It didn't take long for the Iron Ore to catch up with the Sentinel-class that was being sent away by the traction device.

Its engine was completely destroyed, and even with professional maintenance personnel and repair tools, it would be impossible to repair the engine within a few hours.

Especially when the engine fails and the entire ship loses its life support system, it can only rely on the ship's protective clothing that can barely last for two or three hours for repairs.

The only thing the people on the boat could do was wait for death.

So Chen Ming simply limited its speed, letting it stay where it was, and then continued to move forward and caught up with the half of Yuhui's destroyer.

The traction equipment was also used to gradually slow it down, change its direction, and bring it back to the Sentinel-class.

The next step is to use mining lasers to cut through the Sentinel-class hull armor and expose the interior of the Sentinel-class.

After cutting off a piece of the spacecraft's armor, the first thing Chen Ming saw was the bodies of the crew members.

Most of them were wearing ordinary makeshift protective clothing and within just a few hours they lost temperature and oxygen and died in space.

The only person who was wearing heavy protective clothing that could sustain activities in a vacuum environment for a long time had a bloody hole on his chest. He was not killed by an electromagnetic javelin, but by his own people's gun.

This is the best option for Chen Ming. He just plans to keep the Sentinels intact, so he won't have to worry about dealing with them after all the people die.

All he had left to do was to have the Iron Ore continue to carry his spoils to a hidden corner of space and hide them temporarily.

After all, the dock of the space station is damaged and it is unknown when it will be reopened. Even if the things are transported back, there is no safe place to put them, and we have to spend energy to look after them.

So it is better to find a place to place it in space first, and then bring it back after the space station is able to receive foreign spacecraft.

You just have to be a little careful about where you hide your things so they can't be discovered by other passing spaceships.

After being busy controlling the iron ore for a while, Chen Ming suddenly heard a knock on the door.

He immediately gave the Iron Ore, which had already dragged the spoils to a safe location, an order to return home, then stood up and walked to the locked door of the workshop and asked, "Who?"

"From the personnel department."

"oh."

Hearing a familiar voice, Chen Ming immediately opened the door.

The person at the door was someone Chen Ming had just met in the Human Resources Department that morning.

He was a little surprised to see Chen Ming still wearing a protective suit at the Administration, but he immediately remembered what happened during the day and asked, "You just started working today, right?"

"right."

The person from the Human Resources Department poked his head into the studio and looked around. After confirming that Chen Ming was the only one there, he waved to Chen Ming and said, "Come with me. Your repair shop has a big job to do."

Chen Ming did not refuse, and followed him and asked, "What big job?"

"Recover the debris from the recent battle."

Chen Ming immediately became alert. Recycling debris was definitely a good job. He might have a chance to get something he urgently needed.

But Chen Ming certainly couldn't show it, so he continued to pretend that he had been hiding underground and asked, "Are you done?"

The person from the Administration nodded and said, "The battle is over. We have won. Yu Hui will definitely not be able to come back in a short time, so we have to clean up the battlefield as soon as possible."

"Is that a ship that uses the space station?"

"Yes, the Administration will approve an engineering vessel for you. Also, do you know the location of your other colleagues? Contact them and discuss it with your factory manager when the time comes."

"OK."

Chen Ming agreed casually, but he didn't have the contact information of anyone other than Lao Wu and the factory director. He definitely didn't need to worry about the two of them, so he didn't move.

The people from the administration didn't say anything when they saw this, and continued to take him to the space arm No. 30 of the space station, opposite to the space arm No. 1.

This is the space station's backup dock, which is usually closed and will only be activated in an emergency.

At this time, there were already a few ships docked at the dock which had just been launched.

In the maintenance shop at the same location, Chen Ming could see the factory director, Lao Wu, and two other people there, starting up the spare maintenance shop equipment.

As soon as Chen Ming approached, he saw that the factory director had a dark face, and Old Wu next to him had an equally dark face.

The bald repairman that Chen Ming had met before was smoking one cigarette after another.

Old Wu's assistant, a maintenance technician whom he called Xiaowen, was standing beside them with fear and trepidation on his face.

He became even more frightened when he noticed Chen Ming coming over. Besides fear, there seemed to be a hint of disgust in his eyes.

Chen Ming frowned slightly, somewhat confused about what was going on.

He immediately stepped forward and after greeting the factory manager, Old Wu, he asked, "What happened?"

