Chapter 407 The Invisible Enemy

Yu Hui suddenly disappeared en masse while being pursued by the Empire. This situation puzzled Chen Ming.

Generally speaking, if they disappear, they just disappear. It may be that they have mastered some special means and escaped. This is normal.

But all the supplies that were supposed to be taken away with the retreat were left behind for the Empire. This situation was obviously very wrong.

It just so happens that Chen Ming is free recently.

The spacecraft design is nearing completion and needs a thorough self-inspection before the final closing phase begins.

He could have taken the initiative to intervene in this matter and investigate it.

the next day.

Chen Ming still drove his Supreme Point, and after several jumps, he successfully arrived outside the empire, the frontline headquarters of the Fourteenth Army Corps in the area where they had been at war with the Machine Tribe in the past six months.

The location of the headquarters is an afterglow military planet occupied by the Legion.

With advance notice, Chen Ming arrived at the planet's ground port smoothly.

The legion commander is already waiting for him here.

As soon as Chen Ming cleared the spaceship, the legion commander took the initiative to greet him and extended his hand to him.

Chen Ming shook his hand and went straight to the point and asked: "What's the specific situation? Are all Yuhui still missing? Are there still no clues?"

"It is true that they are all still missing. There are clues, but I feel it is a bit difficult to figure out what is going on."

"Come with me first."

The legion commander signaled to Chen Ming and took Chen Ming on the shuttle boat to the nearest military base, which was also the real command center on the front line.

After boarding the spaceship, the legion commander placed a terminal on the small table in the shuttle boat and projected a star map of the empire's border.

The legion commander then handed several documents to Chen Ming. While Chen Ming read the documents, he explained to him the general situation when they were chasing Yuhui.

Simply put.

The retreat of the Afterglow army was not a mass escape. They still maintained a complete social structure.

Moreover, they didn't actually show any obvious desire to retreat at the beginning, but continued to pretend there as they were, as if they didn't care at all about the empire's attack on the machine race and the end of the machine race.

During the war with the Machine Tribe, the Fourteenth Legion had not yet received an order to directly launch a large-scale attack on Yuhui.

Therefore, the fighting at the previous intensity has been maintained.

Until one day, the legion commander discovered that Yuhui's fighting power with the legion was obviously much weaker, and there was less follow-up supplementation.

So some additional reconnaissance fleets were sent out.

After receiving reports from the fleet that bypassed the flank for reconnaissance, the legion commander confirmed that Yu Hui had run away, and he immediately received instructions from the empire to track Yu Hui's escape.

They actually retreated slowly after a relatively long period of preparation.

Therefore, Yuhui specially separated a considerable number of individuals to stay in their original territory, responsible for blocking the pursuing Imperial fleet.

Then the Yuhui in the star field farthest from the empire packed up their homes and ran away. When they took away everything they could, the large-scale fleet divided into several batches chose to retreat.

Judging from the traces currently investigated, the Afterglow force is divided into five fleets that maintain contact with each other, but have a relatively loose structure.

They are the forward, middle, rear, port and starboard fleets.

They didn't scatter too far, and it seemed they planned to separate only when something really went wrong.

Although the plan seemed to be good, from the fact that the legion commander knew Yuhui's retreat plan in such detail, it was obvious that their counter-reconnaissance was not good enough.

and……

"Retreating like this? Are you really afraid of being chased by the imperial fleet and harassed to death?"

"It's better than being beaten to death here."

"And they have been doing this secretly for a long time. Although we detected it very early, they retreated faster."

The legion commander raised his hand and drew a crooked trace on the terminal projection in front of him, and some corners of these traces would often diverge into small branches. Obviously, this was Yuhui's retreat route.

And the end of this route is not finished yet.

"The front fleet of Yuhui evacuated the earliest. We really can't track them accurately and can't determine where they went."

"But as long as there are Afterglow Fleets escaping behind, they will eventually converge."

"So what I did before was to deliberately hang them and not kill them completely in case the earliest batch of Yuhui who escaped before we could react could not catch up."

Chen Ming said: "In the end, something unexpected happened."

"Yes, no one expected that."

"So when exactly did you disappear?"

"The day before yesterday."

The legion commander gave a certain amount of time and said: "Our front fleet has almost touched the tail of the fleet behind Afterglow."

"Before we even had time to take action, this happened."

"Look at this position."

The legion commander pointed to a point on the star map.

