Star Ocean: Starting from the Abandoned Mining Space Station.

Chapter 196 Phase Space

Chen Ming arrived at the Pirate Space Station not long after.

The new director had already arranged for people to squat in the special passage of the cruiser's ship's position early on, and specially met Chen Ming to say hello.

The new director is not the deputy director who was demoted before and was promoted again, but the new director sent by Sinda Company headquarters.

He is obviously very aware of the situation of his predecessor, so his attitude towards Chen Ming can be said to be quite respectful.

Don’t reach out to hit the smiling person.

When others give face, Chen Ming also gives face, greeting people normally and getting to know them.

Anyway, as long as he and the people he knows are not offended, he doesn't care who the director is, or what the distribution of interests is within the company.

After politely declining the new director's invitation to dinner.

Chen Ming did not find the factory director and Lao Wu in the maintenance shop.

On the contrary, the bald man whom he had given a sum of money to before and the only newcomer who survived the military attack who he had taken care of for two days were working in the factory.

After chatting with them for a few words, Chen Ming ran directly to the hardware store of Space Arm 2, preparing to find the boss.

However, when Chen Ming arrived, he found that the hardware store was closed.

At this time, he suddenly remembered that Baiquan's promotion ceremony was less than two weeks away. The boss had been invited to attend, so it was normal to be absent.

Chen Ming turned around and ran to the administration building again, only to find that the door of the factory director's office was also closed. Maybe he had something to do.

So Chen Ming ran all the way to the bar again.

The security guard who was unfamiliar to Chen Ming at the door obviously knew Chen Ming and walked into the bar with respect in his eyes.

After all, Chen Ming did not wear protective clothing or power armor when he came out this time, so it was normal for the security guard to recognize him.

In the past, Chen Ming was worried about his identity being exposed and his personal safety, so he wore various protective clothing and power armor.

But now his identity has been made public.

Moreover, with his current mental strength, even if he does not have any protective equipment, he is enough to react to any sneak attack by any weapon and manually create armor, thus ensuring safety.

There is really no need to wear these things.

Chen Ming entered the bar and scanned the entire bar. This time he didn't miss it.

Chen Ming asked the bartender for a glass of orange juice, walked a few steps to the corner of the bar, and sat down next to Old Wu, who was drinking here as usual.

Old Wu, who was drinking with his head down, noticed Chen Ming at this moment and asked unexpectedly: "You're back?"

"Yeah, I was chased and beaten outside, and I hid for two days when I came back."

"What kind of thing can chase you and beat you up?"

"More than eighty mechanical cruisers."

Lao Wu almost spit out a mouthful of wine. He felt that what Chen Ming said was true.

"Did you dig into someone's ancestral grave?"

"No, I dug the foundation of someone's new house, but nothing else. How are you doing lately?"

Lao Wu raised the cup in his hand and said: "It's still the same, just live like this every day, do whatever you have to do, just like there will be a sister waiting for me to go to dinner later, otherwise how could I drink so lightly? of."

A few words of small talk.

Chen Ming changed the topic to business and asked, "Have there been more pirates in the Star Territory in the past half month?"

Lao Wu nodded and said: "It's a little more, and there may be more in the future."

"How to say?"

Old Wu took out the terminal, placed a few articles on the terminal and said, "Have you seen the news recently? There are more babies born with deformities in the hospital."

"And it's not just one or two places. This situation has occurred in most areas of the entire empire."

"Then, there are rumors that the wave of deformities from decades ago is coming again."

"This kind of thing has endless consequences, so it makes people panic."

"The whole environment is in chaos, so it's normal for there to be more pirates."

When Chen Ming was reading the news reports on Lao Wu's terminal, Lao Wu continued: "And recently, people from Zuo Jing have also been active within the empire."

"The god of the cult that promoted them punished humans for their blasphemy, tsk tsk tsk..."

"But some people still believe this nonsense. What can be done?"

