A Core Ship From The Start

Chapter 2678: Chapter 1810: Groping in the Darkness (The Temperature Is Dropping Again)

For Mary, conducting an investigation was not particularly difficult. She first went to the Unified Divine Realm, inquired the Night Guard responsible for the Teleportation Portal for information, and then went to that world to meet with the Governor there. Perhaps it was Mary’s appropriate demeanor and language that made the Governor feel at ease and unguarded, or perhaps he felt there was nothing to hide, so he quickly explained Duanmu Huai’s actions to Mary.

After summarizing all the clues and intelligence, Mary immediately convened the others and quickly held a meeting.

"It seems that there aren’t any major issues on this planet for now; at least no problems have surfaced yet."

Mary nodded at her notebook, yet Lorena furrowed her brows beside her.

"But we know that no issue now doesn’t guarantee no issues in the future. You’ve all seen the situation in the lower Hive City... at least Miss Zuo Niao doesn’t think so, right?"

"Yes."

Upon hearing Lorena’s inquiry, Mianmu Zuoniao, who was gazing at the sky as if admiring the scenery, nodded carelessly.

"They’re not humans anyway; it doesn’t matter if they’re cut down."

In fact, Mary and the others originally intended to retrace Duanmu Huai’s patrol route, but just as they entered the production zone, Mianmu Zuoniao’s eyes lit up as she wanted to draw her sword and slash people. Fortunately, Lorena and Alicia quickly grabbed her and took her away from there, otherwise, who knew what might have happened.

Although Mianmu Zuoniao’s behavior logic was quite erratic, at least the girls understood clearly that she followed her own rules—to not kill humans, but non-humans could be freely killed. Of course, this logic itself was very tribunal-like, and perhaps this was also why Duanmu Huai was willing to bring Mianmu Zuoniao into the Tribunal.

But most importantly, Mianmu Zuoniao could effortlessly distinguish between humans and non-humans. To her, "You can just see it at a glance," although others couldn’t comprehend this, attributing it to a potential "trait" of Mianmu Zuoniao.

Nonetheless, since Mianmu Zuoniao claimed those workers were not human, then they indeed possibly weren’t human.

"Mr. Duanmu is unlikely to be oblivious, honestly, I think given his personality, his first reaction would be to blast this city to the sky without a word."

Mary evidently understood Duanmu Huai well, and Lorena nodded in agreement.

"Indeed, I heard from the Night Guard that he even brought a lot of thermite bombs."

At this point, they glanced at each other, exchanging a helpless look.

After all, Duanmu Huai genuinely loved using those things, and their scrambling to escape wasn’t a rare occurrence.

"But according to the Governor, he said the teacher praised his governance, stating that such an orderly and vibrant community is commendable..."

Naruse Mio’s expression was somewhat speechless.

"I think the teacher might be ridiculing him."

"If Miss Zuo Niao’s intuition is correct, and the entire production zone is filled with aliens, then indeed, it’s mockery."

Mary also found it quite ironic as the highest ruler of the city, the Governor was clueless about what was happening under his command; it’s almost like...

"The floor of a house is teeming with rats while the person standing on it remains oblivious."

"Ugh..."

Hearing Naruse Mio’s metaphor, everyone’s expressions subtly changed.

"That metaphor is indeed apt and truly terrifying."

"First, we need to figure out what species these aliens are. In fact, from the Judgement Court Manual, I can think of only one."

"Me too."

The few girls exchanged glances, speaking in unison.

"Genetic Thieves."

"These creatures do seem like the monsters that would appear in horror movies."

"According to the Judgement Court Manual, Genetic Thieves retain alien characteristics for only the first two generations, by the third generation they’re nearly indistinguishable from humans, except for bald heads and sharp teeth..."

"The workers we saw earlier seemed to all be bald."

Lorena reminded quietly.

"The Great Judge is also bald; this doesn’t count."

Alicia expressed her dissent.

"But what if the opponent is female?"

"Then that would indeed be terrifying."

Alicia touched her pink hair, decisively changing her stance.

"Hair is a girl’s life, you know."

"But the manual states that Genetic Thieves emit signals that attract the Insect Nest Will to devour the planet. If that’s the case, then Sir Knight’s actions are quite odd."

Lorena spoke with puzzlement.

"From what I recall, whenever encountering an Insect Hive Fleet, Sir Knight treated it as a major threat and directly blew up an entire galaxy."

This was vivid in everyone’s mind, for when Duanmu Huai encountered other aliens, he’d at most blow up a planet. But only upon encountering an Insect Hive Fleet, he’d immediately blow up a star and destroy the entire galaxy, leaving no chance for survival.

"Perhaps it’s because the biomass on this planet isn’t sufficient? According to the Governor, the city’s permanent population is only tens of millions, which might not even surpass the numbers of an Insect Hive Fleet. If I were the Insect Hive Fleet, given the choice of a feast, why bother finding food that doesn’t fill my stomach?"

"Oh, speaking of which, I previously visited a restaurant on the Star Union side. The advertisement boasted it as nutritional gourmet food. I went through so much trouble, traveled for days on a warship, only to be served a small plate of pudding, and it was artificially synthesized... Can I file a complaint? Would it count as interstellar fraud?"

"Internet-famous foods are always like that..."

"Off-topic, you two."

