The terrifying destructive power of the armor-piercing class can be exerted in the most perfect way under the protection of many company ships.

The pressure put on the opponent by such a devastating attack that could happen at any time is definitely greater than the pressure that the military just put on Chen Ming.

But the commander on the military flagship did not panic at this time, but calmed down again.

The commander had heard of the name of the Armor-Piercing Class and also remembered the situation of the Armor-Piercing Class.

This is Sindar Corporation's unique and somewhat aggressive spacecraft design.

Although it has extremely strong firepower, when the armor-piercing class only has a design concept and there is no actual proof of combat effectiveness, its overly fragile armor and anti-line ability prevent the military from choosing it in the annual bidding.

Previously, he also thought that armor-piercing was just an unreliable experiment, but now that he had seen the final product, he suddenly felt that the ability to instantly destroy ships of the same level did have considerable tactical significance.

But the commander remembered that this ship seemed to have been taken away by the government in a previous bidding.

Why would the government... No, not the government.

The commander suddenly realized the problem and called his deputy to ask, "Do you have any recent information about the movements of Chen Ming, who is wanted by the military?"

"Yes, after Chen Ming's identity was confirmed, all the information can be traced."

"Tell me the key points."

"yes."

"After arriving at the Pirate Space Station, Chen Ming changed his name to Mu Shuikong and rejoined the Xinda Company with a new identity."

"There's nothing wrong with this part. He was just an ordinary employee at the time. He must have had considerable doubts about the situation at the space station. It's normal for him to change his identity and sneak back in to test the company's attitude. What happened next?"

"Then there were two incidents of afterglow attacking the space station. He participated in both incidents."

"The first time, although there was evidence that he had stayed on the space station, his ship clashed with other ships at the edge of the battlefield. In a one-on-many battle, it destroyed four civilian merchant ships, a Cerberus, a Sentinel, and two Expeditions."

"And later captured a complete civilian-class Sentinel, and acquired half of the Afterglow Remnant Destroyer that led to their conflict."

The commander was not at all surprised by this result.

For a spacecraft that has several times the radiation energy capacity and seemingly endless firepower, destroying a few civilian ships of the same level is just a piece of cake.

As for the fact that Chen Ming himself has been staying on the space station.

First of all, it is certain that Chen Ming returned to the space station alone, otherwise the military would definitely be hunting down more than just Chen Ming.

Secondly, Chen Ming did not recruit anyone to join the space station, nor did he mobilize personnel within the space station through his connections within the Sinda Company.

The answer is actually easy to guess.

In addition to the ability to amplify spacecraft, Chen Ming also has the ability to remotely control spacecraft.

Is this the psychic?

Although the commander felt a little emotional, there was no envy in his eyes.

Because he had just suppressed the psychic Chen Ming with his own abilities, and that was enough.

The deputy continued, "The civilian-grade Sentinel is still in the repair shop of the space station. The other half of the Afterglow destroyer was sold by Chen Ming in the space station. The specific person who sold it to has not yet been investigated."

"How could this not be investigated?"

Once again, the commander realized the incompetence of the local military, shook his head slightly, and waved his hand to signal his deputy to continue.

"There is no detailed information about how Chen Ming participated in the second incident. We only know that he was directly involved in the battle and brought back two ships after the incident. One is a Centurion-class ship of the military and the other is a Lumen-class ship of Yuhui."

"The military seriously suspects that Chen Ming returned to the RM-2 star system after the second Yuhui attack on the space station, wandered on the edge of the battlefield between Yuhui and the military, and then obtained these two ships."

The commander who is now fighting with Chen Ming personally has no doubt that Chen Ming is capable of following Yu Hui and taking advantage of the military on the battlefield.

But he was obviously a little skeptical that Chen Ming only brought back two ships.

However, he did not say it directly, but asked his deputy: "I have just seen the Centurion he brought back, so where is Yuhui's ship?"

"It has not been confirmed yet. The Lumen was originally parked in the repair shop of the space station, but was later transported to Chen Ming's own Mule-class armed merchant ship, and then there was no trace of it."

