Bai Quan's question did not surprise Chen Ming.

Since the day he took Cheng Xinghe away, Chen Ming had been thinking about when the Fourteenth Legion would come knocking on his door.

So Chen Ming has already thought about what attitude he should take to deal with this matter.

"I know what you want to ask and who you want to ask, but there is one thing you must understand first."

"Before, the military of the Galo-2 star zone took the initiative to attack me and the fleet of the Xinda Company. At that time, for some reason, the commander of the star zone military fleet was Cheng Xinghe."

"The company may have settled the matter with you, but for me, there is still no explanation for this matter,"

Chen Ming's words made the atmosphere between him and Bai Quan gradually serious.

Baiquan seemed very rational and restrained and said: "I don't deny this."

"But just like we have resolved the conflict with Xinda Company, I will definitely be able to give you a satisfactory answer that you can accept."

"As long as Cheng Xinghe can come back safely."

For Chen Ming, there were two main purposes for him to capture Cheng Xinghe's escape pod.

One is Cheng Xinghe’s command ability, and the other is Cheng Xinghe’s own value, human value and identity value.

The value of human resources can be ignored, but the value of his identity is not low, so Chen Ming must talk about this aspect.

So Chen Ming followed Bai Quan's meaning and said, "Cheng Xinghe's safety can be fully guaranteed. Yu Hui is not interested in my spoils of war. So what?"

The meaning of Chen Ming's last sentence was very clear. If the Fourteenth Legion wanted Cheng Xinghe, who had actively attacked him, to return safely, it would definitely have to pay some price.

Otherwise, Chen Ming could just throw Cheng Xinghe's escape pod away and the Fourteenth Legion would go looking for him.

"It's up to you to decide, Mr. Chen Ming."

After getting the answer, Baiquan chose to kick the ball back and said, "After all, I'm not sure what you need."

If the 14th Corps takes the initiative to ask for compensation in this regard, then Chen Ming can wait for the price to rise until he is satisfied.

However, Chen Ming gave up this idea because the fleet Chen Ming was in had already arrived in the galaxy and was taking Chen Ming to his final destination. Chen Ming would soon run out of time.

Moreover, repeatedly wrangling with the 14th Legion, a legion that is at its peak in the empire, just to gain some possible small profits would make the relationship between Chen Ming and them rather strained.

This is definitely a huge loss.

So Chen Ming thought about it and decided to use Cheng Xinghe's help to get from the Fourteenth Legion what he should have gotten from Cheng Xinghe, and at the same time ask for some extra benefits.

"I need to learn some techniques on spaceship combat and spaceship command."

Baiquan was a little surprised and asked, "Are you interested in this?"

He had mentioned Chen Ming's abilities when he talked about Chen Ming with the lieutenant general before.

They did think that Chen Ming's abilities were suitable to be the commander of the fleet to a certain extent.

However, a person's energy is limited, and it is difficult to balance command and technology, two completely unrelated aspects.

So what he was thinking at the time was that if Chen Ming specialized in technology and then cooperated with other professional commanders, the effect would be very good.

But they didn't expect that Chen Ming really wanted to take care of both sides.

However, it was impossible for him to interfere with other people's thoughts, and it was he who took the initiative to ask Chen Ming to tell him what he needed.

So Baiquan didn't refuse directly, but said: "This is no problem for us."

“We can provide all the instruction in command specialties at our own officer school, including professional techniques and expertise.”

"And there will be professional instructors, retired or active military personnel, to teach."

“We can provide one-on-one teaching, and online teaching is also possible.”

"But there is something I need to tell you in advance."

"Our military academy trains officers for at least five years."

“If there is no foundation, it may take longer.”

"are you sure?"

Chen Ming certainly knew that it would take a long time to train an officer, and he had thought about these issues before.

But he thought of other things, too.

For example, in the future, if he encounters a situation like Cheng Xinghe again.

And at that time, if his ability was not enough, or for some reason, his mental energy had been consumed a lot.

Without psychic powers and without a strong enough commander to take on the challenge, the outcome would probably not be very good.

Therefore, Chen Ming’s fleet must have a commander with sufficient capabilities, whether it is Chen Ming or any of the Yuhui individuals.

Chen Ming considered the fact that he himself was not suitable for command.

So it’s great for him to be able to teach online.

The instructor never knows whether there is a person or something else sitting across the screen.

Afterglow AI is similar to humans in many ways. It is not enough to just record data. It also needs to learn, and may be able to learn command techniques.

