Star Ocean: Starting from the Abandoned Mining Space Station.

Chapter 404 Chase
"I did it?"

Chen Ming couldn't help laughing and said, "All I did was find the people controlled by you. It was you who killed them. You said it was me? Is there something wrong with your brain or mine?"

The look in his eyes when he looked at the brainwashed psychic was full of the look of looking at a fool.

"The day you control these people they are already dead. You are overthinking if you want to use this to put psychological pressure on me."

"hehe."

The brainwashed psychic laughed twice, and the originally tense atmosphere suddenly eased.

"Just thinking about it, it doesn't cost any money to try it."

The brainwashed psyker said seemingly harmless words in a bland tone, but in reality he did the most disgusting things.

And he didn't finish yet, he continued: "They might have lived for many more years, or even lived to death. I might not control them, but I can't do anything about it, right?"

"Stop being so sarcastic."

"I've already said that when an ordinary person's brain is affected by a psychic's power, he is already dead. Even if he is alive, he is just a walking corpse."

"What I did must not be good for you, otherwise you wouldn't come to me so anxiously."

"It's not a good thing for you, but for me, it's what I have to do."

"You have the ability to kill everyone under your control like you just did, otherwise I will continue to do this."

The brainwashed psyker shrugged nonchalantly and said, "I'm already killing."

Hearing this, Chen Ming immediately took a look at the situation on the planet that the Minister of Psychic Power had helped arrange.

Under the influence of his psychic power, every person he brought there was scattered all over the planet.

There are many people who are not directly controlled by the brainwashed psychics and still maintain their original consciousness. They have no idea what is happening.

All they could remember was that they were surrounded by liquid metal and then appeared in this strange environment.

Panic and fear are their mainstream emotions.

And some of these people were not far away from the others when Chen Ming randomly assigned positions.

Therefore, this group of people can see that people around them are dying one by one.

Finally it was the turn of those who had seen this scene.

The way of death was the same as before, the head exploded.

Such a cruel way of death makes people feel despair.

It was like falling directly from a peaceful life into hell. Chen Ming couldn't imagine what kind of psychological torture the people there were going through.

But there was nothing he could do.

Because among this list of 60 million people there will definitely be some people whom the brainwashed psychics have only contacted a few times but have not really controlled.

The brainwashed psychic's abilities are as special as his own, and cannot be simply detected by certain means.

It is impossible to figure out whether those people are really controlled or not. They just have come into contact with people controlled by brainwashed psychics.

Therefore, it is impossible for Chen Ming to kill everyone just to save trouble or to help them end their suffering early.

Someone will definitely be able to return alive from this planet.

But others…

All we can say is that when those people were controlled by brainwashed psychics, this outcome was already destined, and there is no way to change it.

Even if you target the brainwashed psychic directly, the outcome will be the same.

Because Chen Ming believed that if he tried to kill the brainwashed psychic, the brainwashed psychic would definitely drag all the people controlled by his psychic power into hell before he died.

This is not just speculation.

This is already beginning to show.

Chen Ming saw from news channels in different parts of the empire and the things controlled by his psychic powers that he left in various places in the empire that there were quite a few places in the empire where people who were not on the list were dying in the same way.

They are also people controlled by brainwashed psychics, and have certain connections with those people captured by Chen Ming. There is a very high possibility that they will be taken away by Chen Ming again in the future.

The number is not large, at least not compared to the 60 million people.

Apparently this also means that the brainwashed psyker didn't kill all the people he controlled.

He simply killed anyone else who might be found by the Empire and who was connected to the list of 60 million people.

After their identities were discovered by the Empire, they had lost their value.

On the contrary, they might become a path for the Empire to attack him in the future, so they must die.

This is what brainwashed psykers do.

Chen Ming stared at the brainwashed psychic with a suspicious look and said, "That's good, but why don't you just kill all the people you control?"

"Why would I do something for no reason? You can't find out, and there's no need for me to take the initiative to kill you."

The brainwashed psychic who had been sitting on the sofa in Chen Ming's office stood up again and walked to the TV.