"Wait a minute, where did Chen Ming get the mule-level? Did he buy it?"

"No, he seemed to have organized a fleet to kill a group of wanted pirates after the second afterglow attack, and stole it from them."

"seem?"

"Well... yes, the military information is not very detailed, but it is certain that the Mule-class was his trophy."

"Later, he went to the Star Region capital and handed in a pirate bounty, which can also prove this."

The commander immediately noticed that there were some problems with Chen Ming's handling of the Afterglow ship.

If he wanted to sell it, Chen Ming could have just sold it like before, but he took the ship away personally, and there has been no news about the Lumen-class ship recently.

Even if any company took Lumen away point-to-point, it would be impossible for the military to not notice anything.

Then there is only one possible explanation left.

Chen Ming has the ability to control even Yuhui’s ships. That Yuhui’s Lumen has been controlled by Chen Ming and docked somewhere in the space that no one knows about.

The fleet organized by Chen Ming probably includes several of Yuhui's ships.

As for whether Chen Ming can control the afterglow AI core installed on the ship, the commander would rather believe that the answer is yes.

Because everyone in the entire empire is well aware of the significance of humans being able to completely control the afterglow.

The commander had already made up his mind and no longer considered anything else. He directly contacted the communications room and said, "Activate the emergency contact device and transfer the authority to me."

He had to send all the information about Chen Ming back to the legion, and also attach his own analysis of Chen Ming's abilities.

The value of Chen Ming is higher than he had previously thought.

While composing the message to be sent to the Legion, he listened to his deputy's explanation of Chen Ming's subsequent whereabouts.

"After killing the pirates, Chen Ming went to the Star Region capital to collect his bounty."

"While the government was verifying the identity of the pirates brought by Chen Ming, he attended a government auction, and the Armor-Breaking Class was the main item."

That's right.

The commander was now certain that it was not the government that was causing trouble, but he still had some questions to clarify.

"I have some impression of this incident, but I remember that something went wrong at the auction?"

"Yes, Lud's attack on the auction was used as a cover for their attack on the space elevator."

"How long has it been since then? As someone who was implicated in the incident, he should still be under investigation."

"That's exactly how it should have been. Someone got him out."

"who?"

"Wu An."

The commander's expression changed significantly for the second time, and he asked, "Wu An from the Psychic Society? In this damn place? Chen Ming is also a member of the Psychic Society?"

Without waiting for the adjutant to answer, the commander denied his own thoughts and said, "No, he is not. He is just a psychic who has a certain relationship with Wu An."

"If that's the case, he should be able to directly terminate the mission we are currently carrying out, and he wouldn't really be able to fight with me here for so long."

"Forget it, no matter if it is or not, just keep fighting."

The commander now saw another destroyer being destroyed by the armor-piercing automatic pulse laser.

He knew that he couldn't continue to distract himself by trying to figure out Chen Ming's situation.

Chen Ming is a good person with great potential. He wants it very much, and his legion will definitely want it too.

But if he fails to win and crashes here, losing his life is a minor matter. The real problem is that he still hasn't been caught.

And just when he was somewhat distracted in dealing with Chen Ming's affairs, several places on the military front were already unable to withstand the suppression brought by the armor-piercing.

He must immediately begin commanding the fleet more carefully and start implementing the method he had just thought of to deal with large armor-piercing weapons.

Under Chen Ming's control, the armor-piercing class was now in slow-fire mode, continuously creating pressure on military spacecraft along the entire front line.

The best way to deal with this attack mode is clustering.

Under the command of the commander, the military fleet began to form small-scale clusters of three to five spacecraft, while trying to maintain the front line, and organized into more densely packed dozens of small combat clusters.

The Auto Pulse Laser is a restrained energy round type weapon, which means that its bullet speed is not as fast as that of a laser beam weapon.

The attacked spacecraft still has a certain amount of time to react.

Although people can react, they may not be able to control the spacecraft in time, but at least they can struggle.

If you can hide, hide. If you can't, try to share some of the damage with other ships in the cluster.

This approach would allow Chen Ming's current slow-fire mode to reduce the pressure on the front line.