If this still doesn't work, Chen Ming will think of other options later.

So Chen Ming answered quickly: "No problem."

"But the value of Cheng Xinghe shouldn't be limited to this, right?"

Baiquan had no objection to this and said, "That's right, so we can provide our military academy with all the rewards that an outstanding student with top grades deserves during the learning process."

"It includes ships, simulation facilities, professional sparring partners, and some scattered learning support."

Chen Ming was immediately attracted by the ships Bai Quan mentioned and asked, "What ships can you provide?"

"All specifications must be in accordance with the rules of our Fourteenth Legion."

"Under normal circumstances, an outstanding graduate can obtain a total of five ships from us from the time he enters the academy to the time he graduates from the military academy."

"They are all spaceships that we developed and improved ourselves. There are four escort ships and one destroyer."

"All of them can choose specific models according to their own driving habits and needs."

These conditions made Chen Ming at a loss for words for a moment.

The four frigates that Bai Quan mentioned are nothing, but a destroyer modified by the Fourteenth Legion is something that Chen Ming is jealous of even now.

But Baiquan didn't stop talking after he mentioned these spaceships.

"In fact, the value of these spacecraft is not high. The high value lies in the simulation equipment we provide."

“It is possible to simulate the space environment and ship data on a large scale and in detail, and to achieve simulated command and combat.”

"The area that can be simulated in detail currently is approximately two star regions."

Bai Quan knew that it was meaningless to just talk about it, so he just explained it briefly to let Chen Ming understand the general effect of this thing.

"This equipment is very necessary for training officers, but it also consumes a lot of resources."

"Once or twice is fine, but it takes much more than one or two times to train an officer."

"The frequent and repeated large-scale simulations take up the most resources of the supercomputers in the background."

“Even top students are limited in the number of combat simulations they can conduct each year.”

"But we can provide it to you as many times as you want, as long as you use it seriously."

Bai Quan listed all the benefits they could provide in one breath.

After a short pause, he continued, "But I actually have something I want to confirm with you, which is your future development plan."

Bai Quan did not wait for Chen Ming to speak, and said, "You should have realized that you can't go back to Xinda Company."

"Your ability to control a spacecraft means you won't be able to get a job with any company that needs to sell spacecraft."

"But our Fourteenth Corps does not have this problem."

"Whether you want to learn command techniques, fly a spaceship, or research a spaceship, our corps can satisfy you in these aspects."

"And we will definitely settle all previous accounts with you. We won't say that just because you join us, all the accounts between us will be written off."

"We will definitely give you additional compensation in other aspects. The Fourteenth Legion will not let its own people suffer losses."

Bai Quan invited Chen Ming.

Chen Ming did not hesitate at all and said, "I can't give you an answer to this question right now."

Chen Ming's words did not completely reject it, but still left some reservations.

His idea is actually very simple.

Whether or not Baiquan’s proposal will be considered depends on subsequent situations.

Because Chen Ming is still uncertain about whether he can control the afterglow of the entire star field with the afterglow he currently has.

If it can be done, that would be great. Chen Ming would not have to join the 14th Legion at all.

He himself might become the "Fourteenth Legion" in the future.

But if that doesn't work, Chen Ming must leave a way out somewhere.

Many times, we cannot say things for sure. Who knows what will happen suddenly tomorrow?

Especially since he is still trying to dig out Yu Hui's roots, having one more way out now will give him more chances of survival in the future.

And what we do depends on the situation.

If all of Chen Ming's arrangements and plans with Yu Hui fail, then there is really nothing to say. He can just follow the company or the 14th Legion.

But now it's different.

The number of Afterglow AIs controlled by Chen Ming is steadily increasing, and Gamma Z has also completed several tasks.

After all, it has been among humans for many years. Even if it has not yet been upgraded to the Beta level, it is not far away.

After all, Yuhui's optimization of its own logic and substitution of its own computing power are two things they are doing all the time.

Therefore, given that the overall situation was improving, there was no need for Chen Ming to agree to Bai Quan.

Although there was no explicit rejection, Chen Ming's answer still made Bai Quan feel a little regretful.

For him, in addition to rescuing Chen Ming, inviting Chen Ming to join the legion is also a task that must be completed.

Fortunately, he should have another chance later.

It is said that the Psychic Society has not yet recruited Chen Ming.

Although Tachyon Technologies has ideas, they have basically withdrawn from the competition as a company.

The government cannot play a key role in the rescue and is not competitive with their 14th Corps.

