This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 286: The end of the tidal period is expected to be rated S-level!
As for Ford, there has been no news for two or three days. The latest information is--
Asmara did cancel a series of established combat plans and gathered a number of scattered personnel.

However, since the tidal period has not yet arrived, they have not left the Land of Stars for the time being.

Li Ming stretched his body, and suddenly there was a crackling sound of bones popping. He let out a long sigh, his eyes became sore and his mouth became dry.

It had been six days since his last break. Normally, he would maintain no less than eighteen hours of development time every day.

There was nothing to do during this period, so I just stayed up all night. My body could handle it, but I felt really drained mentally.

Just as he was about to vomit, he walked out the door.

In the middle of the main ship, in a corner of the cafeteria, there is a small metal round table filled with various dishes and several opened bottles of wine.

The Torch Organization staff who occasionally came to the cafeteria would catch a glimpse of the people in the corner, their faces would change drastically, and they would leave in a hurry without caring about their hunger.

Sandro's burly body almost took up the space of two or three people. He gulped down the purple wine bottle in his hand like it was an oral liquid.

He looked at Jessiah next to him, "Crybaby, why don't you drink?"

Sandro deliberately said: "Oh, I almost forgot, you have undergone mechanical transformation now. If you want a certain flavor, you can just modify the nerve signal. Unfortunately, there is no engine oil here."

Jessiah ignored him and said with a hint of sarcasm: "I never thought that one day we would be able to work together under the same person."

When he said this, Sandro and Ulrich didn't react, but Theo frowned, but didn't refute.

"I hope that this time, you will not have second thoughts." After saying this, Jesaya pulled the corners of his mouth apart. The mimic skin did not show any metallic features. He pretended to be in a daze and said, "Oh, I forgot. Lord Qinglong is not Lord Monroe. He really knows how to kill people."

"Don't be so ambiguous, who has two minds?"

Sandro crushed the bottle of tea in his hand into pieces and rubbed it into powder in his palm. He looked unusually solemn and said in a deep voice:

"Jessiah, let me make it clear, who has second thoughts when Lord Monroe is still here?"

"You know it in your heart." Jessia snorted coldly, and Sandro's face turned red.

Ulrich said calmly, "Jessiah, I know you are loyal to Lord Monroe and think that we have betrayed Lord Monroe."

“But in fact, it’s not the case.”

Ulrich said indifferently, "More than forty years ago, Lord Monroe "mysteriously disappeared". That's what they said at the time, but in fact, Lord Monroe was defeated by a powerful enemy..."

"In this situation, what do you want us to do? Who can avenge Lord Monroe?"

"Hmph..." Sandro gritted his teeth and said, "After Lord Monroe disappeared, it's not like I didn't look for him, but the rest of you are as tight-lipped as a welded iron door. No one wants to tell me the truth."

Jessiah sneered, "So, you can't wait to divide up Lord Monroe's inheritance?"

"No one can convince the others, and split is inevitable sooner or later." Ulrich's expression remained indifferent.

"In the final analysis, it's nothing more than cowardice." Jessiah still sneered, "You are not going to say now that you have defended the Land of the Stars and have always followed the orders of Lord Monroe."

"What's the point of all this now?" Theo said indifferently, "More than forty years have passed, and people's minds are fickle. It doesn't matter what we thought at the time. Lord Monroe has fallen, and everything is over."

Several people fell into silence, and Jessiah had a blank expression on his face. This was the most important thing, time would erase everything.

Even then, they were still loyal to Lord Monroe, but after all these years, there was nothing left.

Ulrich's eyes twinkled. "Actually, there's one thing I've never been sure of."

Everyone looked at him in confusion.

"I didn't actually see Lord Monroe fall completely," Ulrich whispered.

"What do you mean?" Sandro stared.

Ulrich's eyes were distracted. "At the beginning, Lord Monroe was punished by the enemy's special means and was ultimately defeated, but the result was only a panicked escape."

Theo narrowed his eyes slightly, exuding a dangerous aura: "Ulrich, you swore to tell me that Monroe had fallen."

"No difference..." Ulrich shook his head. "I just didn't see it with my own eyes. Afterwards, I carefully investigated the green liquid that covered half of Monroe's body. It is a special weapon of the Xingyuan Empire to deal with mechanical bodies. It is called "Nano Curse". Once deployed, it has a fatal killing power on metal materials."

"Nano curse..." Theo was silent, his voice cold and silent: "I know it, a deadly plague for machines. The Xingyuan Empire used it to destroy many machine legions and even civilizations."

“Even a Forging-level mechanic would have difficulty finding a way to completely resolve this issue.”

"So, Lord Monroe has no hope of survival..." Ulrich said halfway, but suddenly turned his head to look at Jessiah with a scrutinizing look in his eyes: "Why aren't you surprised, surprised, questioning or angry?"

"Jessiah, I've always been curious, who performed the mechanical modification on you?"

Jesaya was startled and said in a deep voice: “It has nothing to do with you.”

Ulrich paused, then changed the subject, "I'm curious, when did you become so close to Lord Qinglong? You two probably only met once."

"I told you about the attack on the Torch Organization, such a confidential matter."

Jessiah glanced at him coldly, "He didn't tell me."

"Didn't I tell you?" Ulrich asked casually to change the subject, but he was stunned when he heard Jessiah's response.

