After Chen Ming took out the Whispering Stone covered with twisted patterns.

Gamma B, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly asked, "Is this a spirit stone?"

"Do you know him?"

"Yes, I have seen this kind of thing when I was looking up some information. It has a fatal effect on Yuhui individuals."

For the time being, Chen Ming did not go into the details of what Gamma B had to search on their platform to find anything related to the spiritual stone.

Because there was obviously something more worthy of his attention in what Gamma B said.

"fatal?"

"Yes, I have found a record confirmed by Alpha-level Afterglow before, that an Afterglow individual died while researching the Spirit Stone."

Can the spirit stone actually affect AI?

Chen Ming looked at the stone in his hand in disbelief and asked, "What exactly is going on?"

Gamma B explained: "In that record is recorded the results of reading the internal data of the core of the deceased afterglow individual."

"It was finally determined that when the Yuhui individual encountered the influence of the spirit stone, some incomprehensible redundant data appeared in the logic circuit."

"The only way to gradually erase this redundant data is through the self-operation of the logic circuit."

"Once the contact time with the spirit stone is too long, the accumulated redundant data will block the logic circuit, and the part of Yuhui's individual consciousness will completely stop functioning, which means death."

Chen Ming was silent for a while, thinking about what Gamma B said.

According to his understanding, the meaning of Gamma B is probably similar to the influence of the spirit stone on the afterglow, which is like inserting 3 into a binary program with only 0 and 1, and more than one.

When all the running lines of the program are stuck at 3, the program will freeze and cannot be recovered.

"So do you know what this thing does?"

Gamma B answered decisively: "I don't know."

"But I know that its value is very high. The Alpha-level Yuhui who published this record is collecting these spiritual stones."

"An Afterglow I know found a similar one during an expedition and traded it to that Alpha-level Afterglow."

"He said that the Alpha-class Afterglow who specializes in spacecraft design and modification technology used his quota to modify one of his trophies for him, a human Storm-class frigate."

Storm class, Chen Ming has an impression of this type of ship.

Because it is the only spacecraft that carries fighter jets on a frigate.

And the fighter jets it carries are not piloted by humans, but are drones equipped with built-in artificial intelligence.

The company that designed it, Tachyon Technology, stated that the AI ​​level used in the ship is definitely below the Empire's stated upper limit on the strength of artificial intelligence.

However, many Storm-class combat videos show that the Terminator fighters it carries have powerful combat instincts and flexibility that far exceed normal strength.

So to be honest, Chen Ming was not too surprised that such a spaceship became Yu Hui's collection.

And after being modified by an Alpha-class Afterglow AI that is rumored to be capable of controlling an entire galaxy, but uses that ability to design and modify spacecraft, the value of this Storm-class ship is absolutely immeasurable.

So the meaning of Gamma B is also very clear.

One spiritual stone is equivalent to a galaxy-level professional technical expert helping to modify the spacecraft and advance payment of materials.

It's basically like giving away a super powerful spaceship for free with just a framework.

It was impossible for Chen Ming to say that he was not moved at this moment.

If he wanted, he could transfer the spirit stone through the two AIs and get such an opportunity.

However, Chen Ming didn't want to give this spiritual stone away just for the time being. He wanted to see what potential the spiritual stone had.

At this time, Chen Ming suddenly thought of the additional disassembly function on his panel.

This disassembly function allows you to see the material ratio of the disassembled item before actually performing the disassembly operation.

So Chen Ming seems to be able to use it to see what the essence of this spiritual stone is.

Chen Ming opened the panel of the [Spirit Stone (Whisper)] in his hand and saw the interface where operations could be performed.

There is indeed an option to disassemble it.

The material that can be obtained from disassembly is something called spiritual energy, totaling sixteen grams.

Chen Ming wrote down this name, which seemed even more outrageous than the Spiritual Stone, and decided to keep the Spiritual Stone for the time being.

After all, this spiritual stone is something related to psychic power no matter what, and it is very likely that it will give Chen Ming the opportunity to come into contact with a real psychic in the future.

As for exploring the functions of the spirit stone, Gamma AI probably won't be able to help him for the time being.

Chen Ming felt a little regretful.

He had originally hoped to obtain some valuable information through Yu Hui's data sharing platform, but the result was less than ideal.

To the extent that he even felt that his luck was starting to get worse after getting better.

Because Chen Ming had actually thought of other ways to use the afterglow database before.

For example, relying on what Gamma A said, the technology publicly available on that platform.

The first thing Chen Ming thought of was to build a colony of his own like the Yuhui Colony he had seen.

Just think about the throughput of goods in the Afterglow Colony before, and you will know that this is definitely the most profitable method compared to any other means.

