All the participants left the meeting room soon.

Bai Quan was left alone in the conference room to sort out the current intelligence situation.

After reviewing the plan and making sure there were no omissions, he also left the meeting room with the documents.

Baiquan will be the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet in the future, so his schedule will be very busy.

He needs to hurry up and finish some other work.

For example, what he was about to do was to inspect the dock that would be used to house several battleships that were about to be delivered.

The current base of the 14th Legion was taken directly from the star zone military.

Although the star zone military has no capital ships to call upon, there is still a dock for capital ship-class spacecraft in orbit around the star.

It has not been used for many years, so after it is reopened, the maintenance and renovation of the entire dock must be ensured.

When Baiquan just took over here, he had already started to let professionals take charge of this work.

However, due to the huge workload, it has not been completed until today.

So he had to check it out himself.

This is to prevent the three battleships from arriving and finding that they have nowhere to park.

After arranging a few immediate matters, Bai Quan took his guards and boarded a high-speed frigate that had been prepared in advance, took off, and flew out of the stronghold under the protection of the dome.

Flying towards the orbit of the volcanic planet beneath their feet.

Flying towards the giant space building in orbit around the star.

The scale of this giant space building is close to that of a normal space station, and is only a quarter of the size of a pirate space station.

But this is not a pirate space station with thirty space arms with different professional functions and an entire city.

This space building is just a dock.

The purpose is to carry the main battleship's hull that is over 10,000 meters long.

At the same time, the giant dock is also equipped with some defensive measures such as fixed artillery, which can also be regarded as a line of defense for the planet below.

Previously, the star zone military only maintained this part that could be used for combat, and the battleship dock was basically in a semi-abandoned state.

Otherwise, there would be no need for the 14th Legion to spend so much time maintaining the entire shipyard after taking over.

This also shows how corrupt the star zone’s military had become before.

When the people on the frigate could see the giant dock with their naked eyes.

Baiquan raised his head from the document on the terminal in his hand.

At this time, in addition to being able to see the appearance of the entire giant dock, he could also see a large number of engineering ships distributed in various corners outside the dock.

Lasers probing the structure and sparks from the joining of plates continued to appear outside the dock.

Maintenance and renovation work on the giant dock continues.

Bai Quan took a quick look and asked the guard who was acting as the driver to drive the frigate directly into the dock through an entrance for small and medium-sized spacecraft on the side of the dock.

Bai Quan was allowed to pass through many obstacle courses that were required to inspect the spacecraft, allowing him to quickly enter the innermost part of the giant dock.

This is where the staff inside the giant dock usually work and live.

After being received by the person in charge of dock maintenance, Baiquan said hello to him and borrowed a destroyer-class engineering ship.

He continued to let a guard following him drive the car, while he himself sat in the co-pilot seat.

Bai Quan took the engineering ship and came to the empty space inside the dock used for the main battleship.

There are also a large number of engineering ships working here.

They range from the smallest shuttle boats to cruiser-class engineering vessels.

Depending on the size and equipment installed on the engineering ship, it is responsible for different tasks.

In addition to repairing the walls next to the dock, these engineering ships inside also need to repair the countless ship repair equipment that is usually hidden in the dock walls, occupying most of the area.

Although the size of a battleship dictates that it must have the ability to self-repair, these maintenance equipment are still necessary for the battleship's external armor and some other external equipment.

Although Bai Quan is not a professional maintenance technician, after years of service as a soldier, he has a general understanding of the equipment used to repair spacecraft.

He could see that the repairs inside the dock were approaching the final stage.

It can basically be guaranteed to be completed before the arrival of several subsequent battleships.

After seeing that the situation was not bad, Bai Quan continued to have the guards drive the engineering ship around the interior, and then planned to go outside to check some places that he had not seen when he came in just now.

At this moment, very close to Baiquan's engineering ship, almost right above his head where equipment and lines were densely distributed, a huge amount of electric sparks suddenly burst out.

Several engineering ships that were nearby were quickly evacuated, and a large amount of fire-fighting foam was poured directly on it.

The situation was quickly brought under control.

Accidents are inevitable in the case of long-term lack of maintenance.

Since Bai Quan had just seen that the maintenance work in other places was almost completed, even if there were some accidents in this place, they would definitely be dealt with quickly.

Bai Quan did not stay any longer and said to the guard in charge of driving: "Move aside and let's continue."

The guards immediately carried out the order and flew towards the outside of the giant dock that Baiquan requested.

But before the engineering ship could speed up, a huge amount of electric arcs suddenly erupted at the location where the fire had just been extinguished.

