Black Silk Female Police Detective Exorcist

Qin Huanyu knew she was a person of great value, but the Holy Zhou Kingdom was full of talented people, so was it necessary for the royal family to value her to such an extent?

Seemingly noticing the hint of doubt in Qin Huanyu's eyes, and not wanting her to overthink things, the Empress quickly regained her composure and changed the subject, starting to talk about serious matters.

First and foremost, the Empress herself acknowledged Qin Huanyu's achievement in defeating the embodiment of arrogance.

This time, unlike the time with the Incarnation of Jealousy, Qin Huanyu defeated the Incarnation of Pride, who possessed full power. She exposed the traitor Ma Siyan, thwarted the Truth Society's conspiracy, and also revealed many traitors secretly controlled by the Church of Pride.

This achievement is immense. Even the warriors who faced the Xuan Turtle 28 years ago could only be considered on par with Qin Huanyu's achievement this time.

If merits were quantified like reputation levels in a game, Qin Huanyu's achievements this time would be enough for her to be directly promoted to Inspector... Unfortunately, there is a hard condition for becoming an Inspector, which is to serve as an Investigator for at least 5 years.

While a promotion is temporarily impossible, the Queen is quite generous with material rewards.

In addition to being able to choose any treasure from the royal vault as a reward, the Empress also directly asked Qin Huanyu what she needed.

Qin Huanyu, of course, still wanted the Absolute Spirit Iron. She greatly admired the performance of Lü Meng's Absolute Spirit Iron arm and had always wanted to get herself a similar piece of equipment. Now that such a good opportunity had come up, she certainly wouldn't miss it.

“Spirit Iron… This is indeed a very scarce resource. Currently, the annual output of the entire Holy Zhou Kingdom is only over 120 kilograms.”

The Empress hesitated only slightly before generously ordering a reward, giving Qin Huanyu more than the Spirit Iron Research Institute's annual budget as a bonus... a full 35 kilograms, enough for her to forge a piece of equipment for herself.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Qin Huanyu was naturally overjoyed.

"Haha...don't thank me yet."

The Empress chuckled softly, then suddenly began to coax and persuade:

"My Holy Zhou Kingdom is a thousand-year-old dynasty, and we still have plenty of treasures... Would you like more rewards? It's a rare opportunity to visit the Royal Treasury, wouldn't it be even better if we could get a few more good items?"

"Hey?"

Qin Huanyu was stunned.

She's neither stupid nor naive. The Empress mentioned many treasures from the royal treasury right off the bat, so what follows must be a very important and difficult task.

"This...can I really do it?"

Even the best reward is useless if you're still alive to use it, Qin Huanyu hesitated.

"Don't worry, this is very difficult for others, but it will be as easy as taking candy from a baby for you... You just need to let go of your shame a little."

The Empress chuckled softly, but did not continue speaking. Instead, she looked at Lei Mingming, who had been sitting beside her eating fruit since they entered the room.

Lei Mingming was also taken aback:

"What's wrong? Can't even I know?"

"It's not that I'm deliberately trying to hide it from you, Mingming."

The Empress smiled and glanced at Qin Huanyu again:

"I'm just worried that Ayu will be shy, so Mingming, you'd better avoid her."

"Oh, so that's what it was about... I understand."

Lei Mingming then realized what was happening, and gave Qin Huanyu a strange look before calling the two palace maids waiting in the room to leave together, closing the door behind them.

Qin Huanyu was already completely confused, and now that she and the Empress were the only two people left in the room, she finally couldn't help but ask:

"What exactly is it, Your Majesty?"

The Queen still did not answer directly, but instead asked:

"How much do you know about that hero from another world who was our royal ancestor?"

"Uh... Hero? It's pretty much what's in the Investigation Bureau's training materials."

Qin Huanyu thought for a moment and said:

"She is very beautiful and very powerful. She truly crushes an army with her personal combat strength... Even in the modern era with its rapid technological development, I believe that the hero's power is enough to establish world order by herself."

"Indeed, that ancestor was extremely powerful... or rather, that power was truly extraordinary, a power that mortals could not attain no matter how hard they tried. Perhaps only the immortals who ascended to heaven in the legends of the ancient sects could compare to it."

When the empress spoke of her ancestor, her face was filled with pride and admiration, like a fangirl seeing her idol.

But soon, that expression turned to disappointment and sadness:

"It's a pity that the great one stayed in this world for too short a time. Not only did she fail to help the Holy Zhou Kingdom achieve true unification, but she also left without leaving behind the methods of using and cultivating her bloodline power... We, her descendants, have tried countless methods to reproduce her glory, but unfortunately, none of them have succeeded."

