Star Ocean: Starting from the Abandoned Mining Space Station.

Chapter 349 Pursuit
Although Bai Quan was not involved in the incident in the Caimo Star Region at all.

But he had heard about the huge incident in Caimo Star Domain, the death of many important members of Lude Zuojing, and the complete collapse of Zuojing.

Of course he also knew about An Wuping's affairs.

And after he told the information Chen Ming had given him before and received feedback, he already knew the connection between Chen Ming, An Wuping and the Zerg.

Therefore, he was not surprised that Chen Ming and An Wuping were cooperating, and he was not even surprised that Chen Ming took the initiative to betray An Wuping's information.

Because it was obvious that this was a means agreed upon by Chen Ming and An Wuping to achieve their goals.

But he was still very surprised by Zuo Jing's news.

Especially the most important person in Zuo Jing, the brainwashed psychic, Bai Quan was even more impressed.

The death of such a person is basically equivalent to sentencing Zuo Jing to death, but now Chen Ming told him that he did it in order to catch Zuo Jing, which obviously means that Zuo Jing still exists and is lurking in the empire.

It even requires psychics like Chen Ming and An Wuping to personally handle all matters related to Zuo Jing.

This made Bai Quan somewhat confused about the reason.

Chen Ming could only say: "It's not that easy for a brainwashed psychic to die."

"Zuojing has been around for so many years. It started just as the Empire took its first steps into the universe. It's impossible that Zuojing can find a brainwashed psychic every hundred years, right?"

Baiquan was very familiar with the topic of Zuo Jing and said, "This idea was mentioned a long time ago, but Zuo Jing did not have such a strong influence before."

"It was only in the early days of the Empire entering the space age that the development of the left path was slightly faster. In the later pioneering era, the left path was at most annoying in various corners."

"It was not until the years after the pioneering era that Zuo Jing began to reappear. According to this time, if more mechanical organ transplants were performed and the psychic's brain strength was high enough, the earliest brainwashed psychic might be alive today."

"An Wuping didn't leave any bodies behind when he attacked. He also didn't say he saw what the brainwashed psychic looked like. He certainly couldn't see anything since he had already turned into a monster."

"Plus, after the death of the psychic Zuo Jing, many brainwashed people, especially those in local governments and the military, voluntarily surrendered themselves, so it is basically assumed that the brainwashed psychic is dead."

"How do you know Zuo Jing is still alive?"

Bai Quan obviously had a deep understanding of Zuojing's history, and there was basically nothing wrong with his words.

But Chen Ming still believed more in what he saw with his own eyes: "It's not me who is sure, it's An Wuping who is sure."

"He said that when he was fighting with the brainwashed psychic from Zuo Jing, he sensed some of the psychic's memories due to the fusion of their mental powers."

"He discovered that the brainwashed psychic's memory was problematic. It was implanted by someone. Someone implanted the memory of the brainwashed psychic in him, making him think that he was the brainwashed psychic of Zuo Jing."

Chen Ming combined the information he had previously learned about the brainwashed psychic from Qianmian's memory and the different information he had received when he saw the brainwashed psychic's head at the end, confirming that the dead brainwashed psychic was different from Zuo Jing's real brainwashed psychic.

Bai Quan didn't quite understand psychic powers, so he asked, "Will this work? How can the spiritual nerves be the same when they are all different?"

"An Wuping said yes. He said that any psychic who loses his original memories and experiences life again through false memories will have his spiritual nerves change along with the false memories."

"You trust him so much?"

"Because he showed me things that proved it."

Bai Quan did not ask An Wuping what he showed Chen Ming and how he showed it to Chen Ming.

Thinking about the Black Mist psychic who became extremely deformed in the black fog but was able to control hundreds of thousands of Zerg cruisers, he could roughly guess that An Wuping must have some important biological technology in his hands.

Perhaps some kind of neural connection technology can allow An Wuping to share some memories with Chen Ming or something.

In his opinion, only in this way would Chen Ming be likely to believe An Wuping.

"Who is that?"

