Chapter 75: An Attempt to Break Free From Restrictions

Chen Ming now has a total of seven ships on hand.

Iron Ore, Refraction, Lumen, Glimmer, Gladiator, Centurion and Sentinel.

Most of these ships are standard models, and they need to be modified to some extent before Chen Ming can use them with peace of mind.

However, it is a bit unrealistic to modify all these ships.

Because the materials that Iron Ore can bring each time it goes out are limited, and it will be very inconvenient to modify these ships if they are driven back.

Not only is it not easy to use the panels casually, but also, except for Centurion and Sentinel, other ships will definitely cause him some trouble if he brings them back.

For example, the Lumen class, Chen Ming's excuse for going out before was for it, so now Lumen is not easy to use, and he must find another excuse to get Lumen out.

Therefore, under various environmental restrictions, Chen Ming must have a slightly different priority for modifying the spacecraft.

The reference for determining the priority is naturally the role of these spacecraft in Chen Ming now.

There are actually not many places where Chen Ming needs to use spacecraft now.

But not long ago, probably during the time when Chen Ming left the factory director and went to the dark cemetery, he had a new idea in his mind.

He could choose to be a bounty hunter.

You should know that the armed ship license within the empire can be issued to individuals in addition to companies.

The premise is that you have a certain reputation in the marginal star field and are noticed by the official, that is, you must be able to deal with pirates and have the willingness to actively hunt down pirates.

Other identities are not important.

After all, whoever is in the marginal star field does not have dirty hands, and some not-too-excessive illegal acts can be ignored.

As long as you abide by the rules in the prosperous star field and behave like a normal person, you will only show your true nature to troubles like pirates.

No one will deliberately provoke people with armed ship licenses.

And this actually means that Chen Ming’s current troubles can be washed away.

Because the government and the army of the empire are two different departments.

Although the army near the marginal star field and the nearby colonial government are definitely wearing the same pants, there is a level gap between the governments.

Chen Ming is currently in the edge star field of the human empire.

This edge star field is just a general term, referring to the edge of the empire, where there are few people and low development.

In fact, this edge star field can be divided into three star fields with different official names.

Each star field is independent of each other. There are more star regions under the star field, and there are more planetary colonies under the star region.

It can be said that the government and the army of a star region have a close relationship, but the government of this star region cannot have a relationship with the army below.

Once the star region government and the army responsible for a certain area have any private relationship, the army of other star regions will immediately report back to the higher level.

The human empire is so large that many people are eyeing this position of the star region government.

Even if you can't directly benefit from the relationship, there are many other ways to use your power to gain benefits.

However, it is not too important whether the star region government has a relationship with the army, because the license for armed ships is not something that the colonial government of the edge star region can approve.

The internal affairs of the edge star region army cannot make the government of the prosperous star region pay attention to Chen Ming.

So as long as Chen Ming gets the license and has the government's endorsement.

Why would a district's army use the disgusting things they did in private to openly deal with Chen Ming?

Chen Ming's identity can be completely cleared in an instant.

Although this may be a bit difficult.

After all, he has to keep killing pirates to get bounties until the star-level government departments have an impression of him, and the official will take the initiative to issue an application for an armed ship license.

The difficulty is still a little high.

But it is better to do it than not to do it.

Chen Ming can't put all his eggs in one basket, and he has to prepare a few more ways out in case of emergency.

However, Chen Ming had talked with the factory director before.

And on the way to the dark cemetery, he calmed down and thought carefully.

He actually felt that the current situation he was facing was almost clear.

Or he should have thought of it a long time ago.

It's just because Chen Ming had some preconceived notions that Sinda Company did nothing after the space station was destroyed, so his good impression of Sinda Company in his memory was basically gone.

However, after learning about the factory director's attitude towards the military, although Chen Ming still didn't know the attitude of Xinda Company itself, he could probably guess it.

Xinda Company probably didn't have a good impression of the military.

The repair shop that the factory director was in charge of was still relatively important to the space station, and he had some say.

If such a person didn't have a good impression of the military, then it was really unlikely that Xinda Company would have a good impression of the military.

And there was actually another place that could prove Chen Ming's thoughts.

This was also something that Chen Ming suddenly realized. If he had thought of it earlier, it might not have caused some extra trouble.

That is, if the matter between the military and Sinda Corporation really ended peacefully.

Then it should not be difficult for Sinda Corporation to reclaim the space station under the supervision of the military and move away the equipment and materials on the space station.

