignified judge presiding over court, seated high above the masses.
Uti loved looking down on other insectoids. Perhaps this was a problem that all short beings shared. They cared a great deal about the height of others, afraid that those taller viewed them with contempt.
However, today, in his high chair, Uti felt that he was sitting on a bed of nails. He went up to the front of the tent and walked back and forth with his short, small legs.
The two generals in front of the tent stood at attention, their hands at their sides. The taller one was the leader of the Sacred Guild, Duabi, and the shorter one was the commander-in-chief of the Public Security Forces, Shoshao.
Consort Qingyan reclined on a sofa at the side as if nothing was going on. She held a crystal wine cup in her hand, her slender snow-white legs extending out from her dress. Her alluring eyes swept across the bodies of the two heroic generals like a gentle breeze, making their hearts itch.
Normally, these two generals would have enjoyed this feast for the eyes. After all, Qingyan was known as the most beautiful, as well as the most charming, female in all of the insectoid race.
Alas, today, the two generals were not in the mood to admire Qingyan’s beauty. Given the major incident that had taken place, the most important thing was to protect their heads.
“A single human killed Mengen and stole the Blood Demon Claw?” Uti grimly asked.
The commander of the Public Security Forces, General Shoshao, quickly began to speak. “Before its destruction, Pangnick was able to send two videos. An analysis of the footage, and we’ve determined that the assailant truly is a human ability user. His special ability is speed, and the first report sent to the Public Security Forces stated that they had been ambushed by a human.”
Uti nodded his head in vexation and then turned to Duabi. “What do you think? Could a human warrior be of a higher rank than Mengen?”
Duabi bowed and softly replied, “Emperor, Mengen was almost at grade 7, and his special ability was his stealth mobility. Even if he could defeat his opponent, he shouldn’t have been easily killed. There’s something strange about this incident. I also watched the footage. The human warrior has a speed of about ten thousand meters per second, so he’s an Advanced grade 4 at most. If so, as long as Mengen hadn’t intentionally exposed a weakness, he shouldn’t have been defeated. It might be that this human had intentionally concealed his cultivation.
“Intentionally?” Uti gravely said. “What would be the point? Why would he intentionally choose to hide his strength, and how did he infiltrate our territory?”
This string of questions left Duabi and Shoshao slack-jawed and wide-eyed, clueless over how to respond. Duabi frowned and thought for a few moments before saying, “Emperor, I presume that he doesn’t want to draw our attention, so he killed Mengen, stole the Blood Demon Claw, and used some strategic weapon we currently don’t understand to destroy half the star system. It’s a pity that he still made a misstep. We possess an extremely rigorous reporting system, so even before he had a chance to destroy the evidence, a large batch of information reached us through various channels.”
Uti slightly nodded, acknowledging that Duabi’s analysis was somewhat reasonable. In truth, Uti had already thought of this. There was no one in the entire insectoid race who could match his intelligence. He had asked these questions purely to test his subjects. Duabi’s analysis was clear and logical, and he was clearly a cut above the one-track mind that was Shoshao.
General Shoshao had always been at odds with Duabi, and now that Duabi had provided an analysis for this incident while he remained clueless, Shoshao began to grow anxious.
“Emperor, this human warrior has an extremely high cultivation and has control over some mysterious power which allows him to destroy half a star system. We can’t take him lightly; I advise that we immediately dispatch our forces to hunt him down and nip this problem in the bud!”
After proposing this, General Shoshao smugly smiled. He believed that this analysis was very sound.
To his shock, Uti glared at him and sternly rebuked, “Idiot! I don’t need you to tell me that!”
General Duabi appeared extremely smug as he shot a glance at the embarrassed Shoshao while secretly cheering Uti.
“You’re dismissed!” Uti told Shoshao, not even giving him a second glance.
“Duabi, stay. I have some things to discuss with you.”
Shoshao gritted his teeth and stomped out of the Golden Tent, sent off by Uti’s scorn and Duabi’s unkind laughter. A guard seeking to ingratiate himself offered Shoshao his cloak, but Shoshao savagely kicked him away, sending the fellow flying several meters; it was a small blessing that this person’s bones did not break from the blow.
Consort Qingyan sat in the Golden Tent and watched this all with a smile, a profound look in her eyes.
Uti had Duabi sit. This enormous fellow at a towering two-meter height placed considerable pressure on him.
He went to Qingyan’s side, and Qingyan very smoothly lowered her body, just enough so Uti could stroke her black hair. This movement was so natural that no one would ever think that Qingyan had intentionally lowered her body because of Uti’s very short stature. This simple action could not be underestimated. Qingyan had such an ironclad grip on Uti not merely because of her gorgeous looks but also because of seemingly insignificant details like this.