So there is a high possibility that they will get Chen Ming in the end.

There was no way they would let a psychic like this go.

The topic returned to the compensation that Baiquan had just proposed.

After being rejected by Chen Ming, Bai Quan added a few words about the various incentive measures of the 14th Army Officer School and asked Chen Ming: "So what is your opinion?"

He was thinking the same thing as Baiquan; the ships they provided were indeed unimportant.

But Chen Ming is still considering whether the simulation environment is necessary for him.

After all, people in the military academy are students, but Chen Ming is not.

Therefore, Chen Ming could directly engage in actual combat with the pirates instead of using simulation equipment.

However, after thinking carefully about the pirates' fighting power, he changed his target to Yu Hui and the mechanical race.

Fighting them should have a similar effect to the simulation.

But finding the same level of afterglow and efficiency of the mechanical clan that is suitable for Chen Ming is just something I can only think about.

And Baiquan seemed to have mentioned just now that there was a professional sparring partner.

Someone who can teach Cheng Xinghe to this level should be stronger than Cheng Xinghe, right? At least he must be stronger than the pirates and the small-scale Yuhui or mechanical fleet that Chen Ming went back to find.

Moreover, the simulation equipment can also simulate battles of similar scale, which is definitely much more convenient than Chen Ming going out to find a fight and use medicine.

If these conditions can really be met, then it is not a loss if you do the math.

"Okay, no problem, just follow this."

Chen Ming agreed and did not ask for anything else.

Human greed is like a snake swallowing an elephant. Once you are satisfied, there is no need to create more trouble.

Bai Quan nodded slightly and said, "It's settled. We will meet all your needs after the rescue is over. Can you let me check Cheng Xinghe's situation?"

"I don't have the ability to directly transmit data yet... Wait, let me try."

Chen Ming was halfway through his words when he suddenly thought of a possibility and immediately saved the video footage of the sixty-three escape pods in the Buffalo cargo hold next door.

At the same time, an additional video was recorded of Cheng Xinghe being frozen in the escape capsule, and several photos were taken.

All these images and video files are stored in a data storage module, commonly known as a hard disk.

Then Chen Ming modified the hard drive and installed it on the Mule.

Finally, I chose to uninstall this modification and let the hard drive remain in the cargo hold.

Chen Ming contacted Lao Wu who was still in the repair shop and said, "Lao Wu, go take a look at my mule, there is something on the ground."

Old Wu has been very idle lately. After Chen Ming ran away, he returned to his previous habit of slacking off.

Except when he is helping Chen Ming with things, he is rarely seen at other times.

Chen Ming's contact made Old Wu take action immediately.

After boarding the spacecraft, he responded quickly.

"I found something. What is this?"

"Try to read it."

Old Wu was silent for a few seconds and then said, "There are some photos. Who is this? He looks like someone from the 14th Legion."

Done.

Chen Ming felt a little excited, as he had found a place where he could display his abilities.

"Don't worry about it. Give this thing to the factory manager. The rest is none of your business."

"All right."

Old Wu glanced at the label on Cheng Xinghe’s chest in the photo.

Out of habit, I wrote down all the contents above and quickly arrived at the administration building with the hard drive.

Old Wu walked into the office as usual without knocking.

After noticing that there was someone inside, he immediately pretended to be serious and his eyes stayed on the officer of the 14th Legion for a while.

He then gave the terminal to the factory manager as Chen Ming requested and left the room.

But he didn't go far. He quietly left the door a crack and eavesdropped at the door.

Soon, Chen Ming said to Bai Quan who had been waiting for a while: "It's done. The photos have been sent to the space station. The officer you arranged to contact me can see them."

Baiquan did not doubt this and said, "Okay, give me some time to confirm it."

Chen Ming didn't say anything and watched Bai Quan disappear in front of the screen.

After waiting for about five minutes, Baiquan came back here again.

"I've confirmed it here, no problem."

"So this matter is settled?"

"Yes."

Bai Quan seemed to be relieved, but before ending the communication, he suddenly said, "By the way, there is one more thing I want to ask Mr. Chen Ming about your opinion. It's a private matter."

"That's your opinion of Cheng Xinghe."

Chen Ming frowned slightly and said, "What do you think?"

"My opinion of him is that he is very powerful and can negate all the advantages brought by my psychic powers, but that's all."

“Others, not so good.”

Chen Ming's words were spoken in a more tactful manner because he had just reached a deal with Bai Quan.