Chen Ming shook his head slightly and said, "Zuo Jing is really troublesome."

"Who says it's not?"

"By the way, isn't there any movement from the empire's top brass?"

"It doesn't seem to be the case at the moment. The publicity department has only blocked the news of some deformed children, but substantive solutions have not yet been provided."

Chen Ming had nothing to complain about because there was no solution. After all, the empire couldn't get it even if it wanted to.

The gaze from another dimension created by Yuhui some time ago is not going to work for anyone.

As a person who has personally experienced dimensional infection, even the president of the Psychic Association cannot deal with the gaze of another dimension, let alone other inexperienced psykers.

In the next twenty years, various conflicts will inevitably break out within the empire.

If you want to spend these twenty years safely, you have to look at the above methods.

But this has nothing to do with Chen Ming. Anyway, the gaze from another dimension can only affect fragile newborns, and he has no idea of ​​getting married and having children yet.

Moreover, he will continue to develop externally in the future, and naturally he will not be affected if he is not within the empire.

So Chen Ming didn't talk much with Lao Wu on this topic, and instead brought up the factory director.

"I just went to the factory director's office. Where are the others?"

"He should be..."

Before Old Wu could finish speaking, the terminal on Chen Ming suddenly rang.

The factory director’s phone number.

Chen Ming picked it up and immediately heard the factory director's voice: "Xiao Ming, I heard that you are back. Can you come to my office?"

"Row."

Chen Ming agreed, shrugged at Old Wu, then stood up and turned to the door of the bar.

But before he took two steps, he suddenly remembered something. He turned to look at Lao Wu with a smile and said, "I almost forgot."

Chen Ming took out the backpack he was carrying when he got off the spacecraft, then took out a green gelatinous thing contained in a refrigerated box and handed it to Old Wu.

Old Wu took it and asked, "What is this?"

“The local specialties brought from outside taste good.”

Although Lao Wu usually investigates various aspects of intelligence, he obviously does not have a deep understanding of the food of the Thorn Zerg, which is already an endangered species.

Even if it is said that part of the reason why the space station where Chen Ming stayed before was destroyed was the Zerg.

It's enough to know what kind of creatures the Zerg are. There is really no need for more in-depth investigation.

It was only because Chen Ming happened to see shellac before and had Zerg on hand that he could understand what ordinary Zerg individuals usually eat.

Lao Wu obviously wouldn't do this specifically.

So now he doesn't know what Chen Ming gave him.

Seeing the suspicion on Old Wu's face, Chen Ming waved his hand and said, "I just have to go find the factory director, and I will give him a copy then."

"If you still want to eat, come to me. I have some on hand over there."

Seeing Chen Ming turn around and leave the bar, Old Wu touched his chin and opened the refrigerator box. Chen Ming's seemingly cunning smile just now flashed through his mind.

However, the food should not be a trap for him, so he opened his mouth and took a bite of shellac. An unexpected expression of surprise appeared on his face, and he quickly ate the whole ball of shellac.

After staying in the bar for more than ten minutes, Lao Wu grabbed his stomach and got into the toilet of the bar.

Of course, at this time, Chen Ming didn’t know that Lao Wu was also very lucky to be among the 0.2%.

He had just arrived at the administration building and came to the factory director's office.

Here, Chen Ming saw people from Xinda Company again.

The factory director spread his hands and said, "They said they wanted to give you money, so I called you here."

When the person from Sinda Company heard this, he immediately handed a card to Chen Ming with both hands holding the corners, and said: "Mr. Chen Ming, this is your first installment of patent fees. The antimatter engine has begun mass production and development." Tested on a large scale.”

Although Chen Ming already knew about this, he still cooperated and said: "So fast?"

"Yes, the anti-matter engine currently seems to be the empire's most promising technology. Many people are now waiting for the results of this large-scale test."