Qingyan was an intelligent woman, and she understood what a man required. Besides affection, a man also hoped to find their dignity from a woman. If a woman of breathtaking beauty nestled to a man like a little bird, any man would feel a sense of pride and happiness, which came from the heart.
Alas, the vast majority of beauties in this universe preferred to rely on their charms to act unscrupulously in front of them. They perked up their gorgeous faces, youth and pride on their faces. They believed that all men should prostrate before their skirts; alas, they had forgotten that in this society, no matter how beautiful women were, they were subordinate to men, particularly those men of great ambitions. Such men always had had their eyes on greater things.
Qingyan understood well what a man required, and she was willing to lower herself in front of a man. Actually, Uti had an appearance that had almost reached the pinnacle of ugliness. Anyone who was a man could not be uglier than he was. God was fair, and while he had given Uti supreme intelligence, he also stripped away any chances of Uti having a handsome appearance. In truth, Uti could not even be considered a normal man. The most wretched man in the world simply needed to see Uti’s true appearance to feel an innate sense of superiority.
This was who Uti was—a being so short and ugly that no language in the universe could describe it. However, Qingyan was willing to offer her most beautiful figure among the insectoids and her dignity to him. Uti could not help but be moved by this. His ugliness and short height had given Uti a severe inferiority complex from a very young age. He believed that those insectoids bowing to him were actually laughing at him behind his back. Besides Qingyan, there was no one else in the universe who treated him with sincerity and cared about him so much.
Uti ran his fingers through Qingyan’s black hair as he gently said, “Dear Yan, I have some matters to speak of with Duabi.”
Qingyan was very quick-witted, and before he even finished speaking, she kneeled before him. “Qingyan feels somewhat uncomfortable and wishes to go back and rest. My king, please permit this.”
Uti was elated. The most beautiful woman in the universe had prostrated to him before another subject. How could a man not feel endless pride from such a humble display?
Qingyan walked out of the tent and then bowed to Uti once more, her smile as pretty as a flower, but when she turned her head, her expression changed. The curve on her lips was still there, but in that smile was a hint of contempt and shrewdness.
Uti naturally could not see the change on Qingyan’s face. He happily watched as Qingyan left, but when he turned his head, his brows creased.
“The Blood Demon Claw isn’t ripe, so while that human warrior has taken it, he won’t be able to use it immediately. We must get the Blood Demon Claw back.”
Duabi nodded. “Emperor, rest easy; I will immediately send my men to start a full-scale search and report to you the moment I find the slightest clue.”
Uti said, “Send Kikger, Laresh, and Goxan. That human may have a higher cultivation than we anticipated.”
Duabi was taken aback, asking in confusion, “Emperor, I feel that it’d be better for the Seven Champions to remain serving you at the Golden Tent. The Sacred Guild has other insectoids it can send. There’s no need to send your trusted subordinates.”
Uti waved his hand. “That human won’t be threatening the capital for a while yet. Plus, I can’t trust those people of yours. By the way, I heard that a Sacred Warrior was slain. What’s going on there?”
Duabi replied, “There’s truly such a matter. The one slain was called Shaye, a caterpillar warrior, but he’s only a grade 2 warrior—an insignificant pawn at most. Emperor, as you know, Sacred Warriors will often fight among one another. Shaye had a very violent and unreasonable personality, so perhaps he offended someone.”
Uti sternly said, “I suspect that the same human was behind both incidents. The report said that Shaye’s head was blown to pieces and his body showed signs of having been frozen. When Mengen died, there’s a sign that someone had used an ice ability to seal the wound on his neck, such that not even a drop of blood to leak from the wound. There must be a connection there.”
Duabi was somewhat confused, whispering, “If the human warrior attacked Tanini’s Sacred Warrior Academy for the Blood Demon Claw, why would he attack Shaye? He’s an insectoid of no significance.
Uti smiled and turned on his screen, flipping to the star map. “Before Mengen and Shaye were killed, a small town on the border of our territory was inexplicably destroyed, with no trace of evidence to the culprit, but let’s see what happens if we connect the locations of these three incidents together.”
Duabi glanced at Uti’s finger on the star map and was flabbergasted.
The three points formed a line—an arrow that pointed straight at the insectoid capital!
“Emperor, if these three incidents were all the doing of one human, then he’s clearly aiming for the capital! He’s coming straight for you!” Duabi exclaimed in alarm.