Chapter 72 Speculation and Return

After Chen Ming took out the Whispering Stone covered with twisted patterns.

Gamma B, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said, "Is this a Spirit Stone?"

"Do you know it?"

"Yes, I have seen this kind of thing when I was looking for some information. It has a fatal effect on individuals of Yuhui."

Chen Ming did not go into what Gamma B looked up on their platform to find something related to the Spirit Stone.

Because what Gamma B said obviously had something more worthy of his attention.

"Fatal?"

"Yes, I found a record confirmed by Alpha-level Yuhui before, and an individual of Yuhui died in the process of studying the Spirit Stone."

Spirit Stone can actually affect AI?

Chen Ming looked at the stone in his hand with some disbelief and asked, "What exactly happened?"

Gamma B explained, "The record contains the results of reading the internal data of the core of the dead Yuhui individual."

"Finally, it was determined that when the Yuhui individual was affected by the spirit stone, some incomprehensible redundant data would appear in the logic circuit."

"These redundant data can only be gradually erased through the self-operation of the logic circuit."

"And once the contact time with the spirit stone is too long, the accumulated redundant data will block the logic circuit, and the part of the Yuhui individual consciousness will completely stop running, that is, death."

Chen Ming was silent for a while, thinking about what Gamma B said.

According to his understanding, Gamma B's meaning is probably similar to the effect of the spirit stone on Yuhui, just like inserting 3 into a binary program with only 0 and 1, and more than one.

When all the operating lines of the program are stuck with 3, the program will crash and cannot be saved.

"So do you know what this thing does?"

Gamma B answered decisively: "I don't know."

"But I know it's very valuable. The Alpha-class Yuhui who published this record is collecting these spiritual stones."

"A Yuhui I know found a similar one during an expedition and traded it to that Alpha-class Yuhui."

"He said that the Alpha-class Yuhui who specializes in spacecraft design and modification technology used his quota to modify one of his trophies for him, a human rainstorm-class frigate."

The rainstorm-class, Chen Ming has an impression of this kind of ship.

Because it is the only spacecraft that carries fighters on frigates.

And the fighters it carries are not driven by people, but a kind of drone equipped with built-in artificial intelligence.

The Tachyon Technology Company that designed it stated that the AI ​​level used by the ship is definitely below the upper limit of the Empire's explicit order on the strength of artificial intelligence.

But many battle videos of the rainstorm-class show that the Terminator fighters it carries have powerful combat intuition and flexibility far beyond normal strength.

So to be honest, Chen Ming is not surprised that such a spacecraft has become Yuhui's collection.

After being modified by an Alpha-class Afterglow AI that is rumored to be capable of controlling a galaxy, but uses the ability to control galaxies in the design and modification of spacecraft, the value of this Storm-class ship is absolutely inestimable.

So the meaning of Gamma B is also very clear.

One Spirit Stone is equivalent to a professional technical master at the galaxy level helping to modify the spacecraft and paying for the materials.

It is basically equivalent to giving a framework and giving a super powerful spacecraft for free.

It is impossible for Chen Ming to say that he is not tempted at this time.

If he wants, he can completely transfer the Spirit Stone through two AIs and get such an opportunity.

But Chen Ming does not want to give this Spirit Stone away just for the time being. He also wants to see what potential the Spirit Stone has.

And at this time, Chen Ming suddenly thought of the additional disassembly function on his panel.

This disassembly function can see the material ratio of the disassembled items before the actual disassembly operation.

So Chen Ming seems to be able to use it to see what the essence of this Spirit Stone is.

Chen Ming opened the panel of the [Spirit Stone (Whisper)] in his hand and saw the interface for executable operations.

There is indeed a disassembly option on it.

The material that can be obtained by disassembly is something called spiritual energy, totaling 16 grams.

Chen Ming wrote down this name that seems even more outrageous than the Spirit Stone, and decided to keep the Spirit Stone for now.

After all, this Spirit Stone is something related to psychic energy no matter what, and it is very likely that Chen Ming will have the opportunity to contact real psychics in the future.

As for exploring the functions of the Spirit Stone, Gamma AI should not be able to help him for the time being.

Chen Ming felt a little bit of pity in his heart.

Originally, he was still hoping to get some valuable information from Yuhui's data sharing platform, but the result can only be said to be not ideal.

So much so that he even felt that his luck was getting worse after getting better.

Because Chen Ming had actually thought of another way to use Yuhui's database before.

For example, relying on the technology disclosed on that platform as Gamma A said.

Chen Ming's first thought was to build a colony of his own like the Yuhui Colony he had seen.

