My wife is an immortal black snake.

Page 99

Monica paused for a moment, then added:

"She hopes to receive your reward... Sir, I'm not quite sure if she needs a material reward or something else, but I think you should have a plan."

"Ah ha ha..."

The sharp glares from both the maid and his wife made Yang Hao chuckle dryly. But Teresa really did a great job...

Could it be that they've even found some great news besides the relocation of military factories? If this is true, then the Duchy of Kosiché will have an additional fully-fledged military factory to produce equipment to replenish its losses at the very start of the civil war. Moreover, this military factory has been moved to a land-based warship—in other words, if Yang Hao plans to produce any secret weapons in the future, he can also send the land-based warship to other locations.

In summary, the benefits are numerous, with almost no drawbacks. Yang Hao's evaluation of Theresa rose even higher, except for the reward she requested... This stumped Yang Hao himself.

He wasn't sure if Theresa wanted a pat on the back or a financial reward. But it was always good to be prepared for both... well...

He took a bite of the delicious food, then glanced at Koschei, who was chatting with Monica beside him. Since the couple's relationship had grown stronger, Koschei had increasingly used his personal identity, "Koschei," rather than his titles "Duke Koschei" or "The Undying Black Serpent," when communicating with them.

The good news is that this version of Koschei has a more human side. The bad news is that, unsurprisingly, this version of Koschei also possesses the jealousy and possessiveness of an ordinary woman. Now, when Yang Hao is intimate with Monica, she occasionally feels jealous. What if something really happens between her and Theresa in the future... won't Koschei really kill him?

He thought about it seriously for a long time, and after stuffing a whole plate of toast into his mouth, he came to a conclusion:

Yes, and it will not only kill him, but also hurt his back.

So it's more practical to start exercising...

He sighed silently, and after finishing his meal, Kosic said, "His Majesty the Emperor wants him to go to St. Arthur's Castle as soon as possible and burn all those councilors down. When do you plan to go?"

Chapter 211

"I'll definitely go there after the events in United City are over."

Yang Hao answered without hesitation. Then he noticed his wife's expression was a little strange and subconsciously wondered—had he said something wrong?

However, that wasn't the case. Koschke's expression was somewhat strange because he realized his wife didn't just value his friend as much as he normally would. She had discovered a weakness in her husband that could be exploited by the enemy, so after a moment's thought, she decided to make some preventative preparations for him as soon as possible.

Then, when her husband, looking puzzled, asked if she had any ideas, Koschich simply shook his head, indicating:

"No, you haven't done anything wrong. It's just that Her Majesty seems unusually impatient. The clowns and jesters in the Imperial Council have already worsened her mood, and those foolish neutral members of parliament have been the final straw—she's going crazy. If this continues, she might start her own operation before you even get there."

"...This is not good news."

"So my husband, you have to appease this poor emperor... Sigh, although I do feel a little resentful about you seeing other women, my dear, you can rest assured. I might just deal with the girls you've been seeing, it's nothing serious."

"Ah ha ha..."

"I was just kidding. Hehe, don't make that face—if I were really angry, I would have thrown that pony somewhere else already, wouldn't I?"

My dear wife, although you look really cute right now, what you said really chilled my heart.

And you mean you won't actually get angry, but in other words, you'll be very unhappy about it, right? Oh dear, I was wrong—can you please stop playing with my fingers with your tail now?

Feeling both pleased and embarrassed by Koschitch's open display of jealousy and displeasure by twisting her own fingers with her tail, Yang Hao quickly pulled his wife onto his lap, hoping to cheer her up with the familiar way an old married couple would interact.

But then again, what she just said is a big problem...

Even His Majesty the Emperor, a mortal whose theoretical stress tolerance is already near its limit, has been driven to the brink of cerebral hemorrhage by the current members of the Imperial Diet. Doesn't that mean that at least half of the Imperial Diet members are currently on paid leave to defecate? I mean, excluding the members from the Sherlock Holmes nightclub, are the remaining members all on paid leave to defecate?

Yang Hao was quite confused, but Koschich, whom he was holding in his arms, keenly noticed his confusion. She first smiled and told Monica to go back to her room to prepare for bedtime, and after Monica left quietly, blushing, Koschich explained:

"In short, His Majesty's irritability stems from us—you understand? Ever since you executed all the nobles of the Duke of Nikolai, the members of the Imperial Council have harassed the Emperor countless times... Not to mention the members of the Sherlock Holmes nightclub, one member of the neutral faction, fearing an invasion by the madmen of the Duke of Kosiché, has been demanding that His Majesty try you. Of course, they've also been demanding a share of the spoils from our territory."