Mary gently coughed, reeling back Alicia and Naruse Mio, who had spiraled off on a tangent.

"In any case, we know the aliens on this planet are Genetic Thieves... Surely no Green Orcs exist?"

"No, the Governor also stated there are no Green Orcs on this planet."

"Then what does Mr. Duanmu want with the Beastman Crown?"

Facing Mary’s question, the other girls fell silent, except Mianmu Zuoniao, who continued to hum nonchalantly. It was as if the discussion had not reached her ears, or perhaps she indeed didn’t care.

"...I recall the Judgement Court Manual mentioned that Orc equipment is powered by Orc Spiritual Energy and can only be used by Orcs?"

"I can confirm that."

Alicia shook the crown in her hand.

"We’ve tried using Destruction Energy, magic power, and various other energies to activate it, but all have failed."

"Perhaps Sir Knight can use it."

Lorena made a rare quip, met with a burst of light laughter.

"After all, he does have a similar temper to those Orcs."

"Looks pretty similar too, doesn’t he?"

"If he dyes his skin green, he might look exactly like one?"

The young women shared a small joke, lightening the serious mood of the meeting considerably. Then, Naruse Mio curiously asked.

"Orcs or the Insect Swarm, which is tougher?"

"I think it’s the Swarm. After all, Mr. Duanmu always has to issue an extinction order each time."

"We haven’t encountered Orcs many times, but according to Mr. Duanmu, these Orcs aren’t actually living beings, they’re mushrooms..."

"Mushrooms?"

"Yes, Mr. Duanmu says these Orcs are just like mushrooms, releasing spores, and then the spores grow into Orcs from the ground... The Judgement Court Manual also mentions that if one Orc appears, there’s a chance a whole lot more will as well."

"They really do sound like mushrooms... Who would’ve thought there’s such a strange Alien..."

"Aliens are always strange. Have we ever seen a normal Alien?"

"True... huh?"

As Mary nodded in agreement with Naruse Mio’s jest, a spark of insight flashed through her mind, and she suddenly froze in place.

"What’s wrong, Miss Mary?"

Noticing Mary standing dazed, Alicia asked curiously, while Mary furrowed her brows.

"Orcs... they reproduce quickly, right?"

"Yes."

"The Insect Swarm is attracted by a large amount of biomass and attacks planets, right?"

"That’s what the manual says."

"Then, to the Swarm, wouldn’t Orcs count as biomass?"

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

Faced with Mary’s question, everyone fell into silence.

"The Swarm hasn’t attacked here because the biomass isn’t sufficient for consumption, but what if a whole bunch of Orcs suddenly appeared?"

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

The girls exchanged glances, understanding what Mary was implying.

"But in that case, wouldn’t the Great Judge just have us capture some Orcs back?"

Alicia furrowed her brows.

"Why would he want us to bring over this crown thing?"

"Or rather, what exactly does Mr. Duanmu intend to do?"

At this point, the girls faintly realized what Duanmu Huai intended to achieve. After all, looking at the characteristics of the Green Orcs and the Swarm, they are completely complementary from certain perspectives. There’s no Green Orcs in this world, only Genetic Thieves. And Duanmu Huai made a special trip to the Green Orc’s land because of these Genetic Thieves...

Just then, an emergency communication suddenly appeared, interrupting their conversation.

Aikute’s voice suddenly rang out, tinged with unease.

"I have some very bad news to report to everyone. Those Aliens have formed a fleet and are... departing their Star Territory under the lead of Uncle."

"Where are they going?"

"The inferred destination coordinates are numerous; I’m not quite sure. Fortunately, Uncle hasn’t directed them to use the Net Path."

This allowed the girls to breathe a sigh of relief, as they were initially worried if Duanmu Huai had truly befriended the Green Orc brothers.

"But here’s Uncle’s intercepted speech for us."

If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Duanmu Huai’s communication terminal has been on ever since, so everyone can still hear his voice and speech. Of course, most of the time, his words have no coherence or are entirely unintelligible.

But now, it’s different.

"Listen up, you damned, corrupt, hideous Green-skin mongrels!"

Duanmu Huai’s voice was as loud as ever, but there was a strange accent mixed in.

"I’ve come here to bring you war, a destruction! That’s right, war! A very WAAAAAGH war! I know why you live, why you die! So I’ve come! I will lead you in a WAAAAAGH great expedition! It will take us to the ends of the Milky Way and show you what true WAAAAAGH is! We will reclaim what we lost!"

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

"What did we lose? You big-toothed fool! Are you stupid? Of course it’s the crown! The Green-skin crown, that very WAAAAAGH thing that can make us even more WAAAAAGH! Now we’re going to take it back, put it on, and then make this universe even more WAAAAAGH! We all know where that thing is! Now, just go and snatch it. Let’s move out!"

As Duanmu Huai’s roar ended, the communication was cut off again, leaving the girls silent, then they glanced at the Beastman Crown in Alicia’s hand.

"... So, what do we do now? Wait here for Sir Knight to arrive?"

"Though that wouldn’t be a bad idea..."

Before Mary could finish, Alicia’s ears twitched slightly. She walked over to the window, peering down, and then furrowed her brows.

"It seems we have something even more urgent to deal with than greeting the Great Judge."

"What’s going on?"

"Those rats hiding under the floor—they’re emerging."