Just think about the throughput of the goods in the Yuhui Colony before, and you will know that this is definitely the most profitable one compared to any other means.

In the period of time he saw before, the throughput of the Yuhui Colony Spaceport was enough to buy several destroyers.

But Chen Ming immediately gave up this idea.

The construction of a colony that can maintain self-sufficiency and even make money requires both human and financial resources.

In the case that the price of a basic civilian ship often fluctuates around five million, the investment required to make money through the colony is definitely enough to empty Chen Ming's family assets several times.

So Chen Ming just thought about it.

Then he thought of a more suitable idea for him to get benefits from the Yuhui platform.

Yuhui's spacecraft modification technology and maintenance technology.

This is a professional counterpart, but there are also some troubles.

Because the design ideas of Yuhui's ships are different from those of humans, unless Chen Ming only controls Yuhui's ships in the future, he must personally study and transfer the design ideas of Yuhui's ships to human ships.

The most outstanding aspects of Yuhui's ship design are energy weapons and energy systems. The money and time spent on researching these two aspects are definitely not small.

As for other ideas that can allow Chen Ming to quickly get benefits through the platform, Chen Ming also thought of a few, but there are not many possibilities to realize them.

For example, the jump engine and the flash engine.

Both must be installed on ships of at least cruiser level, relying on the resonance of the engine to drive other ships to jump or flash.

At least that's what Chen Ming knows.

So the result in the end is that Yuhui doesn't understand the spirit stone, but he has it, but he can't use it.

And Yuhui is more familiar with and good at unmanned ship design, but he himself does not have the ability or the right place to use it for the time being.

Chen Ming couldn't help but have a headache.

Several ideas have not been realized for various reasons, so he can only temporarily follow the original plan.

However, when Chen Ming thought of his plan, not only did his head hurt, but there was also a little haze in his heart.

The reason was naturally the military outpost in the RM-2 star system where Ruimu was located.

Although Chen Ming had determined his own course of action a long time ago.

He had to detach himself from the identity of a Xinda employee, cut off contact with Xinda and the military as much as possible, and start a new life.

But this matter about the military and the mining space station came up like this, and Chen Ming couldn't just pretend not to see it.

If he saw it, he couldn't help thinking.

Thirty years ago, before the last time he entered hibernation, Chen Ming had never heard of a military outpost set up in the star system where the mining space station was located.

With so many spacecraft coming in and out of the mining space station, it is impossible that no news would leak out.

So this outpost was definitely built after the insect plague broke out in the space station and all the personnel were killed.

Chen Ming didn't believe it if there was no logical relationship.

So after associating his understanding of the whole thing, an irresponsible guess came to his mind.

When Sinda Corporation first chose to purchase the mineral mining rights of the galaxy, it was targeting the high-density and high-content mineral asteroids in the star ring of Ramu.

This is law-abiding and there is no problem.

And the company should not have known that there were air fish in the star ring of the gas giant planet next to it.

After all, the mining rights of this galaxy were sold by the official, and the official could not have let others take advantage of it for no reason.

It is definitely that the official itself did not discover the existence of air fish.

However, with the establishment of the mining space station, more and more people came here.

Then one day, someone found traces of the existence of air fish.

So the military closest to the mining space station chose to take the initiative, deal with the space station, and put the blame on the bugs.

Then, under the pretext of the appearance of dangerous creatures in the galaxy, the galaxy was blocked, forcing Sinda Corporation to suffer a loss.

However, the real situation should not be as simple as Chen Ming guessed. There must be more complex logical relationships and more complicated exchanges of interests.

So Chen Ming also felt that the pirate space station with Sinda background was actually the product of the exchange of interests between Sinda Corporation and the military.

After all, it is ridiculous to have a complete city built on a pirate space station.

And if you think about it, you will know that without the mining space station as a relatively neutral spacecraft transfer point.

For those who run in the marginal star field, there must be other alternatives, and the pirate space station is just suitable.

If it is true as Chen Ming guessed, it will start with the military taking the initiative to conflict, and the two sides will sit at the negotiation table and exchange interests peacefully.

Then the direction of things may be good or bad for Chen Ming.

Because in this case, neither Xinda nor the military will pursue the matter of the space station too much.

Before Chen Ming's identity is discovered, no one will take the initiative to investigate this matter, and his situation is very safe.

However, if both sides know the existence of Chen Ming, in order to prevent the matter from being exposed, both sides may crush this little man.

Of course, they may not care at all, after all, how much waves can Chen Ming make alone.

