A Core Ship From The Start

Chapter 2674: Chapter 1806: Tactical Reenactment

I have urgent matters to attend to now; there’s no time for this.

Afterward, Duanmu Huai dismissed his duplicate and returned to his original form.

Then, he pressed the communicator.

"Ann, go call Alicia and the others."

When Alicia, Eden, and Pado Filis came before Duanmu Huai, each of their expressions was different. Alicia stared at Duanmu Huai curiously, Eden remained as calm as ever, while Pado Filis’ eyes darted around anxiously.

"What do you need us for, Judge?"

"That’s right, I will lead you on a mission next, and this mission is very important."

Duanmu Huai nodded and then looked at the cat-ear girl.

"Pado Filis."

"Eeek! Present!"

Upon hearing Duanmu Huai call her name, Pado Filis immediately straightened up and responded loudly.

"This time, your task is very important. Strictly speaking, our success depends on you."

"Eh? Me? What do you want me to do?"

"Naturally, the thing you are best at."

Duanmu Huai squinted his eyes and stared at the cat-ear girl, revealing a slight smile.

"I want you to steal something."

"Steal something?"

Hearing this answer, not only Pado Filis was stunned, but Alicia and Eden were also surprised to some extent, as their deepest impression of the Tribunal was that whatever the Tribunal wanted, they generally snatched.

As for stealing?

This seemed not quite aligned with the Tribunal’s style?

"I will tell you specifically what to steal when the time comes."

Duanmu Huai waved his hand.

"In that case, Eden and I are going to protect Pado Filis?"

"That’s right, I will create opportunities and conditions for you. Your job is to find the item I want and bring it out. Of course, failure to bring it out isn’t a problem; you just have to confirm where it is. How is it? Any issues, Pado Filis?"

"This... won’t there be danger?"

"By Tribunal standards, it’s not considered dangerous, just slightly troublesome."

What exactly are Tribunal standards...

While Pado Filis was lost in thought, Duanmu Huai continued to speak.

"Also, this mission is not allowed to fail; everything you do concerns the fate of the Milky Way and the Human World, so I do not accept failure. Moreover, you can’t refuse the mission... you should understand my meaning."

"Of course."

Alicia nodded, as she was prepared for this day since the Tribunal helped her world resolve the threat of Collapse, and she joined the Tribunal as compensation.

"But can I ask what exactly we are supposed to steal?"

"Well... actually, it doesn’t matter if I tell you."

Duanmu Huai shifted his position on the chair.

"You are going to steal a crown."

"......... Eh?"

The crown Duanmu Huai wanted them to steal wasn’t an ordinary crown but something referred to as the Beastman Crown.

The origin of this item dates back to the fortieth millennium era, during which the Human Empire and the Leviathan Swarm engaged in a battle known as the Third Insect Hive War. Due to the Leviathan Swarm’s overwhelming force far exceeding the previous two times, the Human Empire struggled to resist.

Judge Kapman, tasked with leading the resistance against the Swarm, issued extinction orders to over fifty Imperial planets, turning them into worthless wastelands to weaken the Swarm’s offensive. Trillions perished in this brutal "scorched earth" strategy. Although effective in slowing the Swarm’s invasion, Kapman’s cruel methods led him to be branded a heretic and wanted for capture.

Yet Kapman did not stop there; to save the Human Empire, he devised a plan—he gathered loyal accomplices and used Stasis Fields to capture a group of Genetic Thieves, then dropped them onto Beastman Empire planets.

Kapman’s logic was clear: the Swarm coveted biomass, and within the Milky Way, there was nothing more perpetually thriving than the Beastmen.

Thus, he guided the Swarm to attack the Beastmen, hoping for a mutual downfall. Ideally, the Empire could reap the benefits.

Initially, events unfolded as Kapman envisioned; upon discovering the Beastmen, the Swarm launched large-scale assaults. Unlike other creatures, Beastmen reproduce through spore-like self-replication, quickly changing the situation.

By killing Beastmen, the Swarm gained substantial biomass to strengthen themselves, which further caught Beastmen’s attention, seeing the Swarm as worthy targets for WAAAAGH. The intense battles fueled Beastmen’s reproduction even more.

Soon, Beastmen multiplied, and the Swarm consuming Beastmen grew even more. Worse, due to Beastmen’s trait of increased intelligence with greater numbers, their civilization evolved exponentially. Today might see them using Flintlock Guns; tomorrow, they wield Plasma technology.

Today they can’t build ships; tomorrow, they’re launching war moons.

The result was endless Beastmen killing leading to more Swarm, forming an almost infinite growth spiral.

Kapman realized he’d lost control; he hoped for mutual damage or an outcome of slight victory. Instead, both sides fought more fervently, leaving even Kapman anxious. At this rate, whichever side wins will be a grave threat to the Empire!

Alright, the above is just the background.

Next comes the focus.

Afterward, Humans dispatched troops to infiltrate the Beastman Empire, discovering during the fierce battles, a Beastman wore a crown-like object enveloped in electrical currents. Moreover, it could interfere with the Swarm’s command units!

Thanks to this, Beastmen repelled multiple Swarm attacks.

The Humans couldn’t resist such a beneficial item and exploited the fierce battle to ambush, killing the crowned Beastman and seizing the crown.

Later, Kapman took the crown to other planets, intending to study the Beastman Crown’s structure.

Unfortunately, no matter how Kapman researched it, the crown had no use. It only functioned when worn by Beastmen, and also attracted Beastmen to it. While Kapman studied the crown, Beastman fleets arrived, clearly aiming to reclaim it.

After a fierce battle, Kapman couldn’t escape, and the crown’s whereabouts became unknown—at least according to historical records.

However, coincidentally, the location of the Beastman Crown is not a secret to players.

In fact, due to the Beastman Crown’s "drawing enemies" trait, it often gets used in large-scale guild wars. Guilds owning the crown secretly bring it to enemy guild territories, luring Beastman fleets to attack, allowing them to decisively strike both the enemy guilds and Beastman fleets.

Of course, the crown was later stolen by another guild member and changed hands several times, proving effective in guild wars.

As a result, whenever a guild’s border inexplicably saw Beastman fleets, the first action was searching their territory to find the person holding the crown.

To lone wolves like Duanmu Huai, large-scale guild wars are just amusing tales, but the crown’s location... well, he does know where it is.

Now, as a Judge, Duanmu Huai plans to replicate an old strategy used by predecessors.