After five days, the speed of the spacecraft had been reduced to a level where it could stop at any time.

The location of the Dark Cemetery has also appeared within the range of the spacecraft's sensors.

At the same time, the asteroid scanning detector in the working cabin also scanned some asteroids containing minerals.

It can be seen that the quality of the ore in this dark cemetery is indeed not as good as that of the rings of Ramu, but at least these asteroids are not pure stone.

For Chen Ming, who had not done anything other than modifying spaceships and reading books for several months, this was enough.

Chen Ming immediately adjusted the direction of the spacecraft and prepared to move over to collect ore to relieve the mental fatigue of only being able to do one or two things for such a long time.

The spacecraft maintained a relatively low speed and slowly approached the dark cemetery to avoid colliding with the asteroids there.

Chen Ming quickly identified an asteroid of moderate size with a decent mineral content.

It was fixed to the side of the spacecraft using a traction device.

But just when Chen Ming was about to start the mining laser to begin collecting, the spacecraft suddenly received a special signal.

This signal was not the meaningless electromagnetic waves that often appeared in space, but a regular signal type that Chen Ming was familiar with.

A distress signal.

The distress signal is a special signal officially set by the empire.

All spacecraft can rely on their own communication systems to send distress signals to the outside world.

Mark your position in space and guide other passing ships to rescue you.

Assist ships that are wrecked and unable to reach the nearest inhabited space station or colony on their own.

After all, there are too many reasons that can cause spacecraft crashes in space, and no one can guarantee that an accident will not happen in some corner of space one day.

If you save someone today, you may be rescued by someone somewhere in the future.

However, although the authorities have given everyone the right to use distress signals, there is no mandatory obligation for those who receive distress signals.

If you are willing to go to the rescue, then go. If you are not willing, no one will force you.

There is no explicit prohibition on even waiting nearby after receiving a distress signal and waiting until all the people on the ship have died before going over to receive the inheritance.

However, correspondingly, the initiator of the distress signal may also have bad intentions and take advantage of people's sympathy to fish for fish and commit some pirate acts.

There is nothing wrong with the distress signal, but human behavior makes the distress signal lose its original meaning.

At least that's the case in the fringe star regions of the empire.

The distress signal that Chen Ming's spacecraft received now came from deeper in the dark cemetery.

To be honest, Chen Ming wasn't sure whether it was a real distress signal or something else.

Because there is a real possibility that the spacecraft could crash in this area.

After all, no matter how sophisticated the equipment is, it is impossible to guarantee that there will be no accidents forever. It is normal for spacecraft to have accidents in an asteroid-dense area like the Dark Cemetery.

But Chen Ming didn't want to gamble.

Especially when there is a pirate space station within two months of the Dark Cemetery.

Other people's ships may not have hyperspace channel systems like mine, so it doesn't take much time to come from the pirate space station.

So Chen Ming chose to give up the asteroid that was being towed by his traction equipment.

Turn around immediately and prepare to leave the dark cemetery.

And the next moment, the sensor suddenly gave a prompt.

Three spaceships without transponders flew out from various parts of the dark cemetery and attacked Chen Ming's position at high speed.

Chen Ming immediately realized that something was wrong.

He knew his own spaceship engine very well. It was absolutely impossible for the engine to overheat before the matching emergency cooling system was activated.

If it suddenly overheats and stalls when everything is normal, it can only be because some interference device has interfered with the engine's temperature reading.

And those three spaceships that suddenly appeared were definitely the culprits that caused this situation.

Chen Ming directly forced to shut down the spacecraft's safety restriction system, allowing the engine to start again regardless of the temperature limit.

But within a few seconds when the engine was restarted, the three spaceships had already approached.

They would definitely not give the Iron Ore time to escape faster.

And even if the Iron Ore was really accelerated, Chen Ming felt that he would not be able to escape.

The controllers of the three spaceships were obviously well prepared.

They had one ship send out a signal for help, while the other ships shut down all their systems and drifted nearby.

They prevent passing ships that receive the distress signal from detecting them, and then take the opportunity to paralyze the ship's engine, leaving the victim a complete lamb to be slaughtered.

Judging from these operations, they are definitely those of professional pirates. They will definitely be fully prepared for some unexpected situations.

For example, prepare a disposable item called a channel traction device.

The channel traction device is a device used when building space stations in dangerous areas, such as the rings of Ramu.

Low-quality items within an area can be temporarily sent into the hyperspace channel for rapid transportation.

It works on asteroids, as well as spacecraft and humans.

And hyperspace lanes have a special property.

Anything that comes out of the channel, no matter how fast it is in the channel, will have its speed reduced to zero after coming out, and will remain relatively stationary with the place where it came out.

As long as you are locked by the channel traction device, it will be meaningless no matter how fast you run.

The hyperspace channel system itself is already popular in the empire, and the cost of a disposable consumable is nothing compared to the profits after a successful robbery.

There was no way to escape, and Chen Ming didn't have many choices left.

With almost no information about the enemy, he did not choose to counterattack directly. Instead, he immediately turned the ship around and rushed in the other direction of the dark cemetery.

The protective plates on the spacecraft's portholes rose up. Chen Ming no longer dodged those small asteroids. He maintained a certain speed, directly withstood the impact, and rushed into the depths of the dark cemetery.

The three spaceships tracking behind did not expect that Chen Ming would not run out of the dark cemetery which was almost within reach, but run inside where the environment was more complicated.

For a moment, they were unable to accurately lock onto Chen Ming's spacecraft across a large number of asteroids. They could only follow Chen Ming's ass and wait for the opportunity.

Chen Ming took this opportunity to quickly confirm the models of the three spacecraft.

Only by having more detailed information can we formulate more effective counterattack plans and seize the initiative in the battle.

(End of this chapter)