Half an hour passed.

Cheng Xinghai suddenly woke up.

The first thing she did when she woke up was gasping for breath, as if she had seen something horrible in her dream.

But she soon calmed down and her breathing became normal again. The soothing that Chen Ming had been using up all his mental energy to provide was indeed effective.

"woke up?"

Hearing Chen Ming's concerned inquiry, Cheng Xinghai found that she was lying on the bed in her bedroom, with Chen Ming sitting next to her.

Her face suddenly turned red, and she subconsciously checked her clothes, which were still neat.

Chen Ming didn't do anything strange while she was unconscious.

Cheng Xinghai breathed a sigh of relief.

But she glanced at the bedside again and found her slippers neatly placed there.

Suddenly, an image appeared in her mind of Chen Ming holding her to the bed, helping her take off her slippers, and lifting her feet to lay flat on the bed.

Her face became redder.

Chen Ming, who had decisively thrown Cheng Xinghai onto the bed and then put away his shoes, tilted his head and asked, "What's wrong?"

"nothing."

Cheng Xinghai couldn't take the initiative to say that he had thought of some ambiguous scenes.

If I were to say these words in my bedroom, the atmosphere might have developed in a certain direction.

She is not ready yet.

Cheng Xinghai covered his head and propped himself up. "What happened to me just now?"

Chen Ming said two words in a simple and easy-to-understand way: "Dizzy."

"Of course I know I fainted. How did I faint?"

Chen Ming pulled the pistol out of the holster, turned it around and handed it to Cheng Xinghai.

"You're not afraid of accidental discharge."

Cheng Xinghai looked at the crazy language spirit stone covered with twisted and crazy patterns at the end of the revolver's handle, but still didn't dare to take the pistol.

“This thing…”

"It's what I'm using to train my psychic powers, but the effect is becoming less and less obvious."

"It doesn't work for you?!"

"right."

The Whisper of Madness Spirit Stone was something that was produced during the last dimensional infection. After using it for such a long time, Chen Ming had already become completely accustomed to such mental shocks, and the effects were indeed becoming weaker and weaker.

However, what Chen Ming did not expect was that after he casually said something that he himself did not feel anything about.

Cheng Xinghai suddenly became a little depressed.

It seemed that his words made Cheng Xinghai feel an insurmountable gap.

Chen Ming immediately comforted her: "Don't be discouraged. I also started from Whisper and worked my way up step by step. In the past, just touching the spirit stone I gave you at the beginning would cause severe pain in my brain."

Cheng Xinghai still said somewhat depressedly: "How long ago was that..."

"About two years ago."

"At that time, I was still surviving in the wilderness of Ramu, and there was an undiscovered mechanical mind pulse generator on Ramu."

"It contained a Whispering Spirit Stone that continuously released mental pulses to the surrounding area. I literally ate the mental pulses for about a month."

"At the time, this mental pulse almost drove me crazy. I could only fly into space during my rest time every day to get some rest."

"I was much more fragile then than you are now."

Chen Ming's consolation had some effect. Cheng Xinghai perked up a little and asked, "Then is the spirit stone you showed me at the beginning the Whisper?"

"That's not it, it's the one behind it."

"?"

Cheng Xinghai was a little slow to react for a moment.

Because the effect of the spiritual stone behind, which Chen Ming called the Words of Madness, was too terrifying.

If Chen Ming had been exposed to the words of frenzy before...

Of course, it’s not that exaggerated in reality.

Chen Ming immediately explained: "The spirit stone I got from the mechanical family's equipment is the Whispering Spirit Stone. Its situation is quite special."

"It grew from an ordinary spiritual stone to a resonant spiritual stone, and then gradually became what it is now."

Chen Ming still remembers that he placed the Whispering Spirit Stone in the warehouse of his Iron Ore when he was transporting the bodies of several pirates.

All we can say is that when he got the coffin, the pirate in the coffin was not dead yet, and only died on the spaceship.

Usually, the reason why spirit stones appear is that some people have certain extreme emotions in their hearts when they are dying.

These emotions will in turn affect some ordinary stones in the world under the influence of these people's mental power which has been stimulated to the extreme due to extreme emotions, and transform the stones into spiritual stones.

Under normal circumstances, when the pirate died, the resentment in his heart would inspire a nearby stone to become a new spiritual stone.

Perhaps it was because there were no suitable stones nearby in space at the time, or perhaps it was because this spiritual stone itself had its own special features.

In short, the Whispering Spirit Stone that Chen Ming placed in the storage compartment of the spacecraft was stimulated and turned into a False Spirit Stone, and produced a unique resonance.

Chen Ming is needed to achieve the goal of resonance.

