Chapter 2776 - Final: The Road of Stars

Chapter 2776: Chapter Final: The Road of Stars

Unfortunately... he didn’t have a choice.

So Xiao Wang could only bite the bullet, recalling what had been discussed in the previous meeting while he opened his mouth to ask.

"M-may I ask, what business brings the Tribunal here?"

"We are preparing for a Great Crusade."

Holy crap! A Great Crusade!

Just hearing those words made Xiao Wang break out in a cold sweat.

Star Ocean players have PTSD from that term!

"So, we are here to levy troops."

As expected, conscription.

Hearing this, Xiao Wang actually let out a sigh of relief. He had been wondering if the Tribunal had come to look for some kind of Divine Artifact, or to wipe out some Heretical Cult... Wait, then what the hell was up with that idiot just now?

Don’t tell me we really have a Brutal Wrath Heretical Cult on our planet?

But thinking about it, considering that guy came from that country that’s always starting wars and messing up the whole world—well, maybe it’s not impossible?

This was the kind of thing that gets scarier the more you think about it!

But speaking of a Great Crusade, Xiao Wang couldn’t help thinking of another issue.

"M-may I ask........."

"Hmm?"

"Don’t we... need to join the Imperial?"

"The Human Empire has long since perished."

Duanmu Huai of course understood what Xiao Wang meant.

"But Human civilization has not ended. In fact, it is now blooming and bearing fruit in all kinds of forms. We respect the autonomy of every Human civilization—as long as they do not violate the Tribunal’s regulations."

"Phew............"

Xiao Wang let out a long breath of relief, though he also felt a bit of disappointment inside. Deep down, he actually did want to taste that glory of a Great Crusade, but every time he thought of all those anti-human operations the Human Empire pulled, he felt a bit unwilling. Now, hearing this Judge clearly state that the Human Empire was already destroyed and would not be resurrected... more or less put his mind at ease.

"Then, what is the goal of this Great Crusade.........?"

Xiao Wang raised the next question. After all, the previous Great Crusade was to restore Humanity’s Golden Age, but now that the Tribunal was saying the Human Empire was long gone, what was this new Great Crusade for?

"The Evil God has already been destroyed."

However, Duanmu Huai’s next sentence nearly made Xiao Wang faint on the spot from sheer shock.

"But the filth of Subspace still remains. Therefore, the Tribunal has devised a plan—we will plunge deep into Subspace and purge that corruption and filth. So, we need enough manpower... This is a notice: the Tribunal requires you to submit sufficient troops for the Great Crusade. Of course, we will grant a certain degree of reward according to your contribution. However... refusal is not permitted."

"Ah, this........."

"As for the specifics, I’ll send someone else to discuss them with you in detail."

Duanmu Huai rose to his full height.

"You may leave now."

Before the members of the delegation could say anything else, a flash of light appeared; the next moment, everyone felt their vision blur, and then they found themselves standing in the noisy square, surrounded by crowds.

Seeing these astronauts suddenly appear out of nowhere, the tourists sightseeing there were also shocked. But very quickly, police and Guards who had received notice rushed over, sealed off the area, and swiftly escorted the astronauts away.

After that, everyone was given a medical check, then brought back to the conference room. This time, Xiao Wang, who had been a peripheral character before, became the core figure. Everyone bombarded him with questions, and Xiao Wang, drawing on the knowledge he’d gained from the game, answered them one by one.

"...From what you’re saying, the Tribunal seems like a righteous organization?"

After hearing Xiao Wang say that the Tribunal’s goal was to purify Subspace, a high-ranking official—who had already been briefed on what Subspace was—asked curiously. But Xiao Wang’s expression was complicated.

"Righteous... huh... no, how to put it... Strictly speaking, the Tribunal is a Human-supremacist organization. For the sake of Humans, there’s nothing they won’t do, nothing they don’t dare to do... It’s just that I really didn’t expect the Evil God would actually be destroyed........."

"So in the game, the situation you described never happened?"

"No."

Xiao Wang shook his head.

"In the game, in the end we used the Ether Synchronous Engine to evolve all the Human civilizations in the Milky Way into Subspace Creatures. We never destroyed the Evil God like this... Like I said before, according to the game’s setting, the Subspace Evil God is basically impossible to kill, so I have no idea how the Tribunal managed it."

