This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 146 Father's Good Son
Ford's sudden appearance made the atmosphere on the scene fall into silence, and the words he said made it difficult for everyone to understand.

How is this related to Fu Zongchen’s death?

Ren Cangsong reacted and asked, "Fu is reselling arms? Does His Highness Fude have any evidence?"

"Of course!" Ford took out the smart terminal, pinched out a virtual screen, and then expanded it to form a surrounding four-sided split screen.

On each screen were pictures of the shipments, including the most important one. He enlarged it, but it was blurry. He could only see that there seemed to be a large number of abnormal gray-white missiles piled up in a base somewhere.

The other personnel in the picture are wearing combat uniforms with flame logos on them.

"T-C22 hypersonic missiles?" Ren Cangsong exclaimed, "A year ago, an arms order from the Stania civilization included 125 T-C22s, but they were hijacked by interstellar pirates during transportation. After a long investigation, there were no clues."

"Later, during an attack by the Torch Organization, missile wreckage was discovered, and the Itlan civilization even questioned us."

"That's right. After investigation, Fu Zongchen found out that the transport ship that was supposed to be shipped to Stania was originally empty. The weapons in it had long been resold to Torch by Sun Jingan and his internal personnel." Ford said coldly.
"This matter involves Xingchuang Company. Fu Zongchen secretly reported it to my father, and my father gave him a secret order to investigate carefully."

"But I didn't expect that Fu Zongchen would be assassinated just after I investigated a few clues."

Sangge's expression was slightly shocked. There was such a secret. Why didn't the prince tell him when he came?

Or…

Duke Bai Ye felt an indescribable sense of weirdness in his heart. Why was it that every time there was trouble involving Li Ming, there was always a reasonable explanation in the end?

Ren Cangsong looked solemn, "It's a pity that there is such a secret. Fu Zongchen is so sad."

But he was puzzled: "But why kill Sun Jingan..."

"In fact, I got the relevant evidence a long time ago, but soon after I arrived at Jingnan Star, I encountered the Caroline incident, and it has been delayed until now." Ford looked at Li Ming, his anger still seemed to have subsided, and his face was ugly: "Later, Li Ming told me that Sun Jingan took the initiative to ask to visit him."

"I will give the order to use this opportunity to capture him. If he resists, he can be killed on the spot."

"His Highness Ford's story is good." Duke Bai Ye said indifferently: "However, he is the regional director of Xingchuang Company after all. Isn't it a bit too decisive to kill him based on only one side of the story?"

"Besides, he came with a gene suppressor and had no power to resist. Why must he be killed?"

"Whether it is to punish the criminal or to silence him is still unknown." Duke Bai Ye hinted at something. After being scolded by Ford in person last time, his attitude towards Ford became much colder.

"Bai Ye, what do you mean by that?" Sang Ge immediately scolded: "You'd better explain clearly what murder means to silence a witness."

Sangge knew that Fu Zongchen was selling arms, and that it was at the instruction of Prince Baijan.

If any arms really fell into the hands of the Torch Organization, Prince Baijan would definitely want to get rid of this trouble.

The possibility of "killing to silence the witness" is more likely. When His Highness Ford learned that arms had fallen into the hands of Torch, in order to avoid damaging the reputation of Prince Baijan, he took the initiative and turned Fu Zongchen into an undercover agent.

Even if there is other evidence afterwards, there is still room for argument.

His Highness Ford has grown up... he felt emotional.

Duke Bai Ye ignored Sang Ge and sneered at Li Ming: "You did it just because he asked you to? Xingchuang Company can't do anything to him, so can't it do anything to you?"

Sanger quickly said, "We also need to question Star Creation Company and ask why it sold arms to the Torch Organization? Especially the local branch of Star Creation Company, which may have more secrets."

Li Ming looked at him in surprise. Why did this Itlan man suddenly speak for him?

The other party gave him a kind smile. Sang was certain that Li Ming had completely surrendered to His Highness Ford.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to kill Sun Jingan for His Highness Ford.

He was not sure about this matter at first and asked His Highness Ford many times, but His Highness Ford always had a constipated expression and did not give a positive response.

Wu Yanqing's student, who had the potential to be developed at level 16, had become the prince's person. If this were to be reported back to the royal family, it would probably cause a stir.

Ren Cangsong also vaguely felt that something was wrong, but Ford had already jumped out to endorse it, so he could only say, "I'll send someone to investigate."

He acted decisively and walked out as soon as he finished speaking.