Chen Ming said in a very helpless tone: "God knows, An Wuping said he only saw a flash of memory, so he roughly remembered what it looked like. If he saw it, he would be able to recognize it, but if he saw more, he wouldn't be able to."

"I also tried using the description-based drawing software, but it didn't work very well. I couldn't draw the effect that An Wuping described and the exact appearance of that person."

"But I'm pretty sure there is such a person there."

Baiquan thought about it seriously and said, "If I can't create this person, I think I have to go..."

"Don't."

Chen Ming interrupted directly: "An Wuping had a reason for not publicly announcing this news before."

"The Empire cannot eradicate Zuo Jing. The problem is that Zuo Jing is well hidden. He may even be hiding in a high position in the Empire. A brainwashed psyker can hide anywhere."

"Of course the one at the top is definitely not him, otherwise the Human Empire would have changed its name to the Zuo Jing Empire long ago. How could Zuo Jing be hiding from place to place like it is now, and why did he kill important figures?"

Bai Quan nodded, agreeing with Chen Ming's idea.

"So An Wuping and I plan to use our technology to disguise ourselves as Zuo Jing and do things under the name of Zuo Jing."

"It can remind the Empire that the Zuo Jing have not completely disappeared. They are just increasing in number like before."

"Then we can alert the left paths that are still hiding in the dark. Maybe, they will come directly to us."

Baiquan said: "The forces hiding in the dark and accumulating strength are disguised by someone to show up in the light. It is indeed possible to go directly to the disguised person."

"But what are the details? Are you relying on you to disguise as Zuo Jing and attack the mechanical tribe?"

"Of course not." Chen Ming immediately denied: "We will have new actions later. My fleet will fight with the Black Mist Zerg fleet and make it look like I am fighting with these Black Mist Zerg."

"When the time comes, I'll need you to cooperate with me a little bit, just send some ships out and show your attitude."

"Then I will ask An Wuping to send some Black Mist Zerg to the empire and try to cause some damage that is not too big. At least it can't be just a small fight outside the empire."

"At least it should make the Empire pay more attention to the left path again."

"As long as we raise the news about Zuo Jing again, someone will do the rest, whether it's the Anti-Cult Bureau or Zuo Jing himself."

"understood."

Bai Quan finally understood the reason why Chen Ming took the initiative to expose the Zerg affairs and create the black fog Zerg.

As long as these ideas can be realized, it will indeed be a beneficial thing for everyone, just as Chen Ming said.

And Chen Ming's concerns about concealing the truth are indeed justified.

If there are people in the upper echelons of the empire who have connections with Zuo Jing, then this plan would be a pure waste of resources.

Not only is it a waste of Chen Ming and An Wuping's time, but it is also a waste of the empire's resources.

Therefore, he would only find An Wuping, a person who had a deep hatred for Zuo Jing, to cooperate with to accomplish all this.

That makes sense.

Baiquan is not an unreasonable person, and he is willing to do necessary evil.

Whether it was the experiments on the Black Mist psychic who was a left-path element, or he was helping Chen Ming hide some specific information from other people.

"Then let's talk about something serious."

Many people behind Bai Quan and in other places wanted to use him to learn more about Chen Ming and An Wuping instead of investigating personally to avoid offending Chen Ming.

What Baiquan just asked were all what he wanted to know.

And what he is going to say next is what others want to know.

Bai Quan cleared his throat and changed the subject back to the time when he didn't know much more detailed information: "Last time you gave me a photo saying that an unknown Zerg had occupied a planet, but An Wuping explained a lot of things, including your contact and cooperation with him."

Chen Ming said calmly: "Oh."

"What are you talking about?"

"Just a sound of oh."

"You don't have anything to say?"

"No, that was the original plan. Besides, it's normal that I was caught talking nonsense. Look, no one dares to question me, right?"

Bai Quan held his forehead and said, "But the higher-ups are still worried about what you might do to An Wuping, so they just told me to ask about the relationship between you and An Wuping, and if there is anything the Empire can help An Wuping with."

"It means that they suspect you are threatening An Wuping, so they ask you to let go and the Empire will compensate you."