"Oh, have they lost their minds?"

"Maybe."

"His Majesty the Emperor has actually been able to endure until this point."

"Could you perhaps endure it for a couple of days?"

"Then I'll definitely be furious. People who only want to profit from the national crisis, people who only care about their own interests, have actually risen to the administrative center of the country... I just can't accept that."

To put it simply, the majority of members of the Ursus Imperial Council are not only paid slackers, but many are also thoroughly corrupt and profiteers from the national crisis rather than officials—how can politics be conducted with these vermin? Yang Hao now admires His Majesty the Emperor's resilience, because he knows that if he were in that situation, he probably would have started a massacre in a couple of days.

Having figured out the root of the Emperor's anger, Yang Hao was prepared to appease her and ask her to "wait" a little longer. But then again... if this is the case, does it mean the future Emperor has no intention of establishing a parliament at all?

Then wouldn't my future position as speaker be just like a meat bun eaten by a dog—a complete waste?

“Hehe, you don’t need to worry about that.” Understanding her husband’s thoughts, and knowing what he was thinking with his changing expression and darting eyes, Kosiche sighed and explained to him, “Her Majesty the Emperor’s future Council will be limited to 20 people. In other words, this will be her dictatorial cabinet, and a cabinet she will serve for life.”

"Isn't this...?"

"You will become an immortal in the future, so you will be the Speaker of the Ursus Empire's Cabinet forever, even if the emperor changes—that is her promise. And as far as I know, although Her Majesty Ekaterina may seem shameless now, she will keep her promises."

"I'm curious, Kosichek, how did you come to the conclusion that she's shameless?"

"Because she knew you were my husband and still tried to seduce you. If that's not shameless, then who is?"

"Ah ha ha..."

Yang Hao chuckled a few times, and then quickly realized what his future position meant—the eternal Speaker of the Ursus Empire, the highest-ranking person in the Emperor's Cabinet besides the Emperor.

Furthermore, considering that he also has the right to educate the crown prince... all these factors combined essentially mean one thing:

In the future, once the Ursus Empire fully embraces imperial autocracy, Yang Hao will be second only to the emperor, perhaps even surpassing his wife in status. Of course, this refers to his official position; in reality, he's quite aware of his standing within the family.

Even so, that's enough. His [Puppet Stage] requires a sufficiently high [status] to use, and when he becomes the Speaker, at a point in time when the previous emperor dies and the next emperor may not be ready yet and needs him to [regent]... he can use the [Puppet Stage] to change every aspect of Ursus—although it's only temporary, he can turn that [temporary] into permanent.

Oh my, what a wonderful gift! Yang Hao hugged his wife tightly with satisfaction. Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly saw Monica, who had been missing for a long time, return.

She was wearing a thin nightgown, and she looked at him with a blush. He was stunned for a moment, then looked down and found his wife looking up at him with a mischievous smile.

He twisted his stiff neck and looked at the clock on the wall.

It's 8:20 p.m.

Chapter 212

6 month 15 day.

After Theresa and the others confirmed for the fifth time that the military factory that was about to be moved to the landship for remote operations was indeed the highest-level military factory in the Duchy of Nikolai, they quietly returned to their hideout and began to discuss their next plan in hushed tones by candlelight.

"In short, our targets include three landships carrying armaments, and a large landship with a military factory? Sigh, there are quite a few enemies. Theresa, you'll have to run to four different places, and we'll have to take care of all the armed enemies before you get here. Too much trouble!"

"I don't find it troublesome at all, so why do you find it troublesome?"

"Can't we just take all three landships away and let you deal with the last one by yourself?"

"..."

"Just kidding, just kidding~"

Sometimes Theresa really didn't know if her sisters were planning to sell her out or were just joking. She twitched her lips, signaled everyone to stop fooling around, and then continued discussing their next preparations.

Theresa and the Serpent Scales worked together to locate part of the military storage in the Duchy of Nikolai. First, the largest military depot was located near the core area of ​​the city of Nikolai, and the military equipment in those places was not to be stolen.

