A Core Ship From The Start-Chapter 871 - 612: Obsession

After that discussion, Duanmu Huai, Captain Tashiro, and the Great President briefly discussed an action plan. The only issue was that, according to the detection results, Vajra’s planet was a habitable world. To those fleeing the Solar System, they would much prefer to conquer that planet for themselves to live on rather than simply turning it into a compressed black hole bomb.

However, in the end, Captain Tashiro and the Great President unified their thoughts. After all, more habitable planets could be found, but the chance to destroy the cosmic monster was unique. It was confirmed that the cosmic monster was not targeting the Solar System or Earth, but humans themselves. In that case, whether inside or outside the Solar System, the cosmic monster would not spare humans.

The reason for choosing the Vajra’s home planet was that it had a large number of FLOD Crystals, which could be used for space compression, greatly reducing the time needed to create a black hole bomb. Otherwise, choosing any planet wouldn’t be impossible, but building the black hole bomb would likely take several years—by which time it would be questionable if anyone in the Solar System would still be alive. freeweɓnovel.cøm

After the incident with the alien bugs, the Great President had also developed a psychological shadow towards habitable planets, so he wasn’t particularly opposed... After all, he had no desire to experience something similar a second time.

After briefly finalizing the action plan, Duanmu Huai turned and walked out of the presidential palace. However, as he reached the main entrance, he saw several familiar figures standing there.

"Yo, long time no see."

Seeing Shin Asuka, Luna Maria, and others in front of him, Duanmu Huai raised his hand and greeted them.

"Ah, hello, Sir Judge."

On seeing Duanmu Huai, Shin Asuka and the others hurriedly returned the gesture. Then they exchanged glances before Shin Asuka approached.

"Um... could I take a bit of your time?"

"If it’s just a bit, what’s the matter?"

"... Have you heard about the current situation in the Solar System?"

"Yes, I’ve heard. It’s quite funny, indeed."

"Uhh..."

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s forthright response, everyone showed a bit of an embarrassed expression. After a moment of hesitation, Shin Asuka opened his mouth to inquire.

"Um... I wanted to ask, in your opinion, is everything we did correct? We have always believed that what Chairman Dillandar said was right, which is why we chose to fight. But it turned out to be all lies in the end... Was what we did, really correct?"

"Honestly, I don’t care about these trivial matters."

However, faced with Shin Asuka’s question, Duanmu Huai simply gave such a response.

"..."

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s unapologetic reply, all fell silent, and Duanmu Huai raised an eyebrow.

"Forget it, I’ll tell you a story instead."

"... A story?"

"That’s right. Do you know what first appeared on Earth billions of years ago?"

"???"

"Back then, Earth was inhabited by anaerobic organisms."

Duanmu Huai ignored their puzzled looks and continued to speak.

"You all know about anaerobic organisms, I suppose. For them, oxygen was like poison. So for those bacteria on Earth at the time, they greatly feared oxygen. Later on, cyanobacteria appeared, absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, turning the Earth into a world filled with oxygen. As a result, those anaerobic organisms either had to quickly evolve to tolerate oxygen or they became extinct."

"Uh..."

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s words, the group was stunned, unable to understand what he was talking about.

Simply engaging in a science lesson?

"Would you say blue-green algae are evil? The anaerobic lifeforms were living just fine, and you come along and turn everything into oxygen, forcing them into racial extinction. Isn’t that malicious?"

"This..."

"That is the law of the Universe."

Duanmu Huai lowered his head and stared at them.

"In the end, all the anaerobic organisms died out, blue-green algae emerged victorious, ruling Earth and transforming it into a world filled with oxygen. War isn’t about the winner taking the throne, instead it’s about survival of the fittest. Only he who laughs last, truly wins. Whether the anaerobes are innocent or the blue-green algae are malevolent is irrelevant. We only need to know that it’s because of an oxygen-rich Earth that things are the way they are now, and that humans exist."

"So, are you saying... we did something wrong?"

"Succeeded, or failed. Chairman Dillandar’s ideas might seem like a pipe dream to you, but if he truly succeeded, perhaps in a hundred years, allocating work based on genetic makeup will be common sense for humans. Wanting to make free choices, like you do, might then be seen as absurd as a pipe dream. Ultimately, winners make the rules, losers lose it all. That’s why the Tribunal never intervenes in human affairs; your ideas of right or wrong are of no value or meaning to it because only the survivor gets to determine the future. As for Dillandar... It’s quite unfortunate."

As he spoke, Duanmu Huai gestured with his hand.

"In the end, he was just like those anaerobic organisms, naturally culled by evolution. It’s as simple as that."

"So... a world without war is impossible?"

"Humans are always fighting, whether it’s at work, in life, in companies, schools, competing with colleagues, with classmates, battling nature itself. Without this desire, humans would’ve been eliminated by nature ages ago. Men didn’t reach this point in evolution by the guidance of deities or the mercy of the world. Of course, as I’ve said before, to the Tribunal, the merit or fault of these thoughts is meaningless and worthless; only the last one standing gets to decide the future. As for the losers... no one collects the bodies."