"What? What can I do? How can a serious cooperation be called a threat?"

"Stop for a moment."

Bai Quan felt that Chen Ming was talking nonsense again, so he asked in the private way they communicated with each other: "How exactly do you and An Wuping cooperate? Why did he agree to cooperate with you?"

"Oh, that's his queen insect that's here with me."

"..."

Baiquan was silent for a moment and didn't say much.

After discussing with Chen Ming, he decided what news he needed to tell others and what news he needed to hide for Chen Ming.

After asking these questions, he asked Chen Ming an irrelevant question: "Do you have any thoughts on the situation on the front line?"

"The front line of the Mechanical Tribe is almost completely undefended. We have only sent out a few exploratory troops and they are about to create a dent in the Mechanical Tribe's defense line. To be honest, I feel more and more that this is a trap set by the Mechanical Tribe, but I have no idea what to do."

"Forehead……"

Chen Ming really wanted to say that this was not a trap, but his actions behind the mechanical clan attracted the main force of the mechanical clan to their rear.

But he really couldn't tell the news directly.

After all, these are what he really wants to hide, and it is another power he hides.

So Chen Ming chose to guide the situation of the mechanical clan in other directions.

For example, Phase Behemoth.

It just so happened that Chen Ming had come into contact with giant beasts quite a few times.

He used this excuse to tell the Mechanicals that they had no good means of dealing with the Phase Beasts, and that they had been forced to stuff cruisers and battleships into the Phase Space in order to drive away the Phase Beasts.

He also spent some time explaining to Bai Quan the techniques and methods of temporarily sending ordinary warships into phase space.

Then, the incident of a mothership suspected to be carrying the Destroyer appearing in the area where the Black Mist Zerg appeared was used to put the blame on An Wuping.

Then he talked about the possibility that the external reinforcements of the Mechanical Clan might still be hiding somewhere, and helped Bai Quan confirm that there might indeed be traps set up.

Chen Ming used this information to make Bai Quan and others ignore the losses of the mechanical race caused by Chen Ming's power.

Chen Ming didn’t know how much Bai Quan believed, but everything he said was true. He just deliberately concealed some information.

It’s not that Chen Ming doesn’t trust Bai Quan, it’s just that there is some information that really can’t be told to others.

After chatting with Bai Quan, An Wuping called.

Then Chen Ming immediately prepared to start asking and answering his own questions.

Answer An Wuping's call.

Chen Ming immediately asked, "What's wrong?"

An Wuping's voice rang out from the terminal: "Did you see the black fog?"

"I saw it. It's probably not you who made it."

"Yes, it's something else that's controlling my bugs by force."

"So?" "So I think..."

An Wuping was interrupted by Minister Lu Han on the other end of the terminal held by Minister Hou, "Director Chen Ming, can I talk to you?"

"?"

A question mark suddenly appeared above Chen Ming's head.

No, that wasn't your attitude just now.

Why was her tone so commanding when she was talking to An Wuping, but her attitude suddenly became better when she came to him? Did she have the attitude of asking someone to do something for her?
What do you mean?
He is a national minister after all, so why is there such a big gap between now and then?
Are you afraid of his psychic powers?

But to be honest, Chen Ming is only level 5, and An Wuping is already level 6 as he said himself.

Or is it because An Wuping couldn't find him even at level 6, and although Chen Ming is only level 5, his psychic threat is obviously greater?

It's really the right medicine for the right disease. People with a good attitude are easier to bully, right?

Chen Ming suddenly thought of what happened before.

He had always maintained a humble attitude, but as soon as he arrived at the headquarters, someone gave him a "surprise", forcing him to act violently. The entire empire laughed at the legion, and the problem had to be solved by the legion commander himself.

From then until today, at least within the Legion and the Empire, everyone who knew him smiled at him.

Just now and last time when he was talking to Baiquan, he said this: No one dared to ask him questions.

As a result, Chen Ming enjoyed the same treatment again from An Wuping that he had enjoyed once. It is really true that kind people are often bullied.

Minister Hou, who was standing by, saw that An Wuping's expression was becoming more and more strange due to his superior's words, and he broke out in a cold sweat.

