Abyss Solo

Here, where dozens of noble officers play the role of the audience, and as a backdrop, princes, elders, generals, and officials are seated behind Yang Ming on tiered seats, all are now watching Yang Ming's figure, awaiting an inspiring speech.

Yang Ming stands with his hands behind his back, his expression still quite relaxed, followed by a thirty-second silence.

He seems to be contemplating something, or perhaps waiting for something.

Finally, when the technicians couldn't help but check whether the equipment was malfunctioning, Yang Ming spoke one sentence:

"They want me to tame you."

In the Imperial Palace, the old Emperor, sitting limply in his seat with his enthusiasm severely crushed, opened his eyes wide and sat up straight.

Individuals waiting behind various communication devices all widened their eyes at this moment, sensing that this seemed not to be an ordinary speech.

In the virtual conference room, those elders waiting for Yang Ming to speak showed slight changes in their expressions.

"Cut the broadcast!"

"This Hanton, indeed he intends to take this opportunity to challenge us, challenge the Sherman family!"

"What's happening? We can't cut the broadcast, our control program has been modified...we've lost contact with the Prince! Damn it! How did he do this!"

"Activate the Emperor Guard system! Hurry! Activating Emperor Guard 2.0 is fine too! Quickly! We've been deceived!"

"Eno! Do something!"

Director Eno furrowed his brows tightly, then immediately cut off his own communication and rushed to the communication base next to the laboratory.

There's a professional team there.

In the command ship of the Prince, Yang Ming slightly raised his head, looking at the astonished expressions of those noble officers below, and sighed lightly in his heart.

When he wore the sensory helmet, he inexplicably gained a bit more confidence.

No one can stop him, because at this moment, perhaps only at this moment, the core soul of the Empire's structure, Levi Sherman's greatest reliance, the Mechanical Thought Body, stood on his side.

Thus, the Ghost spoke.

...

"They want me to tame you.

"To indoctrinate you with thoughts like, the Empire is invincible, the Empire is great, being born in the Empire is your luck, you wretched people, such thoughts.

"I got this speech yesterday, and by today, I can finally let out this breath that I've been holding in...

"To hell with formalism, bureaucratic capitalism, imperial hegemonic politics!

"I'm not crazy.

"No need to worry that my mind has been affected, or that I've been bewitched by someone.

"I am Hanton, the White Ghost, a hero of the Empire, and a nightmare for the Imperial Nobles.

"Before this conflict broke out, I always thought the Empire could be saved, it was just that the system had a problem, but as I learned more about the real history, I realized the Empire was already beyond saving.

"The Empire, long ago, implemented a constitutional monarchy, the Emperor became a symbolic icon, managing politics through the cabinet, except this cabinet is unknown, because it hides in the shadow of royal power, it's called, the Sherman family elite ruling faction.

"In the corners unseen by us, there's a virtual round table, and seated around it are elders, each already three hundred or four hundred years old, they first try to extend their lives as much as possible using their bodies, when the body completely fails, they upload their consciousness to a server, then continue to control one of the Empire's lifelines until their self-consciousness collapses, passing this lifeline to their descendants.

"Initially, when I first came into contact with the Empire, I felt... hey, this Empire is okay, royal power is constrained on the Emperor Star, the Empire keeps restraining the nobles, the Empire respects its citizens.

"But when I reached the core of the Empire, I found out, those were just lies concocted to maintain internal stability in the Empire.

"The Empire fears no one.

"Thousands of years of heritage, the Sherman family possesses unparalleled wealth, they push the Emperor forward, letting the Emperor become their spokesperson, meanwhile keeping the Emperor locked on Emperor Star, to outwardly proclaim, look, we respect public opinion here, follow public sentiment, the Emperor has no real power at all.

"Then?

"Legislative power is in the Elder Court, these elders' real power positions, all come from noble families with years of legacy, and these noble families are vassals and followers of the Sherman family.

"The army is controlled more thoroughly, those who are disobedient are early ousters, truly capable, decisive, commanders who follow their orders, ultimately only receive an honorary title, then wait in the army for war to come, when war is won, they accumulate merit, but not enough merit to be promoted, rather they have to wait for age.

"So you'll find, Empire's generals typically retire within a few years after being promoted.

"This is how they control the army.

"Today's broadcast, I shouldn't be saying these things to you, because... desperation, in this I see only despair, the Empire essentially is an exploitation machine, and this machine continually gathers resources towards the Emperor Star Circle, delivering wealth to the Imperial Nobles, letting these nobles indulge in debauchery, using only one ten-thousandth of the Empire's population to consume forty percent of the Empire's resources.

"Then? What do we get?

"What the people get is a sense of pride belonging to the Galaxy's mightiest polity, having nerves slowly numbed by the Sherman family, thoughts twisted bit by bit, you could have enjoyed more resources, received more respect!