"Normally, a decent-sized industrial colony, as long as it is not an uninhabitable planet and does not have extremely dangerous heavy industry, will have at least hundreds of thousands of people working in it."

"Even if the two colonies have declined to this day, there are still hundreds of thousands of people. You just saw the report. Many automated facilities have stopped working, and all the work is done by humans."

"The total population of the two colonies is estimated to be about 200,000. You can expand it if you want, but you can't drive all of these 200,000 people out to starve."

"If you take over a colony, you must provide jobs for the people in it."

“Those people can take your job away from you, but you have to be prepared.”

"Even if half of them are Zuo Jing, we must not give up the remaining half."

Chen Ming frowned as he listened to Bai Quan's explanation and couldn't help but say, "Isn't this a bit too much?"

"It's indeed excessive, but it is still an industrial colony after all."

"If it were possible to just kick out those people who were originally here, someone would have come to take care of it long ago. How could it be your turn?"

"It is because the cost is too high and the trouble is too deep-rooted that no one has come to manage this place. Even our Fourteenth Legion does not want to look at this place."

Chen Ming looked at the photo of the colony on the terminal and suddenly said with annoyance: "This... is a bit disgusting. Does it mean that I might even lose money if I take over the colony?"

"Lou Wei has conflicts with us, so he won't give you a good colony even if he has one. It would be strange if he could make you happy."

"But it's not a complete loss. These two colonies are certified colonies anyway, and they can become colonies under your name in the future."

"Once you've solved the livelihood problems of these people, you can do whatever you want with them."

"And the local government will also provide subsidies to such colonies."

"People's livelihood issues are the government's issues. If a colony of 200,000 people collapses, the local government will definitely have a headache a hundred times more than you do."

"If you take over the colony from Lou Wei, someone from the government department will come to you soon to discuss these matters with you."

"They may not necessarily want to help you build the colony. After all, Zuo Jing has been deeply rooted for so many years. But they will definitely work with you to maintain the colony."

“Although no one expects to renovate the mess, as long as this trash can is placed in its original place and can still hold trash, everything will be fine.”

“You have to figure out how to deal with these issues.”

"As long as you can handle it well, all the profits from the two industrial colonies will belong to you after paying taxes. Isn't this faster than other ways to make money? I remember you always said you were short of money."

This is the truth, but Chen Ming still feels something is wrong: "Managing people is much more troublesome than managing Yu Hui."

"That depends on you."

Bai Quan patted Chen Ming on the shoulder, looking like he trusted Chen Ming very much.

The conditions were indeed troublesome, but Chen Ming was able to overcome them.

Moreover, these harsh conditions seemed to provide him with some convenience in doing things.

Rather, if he were given a colony that was in good working order, he would have to consider how to improve that colony that might have millions of people.

Chen Ming reluctantly found a reasonable excuse to comfort himself, and then said to Bai Quan: "I have a few questions."

"you say."

"Can Yuhui be used? I need Yuhui to build patrol teams and be responsible for security. In the future, some industrial facilities in the colony will also need Yuhui to control them."

"No problem." Bai Quan said immediately: "You can apply, I will report all for you, it will definitely be approved. Just remember not to advertise that it is Yuhui who is managing it. Although Yuhui core has been used in many places over the years, we are still fighting with Yuhui, so some things are not convenient to say."

"OK."

Chen Ming nodded in agreement and asked again: "Another question, can the people from Zuo Jing be killed?"

"As long as you have solid evidence, I can kill you without your permission. If there is no clear evidence, I can help you solve it as long as you don't go too far."

Baiquan even gave Chen Ming a spot for manslaughter.

It seems that the left path is indeed difficult to handle.

"Then one last question. I'm going to use psychic energy on a large scale. This will definitely be exposed to everyone in the colony. Will there be any problems?"

"That's fine."

Bai Quan assured Chen Ming: "Just use it. The communication signals of these two colonies have been controlled for a long time. The government has been monitoring the communications of the two colonies. Any signal will be reviewed."

"Although there are still ways to bypass restrictions and contact others, these rumors are not believed by many people. At most, they become information like urban legends."

"The Empire has no plans to fully expose the existence of psykers to the public at this time."

Chen Ming now finally understood where the rumors about psychics he heard from his colleagues when he was still working at Sinda Company came from.

There must have been psychics who used psychic powers on a large scale, and then most people were silenced, and in the end only some specious news came out.

"Okay, I'm fine now, the rest will come later."

