Star Ocean: Starting from the Abandoned Mining Space Station.

Chapter 354 Preparation, a new round of action
Another three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Chen Ming brought the phase beast back to the empire and temporarily settled it in the legion headquarters.

The mechanical star field has become a battlefield, which is definitely not a good place.

In particular, the Phase Beasts are quite obviously hostile to the Mechanical Race, and will occasionally wander over to the Mechanical Race, which is even more dangerous.

The Phase Behemoth itself has limited capabilities, and can basically only rely on physical means to destroy the mechanical colonies and ships, which is very inefficient.

Continuing there wouldn't accomplish much and would put itself in danger.

The mechanical race's phase ship technology has been developing at a high speed, and it is possible that they can develop phase cruisers with sufficient combat power at any time.

Therefore, it would be better for the Phase Behemoth to return to the headquarters and cooperate in the research of phase space to speed up the advancement of technology.

This is also good for Chen Ming.

Of course, the Legion extremely welcomes Chen Ming's actions.

The Phase Beast had no objection either.

After Chen Ming was regarded as the new patriarch by it, it has been following Chen Ming, wherever Chen Ming goes, it goes.

It can also wander freely in the headquarters area most of the time, and occasionally show up at the Ship Research Institute to cooperate with experiments.

Although many people in the legion wanted to figure out how Chen Ming managed to tame the phase beast, it even seemed that the phase beast he tamed was the one that had been recorded before.

But no one dared to ask Chen Ming directly about these things. They focused more on the phase beast.

In addition to people from the Ship Research Institute, there are also some people from other departments.

Since Chen Ming did not want the Phase Beast to become a research tool, he only agreed to the Ship Research Institute.

People from other departments, such as the Institute of Biology, wanted to come and study what the phase beast was like, but were rejected by Chen Ming.

After learning the details, the legion commander made a special call and talked to Chen Ming for a while.

In the end, I didn't say much.

The Phase Beast is Chen Ming's pet, and no one else has the right to interfere too much.

Later, the Fanchao Research Institute seemed to be quite interested and sent a formal email to Chen Ming to request the Phase Behemoth to participate in their research on phase technology.

Chen Ming did not explicitly refuse.
He just replied with one sentence.

"Come here if you need anything."

As for whether the Fanchao Research Institute will send someone over later, it’s hard to say.

After all, according to Chen Ming's understanding, almost all research institutes sent people to cooperate with the Fanchao Institute, and it was rare for the Fanchao Institute to take the initiative to send people abroad.

In addition to the previous interactive experiment of dimensional infection that affected the entire empire and also deeply affected the Caimo Star Region.

It’s hard to say whether they will come this time.

But if they come, they certainly can't come empty-handed.

By the way, Chen Ming also gave the phase beast a name after careful consideration.

Small appearance.

It seems that many people had very awkward expressions after learning about the name Chen Ming came up with. Bai Quan even told Chen Ming not to come up with a name if he didn't know how to do it.

But the impact was not significant. Chen Ming thought the name was very good and finally decided on the name Xiaoxiang.

Sent to headquarters.

Apart from the fact that Chen Ming needs to provide food for Xiaoxiang, he doesn't need to worry too much about other things for the time being.

The legion will have a dedicated zoologist to observe and study Xiaoxiang to ensure that he does not have any emotional problems.

These days, Chen Ming has been mainly paying attention to the progress of the war between the Empire and the Mechanical Race.

As the empire's early attempts came to an end, the main force of Beniu's Fourteenth Legion arrived.

Star field armies or independent armies from other star fields that were originally scheduled to participate in the war with the Mechanical Race also gradually began to gather at Gallo's branch.

Basically everyone can foresee what the war will look like next.

Combat effectiveness and morale are definitely not a problem.

The mechanical race has also organized several attacks in recent days.

They are all aimed at those galaxies that do not have much protection and are relatively close to the battle areas between the Empire and the Mechanical Race.

However, these attacks were different from the first one.

The Mechanical Clan did not prepare a mothership, but only cruisers and spacecraft below the cruiser level, which was basically giving them away for free.

It looks weird.

But if you change your way of thinking, you can roughly see that the mechanical race is actually regularly looking for galaxies with weak defenses adjacent to their star domain.

The number of attacking fleets is basically enough to defeat the colony's patrols and cause devastating damage to the colony.

He looked like he was ready to fight the empire at any time.

This tactic looks familiar.

Because this is the same approach as Chen Ming's, exchanging battle damage.

However, Chen Ming exchanged the battle damage because he could afford it, while the mechanical clan exchanged the battle damage because they knew that their star field could not win this war.

The mechanical race is ready to fight to the death.