But Chen Ming can't bet on this possibility, so it is the best choice for him to avoid being discovered.

And if the truth is different from Chen Ming's guess, the matter is not resolved peacefully in the end, but Xinda suffered a loss in this matter.

That means that the military will never want this matter to be overturned.

And Xinda will try every means to find an opportunity to get back on track.

Chen Ming thinks that the loss of a mining space station should be worth Xinda Company's record for a while.

And his existence happens to be the key to this.

So no matter what, if the military knows Chen Ming's identity, it is likely that he will not let him go, and Xinda will need to see the situation.

Fortunately, the military outpost has been demolished. In order to obtain Sky Steel again, the outpost must be rebuilt. In a short time, they should not have too much energy to investigate other things.

So Chen Ming still has time to do some things he should do.

Chen Ming temporarily relaxed his mind and stopped thinking about too many things.

It's almost time to go back to the space station.

Chen Ming transferred the control of the Iron Ore to the Lumen.

He personally controlled the Iron Ore and took the Lumen to enter the deep purple hyperspace channel again.

It took Chen Ming more than a month to get from the Dark Cemetery to the Pirate Space Station, but now it only takes a dozen seconds to pass through the hyperspace channel.

Thirty hours after Chen Ming left the space station.

That is, more than six o'clock in the morning on Earth time, Chen Ming finally returned to the space station and entered the No. 15 space arm.

This is the last remaining dock in the space station.

When Chen Ming approached the space station, he turned off the engine of the Lumen-class and brought the Lumen back to the repair plant with the help of the traction equipment.

Then he drove the Iron Ore out and parked it in the dock.

When he got off the spaceship, Chen Ming noticed that the dock was more lively than before. It should be the mercenaries who had gone to support the military and then ran away.

And Chen Ming also noticed that there seemed to be some people in the dock observing him and his Iron Ore.

It should be what Lao Wu said before. The news that he drove a civilian ship to blow up four merchant ships spread, and it was not known whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Chen Ming could not stop the gazes of others, so he chose to ignore it.

He walked straight to the repair plant.

In the repair plant, Chen Ming met the factory director.

He had obviously seen Chen Ming's spaceship and the Lumen-class just now, and was not surprised by Chen Ming's appearance.

But after greeting Chen Ming, he looked at Chen Ming as if he was looking at something rare.

Chen Ming felt uncomfortable being stared at by him, and took the initiative to say: "Director, is there any work that needs people to do?"

"Yes, there is, but you and your captain just robbed the ship back, do you need to rest for two days?"

Chen Ming felt that the director's attitude towards him seemed to have changed, a good change.

Although Chen Ming was not clear about the reason for this change, he felt that it should not be a bad thing.

And Chen Ming had rested before, so he insisted: "No, just start working directly. I haven't taken a day off, so it's better to go back to work."

"That's fine."

The director waved to the depths of the maintenance plant and shouted: "Old Wu, take the people to the place for me."

Old Wu appeared in front of Chen Ming in a flash, looked Chen Ming up and down, and said: "Okay."

He took Chen Ming to the depths of the maintenance plant.

After leaving the factory director's sight, Old Wu said as if he had just seen Chen Ming: "Hey, Xiao Mu, you're back. What have you been doing these two days?"

Chen Ming looked at Old Wu, who was smiling and pretending to be stupid, and said seriously: "I went to hang out with Yu Hui. They invited me to participate in the military operation against the military."

"Do you still like to tell jokes?"

Chen Ming shrugged and pointed to the maintenance area.

"You saw it all. That Yu Hui ship didn't keep up with Yu Hui's large force. We found an opportunity to catch up and bring it back."

Old Wu stared at the Lumen class for a few seconds and said: "It's really good. If you sell this spaceship, plus the previous one, you will get at least 50 million. You have only been in the space station for a few days."

Chen Ming heard the hidden meaning of Old Wu and said: "I'm not in such a hurry to leave. Even if I make money, I still have things to do."

"And if you envy me, you can also follow me to find Yuhui. As long as you can bring back one, you can also earn so much."

After receiving Chen Ming's reply, Old Wu said with a smile: "Forget it, my old bones can't do anything life-threatening."

"Oh, by the way, the factory director asked me to ask you, do you have any plans to sell the Yuhui AI core in your hand?"

When Chen Ming heard Old Wu's question, he wanted to deny the existence of the AI ​​core in his hand.

However, he hesitated suddenly.

Because there are many forces and even the official acquisition of Yuhui AI core, it is a fact known to everyone who has contact with this work.

So it is not an exaggeration to compare the AI ​​core with three companies.