The screen on the TV has turned blue, and the signal of the news channel that was reporting a large number of deaths in the empire has been cut off.

The brainwashed psychic next to the TV adjusted it again and switched to a new channel.

This is the news channel of a local TV station in a certain star region.

The screen on the channel showed the situation on the planet where Chen Ming was detaining people who had been influenced by brainwashed psychics.

Some of the people taken away by Chen Ming carried photographic equipment with them, and they recorded what was happening on the planet.

However, Chen Ming remembered that he had blocked the planet's communication signals.

It is a bit outrageous that the above situation can be conveyed.

Perhaps this has something to do with some of the psychics he brought with him.

The content of the news is to put the blame for this situation on psychics as a whole.

It was Chen Ming's turn to not care. "It's impossible to use this kind of thing to drag the already normalized psychics back to the past. The empire has been planning for so many years, and psychics are already part of the empire's foundation."

"If you pay a little attention to the news, you will see from time to time that criminal psychics are arrested. These are all messes left over from the past, and they are only being dealt with now."

"One or two psykers getting into trouble won't change anything."

As soon as Chen Ming finished speaking, the signal of this channel was terminated, and it did not cause any trouble at all.

The brainwashed psychic tried to change several channels in succession, but all the channels he wanted to change were blue screens without any external signals.

And some of the news releases on the Internet that Chen Ming had just been able to search through the terminal were all completely processed in the blink of an eye.

It seems that the empire has also begun to exert its strength.

Although sixty million people disappeared from the empire in just a few minutes, the loss of these people was ultimately only a minority.

Even though there were a large number of people of status and position among them, it did not affect the overall situation of the empire at all.

Those afterglow cores that were delivered to the location as quickly as possible after the people disappeared have begun to take over the work of the disappeared people.

Some departments with relatively good internal work structures found replacements faster than Yuhui's core scheduling speed and quickly resumed normal operations.

Just like after experiencing a dimensional infection and infiltration by brainwashed psychics, the Caimo Star Region really prepared very effective countermeasures.

The same is true for governments and military forces at all levels in other star regions. Although they may not have experienced similar things, Cai Mo has made the consequences clear in the past, and any place with a little bit of ambition will try to copy their new policies.

With sixty million people vanishing from the Imperium, news of the many losses caused by brainwashed psykers was suppressed.

The empire is recovering rapidly from the pain of population loss, as if the loss of 60 million people is just an ordinary occurrence.

However, correspondingly, the brainwashed psychic was not in a good mood.

Although the controlled person in Chen Ming's office had no expression on his face, it was obvious from the behavior of the brainwashed psychic.

Of course, this could also be the case where the brainwashed psychic deliberately acted this out for Chen Ming to see so that Chen Ming would let down his guard.

But regardless of whether it is acting or not, it still makes people feel happy to see the brainwashed psychic being humiliated.

The brainwashed psychic gave up on looking for any remaining TV stations that had not been banned.

His idea of ​​guiding public opinion through the news media while the empire was tightly blocking news and before many lower-class people had time to learn about the specific situation was completely suppressed.

The brainwashed psychic shook his head, sat back on the sofa and said to Chen Ming: "You cooperated with the Empire to suppress all the negative news about me, and covered up the news of the death of more than 60 million people, making everyone die unclearly. Is this really a good idea?"

Chen Ming waved his hand and said, "It's useless for you to tell me these moral kidnapping words, because I know that there is no good person in Zuojing. Who are you kidnapping? Do you really think I have never seen the world?"

"The cause of death for all of them is very clear. It was done by a certain psychic who has been issued a wanted order by the Empire. We don't know where this psychic is hiding and whether he dares to come out and admit it."

The brainwashed psychic suddenly laughed and said, "Even if I admit it, you can't take it seriously, right?"

"Indeed, so what are you doing here?"

"It's nothing, it's just that you will probably find something wrong with this body soon, so I'll just use it to talk to you."

"By the way, I want to confirm with you how many methods the Empire has prepared against me and the people I control."

"So? Are you sure?"

"Yes."

