Just as Chen Ming had a clear idea in his mind.

The robot he had arranged earlier to go to the landing point where the object entering the planet's atmosphere from space in the video finally arrived at its destination.

It's just that five months have passed since the day the video was recorded.

The landing point has been completely covered by these huge plants unique to the planet.

Apart from the fact that the plants here are a little sparser and grow worse than those in the surrounding areas, it can be shown that the plants here have been destroyed and are growing again.

No trace was left.

Fortunately, Chen Ming had thought about this possibility before and prepared some things in advance.

He immediately modified the robot near the landing point and equipped it with a set of geological exploration equipment.

Let the robot start collecting soil near the landing point and underground at the center of the landing point.

The results of the geological survey soon came out.

Chen Ming did not find any traces of asteroids or meteorites.

No stone or metal elements unique to space were brought to the planet.

Instead, in the soil underground, he found some broken gray-green growths.

It is obvious without any research that these augmentations must have been left behind by the Zerg.

Only traces of insects were found, but no traces of meteorites that would have brought the insects into the atmosphere as normal.

What does this mean? It caused Chen Ming's emotions, which had already been unable to calm down, to fluctuate significantly again.

Maybe these bugs... he doesn't need to destroy them.

In addition to the traces found here, Chen Ming also realized another problem.

First, he could determine the size of the red glowing area where the object in the video was rubbing against the atmosphere based on the conditions of the vegetation at the landing point, the density difference between the underground soil layer at the landing point and the soil layer next to it.

It was estimated that this was a Zerg "thing" the size of a destroyer, wrapped in a mass of Zerg bugs that almost completely filled its interior and landed here.

The number of bugs that had previously raided the Mechanical Clan’s city was obviously greater than what could be stuffed into a destroyer that was a hundred meters long.

This means that the Thorn Zerg has indeed begun to reproduce on the planet, just as he had thought before.

The bugs that raided the city were definitely only a part of the Thorn Zerg currently on the planet.

More Zerg must be breeding in some dark underground cavern.

Chen Ming can try to trace the location of the Zerg nest through the tunnel just dug by the Zerg.

Although the tunnel was completely collapsed by the artillery bombardment of the cluster of [Mechanical Clan Heavy Machinery·Fiery Silkworm] located in the center of the city.

However, he had just controlled a few [Small Mechanical Bodies - Digging Worms] to carry out such work.

But Chen Ming has a better choice.

Allowing the Supreme Point to enter the planet's atmosphere and conduct full-power scanning without being affected by the atmosphere is much more efficient than allowing the burrowing worms to dig back along the path the Zerg dug.

Only after confirming the location and specific situation of the insects could he decide how to deal with them next.

But this matter cannot be rushed, he has to do other things first.

Chen Ming forced himself not to think too much about the bugs. Anyway, the bugs were already on the planet, and they would definitely not be able to escape under the surveillance of the highest point.

He now let his robot carry the insect corpse samples and the mechanical people under his control onto the landing craft, back into space, back to the Defender.

In order to prevent some possible unexpected situations, Chen Ming would rather spend more time throwing the insect corpses onto the Defender and freezing them for preservation.

I'll find a chance to send it back to China.

After doing this, Chen Ming's mind unconsciously began to think about insects again.

After all, if his conjecture was correct, then the Zerg might also bring him some special benefits.

These thoughts made him itchy and he just wanted to deal with the insect issue quickly to make sure whether his idea could be realized.

Although Chen Ming should now deal with the affairs of the Mechanical Tribe and the Zerg together.

But he couldn't help but focus all his attention on the Zerg.

The Zenith soon entered the planet's atmosphere with Glory under his control, leaving the Defenders behind in orbit around the planet.

Chen Ming deliberately kept a distance from the mechanical city and came to the location where the Zerg landed. He turned on the galaxy scanning array at full power and locked the scanning target on the surface below.

High-powered scans, sufficient to cover the entire galaxy, penetrated from the planet's surface into its mantle.

A detailed scan is carried out in this area.

The mechanical people in the distant mechanical city seemed to be unable to see the highest point floating in the air in the distance, and they still did their futile work.

A few minutes later, the scanning equipment at the highest point followed the structural features of the underground soil and rock layers that were clearly different from other places, and penetrated several kilometers underground.

And here, Chen Ming finally locked on his target.

A huge Zerg nest deep underground, covering an area almost as large as a city on the surface.

And in the very center of this nest, there is a giant Zerg creature that is over a hundred meters long.

It is alive and has a slightly elongated and symmetrical appearance.

And its body is connected to the most core existence of the hive, the Queen.

Although Chen Ming doesn't look quite like it, its overall appearance is somewhat similar if you take a closer look.