"If the results are good, antimatter technology will be widely promoted throughout the empire, and the empire may experience another technological explosion."

"That's it."

Chen Ming nodded slightly. It seemed that the importance of the anti-matter engine was more important than he thought.

Then his previous decision to leave the anti-matter engine patent was indeed correct.

Chen Ming inserted the card into the terminal smoothly. When he saw the 30 billion inside, Chen Ming's breathing became a little heavier.

The money was more than he thought.

After all, he does not hold the patent for antimatter technology alone. Other researchers and the company itself hold a higher proportion of the patent.

It is an unexpected surprise to have 30 billion, not to mention that people from Sinda Company said that this is only the first phase, and there will definitely be more to come.

So Chen Ming smiled and accepted the money, which would relieve his pressure for a long time in the future.

Seeing that Chen Ming had confirmed the situation of the debit card and there was no dissatisfaction on his face, the people from Xinda Company bowed to Chen Ming and said, "Then I won't bother you anymore. Goodbye, Mr. Chen Ming."

With that said, he left the office very simply.

"Forehead……"

Chen Ming looked at the closed office door and was stunned for a moment.

He thought that Xinda Company was planning to take this opportunity to chat with him, but he left immediately.

It would be enough to just transfer the money directly to his card, but I don’t know why he went all the way.

But everyone left, so Chen Ming didn't say much, turned around and sat at the factory director's desk.

The factory director handed Chen Ming a cup of tea and asked, "How long do you plan to stay this time?"

Chen Ming took a sip of tea and replied: "The situation outside is good, and it doesn't matter whether I am there or not."

"So I'm going to stay on the space station for two days and do something."

Although as the exploration progress at the temporary base increases, it is almost always necessary to fly outside to open up routes.

However, Chen Ming knew this, so during the week of preparations before attacking the mechanical city, the Supreme Point was dedicated to opening up routes day and night with high intensity.

It should be enough to last for more than half a month for the low-level ships of Afterglow that will be explored later.

It’s not a big problem if I don’t go back during this period.

And he was indeed bored to death outside.

The development was refreshing at the beginning, but then it became more and more boring day by day.

Anyway, Chen Ming only provides mental strength when it comes to development. People are the same everywhere, so why not run around and do other things. After understanding this, the factory director did not continue to ask Chen Ming what he wanted to do. He just said, "If you need help, just ask."

"Will do."

Chen Ming then chatted with the factory director for a while about what happened during this period and then left the factory director's office.

After going to receive a batch of living supplies that Lao Wu temporarily transferred over for him, he returned to the highest point.

After calling and telling his boss that he was going back to the space station to stay for a few days.

Chen Ming planned to directly start what he had to do after returning unexpectedly.

Although some things can be done anywhere, there are some things that will be more valuable when you return to the Empire.

For example, using psychic energy to deeply repair some technologies.

As for the technology for in-depth repair, Chen Ming had already thought about it before.

First of all, it must be the technology of anti-matter reactors and anti-matter engines that the empire seems to be vigorously promoting now.

All technologies cannot be very mature when they appear.

It must be gradually updated after a lot of testing and experiments.

Chen Ming's spiritual power allows him to skip these steps.

Therefore, when Chen Ming conducts in-depth repairs on antimatter-related technologies, the benefits should be the greatest.

It just so happened that he also had a Stardust equipped with an antimatter engine.

And since Chen Ming's deep repair psionic power only works on the target, any parts that can be disassembled at will will not be deeply repaired along with the target of Chen Ming's psionic power.

This means that the Stardust-class engine has not been deeply repaired so far and can be disassembled for related experiments at any time.

And this is the reason why Chen Ming drove the Stardust class back to the space station instead of returning to the temporary base with other ships.

In addition to antimatter technology, there is another thing that Chen Ming also plans to repair in depth.

It is Chen Ming's self-developed unstable hyperspace channel jump engine.