The brainwashed psychic said to Chen Ming as if he was chatting with him, "I don't think I need to worry too much. You still can't find a way to deal with my psychic power, just like I can't find a way to deal with you."

"In fact, we are quite similar. We both climbed up step by step from small figures, and both entered the Scarlet on our own to master the Scarlet power, surpassing most people."

"But I don't understand why you are still obsessed with the concept of 'human'?"

"Obviously, 'people' have held you back a lot and caused you quite a bit of trouble."

Chen Ming asked back: "Then how did you abandon your 'person'?"

"I gave it up once I entered the Scarlet. If I hadn't given it up, I might have died in the Scarlet."

Chen Ming said with some regret: "What a pity, are you a scarlet or a human now?"

"I am myself, who are you? Scarlet has a huge impact on people. Even I can't bear it and can only accept it. How can you not be affected?"

"I'm just that amazing. I can absorb the scarlet without affecting myself at all. Any opinions?"

The brainwashed psychic didn't believe Chen Ming's words: "I feel that it's not just that. You still have a lot of secrets. We can still get in touch in the future. I'm not in a hurry to figure it out now."

"So be it."

As he spoke, he stood up from the sofa and walked to Chen Ming's desk, looking as if he was ready to blast Chen Ming to pieces.

Chen Ming also stood up and asked, "Are you planning to leave now?"

"Yes, what's the matter? Do you have anything else to say?"

"I'm not talking. I have something else to talk to you about."

Liquid metal suddenly spread out from under Chen Ming's feet, completely covering the office.

"Want to do it?" The brainwashed psychic reached out and tapped the head of the body he controlled and said, "The person's brain only contains a small part of my consciousness. Even if you kill him, it won't have any effect on me."

"Of course I know that, but I'm going to do it anyway."

The brainwashed psychic's expression truly changed at this moment.

He knew a lot about Chen Ming, and he knew that Chen Ming generally would not do useless things for nothing.

Just like the several times he took the initiative to contact Chen Ming, Chen Ming would not waste his energy to kill the body he controlled.

But this also means that when Chen Ming was really ready to take action, he must have had a certain degree of confidence.

He just wanted to commit suicide to get rid of this small part of his consciousness, so as to avoid being used by Chen Ming for anything.

Chen Ming's mental power was like a sharp knife, piercing into the mind of the body controlled by the brainwashed psychic. The brainwashed psychic had built a hive mind network using humans.

This was the information Chen Ming obtained during his last confrontation with the brainwashed psychic.

Coincidentally, he possesses the exact same ability.

Even more diverse, more complex, and more powerful than brainwashed psykers.

So he knew clearly the key points of a hive mind network, especially the hive mind network built by psychics.

He knew how he should deal with such abilities.

As Chen Ming penetrated his mental power into the small part of the brainwashed psychic's consciousness.

Use your mental power to gather this part of your consciousness.

This small part of consciousness resisted instinctively, and with the scarlet power possessed by the brainwashed psychic, it easily broke through Chen Ming's mental blockade and the office that Chen Ming had blocked with silent alloy, and wanted to leave.

This is what Chen Ming wanted to see. When the brainwashed psychic called upon the scarlet power to escape, Chen Ming, who also mastered the scarlet power, could use this power to lock onto the core of the brainwashed psychic's gathered consciousness.

This is a fleeting opportunity.

Chen Ming seized it.

His action successfully dragged the brainwashed psychic far away into the final confrontation between psychics through the feature of the hive mind network that was connected to the main body.

Even though the two people may be tens of millions of light years apart, under the environmental conditions of the psychic's special hive mind network, this impossible thing becomes possible.

Chen Ming once again came to the consciousness space and once again saw the brain that seemed to be filled with divinity.

Without any hesitation, he controlled his mental power to attack the brainwashed psychic's brain, and said with a hint of sarcasm: "Why don't you guess why I am talking so much nonsense to you."

"Also, when we compete with each other in spirit power, will there be anyone outside who can follow the spiritual power link between you and me to find your real body?"