Since it has been confirmed that they cannot defeat the Empire, what else can they do?
They originally had only two choices: either evacuate the star field or hand it over to others.

Or before being ended, exchange as much damage as possible with the Empire.

It means that he is ready to take someone with him before he dies.

That's how it should look.

but.

Chen Ming felt that he had to remain skeptical.

Because he had a mechanical weapon in his hand that he had snatched from the mechanical clan.

It can help him analyze the war situation and the trends of various actions of the mechanical race.

The mechanical race itself is supported by a personality core like the Mechanical Queen.

Of course, Chen Ming can understand the thoughts of the mechanical clan through the machine.

And as the war progressed, Chen Ming had a clearer understanding of the power wielded by him, the Mechanical Race, and the Empire, and gained access to increasingly detailed war data.

The more detailed the data is, the more content can be analyzed later, and the closer it is to the actual situation.

And then the equipment is used to analyze the battle situation and make a judgment based on the current situation.

It is indeed possible that the Machines are preparing to kill as many of the Empire as possible before being destroyed.

But, there is a greater possibility.

All the arrangements and plans made by the Mechanical Clan in the war were aimed at Chen Ming.

No matter who is placed in that position of the mechanical clan.

Given the choice between killing a part of the empire's manpower before it is doomed to be destroyed, and killing Chen Ming, who is a complete threat to the mechanical race, the latter will inevitably be chosen.

No matter how much the Mechanical Race makes it seem like they want to fight the Empire to the death, no matter how much they transfer their forces to the front lines of the war with the Empire.

It was impossible for Chen Ming to completely let down his guard.

He believed in the analysis of the mechanical clan, but he also believed that he had the ability to achieve his goal when facing the mechanical clan.

When the mechanical race knew that Chen Ming had a machine in his hand, they also knew that Chen Ming must have ideas about certain existences in their star field.

So the current situation is that Chen Ming and the mechanical clan’s ideas are basically clear to each other.

It all depends on who makes the wrong move in this open battle.

What the empire is doing now is more like a countdown.

Forcing Chen Ming and the mechanical clan to decide the winner before the countdown ends.

After all, if the Empire completely occupied the Mechanical Clan’s star field, the Mechanical Clan would have no chance to kill Chen Ming, and Chen Ming would have no chance to steal what he needed.

Stealing things from the mechanical race and stealing things from the empire are obviously not the same thing.

If you look at it from the most basic aspect, Chen Ming is not afraid at all.

He was invincible from the beginning.

As long as he has no ideas, he can't lose.

But he had an idea.

So he was still a little worried about something happening.

That is, the Mechanicals would drive the Destroyer mothership to the front line with the Empire, and then he would lose the possibility of obtaining the Destroyer.

However, these are issues for the future. At least for now, the mechanical clan has no plans to do so.

Or do they want to rely on their own strength to fight back against the empire?

The Empire was also constantly making dispatches and adjusting the deployment of military forces while responding to the attacks of the Mechanical Race.

But the war has already begun, and almost every galaxy on this side of the border has devices to detect jump fluctuations, and fleets are stationed in each star field.

Although it may not be able to stop the attack of the mechanical clan, it can at least delay it for a while.

As long as the mechanical race invades, it can be discovered and blocked immediately.

Enough to hold out until fleet reinforcements arrive via jump.

There has been little damage from the Mechanoid attacks in recent days.

Especially after the fighting force from Beiniu joined the war.

As the empire's war machine gradually began to operate, a large number of military forces arrived at the border, and the strength of the border became even stronger.

And because the empire was determined to ensure victory in the war from the beginning, it was well prepared in terms of military strength.

As a result, now, judging from the performance of the Mechanical Race, the issue that the Empire needs to consider is no longer how much military force is needed to achieve the Empire's goals, but whether there are not enough enemies to distribute.

I thought the battle line would be extended, and the war would develop in the direction of the Empire encircling the entire Mechanical Star Region, which would require a large number of troops, and some troops would be stationed at the border of the Yuhui Star Region to prevent Yuhui from taking the opportunity to cause trouble.

But the current situation is that the empire's vanguard has penetrated into the mechanical race's star field like a nail.

The mechanical race could only shrink their defenses again and again, completely abandoning the border and shrinking themselves like a turtle.

At the same time, a small fleet was sent out to test the empire.

The empire's large number of troops were left with nowhere to use their power.

Of course, the scale of the Mechanical Star Domain is there. Just because the Empire can conquer it does not mean it can occupy it. This is also an issue that needs to be considered in war.

The purpose of the empire from beginning to end was not to win, but to seize.

Therefore, the overall pace of the war between the Empire and the Machines has not changed much compared to before.