"You all know what happened to him before, so I won't say more."

"If that's all, it's fine. After all, you're dealing with it now."

"but."

"I was thinking that many of you in the Fourteenth Legion should be smart people, right? The Fourteenth Legion is the most powerful legion in the empire right now."

"So Cheng Xinghe must also be a smart man, otherwise you wouldn't have to mention him specifically and come to me to confirm his safety. You see, you didn't ask specifically about the other people who were with him."

"A captain who is noticed by a major general must have good brains."

"So, I think the previous battle between the military and the company might have been an accident, or it might have been arranged by the rebellious military personnel."

“But the process of continuing is different.”

Bai Quan realized what Chen Ming meant, but it was not easy for him to explain himself at this time, so he could only continue listening.

"When the man from the star zone army was convicted of treason, Cheng Xinghe immediately commanded the fleet to stop fighting with the company's fleet."

"That shows one thing, he was able to stop the fight earlier."

"But he didn't."

"He knew the situation clearly. He was being used as a pawn but he accepted it and went against me."

“This makes me very uncomfortable.”

"That's it, that's how I feel about him."

Seeing that Bai Quan seemed to have something in mind, Chen Ming added, "Of course I know the difference very well."

"My private relationship with him, my conflict with him, has nothing to do with what's going on in public. These are two different things."

"The open issue has been resolved. Even if there is hatred between him and me in private, it will not affect the transaction between you and me in public. You don't have to worry."

Although Bai Quan heard Chen Ming's assurance, he still said, "Is that so? But I think it's best to give you an explanation for this matter."

Chen Ming also realized Bai Quan's deeper meaning at this time and said, "I don't really care."

"I'm just doing business with you. I don't know him. He has been frozen in the escape pod and has never said a word. I won't know him in the future."

"And if, I mean if, I consider your suggestion later, the Fourteenth Legion shouldn't be so small that I must stay with him, right?"

Bai Quan didn't know how to say it directly at this time.

But Chen Ming's statement did conflict with his later thoughts, as well as the thoughts of that lieutenant general, or the people in the entire 14th Corps who knew about this matter.

Almost everyone in the Fourteenth Legion is counting on Cheng Xinghe to work with Chen Ming in the future.

But if things continue to go in this direction, something is wrong.

So Bai Quan did not answer Chen Ming's question, but said sincerely: "If someone on our side did something wrong, then he must give you a proper explanation."

Chen Ming raised his eyebrows and said, "It's up to you."

Chen Ming also did not completely reject this, which made Bai Quan feel a little relieved.

However, it is still difficult for him to deal with Chen Ming's affairs now, after all, he knows everything Cheng Xinghe has done.

Although Caomuhui usually likes to command the fleet in battle, it is not normal for him to want to fight every time he sees someone.

And he has always possessed the calmness that a commander needs most.

It’s just that it may be because Chen Ming’s identity as a psychic is too sensitive for Cheng Xinghe.

He had just lost to a psychic not long ago, and it was someone he was very familiar with.

So he wanted too much to defeat a psychic and prove himself.

This is what ultimately led to this situation.

Therefore, we still have to wait until the rescue is successful, give sufficient compensation, and put the previous events behind us completely.

Only then could he continue to solve Cheng Xinghe's problem.

Baiquan quickly said goodbye and ended the communication.

The officer in the factory director's office also received the order to return home after completing the mission. After chatting with the factory director for a few words, he left the office.

The people in the company just nodded to the factory manager and left.

The only people left in the office were the factory director and Old Wu, who had been waiting at the door for a long time but had not heard any useful information.

And Chen Ming who is communicating with the factory director.

Before Chen Ming hung up the phone, Old Wu rushed to the factory director and asked Chen Ming, "Xiao Ming, are you in a bad condition? Do you need the 14th Army to rescue you?"

When Chen Ming heard Old Wu's question, he first glanced at the camera on the Iron Ore Ship to confirm that he had about ten minutes of free time. Then he said to Old Wu, "I'm actually fine."

"I am making all my own arrangements slowly, mainly to give those who want to rescue me some peace of mind, and to cooperate with them at the same time."

"With my ability, Yu Hui will definitely not give up easily, so even though it's really hard for me to walk now, my safety is still guaranteed."

"It's hard to talk about many things here. If you have any questions, come to my boat to discuss."

Old Wu raised his lips and said, "That's good. I don't want to see you die so early."

"Don't worry, I won't die that easily."

"I still have a lot of things to do."

(End of this chapter)