Chen Ming and Bai Quan soon returned to the Stardust level.

It takes three days to get from the Fourteenth Legion branch to this place, and it also takes nearly three days to get from here to the colony that Lou Wei and his team have determined for testing Chen Ming.

So Chen Ming chose to jump there directly at this time. He wanted to reach the colony faster and conduct some investigations in advance to determine the plan for future expansion.

The jump was completed quickly and Chen Ming arrived at his destination smoothly.

In addition, the local army was notified in advance, so there was no problem with the sudden appearance of the Stardust class, and there was no obstruction.

After arriving in the galaxy and seeing two planets with colonies.

Between the two planets, Chen Ming chose to go to the habitable planet with a light industrial colony first.

As the Stardust entered the atmosphere, the appearance of the colony appeared before his eyes.

The feeling Chen Ming got at first glance was one of decadence and decline.

Because this colony is the most eye-catching, the Earth Core Furnace Power Tower that is easiest to see at first glance is operating very weakly.

Especially now that it is daybreak, the dilapidated buildings and abandoned facilities everywhere make the entire industrial colony look lifeless.

It was completely different and in stark contrast to the advanced scientific research colony he had just left.

It is hard to imagine that these two scenes would appear in two star fields that are not too far apart.

Of course, although the two are not far apart, Chen Ming could actually be considered to be in a prosperous star field before.

And now, he is in a marginal star field very close to the Empire and the mechanical star field where the Empire is about to launch a war.

This is the difference between two star fields at different stages of development.

However, Chen Ming had already learned about the situation of the colony through the documents from Baiquan in advance, so he was not too surprised by the scene he saw now.

He immediately began to lower the spacecraft, intending to get closer to take a look.

As the altitude decreased, more details appeared in Chen Ming's eyes.

In the outskirts of this light industrial colony on the habitable planet, there are many residential areas for those who work here.

Although many of the people who worked here have left over the years, making large residential areas look empty, Chen Ming can feel it just by looking at those areas where traces of human life still exist.

The living conditions here are at least thirty years behind the times before he traveled through time.

I can barely survive, but I can't live a decent life.

Even in this era, when people really fall to the bottom, there will be many phenomena of regression.

And just as Chen Ming passed high above their heads, he noticed that many people were paying attention to his spaceship.

Among these people, many had unpleasant expressions when looking at the spaceship, as if they had an inexplicable hatred towards the spaceship.

I don’t know if it’s because their lives are difficult or because they are just Zuo Jing.

Until there is evidence, he is more inclined to regard them as the former.

Chen Ming didn't look at these people much.

In the past, he didn't look at these miserable people because he was powerless to change them, and looking at them more would only make him feel troubled.

But now he doesn't look at these people because he has the ability to change the status quo, and he will spend all his time on these things in the future.

The Stardust class flew directly above the industrial colony and began to record and analyze the situation of the entire colony.

All we can say is that as much as 90% of the equipment in the entire colony's industrial facilities has been paralyzed.

Moreover, almost all of these paralyzed devices are paralyzed due to malfunction or damage, and very few of them are paralyzed due to disrepair.

This situation is slightly different from what was investigated, and the reality is even worse than the intelligence with a certain lag.

In addition, some important public facilities such as water purification plants and power exchange stations showed signs of damage.

However, these places have been repaired, and the government has sent some people to protect them nearby.

Otherwise, if problems occurred in these two places, Chen Ming felt that the entire colony would collapse.

This was definitely not an instigation from the upper echelons of Zuo Jing, but rather a spontaneous act by the lower-level Zuo Jing people who had truly gone mad to the extreme.

They firmly believe that technology will bring disaster, so they will destroy these things without any bottom line and bring difficulties to themselves.

Chen Ming watched the entire colony gradually fall behind him, with mixed feelings in his heart.

He said to Baiquan who was also observing the colony, "I don't quite understand why the Empire has the money to support these people, and why so many people are willing to stay in a place like this."

"I just checked. Those prisoners who were brought here by Lou Wei's faction basically work in a few fixed places. The others were people who were originally here."

"The Empire only has money now, but it will soon be in deficit. Otherwise, there is no need for the Empire to rush to open a second battlefield."

Bai Quan corrected Chen Ming's concept and said, "As for those people, it is precisely because they were originally here that many of them cannot leave here, not because they don't want to, but because they can only rely on the minimum living allowance from the star district government to survive. At least they won't starve to death."

