Star Ocean: Starting from the Abandoned Mining Space Station.

Chapter 203 The direction of the empire

The moment the enemy fleet broke through the defense line in an instant and approached the flagship with massive losses.

Chen Ming did not hesitate, and the twelve spaceships left behind immediately maneuvered, all blocking the enemy fleet's firing trajectory.

It relies on the 30 times the radiation energy dissipation in the simulation setting and the ability to forcibly dissipate hard radiation energy without turning off the shields and weapons to resist the concentrated fire on the flagship.

However, this nearly ten-fold numerical difference and the lack of other interference attacks made it difficult for Chen Ming's spacecraft to completely absorb all the firepower, even with various blessings.

Losses soon followed.

Even if Chen Ming's spaceship could be reshaped into a new one after its loss, it would be difficult to do so. The opponent seized the last chance and used all his firepower to completely block it.

In an instant, all the spacecraft guarding Chen Ming's flagship were destroyed, and the shield of the flagship itself was also attacked to the point of crumbling in an instant.

And then the next moment.

Another spaceship once again blocked the flagship.

Chen Ming's dozen or so spaceships, powered by psychic energy, successfully delayed the enemy's firepower until the fleet at the front of the battle line turned around and returned.

At the same time, some of the diverted fleets bit the tail of Cheng Xinghai's fleet from the other side and completely surrounded it.

The battle-loss ratio of Cheng Xinghai's fleet was already completely out of control when they made a forced breakthrough just now.

When Chen Ming succeeded in delaying time and was not killed by Cheng Xinghai's plan, her fleet was bound to perish.

The overall situation has been decided.

Chen Ming, who was still a little nervous at first, was completely relieved.

He quickly made a note of Cheng Xinghai's unexpected plan that almost succeeded in flipping him over. He would never flip over a second time under similar circumstances in the future.

Chen Ming then roughly estimated the actual consumption of mental energy required by the things that required psychic energy that he did in the simulated battle just now.

If it exceeds the upper limit of his mental power, he will voluntarily admit defeat.

Cheating is no fun.

However, after Chen Ming did a little calculation, he was basically sure that his mental energy consumption was as good as nothing.

After all, there is not a single cruiser-level spacecraft in this simulation, and the consumption of frigates and destroyers can only be said to be a waste.

So in the end, Chen Ming's total loss of 300 spaceships was 53, of which 12 were expelled.

The opponent will be completely destroyed in the next step. Already surrounded by Chen Ming's fleet, with the protection of Chen Ming's spiritual power, not even a single ship on the opponent can be killed.

However, Chen Ming didn't get any hint of victory.

So I continued to rely on the fleet that had bitten the tail of the enemy fleet to continuously strangle the remaining spaceships.

By the way, capture the escape capsules launched from the spaceships that are included in the simulation.

Then he took some time to carefully recall the last scene.

Looking back now, Chen Ming found that he could predict in advance that there would be problems with the position of his flagship, and a slight adjustment would not give the opponent any chance.

He can even use the position of his own flagship as a second level trap to completely defeat his opponent.

Chen Ming shook his head slightly, having nothing to say.

Sure enough, he was the one to choose.

At this time, it was over at the headquarters of the Fourteenth Army.

Cheng Xinghai had completely given up struggling, took off the instrument that was covered with wires on his head, and dialed Bai Quan's phone number.

While waiting for the call to be connected, her eyes gradually began to fill with tears.

And the moment it was connected.

"Uncle Bai——"

Bai Quan immediately hung up the phone.

After a while, Bai Quan called again and said, "Are you ready?"

Cheng Xinghai had returned to normal when he called this time, or so it seemed.

"Well, is Chen Ming's spiritual power really that strong?"

"fake."

"Then he..."

"He's even stronger. This is the result of me telling him to keep his hands a little longer and not just use his psychic powers to kill you directly."

"..."

Cheng Xinghai hung up the phone.

He lowered his head and hugged his knees, huddled in the equipment, motionless.

Bai Quan looked at the terminal with a busy signal and could probably guess that Cheng Xinghai was autistic.

The two brothers, Cheng Xinghai and Cheng Xinghe, had fought with each other quite a lot in the past.

He had seen the scene where the two spoke loudly before the fight and remained silent after it ended countless times. He had also seen countless times when the one who lost the fight would go back to his room to shut himself up.

In the past, he was worried that something might happen to them if they were autistic, but later he discovered that the two of them went back to the room purely to reflect on their own problems.

Once you have finished reflecting, the confidence to fight with others will come back again.

After all these years, Bai Quan is very familiar with him, so it’s not a big deal.