Although the inspiration came from the abandoned case of Yuhui research that Chen Ming obtained from Yuhui.

But the subsequent creation of this thing mainly relied on Chen Ming's ability to repair and adapt without fear of loss, his ability to adapt at will, and his understanding of the not too advanced hyperspace technology that has become popular now.

Chen Ming had a good idea at the beginning, which was to use hyperspace to allow the spacecraft to achieve an effect similar to a jump.

It's a pity that he was still limited by his technical level some time ago, which resulted in the final product being very unstable.

The jump effect that Chen Ming wanted was not achieved, but instead a weird random teleportation effect was achieved.

His long-dead refraction ship was lucky enough to be caught in the gap between the Machine Tribe, Yuhui and the Human Empire after it was equipped with this thing. If it was unlucky, it might be teleported to some dangerous place.

Chen Ming only used it once, and he never had time to conduct in-depth research and testing.

So this technology has been hidden until today.

However, Chen Ming believes that as long as this technology undergoes in-depth maintenance with his psychic power, the effect will definitely change significantly.

Of course, it is not impossible to restart the research on this thing with Chen Ming's current technical level, but it will definitely take a long time.

Since there are psychic powers that can save time, Chen Ming feels that he does not need to study them honestly.

Knowing the answer and working backwards is much easier than doing the math yourself.

Anyway, the research results he finally came up with must be correct, and he did not steal the fruits of other people's labor. No one can say that it is wrong.

By then, this achievement should be published in a scientific research journal in the empire in his own name.

After all, Chen Ming still has some pursuits. Gaining wide recognition in technology is something he has always wanted to achieve.

Of course, there is another reason why Chen Ming wants to publish his research results.

He is short of money.

Even if Xinda Company had just given him 30 billion, he was still short, and the cost of development was much higher than he imagined.

Moreover, the battle with the mechanical tribe just now consumed much more supplies than he had previously estimated.

Chen Ming has only been out for less than two months. He has only made a jump and built a temporary stronghold. He has only explored less than 80% of the surrounding light-year galaxies.

But the amount of materials consumed can be said to be very huge.

The colonized galaxy that Chen Ming targeted was at least seven or eight extreme jumps away.

Not to mention that he has another target, the coordinates of the communication signal transmitted by the mechanical satellite.

That is beyond the thirteen extreme distance jumps.

Even if Chen Ming's path to find the colony happens to be exactly the same as the path to the coordinates of the Machine Tribe, the cost involved is definitely not 30 billion.

He can't really live off the patent of antimatter technology. What he develops himself is what really belongs to him.

the next day.

Before Chen Ming found Bai Quan to start teaching for the day, Bai Quan made a phone call.

And he came up and said: "I have already asked about the matter yesterday, and there is a result, but if I want to talk to you in detail, I need you to sign a contract."

Bai Quan said and sent an electronic contract to Chen Ming, which contained a confidentiality agreement.

Chen Ming looked at it and signed it directly after seeing that there was no problem.

After confirming, Bai Quan organized his words and said, "Let me tell you a basic concept first, phase space."

"This is a unique space independent of the normal universe and hyperspace."

"Things inside phase space cannot be observed by ordinary means, but things in phase space can affect the normal universe and hyperspace under certain circumstances."

"That's the basis of the phase craft we're developing."

Chen Ming interrupted and asked, "Is this technology also a legacy of that civilization?"

"Obviously not, otherwise the machine race, as another legacy of that civilization, would not have a way to target things in phase space."

"Our access to the source of phase space is just an ordinary researcher."

"While conducting some research in hyperspace, he discovered a special signal that was similar to a transition wave."

"Following this signal, he discovered something that could not be observed by normal means, and he reported his findings layer by layer."

"Then the Empire started researching phase space."

Chen Ming suddenly asked again: "What did the researcher discover?"

"do not know."

"do not know?"