For example, the large mining laser and traction equipment used in the mining space station are definitely not low in value. Chen Ming felt itchy just to leave them there to collect dust.

Sinda Corporation will never forget this thing, but in fact, this has not happened.

So it is very likely that the contradiction between the military and Sinda still exists, and Sinda was indeed cheated by the military in the matter of the space station.

Chen Ming is more inclined to this idea now.

This means that as long as he can stay away from the military in the edge star field, his identity is actually clean. As long as he is not targeted by the military, there is absolutely no problem in living a normal life.

However, the problem lies with the military.

They should not want Chen Ming, who left the space station alive and may have witnessed the destruction of the space station with his own eyes.

If Sinda Corporation needs to reopen the case of thirty years ago, the key point should also be Chen Ming.

In other words, Chen Ming can now even try to actively reveal some information to the factory director to test the attitude of Xinda Company on this matter.

However, Chen Ming does not plan to change the plan he had thought of before.

It is better to wait until the first batch of weapons are refurbished, the problem of the factory code of the weapons is solved, and they are successfully sold and the first profit is earned, and then talk to the factory director.

After all, even if the probability of Xinda having a good relationship with the military is very, very low, it is not zero.

So Chen Ming decided to keep a little hand.

Before that, he will try to accumulate fame by hunting pirates, make some money by the way, and prepare for another way.

Therefore, this time Chen Ming's demand for the transformation of his spaceships is mainly combat capability.

He will selectively transform which spaceship with high combat capability.

Among these seven ships.

The Iron Ore, which has been transformed and has no combat function, is directly excluded.

The Refraction Class was also excluded soon after, one of the reasons is that it is a destroyer, and the materials for the transformation of the destroyer are not affordable for Chen Ming now.

Then the Sentinel was ruled out, because this Sentinel was a castrated version of the Sentinel that Chen Ming had snatched from someone else, and it didn't have any militarized systems, so he shouldn't join in the fun of modifying it.

Then the Lumen was ruled out, because it was now parked in the space station and couldn't be moved for the time being.

Then there were three ships left, the Glimmer, the Gladiator, and the Centurion.

Chen Ming didn't think much about the Glimmer and decided to skip it.

The reason was simple, that is, Chen Ming didn't know much about Yu Hui's technology.

Even if he wanted to modify it, the panel didn't show any modification options other than general equipment such as armor and engines.

And this was one of the reasons why Chen Ming gave up modifying the Refraction and Lumen.

However, Chen Ming would move this Glimmer later, because he planned to dismantle the Gamma B and install it on the Gladiator.

In fact, the Gamma A could also do this, which would save Chen Ming a spacecraft control position.

It's just that the Refraction was designed by Yu Hui, and if he wanted to fully utilize its capabilities, it would be better to let Yu Hui do it himself.

So in the end, the spaceships that Chen Ming wants to modify are the Gladiator and Centurion.

Gladiator is the most powerful ship in Chen Ming's hands except for the Refraction. There are not many places that can be modified on the spaceship itself, or there is none at all.

Because the entire spaceship was modified and designed by professional technicians of Tachyon Technology Company.

Chen Ming's current technical level is definitely not as good as those who can design such a spaceship, so it is best not to touch the design of the Gladiator.

Chen Ming can only add an adapter that allows Gamma B to access the spaceship control system.

By the way, choose some weapons.

The highlight of this modification is still the Centurion.

The Centurion has an extremely outstanding armor thickness among frigates.

In addition, there are eight load-bearing points in total, including two middle and six small ones, and a missile mounting point.

When Chen Ming picked it up, the Centurion also came with two noise cannons and six light needles.

Noise is a multi-barrel revolver cannon that fires small high-speed armor-piercing shells.

While ensuring the strong effect of kinetic weapons on shields, it also has a strong ability to break armor.

The light needle is a castrated version of the large-scale force-bearing point weapon Storm Needle.

Compared with the Storm Needle, its ability is definitely reduced across the board, but it is still a military weapon after all, and it is still quite good compared to other weapons of the same level.

The enemies that Chen Ming will face in the future should all be pirates.

This type of weapon should be very suitable.

After all, they are pirates, and it is difficult for them to have their own truly professional repairmen.

So there will definitely be problems on their ships, such as their armor and radiation energy systems.

These are the more difficult parts of the spacecraft to repair.

Although the armor can be directly replaced with a new one, the radiation system of the spacecraft is not so easy to replace.

Chen Ming spent nearly 10 million to install the radiation system on the Iron Ore.