And the Falsehood Spirit Stone completely resonated with him after he killed the middleman who had killed the pirate captain.

Later, the False Spirit Stone came into contact with creatures infected by the same dimension with a similarly crazy nature, and the death of the deformed heart once again promoted the changes of the False Spirit Stone.

Make it what it is now.

Chen Ming explained to Cheng Xinghai in detail the origin of the Mad Words Spirit Stone.

Finally, he concluded: "It has grown as I have grown, so I am lucky to have a spiritual stone like this that allows me to practice my spiritual power."

"If even a stone can grow to this extent, you can definitely continue to grow stronger."

Cheng Xinghai's depressed mood disappeared when he listened to Chen Ming's story about the past.

She was very interested in Chen Ming's past and listened very carefully.

"I remember you didn't explain it in such detail or so much in the simulation before."

“Because things were different back then.”

Chen Ming explained as a matter of course: "At that time you were just a captive, and I was just perfunctory, but now, I am talking to you seriously."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Xinghai immediately stood up and threw himself on Chen Ming's back. He put his arms around Chen Ming's neck and said, "I knew you were just trying to fool me by staring at the computer every day."

She didn't try hard at all, she was just acting coquettishly.

It seems that Chen Ming's comfort is still very effective.

"Alright, alright, that's enough. I can already hear my mother-in-law's footsteps downstairs. If I don't go out now..."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Xinghai quickly loosened his arm around Chen Ming's neck, jumped off the bed, put on his shoes, and hurried outside.

She picked up the pen and continued to record the people who needed to be invited to the engagement party.

Time passed quickly and it was noon.

Chen Ming also had a formal meal with Bai Quan's family.

Of course there will be conversation while eating.

Chen Ming also had a general idea of ​​the progress of the engagement party.

After a morning of hard work, the guests to be invited to the engagement party have been roughly decided, and the rest of the process will just involve some simple additions and deletions.

However, it has not yet been decided which company will host the engagement party.

My mother-in-law looked like she had a headache.

Because today she went to find a wedding company for an on-site inspection and asked some questions, but on the way back she received calls from dozens of different wedding companies.

It looks like it will take some time to pick out a suitable one.

At that time, the specific location of the wedding banquet will be arranged according to the location of the wedding company.

A date has also been chosen for the engagement party, which is two weeks later.

Leave plenty of time to get everything ready.

In addition to these, the matter of engagement rings was of course also brought up at the dinner table.

And Chen Ming decisively took on this task.

But after hearing that Chen Ming was going to take on this task, Bai Quan suddenly signaled Chen Ming with his eyes, as if he wanted to say something.

After lunch, Baiquan went to the balcony first.

Chen Ming understood what he meant and also went to the balcony and closed the door.

As the accommodation park for the families of soldiers of the corps, the sound insulation here is quite good, and people in the room cannot hear the conversation between Chen Ming and Bai Quan.

Bai Quan didn't waste any more words, and just when Chen Ming mentioned the topic of the engagement ring, he said, "You said you came to prepare the ring, do you want to use the things given by the legion commander?"

"Yes, Spirit Stone, the trait is love, it's very suitable, isn't it?"

Baiquan nodded slightly, but then shook his head.

"I heard some information from my friends at the Psychic Research Institute. The Love Spirit Stone seems to have some negative effects."

Chen Ming admitted: "Yes, after a spiritual connection is established between two psychics, whether the relationship breaks down or one of them dies due to an accident or some other reason, it will have a great impact on the other."

"The negative effect is the biggest flaw of this spiritual stone."

"I know what you're worried about, but there's no need to worry."

"The special effect of the Love Spirit Stone requires two psychics to actively activate it. As long as it is not activated, there will be no negative effects. It can be used as an ordinary Spirit Stone."

"What's important is its symbolic meaning. Is there anything that could be more suitable for me and Xinghai?"

"And because of its negative effects, I'm going to use it on an engagement ring instead of a wedding ring."

For Chen Ming.

He even felt that even if he really wanted to trigger the special effects of the Love Spirit Stone, it would not be too smooth.

If he didn't restrain himself, Cheng Xinghai might be knocked unconscious again by the increase in his mental power.

Even if he really wanted to use it, he would have to start by training Cheng Xinghai slowly with the Whispering Spirit Stone.

And there is another problem.

Chen Ming himself is a psychopathic entity, so he can use various psychic things at will without being negatively affected.

But Cheng Xinghai can't do that.

Once she used the Love Spirit Stone, it meant that she would need to wear Love for a long time, and it would be more troublesome to use the training effects of other Spirit Stones afterwards.

Moreover, Chen Ming didn’t think that love was a good choice for Xinghai.

