It was almost evening by now.

The boss must have just got off work and was very idle. He picked up the phone immediately after Chen Ming called and asked with a slightly surprised tone, "Xiao Mu, what's the matter?"

Chen Ming subconsciously glanced at the Mule class that was heading to the space station in the galaxy and said, "I brought the person back."

"So soon? Where is he? I'll arrange for someone to pick him up right away."

"We're still on the way. We'll reach the space station in about ten minutes, but it's a little crowded."

The boss didn't understand what Chen Ming meant at first, and asked, "What do you mean there are too many people?"

"Well... I brought back the entire pirate ship. There were about thirty people on board, all alive."

"?"

The boss on the other end of the phone was even more confused and asked: "What happened to you?"

"Fudge, I have some skills. Not only is their spaceship under my control..."

"The pirate leader now thinks that I am looking for him because you want him to do something special, and that I brought him here to discuss some serious business."

As Chen Ming spoke, he sent over the photos taken by the Iron Ore of the Mule-class in the internal environment of the galaxy where the Pirate Space Station was located.

Looking at the lonely Mule-class ship in the photo, the boss couldn't help but praise: "You can do it. Tell me when you have time how you fooled people into this."

Chen Ming didn't wait and said directly on the phone: "Beat him up and break his legs first, then tell him that I could have beaten you to death but didn't, which means I am very special to you. Finally, connect his legs, and he will believe what I say."

“…”

The boss was silent for a moment and changed the topic that sounded a little strange: "Let's not talk about this. When the time comes, you can go directly to the patrol team's dock to enter the space station. Tell me the type of ship and I will have someone let you pass."

"Wasn't that dock demolished last time? Has it been repaired?"

"Not so fast. We just reconnected the broken parts with a frame and built a small temporary boat stop inside. You can just park the boat there when the time comes. I will take care of the rest."

"good."

Chen Ming agreed, and suddenly remembered the cargo on the Mule-class ship and said, "The supplies they robbed are now hanging outside, and some are on another cargo ship. Do you want me to wait a while..."

Before Chen Ming finished speaking, the boss said directly: "No need, if you can take it away, just take it away."

"That batch of supplies was used to supply the small colonies. If it was stolen, the colonies would have already prepared a new batch of supplies for transportation."

"There's no need to send this batch of supplies over. It's useless for me to hold them here now. If you can take them, take them. If you can't, I'll have someone send them to the repair shop for you. You can sell them to others or keep them for yourself."

"This is something extra, and it doesn't count towards the other benefits I promised you before."

"Wait for me to finish the things at hand, and I will come to you in two days."

"OK."

Chen Ming agreed again and directly controlled the separation of the cargo hold mounted on the Mule-class through the panel, and handed it over to another Mule-class ship of his own.

Then Chen Ming followed his boss' instructions and entered the small temporary dock belonging to the patrol team in the space station with only the pirate's Mule-class.

The layout of the temporary dock looks a bit messy. Not only are there many combat ships docked, but there are also a lot of materials piled up that will be used to repair the space arm later.

However, it seems that a piece of space has been cleared here for the mule-class to dock.

Chen Ming did not let the Iron Ore go down, but only controlled the Mule-class ship to land on it.

Then he saw several people near the Mule-class waving at his Iron Ore. These should be the people arranged by the boss.

Chen Ming opened the hatch of the Mule-class spacecraft and returned control to the spacecraft itself.

The boss should have already contacted the pirate leader through the pirate communication code given by Chen Ming, based on what Chen Ming had said before.

The professional military ships around made the pirate leader believe Chen Ming's words, so the boss's men easily took most of the pirates on the ship away from the temporary dock.

There were still a few people guarding the boat, and Chen Ming estimated that they would be the first to die.

But this has nothing to do with him.

Chen Ming has to go somewhere else next.

It’s better to just leave the pirate’s Mule-class ship here. There’s no chance that the boss will be interested in such a thing anyway. You can just come back and get it later.

Chen Ming quickly took control of the Iron Ore and brought the Centurion and another Mule-class ship into the open dock of the Space Arm No. 15 of the Space Station.

At the same time, Chen Ming was also checking the things that Mule-level was carrying.

The Mule-class was equipped with a total of three external cargo holds robbed by pirates, two destroyer-class holds, and one escort-class hold. In addition, there were also supplies in the cargo hold of Chen Ming's Mule-class itself, so the quantity was very considerable.

Basically, they are various daily necessities and packaged foods, as well as a relatively small proportion of supplies for spacecraft.

