A Core Ship From The Start
Chapter 1447 - 980: Return

Chapter 1447: Chapter 980: Return

"Damn it!"

Joel charged forward, pounding heavily on the door before him—but naturally, there was no response.

Behind him, seeing Joel’s helpless appearance, the young girls also found themselves momentarily at a loss for words.

"Mr. Duanmu, should we do something?"

"Do what?"

Upon hearing Mary’s question, Duanmu Huai turned to look at her. She fell silent for a moment.

"I... I don’t know, but... is this really the right thing to do?"

"Of course."

Duanmu Huai nodded slightly.

"Clearly, Ellie knows her fate. She didn’t bring it up throughout this journey, which means she has already made her decision. As a Judge, I respect her spirit of sacrifice. Beyond that, there’s nothing I need to do."

"But Mr. Joel doesn’t seem to agree."

"I can see that."

Watching Joel desperately pounding on the door, Duanmu Huai’s expression darkened slightly. He had more or less pieced together what the central issue of this world was.

Joel wasn’t willing to let Ellie die.

This was, in fact, understandable. Although Duanmu Huai hadn’t spent much time with them, it was evident that there was some bond between the two.

But still...

"Damn it!"

Seeing that the door wouldn’t budge, Joel angrily swung his fist and then turned to stride up to Duanmu Huai.

"You’ll help me, right? You said the Salvation Army has issues, didn’t you?"

"Yes, I did say that. But if what they claim is true, and Ellie is indeed humanity’s only savior in curing this virus, then I won’t stop them."

"Why!"

"Because the Tribunal’s goal is to protect humanity!"

Duanmu Huai extended a hand, grabbing Joel and lifting him into the air.

"Sacrificing Ellie to save all humans is entirely logical! If the Salvation Army can truly use the pathogens in Ellie to develop a vaccine that makes humanity immune to the virus threat, the Tribunal has no reason to stand in their way! The real question here is: what do you intend to do? Are you planning to save that girl at the cost of humanity’s extinction?"

"You don’t understand!"

Joel angrily landed a punch on Duanmu Huai’s chest plate.

"Damn it! I lived through that era, when the virus first broke out... I was trying to escape with my daughter. I wasn’t sick, and neither was she! Her only issue was a broken leg; we just needed help! But those soldiers didn’t care—they killed my daughter just because they suspected we might be infected! And what was the result? Didn’t this world still end up like this hell anyway? Who can guarantee the Salvation Army will succeed in creating a vaccine using Ellie’s pathogens? What if they fail?"

"Excellent question. And what if they succeed?"

Duanmu Huai stared deep into Joel’s eyes, and Joel glared back into his.

"I won’t let Ellie sacrifice herself; she’s just another pawn to those people!"

As he spoke, Joel shoved Duanmu Huai with force, causing him to stumble to the ground. Then, he cast an angry, venomous glance at Duanmu Huai and the others before turning and storming off.

"I won’t give up!"

Joel clenched his teeth as he walked into a nearby alley. No matter what, he wouldn’t let those people kill Ellie... They couldn’t steal Ellie away from him like they stole his daughter’s life! He had to figure out a way to infiltrate that secret organization. There had to be a way...

"Bang!"

But suddenly, the sound of gunfire rang out, and the next moment Joel’s skull was blasted open by the force. His eyes widened, and he stumbled forward a few steps before collapsing to the ground, lifeless.

Following that, Gavi’s figure emerged from the shadows behind him.

"Don’t blame me, old man."

She holstered her weapon and chuckled as she gazed at the corpse before her.

"This was the master’s order. The Tribunal doesn’t allow anyone to interfere with humanity’s salvation plan... no matter your reasons. But hey, maybe this way you can reunite with Ellie in the other world. When you think about it, perhaps it’s even a good thing?"

As her words faded, Gavi’s figure vanished. When the Guards arrived after hearing the gunfire, all that remained before them was the corpse of a lifeless man.

"Master, the mission is complete."

Gavi cheerfully returned to Duanmu Huai’s side, delivering her report.

"Just as you predicted, Mr. Joel didn’t plan to give up and was still trying to find a way to rescue Ellie."

"I had a feeling he wouldn’t back down."

Duanmu Huai scoffed coldly. He knew very well that this was a Fragmented World—a world that had already faced destruction once. The question was: from the current state of things, although the world faced numerous issues, humanity was still surviving within it. So why did the world ultimately face obliteration?

To Duanmu Huai, the answer likely lay with Joel and Ellie. Clearly, if he didn’t intervene, Joel would rescue Ellie, humanity would lose its only chance to cure the virus, and the resulting collapse would lead to the world’s destruction. If that were the case, Joel would be humanity’s greatest enemy of all. With this knowledge, Duanmu Huai couldn’t possibly let him live.

