Chapter 40: The So-called Unlimited Rules, Section 3

In this vast star domain, countless ships gathered densely around. Each ship was packed with people. Cheers echoed through the public channel, reaching everyone’s ears.
The final round—this was the grandest spectacle of the Imperial Competition. Just looking at those competition-specific fleets marching side by side was enough to ignite the fighting spirit of the Moors. The empire’s unprecedented strength was clearly on display at this moment. In this universe, was there any race stronger than the Moors?
Over a thousand warships set off together, like a herd of ancient, ferocious beasts. The massive, imposing silhouettes of the Moorish warships shocked everyone. Through the portholes, a huge line entirely made of light beams appeared before the spectators. Everyone knew that once the fleet crossed that line, it would mark the start of the competition!!
The rule? There were no rules!!
What made the Imperial Competition of the Moor Empire so remarkable was precisely this unique final round. Its greatest feature was the unchanging spirit of the Moor Empire: survival of the fittest.
Everything was tailored to real combat, with no restrictions. From the moment they entered the arena, they were as if on a battlefield. The strongest would prevail, and those who made it to the end would be the winners. Such a brutal competition embodied the spirit upheld by the Moor Empire. Though extreme, its impact on the empire was undeniable. With each competition, several, even dozens, of exceptionally skilled commanders emerged.
To ensure fairness, the empire, leveraging its immense power, had established tens of thousands of observation posts across the entire barbaric star domain. These posts functioned like miniature space stations, equipped with all known scanning technologies to monitor every contestant from every angle, ensuring transparency throughout the competition and satisfying the viewing needs of all spectators.
It could be said that at this stage of the competition, there was no need to conceal any strategic intentions from the contestants. In this final round, everyone would surely give it their all, using whatever tactics they had. Whoever made it to the end would become the empire’s new idol, the dream lover of every girl.
So what about Black Hair? As the top target of many contestants, how long could he hold on? One day? Two days? Or would he be torn to pieces right from the moment he stepped onto the battlefield?

No one knows. However, many fans who were highly optimistic about contestant No. 336 before the competition are now very disappointed. They even wonder if coming all the way to the event was worth the ticket price.
The reason is simple: Black Hair’s choice of ship types is simply too bizarre.
As is well known, the Moor Empire boasts formidable military strength, with its giant warships being the best in the world. Since this is a competition within the empire, they naturally won’t skimp. Almost all types of giant warships are available, and contestants can choose any they want as long as their score allows. In fact, this is also the best choice for most contestants. Overall, almost every contestant uses the full 60 points allowed by the rules to purchase giant warships, ensuring their survival in chaotic situations.
After all, the final round is a rule-free melee, and no one can predict how severe the circumstances might become. When it comes to adapting to complex environments and having strong defensive capabilities, which ship can compare to the power of the imperial giant warships? Just one such ship is enough to erase a planet from existence.
However, acquiring more Moor giant warships isn’t that easy. Their combat strength is well-known, and their value is obvious to all. So, to obtain one, one must spend a corresponding amount of points. Unluckily, giant warships require the most points—just one ordinary-configured one costs at least 15 points, while higher-tier ones demand even more, up to 20 points. Thus, even if one uses the maximum allocated points for main combat ships, they can at most get four ordinary-configured Moor giant warships. The remaining 40 points must be spent on reconnaissance and logistics ships as required by the rules.
Despite this, Moor giant warships remain the top choice for contestants. So almost every participant opts for the full 60-point configuration. In contrast, Black Hair’s choice is quite unusual.
It’s not that his combination is bad, but rather that it defies logic.
With 100 points available for supplies, he didn’t even allocate a single Moor giant warship. Instead, he chose a bunch of other miscellaneous ship types.

For the main combat force, he chose the Empire’s unique stealth warships—those same ones Black Hair had seen during the Moors’ invasion of human territories. There were four in total. These stealth warships appeared very strange at the time, but they were actually not highly rated within the Empire. Only 5 points were required to allocate one. Their armor was only one-tenth that of large warships, and their firepower was so weak it could be considered negligible—roughly one-fifteenth of that of large warships. Whether in frontal attacks or skirmishes, they often ended up serving as cannon fodder.

Apart from these stealth warships, for the main combat force, Black Hair chose only the most ordinary assault ships. These ships, which could be allocated for just 0.5 points each, were extremely weak—both in terms of armor and firepower, comparable to reconnaissance ships. The only thing worth mentioning about them was their speed and the numerical advantage due to their low cost. Black Hair allocated a full 40 of these ships.