These things have basically no value in the prosperous star field, but in the marginal star field, this quantity can still be sold at a relatively good price.

Chen Ming originally planned to find a place to sell it, but before he really decided to do so, he suddenly hesitated.

The image of the Afterglow Colony flashed through his mind, and at the same time he somehow thought of the small colony that was related to his boss.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Ming suddenly didn't want to sell this batch of goods anymore, so he simply stored them in the repair shop.

Anyway, the repair shop has plenty of extra space, so it’s no problem to temporarily store these supplies.

Although Chen Ming didn't know what specific use these things would have, he just wanted to keep them, always thinking that he might need them in the future.

This strange premonition was like the panic he had felt in the space arm before.

This premonition saved his life at that time, and although this premonition is not as strong now, Chen Ming feels that it will never be wrong to believe in it.

After parking the Centurion at the dock, Chen Ming continued to control the Iron Ore and Mule-class ships and drove them deep into the repair shop.

All the cargo in the several cargo holds mounted on the Mule-class and its own cargo hold were removed through the special unloading equipment in the repair plant and piled up on the open space nearby.

After the cargo was unloaded, Chen Ming suddenly felt the fatigue accumulated during the day suddenly flooding into his brain.

He had been repairing and dismantling the ship since the afternoon, and the mental fatigue had begun to affect his thinking.

After all, the six frigates he dismantled were comparable to many destroyers in terms of size, and the mental energy consumed in dismantling a destroyer was twice that of completely modifying a destroyer.

So Chen Ming was not in a hurry to move on to the next thing for the time being. Instead, he went to the restaurant inside the space station and booked a private room to solve the problem of dinner.

Now that he has money, he has to prepare good food.

After finishing, he returned to the Iron Ore and lay on the bed in the living cabin.

Before falling asleep completely, Chen Ming habitually began to think and summarize his situation today.

Doing so can help him find out the mistakes and problems in his work so as to avoid making the same mistakes again in the future.

As he was thinking about it, Chen Ming suddenly remembered the first time he came to the Pirate Space Station.

And what he was thinking at the time.

Return to the prosperous star field with a new identity and start a new life.

Chen Ming seemed to have been able to do this a long time ago, but this idea has faded a little for him now.

There are many reasons.

The most important thing is that Chen Ming’s new life actually began when he set foot on the pirate space station.

He never said that his new life must start from the prosperous star field.

It was just because when Chen Ming was on Ruimu Planet before, it wasn’t even a wilderness, it was just a pure primitive world.

So Chen Ming’s first thought at that time was to return to the prosperous star field that he was familiar with in his memory.

But for Chen Ming now, staying in the fringe star field would be more comfortable than going to the prosperous star field.

After all, he couldn't accept that all his efforts in modifying the spacecraft over this period of time had been wasted.

What is even more unacceptable is the total ban on the Afterglow AI core within the Human Empire.

You should know that the management environment of a prosperous star field is much more stringent than that of a marginal star field. Patrol teams patrolling within the galaxy may suddenly investigate any spacecraft at any time.

Chen Ming couldn't resist and could only passively accept their scans. Once any problems were found, the AI ​​core in Chen Ming's hand would definitely not be saved.

The two AI cores are Chen Ming’s most important helpers now. Without them, his ability in spacecraft will at least regress by half.

So Chen Ming thought it would be best to get an armed ship license first to ensure that his identity was not just a civilian, so that no one would have nothing better to do than to check on him.

Only in this way can he have the basis to bring back the Yuhui AI core.

There are many ways to obtain an armed ship license, and there is even a path that allows you to climb up all the way.

This path can not only meet Chen Ming's needs to improve himself, but should also be able to satisfy Chen Ming's idea of ​​taking the Yuhui AI core back with him.

Xinda Company has also been acquiring Yuhui AI cores. Since the official has not investigated them, there is no need to guess what it means.

Although Chen Ming was still unsure whether he could take this road, its existence did make him less willing to go back.

And if Chen Ming really chooses to return to the prosperous star field and stay away from the marginal star field.

Then he would also lose the source of new Afterglow AI cores.

Many of his abilities to control spacecraft are not easy to use in a bustling star field.

Just the act of touching Yuhui's ship was basically impossible.

But for Chen Ming, he has already deeply experienced the convenience of owning and controlling two Afterglow AI cores.

It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but it is difficult to go from extravagance to frugality.

It is impossible to make Chen Ming give up the idea of ​​obtaining a new Yuhui AI core.

And it's not just Chen Ming's own ideas, the limitations of reality also forced him to acquire new AI cores to a certain extent.