Usually, logically speaking, there was no way Joel alone could breach the heavily guarded underground shelter, rescue Ellie, and escape. But what if this guy had protagonist plot armor? To be absolutely safe, Duanmu Huai had ordered Gavi to eliminate Joel—there was no room for mercy in the Tribunal’s approach.

"Sigh..."

Mary exhaled silently. Although she hadn’t spent much time with this group, she had started to develop some emotional connections. Now, knowing Joel was dead, her feelings were undeniably complicated. But after considering it carefully... sacrificing one life to save the world versus saving one life at the cost of the world’s destruction... It truly was an agonizing dilemma.

If she were faced with this problem herself, Mary thought she would undoubtedly struggle deeply—it was her nature to help when possible.

However... if saving Ellie meant condemning all of humanity... the pressure of such a decision was overwhelming.

From this perspective, Duanmu Huai was decisive: he eliminated Joel first, eradicating an unpredictable factor—hmm...

"Mr. Duanmu, what should we do next?"

"For now... our priority is to verify whether the vaccine really works, and then investigate the relationship between the Salvation Army and the Mutants."

"But Mr. Duanmu, have you noticed something odd?"

Mary hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"If... the Salvation Army is both the force transforming humans into Mutants and the one producing the vaccine to cure the virus, what do we do? If we destroy the Salvation Army, wouldn’t that mean abandoning the vaccine? Wouldn’t Ellie’s sacrifice be meaningless then? Even if we seized the vaccine, none of us... seem qualified to develop it further, correct?"

"That’s not something to worry about."

Duanmu Huai waved dismissively.

"If Ellie’s fate truly is the key to changing this world’s destiny, then once the world’s destiny shifts, I can open a teleportation portal back to the Tribunal. Then, I’ll bring Sherry here—her expertise in this field is top-notch. At that point, even without the Salvation Army, we can save this world’s humanity."

"But what if it’s not?"

"Then... we’ll simply chalk it up to bad luck."

Duanmu Huai shrugged helplessly. Mary had indeed pointed out the crux of the matter: the premise relied on Ellie’s sacrifice actively altering the world’s destiny. If it didn’t, Ellie would have died for nothing, and Duanmu Huai would have made the wrong call. If Duanmu Huai could open the portal now, he believed that Sherry’s advanced biochemical technology could offer better solutions, potentially even sparing Ellie’s life.

But the problem stood: if Ellie didn’t die, the world’s destiny might remain unaltered, and Duanmu Huai wouldn’t be able to open the portal... which essentially created a vicious cycle.

Faced with this dilemma, Duanmu Huai only sighed briefly and let the matter rest. In truth, Judge Players often encountered tasks of a similar nature—requiring them to choose between sacrificing an innocent individual or a group to achieve broader safety. For Duanmu Huai, this wasn’t his first morally fraught decision.

As a side note, Duanmu Huai had conducted some investigations regarding the Mutants, and the results had turned out more straightforward than expected. Initially, he thought the Salvation Army might operate cover-up schemes or fabricate missing-person reports. Surprisingly, everyone in the city knew the Salvation Army possessed the means to turn people into Mutants. In fact, most criminals in the city were captured by the Salvation Army and transformed into obedient Mutants—one reason why this city remained so peaceful... Well, as such open knowledge required no further probing.

Following this, Duanmu Huai returned with the group to the train, recounting everything to Lumiaire and Axelle. Unsurprisingly, upon hearing that Ellie would sacrifice herself, the duo responded with agitation—but faced with the choice between saving one life or saving the world, they too found themselves helpless.

And now, all they could do was wait.

Second after second ticked by.

Duanmu Huai sat in his chair, staring at his fingers. The other girls sat nearby, fidgeting in unease, keeping their eyes fixed on Duanmu Huai—as the timeline suggested, Ellie should now be undergoing surgery, with her pathogens being extracted to manufacture the vaccine. If everything went well, her sacrifice would fundamentally alter the world’s destiny...

But if it didn’t...

For a while, keeping their gazes locked on Duanmu Huai’s fingers, the group experienced complex emotions. None of them could clearly say whether they hoped for the success or failure of the process. Duanmu Huai, on the other hand, stayed silent, merely observing his own fingers.

After all, he was a Judge. He had made his decision, and whatever outcome stemmed from it, Duanmu Huai alone would bear the consequences.

"Snap!"

Who knew how much time had passed before Duanmu Huai suddenly raised his hand and snapped his fingers. At that instant, the group saw a teleportation portal open before them. Despite the familiarity of the portal’s appearance, their hearts grew even heavier...

"Alright, there’s no point in staying here any longer."

Duanmu Huai stood up as he spoke.

"Ellie has done everything she could. Now it’s our turn."