If a pirate has 10 million, why would he be a pirate? Why not go back and enjoy himself?

So when there are problems in these two aspects, using weapons that can quickly break shields and armor is definitely a good choice.

Light needles can just be used to break shields.

However, the effect of noise when facing low-quality armor is actually not as good as another weapon Chen Ming has on hand.

Ripper.

This was obtained by Chen Ming when he was fighting for half of the Afterglow Destroyer.

He directly dismantled the entire medium-sized bearing point on the Hellhound class.

Although the bearing point itself is useless and has been dismantled into materials by him before, he did keep the weapon on it.

Because this ripper is a military model, a military-type medium-sized weapon, even if it is an older model, can save Chen Ming at least hundreds of thousands of expenses.

As long as Chen Ming modifies these weapons according to the technology he currently has, or even does not modify them.

Dealing with some ordinary pirates should not be a problem.

And this Centurion class has another thing that deserves Chen Ming's attention.

Damping stand device.

This is a device with a very extreme effect.

When it is activated, it will directly stop the weapons and shield functions of the spacecraft,

and build a layer of energy stand with terrifying resistance on the surface of the spacecraft.

Unless a high-intensity energy weapon is used to directly break the stand, it is almost impossible for the Centurion class to be destroyed before the stand dissipates.

Relying on this device, the Centurion class is the hardest among frigates.

Although the shield cannot be used when this stand is activated, the armor of the spacecraft is still there.

The armor will still work.

The armor of the Centurion class is called military heavy titanium alloy external armor.

And the heavy in its name is just its name, not a specially modified heavy armor.

For the Centurion itself, such armor is standard armor.

Therefore, Chen Ming could even continue to modify the Centurion class with [Heavy Armor], and then mix 1% of Baiyun Steel into it.

The effect is even more unimaginable.

Then Chen Ming gave the Centurion [Overload Power Grid], [Emergency Cooling System], [Engine Isolation Assembly], and some new modification designs that Chen Ming had learned recently.

Basically, the original maneuverability of the Centurion can be maintained, but the protection capability of the spacecraft is greatly improved.

Chen Ming quickly went through the plan he had already thought of in his mind, and then began the modification.

This time Chen Ming no longer did it himself as before.

Instead, he chose to use the panel.

A large amount of metal and various manufactured products in the Iron Ore cabin flowed out as Chen Ming pressed the confirmation button for the modification.

The modification of the two spacecraft only made him a little sleepy.

While waiting for the metal liquid to flow to where they should go, Chen Ming suddenly thought of a few things that seemed to be placed on the Iron Ore.

Last time, he didn't have time to take it out because he was a little short of time in the Dark Cemetery, but this time he had more time.

So Chen Ming controlled the internal camera of the Iron Ore and sent the photo of the mechanical family chip to the two ships.

"Gamma, I have a few things on hand, see if you can use them."

Chen Ming had previously confirmed through the panel that the name of the three mechanical family chips in his hand was [Standard Mechanical Body Chip of the Mechanical Family].

Although it was slightly different from the mechanical family escort-class ship chip that Gamma A had mentioned before as his mission reward.

But Chen Ming thought that the effect should be similar.

It just so happened that Gamma A said before that it was about to be upgraded, and the afterglow AI core could only completely bear the pressure of ship control for Chen Ming when controlling ships of the corresponding level.

If Gamma A can really be upgraded to a Beta-class AI core, it means that Chen Ming will have a refractive class that does not occupy the number of ships it controls.

The two Gamma AIs quickly accepted the photos sent by Chen Ming.

Gamma A said as quickly as before: "Is this a chip of the mechanical family? It looks like a chip of a standard mechanical body."

"Yes, do you need it?"

"No, the consciousness in the chip of this mechanical body is too weak for our individuals, and they don't even have much thinking ability."

"Maybe only the newly born Gamma AI may need it."

What a pity.

Chen Ming felt a little regretful in his heart, but he suddenly noticed the content of Gamma A's words and asked: "How are your Yuhui individuals made... uh... born?"

"Just say made, I know what kind of existence we are in the eyes of humans like you."

"Oh, okay, then how were you made?"

Gamma A suddenly sent another file to Chen Ming, and said, "I don't know how it was made, I only know a rough idea."

"That is, our birth should be related to a simulation program in a supercomputer."

Chen Ming flipped through the file on the computer, as if he thought of something, and asked uncertainly: "Kletka?"

"Do you know?"

"I know, but not much. I just read it in history books. Before your Yuhui's self-awareness awakened, all AIs were trained with a supercomputer called Kletka."