Moreover, Cheng Xinghai's performance just now was actually pretty good. At least he was able to counterattack quickly even though he had almost no understanding of Chen Ming's psychic abilities. Even though the battle situation was at an overall disadvantage, he was just a hair away from winning.

If four or five more spaceships could be retained, Chen Ming's previous flagship would definitely not be able to withstand the final wave of firepower output.

It's a pity that there is no if.

But Bai Quan changed his mind again.

In the past, Cheng Xinghe fought against Chen Ming, whose psychic powers had not been developed at all and only had a shabby fleet.

In the end, a draw was barely achieved, and in the end, external interference led to Cheng Xinghe being captured.

Now, Cheng Xinghai was playing against Chen Ming, whose psychic powers had been developed to a very high level, but were only partially restricted, and the starting fleet strength of both sides was fixed.

So if Cheng Xinghe fights Chen Ming again now, he may have to be beaten by Chen Ming.

After all, Chen Ming's improvement in psychic abilities was much faster than Cheng Xinghe's improvement in command skills, not to mention that Cheng Xinghe had been frozen in the escape cabin for two months without doing anything.

And if Cheng Xinghai had the chance to do it again, the results might be different.

Bai Quan sent Cheng Xinghai a message to comfort her with similar thoughts in his mind.

Just at this time, Chen Ming had also finished cleaning up the battlefield, ending the battle completely, and his consciousness was ejected from the simulation device.

When he noticed that Bai Quan seemed to be waiting in the corner of the equipment room, Chen Ming said, "The fight is over."

"I saw."

As he spoke, Bai Quan walked closer to the equipment, turned off the equipment next to him, and said, "I can see that your command skills have really improved during this period. You have placed small-scale bait very well."

"Something went wrong in the end. You exposed the location of your flagship when you set up another bait."

Chen Ming felt a little regretful when he heard Bai Quan's words again. He really didn't expect that his opponent could turn and break through to the side and rear of his fleet in an instant.

And because of the simulation, he himself is not in danger, so the psychic effect of danger perception cannot be effective.

Otherwise, when the opponent's fleet breaks through the defense line and attacks the support fleet he prepared, he should have already sensed the danger and started dispatching in advance.

But at this time, Chen Ming felt that he seemed to rely too much on danger perception.

Although there was no problem for him as a psyker to rely on his psychic powers, his psychic powers might expire one day, such as when he first tried to control the mechanical race in the colony.

If you give him that chance at a critical moment, he won't have a second chance.

Many times he has to discover dangers that he can discover by himself.

Psychics are better used as a last resort.

So when Bai Quan pointed out this problem, he didn't speak harshly and admitted: "Indeed, this is my problem, I will definitely remember it."

Bai Quan was very satisfied with Chen Ming's learning attitude and said: "There are actually some minor problems in other aspects of your overall combat effectiveness, but the flaws are not outweighed."

"Your opponent is someone who has completed all the basic courses of our 14th Army Corps Military Academy and has begun to complete his graduation project on the battlefield."

"It's normal for her to surpass you in command knowledge and ability. As long as you win in the end, it'll be fine."

Chen Ming said modestly: "I mainly rely on my spiritual power. Without my spiritual power, I would definitely not be able to beat him."

"You don't have to worry about this, because the opponent also uses psychic energy."

Chen Ming was stunned and asked, "Isn't Cheng Xinghe a psychic?"

"The other side is not Cheng Xinghe."

"I feel a lot like that."

Bai Quan nodded and said, "They are indeed very similar, because both of them were taught by me, and they are his sister, Cheng Xinghai."

"Oh? I remember you said before that Cheng Xinghe was beaten badly by someone close to him. He came out to relax and wanted to fight with Yu Hui. In the end, he happened to run into the sector military looking for me to cause trouble. That person..."

"Yes, that's his sister,"

"happy."

Chen Ming saw that Bai Quan's expression seemed to be mixed with a hint of worry, as if he was worried that he was still hostile to Cheng Xinghe.

So he took the initiative to add: "Don't worry, you have already apologized for him before, I won't care about him, and I won't anger others."

"That's good."

After Chen Ming repeated his attitude, he asked Bai Quan, "What is Cheng Xinghai's spiritual power?"

Bai Quan pointed at his head without saying anything clearly.

Chen Ming felt that it was probably a psychic ability similar to Shao Yang's that improved his thinking ability. After all, in the battle just now, it felt a bit scary to see almost all of his arrangements being seen through.

Cheng Xinghai's psychic ability should be in this area.

While Chen Ming was thinking, Bai Quan glanced at the time on the terminal and said to Chen Ming: "It's almost done. Let's just stop here today. I'll go watch the video again later."

