This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 214: Disaster in the Distance: Astute Asmara

"Do you think they will clear out the Land of Stars in advance?" Ulrich saw what Li Ming was thinking and couldn't help but ask.

"It's just a sudden thought." Li Ming did not deny it.

"It's not impossible." Theo suddenly said, and Sandro's eyes became more serious. "Gray Eyes, if you know something, just say it directly. Don't be so secretive."

Theo shook his head and pinched out a virtual screen. It was a news report with a black circular logo in the upper left corner - Xingyuan Times.

"…At 7:13 am, Grand Duke Guyar was assassinated while on an inspection tour of the Empire's Semosla Star Cluster, the Baprol System, and the Clint Star."

"An ultra-long-range orbital sniper bullet pierced Grand Duke Guyar's shoulder. At 1:00 p.m., the Empire issued a statement saying that Grand Duke Guyar's life was not in danger and that they would severely pursue the assassin."

"The big shot of the Xingyao Empire was assassinated?" Sandro was surprised, and then grinned: "It really deserves it. I don't know who is so bold as to assassinate him."

"That means he wasn't killed. If he was, wouldn't the Xingyao Empire go crazy?"

Ulrich frowned and watched the news on the screen. He had been busy with the aftermath of the incident these two days and had no time to pay attention to news from the outside world.

It was also because Huo Tan was dead, otherwise such big news would definitely be reported to him. Thinking of this, he felt a little depressed again.

"Not dead yet, it's almost the same." Theo turned off the screen and said lightly.

Ulrich came back to his senses, "What do you mean?"

Li Ming also looked over.

"The bullet was coated with informational poison. Even if it only slightly penetrated his body, the poison had already spread and was about to wipe him out of the universe." Theo explained, "The Xingyuan Empire temporarily built an informational stabilization device to keep him in a state of neither death nor life."

"Is Xingyuan Empire just trying to show off its wealth?" Sandro sneered, "It's an old empire, isn't it so good?"

"This is because the Xingyuan Empire has not yet figured out who is behind the attacker and is unsure how to deal with it, so it is temporarily suppressing public opinion." Theo explained casually.

Li Mingze asked: "What does this have to do with the Land of Stars?"

Theo was quite helpless: "The Xingyuan Empire issued a joint investigation notice, and many star clusters responded. According to the information I received, the attacker seems to be fleeing along the Red River Star Stream."

"The Yitlan civilization may respond to the call of the Xingyuan Empire and deploy defenses in advance."

"Fuck." Sandro cursed, "Won't he be hanged all the way during his escape?"

"It's an unexpected disaster." Ulrich shook his head, feeling more and more unlucky that such a thing could happen to him.

Li Ming was also quite speechless, "I hope the Torch Organization won't make us wait too long."

However, Theo explained: "I am just speculating that although Xingyuan Empire has issued a large-scale joint investigation notice, it has not required these civilizations to respond."

"The Itlan civilization should still follow their own battle plan. There are so many people in the Silver Star Cluster watching them. With such a large size, even if they want to launch a surprise attack, it is impossible. Don't worry."

Sandro breathed a sigh of relief and said nonchalantly, "At worst, we can just run away early."

"If you ask me, we should hide in the Red River Star Stream now."

Theo shook his head: "Once we enter the Red River Star Stream, all external communications will be cut off, and we will be in a passive position."

Sandro just said it casually and continued the previous topic, "Who is this attacker? Do you have any information?"

Theo pondered and said, "Not yet. It is said that the Xingyuan Empire wanted to retrieve information from the black hole network, but was rejected."

While the few people were talking, Li Ming's eyes were distracted and he was thinking about another thing. He wanted to build more main ship-class gun turrets.

Although the number of shots is limited and needs to be recharged in advance, it is indeed very powerful.

No matter what, we have to stockpile enough to kill A-level life forms in one go, so that we can feel more secure.

However, main ship-class turrets are not easy to build. He checked on the Black Hole Network and found that including miscellaneous transportation costs, one turret would cost four or five hundred million star coins.

And his current balance is less than 10 million.

"The fleet Ulrich has are all transport ships, and at best a few armed frigates, with main guns that are not up to standard at all."