"I'm not sure if you know one thing, but there is a psychic in the Empire whose psychic powers are specifically designed to restrain you."

Long before today's incident began, after Chen Ming just learned about the brainwashing psychics' way of controlling ordinary people, Chen Ming asked his boss if his psychic powers could be used to save people.

the answer is negative.

The control that the brainwashed psyker has over those people is even tighter, and reaches deep into everyone's consciousness.

When a person is influenced by a brainwashing psychic, that person has become a puppet of the brainwashing psychic and cannot be changed no matter what.

But as for the brainwashed psychic itself, the boss does have some explanation.

So after today's events began, Chen Ming immediately went to find his boss and explained the situation in detail and the help he needed.

This time it’s not about saving people, but about finding the brainwashed psychic.

The hive mind of the brainwashed psychic creates a special connection between all those controlled by him. As the boss of a psychic who specializes in human psychic abilities, it would be strange if he couldn't find the connection.

And the boss was able to discover the special condition of Chen Ming's consciousness.

Now, since Chen Ming has locked onto a part of the brainwashed psychic's consciousness through consciousness hedging, it is not impossible to find the brainwashed psychic's true body.

How could it be possible that the cooperation between Chen Ming, the Minister of Psionic Power and the Empire was really just aimed at those 60 million people?
If 60 million is lost today, the brainwashed psychic may control 600 million tomorrow!

We should not do too many things that only treat the symptoms without addressing the root cause. Both the symptoms and the root cause must be addressed together.

It starts from this moment.

The brainwashed psychic truly felt the danger from Chen Ming today.

He didn't dare to waste any more time responding to Chen Ming. He could only desperately think of a better way to escape than last time.

But at this critical moment, he could not think of a suitable method at all. He could only continue to use the old method to tear open a small piece of the divine brain in his consciousness space to split out a smaller brain, so that the consciousness link between Chen Ming and him could be transferred to the small brain.

Such a split meant that Chen Ming could see clearly the face inside the brainwashed psychic's brain.

These facial information can be directly transmitted by Chen Ming to the Queen Insect, and then stored in the storage unit by the Queen Insect and repaired immediately.

Then submit the repaired photo data to the Minister of Psionics, and ask him to search the Imperial database to confirm the location of each person.

Anyway, the situation of the Empire dealing with people controlled by brainwashed psychics has been completely exposed now, so there is no need to cover it up.

What we need to do now is to arrest all these people without leaving any one behind.

But the trouble this time will be greater than if Chen Ming had done it himself.

But that is the Empire's own business.

Chen Ming's goal has always been to brainwash the psychics themselves.

Although the brainwashed psychic managed to escape from the consciousness space by separating his brain, he escaped from Chen Ming's pursuit.

But before he had time to be happy, the next moment, Chen Ming's figure appeared next to the body he controlled.

Without saying a word, Chen Ming once again penetrated his mental power into the body, once again building a mental link between him and the brainwashed psychic, dragging each other into the space of consciousness.

This is the disadvantage of the hive mind network. Every time there is a separation, the "thread" of consciousness and psychic energy will be broken at the end.

Before this thread is completely broken, it is enough for the boss to help Chen Ming find the next person who is connected to the consciousness of the brainwashed psychic, so that Chen Ming can continue to chase him.

Simply separating a part of the brain won't get rid of Chen Ming's tracking.

And this time when Chen Ming caught up.

The brainwashed psyker did not directly separate the small brains.

Instead, he said to Chen Ming: "You know that every time you do this, someone will die, right?"

"I know, but you killed them all. If you died honestly, wouldn't they not have died?"

Chen Ming was not affected by any words at all, and his mental power rushed towards the brainwashed psychic mercilessly.

The brainwashed psychic can only be forced to give up part of his brain again and escape.

If he was really caught by Chen Ming, he would definitely end up dead.

And this time he deliberately spoke to Chen Ming in order to adjust the position of the human head inside the brain, the symbol of his consciousness space.

So that some unimportant people can be exposed first and protect other important people under his control.

He successfully actively adjusted the position of the face and once again escaped from Chen Ming's tracking.