"Tomorrow we will officially start teaching again. Then I will help you review the problems in your entire game. I will also tell you one more thing during class tomorrow." "The review is no problem."

Chen Ming had originally planned to do this, but if he reviewed it himself, there would always be mistakes. It would be great to have Bai Quan help.

"But can't we talk about it now?"

Bai Quan likes Chen Ming's serious attitude towards study, but regarding Chen Ming's question, Bai Quan explained: "Let's be more formal tomorrow."

"But I can tell you a little bit in advance, that is, this matter is a very important thing that I only learned about after I was promoted to lieutenant general this time."

"Is it related to me?"

"The first half of the matter is indeed related to you, and the second half of the matter can be related to you."

Chen Ming subconsciously began to think about the meaning of what Bai Quan said, but what Bai Quan said alone was not enough for him to guess what Bai Quan was going to say tomorrow.

And Bai Quan didn't say much.

But before hanging up the phone, he asked Chen Ming one more question: "Would you like to meet Cheng Xinghai?"

"Her command level itself is close to that of Cheng Xinghe. After including her psychic powers, the overall level should be similar to yours without using all psychic powers. She is a good sparring opponent."

"My equipment has been opened to you. You can use it yourself. If she lost to you, she will definitely want to fight you a few more times."

Chen Ming said without much thought: "Okay."

He felt the importance of command skills in the battle just now.

At least if he were Cheng Xinghai, he would definitely not be able to do what he did before, and would only be crushed to death by his rogue style of play.

And he can definitely feel that when fighting a close battle, the training of command skills is real.

While fighting on simulated equipment is different from actual combat, it never hurts to practice a few times.

What's more, besides Bai Quan and Cheng Xinghai, whom Bai Quan now recommended, he really couldn't find anyone to train with.

But Bai Quan was busy enough to take time out to teach every day, and Chen Ming really didn't have the slightest confidence to win in a simulated battle with Bai Quan, who had risen to lieutenant general on the battlefield.

So he only had one choice left.

The corners of Bai Quan's mouth turned up slightly and he said, "Then I'll send you her communication code."

the next day.

Chen Ming and Bai Quan returned to their previous rhythm and started teaching normally in the morning.

But something was different from usual. Bai Quan came up and asked Chen Ming a question: "Did you contact Cheng Xinghai yesterday?"

Chen Ming's mind flashed over what happened last night and said, "I contacted her, but she contacted me."

Bai Quan immediately explained: "After I gave you her communication code, I also gave her yours."

"I know."

"She contacted me and I chatted with her for a few words, and then she said that she wanted to have another relationship with me, but I didn't agree because I had something to do. I told her to talk about it later, and there was nothing else."

"I feel like she doesn't look like a girl in the army."

"Why not?"

"A bit... too lively and quite familiar. I feel like girls in the army should be more stable."

"Um……"

Bai Quan pushed up his glasses and said nothing.

People who have just met Cheng Xinghai would never imagine how competitive and... lively she is.

Seeing that Bai Quan didn't speak, Chen Ming asked with some confusion: "What's wrong?"

"It's okay. If you get in touch with her more, you'll get to know her character. I was a little worried about you having a conflict with her, but it seems okay now."

When Chen Ming heard this, he emphasized again: "I said it yesterday, I will not anger anyone, not even Cheng Xinghe's sister, don't worry."

"Okay, let's start today normally."

"Before we start, I need to tell you about what happened yesterday."

"Come on, let's sign a confidentiality agreement first and go through the process."

Bai Quan quickly sent an agreement to Chen Ming. Chen Ming read it and confirmed that there was no problem and signed it directly.

Bai Quan also cleared his throat and said formally: "It's about the Gallo Star Territory."

"I mentioned before that our Fourteenth Legion will increase investment in the Gallo Star Territory Branch and expand our influence."

"That is to say, we are going to take action outside. From here, we will deal with the foreign enemies that block our external direction."

Chen Ming asked in confusion: "I know, didn't you say that? Do you need to sign a confidentiality agreement?"

"Do you think the branch of the Fourteenth Legion is capable of solving the entire Afterglow Star Territory outside?"

"No."

Chen Ming answered decisively: "It's okay to fight guerrillas with the fleet here. Yuhui is disgusting. It's really impossible to attack Yuhui."

"Yes, I think so too, but the empire doesn't think so."

"Soon, the empire will open a new battlefield with foreign enemies in the Gallo Star Territory and launch a full-scale war."

"Total War...Why?"

"Because there are benefits."

"You should be clear about the interests of Yuhui. The Yuhui core has excellent computing power and can communicate with itself. In addition, there is a replica of the Kletka supercomputer. These are all benefits."