The factory manager, who had been staring at the equipment, suddenly turned his head when he heard Chen Ming's voice. His expression improved a little, but only a little.

He sighed and said, "There are only six people left in the repair shop: you, the four of us, and the deputy director."

Chen Ming frowned even more when he heard this, and asked quickly, "What's going on?"

The factory manager explained: "Someone locked the door to the emergency passage of the maintenance shop. When Yuhui's ship hit the space station, all the people who were still in the maintenance shop didn't have time to escape. They were basically burned to death by the aftermath."

"All dead? But I remember the gate to the dock was not closed, right?"

"The door from the space arm to the core is indeed open, but the door from the repair shop to the dock is closed."

Hearing this, Chen Ming immediately recalled the structure of space arm No. 1.

The No. 1 Space Arm is a dock as a whole, and there is a passage from the dock that leads directly to the interior of the space station.

The location where this passage extends out on both sides of the tail end of Space Arm No. 1 is the maintenance factory. There is a door between the maintenance factory buildings on both sides and this passage that is basically never closed.

I didn't expect that it would turn off by itself when an emergency occurred.

Chen Ming felt that it should be turned off automatically to prevent someone from rushing into the repair shop and robbing during an emergency.

Once the door was closed, the employees in the maintenance shop were naturally locked inside the shop.

They could have left through the emergency exit, but the factory manager said the door was locked.

So here comes the question.

"Who locked it?"

Facing Chen Ming's question, the factory director's face darkened even more. He gritted his teeth and said word by word: "Deputy Factory Director."

Chen Ming was confused now.

Moreover, seeing that the factory director had completely abandoned his previous dignified and serious temperament and looked like he was ready to eat someone, he did not dare to continue asking him.

I could only ask Old Wu next to me: "What does the deputy factory director mean by doing this?"

When Old Wu mentioned him, his face turned unhappy as well, and he cursed directly: "The deputy factory director is so pushy, he finds fault with every little thing, and takes advantage of his power to do disgusting things."

"We are forced to arrive early and work overtime every day. If we have nothing to do and take a break, we will be caught and our wages will be deducted. They find ways to disgust us."

"The factory manager usually keeps the emergency door open so that everyone can take off their gear and leave work earlier. He locked it as soon as he came back."

Old Wu said nothing and agreed with Chen Ming's statement.

However, judging from the factory director's current performance and the deputy factory director's stupid operation of locking the emergency passage door, it is very likely that the deputy factory director was parachuted in from above.

Those who died in the repair shop must have died in vain.

Chen Ming was not familiar with the other people in the repair shop, and he had nothing to say to comfort them. Standing here was a waste of time, so he could only say, "Then I was called back by the HR department just now, and they asked me to contact other repair shops. There is a task to be done."

"We don't need to contact them anymore, but there are only a few of us left. What should we do with the mission?"

The factory manager adjusted his mood at this time, and said to the few people who were still able to work in the repair shop: "Yuhui was almost completely wiped out this time, and he probably won't come back in the short term. We can just complete the task slowly."

"Originally, even if we had all the people, we could only send out two engineering ships. Now we are sending out only one. Even if the efficiency is a little slower, the higher-ups won't say anything if they know the situation."

Chen Ming suddenly realized that this seemed to be his chance, and took the initiative to say: "How about I drive a single ship?"

The factory director looked at Chen Ming with some surprise and asked, "Can you? The scale of an engineering ship is close to that of a destroyer. It would take at least three or four experienced people to barely operate it. Are you alone?"

Chen Ming had also driven Xinda Company's engineering vessel before.

And if the factory director was referring to the "experienced hands" who originally worked on the space station, then Chen Ming could indeed fly one by himself, and he was not afraid of anything related to his profession.

So Chen Ming answered decisively: "Yes, I can."

The factory manager thought for a moment and said, "Don't worry. We can only start the equipment at the dock today, and we can only start the processing tomorrow."

"Tomorrow you will follow the ship to familiarize yourself with the job, and then we'll see how it goes."

Since the factory manager did not explicitly refuse, Chen Ming naturally would not bring it up again to annoy others.

Anyway, I have the skills, and the factory manager doesn't seem to be a petty person, so sooner or later I will have the opportunity to show my skills.

"Xiao Mu, go put on your equipment first. Today we will just turn on the equipment and officially start tomorrow."

