Under Chen Ming's attention.

Gamma Z and Gamma B entered different galaxies in the afterglow star field at different time periods.

Gamma B continued to let it move freely, while Gamma Z Chen Ming kept watching.

Gamma Z was arranged by Chen Ming to a place separated from Chen Ming's current location by two galaxies with afterglow colonies.

After arriving at the galaxy's central space station and undergoing the same inspection as last time, it successfully blended back into the afterglow.

They also successfully obtained permission to enter a planet with an industrial colony in the galaxy for resupply.

The environment of this planet's industrial colony is very different from where Chen Ming is now.

Because this is a habitable planet.

Overall, there is only one continental plate that occupies half of the planet's area, and the rest is ocean.

Yuhui's industrial facilities are concentrated on this rugged continent.

Although the level of industrial development here is higher than that of Chen Ming's place, the environment here is actually better.

Industrial production facilities do not spew out large amounts of pollutants or use any fuels that would cause pollution.

There was no trace of the Earth's Core Furnace Power Tower, which could easily destroy the local ecology.

Let this planet still maintain a good ecological environment.

But according to Gamma B.

The reason they protect the ecology of this planet is that there exists a creature on this planet that lives in the mountains of the continent and has the appearance of a hermit crab, but has a shell and shell like crystal.

The scientific name is Nengjing crab.

The shell on the back of the energy crystal crab is formed naturally by its own secretions and has the effect of storing energy extremely efficiently.

Even if the energy inside these crystals is used up after being removed, they are still an excellent energy storage material.

The crystal crab itself will not die due to the loss of its shell, but will regrow it as it goes about its daily activities.

Energy crystals are of extremely high value, and so are the energy crystal crabs themselves.

And this crystal crab is actually a product of genetic engineering.

Of course, this is not a product of humans, nor is it genetic engineering done by Yu Hui himself . Rather , it is the legacy of a destroyed civilization that Yu Hui discovered outside the empire.

Afterglow arrived here faster than humans and occupied the place.

At first, Yu Hui just wanted to collect resources on the planet, but after discovering these energy crystal crabs, he changed his development strategy.

They chose the development method that Chen Ming is seeing now, and studied the life left by that civilization.

Yu Hui is now able to cultivate these energy crystal crabs that have evolved to adapt to the ecology of this planet on a small scale on other planets.

But that’s not enough.

Farmed ones are definitely not as good as wild ones.

After all, if you raise them yourself, the energy used to grow the crystal crab shells on their backs comes from Yu Hui himself.

It would obviously be a better approach to continue researching to make crystal crabs part of the ecological chain of other planets and to carry out large-scale harvesting on a regular basis.

Now Chen Ming finally knew where those energy storage materials with their own energy that Yu Hui gave him came from.

He had been wondering before why Yu Hui had several materials that he had never seen or even heard of.

Humans actually have similar self-energy storage materials, but as far as Chen Ming knows, they are all artificially synthesized self-energy storage materials, and even his abilities may not be up to par with them.

The energy may be completely used up after just one use, which is completely different from this natural self-energy storage material.

If we could find a way to bring back a few crystal crabs, they would definitely be of great value.

But Chen Ming is not here to do this now.

I'll see if this idea has a chance to be realized later.

Chen Ming is still watching Gamma Z controlling the rainstorm to land on a small supply point that can be seen everywhere in the Afterglow Colony.

It will replace its spacecraft here to one that is more suitable for it.

After all, Baoyu Chen Ming is still useful.

Moreover, if a Storm ship was sailing aimlessly in Yuhui's territory, it might be discovered by some Yuhui later. If the investigation involved Chen Ming himself, it would be a big problem.

Afterglow is not a rigid machine, it also has doubts

The longer the rainstorm exists, the more likely it is to be suspected, and the more likely it is that Chen Ming's plan will collapse completely.

So when Gamma B goes back now, Chen Ming won't give it a fighter modification. He just lets it drive the destroyer that it got after the upgrade and do what it should do.

Gamma Z quickly followed the signal from the supply point and landed inside the supply point factory.

What it does next is simple.

Undergo a factory overhaul and then trade in a new ship using its own rations that were once recorded in the database.

Chen Ming has also seen this process, where the core is unloaded from the spacecraft and then temporarily stored in the middle, waiting for the new spacecraft to be installed.