"Yes, because when our phase technology has developed enough to investigate phase space, the object that allowed us to discover phase space has long since disappeared, and the question of what it is has not yet been answered."

"Ok."

Chen Ming thought for a moment and then asked: "Who is the discoverer?"

"An ordinary researcher at Tachyon Technology has not participated in subsequent research, so he has no special value."

After waiting for a while and seeing that Chen Ming had no follow-up questions, Bai Quan said, "Have you finished asking? Then I will continue."

"According to our research over the years, the interior of the phase space is exactly the same as the normal universe, except that the phase space can affect the normal universe, but the normal universe cannot affect the phase space."

"And we have never found anything in phase space that is unique to phase space."

"So some research institutes have the idea of ​​treating phase space as a unique environment to create unique spacecraft."

Bai Quan paused for a moment, giving Chen Ming time to digest, and then continued: "The situation is different now. What you discovered there can basically confirm that things in the phase space are affecting the normal cosmic environment. "

"And the way that thing moves looks like some kind of creature, so it is temporarily named the Phase Behemoth. It will wait for more precise investigation before giving a scientific name."

"By the way, let me tell you first. We determined the location of your video based on the starry sky in the video you sent."

"So... um... you know..."

"fine."

Chen Ming said casually: "I jumped back to the empire directly in front of that phase beast."

"If you move faster, you don't even need to analyze the video. You can directly go to the location where I jumped back and determine the trajectory of my jump, and you will know where I came back from."

"And I asked you to help me cover up the traces of my jump before. It doesn't matter if you know."

"So, how do you deal with this phase beast?"

Bai Quan hesitated for a moment and said, "There is no way to deal with it."

"Although our research progress on phase technology is pretty good, the phase ship itself is still in the experimental stage, and the phase beast is at least the size of a cruiser."

"It can only be said to be a fantasy to go to the mechanical tribe to deal with the phase beast. At most, some spaceships will go over to investigate and find ways to obtain data."

Chen Ming asked slightly worriedly: "What if it comes to the empire? Is there no way to deal with it?"

"That's not the case."

"Although the research on phase spacecraft has not yet reached the level of practical application, many phase weapons have been developed for a long time. If it doesn't work, we still have psykers."

"Besides, in the video, the giant phase beast was attacking the mechanical fleet entirely with its body, without any means of non-melee attack."

"If it weren't for the fact that it's in phase space, it would just be an ordinary space beast."

"Although it cannot be said that we have completely lowered our guard against it, it seems that it is just like that at the moment."

Chen Ming asked back: "You mean you don't really need to worry, right?"

"Correct."

"That's fine."

"If I encounter a phase beast in the future, I will tell you."

After all, Chen Ming couldn't handle this thing himself. It would be no harm to him if the empire could find a way to deal with the phase beast.

Of course, it would be the best if you don't encounter them. It would be best if the phase monster goes to the mechanical tribe to avoid annoying him.

After ending the topic of the phase beast, Chen Ming suddenly said: "I want to ask you something, Bai Quan, does your military accept some spaceship technology or something?"

"What do you mean? Have you figured it out?"

"No, no, it's just that I have a research direction here, which I think is quite special and should be valuable."

Bai Quan blinked. He knew everything about Chen Ming from birth to today, and knew what Chen Ming's technical level was roughly.

Although Chen Ming's technology now seems to have surpassed that of many people, there is still a gap compared with cutting-edge scientists.

So he said tactfully: "Just find some official websites or magazines to publish it."

"The military has always paid attention to research from all walks of life. If it is of value to the military, it will contact the author directly."

Chen Ming could understand the meaning of Bai Quan's words, and Chen Ming didn't find it strange.

After all, who would have thought that a psychic who could only control a spaceship at the beginning would one day have the outrageous ability to perform conceptual in-depth repairs on various mechanical equipment and even living creatures.

It's normal for Bai Quan not to completely believe him.

But Chen Ming believes that time will give the answer.

(End of this chapter)