The electric arc broke through the vacuum and hit several engineering ships that approached after the fire was extinguished.

The same dazzling arcs of electricity flashed on several ships, and their engines instantly shut down.

The burning hull and minor explosions caused by electric arcs penetrating the hull of the engineering ship caused several ships to lose control.

One of the cruiser-class engineering ships accurately smashed into Baiquan's location.

Even if the engineering ship that was coming down was the size of a cruiser, it wouldn't be difficult to dodge it.

However, at the moment the guard wanted to control the spacecraft, a large area of ​​red suddenly appeared on the control panel in front of him.

All control equipment lost contact at this time.

At the same time, the electric arc that was constantly spreading on the cruiser-class engineering ship also hit the engineering ship where Baiquan was located, and both ships completely lost control.

The engineering ship that Bai Quan was on was hit by a cruiser-class engineering ship and was crushed directly into the wall on the side of the dock.

The engineering ship’s external communications were cut off and contact was lost, and Bai Quan’s life or death was unknown.

The emergency situation here in the 14th Corps was quickly and completely confined within the 14th Corps’ base, and no news was spread out.

And at least for a while, this matter will not spread.

Two days later.

During his afternoon study time, Chen Ming completed his previously planned research on shields.

That is the "Feasibility Study on Distinguishing Multiple Layers of Micro-Difference Shield Amplitude Frequency within a Single Layer Shield".

After all, it was just a product of Chen Ming's university graduation period, and it was a flawed existence, so the research speed was very fast.

So now he can carry out this modification on his spaceship, which is named [Layered Shield Generator] on the panel.

This modification can make a shield that appears to have only one layer actually produce different shield amplitude frequencies inside.

It is equivalent to cutting a thick layer of armor into pieces, forming multiple layers of thinner armor.

However, unlike armor, the shield will not be damaged as long as the attack it withstands is not continuous or too powerful.

Then, even if the shield sustains damage that exceeds its own limit, it can offset all the subsequent overflow damage and will not cause the armor under the shield to bear it.

Chen Ming's shield can have similar effects many times.

Divide the shield into different layers, and connect the different layers to the spacecraft's radiation energy system in sections.

When one shield layer is overloaded, other shield layers can continue to take damage.

The biggest advantage of this shield is that it can take on a lot of extra damage when facing weapons that are particularly effective against shields but have a lower attack frequency.

Of course, this thing has its shortcomings.

There are multiple layers of different amplitude frequencies inside the shield, which will cause the strength of the shield itself to be reduced to a certain extent.

And it is not very effective against high-frequency attacks, and it will only have a particularly significant effect when facing low-frequency attacks.

But no matter what, this is just the product of Chen Ming's university graduation thesis, and it is also the first result of his research.

So Chen Ming felt that he could still use the shield as a transitional support for his spaceship.

Moreover, Chen Ming now has some ideas about the shield design that can resist high-frequency attacks.

As long as the new shield is developed, he can use these two shields alternately.

At the same time, continue to develop more powerful shields in the future.

Chen Ming removed his hands from the control panel in the research institute's work area in front of him and directly modified the actual shield he had already manufactured onto the Iron Ore.

After briefly testing the effect, Chen Ming put down the work at hand and took a break.

During the break, Chen Ming took a look at the situation at Gamma Z.

Two days later, Gamma Z has been successfully upgraded to Beta level.

At this time, it has returned to the Afterglow Galaxy where the Energy Crystal Crab Planet is located.

The amount of afterglow controlled by Chen Ming in this galaxy has more than tripled in the past two days.

The Energy Crystal Crab planet has been fully controlled by Chen Ming, and there is not a single afterglow on the entire planet that is out of Chen Ming's control.

Any foreign afterglow that dares to land directly on the planet will not escape the fate of being controlled by Chen Ming.

There are still many areas that need to be developed on the other two colony planets, but since we already have the Energy Crystal Crab Planet, it is only a matter of time before the remaining two planets are completely controlled.

So in this case, when the Gamma Z comes back to this galaxy.

Chen Ming directly asked it to be responsible for overall planning and began to make arrangements for the Alpha-level afterglow inside the galaxy.

Chen Ming handed the matter over to Gamma Z. After all, he had no idea about Yuhui's rules, and any arbitrary interference would only have side effects.

Although what Gamma Z has to do seems difficult, it actually has some simple aspects.

The difficulty lies in the fact that Gamma Z needs to find an afterglow with permission and come up with a reasonable reason to allow it to enter the space station that is not open to the public.