As long as this output cannot break the military's front line instantly, then under the commander's delicate operation, any moment of respite will become his opportunity to counterattack.

Chen Ming saw the changes on the military front clearly.

He could immediately notice the disadvantages of having only a single armor-piercing ship in slow-fire mode.

He also instantly realized the commander's ability to find opportunities to counterattack and destroy several frigates that had advanced because the military ships' shields were about to be overloaded.

So in the end, Chen Ming had no choice but to give up suppressing the entire front line and choose to use the explosive output of the armor-piercing class with a cooldown of about fifteen seconds to destroy the military ships.

Chen Ming would definitely not be able to compete with the commander in a large-scale battle, so Chen Ming decided to rely on his own strengths to deal with it.

The commander on the other side also knew that doing so would not prevent warships from being destroyed every time the armor-piercing shells fired, but the attack efficiency of the armor-piercing shells had indeed been reduced to a certain extent.

Originally, if the automatic pulse laser hit all the targets, it could instantly destroy two destroyers.

But with the assistance of a cluster, many times one ship is destroyed while several others are left with shields close to overload.

There is still a big difference between them.

Although this solution seems to be a temporary solution and not a permanent one, the armor-piercing can still destroy military destroyers with a more terrifying efficiency than any other ship.

But the commander had more reasons to do this.

He had never thought that a destroyer would have such a big impact on the battle situation, and he was now sure that they did not have the means to deal with armor-piercing.

Therefore, he had no intention of dealing with the armor-piercing level directly now.

Instead, he chose another approach.

Fight head-on with the ships of Sinda Company and exchange them.

The few rounds of armor-piercing shooting just now have allowed the commander to determine that the cooling time of large armor-piercing weapons is fifteen seconds. This seems short, but it is still a bit long in a battleship firefight.

The fifteen-second vacuum period means that the company's fleet's combat effectiveness during these fifteen seconds is actually the same as before, or even worse.

Because other ships in the fleet need to help share the firepower of the armor-piercing ship, this is the only chance.

to be honest.

The commander had already gained a very obvious advantage in the battle, but in the end he was forced to rely on the number of ships to win. It would be really embarrassing to tell others about this.

But for the commander, it doesn’t matter whether it’s embarrassing or not, victory is the most important thing.

After losing another destroyer and a guard, the armor-piercing class created a vacuum period of brief fifteen seconds.

The commander found the weakest point in the company's front line and commanded the remaining fleet to launch the most fierce attack as if they were desperate.

With the determination to achieve victory without caring about losses.

The patrol ships, which were usually only responsible for patrolling the space station, suddenly couldn't hold on any longer.

Even the people on the spacecraft sent by the company itself were a little flustered by the military's desperate fighting attitude.

Even if Chen Ming could maintain fifteen seconds and destroy at least one destroyer, the overall battle situation began to tilt towards the military.

The army is the army after all. No matter how much combat experience the people in the company have, they cannot compare to those who are really living on the edge of a knife.

Chen Ming, who had time to observe the overall situation on the battlefield, naturally discovered the commander's plan.

If the ships protecting the armor-piercing ship are all destroyed, then there is no point in having only one armor-piercing ship left.

Even if the military did not exchange casualties at the original ratio of one to two, but one to one, the company would definitely not be able to withstand it.

But there is not much Chen Ming can do now.

Although panel repair can speed up the cooling time of the automatic pulse laser, it is not just the cooling time that affects the attack frequency of the automatic pulse laser.

There are also energy limitations.

Antiparticle Energy Modules take time to recharge, providing energy for automatic pulse laser firing.

This is where repair cannot fix.

So the current situation on the battlefield is that whoever kills faster will win in the end.

Chen Ming's advantage due to his armor-piercing ability was instantly turned into a balance due to the gaps in other aspects.

Chen Ming, who was controlling the armor-piercing attack, felt more and more pressured.

He really had no good way to crack the military's obvious strategy.

Moreover, Chen Ming's mental strength has reached its limit after a long battle, but Chen Ming is still thinking with his brain that is constantly producing a tingling sensation.