The scene was temporarily blocked off. Duke Bai Ye did not see the excitement and left in disappointment.

"Your Highness Ford, the prince will be proud of you." Sang said to Ford with relief.

However, what he didn't understand was that Ford's face showed that familiar constipated expression again, as if he was feeling very uncomfortable.

"I understand. You go first. Li Ming and I have something to talk about." He had a heavy nasal voice.

Sanger had an expression of "I understand" and turned around to pat Li Ming on the shoulder, "Your Highness will not treat you unfairly."

Ford's face suddenly turned darker. After Sanger left, the two came to Li Ming's room. Ford, who had been holding it in all the way, was about to start yelling on the spot, but was stopped by Li Ming.

"Wait..." He frowned slightly, walked straight to the wall, and picked off a piece of metal wall plate. In the concrete wall behind it, a groove was dug out at some point, and a monitoring device was placed in it.

"When? Who released it?" Ford's face changed slightly.

"It was just released not long ago." Li Ming remembered that it hadn't been on yesterday. He turned on the smart terminal and called up the video, but it was pitch black.

"The security system here has been connected to the temporary command center, and someone has erased this video."

Li Ming thought for a moment and took Ford to the studio next door.

The things have been moved out and there is no surveillance equipment here.

"What do you want to say?" Li Ming asked.

Ford didn't react for a moment, still thinking about the origin of the monitoring equipment. At this moment, he nodded suddenly, then became furious, and suppressed his voice:

"If you want to do something in the future, can you please let me know in advance, instead of waiting until it happens before telling me!"

"Things are changing too fast." Li Ming shrugged. "Besides, why are you so anxious? Your father is also involved. If this matter gets out, it will be a big trouble."

"I helped you solve the problem, and you don't even thank me."

"Thank you?" Ford sneered, as if he had heard a joke.

Just as he was about to speak, his smart terminal began to vibrate slightly. He looked down and his expression changed slightly.

"Your dad?" Li Ming turned on the [Smart Assistance], so he knew it even if he didn't go to see it.

Ford felt even more depressed. Could he guess this?

"Don't you want to answer it?" Li Ming urged.

Ford said nothing, walked to the corner, glanced at Li Ming, and chose to answer: "Father..."

"I already know what happened. You did a good job. Keeping Sun Jingan here is a hidden danger." His voice was low and he got straight to the point without any greetings. Ford's face changed and he forced a smile and said, "I just did what I should do."

"Before, I thought you were not smart enough and not decisive enough. I wanted to use Fu Zongchen's matter to train you, but I didn't expect you to accomplish it so well." Prince Baijan said with emotion:

"I was wrong. I shouldn't have restrained you in the past."

Ford: "..."

Although it is a compliment, why does it feel so awkward?
I glanced over and saw Li Ming's mouth grinning, but I didn't know what he was laughing at.

"Why don't you speak?" asked Prince Baijan.

"It's okay. I'm thinking. You said..." Ford responded. Prince Baijan didn't care and said, "I heard from Sangge that you have recaptured Li Ming?"

"I..." Ford hesitated, glanced at Li Ming carefully, suppressed his shame, and whispered: "It counts... counts as such."

“Hahaha…” Prince Baijan suddenly laughed. “If Princess Asmara knew about this, I wonder how interesting her expression would be.”

"Wu Yanqing's student was already labeled as Princess Asmara, but you snatched her away. Fine, fine."

Ford didn't know what to say anymore, and was a little horrified, "Princess Asma won't be angry, right?"

He did not win back Li Ming, but was threatened by Li Ming instead. If Princess Asmara held a grudge against him again, it would be a great loss.

"Don't worry, you are a junior after all, she won't do anything to you, she has to save face." Prince Baijan didn't care and mentioned another thing, "About Wu Yanqing's laboratory..."

Ford's heart moved slightly, and he said: "Father, you may have been deceived by Princess Asmara. Wu Yanqing's laboratory does not have any fusion sublimation particle data at all."

"I was there when the torch was searching. Princess Asmara was using Wu Yanqing as bait to attract fire."

“Bait…” Prince Baijan paused, his tone slightly disappointed, “Because of Wu Yanqing, the royal family still had a glimmer of hope and didn’t want to break off relations with her, so they delayed it for several years.”

"Look at it this way... I get it, you're doing great, I get it."

After ending the communication, Ford breathed a sigh of relief. Although he was forced to cooperate with Li Ming, at least he did get some practical work done.

He calmed down and turned around to see Li Ming's meaningful smile, "How is it? It feels good to be praised by your dad."