This giant organism seemed to be what he was looking for.

And what surprised Chen Ming even more was.

From this giant Zerg organism there are some growths that wrap around a special Zerg tissue, like a long and thick tentacle, extending from deep underground all the way to the surface.

Chen Ming looked along the tentacle all the way up.

It was eventually discovered that this extended tentacle branched into thousands of thinner tentacles near the surface.

Then, it was connected to the bottom of almost every solar panel in the solar array that powered the mechanical city.

Chen Ming looked at this scene and thought for a long time.

Suddenly I understood one thing.

The Zerg have the ability to convert electricity into bioenergy.

No wonder when he went to ask Bai Quan for the records, he found that when the original star zone military team boarded the space station, the entire space station was already empty, even the warehouse had been emptied.

Now it seems that this is the reason. The Zerg have the ability to convert electrical energy, so it is normal to empty the fuel warehouse.

And he suddenly understood.

Why when he took control of the tower before, he found that there was a gap in the power supply of the entire city.

He had previously thought that it was because the electrical equipment was damaged.

Now it seems that with a group of these things sitting at the core of the city's power supply, it would be strange if there was no power shortage.

To be honest, since the bugs that once settled in this warm place in the space station's power generation area have evolved the ability to convert electrical energy into bioenergy.

Then Chen Ming was not surprised that an engine had evolved.

But now, although Chen Ming has investigated the specific location of the Zerg nest.

But this depth.

Don't even think about digging it down.

The solar panels alone would bring him into conflict with the mechs he hadn't yet controlled.

He can definitely defeat them, but Chen Ming doesn't want to waste these mechanical people in such a place.

He also wanted to control these mechanical races and make them his abnormal sub-individuals.

Not to mention the spiritual power of giving back, the strength of the mechanical race itself is enough for Chen Ming to do so.

But if we continue to wait, he will control all the mechanical people in the city.

The insects below can continue to reproduce for several rounds, and the insect nest may continue to expand.

Given the Zerg's reproduction rate, Chen Ming felt it was better not to delay any longer.

It is better to deal with the insects quickly or get rid of them.

Here is the specific treatment method...

Chen Ming thought about it for a moment.

Suddenly he remembered that he seemed to have a way to make these insects, even the most core queen insects, come out from underground on their own.

Condensing the source of spiritual energy.

Living things have the habit of instinctively pursuing psychic fluctuations, that is, the habit of instinctively becoming psychic creatures.

This is the knowledge Chen Ming learned from Xiaoshi.

Ever since he was able to condense the source of spiritual energy, Xiaoshi would jump on his bed every day.

It didn't want to live in the new stone nest that I bought for it, which was similar to the ore that exploded with the iron mine before. It just wanted to take advantage of the escaping spiritual energy fluctuations from the condensed source of spiritual energy.

Although the stone is very small, it won't have any effect if it is rubbed against.

But Chen Ming didn't want Xiao Shi to lie on the bed with him because he was worried that he might accidentally crush Xiao Shi while sleeping.

Until later, he saw Xiaoshi running around in the highest point, and then he jumped down from a height of more than 20 meters, bounced twice on the ground very bouncy, and continued to stroll around as if nothing had happened.

He then remembered that Xiaoshi was no longer an ordinary Xiaoshi, so he just treated it as it was from then on.

Just like it is now.

Chen Ming put the condensed spiritual energy source in the pocket of his clothes.

Xiaoshi stayed in his clothes pocket the whole time, holding on to the source of condensed spiritual energy without letting go.

Of course, Xiaoshi is still very smart and will not eat something he shouldn't eat.

But Chen Ming could see that the attraction of this thing to living things was really quite significant.

Moreover, Chen Ming still remembered that the president had said before that there were several ways to use the condensed spiritual energy.

One of them is the one Chen Ming is currently using, as an aid to training his mental strength.

The other is to be used to condense the original spiritual stone.

The last type is used to feed some creatures, which can almost 100% make them become psychic creatures with some connection with the psychic.

Therefore, if the Thorn Zerg underground sensed the fluctuations of psychic energy and the existence of the condensed psychic energy source, they would definitely rush out frantically to try to obtain it.

Chen Ming felt that he should not use this special source of condensed spiritual energy on hand.

After all, he still has to rely on this thing to enter the consciousness space.

Even if he did not feed the condensed psychic energy to the Zerg, he still relied on mental power to connect with the Zerg.

But the idea is to use this thing as bait.

He'd better be cautious.

He tried to use his own mental power to condense a second source of spiritual energy and then act as bait.

It's just the materials needed for this thing...

Chen Ming is hard to explain and hard to deal with.

It is really outrageous that the materials needed to condense the source of spiritual energy are random materials.