Chen Ming found Bai Quan's words difficult to understand: "It's really hard to imagine that in this era there are still people who can't even afford to eat."

"So Zuo Jing has a problem with his brain. All of this is caused by them. If you want to take over this colony, you have to rebuild it from scratch."

"But the premise of all this is to complete the next test."

"I know."

Chen Ming agreed and looked at the colony from afar on the spaceship.

He didn't get too close, because if he got too close, it might affect the subsequent verification.

Although Lou Wei and his team's future is already ruined, it's hard to say whether they will come back to disgust him again because of this kind of thing.

Chen Ming was just silently calculating in his heart, calculating the layout of the colony.

This time, there was no Hong Guanghong to help him with planning, and he had to handle everything himself.

Relying on his experience and the techniques he learned secretly from simulations, Chen Ming believed that he could do it.

But it needs some careful consideration.

Chen Ming once again came to the light industrial colony on the habitable planet.

This time, Chen Ming didn't just look at the ground from afar in the sky, he directly controlled the spacecraft to land outside the colony.

A dedicated cargo area at the bottom of the space elevator that has also been out of service for a long time.

There is space for large ships to dock here.

He Gu, who had said he would come, also showed up here on time.

He took the initiative to greet Chen Ming with a slightly enthusiastic tone, and then followed Chen Ming and Lou Wei and others onto a medium-sized shuttle and flew into the sky over the colony.

This can be considered as an inspection process. If Chen Ming has any opinions now, he can raise them.

However, Chen Ming had arrived before and observed the entire colony, so he had no objection now.

Just looking at the dilapidated environment outside, the terrible situation of Zuo Jing still emerged in his mind.

And Lou Wei and the others were disgusted by his displeasure over this kind of thing.

Chen Ming turned his head and glanced at the people opposite him.

But they all look as lifeless as dead people. I don’t know if they can’t find a buyer or what.

Only Major General Song showed a slightly apologetic expression to Chen Ming because of Bai Quan's attitude, as if he wanted to say that the location of this colony had been decided before and he could not change it.

But this expression disappeared in an instant, so quickly that Chen Ming didn't even know if he was dazzled.

Chen Ming shook his head and continued to look out the window.

It took a while for the shuttle to fly around the colony from the air.

This colony is also a medium-sized colony like in the simulation, and it will only get bigger after expansion.

However, arriving three days earlier gave Chen Ming full confidence to control and expand the entire colony.

The shuttle quickly circled back to its starting point.

Before landing again, Major General Song suddenly said to Chen Ming: "Instructor Chen, where do you plan to start?"

Chen Ming pointed to the bottom edge of the Earth's Core Furnace Power Tower in the distance, in the center of the colony.

That was the warehouse area for the entire colony.

"Go to the warehouse. Only with the materials in the warehouse can I do the following things."

"good."

Major General Song immediately said a few words to the driver in the shuttle's cockpit who could have been completely optimized away.

The driver quickly and smoothly landed the shuttle on an open space near the warehouse.

Several warehouses showed slight signs of renovation, and there were some fresh tire tracks around them.

It seemed that it had been specially reinforced when materials were being transported to the warehouse, so that the warehouse would not collapse when Chen Ming arrived.

There was no one nearby, as they had all been sent away in advance.

"Let's start now."

Chen Ming said something to the others on the shuttle, jumped off the shuttle alone, walked to the warehouse in a few steps, and put his hand on the warehouse.

The warehouse itself has a mechanized structure. Although this mechanized structure is now rusted and unusable, it does not prevent Chen Ming from controlling it.

However, when Chen Ming took control of several warehouses arranged by Lou Wei and others.

Chen Ming's expression suddenly changed, but he immediately controlled himself, returned to the shuttle, and asked Major General Song, "How many warehouses are there in total?"

"Yes, that's all."

"OK."

Chen Ming nodded and gave a hint to Bai Quan beside him with his eyes.

He then left the shuttle again, and a nanosuit instantly condensed on his body, helping him to move quickly between the buildings in the colony and control the entire colony.

Originally, Chen Ming wanted to drive a small car, which would be more comfortable, but he had noticed that some of the colonies were narrow and not convenient to enter.

So in the end I decided to do it myself, and take the opportunity to observe more about the situation in the colonies.

When He Gu, who was standing next to him, saw this scene, his eyes instantly showed strong interest.

He immediately moved his seat, sat next to Bai Quan, and started chatting with Bai Quan.