The cargo throughput of the Afterglow Colony Spaceport during the period he had seen before was enough to buy several destroyers.

But Chen Ming immediately gave up this idea.

To build a colony that can be self-sufficient and even profitable, both human and financial resources are indispensable.

With the price of a basic civilian ship often fluctuating around five million, the investment required to make money through the colony is definitely enough to empty Chen Ming's family assets several times over.

So Chen Ming just thought about it.

Then he thought of a more suitable idea for him to gain benefits from the Yuhui platform.

Yu Hui's spacecraft modification and maintenance technology.

This is a professional matter, but there are some troubles involved.

Because the design concept of the Afterglow ship is different from that of humans, unless Chen Ming only controls the Afterglow ship in the future, he must personally study and transfer the design concept of the Afterglow ship to human ships.

The most outstanding features of Yu Hui's ship design are energy weapons and energy systems, and a lot of money and time are required to research these two aspects.

As for other ideas that could allow Chen Ming to quickly benefit from the platform, Chen Ming also thought of a few, but none of them had much possibility of being realized.

Such as warp drives and blink drives.

Both must be installed on ships of at least cruiser rank, relying on engine resonance to drive other ships to jump or flash.

At least that's what Chen Ming understood.

So the final result was that Yu Hui had the spiritual stone that he didn't understand, but he couldn't use it.

Yu Hui is relatively familiar with and good at unmanned ship design, but he does not have the ability or the right place to use it for the time being.

Chen Ming couldn't help but feel a headache.

Several ideas failed to materialize due to various reasons, so he could only stick with the original plan for the time being.

But when Chen Ming thought about his plan, not only did his head hurt, but a bit of gloom also emerged in his heart.

The reason, of course, lies in the military outpost in the RM-2 star system where Ramu is located.

Although Chen Ming had determined his own course of action long ago.

Quit your identity as a Sinda Corporation employee, cut off ties with Sinda and the military as much as possible, and start a new life.

But this matter about the military and the mining space station just came up, and Chen Ming couldn't just pretend not to see it.

When he sees it, he can't help but think about it.

Thirty years ago, before Chen Ming entered hibernation for the last time, he had never heard of a military outpost being set up in the galaxy where the mining space station was located.

With so many spaceships coming in and out of the mining space station, it's impossible for no news to leak out.

Therefore, this outpost was definitely built after an insect plague broke out in the space station and all the people on the station were killed.

Chen Ming wouldn't believe it if there was no logical connection between them.

So after thinking about what he knew about the whole thing, an irresponsible guess came to his mind.

Sinda Corporation initially chose to purchase mineral mining rights in the galaxy because it was targeting the high-density and high-content mineral asteroids in the rings of Ramu.

There is nothing wrong with doing this, it is legal and compliant.

The company probably really didn't know that there were air fish in the rings of the nearby gas giant planet.

After all, the mining rights of this galaxy were sold by the government, and it is impossible for the government to let others take advantage of it for no reason.

It is definitely the case that even the official themselves have not discovered the existence of Sora.

However, with the establishment of the mining space station, more and more people came here.

Then one day, someone discovered traces of the existence of the Sora Fish.

So the military, which was closest to the mining space station, chose to strike first, destroyed the space station, and put the blame on the bugs.

Then, they blocked the galaxy on the pretext that dangerous creatures appeared in the galaxy, forcing Sinda Corporation to suffer the loss in silence.

However, the actual situation should not be as simple as Chen Ming guessed. There must be more complex logical relationships and more complicated exchanges of interests.

So Chen Ming also felt that the pirate space station with a Sinda background was actually the product of an exchange of interests between the Sinda Company and the military.

After all, it is outrageous to have a complete city built on a pirate space station.

And if you think about it, you will know that without the mining space station as a relatively neutral spacecraft transfer point.

For those who run in the fringe star field, there must always be other alternatives, and the Pirate Space Station is just right.

If what Chen Ming guessed was true, it would start with the military initiating the conflict, and end with both sides sitting at the negotiating table and peacefully exchanging interests.

So the outcome of things may be good or bad for Chen Ming.

Because in this situation, neither Sinda nor the military will pursue the matter of the space station too much.

Before Chen Ming's identity was discovered, no one would take the initiative to investigate this matter, so his situation was very safe.

However, if both parties knew of Chen Ming's existence, in order to prevent the matter from being exposed, both sides might try to crush this small figure like him.

Of course, it is also possible that they don’t care at all. After all, how much waves can Chen Ming make by himself?

But Chen Ming couldn't possibly gamble on this possibility, so avoiding being discovered was the best option for him.