Chen Ming carefully looked at the various professional military markings on the projection, mobilized the knowledge he had learned in his mind, and said: "This is the location of the final battle with Yuhui's rear troops."

"Yes, it was here that we killed Yu Hui's last blocking force and found that there was no new fleet to resist in the future."

"No more?"

"right."

"Originally, Yuhui regularly sends fleets to our side to stop us. It can also be said that they use their lives to stop us and gain time to evacuate."

"I guess the idea is that once the distance is extended, our logistics will gradually be unable to keep up, and we can escape."

"They didn't realize how determined we were."

"After finishing one battle, we were still waiting for the next one. Yuhui suddenly stopped sending a fleet. It was very strange."

"At that time, I thought that it couldn't be the Afterglow Fleet that had destroyed the area. There must be some reason, so I sent a ship to investigate first."

"And then in this position."

The legion commander pointed to the place on the star map where the last battle between legion and afterglow broke out more than three hundred light years away, which was near the area where the line had not been completed just now.

"Here we found the rear fleet of the large force retreating in the afterglow."

Chen Ming raised his hand and interrupted: "Discovered the fleet? I thought only the supplies were lost to Yuhui, and then they escaped and couldn't catch up."

"No, maybe it's because I didn't make it clear in the message I sent you."

"In short, the entire retreating transport fleet is here. There are many supplies that are not too important in this fleet. I guess they want to abandon these and continue to waste time when we are about to catch up."

"There are indeed almost no supplies here that can keep us going, but these things are here, and we basically got them without encountering any resistance."

"No resistance?"

Chen Ming repeated the legion leader's words in a questioning tone, wanting to know more details.

The legion commander explained; "Because only some automated defense weapons detected our fleet and resisted slightly, all Afterglow's spaceships became silent."

"Whether it's the spacecraft or the afterglow core that should be installed in the various equipment that was taken away, everything is gone."

"Only the afterglow core is missing."

"And there's something even stranger."

"We also found a group of Afterglow fleets here that are obviously trying to rear their ugly heads and fight our fleet."

"The ship is all there but the afterglow core inside is also gone."

Chen Ming frowned subconsciously. He now couldn't understand why such a strange thing happened.

Chen Ming could understand the disappearance of the transport fleet's Afterhui core. After all, Yuhui might choose to load all the cores together and take them away in order to preserve more cores.

This is what Chen Ming did when he was collecting wool from Yu Hui.

But he couldn't understand the battleship without its afterglow core.

Yu Hui is now being hunted by the empire. The fleet spaceship in his hand is not used to resist but is abandoned on the spot?

Even if he set up the autopilot and automatic fire of the spacecraft, Chen Ming had tried his best to set it up as an afterglow, but now?

Chen Ming couldn't help but ask: "Is there no sign of battle or other damage to the fleet behind Yuhui Palace?"

"No, all the ships are in good condition, and there are no traces of violent dismantling. They were dismantled by normal dismantling methods."

"Judging from the remaining state of the spacecraft, those ships were already floating there about ten days ago. The afterglow we fought were all dispatched earlier."

"It's because we didn't advance too fast, and we were deliberately fighting the fleet sent by Yuhui behind us, so we never found it."

"It's really outrageous." Chen Ming stared at the star map projection in front of him for a while and asked what he was thinking; "Is it possible that Yu Hui wants to take only the core, abandon the others and speed off?"

The legion commander gave the same answer as Chen Ming thought: "Of course there is such suspicion, but there is no need to withdraw the blocking fleet."

"Afterglow has reached the point of life and death for them. There is really no need to save this core."

"Even if you set up an automatic program to automatically lock and fire when other spacecraft approaches, it is better than just leaving it there."

"Yes." Chen Ming nodded slightly and asked: "What about the fleet in front?"

"The reconnaissance fleet is still pursuing them. If the same thing happens to the fleet in front, it is estimated that our reconnaissance fleet will be able to discover them within today."

"arrive."

The legion commander suddenly pointed out the window of the shuttle boat.

Chen Ming looked around and saw that diagonally below the spacecraft was the renovated human command center of Yu Hui's military base.

However, the shuttle boat turned a corner during the landing and flew in another approaching direction.

"Let's go to the testing ground first. Earlier today, the people who were investigating happened to bring back some samples of the fleet and cargo that Yuhui left behind. There might be clues on them."

Chen Ming's spiritual energy has been used for such a long time, and everyone who should know about it also knows the effects of Chen Ming's spiritual energy.

As long as he can bring back some samples, he can always tell something.