By the time Chen Ming had circled the entire colony and returned.

About an hour has passed.

Chen Ming stood by the open door of the shuttle and did not rush to jump in.

"Before we officially start, I have something to say."

"The quantity of materials in the warehouse is wrong. It's about a quarter short of what was agreed upon. Is there someone who can't count?"

"What?!"

Major General Song quickly stood up and jumped off the shuttle in a hurry.

"No need to count. When will I finish counting the supplies for you?"

"I have evidence here."

Chen Ming spread his hands, and a data chip gradually condensed in his palm.

"Luckily you guys fixed the surveillance here while you were stuffing the supplies in. This chip contains the surveillance footage from the past few days."

"I have retrieved all the video files. Take a look."

Major General Song looked at Chen Ming's face and could not see any sign of lying. He picked up the chip with his somewhat dry arms, inserted it into the terminal, and quickly played the videos that had been recorded since the surveillance was installed.

Just when the surveillance content was broadcast to the second day after the materials were transported.

The door of the warehouse, which was supposed to remain closed until Chen Ming arrived, opened.

Dozens of people rushed into the warehouse, driving more than a dozen heavy trucks and some auxiliary transportation equipment openly. They spent more than ten hours in the warehouse and transported a large amount of materials that were supposed to be used by Chen Ming in the colony out of the industrial zone.

Even every warehouse has been visited by these people.

When there were guards in the warehouse before, the guards here also tried to negotiate when this group of people came in, but the leader of the group showed something to the guards, and the guards continued to let them do their job.

Moreover, although there are surveillance cameras near the warehouse, the entire industrial area cannot record anything as long as it is a little far away from the warehouse.

There is no way to determine the final destination of these trucks.

Chen Ming also suddenly said at this time: "I really think we should implement Baiquan's previous practice in our headquarters."

Bai Quan was so scared that he quickly patted Chen Ming's shoulder and signaled him not to talk nonsense.

At this time, he did not have the idea of ​​continuing to add insult to injury to Lou Wei and the others. Instead, he frowned, not being able to understand what was going on.

But it was visible to the naked eye that Lou Wei and his men, even Major General Song, had sweat on their foreheads.

"The surveillance may be fake..."

"Shut up."

Major General Song elbowed Lou Wei hard to stop him from talking nonsense.

"Coach Chen, let's do a quick check."

"As you wish."

Major General Song started calling people in a hurry.

Bai Quan also quickly pulled Chen Ming away from the crowd and asked, "Are we really short of supplies?"

“It’s really too little.”

After Bai Quan and Chen Ming confirmed the news, they were stunned for several seconds. Finally, he shook his head and said, "They are finished."

"What?"

In Chen Ming's confusion, Bai Quan explained: "The matter was concluded when the supervisory department came down a few days ago. Don't forget what the final punishment was."

"He's a general, so basically he's demoted by half a rank. He was given a suspended sentence, and he suddenly committed a crime during the suspended sentence, or within a few days of the start of the suspended sentence. You have to think about the consequences."

“This matter has not been investigated before.”

"If it's just the industrial equipment that's damaged, then that's fine. We were going to repair it for you anyway."

"But now, a problem has occurred in an important warehouse for materials involved in the bet agreement, which has interfered with the progress of the bet agreement. They have not fulfilled their responsibilities."

"If something like this happens at this time, who will be the one to take care of it if they don't?"

"Did you want to see them become even more miserable yesterday? You will see what you want to see soon."

"Your mouth is really..."

A few hours later.

The supply warehouse was already crowded with people.

Relying on a lot of equipment borrowed from a relatively strict prison next door that specifically employed prisoners, Major General Song and his colleagues confirmed that there was indeed a shortage of supplies, and that the video in Chen Ming's chip was indeed real.

The moment he received the news, Major General Song, who had previously looked half buried in the ground, suddenly fell to the ground with a pale face.

The people around rushed to rescue him.

Lou Wei, who was completely ignored by everyone, had a blank mind at this moment. He did not expect that so many supplies would be taken away in advance.

But there was a bitter and happy smile on the corner of his mouth.

The reason is very simple.

He was the one who took the initiative to cause trouble for Chen Ming and was disliked by Chen Ming.

Baiquan naturally wouldn't want him, and he was now a colonel, not a major general as before.

A colonel in his fifties obviously has no future.

They all have a dark future, and when they see that others may be about to face an even more tragic ending.

Instead, he felt a sense of relief.

(End of this chapter)