"I heard that Sandro has a large battleship, but it's too far from here. Theo also has one... but..." Li Ming thought, it seems that there is nowhere to steal.

"tnnd!"

Suddenly, Sandro roared with his eyes almost popping out of his head, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Damn Alphonse, you actually dared to take my floating island while I was away!"

Li Ming glanced over and saw Alphonse, one of the other two A-level life forms in the Land of Stars. He came from the Lasos Cluster and was mainly engaged in human trade.

"You are tired of living. Do you think I have no one under my command?" Sandro snorted coldly, "Everyone, we are all in the same boat now. How can we let him bully us?"

Ulrich looked at him coldly. "This is your business. What does it have to do with us? If you want to go back and get your revenge, no one will stop you."

Theo remained silent, his attitude was very clear: they were just tied together temporarily, did they really think they were good friends who helped each other?

"Forget it, I have something else to do, so I'll go back first." Li Ming stood up and went upstairs leisurely.

His top priority is to become a Class B life form as soon as possible, and he has no interest in doing this thankless job.

Following Sandro, it might be possible to steal the main gun, but the obstacles are great. There are several A-level life forms watching, so it's not that convenient and not worth it.

"You..." Sandro's face looked grim. He turned around suddenly, but didn't even walk out of the door. He snorted coldly and turned back.

He really didn't dare to leave casually, for fear that these three guys would abandon him as soon as he left.

Li Ming noticed Sandro's little action out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help but shake his head. He returned to the room and continued to develop the gene seeds.

Without any other distractions, Li Ming continued to develop gene seeds. Even after exceeding 60%, the development speed slowed down.

But the time spent makes up for it, and the development progress still maintains a terrifying speed of more than 1% per day.

Three days later, his development progress reached 82%. Looking at the screen in front of him, his eyes flickered. Ford contacted him again.

However, the conversation message sent to him surprised him.

"Fuck, what did Asmara talk to you about last time? Did you let anything slip?"

Li Ming stroked his chin and typed a "?"

"My smart terminal was confiscated a few days ago. I thought it must be because of you. Didn't she try to trick you?"

"Or did you not see it? That's impossible?"

"Tsk..." Li Ming was quite surprised and a little confused. "He did talk to me. There was something strange in his words, but I didn't talk much."

"I knew it!" Ford seemed very angry, "Luckily you figured it out."

"Why was the smart terminal returned to you?" Li Ming asked.

"After all, I am the son of the Baijan prince. My father and Asmara have been at odds for a long time. I haven't committed any crime. How dare she confiscate my smart terminal and keep me like a prisoner? How can my father let it go so easily?"

It seemed reasonable, Li Ming looked at the response, but he and Ford had a relationship of mutual benefit, and there was no trust between them.

In other words, as long as you can benefit from this Ford, does it matter whether the other party is Ford or not?
Ford continued: "The confiscation of my smart terminal has a lot to do with you. Is the prototype of the nano armor worn by your teacher from the Sublimator civilization? Does your teacher have a way to enter the Sublimator ruins?" Li Ming did not respond at the first time, and waited for another message.

"I'm keeping a close eye on this. I have to let my father see the value. What do you want?"

Li Ming's lips curled up slightly, this tasted a little familiar.

On the other side of the screen, Asmara, Prince Baijan, and even Ford, who was sweating profusely, were all looking at the big screen.

In the intelligence studio, everyone held their breath until a message popped up on Li Ming's side. "I want to know if Asmara has been investigating Isius's death?"

Ford felt numb all over and looked dazed. He could only hear a series of discussions in his ears.

“Assessment of the confidentiality level of the issue…”

"In preliminary analysis, there is an 85% chance that this is not the first time the two have exchanged information. Given the confidentiality of the other party's questions, there is a 70% chance that previous information transactions have violated the interests of civilization."

"Sure enough..." Asmara chuckled, "What close friends? It's just an exchange of interests. Baijan..."

Prince Baijan had an unsightly expression on his face, and his eyes swept coldly over Ford, who looked dazed.

Ford gritted his teeth secretly. Asmara was such a vicious woman. After her "best friend" had a personality problem last time, she directly turned it into an "exchange of interests".