Chen Ming did not refuse.

Since he came here, he had the idea of ​​​​helping in this matter.

After all, the connection between Yuhui and him can be said to be quite close, and he really wants to use the empire's means to take advantage of Yuhui.

If something goes wrong, it's not a big deal to help take a look.

He was indeed curious as to what caused Yuhui to be in such a situation.

The testing ground set up by the Legion was under an obviously newly constructed dome.

The shuttle boat quickly landed in the open space near the dome.

When Chen Minggang stepped off the shuttle boat with the legion commander, he saw a spaceship using electromagnetic capture equipment to hoist an afterglow spacecraft into the dome at the edge of the dome in the distance.

The outside of the spacecraft also carries some equipment, supplies, etc. that also belong to Yuhui.

When the spacecraft arrived inside the dome, it hovered in the air in the center of the dome.

Under the guidance of ground personnel, the captured objects are gradually placed in different areas on the ground.

Chen Ming could see that in the open space in the center of the dome, some things that had been transported earlier were placed there, waiting for someone to investigate.

As for who is waiting, it goes without saying.

Chen Ming and the legion commander quickly changed their ground vehicles and entered the dome smoothly.

Once inside the dome.

Chen Ming keenly smelled a familiar smell from the body created by Zerg technology.

He would never forget this smell in his life, because it was the smell of toxic substances produced by the mechanical nanorobots when they were operating.

The source of this smell comes from the afterglow things brought back by the spacecraft.

Chen Ming immediately asked the driver to stop the car and opened the door.

He came outside the car and took a few deep breaths.

Although the smell is very light, it proves that there are not many pollutants in the air and the degree of harm is very low.

Not to mention that the body Chen Ming is currently using does not have that great impact on ordinary people. Inhaling too much poisonous gas may at most cause minor problems such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

But this is a pollutant anyway.

Chen Ming immediately said to the legion commander who also got out of the car: "Let everyone under the dome evacuate first. Anyone who has been in contact with Yuhui's things should go to the hospital for examination."

The legion commander's expression became more serious: "What's wrong?"

"The pollutants from the mechanical race are on those things in the afterglow. The concentration is very light. I see that everyone is wearing protective clothing. It shouldn't be a big problem. But just to be on the safe side, let's get people out first."

Chen Ming said so, and the legion commander was unambiguous. He took out a walkie-talkie, adjusted the channel, and asked, "Have the contaminants on the Yuhui things you brought back been checked?"

"It has been checked and everything is normal, but it has not been purified yet. Time is too tight."

The legion commander turned around and frowned, switched several communication channels, and issued several orders to order everyone who had been in contact with Yu Hui today to go to the hospital for examination without a moment's hesitation.

After finishing this, he looked at Chen Ming again and said, "It looks like I need to adjust the data of the inspection equipment later."

Chen Ming nodded slightly, pointed to the open space in the distance and said: "Actually, these pollutants are quite strange. I don't even feel that they are ordinary pollutants. In short, Yuhui's disappearance is likely to be related to the mechanical race."

The legion commander immediately thought of the past and said, "I remember you brought back a big star map some time ago?"

Chen Ming, who was thinking about this matter, immediately said: "Yes, I remember that there seems to be no mechanical race near the place where Yuhui disappeared on the star map, but if there is a mechanical race, since we killed the nearest mechanical race star field some time ago, If you rush here..."

Chen Ming didn't finish his words, but his meaning was already very clear.

This was something he had warned the Empire some time ago.

Now, his warning appears to be coming true.

The people under the dome began to withdraw one after another.

Even the driver, Chen Ming and the legion commander, and the accompanying guards were all withdrawn.

Chen Ming didn't know why he and the legion commander, the two top psykers in the empire, had guards around them, but it didn't matter.

After confirming that everyone nearby had evacuated, he directly put a piece of biological armor on his body and approached the scorpion where Yuhui's things were placed.

The legion commander also followed Chen Ming's footsteps without any protection.

Soon the two came to the area where Yuhui's things were placed.

Things that can be seen from the high point next to the afterglow of the site are placed in three areas.

The first area contains several Afterglow combat ships.

The second area houses Yuhui's cargo ships. Many of Yuhui's cargo ships are copied from the Empire's designs, and are very different from their own combat ships, so they are easy to distinguish.

The third area contains Yuhui's cargo. This batch of cargo seems to be completely free of contaminants. At most, it was a little bit scratched when it was moved out.