Consider whether he needs to use this last resort.

But at this time, Chen Ming suddenly noticed that there was chaos within the military front, and there was chaos in the dispatch.

Suddenly, several spaceships seemed to have an internal conflict and began to fight each other.

And a large number of ships suddenly stopped attacking and began to withdraw from the battlefield.

What's going on?

Chen Ming had now taken control of all the destroyers within the fleet and returned to the Herder again.

I just happened to see the captain receiving a message sent by the military.

“The commander of the RM-2 military outpost was identified as an insurgent and the orders he issued were deemed invalid and the review was not authorized to proceed.”

"Please stop the fighting immediately. The military will compensate your company accordingly."

The captain was filled with anger at this moment.

The military said they wanted to stop, so they could stop? Then how could they get back the people they lost?

But his reason forced him to suppress his anger. Instead, he began to restrain his ships and gradually pulled away.

The two sides, who had just been engaged in a fierce gunfight and were even willing to exchange their lives for their children, suddenly became peaceful.

What is going on?

Not only Chen Ming and the captain, but even the commander had this idea in his mind at this time.

He had just received a joint message from the legion to which he belonged, as well as from the star domain government and the star domain military.

The stationmaster of the small military outpost for collecting sky steel in the RM-2 star system, who was also the stationmaster of the military outpost closest to the pirate space station, used his authority in violation of regulations and mobilized military resources.

After being discovered, they still did not give any reasons for their illegal operations and continued to do as they pleased, which was subsequently classified as an act of rebellion.

The time just now.

The commander came here just to fight and take Chen Ming away, not to have anything to do with the rebels.

So he immediately chose to stop the fight and distance himself from the company's fleet.

Most of the people in the fleet who had not completely lost their minds had no objection to this, and they also did not want to be affected by the rebellion of their superiors.

Those who still wanted to continue fighting were basically those who had gone bloodthirsty in the battle.

But it was impossible for all the people on a spaceship to be so bloodthirsty, so all the warships in the entire military fleet followed the commander's orders.

As for the stationmaster's confidants within the military, the commander found opportunities to get rid of them all in the previous battle.

The battle started suddenly but ended peacefully.

Just when Chen Ming thought he could finally rest and safely reach the capital of the star region.

The boss, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke: "Xiao Mu, it seems that you have a big trouble to go through."

"What?"

As soon as Chen Ming finished his words, some ripples that Chen Ming had never seen before suddenly appeared out of thin air at a distance from the fleet inside the hyperspace where the fleet was located, as if there were fluctuations in space.

Completely unexpectedly by everyone on the battlefield, a Ruler-class heavy cruiser arrived in this hyperspace with the help of its own jump engine.

"Fuck!"

Chen Ming, who originally thought that his brain was groggy due to mental exhaustion, no longer dared to feel sleepy at all.

"Boss! Ruler! Cruiser!"

"I'm already...trying to...contact...someone..."

The boss's voice spoke the last few words intermittently, and then the communication was completely disconnected.

All that was left in Chen Ming's eyes was the extremely terrifying heavy cruiser.

And at this moment.

Inside the empire.

An Earth-like planet located in the Asconia star system in a prosperous star field.

This is the headquarters of Sinda Corporation.

Preparations for the upcoming board meeting are in the final stages.

But actually, there is no need for any preparation. After all, this is an online meeting, and from preparation to gathering everyone is just a matter of adjusting work.

In short, in the final conference room, except for Chairman Xu Lin who was present in person, everyone else existed in the conference room via virtual projections.

After everyone confirmed that they were present, the chairman spoke directly: "This decision-making meeting was initiated by me, and half of the members have agreed to hold it."

"There are two issues that require a vote by the board."

"First, is it necessary to rekindle the conflict with the military and take back the resource mining rights of the galaxy?"

"Secondly, is it necessary to protect Chen Ming, allow Chen Ming to return to the company with a higher status, and provide investment?"

"Everyone should be aware of what happened. Except for a few directors who have only recently joined the board, the others should not have forgotten what happened thirty years ago."

"Then we won't waste your time, and will start the vote on the first proposal."