And if the truth is different from what Chen Ming guessed, the matter was not resolved peacefully in the end, but Xinda suffered a loss in this matter.

And Xinda will try every means to find an opportunity to get back at the right time.

Chen Ming felt that the loss of a mining space station should be worth keeping in mind by Sinda Company for some time.

And his existence is exactly the key to this.

So no matter what, if the military knew Chen Ming's identity, they would most likely not let him go, as for Xinda, it would depend on the situation.

Fortunately, the military outpost has been demolished now. In order to obtain Sky Steel again, the outpost will definitely need to be rebuilt. In the short term, they should not have too much energy to investigate other things.

So Chen Ming still has time to do what he should do.

Chen Ming temporarily relaxed his mind and stopped thinking about too many things.

It's almost time to go back to the space station.

Chen Ming transferred the control of the Iron Ore to the Lumen class.

He personally controlled the Iron Ore and, with the Lumen-class, once again entered the deep purple hyperspace channel.

It used to take Chen Ming more than a month to get from the Dark Cemetery to the Pirate Space Station, but now it only takes a dozen seconds through the hyperspace channel.

Thirty hours after Chen Ming left the space station.

At around six in the morning, Earth time, Chen Ming finally returned to the space station and entered space arm No. 15.

This is the last remaining dock in the space station.

When Chen Ming approached the space station, he turned off the engine of the Lumen and used traction equipment to bring the Lumen back to the maintenance plant.

Then the Iron Ore was driven out and parked in the dock.

When getting off the spaceship, Chen Ming noticed that the dock was busier than before. It should be the mercenaries who had gone to support the military and then ran away halfway and returned.

Chen Ming also noticed that there seemed to be some people in the dock observing him and his Iron Ore.

It should be what Old Wu said before. The news that he drove a civilian ship to blow up four merchant ships spread, and no one knew whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Chen Ming couldn't stop other people's gazes, so he chose to ignore them.

Went straight to the repair shop.

In the maintenance shop, Chen Ming met the factory director.

He had obviously seen Chen Ming's spaceship and the Lumen-class ship just now, and was not surprised by Chen Ming's appearance.

However, after greeting Chen Ming, he looked at Chen Ming as if he was looking at something rare.

Chen Ming felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by him, and took the initiative to say: "Director, is there any work that needs someone to do?"

"Yes, there is, but you and your captain just robbed the ship. Do you need to rest for two days?"

Chen Ming felt that the factory director's attitude towards him seemed to have changed, a good change.

Although Chen Ming was not quite sure about the reason for this change, he felt that it would not be a bad thing.

And Chen Ming had already rested before, so he insisted: "No need, just start working directly. I haven't even taken a day off, so I'd better go back to work."

"That's fine."

The factory manager waved towards the back of the repair shop and shouted, "Old Wu, bring the people to their positions."

Old Wu appeared in front of Chen Ming in a flash, looked Chen Ming up and down, and said, "Okay."

He took Chen Ming deeper into the repair shop.

After leaving the factory director's sight, Old Wu said as if he had just seen Chen Ming: "Hey, Xiao Mu, you're back. What have you been doing these past two days?"

Chen Ming looked at Old Wu, who was smiling and pretending to be stupid, and said seriously: "I went to hang out with Yu Hui, and they invited me to participate in the military operation against the army."

"Do you still like to tell jokes?"

Chen Ming shrugged and pointed towards the maintenance area.

"You saw it all. That ship of Yuhui's didn't catch up with Yuhui's main force. We found an opportunity to catch up with it and brought it back."

Old Wu stared at the Lumen-class spacecraft for a few seconds and said, "It's really good. If you sell this spaceship, plus the previous one, you will get at least 50 million. You have only been at the space station for a few days."

Chen Ming heard the hidden meaning of Old Wu and said, "I'm not in such a hurry to leave. Even if I make money, I still have things to do."

"And if you envy me, you can follow me to find Yuhui. If you can bring back one, you can also earn that much."

After receiving Chen Ming's reply, Old Wu said with a smile, "Forget it. My old bones can't do anything life-threatening."

"Oh, by the way, the factory manager asked me to ask you, do you have any plans to sell the Afterglow AI Core in your hand?"

The first thing Chen Ming wanted to do when he heard Lao Wu's question was to deny the existence of the AI ​​core he had.

But when the words were on the tip of his tongue, he suddenly hesitated.

Because there are many forces and even official entities trying to acquire Yuhui AI Core, this is a fact known to everyone who has contact with this work.

Therefore, it is not unreasonable to compare prices among different suppliers while holding the AI ​​core in hand.

