A Core Ship From The Start

Chapter 2673: Chapter 1806: Tactical Recursion

Looking at the humanoid illusion in front of him, Duanmu Huai crossed his arms and leisurely scrutinized it.

Regarding The Emperor, players have many opinions—some good, some bad—though most are negative.

For instance, his creation of the Primordial is seen by many players as entirely unnecessary—some even say that if this idiot hadn’t been arrogant enough to make deals with the Chaos Evil God thinking he could outsmart them, maybe humans wouldn’t have come under the Chaos Evil God’s attention so soon.

Moreover, nearly every decision The Emperor made was later proven to be wrong.

Every time he believed something was going according to plan, the truth proved that it wasn’t.

The Primordial plan and the Net Path are prime examples.

So unlike those in this world who can’t resist when they see The Emperor, players look at him as if they’re seeing an idiot with "FAILURE" written all over him. There’s even a joke that if The Emperor asks you to do something, just do the opposite and you’ll surely succeed.

But now, only a small piece of him remains.

"Should I say ’long time no see’? It’s amazing you’ve managed to hide here for so long, right under the noses of your creditors. If those creditors knew the debtor they’ve been pursuing all this time was right under their noses living off them, they’d surely go mad with rage."

"......I knew you would come."

"Yeah, yeah, enough with the prophecies already. I’ve heard enough of those boring things."

Duanmu Huai interrupted The Emperor’s typical mumbling.

"I just came to see what’s left on this planet that’s been taken over by aliens. Didn’t expect to find such a pleasant surprise; this is fantastic. Of course, don’t expect me to tearfully take you out of here and let this world be bathed in The Emperor’s light again—it’s made everyone stupid enough as it is if you ask me. You just stay here and keep counting your sheep."

"Coming here was a very dangerous move."

"Strictly speaking, I didn’t come in person, so it’s whatever."

Duanmu Huai waved his hand.

"And I brought a lot of thermite bombs, enough to blow this planet sky-high. But after seeing you, I came up with a plan."

"A plan?"

"That’s right, we always wanted to deal with the Eye of Fear, but it’s just so difficult. This biggest toilet of the Milky Way constantly spews filth, and civilized people won’t want to do this sewer job. Strictly speaking, I don’t either. Luckily, I thought of a group willing to work hard on this kind of job."

"You mean those aliens."

The Emperor, of course, knew what Duanmu Huai meant, since he wasn’t just idling on this warship. Duanmu Huai even suspected The Emperor often used spiritual energy to peek at the women bathing in the Hive City for amusement.

"Uh-huh, you catch on fast. The Insect Hive Fleet once fought a battle nearby, though later... I dealt with them."

"They won’t come close here."

The Emperor shook his head.

"As you said, those alien swarms need energy they can devour, digest, and convert. This place can’t provide what they need."

"I’m not an idiot; I know the basics, of course."

Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes.

"As for how to do it specifically... well, after seeing you, I suddenly thought of an interesting plan."

This unexpected encounter on the planet immediately got Duanmu Huai’s mind working, though, strictly speaking, he didn’t like thinking very much. Duanmu Huai’s tactics have always been simple, and he has little interest in complex strategies. This time was no different; before making the final preparations, Duanmu Huai hoped to have the Insect Nest Will fight the forward battle for him—the Insect Nest Will stood like a cold, thick wall in the Subspace, one of the few entities that could wrestle with the Chaos Evil God in the Subspace.

If the Insect Nest Will could hold the line for him, Duanmu Huai would feel much more at ease behind it.

But this wasn’t easy; the Insect Swarm doesn’t differentiate between friend and foe. To their eyes, it’s either digestible or indigestible. And they clearly know that demons and chaos aren’t digestible—the Subspace Creatures are among the few things the swarms would vomit out hot and sick instead of converting them into biomass.

So if Duanmu Huai wanted to use this method to trick the Insect Nest Will, he’d likely end up being beat up by demons and the swarms working together.

Therefore, Duanmu Huai needed someone who could meet the Insect Nest Will’s need to devour biomass without being crushed by the Nest in the short term to help him.

Fortunately, within this Milky Way, there really is such a thing...

The only problem is how to lure it here.

Luckily, upon seeing The Emperor, Duanmu Huai finally thought of a way—he wasn’t planning to use The Emperor’s almost nonexistent divine willpower to cause trouble, but rather, upon seeing The Emperor, or more specifically, the shiny, radiant thing on his bald Mediterranean forehead, Duanmu Huai was reminded of something.

"So, with that settled, there’s one more thing I need to..."

"Let’s leave it at that. We’ll chat again later."

Without hesitation, Duanmu Huai withdrew his hand, cutting off the communication with The Emperor. After all, for Duanmu Huai, he couldn’t believe anything The Emperor said. From what Duanmu Huai knew about The Emperor, if this old fellow wants someone to do something, it’s definitely a big trap. Anyone who believes it is a fool.