Fuck, Ford's mood, which had just been adjusted, almost collapsed again. He glanced at him coldly and left.

Although the news of Sun Jing'an's death was temporarily blocked, the truth could not be hidden. Sun Jing'an's assistant made a scene at the door, which attracted a lot of attention.

That night many people called to ask what had happened.

"died!?"

Facing Qi Xing's question, Li Ming did not hide anything and nodded:
"He is secretly selling arms and has something to do with the torch. Is your family involved? If so, get rid of it immediately."

"Of course not." Qi Xing's voice was hoarse, and he ended the call in a hurry.

Huang Jianzhong also called to inquire, but Li Ming was too lazy to answer him and just perfunctorily answered.

The next day, this incident caused even greater turmoil. Ren Cangsong brought people to blockade the entire branch of Xingchuang Company. Anyway, with Ford's endorsement, the bigger his move, the better.

However, to Li Ming's surprise, the investigation actually uncovered Da Lei.

Three days later, everyone gathered in the conference room, including Li Ming and Ford.

Ren Cangsong had a grim look on his face and paced back and forth. A large amount of information and videos kept playing on the virtual screen.

"Is Xingchuang Company really related to Torch?" Li Ming looked down at the distributed information with a surprised look on his face.

These materials record that since Caroline's accident and the entire Jingnan Star was blocked, Xingchuang Company used its franchise rights to secretly transport a lot of unidentifiable materials to Jingnan Star.

After the blockade was relaxed, this behavior became more frequent, and many people were smuggled in.

"Yes, they are still evil and still have plans for you." Ren Cangsong nodded, his eyes sweeping over Li Ming and Ford.

"Wasn't the entire territory blocked during that period? How were they able to get in?" Ford frowned.

"The entire territory is blocked off only as an order. The specific execution of the order still depends on the subordinates." Ren Cangsong rubbed his brows. "Xingchuang Company has been operating for so many years. I don't know how many people's handles have fallen into their hands."

"These things are probably used as sacrifices to dimensional creatures." Li Ming looked at a few pictures, among which there was a familiar dark magnetic titanium.

"Yes, we also speculated that, I suspect that Torch will make a big move." Ren Cangsong said in a deep voice, "I have suggested that Jingnan immediately activate the third-level alert, and all the city guards on vacation will return to their posts and implement a three-shift system around the clock."

"The first, second, fourth, and sixth patrol fleets are on their way."

"But..." Ren Cangcang looked worried: "I'm just afraid that something might happen to Sun Jingan. This might stimulate Huoju and make him carry out some plans ahead of schedule."

"I don't know if the reinforcements will arrive in time."

The atmosphere in the meeting was silent. Ford looked at Li Ming several times. Was there really something wrong with Xingchuang Company? Was this also within his expectations?
"Don't worry, everyone." Sanger comforted him, "The light quantum confinement aerospace shield is enough to withstand a main ship-level attack head-on. Even an A-level life form would find it difficult to break through it."

This aerospace shield was sold to Jingnanxing by the Itlan civilization, so they naturally understood its power.

Everyone's expressions relaxed slightly, but Li Ming added, "Torch should also know the information about the aerospace shield."

The relaxed faces of the crowd darkened again. Torch naturally knew that this also meant that if they took action, they would definitely find a way to tear apart the aerospace shield.

After being kicked out of the meeting room, Li Ming thought that Sun Jingan was most likely not a fire starter, otherwise there would be no need to win him over.

But the people under him are in danger. The review capabilities of this kind of company are far inferior to those of local civilizations, and no one knows how many people are crammed in there.

After thinking for a while, he asked Ford again, "Is the thing I want coming soon?"

"It will be delivered tomorrow." Ford frowned, thinking about the possible risks.

Early the next morning, Ford sent someone to Giant Shield Company to pick up four small containers.

Everyone in the temporary command post looked sideways, curious about what it was.

However, Ford had a distinguished status, so after Sanger personally checked it and confirmed that there was no problem, he was sent in and transported to Li Ming's already dilapidated laboratory.

"Okay, everything is here." Ford patted the box, and the small supercharger arm unfolded and the door opened.

Placed in the box were the fragments of the star's core, stabilized by a gravity balance device.

The properties of stellar cores are not uniform; some are extremely light, while others are quite heavy.

The four star cores placed in front of Li Ming were two crimson and two rose green. The light on their surfaces rose and fell like breathing, which was quite magnificent.

(End of this chapter)