Chen Ming was just subconsciously on guard and wanted to hide it.

But for some reason, Chen Ming suddenly felt that he could take the initiative to give others some trust, so he changed his words and said, "Gamma AI is still useful to me for the time being, and I want to try to study it."

"Oh, then if you change your mind, go find the factory manager."

It looked like Old Wu was just asking for the factory manager's help, and after mentioning it he didn't say any more.

He took Chen Ming to the deepest part of the repair shop, where the engineering ships were parked.

The two engineering ships stayed here quietly.

Old Wu took the initiative to step forward and start the daily ship maintenance, while Chen Ming stepped forward to lend a hand and asked, "What do you want me to do today? Is it the same as before?"

A look of relief suddenly flashed across Old Wu's face, but it was immediately covered up by his wide mouth and that smile: "You will know soon."

The maintenance time of the spacecraft passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye it was eight o'clock.

The maintenance shop officially opens for work.

Then, Chen Ming, who was alone next to the engineering ship, saw Old Wu, who had just run away mysteriously, coming in with three people in work clothes whom Chen Ming had never seen before.

It looks like the repair shop has hired new people.

Old Wu brought the three newcomers to Chen Ming, pointed at them and said, "Xiao Mu, these three are your assistants, please keep an eye on them."

Chen Ming nodded. Although Old Wu said that he wanted them to help him, he knew very well what he meant.

Then Old Wu put his hand on Chen Ming's shoulder and said, "I told you about this person before, Mu Shuikong, Brother Mu, you will follow him today."

As soon as Chen Ming finished speaking, he heard Old Wu whisper to him, "You can reveal those private matters a little bit. The smart ones will learn it quickly, but the stupid ones should leave it alone. Otherwise, even if Old Lu protects you, you will still be in trouble."

Chen Ming also said calmly: "Don't worry."

"You can take 10% or 20% of what they find, so don't teach them in vain."

"knew."

"That's it. I'm on duty today, so I'll leave first."

After explaining everything he needed to say, Old Wu disappeared all of a sudden. No one knew whether he would skip work because he was alone at the repair shop.

Chen Ming's gaze shifted from the partition door of the repair shop where Old Wu disappeared to the three newcomers.

The three of them stood there somewhat stiffly. They didn't look like people with a criminal record at all. Instead, they looked like college students who had not yet graduated and were looking for internships.

After noticing Chen Ming's look, the three people respectfully called out to Chen Ming: "Brother Mu."

Chen Ming had never been treated like this before, and he was a little uncomfortable with it, but he quickly adapted.

After taking a look at the other ship where the bald factory director and Tian Jiwen were making preparations, Chen Ming decided not to waste any more time.

He waved to the three waiting newcomers and said, "Follow me."

Chen Ming had never trained new people before, but he thought he could give it a try.

Because after he came back from the Afterglow Colony, he actually didn't care about or looked down on the private gains he made while cleaning up the battlefield.

If he has someone to help him, he can have some free time.

Only when he has some free time does Chen Ming have time to do what he has always wanted to do.

For example, purchasing weapons for refurbishment.

Chen Ming has been thinking about this matter almost since the day he entered the Pirate Space Station.

It’s just that I was busy every day after that, or had other things to do, so I never had the time to do it.

Now if someone can help and save me some time, then this matter can indeed be started.

Making money is secondary. After selling half of the Afterglow destroyer, although the money is not too much, it is enough for Chen Ming.

He still wants to do this now, mainly to exercise his mental strength.

The benefits of increasing mental strength are obvious.

It's never a bad thing to make some money while exercising your mental strength.

In addition, Chen Ming also needs to take time out during this period to modify the Iron Ore so that it can completely cut off its connection with the past.

Then wait for a more free time and go to Yuhui’s colony again.

If Chen Ming didn't try to do something to get hold of Yuhui's AI core, he would always feel like there were ants crawling on his body.

But things have to be done one by one, and there is nothing particularly urgent for him now.

Anyway, the military outposts were demolished by Yuhui, and their main focus now is definitely on rebuilding the outposts and producing Sky Steel again.

Chen Ming didn't believe that under such circumstances they would deliberately devote their energy to doing such things.

If the military really wanted to deal with him without caring about the priceless Sky Steel, he would eat Xiao Shi on the spot.

Just when Chen Ming had this thought in his mind.

Xiao Shi, who was playing in the running wheel made by Chen Ming on the Iron Ore, suddenly stopped and looked around vigilantly.

But it didn't find anything unusual.

Xiaoshi's little eyes were full of confusion, and he always felt that he had had this feeling before.

But it immediately put this doubt behind it and continued to play on its own.

(End of this chapter)