How many kinds of materials are there in the universe? The probability of picking a few at random and getting the right one is exactly the same as zero.

But maybe he could change his mindset?

Chen Ming took out his own colorless amber-like condensed spiritual energy source that was condensed after the death of the deformed heart, and after being influenced by the ship spirit and purified, it became his condensed spiritual energy source.

His condensed spiritual energy source has a colorless amber appearance...

It just so happened that Chen Ming knew several materials that had this colorless amber appearance.

Although Chen Ming himself felt that this idea was a bit unreliable.

But there’s no harm in trying.

Chen Ming immediately called Lao Wu and asked him to help buy the materials for the experiment.

Of course, Chen Ming clearly remembered what the president had said before, about the problems that might result from condensing the second source of psychic energy.

Therefore, in subsequent attempts, he would stop immediately once any negative impact appeared on his mental strength.

In case of accidents.

But if it doesn't appear, the second condensed spiritual energy source would definitely be a good thing.

The general plan has been determined.

So now, Chen Ming needs to use the special psychic energy fluctuations that condense the origin of psychic energy in his hand to release some basic psychic energy fluctuations as illusory bait on the surface of the planet.

Attract the Zerg's attention to the surface.

In this way, the next time he really releases the condensed spiritual energy source, the Zerg will be able to discover it in the first place.

And releasing the bait is also very simple.

He just needs to let the flying mechanical body carry the condensed spiritual energy source out for a few rounds.

The dissipated psychic energy fluctuations will stay in the outside world for a while and then dissipate.

This period of time was enough for the Zerg, who could sense his spaceship in the vacuum of space, to detect these psychic fluctuations.

Chen Ming quickly completed the operation of leaving psychic energy fluctuations near the surface facing the insect nest according to his idea.

Next, he just needs to wait for the materials to be in place and try to condense the second source of spiritual energy.

Success is best.

If he fails, he can only try to use a special method of condensing the source of spiritual energy at a certain risk.

Although there are risks, the benefits are obvious.

Chen Ming can safely and slowly control the remaining mechanical people in his hands.

There might even be some extra, special bonuses.

Moreover, as long as he has prepared risk-resistance measures in advance, the risk will no longer be a risk.

The risks that the Zerg, which Chen Ming had scanned from beginning to end, could bring to him were obvious.

So as long as you are well prepared, even if you fail, it is nothing more than a waste of some of the resources needed to deal with the risk.

The only thing to note now is that Chen Ming must not alert the enemy directly.

If the cruiser he was driving scared away the bugs below, he would definitely suffer a huge loss.

So after arranging everything needed on the planet, Chen Ming took the two cruisers and left the planet.

Back on track.

It's almost time to take a break now.

Chen Ming ruled out the possibility of robots sneaking into the city from the beginning. He let the robots run around the city to confirm various intelligence, and then let the Supreme Point enter the atmosphere to conduct an investigation. This process took a lot of time.

It's almost evening, so it's better to wait until tomorrow to deal with the remaining things. Anyway, there's no way the materials will be delivered so quickly.

However, before the final break, Chen Ming focused his attention on the defenders.

In the Defender's warehouse was a damaged satellite that he had previously taken from orbit.

And when he discovered that the tower had been continuously trying to send messages to the satellite, he had a special idea.

Chen Ming activated his psychic power and repaired the satellite.

Then, using the tower, which was still under his control, he sent the signal that the tower had been sending to the defenders.

The signal was picked up by a repaired satellite at the Defender's warehouse.

After a brief pause, it sent a new signal towards a specific coordinate in the more distant starry sky.

Of course, the signal transmitted by the satellite was intercepted by Chen Ming, but the coordinates of the destination to which he sent the signal were recorded by Chen Ming.

And this coordinate happened to be in the direction that Chen Ming wanted to open up in order to build a colony.

It will be reached after about thirteen extreme distance jumps.

There is a high possibility that something of high value exists in the place that receives the signal connected to such a mechanical city which is most likely a border flag.

In other words, the place itself will have very high value.

If he gets a chance later, he'll have to go and see it.

Chen Ming turned off the signal transmitters of the satellite and tower.

By now he was feeling a little tired, so he simply washed up and lay down on the bed.

To be honest, he really didn't expect that his original intention of coming to this planet where the mechanical race existed was just to take a look because he was bored. He didn't expect that in the end he would actually gain a lot.

The mere existence of the mechanical race and the construction of a hive mind network centered around it is outrageous enough.

Now we have also obtained the location of that coordinate.

You might even get some possible benefits from the bugs later.

Thinking of this, Chen Ming closed his eyes with great satisfaction.