"Yeah, what a shame."

Qin Huanyu also strongly agreed with this.

If that heroine had stayed in this world a few more years and left one or two descendants of similar strength to the royal family, there probably wouldn't be any other countries left in this world.

"However... that ancestor did not leave nothing behind."

The Queen then changed the subject:

"Besides us, her bloodline descendants, she also left behind a very valuable technology that can combine the blood essence of two women to give birth to an even more outstanding daughter."

"Our royal family has been researching and improving this technology for many years, and we have achieved some results... Do you know why our royal family insists on monogamy, or rather, why each generation of royal family members has so few wives?"

"...is it to prevent blood from leaking out?"

Qin Huanyu guessed that this was the answer that the outside world had always assumed.

If a member of the royal family has too many concubines, then the number of children will inevitably increase as well. However, only one child can inherit the throne, and the rest of the royal family members will most likely fall in love with outsiders after reaching adulthood. This kind of thing cannot be controlled by family rules. Young people will do anything when they are impulsive for love.

In this way, the royal bloodline will inevitably flow out... If it is really just royal blood, it doesn't matter, but bloodlines that are not recognized by the royal family are worthless.

The problem is that the royal bloodline also contains a powerful force of warriors, which can help the Holy Zhou Kingdom reverse everything in desperate situations, and naturally can also overthrow the rule of the Holy Zhou Kingdom.

If a child with royal blood is secretly controlled or exploited by an ambitious person, the resulting disaster will be far greater than that of ordinary supernatural calamities, and will certainly not be inferior to the incarnation of original sin.

Therefore, to fundamentally eliminate this possibility, the royal family strictly limits the number of members to ensure that the bloodline does not flow out. When a member of the same generation of the royal family has multiple sisters, apart from the one who will inherit the throne, the others are prohibited from having too much contact with men.

It's okay to have sex, since sex can't produce offspring without secret methods anyway. If you really want a child, you can adopt one. In short, the bloodline of the hero must be strictly controlled.

"That is indeed the most important reason, but it's not the only one..."

The Empress smiled, first affirming Qin Huanyu's answer, then directly revealing a major secret that made Qin Huanyu somewhat worried that she might be silenced:

"Another important reason is that after our research and recording, we discovered... perhaps the power of heroes is not the power of this world after all; this power has an upper limit. The more people who possess the bloodline of heroes, the weaker the power of each individual. Conversely, the fewer people who possess the bloodline, the stronger the power of each individual."

"Ah... I see."

Qin Huanyu swallowed nervously, feeling her mouth become extremely dry.

"So... is there anything I can do to help with this?"

The Empress's revelation of this matter to Qin Huanyu certainly wasn't just a casual remark; Qin Huanyu likely already guessed her new mission.

"...I suppose it's partly my own selfish reason."

The Queen closed her eyes, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke again:

"Ayu, you should already know, right? Your bloodline is quite special. It's the kind of body that would have been fought over by superhumans in ancient times... This kind of bloodline has a very powerful characteristic: the children born from it will have even stronger bloodline power. Back then, any cultivator family that could marry such a woman would experience an explosive increase in their strength."

"What's even more amazing is that this characteristic also applies to the bloodline of the hero. Our royal family has been searching for such a girl for thousands of years... Basically, every time we find one, we immediately bring her back to the palace to raise her as our future empress. If it weren't for the fact that your situation is so special, you would probably have grown up in the palace, and Qunqun would have been your childhood sweetheart. There would have been no need for any selection of a princess consort; you would have been the only candidate for the princess consort."

"Ah this..."

Qin Huanyu swallowed again. Although she hadn't broken a sweat, she suddenly felt as if she were drenched in sweat.

"So what you want me to do... is to have a child for Her Highness the Princess?"

"If you don't like being pregnant, you can let Qunqun give birth."

The Queen stopped beating around the bush and said directly:

"The secret technique left behind by that master is quite magical. Even if you don't have intimate contact with Qunqun, the secret technique can make either of you pregnant with a child, a child with stronger bloodline power."

"This matter is a private commission of mine, and even Qunqun herself is not very clear about it at the moment."

"No matter who marries Qunqun in the end, I hope to have a child with you and Qunqun as an heir, so that the royal bloodline can be even stronger."

"If you agree to help me with this matter, I can let you choose three more treasures from the royal treasury, and the next empress will be your blood-related daughter... Even if you are not a member of the royal family on the surface, you can secretly enjoy all the privileges of a member of the royal family in the future."

Chapter 158 Collar and Mirror

The Empress offered Qin Huanyu what sounded like very generous terms.

