Star Ocean: Starting from the Abandoned Mining Space Station.

Chapter 341: Empire's Preparation

Chen Ming watched as the Zerg fleet fought to the death until they were completely wiped out.
Watch as the Mechanical cruisers and lower-level spacecraft also follow in the Zerg fleet's final struggle.

Then the observation there ended.

However, what Chen Ming did not see was that after he finished his observation, a small new wave of transition waves appeared within the galaxy.

An unobservable creature had teleported here, making a cry that was also unheard of.

The mechanical motherships that had originally intended to scan the disintegrating planet and the surrounding cosmic environment to see if there were any living Zerg individuals immediately jumped away as quickly as if they were avoiding the god of plague.

Chen Ming's consciousness returned to his body.

After reviewing the battle just now, he suddenly felt a little sad.

He had never fought such an extravagant battle.

In fact, after destroying the lower-level fleet of the Mechanical Clan, the tens of thousands of Zerg cruisers that remained undestroyed could try to retreat.

There is no chance of winning if we continue to stay and forcefully fight against the three motherships of the Mechanical Clan, and we won't even be able to cause any damage.

It’s not that Chen Ming doesn’t want to save money. After all, it will take at least dozens of minutes to manufacture tens of thousands of Zerg cruisers.

But in the situation just now, the Zerg fleet could only retreat by jumping, and jumping might lead to the discovery of the Zerg nest planet.

Jumping to other places can only delay the time of death.

So the best outcome for these Zerg is to fight to the end.

Anyway, we can produce more later.

Then this raid came to an end when the last Zerg cruiser was destroyed.

Chen Ming did not immediately pay too much attention to the mechanical motherships that were marked with Zerg blood or some biological tissue, but instead focused on the facility he had just sent away.

It is simply because the mechanical psychic-biological transformation facilities are completely placed in the building and integrated with the building.

So it didn't send the facility directly to the spaceship next to his body.

He had to do some work on the facilities first, free up the original one-third of the facility, and then install the complete, new facility.

Of course, Chen Ming doesn't need to do this. Chaofan, who has been involved in more and more research areas recently, will help him get the job done.

While the facilities are still being installed.

Chen Ming started thinking about something new.

That is, the deployment of such a large-scale Zerg fleet would inevitably be discovered by the Empire and could not be hidden at all.

There must have been a reconnaissance fleet sent out from the front line that he was not aware of and was roaming around nearby, and it would definitely be able to see the appearance of the Zerg fleet.

Even if we really didn't see any traces of such a large-scale jump, it would be impossible to cover it up.

Through the traces of jumps and the debris left over from battles, it only takes a quick search to discover the information contained in these debris.

As long as we have this information, we will find that there is definitely a causal relationship between the appearance of the Zerg and Chen Ming.

It’s not necessarily that Chen Ming has a close connection with the Zerg, but there is definitely a connection.

So he has to consider how to follow up on this matter.

What should he do?
Although after the Queen of Insects completed this evolution, Chen Ming felt that he really didn't need to continue to hide his power excessively.

The power of the Queen of Worms is also part of his power, and his hidden power is now even greater than his obvious power.

But Chen Ming felt that was not a good idea.

His psychic powers are already enough to make the Empire wary, and now a Zerg group has emerged.

Then some people would really start to doubt who he really is.

So Chen Ming's idea was to direct the criticism towards An Wuping.

Prostheses are used to do this.

He'll just deny it then.

After all, in everyone's eyes, he is already at the headquarters and will return to the front line with Baiquan at any time. How can he control the Zerg?
It’s up to them to believe it or not. Whether they believe it or not, He is there.

It’s just that An Wuping is more suspicious.

Moreover, Chen Ming had already thought about An Wuping's identity and background, and had also revealed part of it to the empire.

It's enough to divert the conflict.

If only he did something more.

Chen Ming took out his terminal and called Bai Quan.

Baiquan's voice rang out: "There are still five days before we go to the front line. I would have told you in advance."

"..."

Chen Ming responded: "I just asked it yesterday, how could I ask it again today?"

"Oh, what's that?"

"I found something interesting here, and I feel like I need to have another urgent meeting."

"Open again?"

"It's okay if you don't want to open it. Then I'll tell you directly."

"What do you say."

"Let me make it clear first, this matter is very important and involves the front line."

Chen Ming repeated what he had just thought of in his mind again and said, "Three things in total."

"First, my fleet discovered a planet full of bugs."