He had many opportunities to come into contact with Xinghai and knew what Xinghai's psychic fluctuations were like, so he knew that Xinghai's psychic properties were not very compatible with Ai Lian.

The Love Spirit Stone is only suitable for the engagement party of Chen Ming and Cheng Xinghai, not for Xinghai himself.

So, Chen Ming really used the Love Spirit Stone as an engagement ring.

The special effects of the Love Spirit Stone will not be actually used.

Chen Ming felt that Bai Quan seemed to want to say something, but he hesitated and finally did not say anything and swallowed his words.

However, Chen Ming could roughly guess what Bai Quan wanted to say, which must be about the legion commander.

After all, this love spirit stone was given to him by the legion commander.

It is not to the extent that the legion commander wants to use this thing to restrict Chen Ming, or use Cheng Xinghai to kill him.

The reason is very simple.

Chen Ming is a psychic after all, and he is also a researcher with a relatively complex research direction.

Although I have not systematically studied psychic power, I have a lot of knowledge about it.

And I also know people who work at the Psychic Research Institute.

Therefore, Chen Ming is absolutely clear about the nature of the Love Spirit Stone itself.

Even if the legion commander didn't know that Chen Mingqing was not clear about the effects of the Love Spirit Stone.

When he presented the gift, Chen Ming had already seen the unique effect of the spirit stone without even reaching out to touch it. After understanding the intentions of the legion commander and expressing his gratitude, he also probably realized that Chen Ming was an expert.

not to mention.

Many people know that Chen Ming has more than one good thing with psychic properties on hand.

The "Ming" and "Ming" are inlaid with the "Word of Madness" spiritual stone, which does not emit any spiritual energy fluctuations but has spiritual stone patterns. He has never deliberately hidden it.

If you think about it for a moment, you will realize that this is a psychic weapon inlaid with a special resonant spirit stone.

Moreover, "Ming" was given to Chen Ming by Bai Quan, needless to say.

Therefore, an ordinary spiritual stone like love, which has many restrictions, cannot compare to what Chen Ming himself has.

It was purely because of the unique symbolic meaning of the Love Spirit Stone that the Legion Commander gave it to him.

With the means of the legion commander, it is impossible and unnecessary to expect Chen Ming to use this spiritual stone himself.

If he really wanted to find something to hold against Chen Ming, he would have used some other means.

Of course, judging from the legion commander’s current performance, he has no intention of doing such a thing. He seems to really want to maintain a good and friendly relationship with Chen Ming.

Although Baiquan didn't say it explicitly, he was definitely worried about these issues.

Chen Ming also gave Bai Quan a brief reminder and said, "Don't worry about these issues. I will take care of all matters related to psychic energy."

Bai Quan's gaze, which was originally directed toward the distance, turned back to Chen Ming, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

"Then... I'll leave it to you."

Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye.

Chen Ming and Cheng Xinghai's engagement party was held as scheduled.

The specific process of the engagement banquet is not complicated and is much simpler than a formal wedding banquet.

But there still have to be various rituals.

Anyway, Chen Ming didn’t like it very much, and Cheng Xinghai disliked it even more than him.

The day before, she pulled Chen Ming aside and yelled that it should be finished quickly and not to make anything too fancy.

Then I was pushed back by my mother-in-law.

After all, this is a very important matter, and the two still have to cooperate.

Of course it didn't take long.

Compared to a wedding banquet, an engagement banquet is mainly for entertaining guests and announcing more detailed information about the wedding banquet in the future.

Generally speaking, there are not too many procedures. As the protagonists of the engagement banquet, the two people just need to show up halfway and meet some important guests.

For example, Chen Ming needs to get to know the directors of several research institutes, including the Ship Research Institute, the Psychic Research Institute, and the Shining Civilization Research Institute.

Because he now has three honorary memberships above his head.

There is also Baiquan’s adoptive father, and some old people in the Baiquan faction who have close relations with Baiquan.

And He Gu who was invited by Chen Ming.

The three directors all maintained a welcoming attitude towards Chen Ming.

Bai Quan's adoptive father, his old boss, is also quite optimistic about Chen Ming.

When Chen Ming saw He Gu at the engagement party, he suddenly realized a problem.

The Institute of Psychic Powers is a place where psychic power is systematically studied.

And he has not yet systematically learned anything related to psychic power.

What this means is that even if Chen Ming passes away now, there is not much he can learn.

He seemed a little deceived.

But this is his own problem, there is nothing to say.

The other two research institutes do not require a very systematic understanding of psychic powers. Just be diligent when you go to those two research institutes.

However, Chen Ming suddenly discovered the "sinister intentions" of the legion commander.