The key point is that her guess was almost correct.

"As far as I know, Asmara has indeed been secretly investigating this matter. Also, someone from the Xingyuan Empire seems to be involved, but I'm not sure."

Li Ming looked at Ford and responded, "People from the Xingyuan Empire?"
Why is Isius so highly regarded?
He pondered for a moment and replied, "Yes, that armor was indeed obtained by my teacher from the ruins of a certain Ascendant civilization, and then repaired and transformed into nano armor."

"As for whether there is a way to enter the Ascendant ruins, I am not sure."

"uncertain?"

"Your answer is too ambiguous."

Ford was roaring in his heart. This was obviously not my tone.

To be more precise, this was not the tone he used when talking to Li Ming. Although he didn't want to admit it, he and the other party were in a weaker position in the conversation.

Can't this guy see?

"The answer you gave me was equally ambiguous." A message popped up on the screen.

Asmara thought for a moment, with a look of complete control, and then raised her hand to signal, "Tell him about Scenario No. 1."

"Forget it. I have a message for you. Professor Wu Yanqing has escaped. Asmara is now hunting him down. He seems to have taken away something precious, which is related to the Sublimator Ruins."

Li Ming raised his eyebrows slightly, swiped sideways to open the friend page, and found Wu Yanqing's account. There were several unanswered messages, mainly asking where he was.

The most recent one was from more than a month ago.

Old Wu defected?

Li Ming frowned slightly and squinted his eyes: "Then I will also send you a message. My teacher has found out who is the person from Xingyuan Empire standing behind Theo."

Ford's heart suddenly skipped a beat and Prince Baijan's face changed slightly. He had known the news for a long time but had not told Asmara and even asked Ford to keep it secret.

As expected, when Asmara saw this line of words, the control over everything was broken. She frowned, looking doubtful and uncertain, and then looked coldly at the Prince of Baijan.

"What's going on?" she asked in a cold voice.

Prince Baijan hesitated, but he knew that since Li Ming had exposed him, he could not hide it any longer, so he had to say, "The Grey Eyes of the Power of Stars - Theo, lost something not long ago, which is the [Flower of Casablanca]."

"What!?" Asmara's pupils suddenly blossomed with a quiet light, and she understood many things in an instant.

The strange look was quickly concealed, but his expression became even colder.

"Found out? Who is it?"

Ford asked impatiently.

Li Ming smiled slightly, "I want a main ship-class turret, including a complete energy generator, and it can't have too much damage."

"What do you want that for? What else is that turret good for, except on a warship?"

"Don't worry about this. Do you agree to this deal?"

Everyone looked at Asmara. Ford vaguely felt that something was wrong. It seemed that he had not asked Li Ming to check the information about the person behind Theo.

"Ask him where to send him?" Asmara said in a deep voice.

"I'll find a way. Where should I send the things to you?"

"The land of stars."

Asmara's sharp eyes flashed, and the conversation continued.

"You are also in the Land of Stars?"

"Don't worry about that. The stuff has been delivered and the news has been given. Besides, I don't have much time to wait. I want it within fifteen days."

"Fifteen days is too short. It's not enough time. It will take at least a month including the planning."

"Friendly reminder, the Black Hole Network is available for purchase."

"Promise him!" Asmara suddenly spoke. Many intelligence personnel were stunned for a moment, and then acted quickly.

"I see. Give me the detailed address."

Prince Baijan couldn't help but remind Asmara, you are too anxious. "

"What you should be concerned about now is your son's treason." Asmara's voice was cold.

Ford's eyelids twitched wildly, and he couldn't help but say, "Commander, this is an accusation without any basis."

He now seriously suspected that Li Ming had already noticed something was wrong and was using Asmara to make some money.

The mimicry personality imitated him perfectly, but the problem was that he had more than one or two handles on Li Ming.

The leak of the Evolution and Liberation Records, and the video pledging allegiance to the Torch Organization.

All these things made him feel less confident when facing Li Ming, and the two sides were not equal at all.

But he couldn't explain this.

Asmara ignored him, her expression uncertain, "Where's Wu Yanqing?"

"There is no information yet." The subordinate reported.

(End of this chapter)