"..."

Upon hearing this, Shin Asuka didn’t say anything, then he looked down.

"Thank you for the guidance."

"It’s nothing."

Duanmu Huai nodded, then turned to leave. Clearly, these young people, because of previous events, felt that they had been deceived, used, and betrayed... leading them to doubt their own values.

But then again... Duanmu Huai was not a confidante, too indifferent to care about a young kid’s psychological health issues. He thought it best to let Shin Asuka go back crying to his mother.

However...

At this thought, Duanmu Huai turned his head doubtfully for a glance. By now, Shin Asuka and his group had already turned to leave, and beside him was a girl with blonde hair.

She wasn’t seen on the Minerva before, was she? What’s the situation here? Could it be some chaotic ménage à trois?

Ah, should have asked earlier.

Truth be told, Duanmu Huai felt that this was more interesting than the uninformative talking just before.

After returning to the warship, Duanmu Huai gathered everyone to outline the next plan. Upon learning of this strategy, everyone was shocked.

"Attack the Vajra’s home planet, then use it to create a black hole bomb to blow up the center of the Milky Way... This is insane."

Lumiaire also showed a rare side of astonishment.

"If you’re not insane, you can’t survive; if humans weren’t mad, we couldn’t stand at the top of the food chain. Now, let’s not overthink things, it’s just like going bird hunting and then using the nest to start a forest fire."

"It’s not that simple."

"As long as the essence is the same, that’s all that matters—the essence is the same."

Duanmu Huai waved his hand dismissively, ignoring Ann’s protests.

"Alright, any other questions?"

"I have a question."

Amari raised her hand.

"What’s your question?"

"The home planet of the Vajra... it means the planet itself, right? It’s as big as the world we live in, isn’t it? How can something that big be compressed? Even magic can’t do that, can it?"

"Definitely not with magic."

Anya commented; she had been with Duanmu Huai for so long that she was very familiar with the concept of planets.

"It’s even bigger than the average inhabited planet. As far as I know, the specific method involves using a Contraction Furnace in combination with the fleet’s FLOD technology... I don’t understand the details beyond that."

"Is that really possible?"

"Of course."

Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes irritably.

"Humans can’t run as fast as leopards or be as strong as elephants, but it is humans, not other creatures, who dominate the world. That’s the reason—intelligence, that is the strength of humanity. In short, just wait and see. Of course, this is all predicated on capturing the planet; if we can’t achieve that, then it’s a different story."

"Uh... what about the specific plan?"

"Just like before, we’ll jump to the Vajra’s home planet, and you’ll be responsible for fending off the enemy. I’ll have Aikute control the flagship to launch an extinction order on the Vajra’s home planet."

"Mr. Duanmu, isn’t that a bit too cruel?"

Hearing this, Mary couldn’t help but speak up, but Duanmu Huai simply shrugged.

"Please refer to it as efficiency. If I can kill them all in one go, why waste time?"

"........."

Your argument is so sound, I can’t even refute it, okay?

After this, everyone dispersed, and Duanmu Huai returned to his room and stretched languorously.

"Phew... as I thought, once you head into space, the troubles multiply."

It wasn’t surprising to Duanmu Huai that the girls had such thoughts after all, not everyone was cut out for the job of the Tribunal, at all costs to protect humanity—often the meaning behind "at all costs" was overlooked.

In an ordinary world, it was easier to address: those who wanted to destroy humanity were the bad guys, and those who protected humanity were the good guys.

But after heading into space, different perspectives gave rise to different ideas and approaches.

That’s also why Duanmu Huai always paid close attention to communication with the girls, simply put, even if they didn’t fully understand, at least they knew why the Tribunal did what it did.

Luckily, so far, everything had been going smoothly... oof.

As Duanmu Huai lay on the couch, lost in thought, he suddenly felt a weight on his abdomen and looking up, he saw Ogis sprawled on his chest, staring at him.

"Ogis?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are you sitting on me?"

"Because... aren’t you the type who likes this, master?"

"Huh???"

Duanmu Huai certainly didn’t remember confessing any kind of fetish for having beautiful girls sit on him.

"Miss Lingnu said so."

Fortunately, Ogis quickly provided an answer.

"Lingnu?"

"Yes, in that world, Miss Lingnu said she always lays like this on her master, and it seems quite comfortable for him."

"..."

That’s because she’s a cat in that world, okay?!

"That’s because Lingnu is a little cat in that world."

"A little cat?"

Upon hearing Duanmu Huai’s response, Ogis tilted her head and then reached out her hand to make a cat’s paw, continuing to stare at Duanmu Huai.

"...Meow?"

"........."

Duanmu Huai wordlessly stretched out his hand and patted Ogis’s little head.

His little darling sure was cute.

"...But master?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you okay with cats too?"

".............."

Retraction of previous statement: this little darling is still drafty and comes with blades.