Watching Chen Ming's back as he walked into the factory, the factory director said to the people around him, "Xiao Mu has the best skills. When the time comes, leave one of us on duty at the shipyard, and the rest will go out to work."

Seeing Xiaowen's expression seemed a little reluctant, the factory director suddenly said in a low voice: "Tian Jiwen."

He warned with a serious expression: "Don't say bad things casually at a time like this."

Tian Jiwen, also known as Xiaowen, opened his mouth but couldn't help but say, "But Yuhui came after he came. If he's not the disaster star, then who is?"

"Everyone is dead, how can he, a newcomer, live well?"

Tian Jiwen became unconsciously excited while speaking, and his expression looked a little ferocious.

The bald repairman threw the cigarette butt onto his shoes and said, "I'm still alive."

"And Old Wu is still alive, the factory director is still alive, and you are still alive. We are the only four who have had close contact with him, and we are the only ones who survived. Why don't you say he is a lucky star?"

"I……"

Tian Jiwen was choked for a moment, but everyone present could see that his thoughts had not changed at all.

His current situation is due to the psychological trauma caused by the drastic change in his environment, and he is just venting his anger on Chen Ming, the person he is least familiar with. We can just find a psychologist to see him later.

Knowing that there was no point in explaining it to him, Old Wu just shook his head and said, "I still have work to do now."

After leaving these words, Old Wu ignored him and turned around to continue following the factory director to start the equipment in the maintenance shop.

But when Tian Jiwen looked at Chen Ming's back, the disgust in his eyes became even stronger.

Chen Ming spent the rest of the day in the maintenance shop helping to start up, maintain and repair various equipment.

After getting off work in the evening, Chen Ming found a place to have dinner and then came to Space Arm No. 30.

The Iron Ore had just returned at this time, and thanks to Chen Ming's identity, it was successfully docked in the No. 30 Space Arm Dock, which had not yet been opened to the public.

After Chen Ming made sure that the bald man on duty tonight did not notice him, he walked onto the Iron Ore and disappeared into the starry sky.

The Iron Ore soon carried Chen Ming to the location where he had hidden the spaceship before.

The Sentinel-class and half of the Afterglow destroyers were floating quietly in space.

Chen Ming can now finally start to sort out the gains he has made from this risky expedition of the Iron Ore.

With the idea of ​​saving the good stuff for last, Chen Ming decided to start with the Sentinel-level.

He wore the heavy protective clothing that he had purchased earlier when he was shopping for supplies and entered the Sentinel-class cabin.

All the stiff corpses were thrown into space.

Then Chen Ming controlled the Sentinel-class ship directly through the panel, just like he did before in the dock.

The panels on this Sentinel are similar to the one in the dock that needs repairs.

There are just more weapons, and several important equipment have been damaged.

But for Chen Ming, the most important hyperspace channel system installed near the engine was fortunately not damaged, and that was enough.

In order to prevent any further complications, Chen Ming directly removed the Sentinel-class hyperspace channel system through the panel and installed it on the Iron Ore.

The installed hyperspace channel system did not even need to be debugged and was directly compatible with the Iron Ore.

Chen Ming tried to start it and found no problem. It was no different from buying a new one and installing it.

This saved Chen Ming at least one million imperial coins, which was a quarter of his current assets.

After finishing this, Chen Ming went on to look at the panels of several cabins of the Sentinel-class.

He could use the panel to check whether there were any valuable items in the cabin, but unfortunately, everyone on this ship was poor and there was almost nothing of value.

At most, a few terminals might be worth a little money.

Fortunately, what Chen Ming was eyeing at the beginning was the spaceship itself. The spaceship itself was valuable enough, so it didn’t matter how much of the other things he took.

Moreover, Chen Ming also found some missile weapons of different models in the missile auxiliary operation cabin, including a Reaper torpedo that had not been used yet.

Although it cannot be launched without a spacecraft with missile mounting points, it can still be done if it is just activated.

High-powered consumables are a good choice for Chen Ming whether as a trump card or a last resort.

After all, Chen Ming couldn't guarantee that he would never fail in his life, so it would never be wrong to prepare something of this type.

After finding the Reaper torpedo, Chen Ming confirmed again and made sure that all the valuable things on the Sentinel had been sorted out.

He cast his gaze to the side of the Sentinel-class.

Now comes the highlight.

Afterglow's destroyer.

(End of this chapter)