This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 224 The Approaching Combined Fleet

"Really?" Li Ming was surprised and looked Tiago up and down. "You don't seem to be qualified to make conditions."

Tiago's face changed slightly, and he was about to say something, but he heard Li Ming continue: "But, tell me, if it is really important to me, I can promise you."

Tiago hesitated slightly, but he had no choice but to hope that the other party would keep their promise. He said in a deep voice: "The joint fleet should arrive at the Land of Stars soon."

"Hmm? Combined Fleet?" Li Ming's expression was slightly tense, his brows furrowed, "Are you sure?"

"I have the latest news. The combined fleet is still docked near the North Bor interstellar ice field. Someone also photographed Asmara. Don't tell me that it's just some kind of holographic image. Do you have any evidence?"

In the Silver Star Cluster, there are countless gray forces secretly watching the Combined Fleet, fearing that the other side will descend upon them.

If it was just some kind of large-scale holographic image, it would be impossible to hide it.

"This is my speculation, there is no evidence..." Tiago took a breath, and Li Ming's eyes became more and more indifferent: "Don't worry, I have plenty of time to play with you."

"I heard that the Duke bugs reproduce by depositing their eggs in other life forms. In the interstellar age, they clone ordinary beasts on a large scale and use them as nests."

"But there have always been rumors that the higher the level of the parasitic life form, the higher the development potential of the offspring born. I also heard that Duke insect people can give birth to dozens of offspring from one nest of eggs..."

A horrible scene suddenly appeared in Tiago's mind, which made his whole body numb. He didn't even care about the pain in his body and hurriedly said, "Listen to my explanation first."

"I am not familiar with the Land of Stars. The entire plan was designated by Asmara. They planned an escape route for me and set the coordinates."

"If the plan succeeds, we will send you to that coordinate location. It is a blank star field. The top management speculates that she values ​​you so much that she might receive you personally."

"Although the entire combined fleet has not arrived, perhaps some of the elite troops have already gone ahead."

Li Ming stroked his chin when he heard this. Tiago's speculation sounded reasonable, but it was also possible that Asmara's men were waiting at the coordinates.

"Given how much Asmara values ​​you, he will definitely come to receive you in person," Tiago emphasized.

Li Ming's eyes flickered slightly and he thought in his heart. In fact, he had this premonition before, but Theo had been paying attention to the joint fleet and claimed that there was no movement, so he relaxed his vigilance a little.

If Asmara abandoned some of his people and came lightly, the possibility would indeed be very high.

As for Asmara who appeared on the battlefield, it was most likely a holographic projection. A large-scale fleet is difficult to disguise, but an individual projection is difficult to tell whether it is real or fake.

If that's the case... he felt a sense of urgency.

Even if it is not a large force of the Combined Fleet, the people brought by Asmara cannot be underestimated, and the number of A-level life forms must not be small.

"It's time to run away..." Li Ming had this idea before, and he even found his next employer, which was the Torch Organization.

However, Asmara used Ford's account to interfere, and the Torch Organization has been dragging its feet and has not given a clear response, so he can only stay here for the time being.

"Don't worry, I will keep my promise." Li Ming glanced at the nervous Thiago, who then breathed a sigh of relief and watched Li Ming leave.

Tiago closed his eyes, his eyelids trembling, and carefully felt the changes in his body.

A few minutes later, Li Ming gathered Ulrich and others together and informed them of the news he had received from Tiago.

"March in secret?" Theo frowned and swiped on the smart terminal in his hand.

Ulrich's face was full of uneasiness, "Did Tiago say when she left?"

"About twenty days ago." Li Ming pondered. If Asmara was really marching in secret, he would have set off as soon as he saw his mecha.

"Twenty days ago?" Ulrich's face became even uglier. He pulled out the star map from the smart terminal. "Twenty days ago, they were in the Hiberrite galaxy, only ten days away from the nearest Gu Ya civilization that had a jump star gate."

"If they jump to the Bavarol civilization that is closest to the Land of the Stars and then sail here, it will only take a month."

"Calculating the time, if it's slow, it will take another ten days. If it's fast, we can arrive in another five days."

Theo's eyes fell on Li Ming, and he said in a deep voice: "You mean, Asmara not only secretly sent people to ambush you, but also specially sent elite troops to come to the Land of Stars in advance?"