The simple part is that after Yu Hui, who has the authority, enters the space station, he only needs to find an opportunity to access the center of the space station.

Then all the afterglow of the entire space station will be controlled by Chen Ming, regardless of level.

So it can be said that Gamma Z had an easy time completing Chen Ming's task.

It took it half a day to find a suitable afterglow, and it just so happened that this afterglow had a mission to go to that space station.

Therefore, the entire galaxy can be said to have completely fallen into Chen Ming's hands.

Alpha-level Afterglow was also controlled by Chen Ming, and the mental drain on Chen Ming from controlling it was no different from that of other Afterglow AIs.

I still think that just this one galaxy is far from enough.

There are three colonies in this galaxy, all of which are industrial colonies.

It mainly produces ores and various spacecraft hulls, weapons and fuels.

There is no industrial facility in the entire galaxy that can produce all of these.

At the same time, there is also a lack of some materials necessary for industrial production, and material transportation from other afterglow galaxies is also needed.

Therefore, once Chen Ming makes any move, Yu Hui will not even need to directly attack the galaxy. As long as the transportation of supplies is blocked, the several colonies within the galaxy will soon collapse.

So even if Chen Ming controls this galaxy, he can only leave it there for now and let it continue to develop normally.

At the same time, Alpha Yuhui, who is controlled by Chen Ming, must ensure that everything is normal and Yuhui must not discover any abnormalities.

Continue to hide, and continue to spread out as the afterglow controlled by Chen Ming to provide support.

But Chen Ming also asked them to be prepared at all times.

Because the Alpha-class afterglow can control cruisers, and there is a spare one in this space station.

When Chen Ming is in need, that is, when Yu Hui intends to attack him, the cruiser can immediately come to rescue Chen Ming.

It was just because the 14th Corps was also carrying out rescue work, so Chen Ming was not in a hurry to leave.

Anyway, he has already kept this second means of life-saving.

As long as the situation was not so urgent that he was forced to use unstable hyperspace jump drive, he could always wait for a cruiser equipped with stable jump drive to rescue him.

Of course, if these afterglows can be avoided, try not to expose them.

The longer it is delayed, the wider the range they spread, the more afterglow they control, and the more benefits Chen Ming will get.

And now, at least within this galaxy, Chen Ming is the one in charge.

He can use his authority to provide some conveniences to Gamma Z in the galaxy, such as some mechanical chips that it needs now.

Alpha-level Afterglow has the right to manage these things, and as long as the accounts are settled in the end, no problems will be noticed.

At the same time, there are many other benefits waiting for Chen Ming to discover slowly.

Of course, this takes time to research and complete.

So Chen Ming gave this task to Gamma Z again, and asked it to cooperate with the Alpha-level afterglow to see if there was anything that Chen Ming could take away.

Chen Ming's main focus at present is still on researching new technologies and improving his own skills.

One day later.

After breakfast, Chen Ming walked inside the institute, thinking about his work while also thinking about today.

Today is three days since he started his research on the shield, and it is also the tenth day since he and Baiquan had talked about it.

Previously, the Fourteenth Legion estimated that Yu Hui's psychic equipment would be delivered in half a month, which is five days later.

Until then, he'd better...

Chen Ming's idea had just begun to emerge when he suddenly noticed that there was something new in the experimental area of ​​the institute.

At some point in the previously empty space, a new device that he had never seen before appeared.

And that location was definitely the one reserved for the psychic equipment sent by Yu Hui.

This unexpected scene made Chen Ming feel a little flustered for a moment.

It almost made Gamma Z move directly.

Fortunately, the device was just sitting there and not turned on.

There are a lot of robots gathered around the equipment, and they seem to be debugging the equipment.

Chen Ming pretended to walk into the experimental area unintentionally and tried to ask the robots at work: "What is this?"

G3, who was controlling these robots, did not directly throw a document to Chen Ming as before, but said: "This device is the same as other psychic devices. It can enhance your mental power."

"Yeah?"

Chen Ming asked this and didn't wait for G3 to answer. He leaned against the wall next to him and watched quietly.

G3 did not stop it. After some operations, he let all the robots that were maintaining the equipment disperse and started the equipment at the same time.

The device looks like an ergonomic recliner, but also like an operating table.

After it was activated, some psychic energy fluctuations emanated from the head of the operating table.

Chen Ming, who was standing next to him, did feel a sense of his mental strength being stimulated.

But at the same time, he also sensed a subtle danger from inside the device.

G3 has no intention of stopping after starting the device.

Instead, he called Chen Ming to start today's work.