But when Gamma Z replaces its core now, it is not like the previous Gamma A that was equipped with a temporary robot separately.

This time Gamma Z was directly linked to the factory's database.

Allow Gamma Z to browse the spaceships in reserve at the factory. If the spaceship Gamma Z wants is not available for the time being, Gamma Z can connect it first and install it when the spaceship is transferred. It is quite convenient.

So when Yu Hui was completely unprepared.

This supply point is easy to get.

The Gamma AI responsible for maintaining the supply point that was communicating with Gamma Z also understood the situation the moment Gamma Z connected to the factory.

It had no ability to resist Chen Ming and could only accept it and obediently change ships for Gamma Z.

Of course, the material rations that should be delivered still need to be delivered.

If you save money in this regard just to save a little, you will definitely regret it if something is discovered later.

Therefore, Chen Ming would rather pay more costs to ensure the highest success rate.

Anyway, this doesn't require Hua Chenming's ration.

In short, Gamma Z just controlled a supply point, which was the place Chen Ming thought had the best chance of contacting other Afterglow individuals after careful consideration.

Every Afterglow AI that comes here will be controlled by Chen Ming as long as it is connected to the line by Gamma AI.

Although the speed of this control will not be too fast, after all, there are often many supply points in Afterglow's colonies.

However, if the number of afterglow individuals controlled by Chen Ming grows to a certain level at this slowly increasing rate, the growth rate will continue to increase exponentially.

But that’s for later.

And Gamma Z is just temporarily transiting here.

Later on, it needs to be moved to another place.

The information given by Gamma A before and the subsequent explanation by Gamma B.

The final destination that Chen Ming chose for Gamma Z was a special galaxy open to all afterglow individuals.

Chen Ming had previously considered several issues specifically.

The biggest problem is that Gamma Z is currently just a gamma level, which doesn't produce enough effect, so it needs to be improved.

What is the fastest way to improve? That is naturally to complete Yuhui's tasks and obtain the reasonably obtained mechanical chips.

What is the most efficient way to complete the task? Let Gamma Z do its essential work. It is definitely not possible to slowly mix it on the production lines of various factories. The efficiency is too slow.

Moreover, strategic materials such as mechanical chips, which are important to Yu Hui, cannot be easily obtained through Chen Ming's control over the factory, so it is not a good idea to be greedy.

At least not before Chen Ming's control expands.

So Chen Ming must have some other arrangements.

Therefore, after careful consideration, he decided that high-intensity combat missions were suitable for the Gamma Z.

When Chen Ming was discussing the mechanical chips with Lao Wu before.

Old Wu said that he would purchase chips from star regions that had extensive contact with the Mechanical Clan, or even from star regions bordering the Mechanical Clan's controlled star regions.

Coincidentally, the star field next to the Galo star field where Chen Ming is located is a star field bordering the mechanical race.

If you zoom in a little, you can see that Yuhui and the mechanical race are also connected.

Although Yuhui and the mechanical race are both beings similar to mechanical life forms, their direct conflicts are no less than the conflicts between humans and mechanical races.

All that can be said is that the mechanical race holds an extreme, unresolvable, and inexplicable hatred for humans, and this hatred seems to extend to human creations, the afterglow.

So, that’s where Chen Ming set his goal for Gamma Z.

A galaxy near the Afterglow and Mechanical areas where conflicts often break out.

There are many opportunities here.

According to Gamma B.

There is only one afterglow colony in this system.

It was also a colony that combined heavy industry and military.

There are many heavy industry production lines here that can go through the entire process from ore to final spacecraft products. There are a large number of factories that can produce batches of spacecraft and directly put them into battle.

It is equivalent to placing the military factory directly on the front line.

In addition to factories, the planet also has a large number of planetary defense equipment to ensure that the planet will never fall.

As long as there are sufficient supplies and the number of afterglow individuals can keep up, there will be endless combat power.

In the case of this kind of industrial facility producing and selling its own products, even if the outside world imposes a blockade on the planet it will not have much effect.

After all, Yu Hui is not without the ability to remotely control the spacecraft.

Although the efficiency is relatively low, as long as the damage to the individual afterglow is controlled, everything else is a small matter and can be made up for later.

As long as this fortress-like planet on the front line of Yuhui and the Mechanical Clan does not fall, Yuhui's territory will remain stable.