"She seems really eager for you, can you tell us why?"

Ulrich also looked over. Li Ming helplessly spread his hands and said, "Everyone, what we should discuss now is how to deal with the current situation, not internal strife."

"You have to deal with the situation and know why Asmara is very interested in you." Theo continued. Ulrich hesitated and did not join in the questioning.

Sandro folded his arms and said in a muffled voice, "Didn't we expect the arrival of the combined fleet? It's nothing more than an early evacuation. Why do we care so much?"

"Shut up." Theo scolded. What he cared about was not this incident, but the meaning behind it.

Asmara's eagerness to see something they didn't see might bring unusual trouble.

"Your Excellency, are you worried?" Li Ming asked back, and said indifferently: "In fact, the solution is very simple, just go your separate ways."

"Asmara is only interested in me, why do you have to pester me?"

"No." Ulrich was the first to shake his head. Although he was vaguely uneasy, he had already realized that Qinglong was planning to use them. After all, there were not many opportunities to take three A-level life forms hostage.

But it is impossible to go our separate ways now. The sunk costs and losses are too great to extricate ourselves from the situation. We must see the benefits at hand.

Sandro also shook his head immediately, "No, no, I'm still counting on you to make some money."

Theo frowned. The people behind him would not allow him to leave the great mechanic, so he could only remain silent.

"In that case, don't think too much about it." Li Ming smiled, "I suggest that we leave here as soon as possible."

He had no interest in staying and fighting Asmara head-on. Finding a place to continue developing was his best option.

"I had the same idea. Let's go today and get ready immediately." Ulrich nodded. All his assets were in this castle, so it was just a matter of words for him to leave.

"So soon?" Sandro was stunned and said hurriedly: "I have to go back and pack up my fleet."

"Go back, no one will stop you." Ulrich glanced at him.

Sandro snorted coldly, his face turned pale. How could he leave at this moment?

Because he hadn't been back for some time, his territory had been severely eroded and his subordinates were already resentful.

Although he could issue orders through the smart terminal to let them hide temporarily, when he came back, it was not certain whether these fleets would still belong to him. This was the case with the plunderers.

Loyalty is just a joke.

"What did the Torch Organization say? They still haven't given in?" Li Ming asked.

Theo said calmly, "It should be soon. The main reason is that the senior mechanics have different opinions. This battle is also a demonstration of your technical level." "Should we notify the others?" Ulrich asked, "When faced with such an encirclement and suppression, the Land of the Stars has always advanced and retreated together."

"What the hell!" Sandro was irritable. "My territory is almost completely eaten up."

"It's really not necessary this time." Theo also shook his head, "We've discussed this before, and the Land of Stars probably won't be able to hold out this time."

Ulrich nodded, as if with some emotion, and then quickly went to arrange the evacuation.

This is Ulrich's territory, so naturally we can leave on his spaceship.

Theo's men are all mercenaries with neither a good nor a bad reputation. They are not wanted in many civilizations and can stay in other star clusters without being affected.

Ulrich had suffered a great loss not long ago, so he didn't have many things to take away. He secretly asked Cassis to pack them up, and they finished packing in just half a day.

As everything was being arranged in an orderly manner, Li Ming approached Ulrich mysteriously and asked, "Do you have any self-destruct device?"

Ulrich hesitated and whispered, "Yes, there are a batch of high-yield nuclear explosion bombs buried deep underground."

Li Ming's eyes lit up slightly, and he heard Ulrich continue: "I know what you want to do. When Asmara landed on the island, he must have prepared a signal jammer. It is difficult to determine their location, and it is even more difficult to detonate from the outside."

"Then leave someone to detonate it from the inside." Li Ming added.

Ulrich was helpless, "There are too many variables. I don't trust the people under my command."

"Do you have to tell them the truth?" Li Ming shook his head and muttered for a while. Ulrich's eyes changed, "You are really sinister."

He turned and ordered, "Call Brown."

Until the moment before boarding the spacecraft, Sandro's face looked very ugly.

There are still many good things in his old nest, but there are only a few people under his command who can be called confidants, and it is unknown how many he can save in the end.