They are still advancing slowly in order to occupy the mechanical race's star field, and it can even be said that they have slowed down a bit.

The mechanical race's retreat is still of some use. The further the Empire's fleet goes into the mechanical race's star field, the stronger the defense will be.

Therefore, the empire’s choice is to continue to intensify the offensive on the front line.

Don't give the mechanical people a chance to breathe.

There are also several reserve fleets near the border ready to jump and reinforce those places attacked by the mechanical race. War is really just a slow death for the mechanical race.

There is just one question that Chen Ming has never figured out.

Where did the mechanical clan’s reinforcements go?

In addition to the front lines of the war, the empire has also been doing things in the rear.

Just after the day when Lu Bai destroyed the mechanical mothership.

Chen Mingyou obtained information about the military battle report released by the empire from the public.

The main purpose is to publicize the achievements created by Lu Bai, as well as some of the contributions made by psychics in the early days of the war between the Empire and the Machines that were not announced.

Of course, the Empire did not directly say that they were psychics. The Empire only announced the names of people who made important contributions and the results they created.

However, Chen Ming could see that about half of these published achievements were done by psychics.

All we can say is that the empire’s ideas are very clear, and a lot of information is directly delivered to the public.

After all, the battle with the mechanical clan in the rear does not need to be kept strictly confidential, and the results achieved can basically be announced at the first time.

This news can relieve some of the pressure within the empire.

Chen Ming has also recently noticed that in some of the empire's ship markets, especially those in the marginal star regions near the border, the trading volume of various types of ships, especially pioneering ships, has increased significantly.

The circulation volume in various material and fuel markets has increased significantly, and the prices of various commodities have also experienced a certain degree of healthy inflation.

Obviously, many people have noticed what happened in Galo and discovered something from the empire's propaganda.

So I came up with the idea of ​​taking this opportunity to do business.

And this is what the Empire wants to see.

Only a market that is not stagnant can provide economic support to the empire.

These are only the changes that Chen Ming is aware of in the areas he is familiar with.

The entire empire was gradually getting better with this war.

However, the Empire's actions have certainly aroused a lot of doubts.

Because there are many things that psychics can do that ordinary people cannot do.

Especially a few days ago, Lu Bai participated in the battle with the mechanical mothership.

He destroyed the mothership's signal network by himself, ending a battle that could have lasted for a while in just a few minutes.

Even if the information released is slightly modified, it cannot cover up the objective fact that a single person made a significant contribution to the war situation.
Does this seem normal to normal people?

Of course some people will doubt it.

Although some of those who are questioned are indeed ordinary people, they have created the same outrageous records as psychics.

But it is also a recognition of their abilities.

This is also part of the empire's public opinion arrangement.

When the concept of psychics is announced, all doubts will disappear.

That is, psychics cannot be made public directly, there must be sufficient preparation.

According to Baiquan, rumors about psychics have begun to spread from all sides.

Chen Ming also heard some news from Lao Wu's channels.

It should be effective soon, and the Empire will be able to implement its plan step by step.

Of course, these things have nothing to do with what Chen Ming is going to do for the time being.

What he really cares about is always following behind the mechanical race.

There, is the most powerful and important existence in the Mechanical Clan star field, and is also Chen Ming's target.

However, in recent days, there has been no military action in the rear of the mechanical clan.

Chen Ming's Zerg is developing.

The only thing the Mechanical Race is doing is to continuously speed up the development of resources on the planets that the Chen Ming Zerg Race has come into contact with, striving to mine the most resources in the shortest time.

The Destroyer mothership did not move at all.

At least the monitoring device that Chen Ming left outside the information did not find any signs of star gate activity within the galaxy, nor did it find any traces of the Destroyer mothership leaving anywhere.

The Destroyer had indeed been keeping an eye on the area.

It is also possible that he was acting as bait to lure Chen Ming over.

Whether this is the case or not, Chen Ming will definitely take action against this Destroyer.

He even wanted to place the Destroyer inside a giant dock or starport of the Mechanical Clan and control it directly.

But obviously this cannot be done.

Because Chen Ming had only left Zerg eggs in other places before,

Even though the Zerg developed from these eggs developed at a terrifying speed based on the large number of biological buildings created by the Queen relying on Chen Ming's new ideas, the speed of building the Zerg nest was also quite terrifying.

But the warships that were finally hatched were at most cruiser level. If they jumped over, they would at most pose some threat to the colony, but it would be impossible for them to crush a mothership on the planet.

Not to mention the mothership carrying the Destroyer.

So he could only try to deal with it in some other way.

It has been almost a week since the last time the Zerg invaded the Mechanoids.