The Mechanical Clan has been unable to take this place for a long time, so they have somewhat given up attacking Yuhui directly from here, but they still maintain a low-intensity battle.

It is equivalent to helping Yu Hui train his troops.

After all, fighting is not something you can learn simply by putting military books in your head.

Such a battlefield is just the right environment for gamma AIs whose advantage logic blocks are spacecraft driving and combat to quickly improve.

The same goes for the mechanical race.

Such battlefield risks still exist, but they are acceptable.

Gamma A has been here before, and Gamma B has also been here. Although Gamma Z did not come because its own advantage logic block is not related to spacecraft and combat, it has no choice now. If it wants to improve quickly, combat is obviously the most efficient way.

Gamma B had done the same thing before, but in a place quite far away from Chen Ming's location, where there were also mechanical people, and the risk of being discovered was also lower.

It was only because Gamma Z's conditions were better that Chen Ming arranged Gamma Z to be closer to him.

Maybe we can provide some support when an accident occurs.

Chen Ming couldn't say exactly who was supporting whom.

Anyway, his thoughts are very clear.

While Gamma Z is here, it is upgraded to Beta level.

Let the afterglow individuals controlled by his colony factory on the habitable planet grow and expand on their own while remaining secret.

Until their numbers are small, there is definitely no problem in letting them develop on their own.

When the number increases, we need to consider the issue of coordination.

By that time, Chen Ming estimated that Gamma Z would have been upgraded to Beta level.

It's just right that I can go back and take over, relying on my advantageous logic in management, to help Chen Ming completely control Yuhui's colony.

Later on, as the number of Yuhui increased, it was too slow for Chen Ming to give orders one by one.

Gamma Z is definitely a better choice.

Of course, if Chen Ming had the opportunity to control Alpha-level AI, that would be even better, but Chen Ming was just thinking about it.

His purpose was very clear, which was to allow Yuhui, who was under his control, to continuously expand its own scale based on Yuhui's chassis, and that was all.

During this period, he would not pay too much attention to these gamma AIs, in case he did something stupid and got discovered one day.

Gamma Z takes care of everything.

Chen Ming planned to take advantage of the last bit of peace he had to learn everything he needed to learn, because there was no way to determine what his own situation would be like after that.

Chen Ming once again devoted himself to developing himself.

And at the same time.

Galo-2 star sector, the original headquarters of the star sector military.

A planet filled with volcanoes and unstable geological structures.

Inside a military colony protected by the planet's eco-dome.

The former headquarters building of the star zone military is now the building of the Empire's Independent Fourteenth Legion.

In the office of the former commander-in-chief, which has been converted into the office of the 14th Corps.

The major general of the 14th Legion, who had threatened the original major general of the star zone military in person, was now having a video conversation with someone.

On the communication screen, you can see an old man who is probably in his sixties.

He was also wearing the uniform of the 14th Legion, and the badge on his shoulder proved his identity: Lieutenant General of the 14th Legion.

The major general saluted him solemnly, without any of the fierceness that had threatened the major general of the star zone military.

The lieutenant general waved his hand casually in a amiable manner and said, "There's no need to be like this, Baiquan. We are talking in private now. Do you have something to talk to me about?"

Major General Baiquan lowered his head slightly and said, "I heard that the war on the other side has intensified recently?"

"Yes, Yuhui is activating a high-energy device, intending to transport something over a very long distance."

"What exactly is it?"

The lieutenant general shook his head, took a sip of the tea in front of him and said, "Not sure, the front line is still investigating."

"But now they have roughly estimated the size and range of objects that can be transported at Yuhui's energy level."

"As it turns out, your location is exactly in the middle of the calculated limit distance."

Baiquan: "Yuhui is planning to move the thing directly across our empire?"

"Yes, because you have Yu Hui, and you also happen to have a relationship with someone who is worthy of Yu Hui's help. In recent days, they have basically been discussing your affairs. You have to speed up your actions."

Baiquan lowered his head again, thinking about what the lieutenant general said.

The lieutenant general suddenly asked, "How is your joint meeting going?"

Baiquan quickly raised his head and said, "We are still organizing it."

"It's clear that all the forces involved have ideas about Chen Ming, but they just can't organize themselves."

"We didn't bring much supplies when we came here, so we can only support it temporarily. Stargates are not used casually to transport supplies, not to mention there are several stargates."

"So we need time to reorganize the original territory of the star zone army."