Bai Quan immediately asked, "A planet full of bugs? What kind of bugs are there?"

"The Thorn Zerg."

Bai Quan was not surprised by this result. The universe is so big that there are planets full of insect-like creatures, but the only insects that Chen Ming is concerned about are the Thorn Zerg.

Chen Ming also sent a photo.

This photo was taken from space when the Queen Zerg had not yet completed its evolution and transformed a large number of Zerg nests into Zerg cruisers.

At this time, the Zerg Nest planet was still relatively intact, and the entire planet was covered with gray-green biomass.

When Baiquan saw the photo for the first time, he didn't realize what was going on and thought that the planet itself was gray-green.

Only when zoomed in to high precision did we discover that the planet was covered with a layer of gray-green.

The gray-green substance that covers the entire planet should be a derivative of the Thorn Zerg.

Baiquan also realized the problem and confirmed, "So many?"

"Yes, the hives are all over the planet. This planet can be said to be doomed."

"What are the coordinates?"

Chen Ming sent the coordinates again, which was not far from the empire.

"This location... so close..."

Bai Quan didn't say it explicitly, but Chen Ming got the point. He responded, "Do you believe me if I said I didn't notice it before?"

"I'll just assume you believe it, but if anyone else asks me, I'm sure they won't believe it."

"Then wait until other people come to ask me. I don't think anyone would dare to ask me in person."

"Too."

Bai Quan did not delve into why Chen Ming had discovered this insect nest planet a long time ago but had never mentioned it at any time, but mentioned it at this time.

He also did not explore when the planet was completely covered by the Zerg.

Anyway, Chen Ming will definitely tell him what he should say.

He was now more concerned about the remaining two things Chen Ming had just mentioned: "What about the second thing?"

Chen Ming replied: "The second thing is that the mechanical tribe is hunting me down. They seem to have regarded me as their main target recently. They have sent out a lot of fleets to dismantle the bases I left in many places to mine resources."

"Oh, so that's why you were so concerned about the battle situation on the front line. You just wanted to see what the mechanical tribe was doing, right? But they didn't resist on the front line, but turned to look for you."

"Correct."

Chen Ming nodded: "The Mechanical Tribe would rather not go to the front line than find me, which is giving me a headache. I have lost a lot of bases here, so I have to purchase a lot of supplies from the empire again."

"Let me help you find the source of goods again, okay? Okay, no problem. What about the other one?"

"This is an interesting matter."

Chen Ming said: "In order to find my strongholds, the mechanical race has divided a large fleet. There are about hundreds of thousands of destroyers and escorts, scattered over an area of ​​more than a thousand light years."

"The Mechanicals provoked the Zerg, right? Then what?"

Bai Quan had already guessed what Chen Ming was going to say based on the first two things he said.

Some time ago, since An Wuping joined the Odan star field, news of the new changes in the Thorn Zerg and their possession of biological warships has spread.

Baiquan had of course also heard the news.

So he guessed that there must have been a conflict between the Mechanicals and the Zerg.

Chen Ming did not hide anything and sent a few photos.

"Then, of course, the bugs came out in droves and started fighting with the mechanicals in that area."

"I have observed a large-scale battle breaking out in this large area..."

"The Thorn Zerg seem to have a way to track down the Mechanicals. They have found almost all the Mechanicals that are causing trouble, and they are determined to kill them regardless of the losses."

"Look at the data here. The warp wave is about to cover such a large area. The scene is really..."

Chen Ming paused and showed Bai Quan the information he had sent and the time it took to digest it.

Bai Quan said as he watched, "I remember that in our research on the mechanical race, there seemed to be records of the mechanical race and the Thorn Zerg not getting along. It's normal for them to fight."

What Chen Ming wants is for everyone to have the same idea as Bai Quan does now.

He then showed Baiquan a few more photos and continued, "Later, the Mechanical Clan seemed to have lured the Zerg to their border and used their battleships to destroy the Zerg fleet, but it seems that the Mechanical Clan also had a planet destroyed."

The photos Chen Ming took for Bai Quan were all taken from a very long distance.

It can be seen that the three motherships of the Mechanical Clan are orbiting a collapsed planet, and the inside and outside of the orbit are full of ruins and debris.

At first glance, it is impossible to count the exact number of ship wreckages, which is enough to show the huge scale and cruelty of this battle.

