Feifei fully agreed with the suggestion. "This might also send Earth a positive signal. Or, rather, give them the positive illusion of one."
Yu Lian glanced at his beloved. "Who would the signal be for?"
"Everyone. Even nonhuman species. Especially the Bean bearfolk."
"...I do remember that just a month ago, the Empire vaporized over twenty thousand bearfolk on Beaner and demoted nearly a million more to slaves."
"Only twenty thousand." Feifei's tone was utterly calm, so calm that it seemed almost cruel, and there was no hint of mockery in it.
"That was already a very positive signal. Given the Empire's usual methods, if they didn't make an example of someone to assert their authority, they'd seem insincere."
It didn't sound entirely logical, but it did fit the brutal social reality of this universe. Yu Lian had to admit that she made a fair point.
"Besides, the ones demoted to slavery were former upper-class masters. To the ordinary bearfolk at the bottom, does it really matter who their masters are? Or perhaps they're actually filled with gratitude toward their Imperial conquerors?"
Yu Lian had to admit that Feifei's argument was getting more and more convincing. He was almost at a loss for words.
Feifei went on to tell Yu Lian that the bearfolk on Beaner had already begun holding grand celebrations to welcome their new conquerors. Some of the planet's young bearfolk had gathered special ice crystals from the frozen plains and carved them into a sculpture of Emperor Ilesel riding an eight-headed sacred dragon. By Bean bearfolk custom, that was practically on a par with the ceremony they held once every ten years to worship the universe's supreme deity.
Well, there weren't that many idealists in this corrupt world after all. A species like the Lumina people might