Secondly, outside the city, three land-based ships stored a large amount of military equipment. According to the intelligence Theresa found, these three ships were stockpiled with so much equipment for combat support and weapons resupply. A rough estimate suggests that the three ships carried over 9 sets of regular army equipment. Stealing them would severely cripple the army of the Duke of Nikolai, and at least half of the new recruits of the Duke of Kosiché would be able to use weapons.

These three landships are of paramount importance to Creed and Serpent Scale, and their ultimate goal is to seize them by various means and sail them to the Duchy of Kosiché, after which their work will be essentially finished.

But Theresa didn't see it that way. She knew very well that if she and the Creed were merely passively completing missions, they would remain a second-rate secret force in the Duchy of Koschche. To gain a higher position, to obtain what she deserved... Theresa focused her attention on the military factories of the Duchy of Nikolai.

The Duchy of Nikolai has a total of 8 military factories, but only 12 civilian factories. The largest of their military factories is being relocated—to a heavy landship docked on the outskirts of the Duchy of Nikolai's city. The equipment being moved includes all of that factory's equipment, including some newly ordered state-of-the-art equipment.

"At that time, there will be a large number of soldiers guarding that heavy landship, and if nothing unexpected happens, those flesh puppets should also be lurking in the shadows..."

"The Flesh Puppet Serpent Scales said they'd handle it. But the problem is... Theresa, you know what I mean? There are just too many soldiers! After we transport all three landships back, the total number of soldiers on the fourth landship will definitely exceed what we can handle!"

"So the key isn't dealing with the soldiers there, but creating chaos in the city so that the soldiers originally stationed on the landships have to go elsewhere to provide reinforcements. Wouldn't the rebels the boss asked us to find come in handy then?"

"Oh...but if they launch an attack, they'll probably all be wiped out. How do we convince them?"

"Hypnosis".

Theresa didn't care whether the rebels were left alive after the operation. After all, she knew very well that Yang Hao didn't care what happened to the citizens outside the Duchy of Kosiché—she had figured out a few things about this troublesome man; he only cared about his people and his subordinates. In other words, Theresa could simply use the rebels and then abandon them, as long as she informed her boss beforehand.

So her plan was simple, full of the capitalist flavor of Casimir: use people and then discard them to achieve her own goals.

“Hypnosis? Okay... but there’s still a problem—if our reconnaissance is correct, this heavy landship is connected to the city. We also need to disable their connection and paralyze all the turrets along its path that could destroy it.”

"Disabling the ship's guns...that's a problem. I'll try to communicate with Serpent Scale, but our creed is that there's no way to prevent it."

"After all, we were originally corporate spies."

"Yes."

In addition, when the heavy land-based ship is moving, all the city naval guns in its direction of movement must be disabled to prevent it from being hit and becoming stranded while moving.

This was not a job that the Knights of the Creed were good at, so after a little thought, Theresa decided to give the job to Serpent Scale.

And they have a long time to prepare... After all, they have to wait for the boss to be ready and make the first move before they can act in unison, right?

...

After briefly discussing the plans, Theresa stretched and prepared to go back to her room to rest.

But before returning to her room to rest, she and her sisters, as always, kept a close eye on the activity on the streets. In the city streets of the Duke of Nikolai, under curfew, one could occasionally see fully armed but unsteady patrols. Their police were exhausted, and their soldiers were underfed, but for some reason, the Duke of Nikolai's personal guards seemed to be in high spirits, walking with the steady, upright stride of a mountain.

“I remember the bread rations in ordinary military camps were already mixed with sawdust, weren’t they?” Mars muttered to Theresa, standing in front of the cloth-covered window, using his non-reflective binoculars to peer through the thick fabric at the patrolling guards of Duke Nicolai in the distance. “How could they possibly walk across such a large cloth on an empty stomach? And speaking of which, Theresa—how are the numbers of the militia that have been conscripted in this territory lately?”

"The number of cases is decreasing every day, but the crematorium shows no sign of opening for business."

"Oh, I understand."

It seems the guards have been eating a lot of meat lately. Mars frowned, adjusting the angle of his binoculars.

After a while, they heard knocking sounds coming from the roof, and then, a moment later, snake scales crawled in from the roof's ventilation ducts. They were carrying the latest intelligence and some other strange items.