"This scale..." Bai Quan's mind quickly constructed the scene of the two sides' battle lines being deployed before the battle broke out.

He found it hard to imagine how it had come to this.

Chen Ming didn't give Bai Quan too much time to think. He sent Bai Quan another photo and said, "Take another look at this."

The photo that Chen Ming sent also showed a gray-green planet, but its appearance was obviously different from the previous one. Not only was it much smaller in size, but obvious terrain undulations could also be seen from space.

"This is what that hive planet looks like now."

"Those parts that disappeared all became biological warships of the Zerg. They fought to the death with the Mechanicals."

"I think there should be fleets stationed nearby, and they should be observing. I may get intelligence back in a couple of days, but I'm more efficient here, so I'll tell you first."

"I'm worried that the bugs might make some further moves, so I have to alert the front line."

"This information can be shared, no problem."

"Okay, I see."

Bai Quan already understood what Chen Ming meant.

If the Thorn Zerg suffered losses of this magnitude, then the losses of the Mechanical Race will at least be of this magnitude.

Now that the Mechanical Clan has suffered such losses, the pressure on the front line will definitely be further reduced, and they can attack more freely and cause losses to the Mechanical Clan.

The more losses the mechanical clan suffered, the happier Chen Ming, who was caused losses by them, became.

Although Chen Ming may have other ideas, Bai Quan can guarantee that Chen Ming's thoughts definitely contain what he wants.

Bai Quan understood what Chen Ming meant.

I also sorted out the documents to be sent to the front line and sent them over.

However, he did not rush to end the conversation, but started talking about another topic.

"The Legion has recently begun planning military merits for you."

Chen Ming asked: "Military merit? What military merit? What did Qiu Bowen promise before?"

"No, he will find another opportunity for you later. What I mean is that the legion is planning to award you military merit."

"As for the two previous events, you obtained the detailed star map and defense map of the Mechanical Race's star field, and you discovered the connection between the dimensional infection and the scarlet dimension."

"Oh."

Chen Ming knew.

"But I can understand the first one, but the second one..."

Baiquan explained: "After all, it is a major discovery."

"As long as phase technology can be developed, it can suppress dimensional infection, speed up the treatment of dimensional infection, and protect the entire empire."

"Then the Legion will also benefit, so of course you will be rewarded."

"Just like the first person who discovered the phase space, although he did not continue to conduct in-depth research on the phase technology project, his contribution is there, and his organization will definitely give him internal rewards. The same is true this time for the Legion."

"Then the Legion might even use you as an example to promote you."

"I can give you rewards, but I may not be free to promote it."

Baiquan continued to explain: "Just take a couple of photos and do an interview. It won't take too long."

"That's fine, when will the contribution points arrive?"

"It's still early. It took more than a month last time. It will definitely take longer this time. Besides, contribution points are just the basis. There will be other rewards. You might as well focus on this."

"And what else? What exactly?"

"The department in charge of this is also having a headache right now. I don't know what they will do for you in the end."

"It's probably not related to military rank, but it should be material or other aspects."

"You are now a colonel. If you move up, I can't really make an exception and promote you to the rank of general. You have been in the legion for too little time."

Chen Ming had no objection. He did not attach much importance to military rank, and he did not need military rank to prove anything now.

Anyway, at least for now, not just any general can be on equal footing with him.

"Then you'd better give me something useful."

"I'll keep an eye on it for you."

After Bai Quan finished what he wanted to say, Chen Ming was not in a hurry to hang up the phone either.

He also had something to ask, about the war with the mechanical race.

The Mechanical War started much earlier than he had initially expected, resulting in him not yet having completed all of his military command courses.

I can only say that I have a partial understanding of the specific circumstances of the war, the situation and the final way to win the war, but it is still not complete.

He needed to ask more precisely.

However, Baiquan said that the situation and the situation will be known once we reach the front line. There is no point in knowing it now because it is changing all the time.

As for how to win.

Bai Quan said in detail: "The ultimate goal of this war between the mechanical race is to seize the star field of the mechanical race and obtain war dividends to suppress the various problems caused by the long-term stagnation of the empire due to the sequelae of the dimensional infection."

"The purpose of the war from the beginning was to seize the star field."

"To seize the star field, we must eliminate the influence of the mechanical race in this star field, destroy the core star system of the mechanical race in the mechanical race star field, eliminate all the arsenals, dismantle all the motherships, cut off their communication network, and drive them out completely."