After all, he and An Wuping had met each other a few times, so they tried to slow down their tone and communicate properly, and An Wuping was also very cooperative.

As a result of the boss's attitude, it turned out like this in a short while.

Even if he wanted to influence the relationship between Chen Ming and An Wuping by treating them differently, it wouldn't ruin his relationship with An Wuping.

But there was nothing he could do. He was not really qualified to say anything more to his superiors.

Chen Ming took in Minister Hou's expression, and did not let An Wuping do anything that would ruin his character. At the same time, his legion's prosthesis responded on the terminal: "Who are you?"

Lu Han introduced himself as before and mentioned his idea of ​​asking Chen Ming to help transport supplies using psychic power.

By the way, I also asked Chen Ming to investigate this matter in depth and find out who is behind the black fog.

At the same time, he also specifically explained the matter of the black fog psychic who was killed by Chen Ming before.

Of course, his attitude was towards Chen Ming. He expressed some people's doubts in a very tactful way, hoping to help Chen Ming prove his innocence.

However, it takes a lot of time for the imperial fleet to travel, so I can only ask Chen Ming to investigate it himself.

After learning about the situation of the Black Mist, the Empire had begun to doubt the Black Mist Psyker and Zuo Jing.

This was a good thing for Chen Ming, but Minister Lu's attitude made him completely unhappy.

This gave him no reason to get angry, so they just exchanged information normally and talked about some of the things he had explained to Baiquan.

The communication then ended.

But An Wuping was different. He took a last look at Minister Hou and the terminal on the table in front of him, then left with a dark face.

Minister Hou's face also darkened after An Wuping left.

But he still maintained a normal tone when speaking: "Minister Lu, An Wuping is gone."

"It's okay. He is a psychic, but he can be easily controlled by Chen Ming. Another psychic has taken away so many Zerg warships. His ability should be just like that. Don't worry about him too much. Just do your work as before."

"Then I will send other psykers to investigate that area."

Lu Han seemed to realize the difference in his attitude when communicating with Chen Ming and An Wuping, but he had no intention of changing it.

People in high positions don't care too much about what the people below them think.

As for the specific definition of the people below, there are different opinions.

Minister Hou silently accepted the orders from his superiors and did nothing else.

Time passed quickly and it was the next day.

Chen Ming has basically arranged everything regarding An Wuping and the Zerg.

At the same time, through Baiquan, we also learned that most of the insiders in the empire suspected that the ugly black fog prosthesis in the black fog insect incident was made by Zuo Jing.

Although this creature that is a mixture of humans, machines, and Zerg really looks like something that Chen Ming and An Wuping created through collaboration, it was also something that they took the initiative to expose.

There was no reason for An Wuping and Chen Ming to tell the empire about such an existence.

Moreover, Chen Ming's statement that the Black Mist psychic would die without an intact body was corroborated by Bai Quan.

In addition, Zuo Jing does have a history of human experiments.

It’s not impossible to make a mechanical device, and it’s even easier for Zuo Jing to get the Black Mist Heart Spirit Pearl.

There is also another point that is not too critical, but it also affects the judgment of many people.

That is, Chen Ming has been making all kinds of high-tech and sophisticated machines, and the biological spacecraft made by An Wuping is also extremely biologically beautiful.

Completely different from the ugly Black Mist prosthesis.

So after thinking about the difference between what Chen Ming and An Wuping made and the black mist prosthesis.

Although many people will not regard this situation as the main basis for judgment, they will subconsciously regard this situation as an important auxiliary basis for judgment.

Therefore, the situation within the empire is developing in the direction that Chen Ming wants to see.

No one will interfere with what he is going to do behind the mechanical clan's back.

However, Chen Ming was not in a hurry to take action so quickly, as the Zerg still needed time to develop.

And he had another matter to attend to.

That's the thing about phase behemoths.

Chen Ming could only communicate with the Phase Beast in very simple ways and had no way of sharing his detailed ideas so that the Phase Beast could understand.