In total, Black Hair invested only 40 points in ships for the main combat force—one-third less than the usual maximum of 60 points. This was the main reason why many were skeptical of him.

In contrast, he invested a great deal in reconnaissance. In what is generally considered a supporting role in warfare, he allocated a hefty 40 points—exactly the same as he did for the main combat force.

Moreover, he didn’t choose the conventional large-area reconnaissance ships; instead, he opted for a type that was almost ignored—ultra-small Mosquito-style reconnaissance planes, known for their limited reconnaissance range and fragile hulls. These ships, which could be allocated for just 0.01 point each, were the ultimate cannon fodder. Black Hair ordered 3,000 of them! The remaining 10 points were used for regular reconnaissance, allocating one of the most expensive reconnaissance ships in the Empire, called the Eagle Dove.

Everyone in the Empire was familiar with the Eagle Dove. However, no one would choose it in actual combat—reason being its extremely high cost. Given its reconnaissance capabilities, its value was comparable to that of a Moor giant warship. Only a fool would think it was worth it. Still, the Eagle Dove was indeed worth its price. Besides its top-notch reconnaissance abilities, it also had temporary secondary command capabilities, allowing it to direct and coordinate other reconnaissance ships within its range to gather information—making it incredibly efficient.

With 40 points invested in combat and 40 in reconnaissance, Black Hair had no difference from others when it came to logistics, leaving him with only 20 points remaining.

But even with a limit of only 20 points, Kurokami still found a way. Instead of choosing a regular supply fleet, he used all his resources to allocate those last 20 points to the Empire’s largest supply ship—a heavily armored supply vessel nicknamed “Nest Mother”! Just from its name, one could tell what kind of ship this was. In fact, it was the only such heavily armored supply ship in the Empire. With just one of these ships, an entire fleet could receive supply support throughout the mission—truly extraordinary.

On the other hand, Nest Mother’s drawbacks were also extremely obvious. Supply ships were already slow and poorly defended, and Nest Mother was the epitome of that. Its speed could barely be described as slow; it was almost as slow as a crawling turtle. For comparison, it was almost on par with a mobile space station. At the same time, its size was enormous—if one had to find a target in space, it would undoubtedly be the top choice.

Four stealth warships, 40 assault ships, 3,000 Yuan-class reconnaissance planes, and one Eagle Dove, plus the final Nest Mother—this was all of Kurokami’s resources. Such a fleet, among the competing teams and surrounded by massive Moorish warships, was truly a standout. Absolutely unique. No wonder even the spectators who had been full of confidence for him were disappointed.

After all, anyone with basic military knowledge could see that Kurokami’s fleet was severely unbalanced. Lacking key combat ships, it was likely to be wiped out the moment it entered the battle zone. The artillery fire from the Empire’s giant ships could easily destroy an entire planet…

Amidst countless sighs, only one voice voiced the question on everyone’s mind.
“Um… contestant number 336, is he an idiot?”
Everyone turned to see a child asking that question naively. They all shook their heads with wry smiles. See? Even a child could see contestant number 336’s mistake. It seemed no miracles would emerge in this final round anymore.

But what no one knew was that Kurokami, at that moment, wasn’t clueless at all. On the contrary, he was chatting casually with his ship’s second-in-command, 57, a young Moorish officer.
“The battle zone is about to be entered. Aren’t you worried at all?” Kurokami asked nonchalantly, swirling the glass in his hand. Through the porthole, he could already see the other fleets adjusting their formations. They must be making final preparations before entering the battle.

“Don’t worry,” Deputy 57 replied calmly. His thin frame remained straight, and not a trace of doubt appeared on his face. Clearly, after going through a series of virtual competitions, he had developed great confidence in Black Hair.
“Oh? Why?” Black Hair became interested and asked with a smile.
Faced with Black Hair’s curious gaze, Officer Moore suddenly shrugged, showing his first smile since they met.
“Because from the moment I saw your ration list, I knew there was no hope. There’s no need to worry about something hopeless. I think what I should focus on now is finding a place to have dinner if I fail later. I heard the food at the conference is good, but I haven’t had the chance in the past few days.”
“Uh…” Black Hair’s smile vanished abruptly. He awkwardly touched his nose and then pouted.
“I appreciate your composure, but I’m sorry to tell you that I never intended to give up. So, as for dinner, we can put that on hold for now… Maybe you could try the food made by the Mother Nest. You know, that’s also why I chose it.”
“Uh…” This time, it was Officer Moore who was speechless…