“Miss Theresa, it seems we have something to do.” Paul said, placing the file bag on the table. “We’ve found an opportunity—an opportunity to infiltrate the city’s defenses. While it won’t cause widespread disruption to the city’s movement, directly damaging their naval guns and jamming the locking mechanisms in parts of the city is still feasible.”

"Oh dear, we were just having a headache about how to solve the problem of naval guns."

“Then let’s see. By the way, Duke Nikolai has been making moves lately. His ducal mansion has been frequented by many powerful and influential people recently.”

"Powerful and wealthy people? Nobles?"

"Sort of. But some of them are Qazimirs. Do you have any leads?"

“Ah, it must be another spy who was sent there a long time ago… But I haven’t had any contact with them, so I don’t really know what they’re doing now.” Theresa scratched her head and looked through the file folder Paul had brought. “After all, commercial spies in Kazimierz rarely cooperate with each other~ Hmm? Is this… am I supposed to hypnotize a few engineers?”

"That's roughly it. Tomorrow we can go and tie them up, and then you can help us infiltrate those nightclubs that look really luxurious."

"Okay, regarding the details..."

They discussed the details of the upcoming work, and this discussion might go on for a very long time...

Meanwhile, in the Duchy of Kosiché, Yang Hao was also searching for something that might be of help to him in the House of Elegy.

According to Miss Elegy, today's yellow light is the light of the [Casting] Divine Star, and he can choose one of the two necessary relics to take with him.

One of them is key to his ascension: the [Initial Molten Flame]. This relic is a furnace, roughly one cubic meter in size, constructed from an unknown, dark stone. However, according to Miss Elegy, the furnace itself is not the core; what is truly important is the [Molten Flame], slowly burning within, protected by layers of the furnace.

"The key is the molten metal, you know? And this molten metal isn't a disposable item. Unlike the Winter Mirror, it can be reused, you know?"

"I see... But what can I do with it now? I mean, anything other than ascending to immortality?"

“There are many. Including weapon forging, you can use it to do almost anything that requires [high temperature] or [fire]. However, I suggest you reconsider. There are some new things you can try below.”

Miss Elegy smiled and nodded, then, as blurry and invisible as a phantom, she led Yang Hao to the next room.

The next room contains...

A strange metal box. The box seemed to be full of things, but because of the shelves blocking it, Yang Hao couldn't open it to find out what was inside.

"【Endless Mineral Chest】After you take it, every night at midnight, this chest will be filled with all sorts of metal materials—it could be valuable silver or forged steel, or it could just be iron ore, or even a whole gemstone mine or gold mine. In short, this is an item that extremely tests your luck!"

"Oh..."

"Moreover, this item is more useful to you than the initial molten metal—after all, you're preparing to start a war, aren't you?"

"Yes...but then again, Miss Wange, are you now fully aware of my every move in the outside world, including all the information you receive?"

Miss Elegy's explanation made sense, but Yang Hao was now curious again—how did you know so much about my surroundings?

Faced with Yang Hao's questions and curiosity, Miss Elegy simply gave him a mysterious smile:

"Sir, do you know what it means to say 'your eyes are my eyes, your hands are my hands'? Hehe, although it may sound strange, that's the connection between us—what you touch, I can feel. What you listen to, I can hear. Ah, please rest assured, I'll pretend I didn't notice what you, your wife, and the maid were doing, so don't be so embarrassed."

"...You're just saying this out loud. Any normal person would feel embarrassed, right?" Yang Hao was quite embarrassed, but soon he realized something: if what Miss Wange said was true, then when my right hand touches your right hand, wouldn't the place where we touch feel twice as much tactile sensation?

He fell into deep thought, looking at Miss Elegy's illusory right hand, which was enveloped in black mist, and he really wanted to try it.

Then Yang Hao actually did it. Curious, he extended his right hand and touched Miss Wange's right palm—instantly, the doubled sensation made him doubt his senses. But this also meant Miss Wange hadn't said anything wrong. Their senses seemed truly connected, and even more closely than he had imagined...

“Sir, I can let it go, but if you so readily interact with women in public, they might think you're a superficial person.” Miss Wange showed no emotional fluctuation, simply squeezing Yang Hao's fingers in a normal tone before releasing them. “So, shall we leave this matter here for now? Now, could you tell me your thoughts on those two items?”

"Hmm... I think I'll take the mineral crates first. After all, war is coming soon... it's better to have sufficient resources."

"Yes, then please take it with you."