"Then what would happen if we refused their demands?"

"Hard to say, but the Tribunal is not the type to give up before they achieve their objective..."

"Then why did they kill that other delegation?"

"That was purely because the other side was brain-dead!"

On this topic, Xiao Wang was also fuming.

"I have no idea what that guy was thinking, yelling Heretic slogans in front of the Tribunal. Even in the game, when we ran into that kind of Heretic, we’d kill them on sight... and he actually dared to pull that in reality! I seriously suspect there’s something wrong with his brain!"

"On that point, we’ve already conducted an investigation."

At this moment, another person stood up.

"According to Comrade Xiao Wang’s description, the one who jumped out and tried to provoke the Tribunal is named Thomas Klein, a Level 3 employee of the space agency, and also a well-known Star Ocean Online player—’Blade of Destruction’. Rumor has it he’s extremely obsessed with the game, and even tried to imitate it in real life by forming a Cult organization that worships Brutal Wrath..."

So there really are idiots like this?

He’d known things were chaotic on the other side, but he hadn’t expected it to be this bad. Xiao Wang found himself utterly speechless. Because the Tribunal existed, this guy thought Brutal Wrath must also exist, so he wanted to perform a live Summoning of Brutal Wrath on the spot? Does this guy have something wrong with his head? Even if, taking ten thousand steps back, Brutal Wrath did exist, how could he think it was a good idea to pull something like that in front of a Judge?

"Report."

Just then, a researcher pushed open the conference room door and rushed in.

"Just now, we observed the Tribunal Fleet launching an Attack from near-Earth orbit against the other side’s space launch center. We don’t yet have concrete casualty figures, but it seems the entire city has been completely wiped out..."

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

Everyone silently turned to look at Xiao Wang, who spread his hands.

"Light Spear carpet-bombing, purifying Heretics. Basic operations for the Tribunal."

The fact that they didn’t go straight to an Extinction order already counted as them being merciful.

And just then, more Guards walked in, faces solemn as they delivered a report.

"Report: just now, several Steel Warriors and a young girl appeared outside our gates, claiming to represent the Tribunal in order to conduct formal negotiations with us.

Everyone exchanged looks, then turned in unison to Xiao Wang.

"Comrade Xiao Wang, this time you’re the representative of the negotiation team. The responsibility is enormous."

"Yes!............ Huh? Representative? Me?"

"That’s right."

The old man looked at Xiao Wang, his face full of kindly, encouraging smiles.

"I trust your character and your abilities won’t let us down. From this moment on, you are fully in charge of all negotiations with the Tribunal!"

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

Even decades later, when Xiao Wang had become Old Wang with a head of white hair, every time he recalled this scene, he couldn’t help but sigh that back then—he really should have just jumped straight out the window.

"Good, we’ll leave it to you then."

After listening to Zhenjiling’s negotiation report, Duanmu Huai nodded in satisfaction, then leaned back in his chair, staring at the planet before him.

"Master?"

Ogis sat perched on Duanmu Huai’s shoulder, looking at him curiously.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing much. I just feel like... well, actually, there isn’t any particular feeling."

Duanmu Huai reached out and patted Ogis’s small head.

"After all, we’ve still got a whole pile of things we need to do."

"Yes, Master."

"But, Ogis."

"Hmm?"

"Next time, don’t call me ’Dad’ in front of my mom..."

Right now his own mother was still asking who Ogis’s mother was.

"Understood, Master."

"Can’t you just call me ’big brother’ instead?"

"But Master and I look far too different. It would be hard to convince anyone."

".........Mm, you’ve thought this through very carefully."

Duanmu Huai quietly changed the subject and looked ahead.

The expedition into Subspace was the next objective, and it might take countless years. Fortunately, the system had given him the authority to trade for time, and Subspace’s own flow of time was chaotic. So even if Duanmu Huai stayed in Subspace for a hundred years, as long as he operated things correctly, he could still make it back here within just a few years.

As for everything else... they’d deal with it when the time came.

After all, for the Tribunal, this was all never-ending.

(The End)