The development of all the insect nests has been almost uninterrupted, and it is almost time to start the next stage of action.

If Chen Ming decides to take action, then it will be time for the black fog prosthesis to appear again.

The last time the Black Mist prosthesis was used was at the border. There was an Imperial fleet conducting reconnaissance nearby and it had been certified by the Empire.

However, the Empire could not confirm whether the subsequent Black Mist prostheses were killed by the Destroyer or hid themselves.

We can only observe further and then increase our efforts to prevent the resurgence of Zuo Jing forces within the country.

But if the black fog prosthesis does not appear later, the level of attention will be just that.

So it must appear near that border star region.

And Chen Ming also had to take some appropriate actions to cooperate with the black fog prosthesis to prove its danger
Of course that's not the point.

The Black Mist prosthesis exists only to attract the attention of the empire.

What Chen Ming really cares about is only the logistics area of ​​the mechanical clan.

Chen Ming's plan was simple.

Since the Destroyer mothership attaches so much importance to the galaxies in the nearby area, he will start with these galaxies and force the mothership to go out to solve the problem.

Fight a war of attrition and use the Zerg fleet to exchange for supplies to activate the Mechanical mothership.

The key is to convince the Mechanic that his first target is the mothership.

But in fact his first target is the Star Gate itself.

The size of the Mechanical Race's star field is there, and one jump can basically cover it completely.

But jumping is an operation that cannot be performed multiple times in a short period of time.

Therefore, star gates play a very important role in the mechanical star field.

It allows the mechanical race's large fleets to move quickly within the star field and provide reinforcements to various locations.

Just like now, the Empire is about to break into the Mechanical Race's galaxy with a star gate that is closest to the Empire. It is facing more and more enemies, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to continue occupying the galaxy.

Of course, no matter how high it is, it can never be higher than the military power of the empire itself, but the role of the star gate is still very obvious.

For Chen Ming, although this thing may not be able to prevent the mechanical clan from causing trouble for him, it can at least prevent many mechanical clans from causing trouble for him only through the star gate.

As long as the mechanical clan loses the star gate, Chen Ming will have a lot of space to fight with the mechanical clan.

As for the Star Gate technology, Chen Ming really had no understanding of it at all.

Although this can be considered a research project of the relevant departments of the Ship Research Institute, there are too many prerequisite technologies to learn in order to study this technology.

He can only rob, and then think about how to use it.

And the Star Gate is definitely heavily guarded.

There's not only the Destroyer mothership, there must be other motherships squatting there.

With multiple motherships acting together, Chen Ming would have no chance of winning no matter how many cruisers he had.

Therefore, Chen Ming prepared a plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain.

The current strength of the Zerg is enough for Chen Ming to seize the stargate itself after heavy losses.

But this is not enough.

Chen Ming’s target is not only the Star Gate, but also the Destroyer.

After luring the tiger away from the mountain and taking out its lair, Chen Ming wanted to take the tiger home with him.

Therefore, he would use himself as bait and set a trap that might fool the mechanical race.

The plan was thought out beforehand.

The rest is just execution.

Chen Ming was not in a hurry to start.

Instead, he officially started this operation only after a night's rest and his mental strength had recovered to its peak.

Let’s start with the Black Mist prosthesis.

Chen Ming's mental power has increased significantly after multiple contacts with the Scarlet Dimension.

Just like what he said to his boss last time.

His mental power can already directly cover the galaxy, but his ability is still limited within a framework.

This affects his control of the spacecraft, but it does not affect his control of things that are not spacecraft.

It also does not affect the derivative effects of his psychic power.

Therefore, at the same time when Chen Ming made the decision, large-scale black fog appeared at the same time on hundreds of planets infested by Zerg in dozens of galaxies in the border area of ​​the Mechanical Clan.

The black fog enveloped the Zerg fleet, which gathered again.

Chen Ming did not deliberately hide this action.

On the contrary, he even used the intelligence from the front line to deliberately let a part of the Black Mist Zerg appear in front of the Imperial fleet that was scouting the edge of the Mechanical Star Field.

Afraid that the Empire didn't notice the movements of the Black Mist prosthesis.

This naturally attracted the attention of the mechanical race.

They have known that this day will come sooner or later.

Therefore, when the Black Mist Zerg began to gather, the Mechanical Clan had already driven three motherships to the star field where the Black Mist Zerg were gathering.

It was still the same three ships as before, and they still gathered together to avoid being left alone and killed by the cruisers.

Just as the Mechanical Clan was preparing to engage in battle with the Black Mist Zerg fleet.

Chen Ming stayed in the mechanical star field, and the Zerg in the galaxy near the logistics area also began to move.

(End of this chapter)