There are indeed good things in these departments, but they definitely require a lot of time to learn, and it is best to learn them in person.

In other words, the legion commander gave Chen Ming the identities of these three honorary members, which was equivalent to putting a large piece of fat meat in the headquarters to tempt Chen Ming to stay.

After all, after leaving, although the status of honorary member is still there, the environment in which it can be applied is not so good.

This is also something he needs to focus on later.

After all, he couldn't stay in the headquarters forever.

While Chen Ming was thinking about it, he suddenly discovered that there seemed to be a lot of people surrounding Baiquan.

Chen Ming listened casually and it seemed that they were mainly talking about the incident two weeks ago.

There are vacancies in many departments and some positions need to be filled.

And quite a few of these vacancies were assigned to Baiquan.

Of course, there will be a bunch of people surrounding Baiquan.

Chen Ming didn't care about other things, but he had to pay attention to the special materials management department.

Because energy crystals are considered special-grade materials, the development of energy crystal crab resources must go through the special materials management department.

Before Chen Ming was not in the 14th Legion, he had already handed over the transaction of energy crystals to Bai Quan as an agent, allowing Bai Quan to force his hand in this department.

Now that several factions have been affected, there are many vacancies, which allows Baiquan to intervene more.

Nothing else to say.

As long as Baiquan's people can be placed in this department, it will make absolute sense for Chen Ming to make money by using the resources of the energy crystal crab.

And it seems that because Bai Quan had announced that Chen Ming was planning to sell energy crystals, energy crystal crabs, and energy crystal crab cultivation technology, many people wanted to talk to Bai Quan about this emerging material.

Although Chen Ming was the original source of goods, because Bai Quan was helping, most people went to find Bai Quan.

It’s pretty good. Chen Ming is also happy to have some peace and quiet.

After meeting almost everyone he needed to meet, he quietly slipped out of the banquet hall to take a breath.

However, he had just been quiet for a while when someone came to him.

"Hello, Mr. Chen Ming."

The person who spoke was a gentle-looking man in a suit.

It should be someone’s relative or friend.

Although Chen Ming didn't know him, and logically speaking, there was no need to be too serious in this kind of occasion.

But since the man in the suit was like this, Chen Ming still greeted him: "Hello, who are you?"

"Please allow me to assure you before I speak to you that I will leave the Legion Headquarters after today and will never appear in front of your family."

Chen Ming's face suddenly turned gloomy. If the man in the suit didn't want to talk about something dangerous, he obviously wouldn't have said that first.

"Go on."

"I am from the Empire."

This short sentence made Chen Ming's heart surge.

However, he calmly asked back: "I know what you want to do, the ruling party and the ruling class of the empire?"

The man in the suit said gently, "I just want to get to know you, because the empire needs people like you."

"You want me to leave the Legion and join the Empire? Is this coercion or an invitation?"

"Of course it's an invitation. We just want you to know that the foundation on which the Fourteenth Legion can be built is the existence of the Empire, and the same can be said for the Empire that the Legion can give you."

"We are just giving you an additional option. There is no forced nature in my conversation with you."

Chen Ming disagreed with him: "It's hard to say."

"Because you might have such thoughts, I will make a guarantee before communicating with you."

"We also know that you have someone in the legion that you can't leave behind, so we only sent me here to extend the most basic invitation to you."

"If you are interested, please contact this person."

The man in the suit took out a business card from his pocket and handed it to Chen Ming with both hands.

Chen Ming thought about it and finally took the business card.

The man in the suit bowed slightly to Chen Ming, then turned and left.

It seems that he is indeed going to fulfill his promise.

Chen Ming glanced at the business card, which only had a communication code on it.

This is the invitation from the empire.

Chen Ming suddenly felt mixed emotions.

Because he had finally grown to a level that was worthy of the Empire's attention and was worth inviting.

Belonging to the Empire and belonging to the Legion, although both are working for the Empire, are two different concepts.

No wonder the legion commander was willing to bleed heavily to resolve the matter immediately and find a way to keep him in the legion.

Unknowingly, Chen Ming has grown to this point.

This is one more option.

If Chen Ming is not satisfied with the legion, he can leave at any time and use this contact information.

Although he has no intention of leaving at the moment, after all, the legion commander's attitude is very good, but he also has to leave a way out for himself.

Having a way out means having bargaining power.

It doesn't mean that he must join the empire. He can use the empire as a springboard for further development.

Getting along with the Legion and getting along with the Empire are also different concepts, and there are different things that need to be considered.

If he gets close to the empire, it will be more difficult for him to leave in the future.

but……

All Chen Ming has left in the empire now is the prosthesis, so he doesn't need to consider this issue at all.

(End of this chapter)