However, before really taking a break, Chen Ming and Huihuang explained the matters to HR and asked it to help with the ideological work.

In the end, he also chose to consume 100% of his mental energy to add an additional Alpha Core bonus called [Elite Individual] to HR.

After selecting and confirming, Chen Ming felt the rapid consumption of his mental energy, which he had not experienced for a long time.

And quickly reached the limit of his mental strength.

This time Chen Ming did not hold on and fell into a coma.

The next day arrived in a flash.

Chen Ming climbed out of the bed energetically.

The first thing he did was to confirm the situation at the temporary base.

The prototype of the temporary base has basically been established at this time, and the construction of the star port is also proceeding step by step.

Some combat-capable spaceships have already left the base and begun exploring the surrounding galaxies.

After the starport is built, nearly half of the spaceships Chen Ming has on hand can go out to explore and search for valuable galaxies.

If he only wanted to explore galaxies with possible habitable planets, then Chen Ming estimated that if he mobilized his afterglow, he could completely explore the surrounding 400 light years within a week.

Of course, a more detailed and extensive investigation would take longer.

Anyway, Chen Ming has nothing else now but a lot of time, so he can take his time. He is not in a hurry.

There's no point in being anxious. It will take him a lot of effort to control the mechanical race on the planet.

When Chen Ming confirmed the situation at the stronghold.

Huihuang brought Chen Ming good news.

It has talked to HR.

Let HR understand what significance Chen Ming’s psychic power holds for Yu Hui.

Moreover, the addition of the core bonus of [Elite Individual] that Chen Ming gave to HR last night can be regarded as an assist to Huihuang.

So when Huihuang came over today, he said to Chen Ming: "HR said he will help you protect this place, but he doesn't want to do anything else for the time being. Please understand that he still needs time to think about it."

Chen Ming felt that Huihuang's words were exaggerated.

But the overall meaning should not change.

All the afterglow controlled by Chen Ming were aware of the situation they were facing and knew that they had no way out.

HR obviously feels the same way. It is a rational choice to do so, as it gives it some time to think.

But again, Chen Ming was not in a hurry. Anyway, in a short period of time, there would definitely not be a cruiser-level war in the galaxy close to the empire's border. So there was no need for him to rush HR to obey his orders.

And HR also said that it would help protect this place, and it would not go back on its promise.

If the situation really comes to a point where there is no other choice, Chen Ming is not someone who doesn't know how to adapt.

In short, his relationship with HR has improved to a certain extent.

If there is progress, that is a good thing.

After chatting with Huihuang.

Chen Ming opened the HR panel and took a look.

[Elite Afterglow Alpha-class AI Core (HR)]

[Manufacturer: Afterglow B-01 Colony Low Earth Orbit Industrial Facility]

[Alpha Core Bonus: Energy Concentration Effect]

Self-awareness: existence

[Computing power: star district level]

[Available operations: None]

Apart from the fact that the name turned gold and [Elite Individual] did not appear above the core bonus but appeared in front of the name, there were no other major changes.

However, when Chen Ming opened the panel of additional core bonus, he saw that the number of additional core bonuses that could be added was 2.

He closed the panel with great satisfaction.

Next, it’s time to continue dealing with yesterday’s affairs.

Yesterday, Chen Ming asked Lao Wu to buy five kinds of transparent amber-like materials that looked similar to the source of his condensed spiritual energy.

Three of the easier ones are now in place and have been sent by Old Wu to the No. 6 space arm of the space station.

Chen Ming can use his transformed psychic power to bring it directly to his side.

Since condensing the source of spiritual energy is the same as Chen Ming adding additional core bonuses to Alpha Afterglow, it requires 100% of mental power.

And Chen Ming must remain conscious at all times and not fall into a coma.

So he came to the kitchen as before and took the knife in his hand first.

When Chen Ming left the space station, his boss specially gave him several medical robots.

One of them is located right here in the kitchen.

There is no need to worry about whether you can get timely medical treatment after being injured.

Before, Chen Ming was a little nervous and felt that his boss had some misunderstanding about him.

Now...

It seems that the boss has no problem with it.

At this moment, he was having a video call with the president, and just as he was sending the video footage from the highest point that he had retrieved after talking to Chen Ming before, his boss sneezed.

The president stopped the topic he was talking about with his boss and asked, "Have you caught a cold?"

The boss nodded slightly and said, "It's possible. Lying down every day has made your physical fitness worse."

"But it's okay, let's continue talking about Xiao Ming. I'm quite optimistic about him."

"Look at the way he stabbed himself with a knife. Doesn't it look like the crazy kid I was watching before?"

"Isn't that crazy little guy dead?"

"Uh, that's right..."

(End of this chapter)