……

In the unknown land, at the Torch Organization headquarters, in the core laboratory, it is extremely vast, with a large number of experimental personnel coming and going in a hurry, and large experimental instruments running non-stop.

In the very center, on the metal laboratory table, there is an instrument half a person's height. It opens from the center, and the internal metal structure is extremely precise, with bright blue energy flowing.

Above was a constantly rotating three-dimensional image. Jesseia stood aside with his hands open, and the three-dimensional image enlarged, appearing to be some kind of physical drawing.

Compared to the drawing, the items on the metal plate seem to be only a small part.

"The 1437th energy conduction failed. The third spectrometer detected energy of unknown spectrum. Recording..."

"The 2345th material property test failed. The corresponding properties of the drawing cannot be matched. Continue to try the alloy ratio..."

The sounds of various failed experiments continued to come, and Jessiah had become accustomed to it.

"Stupid, the wave color value should be between 2γ and 3Ψ, otherwise it will cause thermal expansion!"

"A bunch of rubbish, brainless people!"

Deyes's face turned red and he kept roaring. The torch experimenters were scolded and looked like they had lost all hope in life.

"Deyes..." Jessia frowned, "It's obvious that bioalloy has nothing to do with the color value. Who knows how the sublimator synthesized it? It's useless for you to scold me."

Deyes snorted, "It's been three months, and we've only made so little progress. Even if we have another three years, I'm afraid we won't be able to do it. If we bring our experimental team here, we can speed it up."

"There are too many people. The Torch Organization will never agree to this. Besides, there is a simpler solution." Jessiah said calmly, and he just kept turning the blueprint in front of him to adjust the details.

"You want to talk about the great mechanic Qinglong again, right?" Deyes's face darkened. "I've already said that it's just your own speculation. Even if he has superb skills, he may not be able to solve our problem."

"What if there is still no progress after inviting him here? And his origins are not clear yet. This is a bomb!"

Jesseia shook his head. Apart from him, the other two great mechanics did not approve of Qinglong coming.

"Deyes, you are just afraid that he will share your profits. I know you want to see if there are any materials for making the Star Forging Instrument in the Sublimator Ruins."

Deyes was exposed, but he didn't care, "So what?"

Jessiah said indifferently: "If we can't build this thing, we can't even get in."

"I told the Torch Organization to bring our team here. Their people are incompetent..." Deyes frowned and paused in the middle of his words.

The experimenters around him retreated to the sides. Jesse turned around and nodded slightly: "Mr. Cornett."

The person who came was the Torch Leader. He looked around at the three master mechanics and said, "We have decided to send Master Mechanic Qinglong, as well as the three A-level life forms Theo, Ulrich, and Sandro."

"What?" Deyes immediately got angry and shouted, "Cornet, are you crazy?"

Cornett said calmly, "Mr. Deyes, the slow progress is obvious to all. If we don't find a solution, no one will be able to get in."

"We have no way, so he is sure he has a way? How can he prove it?" Deyes was anxious.

Cornette did not say anything, but just opened the smart terminal, created a virtual projection, and played a battle video.

This time, the picture is obviously clearer and seems to have been processed with auxiliary equipment.

He briefly introduced: "Not long ago, the A-level life form Tiago ambushed this Lord Qinglong, but was captured."

"Oh?" Jessiah became alert and observed carefully, and Deyes's expression paused slightly.

"In this battle, he displayed a second A-class combat mecha, and was assisted by an A-class combat mechanical body, both of which require extremely high technical content." Connet said.

These mechanics are strictly forbidden to contact the outside world, and the only way they can get information is from Connit.

"This mecha..." The taciturn old mechanic Benny came up and observed carefully. When he saw the mecha resisting Tiago's attack, he was surprised:

"It can resist EMP electromagnetic interference. Where on earth did he find this nano material? It seems to be even stronger than the previous one."

Among items of the same level, combat mechas are the most complex to build and can best reflect the level of the item.

"It's obviously biased towards defense, without any weapon modules, and is also a follower of the 'Fiers Theory'." Benny looked at it for a moment and couldn't help but say, "Fiers Theory believes that due to performance limitations, a single combat mecha should not have both."

Deyes's face changed slightly, and when the silver combat machine rushed into the battlefield and demonstrated its combat strength, Jessiah suddenly became excited: "How, how is this possible!"

(End of this chapter)