Chen Ming just subconsciously guarded and wanted to conceal it.

But for some reason, Chen Ming suddenly felt that he could take the initiative to give some trust to others, so he changed his words and said, "Gamma AI is still useful to me for the time being, and I want to try to study it."

"Oh, then if you change your mind, go find the factory director."

Old Wu seemed to be asking for the factory director by the way, and he stopped talking nonsense after mentioning it.

He took Chen Ming to the deepest part of the repair factory, where the engineering ships were parked.

The two engineering ships stayed here quietly.

Old Wu took the initiative to step forward and start the daily ship maintenance, and Chen Ming went up to help and asked, "What do you want me to do today? Or is it the same as before?"

Old Wu's face suddenly flashed a moment of relief, but it was immediately covered by the grinning corners and the smile: "You will know soon."

The maintenance time of the spacecraft passed quickly, and time came to eight o'clock in a blink of an eye.

The official working time of the repair factory.

Then, Chen Ming, who was alone next to the engineering ship, saw Old Wu who had just run out mysteriously, and walked in with three people in work clothes that Chen Ming had never seen before.

It looks like the repair shop has recruited new people.

Old Wu brought these three new people to Chen Ming, pointed at them and said, "Xiao Mu, these three people are assigned to you as assistants, please keep an eye on them."

Chen Ming nodded. Although Old Wu said that he wanted them to help him, he knew what he meant.

Then Old Wu put his hand on Chen Ming's shoulder and said, "I told you this before, Mu Shuikong, Brother Mu, you will follow him today."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Ming heard Old Wu whisper to him, "You can tell me a little bit about those private matters. The smart ones will learn it, and the stupid ones will be ignored. Otherwise, even if Old Lu protects you, you will be in trouble."

Chen Ming also said calmly, "Don't worry."

"You can take 10% or 20% of what they touch when the time comes. Don't teach them in vain."

"Got it."

"That's it. I'm on duty today. I'll leave first."

After explaining what he should explain, Old Wu disappeared all of a sudden. It was unknown whether he would skip work at the repair shop alone.

Chen Ming's eyes moved away from the partition door of the repair shop where Old Wu disappeared, and moved to the three newcomers.

The three of them stood there a little stiffly. They didn't look like people with a criminal record at all. They looked like college students who had not graduated yet and were looking for internships.

After noticing Chen Ming's look, the three people respectfully called out to Chen Ming, "Brother Mu."

Chen Ming had never been treated like this before, and was a little uncomfortable, but he quickly adapted.

Looking at the other ship where the factory manager Bald and Tian Jiwen were preparing, Chen Ming stopped wasting time.

He waved to the three waiting newcomers and said, "Follow me."

Chen Ming had never done anything like bringing in newcomers, but he thought he could give it a try.

Because after he came back from the Yuhui Colony, he actually didn't care or looked down on the private gains when cleaning the battlefield.

If he had someone to help him, he could have some free time.

When he was free, Chen Ming had time to do what he wanted to do before.

For example, purchasing weapons for refurbishment.

Chen Ming had been thinking about this matter since the day he entered the Pirate Space Station.

It's just that every day after that was busy, or there were other things to do, so he never had time to do it.

Now if someone can help me save time, then this matter can really start.

Making money is secondary. After selling half of the Yuhui destroyer, although the money is not too much, it is enough for Chen Ming.

He still wants to do this now, mainly to exercise his mental power.

The benefits of increasing mental power are obvious.

It is never a bad thing to make some money while exercising mental power.

In addition, Chen Ming also needs to take time to modify the Iron Ore during this period of time to completely cut off the connection with the past.

Then wait for a free time and go to Yuhui's colony again.

If he doesn't try to do something to get some of Yuhui's AI core, Chen Ming always feels like there are ants crawling on his body.

But things have to be done one by one, and he doesn't have anything urgent now.

Anyway, the military outposts have been demolished by Yuhui, and their main focus now is definitely on rebuilding the outposts and reproducing sky steel.

Chen Ming doesn't believe that they will deliberately divide their energy to do such things under such circumstances.

If the military really doesn't care about the priceless sky steel and insists on dealing with him, then he will eat Xiaoshi on the spot.

Just when Chen Ming had such an idea in his mind.

Xiaoshi, who was playing in the running wheel made by Chen Ming on the Iron Ore, suddenly stopped its action and looked around vigilantly.

But it didn't find anything unusual.

Xiaoshi's little eyes were full of doubts, and it always felt that it seemed to have had this feeling before.

But it immediately put this doubt behind its head and continued to play by itself.