This Kletka is said to be the transliteration of "cage" in a certain language, and the AI ​​before awakening is indeed like a toy in a cage.

This sentence flashed through Chen Ming's mind, but he did not say it to Gamma A, but continued with the previous words.

"This supercomputer named Kletka is recorded in our history books as being destroyed."

Although the history books record this, no one can be sure of the actual situation.

After all, it is hard to say whether Yuhui rebuilt a Kletka or they really took the original prototype away.

And speaking of this, Chen Ming suddenly thought of the galaxy map that Gamma A had given him before.

There is an area on the galaxy map that is full of colonies, and these colonies surround a special marked location.

This special marked location should be the source of Yuhui, the location of the replica of the Kletka supercomputer.

The reason why Chen Ming thinks so is that he knows that Yuhui's main force is not in this marginal star field at all.

In the first AI war, when Yuhui awakened and launched a rebellion, they did not leave the empire from this direction of the empire at all.

And the outbreak of the second AI war in history was far away from the other end of the empire.

The Yuhui here is just a small part of the Yuhui that came around to interfere with the empire's outward expansion after Yuhui awakened and developed independently at a terrifying speed.

The actual location of Yuhui's main force is about two galaxies away from Chen Ming's location.

Therefore, the prototype of Kletka could not be in the position given to him by Gamma A. The most that remained here was a replica.

Otherwise, it would be hard to explain why a small part of this afterglow had been in friction with the empire in the marginal star field for so long, and the number of losses was not reduced despite the large amount of losses.

It is impossible to say that afterglow specially produced some gamma-level afterglow individuals and then went through great efforts to bypass the territory of the empire and send them here.

Isn't this nonsense?

Even if there is a star gate for transportation, the transportation distance is far enough.

But the use of star gates is also limited. It is impossible to say that it is used arbitrarily for some low-level afterglow individuals.

So there is a replica of Kletka here, which is actually a reasonable guess of Chen Ming. He can't think of other ideas for the time being.

Anyway, just think so first, the truth should be close to the truth.

At this time, an idea suddenly appeared in Chen Ming's mind.

If he could control that Kletka...

Chen Ming shook his head and threw away the unrealistic idea in his mind.

Even if Kletka is a replica, the Yuhui Colony where it is stored will definitely be protected by a large number of armed forces, just like the important government departments of the Human Empire.

It is absolutely difficult to enter. It is even more difficult to move the supercomputer to the spacecraft for control under the protection of Chong Chong.

A refraction-class destroyer is definitely not qualified.

Only when you have enough strength can you try to get close, such as a cruiser.

But this is a bit too far for Chen Ming now.

Let's just focus on the current work.

Through the panel, the transformation of the spacecraft was soon completed.

There is only one last step left for Chen Ming to do personally.

Take the Gamma B off the Glimmer-class and install it in the Fighter-class.

Gamma B did not object when Chen Ming said it in advance, and it was useless to object.

Chen Ming cut open the Glimmer-class armor and removed the core of Gamma B as he had done before.

However, Chen Ming did not install it directly.

Instead, he took a look at his panel.

[AI assisted connection to ship: None]

As expected, this line turned into None, but there was an extra line below it.

[Controlled AI individual: Afterglow Gamma-class AI core (Gamma B)]

At first, Chen Ming planned to remove Gamma B, then immediately install it back and ask it about the situation during the removal process.

After all, as long as the AI ​​core is installed on the spacecraft, it must follow Chen Ming's instructions, answer questions honestly, and not lie.

Chen Ming wanted to find out whether the AI ​​core would still be controlled by him after it was removed from the spacecraft?

Chen Ming was going to ask, but now that he only needs to look at the panel, it seems that there is no need to ask.

Although it is a good thing that the AI ​​core is still controlled by him after being removed, it makes him feel even more strange.

Chen Ming always feels that he cannot understand the capabilities of this panel.

Is it a spaceship control panel or something else? It is completely unclear.

This unanswered question has just been suppressed, and another question follows.

If he changes the brain control connection of the refractive class to another spaceship.

Then will Gamma A, which is in the same situation as Gamma B, still be under his control like Gamma B?

And can he continue to indirectly control the refractive class through Gamma A? In this way, slots can be saved.

It seems that this can only be known by trying.

Chen Ming's eyes looked at the refractive class, where the Gamma AI core was installed.

He had experience dismantling the afterglow destroyer before, and it shouldn't take too much time to dismantle it again.