As the number of ships Chen Ming currently has at his disposal increases, the types of ships are also changing.

One Refraction-class ship with three frigates is not enough.

After all, the two Mules must at least stably occupy one of Chen Ming's spaceship control positions. If Chen Ming has to bring both Mules, he will not be able to control other spaceships.

Even if he had more boats, he couldn't take them out.

Even if the Refraction is transformed into a small mobile dock, at most it can stably dock four spaceships in it, and some of the Refraction's combat effectiveness will be lost.

So Chen Ming thought about it and decided to postpone the matter of refractive modification.

While ensuring its own combat capability, it must first resolve the problem of the growing overall number of spacecraft and the lagging number of ship controls.

The best way to solve this problem is to find Yuhui and let Yuhui's AI assist him in controlling the ship.

Chen Ming had previously specifically asked Gamma A whether any of the afterglow individuals had ever gone on an expedition to explore a planet together.

Gamma A says yes.

Then on the afterglow information exchange platform, those afterglow individuals who have gathered similar afterglow to go on an adventure are Chen Ming's best targets for capture.

It looks like he'll have to prepare a robot that can explore the planet, and use the name of Gamma AB to sneak in and cause trouble.

And the robot could have another use.

It is to help Chen Ming deal with some tasks that he cannot do personally at the risk of doing.

For example, the most recent one was when controlling a pirate ship.

If Chen Ming had one or several powerful enough combat robots at that time.

After the pirate ship was paralyzed, he directly boarded it and killed most of the pirates. This at least saved Chen Ming a lot of time, as well as a lot of nonsense with the pirate leader.

Chen Ming has already been preparing to do the above thing, not only through Xinda Company, but also through his own abilities, making progress on both sides.

As for the latter matter, Chen Ming will have to wait until he finishes what he has to do now before he has time to do it.

However, the preliminary preparations, such as preparing robots, can actually be done now.

I'll find some time to do it later, it shouldn't take too much time.

Chen Ming gradually fell into a deep sleep while thinking constantly.

When I woke up, it was already the next day.

The area outside the Iron Ore was already filled with weapons that needed to be refurbished, which the factory director had sent over late at night.

After Chen Ming moved them onto the boat, he spent five minutes repairing the weapons in batches.

After putting the refurbished goods back to their original places, Chen Ming went straight to the Mule-class that was parked in the repair shop yesterday.

Planning to repair and modify the Mule class.

Previously at the Dark Cemetery, we needed to transport people back as quickly as possible, and we had already dismantled several ships before.

Chen Ming doesn't have the time and energy to do modifications and repairs.

So it can only stay until now.

Chen Ming opened the mule-level panel easily.

【Spaceship Panel】

[Ship name: None]

[Type: Mule-class armed merchant ship]

[Radiant Energy Capacity: 0/600]

[Radiation Energy Dissipation: 50]

[Fuel reserves: 37%]

[Port side weapon: Light assault gun (small) *2]

[Starboard weapon: Light assault gun (small) *2]

[Top weapon: Assault chain gun (medium)]

[Tail weapon: Vulcan point defense cannon (small)]

[Armor: Titanium alloy external armor]

[Engine: Civilian customized destroyer engine]

[Built-in cabins: Captain's cabin, engine cabin, bridge control cabin, weapon control cabin, living cabin*4, small cargo storage cabin*2]

[Important equipment: control system module (in operation), landing module (in operation), hyperspace channel system module (in operation), artificial gravity module (in operation), guard-level radiation energy system (in operation), guard-level full-angle shield module (in operation)]

On the panel, Chen Ming immediately noticed the change in the weapon display, which had appeared along with the emergence of the disassembly function.

It seems a little more convenient, but it has little impact on Chen Ming.

Anyway, it is enough to open the panel with more detailed information when there is a problem.

Looking at the overall panel of this Mule-class ship, Chen Ming felt that it was just an ordinary merchant ship that had undergone a rough military modification.

The most obvious aspect of the ship's crude modifications is its radiation energy system.

Although it is also a frigate-level radiation energy system, its radiation energy capacity and radiation energy dissipation are even worse than the Centurion with poorer shields.

To the extent that Chen Ming even wanted to dismantle the entire radiation energy system and replace it with a destroyer-level radiation energy system.

But no matter what you think or complain about, this frigate-level radiation energy system still needs to be used.

After all, Chen Ming simply can't afford a more advanced radiation energy system now.

So let’s think about how to repair the Mule-class as well as possible.

In fact, the modification and renovation of ships has almost become Chen Ming’s standard procedure before officially using the ships.