"During this period we are forced to cooperate with the locals."

"So, now they're kind of..."

Baiquan didn't make his words clear, but the lieutenant general understood what he meant.

But the lieutenant general just smiled. He was not surprised that Baiquan, who had been promoted based on his military merits, would fail in this regard. This was one of the purposes of sending him out.

Although Baiquan had a headache, he didn't say anything discouraging.

"The government is also trying to find a way to push this forward."

"The main issue now is the overall command and the ultimate goal."

"As long as the combined fleet can be organized, the command position will definitely be ours in the end. No one else is qualified."

"We also have the ability to convince others, at most it will cost us a little."

The lieutenant general nodded slightly and asked another question about Baiquan: "Is there any problem with the ultimate goal?"

"Your mission should have been very clear when you set out. How could you not rescue the people? Or did you rescue the people but couldn't divide them up because of some wrangling?"

Baiquan denied: "That's not the question."

"We have to save him. After all, we are not just doing this for Chen Ming. If Xinghe was really taken away by him, there is a high probability that he is still alive. For this reason alone, we have to save him."

"Now that the people have been rescued, it's still hard to tell them apart, but the more important question is."

"Do we need to take this opportunity to stab Yu Hui's hometown along the way?"

"oh?"

The lieutenant general looked more energetic, thought about it for a moment and said, "It's a risky idea, but it's certainly possible."

Baiquan called up a three-dimensional view on the desktop in front of him.

It is a galaxy map outside the Galo star field, belonging to the Yuhui star field.

Although the afterglow blocked the spacecraft's progress, it did not block the light.

Therefore, the general galaxy map can still be confirmed through a telescope.

He pointed to this star field and said, "There is definitely a replica of Kletka in one of the galaxies here."

"If we dismantle the replicas, the afterglow of this star field will lose its support. We can then find a way to clean up the afterglow and continue to expand outward."

The lieutenant general narrowed his eyes, looked at the star field through the video communication screen and said: "It's not that simple. The most powerful Xinda Company in this star field will not cooperate with you."

Bai Quan nodded immediately and said, "Yes, the attitude over there seems to be a bit... complicated?"

"Xinda Company seems willing to help, but they only want to save Chen Ming and don't want to waste financial resources to cause trouble for Yu Hui."

"But when we mentioned some exploratory missions, they were very willing to cooperate. Their attitude was very strange."

"I think it's because of their Sky Steel that their attitude towards us has changed."

"I don't really want to get into this, but logistics are not my responsibility."

The lieutenant general recalled for a moment and said, "Logistics? Is it the young man named Ping?"

"Yes, he said he wanted to make some profit out of it."

The lieutenant general frowned slightly and said, "I know something about this matter. The mining rights of Xinda Company were seized by those rubbish using their power, right? Don't do such a thing. It will be embarrassing if you tell others about it."

Baiquan also looked a little helpless, and said: "I told him the same thing, but he said that he felt that the Sindar side thought that we wanted to occupy the Sky Steel like those rubbish, so he took this opportunity to make a little profit by relying on the information gap. The Sky Steel will definitely be returned according to the process."

The lieutenant general relaxed his frown and said, "Okay, I'll give you another reminder."

"I think Chen Ming's current situation is actually very bad."

"He may be planning to stay with Yu Hui because of what happened before, but Yu Hui is not someone who is easy to get along with."

"There must be something wrong with what Yu Hui wants to give away. It must be targeting Chen Ming, or it may be targeting you who want to rescue Chen Ming."

"Chen Ming will definitely be rescued now, so if the front line fails, you must pay attention."

"Try to find a way to contact Chen Ming directly."

Baiquan restrained his expression, returned to his initial calm state and said:

"I want to contact him, but we still have too few sources of intelligence. Currently, it seems that only the Sinda Company has the means to contact him."

"And even if we get in touch, I don't think it will work."

"Xinda Company doesn't know more than us. They just know how to contact Chen Ming."

"Yu Hui still only has the information that Chen Ming left behind. Even if we contact Chen Ming, there won't be much change in this regard."

“If Chen Ming doesn’t find a way to do something himself, even if there is no Yuhui’s things later, there may be accidents during the rescue.”

The lieutenant general did not remind Baiquan this time, but just said: "That is the problem you have to solve."

A person suddenly appeared on the communication screen. He was also a young man, and looked to be in his early twenties.