In order to avoid being noticed by G3, Chen Ming had no choice but to turn around and leave.

He glanced back at the device before leaving the lab area.

Chen Ming could clearly feel that the intensity of the psychic energy fluctuations of the psychic equipment was increasing at a slow rate.

And as the intensity of the psychic energy fluctuations increased, the impact of this device on Chen Ming's mental power became greater and greater.

However, this growth seems to have a limit.

When Chen Ming's mental power was disturbed by the equipment, he seemed to feel the upper limit of the equipment's psychic energy fluctuation intensity.

It was an inexplicable feeling, but Chen Ming chose to believe it.

When the spiritual energy fluctuation reaches its strongest, that will be the time when this device is truly activated.

Based on the current growth rate, Chen Ming felt that it would take about a week.

After the time of action set by the 14th Legion.

This is good news for Chen Ming.

That's right.

Chen Ming immediately realized what he should do at this time.

He immediately contacted Baiquan through the faint light of the pirate space station using the communication code he had used to contact him.

However, after the communication was connected, the person who talked to Chen Ming was not Bai Quan, but someone else whom Chen Ming did not know.

Although Chen Ming was a little confused, he still said, "Is this the operator? I need to talk to Bai Quan."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a long time, until Chen Ming was wondering if he had dialed the wrong number, and then the other end said, "Major General Baiquan doesn't have time to see you now."

"Where are the others?"

"This has nothing to do with you, Mr. Chen Ming. Just do your job well and we will take care of the rest."

"?"

The operator's words made Chen Ming very uncomfortable and at the same time he didn't understand.

Baiquan couldn't even discipline his subordinates, right? This shouldn't be the case. He was a major general, and it was a disgrace to him that his subordinates did such a thing.

But Chen Ming really had no way to contact Bai Quan directly now, and there was no need for him to argue with an operator.

"Then please tell them that the equipment has been delivered ahead of schedule. Based on my observations, it will take about a week to prepare for startup. You'd better act as soon as possible and remember to notify me."

The operator responded casually twice and then hung up the call.

Hearing the busy tone on the phone, Chen Ming felt even more strange.

After thinking about it, he simply contacted Lao Wu and planned to ask the company about Bai Quan's situation.

Old Wu boarded Chen Ming's spaceship as he did before.

But before Chen Ming spoke, he said, "Let me tell you first, Xiao Ming, the attitude of the company towards you seems to have suddenly become worse. I don't know what unexpected situation has occurred."

Chen Ming frowned instantly and asked, "Is there such a thing?"

"Yeah, Lao Lu and I both think it's strange. He's still asking questions, but we don't know what's going on."

Chen Ming connected the two things together at once.

The attitudes of the 14th Legion and the company suddenly changed together. There must be some connection behind this.

But without intelligence, it was difficult for Chen Ming to confirm the truth.

So Chen Ming could only say to Old Wu: "Let's wait for the factory manager to sort out the company's attitude. I have something else to talk to you about. Please help me pass on a message to the company."

"Okay, go ahead."

Chen Ming repeated what he had said to the operator of the 14th Corps.

He didn't do this because he was afraid that the Legion or the Company would not save him.

After all, he already had control of one of Yu Hui's cruisers and was fully capable of escaping directly, so it didn't matter to him whether they rescued him or not.

Chen Ming contacted the legion and the company, mainly because he was worried that Yu Hui's sudden rescue and acquisition of the psychic equipment ahead of time might affect their arrangements.

Any problems with their arrangements may indirectly lead to problems on Chen Ming's side.

That's why Chen Ming contacted both parties in succession and informed them of the news.

But this is all Chen Ming can do, and he doesn't know whether this sudden change in attitude will have any impact on what happens next.

After making sure that Old Wu remembered what he said, Chen Ming suddenly remembered something and said to Old Wu, "Does the boss have any news for me?"

Old Wu shook his head, then suddenly nodded and said, "Yes, yes."

"But Lao Wu went to his colony a few days ago. He said that there were some problems there that he needed to solve personally."

"He said that if you need to contact him, you can use the emergency number. But he also said that he didn't attend the meeting later, so you don't need to contact him for this matter. He can't do anything about it."

Chen Ming exhaled slightly and said, "Okay, I understand."

"Then the task of delivering the message is left to you. Contact me if you have any response."

"Okay."

Communication disconnected.

Chen Ming sighed.

It seems that he has no way to find out through his boss's connections why the 14th Legion and the company suddenly changed their attitude.

As expected, in the end, people can only rely on themselves.

(End of this chapter)