"The main thing is to find a way to occupy or destroy the core star systems of the mechanical race."

"Core galaxies can be subdivided into different types."

"For example, important logistics nodes of the mechanical race, star systems with star gates, those large industrial planets, and military star systems. There are many targets."

"Originally, we should have slowly investigated these star systems while attacking the mechanical race, but with your intelligence, we saved a lot of trouble."

"There are a total of 137 galaxies that can be counted as core galaxies, and a total of 302 core planets."

"Currently, six core star systems and seven core planets have been occupied. These are all the results of the battles on the border during this period of time."

"If we eliminate 70% of these core star systems and planets, the Mechanical Race will be completely destroyed."

Chen Ming asked: "Is there any most important galaxy?"

"Have."

Bai Quan directly reported the coordinates of three galaxies and said, "These three galaxies are the most important galaxies for the mechanical race."

"Two have the only giant docks of the mechanical race in this star region, and one has the mechanical race's psychic signal generator."

"A psionic signal generator? What is that?"

"Isn't this also an existence discovered from a project you proposed before."

Chen Ming asked in confusion: "I proposed it?"

"Yes, you were the first one to say that the Mechanoids used psychic means to create a hive mind network, and then you proved that the Mechanoids did indeed use psychic energy to build a hive mind."

"There are researchers working on this project. They cut off the psychic signals of the mechanical individuals at different locations, and then determined the location of the psychic signal generator of the mechanical individuals based on the speed and delay of the signals."

"If we tear it down, the machine race's hive mind network will most likely be disconnected."

"There is such a thing."

"You didn't expect that, did you? But looking at the defense map you sent earlier, the Mechanical Tribe has indeed deployed heavy troops there. This basically proves this point. Even if the defense is changed, the defense there will only increase, not decrease."

"As for other important galaxies..."

Baiquan fluently recited the coordinates of the seven galaxies again: "These seven galaxies are all galaxies with star gates, which divide the star field of the mechanical race into seven star regions. I don't need to say more about the value of destroying the star gates."

"These ten star systems are the most important. Even if we don't solve the others, we can basically solve the mechanical star field by directly solving these ten."

"As long as we can destroy these ten star systems, our main battleships can just run over them, and the rest will be garbage time."

"However, it's a pity that this cannot be done under normal circumstances. We have to start from the border where we border the Mechanical Clan and gradually reduce the Mechanical Clan's combat effectiveness. We have to advance step by step to dismantle those important star systems."

"understood."

Chen Ming carefully recorded all the coordinates and the key points to winning the war, and then asked: "So there is nothing else important? What about the new weapons of the mechanical race?"

Baiquan said: "Don't worry too much about the Destroyer and other psychic weapons you mentioned last time. There will be ways to deal with them."

"I am mainly worried about the Empire's attitude towards psykers. Without psykers, it will be difficult to compete with the Machine Race."

"Everyone knows this, but I've said it before, the Empire's attitude towards psykers is changing, and things will be different this time."

Bai Quan also knew that as a psychic, Chen Ming could feel that the empire’s previous attitude towards psychics was to let them go, and as long as they didn’t cause trouble, the empire basically ignored them.

As a result, when faced with a battlefield situation where psychics are essential, the Empire needs psychics again. The contrast in attitude before and after is a headache for everyone.

Not to mention that from Chen Ming's perspective, it is not certain whether the Empire will really value psychics.

So Baiquan comforted him: "Don't worry, in this war, psychics will definitely play a significant role and will definitely be treated as they deserve."

"So sure?"

"Yes, I was called in for a special talk a few days ago."

"It can be confirmed that the Empire's attitude towards psykers is definitely very positive."

"In places you don't know, many psykers have been recruited, and each psyker with unique abilities has been assigned a team tailored to that psyker's abilities."

"First of all, let me make it clear that this sign is absolutely not mandatory."

"Then you have to know that it's not just the front lines, there are also places in logistics and behind enemy lines where people are needed to do things."

"All psychics have been individually assigned tasks that are most suitable for them to perform."

Chen Ming asked in confusion: "All? The most suitable? How much resources will this cost?"

"This is the Empire's decision."

"All battle records will be recorded, and most of them will try to highlight the contributions of those psychics."

"Wait, highlighting the contributions of psykers? Are you sure?"

"determine."

Baiquan nodded and said, "Because the Empire wants to bring psychics to the forefront."

"The Empire will announce the existence of psykers in this war."

(End of this chapter)