Choose any three treasures from the Royal Treasury, secretly enjoy royal treatment, and even become the mother of the future empress.

All Qin Huanyu needed to do was cooperate with the secret technique to have a portion of her blood essence extracted. The entire process didn't even require any contact with Wu Xiqun, yet it was enough to make Wu Xiqun pregnant.

So, should we agree?

Qin Huanyu's mind raced as she considered the pros and cons.

The amount of work she needed to do was very small and simple, but the reward was very generous, so there must be other risks involved.

Putting aside ethical and moral issues, the biggest risk of this matter is that it could easily lead to a deterioration of the relationship with Wu Xiqun.

The Empress and Lei Mingming are childhood friends, and now Lei Mingming keeps saying that his time is up and he won't live much longer. How much longer can the Empress live? If she really can live a long time, why is she in such a hurry to pass the throne to Wu Xiqun?

Therefore, it will not take more than three years before Wu Xiqun completely obtains everything from the Empress, and she will be Qin Huanyu's future boss.

Now that the Empress is acting this way, if it's revealed that Wu Xiqun is pregnant with Qin Huanyu's child, even though it's not Qin Huanyu who will marry her in the future, how could Wu Xiqun not feel resentful? It's impossible. A true princess consort would likely harbor hatred towards Qin Huanyu because of this.

Actually, this matter is easy to resolve. As long as Qin Huanyu becomes the princess's consort, it will be perfect for the empress's plan... But Qin Huanyu doesn't want to become a scumbag who abandoned Yi Youyou, which suddenly makes things complicated and difficult.

So, should we refuse?

Obviously, that's not possible.

Even though the current empress doesn't have much time left, she is still empress as long as she is on the throne. Don't be fooled by her current appearance of being as kind as a kind old lady next door; she is ruthless when it comes to wiping out entire families.

Qin Huanyu still didn't know what trump card she had that made even the royal family wary. She worried that if she refused the empress, she would turn on her and use force, which would be terrible.

So there's only one way left.

"In principle, I agree to Your Majesty's proposal..."

After hesitating for a long time, Qin Huanyu cautiously replied:

"However, I have a request, and I urge Your Majesty to grant it."

"Tell me about it."

The Queen seemed completely unsurprised and had long been prepared to negotiate:

"Is there anything else you want? As long as it's not too outrageous, I'll grant it to you."

"It's not about the reward, Your Majesty, it's like this..."

Qin Huanyu carefully organized her thoughts before speaking:

“I have no intention of cursing Your Majesty, but this country will ultimately belong to the princess, and I will spend most of my time serving her in the future, just like Deputy Director Lei and Your Majesty.”

"No matter how well Your Majesty conceals this matter now, the Princess will eventually discover the truth... What will the Princess think then? If she loves the Princess Consort very much, how will she view me and that child?"

"What's Qunqun's own opinion...?"

The Empress frowned deeply and sighed with a hint of helplessness:

“I’ve actually protected this child too much. Many of her ideas are quite naive, and she’ll probably have a hard time accepting this kind of thing in a short time… That’s why I’m discussing this with you directly without telling her.”

"Then this is where our disagreement lies, Your Majesty."

Qin Huanyu replied neither humbly nor arrogantly:

“I believe that this matter must be approved by Her Highness the Princess before it can proceed… Therefore, I support Your Majesty’s plan in principle, but you must first persuade Her Highness the Princess to agree to this before I can cooperate with you. Your Majesty is wiser and more experienced than I am, and you should know that such things can only be kept secret for a while, not forever, and the explosion after accumulation will be even more violent.”

"That's it..."

The empress narrowed her eyes, not in a hurry to speak, but tapping her fingers on the table as she pondered in her mind.

About half a minute later, the Queen opened her slightly narrowed eyes again:

“You have a point, so let’s do it your way… I’ll have a good talk with Qunqun about this in the meantime and try to persuade her. However, this means I can’t immediately deliver on the promise I made to you. You can only take one of the three selectable treasures today. The remaining two will be given to you after the secret technique is completed. Is that alright?”

"of course."

Qin Huanyu nodded.

Actually, this result was better than she expected. She was prepared not to get any extra items today and for all her rewards to be postponed, but she didn't expect to get an extra item.

"Let's leave it at that for now. You can go to the Royal Treasury with Mingming in a little while."

The Empress waved to Qin Huanyu, then pressed a button under the table in front of her, causing a clear and melodious bell to ring outside the room, presumably to summon the palace maids to come back in and serve her.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Qin Huanyu also got up from the stool, straightened her clothes, and prepared to leave.