But immediately afterwards, Chen Ming appeared like a ghost next to a body in the empire he controlled.

This time, Chen Ming did not give him the chance to talk nonsense. The brainwashed psychic was forced to tear his brain apart again, and he didn't even have time to adjust the position of his face.

Even if a brainwashed psychic personally controls so many people, it is unlikely that he can be sure who are in the brain that constitutes the symbol of his consciousness space.

The most he did was to identify some truly critical tasks and roughly carve out a portion of space, assigning people of different importance to different areas of his brain in the space of consciousness.

When he split his brain, he had no way of confirming how many people he had protected. He could only roughly know that he must have lost a lot of important people.

But at this moment he didn't dare to think too much, nor did he dare to resist at all.

He could feel that a force independent of Chen Ming was madly tracking him.

If he dared to hesitate for a moment, he would be completely locked down by this force.

"Wu An..."

Outside the space of consciousness.

Chen Ming also managed to get some news from the outside world through the Queen Insect and Yu Hui.

As he hunted down the brainwashed psychic, there were actually a large number of casualties within the empire.

There was almost no way to suppress the news of these casualties, because a small number of people suddenly died on almost every planet in the empire.

What's even more troublesome and terrifying is that all the people in a galaxy in a prosperous star field of the empire died almost at the same time.

The tragic situation is telling of the terrifying coverage of the brainwashed psychic's psychic power.

And this is just a small matter.

Because as the number of casualties increases.

The number of afterglow cores originally prepared by the Empire was insufficient.

And there is indeed a part of the empire's afterglow core that has been affected by the psychic power of the brainwashed psychics.

Chen Ming's Yuhui core is already trying its best to fill the gap, but before the core is dispatched, many places will still lose government control.

Without government control, bad things happened simultaneously in almost every corner of the empire.

The Empire can only rely on the top psychics and garrisons in different places to use force to supervise different galaxies.

The number of people who died because of the left path might even be less than the number of deaths caused by the impact of the subsequent chaos.

However, when Chen Ming used Yu Hui's mouth to ask the Minister of Psychic Power whether he needed additional help, he was rejected.

It is said that the empire has the ability to solve these minor problems.

Then Chen Ming would feel relieved and he could continue tracking the brainwashed psychic.

And just when he was once again establishing a mental link with the brainwashed psychic.

The brainwashed psychic suddenly shouted at Chen Ming: "Wait a minute! I admit it!"

At this time, the size of his brain was less than one-third of what it used to be, and his consciousness space exuded a sense of mental exhaustion.

But Chen Ming didn't listen to him at all and continued to rush towards him with full energy.

No matter what is said today, it is impossible for Chen Ming to give up the opportunity to kill the brainwashed psychic.

This is the best opportunity to kill him.

The brainwashed psychic also understood Chen Ming's thoughts when he saw this.

He knew he had no chance of bargaining.

The brain in his consciousness space suddenly split open completely, exposing the real head of the brainwashed psychic inside.

Chen Ming was about to give chase.

The brainwashed psychic's split brain alone constitutes a new complete brain.

Compared to the previous small brains, this one contains all the people controlled by the brainwashed psychic.

All the remaining people who are still under his control are among them.

He abandoned all the objects of his control and just wanted to escape.

The bald head disappeared from the space of consciousness in an instant.

The boss also used the mental link with Chen Ming to tell Chen Ming the coordinates of the next brainwashed psychic.

But... the location of this coordinate is behind the wormhole.

A brainwashed psyker has truly abandoned everything in the Empire, possibly even his own body.

He placed his hopes on the leader of the negative matter group who had escaped from Chen Ming's colony some time ago.

If it was someone else it would be easy, but Chen Ming had no way of tracking this person down in such a short time.

"Pity."

Chen Ming really had no way to track down the person who was exposed first and also the first to escape his influence.

But at least as the brainwashed psychic survived, his influence within the empire has been completely wiped out.

What Chen Ming did has solved a major problem for the empire.

Let the concept of Zuo Jing be completely erased from the empire.

(End of this chapter)