As for the final direction of the ship's transformation, it is determined by its use.

The purpose of the Mule-class freighter is simple.

Cargo.

A 120-meter Mule-class ship with two small cargo storage compartments built into the hull.

Although it sounds small, the actual capacity of this specialized small cargo storage compartment is a full 30*30*30 in size.

The interior is divided into three layers: upper, middle and lower. The capacity of the first layer alone is dozens of times larger than the 5*5*5 storage compartment of the Iron Ore.

Moreover, the original size of the Iron Ore was 33 meters long, 15 meters wide and 7 meters high, and it became even smaller after the transformation.

In other words, six iron ore ships can be stuffed directly into this complete cargo hold.

The actual amount that can be carried is more than the larger diopter class.

But think about it, after all, it is an electromagnetic ship for auxiliary combat, and it is loaded with a large number of electromagnetic or other types of equipment.

The other one is a special cargo ship, so it would be strange if this one could surpass it.

In this case, Chen Ming's choice of transformation for the Mule class has actually been determined.

If what is displayed on the panel is correct, there are several additional [expanded cargo holds].

By dismantling the cabins that are redundant for Chen Ming, such as the captain's cabin and the living cabin, even the bridge control cabin and the weapons control cabin can be dismantled.

The equipment inside is separated and placed in the corners of the hull, saving a lot of space in exchange for greater cargo capacity.

Chen Ming was not worried at all that he might not be able to use it in the future. After all, with Chen Ming's disassembly ability, as long as he could collide with other people's spaceships, there would be no chance of filling up the storage compartment.

Of course, a modification of this scale to the spacecraft would certainly require corresponding modifications to the engine as well.

So Chen Ming took out Lude's professional book which had been updated thirty years later.

Although after Chen Ming knew what Lud's Left Path was, he found that the content in the book seemed to have been deleted.

But there are still many useful techniques above.

For example, the modification technology of the engine used by the suicide ship can definitely be adapted to the Mule-class ship with more cargo space.

In addition, there are many technologies in the Ludd technology book that require a certain degree of danger in exchange for more powerful performance of the spacecraft, and Chen Ming is also very happy to learn them.

After all, Chen Ming often doesn't need to take the risk himself.

After roughly thinking of the modification plan, Chen Ming began to personally operate various large-scale maintenance equipment in the repair shop.

Although he was not able to use the panels most of the time in the repair shop, he could still use the engineering equipment in the repair shop at will.

Chen Ming has experience in using these devices, so it is not too difficult to modify them.

In addition, there are several cargo holds unloaded by pirates from the caravan that can be used as a base, so the transformation of [expanding the cargo hold] does not take Chen Ming too much time.

On the contrary, Chen Ming's modification of the [Reinforced Bulkhead] in order to enhance the survivability of the Mule-class, and his favorite [Heavy Armor], these two modifications required him to spend a lot of effort.

Although the finished product will take a few days to complete, Chen Ming has already drawn the entire Mule-class ship on the design drawing in advance.

The Mule-class, which originally had a more layered design, became much fatter due to Chen Ming's design, but its maneuverability increased instead of decreased.

After all, this [Flame Drive] which belongs to Lude Technology was obtained at the cost of the instability of the spacecraft's internal temperature control system.

At this point, the transformation ideas for the Mule class have been completely planned.

Once the ideas are planned, then the rest is just mechanical labor.

Therefore, during the few days that it took to actually transform the Mule-class ship, Chen Ming was still thinking about the modification plan for another ship.

Although he left a lot of materials and some of them in the dark cemetery, there were still many ordinary materials among the remaining materials that could not be used up at all.

So Chen Ming wanted to completely transform a spaceship based on the ideas of Lude technology.

Transformed it into a suicide ship belonging to Chen Ming.

Chen Ming had never had this idea before.

But after seeing Lude's self-destructing ship, Chen Ming suddenly found that Lude's technology was very suitable for him in many cases.

A spacecraft that does not require human control is capable of undergoing quite a few dangerous modifications.

This naturally includes self-destructing spacecraft.

And as for the self-destructing ship, it would be enough for him to figure out how to detonate all the fuel stored in different locations inside the spacecraft at once, and how to maximize the power of the explosion.

The remaining technologies for the self-destructing spacecraft are all in Lude’s technical book.

However, it would be a bit of a loss to buy a fuel ship and modify it just to try this idea.

So the object that Chen Ming was going to transform into a suicide ship was a Sentinel-class ship that was gathering dust in the repair shop.

Once the mule is modified, it will be the Sentinel's turn.

(End of this chapter)