What if the Phase Beast runs away on its own again when they meet next time like last time? Chen Ming is really worried whether it can come back alive.

So it must find a way to solve the problem of communication.

Chen Ming had already started thinking about this since the Phase Beast left.

The first solution he thought of was to let the Queen of Insects absorb the three scales that the Phase Beast had left for him last time.

After thinking about it, he decided not to do so for the time being.

Because he felt that if the Queen Insect absorbed the scales of the Phase Beast, it would most likely enter the evolutionary state again.

It is not a good thing for the Queen to suddenly evolve at this point in time.

So Chen Ming thought about it for a long time and thought of many ways to communicate.

The final choice was to let the Queen Insects come up with the way it communicated with Chen Ming before it absorbed Chen Ming's condensed spiritual energy source, the neural link.

Using a nerve that extends out of the body, he tries to communicate directly with the phase beast mentally.

It’s not too difficult, except that the queen insect has to make the nerve thicker.

And today, after some simple tests, the nerves used to communicate with the Phase Beasts have been created by the Queen.

And the time is almost up.

The Phase Monster was out for a few hours and came back.

So now if the Phase Beast is still alive, it should be looking for him.

And the method of searching must be related to Chen Ming's use of the power of the scarlet dimension.

Therefore, what Chen Ming did was to randomly find a place outside the mechanical race's star field, and use psychic power to send a robot to the phase space of this place through the scarlet dimension.

Then wait, just wait.

After waiting for about half an hour.

The phase behemoth's transition fluctuations appeared in this galaxy, and Chen Ming really waited for the phase behemoth.

The phase monster that appeared in front of Chen Ming had many more scars on its body.

This time, there were not only horrific scars from being bitten by its own kind, but also some marks that looked like they had been violently whipped by the tails of other phase beasts.

The scales on these wounds were almost all broken, and in some places, purple blood was still slowly flowing out.

The injury is more serious than last time.

But the Phase Monster still came to Chen Ming's robot excitedly.

It pushed a piece of scarlet flesh, which was larger than the previous one, in its mouth and pushed it to Chen Ming.

Chen Ming did not touch the flesh and blood, but used the scarlet dimension again to send the nerve here.

The Phase Beast sensed that Chen Ming had used part of the power of the Scarlet Dimension, and suddenly seemed even more excited.

However, after discovering that Chen Ming had only used the power of the scarlet dimension for a moment, his excitement dissipated, and he continued to push the scarlet flesh and blood towards Chen Ming.

Chen Ming still did not touch the flesh and blood, but let the robot drag the nerve that was connected to Chen Ming's mental power and try to get closer to the phase beast, while making a friendly and soothing voice.

But the Phase Beast seemed unable to understand Chen Ming's idea of ​​accessing its nerves, and it was somewhat resistant to Chen Ming bringing this tentacle-like thing close to it.

He kept a distance from Chen Ming's robot and kept signaling Chen Ming to touch the piece of scarlet flesh.

Going around in circles with Chen Ming.

The robot couldn't catch up with the phase beast at all, no matter how much Chen Ming accelerated.

The phase monster wanted Chen Ming to absorb the scarlet flesh and blood, and did not want to come into contact with this nerve.

Chen Ming had no choice but to return to the piece of flesh and blood temporarily, and completely absorb the larger piece of flesh and blood when the phase beast approached.

The Phase Beast immediately moved closer, observing Chen Ming carefully, while still avoiding the nerves on the robot's hand.

After observing for a long time, it suddenly seemed a little disappointed and took off into the air again, as if it was going to continue looking for scarlet flesh and blood from Chen Ming.

No matter how Chen Ming called it, there was no movement. The target was very clear.

This time Chen Ming couldn't hold it anymore.

He really couldn't just accept other people's unreasonable kindness to him with a clear conscience, even if this other person was not a human but a phase monster.

It just so happens that he is not fighting with the mechanical race right now.

So Chen Ming chose to build a cruiser directly next to the robot and followed the location where the phase beast jumped.

If his calculations were correct, the location where the Phase Beast went should be somewhere inside the Mechanical Clan's star field.

(End of this chapter)