The result came out in just a few seconds, and it was passed unanimously.

Chen Ming's existence means that the military's blockade of the galaxy to which the Sinda Corporation has obtained mining rights has become meaningless.

Retrieval is something that the company must do.

"Then the next is the second proposal. Please vote."

What the chairman did not expect was that the final result was four votes in favor, eight votes against, and one abstention.

The collective opposition of the board of directors caused a momentary gloomy look to appear on the chairman's face.

A director who voted against the proposal said, "A psychic who can control a spaceship has different values ​​for different forces."

"We all know Chen Ming's value and how much his abilities can help us advance our cutting-edge technologies."

"But the government just gave us a message."

"The armor-piercing class we sold them suddenly grew legs and ran away. You all know who did this, right?"

"With the military's involvement, Chen Ming's intelligence will definitely not be kept secret. Sooner or later, the government will find out who took the armor-piercing weapon away."

"Then, they will understand how terrible the effect of Chen Ming's ability is."

"After that, who would dare to buy our company's spacecraft?"

"For the sake of Chen Ming, I offended the military and the government at the same time. Is this exchange worth it?"

"We have to make a choice between the company's business and the company's technology."

The director has laid out the pros and cons of the whole matter on the table.

The chairman knew whether what he said was correct or not. After a slight sigh, he said, "So what is the opinion of the board of directors?"

"Chen Ming is a person who can only be used as a tool."

"Find a way to gain his trust, get the Sky Steel back securely, and then sell him off."

To avoid any ambiguity, the director added: "Of course not to kill them, but to sell them to other forces."

“Other companies, the military, even the government, could sell it.”

"Chen Ming is our bargaining chip, but in our hands, or in the hands of all companies that produce and sell spacecraft, there will be negative value."

"But for the military and the government, there is no need to consider negative issues, so they will definitely be happy to buy Chen Ming from us."

"Do you want it, Chen Ming? Of course I do, but I can't take it all. I can only take it for a period of time."

"This is the choice that is most beneficial to the company, and Chen Ming's personal wishes are not important."

The chairman suddenly crossed his fingers and put them in front of his mouth, saying, "But Chen Ming, a psychic, is favored by Wu An of the Psychic Society."

The conference room fell silent for a moment.

The director in charge of the Pirate Space Station who voted in favor also spoke up and said, "I can testify to this."

"Wu An has been staying in the area under my jurisdiction. His attitude towards our company is at a mediocre stage. I am still trying to show my favor to him, so I have not announced this news at the board meeting yet."

After a while of silence in the conference room, the director who had just abstained from voting said, "I think this matter needs to be considered seriously. I propose to postpone the vote."

"That's good."

"I agree."

“Second.”

The directors all agreed to postpone the resolution on the company's attitude towards Chen Ming. Wu An's presence required them to take time to carefully consider whether their attitude towards Chen Ming would affect Wu An's attitude towards them.

Just then, there was a knock on the door of the boardroom.

Anything that could interrupt a meeting like this must be the most urgent.

The chairman immediately let in his secretary who knocked on the door.

The secretary immediately handed a paper document he brought to the chairman and then left the meeting room.

After scanning the document, the chairman said quickly, "It's an emergency. The military is attacking the fleet I sent to bring Chen Ming back, and they are also using cruisers to hunt him down."

"The military said that the captain of the cruiser illegally started the cruiser and started a mutiny. The military has been sent to suppress it."

The atmosphere in the conference room suddenly became anxious.

They hurriedly discussed this situation which was definitely not good for the company.

The chairman, relying on his presence at the scene, knocked on the table, quieting the meeting room, and said, "Everything else is empty talk. The most important thing now is that Chen Ming cannot die."

"Chen Ming is dead, and the rest is just empty talk."

"Whether it's Sky Steel, or top-level research-type psykers who have a certain level of knowledge of spacecraft technology, or even the possibility of building a relationship with a psyker association in a short period of time, all of them are gone."

"Everyone, if you have the ability to rescue someone in a short period of time, please act immediately. Chen Ming must survive."

7k 　　 　 (End of this chapter)