Kletka, Chen Ming almost forgot about this thing.

A device that can create afterglow individuals, even replicas, has great value.

Not a bad goal indeed for the Empire.

But there is a problem, that is, when Chen Ming left Yuhui, he left behind many Yuhui individuals, although most of them were solved during Yuhui's internal cleansing.

But to this day, there are still some Afterglow individuals controlled by him surviving, and they have been expanding.

As long as he is given time, he will be able to control the entire Afterglow Star Territory without any bloodshed.

And if the empire takes action against Yuhui, it will be of no benefit to him.

At this time, Chen Ming suddenly thought of Bai Quan's words yesterday, saying that the first half of the incident was related to him, and the relevant part was here.

"What about the second half?"

Bai Quan said immediately: "I haven't finished the first half of the matter yet."

"Because of your relationship, the empire changed its goal and stopped attacking Yuhui. Instead, it chose to attack the mechanical star field next to Yuhui."

"We have already guessed the effect of your psychic energy, and we have also noticed the great cleansing inside Afterglow after you left the Afterglow Star Territory some time ago."

"And the afterglow has shrunk their colony, as if it's almost impossible to shrink."

"The reason is obvious, you did something over there."

"The empire has every reason to believe that you have left a back-up force within Yuhui. It is only because Yuhui has purged the internal affairs that the management has been strict and the performance has been temporarily ineffective."

"But your Afterglow must remain in the Afterglow star field and continue to expand. It is expected that it will take at least three years of diffusion time to control most of the Afterglow star field."

"Therefore, after discussion by the senior officials of the empire, they gave up the attack on the Afterglow Star Territory."

"But opportunity waits for no one, and the empire did not completely give up on this idea. Instead, it changed its target and replaced it with the machine race."

Bai Quan sent Chen Ming the latest complete star map around the Gallo Star Territory, which marked the scope of the Afterglow Star Territory and the Mechanical Race Star Territory.

The galaxy of the mechanical race that Chen Ming visited last time was also specially marked.

Bai Quan continued: "The Machine Tribe itself does not have much value. Although the Baiyun Steel material is good, it is not rare. You have to fight with the Machine Tribe to get it."

"And the mechanical family's chip has not been deciphered so far. It has no value except for trading with Yuhui or dismantling it into materials."

"But the things left by another civilization in the hands of the mechanical tribe are very valuable."

"In a sense, it can be equal to or even higher than the harvest from Yuhui."

Bai Quan paused for a moment and said the second half of the sentence: "Of course it may be lower. This is a risk, but because of your existence the empire is willing to accept this risk."

Chen Ming pursed his lips and didn't know what to say.

Bai Quan didn't wait for Chen Ming to speak, and continued: "Let me ask you a question, you can control the mechanical tribe, right?"

"Correct."

Chen Ming could answer this question, and there was no need to hide it. After all, Chen Ming had already controlled the mechanical cruisers in front of the entire pirate space station galaxy and sent them back to his temporary stronghold.

After getting a positive answer from Chen Ming, Bai Quan said: "But we didn't find anything similar to Yuhui's situation on the mechanical side."

"Your control over the Machine Tribe is different from your control over Afterglow. Your spiritual energy cannot spread through the Machine Tribe."

Chen Ming was surprised when Bai Quan said this, and asked: "How do you say it?"

"In the video of when you met the phase beast before, it was obvious that you were going to attack and plunder the mechanical colony."

"But logically speaking, you already have the experience with Yuhui before, and you can definitely send a machine clan to infiltrate the hinterland of the machine clan and gradually control their city."

"Be a parasite and keep taking in more supplies. When you find the right opportunity, take them all away."

"This is definitely the easiest and most effective way."

"But you didn't do that. You chose the most direct way to plunder the resources of the Machinery Clan. You also called in additional members of the Machinery Clan, almost blocking you in the galaxy. This speaks volumes."

"So we are speculating that it is the hive mind of the machine race that is different from that of the afterglow that affects your psychic energy on them."

Chen Ming was silent for a moment and replied: "Yes, all the individuals of the mechanical race controlled by me will break away from their hive mind and cannot help me stay in the original place and spread like Afterglow."

After Chen Ming finished speaking, he immediately added: "I also have a question to ask. Isn't the Empire already fighting Yu Hui and the Machine Tribe on the borders in all directions? Why is it opening a new battlefield?"

"And the Yuhui and the Machine Tribe here have been blocking the door for so many years. Why did they just decide to do this recently?"

Bai Quan said: "Your two questions can be combined into one, which is why the empire wants to open a new battlefield in the border star field of the Gallo Star Territory at this point in time."

"The answer is actually quite simple."

(End of this chapter)