She was a girl with short hair and wearing a neat military uniform.

She stood beside the lieutenant general and said to the communication screen with an obviously serious expression: "Chen Ming's contact with Xinda Company should not be broken, but there is no information sent back. Now I am even a little suspicious of the situation..."

The lieutenant general took a sip of tea, then mercilessly slapped her on the back of the head and said, "The more you tell her not to do this kind of thing, the more likely others will do it. Judging from Chen Ming's resume, he has absolutely no anti-human tendencies."

"As long as we can handle the previous matters fairly and send those people from the star zone army to where they should be, such as the judgment seat."

The girl covered the back of her head, her expression no longer serious, but asked casually: "Is that enough?"

The lieutenant general nodded and said, "Someone said it was enough. It was the person who gave our legion the smuggled information about the military district."

"Saving Chen Ming is a must, and saving Cheng Xinghe is also a must. Xinghai, don't hope for him to die out there all day long. Having one less competitor is not a good thing."

Cheng Xinghai sat down next to him with some regret, his eyes gradually fixed on the lieutenant general's tea and snacks.

The major general ignored Cheng Xinghai, pushed his glasses and said, "My basic target now is definitely those two and it won't change."

"But I would like to achieve something extra while completing the basic goals."

"So this time I contacted them mainly to confirm the fleet the Legion can provide. If not, I have to take the initiative to apply for it."

The lieutenant general had no objection to this. Bai Quan was already a major general and he knew very well what should and should not be done.

However, he gave another suggestion: "We can wait for two days and see the situation on the front line here."

"You have to apply for the frontline advantage to destroy the thing Yuhui is making."

"But if we are at a disadvantage and Yuhui successfully delivers the things, we will have to invest more resources in you, and we will definitely have warships."

"Yu Hui is making a big move, so we need to bring back the people who can make big moves in the future."

"Chen Ming or Cheng Xinghe?"

"Both count. Chen Ming's ability is nothing to be ashamed of, and Xinghe's potential is also very good."

"We need a commander with sufficient capabilities for the new batch of special warships we are working with Tachyon."

"The new ships' fighting style is very different from the old ships, and it may overturn the current front-line combat system."

"We are old and our minds are rigid and we can't adapt to the new spacecraft, but he is still young and has a lot of time to learn."

Cheng Xinghai, who had just disappeared for a while with some snacks, suddenly appeared on the communication screen again. With a slight annoyance on his face, he said, "I am also young and I have potential. Why don't you talk about me?"

"Yeah, you count as one too."

The lieutenant general responded with two vague responses.

Bai Quan questioned the ship that the vice admiral just mentioned: "I heard that those ships are still in the experimental stage. Can't the escort-level ships be stable?"

"Yes, so Chen Ming is also very important."

"If Chen Ming comes back with us, when Cheng Xinghe has enough battlefield experience and can take charge on his own, he will definitely make some achievements in the technology of these new spacecraft."

"Even if he doesn't want to develop in this area, there is no doubt that he is strong in combat."

"You all watched the video of the battle, right? You all know the combat capabilities of the spacecraft he controlled."

"We have to protect these two people no matter what, so I don't want to hear anything like that."

The lieutenant general stared seriously at Cheng Xinghai beside him.

The playful expression on Cheng Xinghe's face disappeared and he nodded solemnly.

The lieutenant general also showed a satisfied expression on his face and said: "Xinghai, you have great potential. Together with the two of them, you will definitely be the main force for us humans to fight against Yuhui and the mechanical race."

The lieutenant general turned to look at Baiquan and asked, "Apart from the joint meeting, what is the overall situation on your side?"

"We are still consolidating our base, so it's difficult to make any big moves."

"For now, we should focus on building good relationships with local bosses like Xinda Company."

"We will slowly take over what the military left behind, lay a solid foundation, and then find ways to expand when we have the chance."

The lieutenant general had no objection to Baiquan's approach.

"Well, we just need to move forward steadily. We are now somewhat restricted by the afterglow, so we must find some other ways to go."

"You are now the pathfinder for our Fourteenth Legion in the Galo Star Region. You just need to be steady in your development."

"But for other matters, especially rescuing Chen Ming and Cheng Xinghe, we must not be too cautious."

Baiquan's eyes suddenly became sharp.

"I understand. I'm already organizing the advance team."

(End of this chapter)