Chen Ming glanced around the field several times, preparing to start with the combat spacecraft.

But just before he took action, the legion commander suddenly said to Chen Ming: "Wait a moment, there is news from the front line."

He looked down at the terminal for a while and said to Chen Ming: "The frontline found traces of the destroyed Afterhui combat spaceship around where Yuhui's rear fleet stayed. It had drifted some distance away from the main force, so it was only seen now."

He turned the terminal and pointed it at Chen Ming so that Chen Ming could see the photos above clearly.

The content of the photos shows that Yuhui's battleship was cut off by something, and then something exploded from the inside.

Whether they were escorts, expulsors or cruisers, all the shipwrecks had similar traces.

Moreover, Chen Ming also keenly observed that there were traces of metal rust on the edges of some spacecraft wreckage, which was very special.

This was also confirmed by several photos of the shooting details shown to Chen Ming by the regiment commander.

After reading it, the corps commander said: "The front line judged that the enemy fighting with these Yuhui fleets used a cutting weapon and a penetrating corrosive explosion weapon."

Chen Ming shook his head and said: "I don't think it's the same, but I can't be sure what it is."

If you can't be sure, there's nothing to say. The corps commander continued to say to Chen Ming: "The front line said that the wreckage has been captured and is being sent to the empire."

"And other reconnaissance fleets have also found some wreckage of Yuhui combat ships between the rear fleet group of Yuhui and the expected central fleet group. The number is not large, but the damage is basically the same."

"Then there are more and more traces of the central and front fleet groups, and many ordinary Yuhui spacecraft have left the team and scattered on their navigation tracks."

"This should be enough to show that the entire Yuhui army has encountered this incident."

"Yeah." Chen Ming also agreed with this: "Then there should be no other news. We still have to start from here and see. We can talk about the wreckage later."

"Yes, let's start from here."

Chen Ming didn't say anything more.

After a few steps, he came to the place where the Yuhui battleship was parked, reached out and pressed it, and completely controlled the battleship.

And immediately called up the database of the spacecraft, wanting to confirm whether there was any valuable information stored in the database of these battleships brought back as samples.

But Chen Ming searched carefully, and in the past few months, there was no valuable data left in the system database of the spacecraft.

Chen Ming's expression did not change at all, but the metal liquid that appeared around him instantly wrapped several battleships and tried to repair them.

As long as the situation of the spacecraft can be repaired to before the data was deleted, the data that should be there can always be seen.

However, Chen Ming's repair also did not work.

These

The storage units of the battleships do not store any logs for the recent period of time.

There is only one possibility for this situation.

That is, the Yuhui core originally installed inside this spaceship directly stored the spaceship data in their core when recording the spaceship data, without passing through the spaceship's storage system.

The special nature of the Yuhui core allows them to do this.

Avoid some data leakage issues.

Chen Ming knew that some Yuhui cores would do this, for example, Yuhui cores that were about to be upgraded from gamma to beta as their self-ability was optimized would do this to avoid data leakage caused by changing spacecraft later.

But he didn't understand why these samples were all like this?

It couldn't be that Yuhui's top management had given some orders, right?

Chen Ming turned around with doubts and controlled the cargo spacecraft in the next area.

The design of cargo spacecraft was imitated from the design of human spacecraft.

The data obtained by these spacecrafts first passed through the spacecraft and then transmitted to Yuhui.

Although the data of the cargo ship was deleted, after being repaired by psychic energy, Chen Ming saw the specific situation.

These cargo ships really recorded Yuhui's battle scenes.

It's not accurate to say that it was a battle, because the content of the few pictures recorded on the cargo ship was all the pictures of Yuhui's ships being killed directly.

That is, the warships that were originally sailing in the universe were suddenly cut into several sections by some force, and other spacecraft were detonated by some force from inside and outside and exploded into pieces.

In just a dozen seconds, dozens of battleships of the rear fleet, more cruisers, and countless combat ships were destroyed in this battle where it was not clear who the enemy was and what the attack method was.

What happened next was even more bizarre.

All the afterglow took the initiative to unload their afterglow cores and gathered them on a cargo ship that had abandoned supplies and left here.

Although leaving here was Chen Ming's own imagination, after all, when the afterglow core of the cargo ship was dismantled, the data stored in the cargo ship had been deleted.

But from the actual situation, this is the fact.

And in the records of several cargo ships.

From beginning to end, Chen Ming did not see any enemies.

The afterglow seemed to be attacked by some invisible means.