"Then why did you..." At this point, he looked strange: "Was it to save us?"

"You think too much." Jesse immediately refuted, "I sensed the fluctuations of the battle, and came over to take a look. I knew it must be Qinglong who made a move, so I helped you."

"You're pretty smart." Sandro drank another bottle of wine. Thanks to the powerful metabolic capacity of the A-level life form, he was not drunk at all. He shook the bottle in dissatisfaction: "What the hell, you didn't order any good wine."

But Ulrich sensed something was wrong and frowned, "At that time, Lord Qinglong didn't seem to have revealed such strong strength and means. You boarded the ship so decisively. Aren't you afraid of any accidents?"

"It's none of your business." Jessia shook his head, and Ulrich was keenly aware that something was going on.

Sandro said nonchalantly: "You have a good eye. Now everyone has become Qinglong's subordinate, which is good."

"Subordinates?" Jessia sneered, "Aren't you flattering yourself too much? When did he ever say you were his subordinate?"

Theo remained silent. Although Qinglong saved his life, his men...

He might be able to do some things under Qinglong's leadership, but the word "subordinate" was a bit too humble.

At least, they are still unable to contact the outside world, obviously to prevent them from passing on the news about An Ye.

Theo's eyes narrowed as he was thinking. Before he turned around, a familiar voice came over, "Are you all here?"

Wow!

Sandro stood up immediately, followed by Jessiah, and then Ulrich. Theo hesitated for a moment, but still stood up. "We are old friends, no need to be so polite." Li Ming casually moved a chair and sat next to Jessiah, and said to the waiter: "The dishes I just ordered are not served..."

"I haven't eaten for several days, and my mouth is almost dry."

Everyone then sat down, each with a different look on their face.

Most of the dishes on the table were untouched. Li Ming took a few bites casually. The tender and crystal meat, wrapped in rich juice, finally dispelled the slightly bitter taste in his mouth.

"What are you talking about?" he asked casually.

"Some old memories," Ulrich explained.

Sandro muttered, "It's about Lord Monroe. What nano curse? I don't understand it."

"Star King Monroe?" Li Ming's eyes moved slightly, "Several former bosses."

"Well, what a pity..." Theo shook his head and said nothing more. Ulrich changed the subject and asked, "Sir, are you here to give me instructions?"

"No, just come here to eat something." Li Ming shook his head.

Ulrich immediately said, "If you can use us in any way, please feel free to ask."

"Don't worry, we are in the same boat. I will not be polite when I need you." Li Ming smiled and wiped his hands with a tissue. "Let's go, do whatever you want."

After watching Li Ming leave, the few of them no longer wanted to continue chatting. They looked at each other with displeasure and left.

Three more days passed in silence.

On this day, with a roar, the main ship's cabin shook and a shrill alarm sounded.

Li Ming in the room suddenly opened his eyes. Outside the porthole, it was no longer the bizarre jump route, but the desolate universe.

"Alert, encountering a large-scale space fluctuation, the fleet temporarily detached from the jump channel, please don't panic!"

"... "

"That is..." Li Ming quickly came to the porthole, his expression gradually becoming very interesting.

In the space outside the porthole, there are strange bands of light scattered everywhere that have no source but persist for a long time.

These bright bands of light permeate the universe like spreading auroras. Most of them are not very bright, but there are also extremely bright luminous areas mixed in.

It looks normal, but if we speculate from an interstellar perspective, the length of each light band is probably as high as one million kilometers.

There seemed to be no abnormal energy reaction, because their fleet was in a strange band of light.

After connecting to the main ship's operating system, Li Ming discovered that the main ship's probe did not detect any energy fluctuations at all.

There is no other evidence of the existence of this light band except by the naked eye.

Along with the red ripples that came from nowhere, in addition to these unknown lights, the starlight in the universe also showed signs of severe distortion.
The bright stars gradually withdrew and formed bright lines, and each star left a long curved trail behind it.

The galaxy composed of stars has thus become a large, blurry halo, mixed with the surrounding nebulae and becoming difficult to distinguish.

And even further away in the depths of space, an extremely bright red beam of light seems to run through the entire universe. It is the only thing that is not distorted, and looks eye-catching and strange.

The tidal period of the Red River Star Stream has arrived.

Li Ming opened the Star Network, and as expected, a red warning popped up due to regional positioning.

"Please note that according to the notice from the Cosmic Disaster Bureau of the Interstellar Alliance, the tidal period of the Red River Star Stream has arrived. Citizens of all civilizations who see this notice, please do not approach the Red River Star Stream in any form for at least thirty days."

Almost all civilizations near the Red River Star Stream received similar warnings.

On the star network, the tidal period has once again become a hot topic. This is not just a regional issue. Life forms in every corner of the universe are all eagerly discussing this issue.

Some people complained that the waterway was closed due to the Red River Star Stream and travel plans had to be delayed.

There are also people who have never seen this kind of cosmic wonder and are particularly envious of the nearby civilizations and want to come and see it.

Some people also released photos of close observation, which aroused a wave of envy.

The eruption will last for fifty hours, after which the core area of ​​the Red River Star Stream will be briefly open to the outside world.

Countless explorers and scavengers are waiting for this opportunity, including some lucky guys who are extremely lucky and can soar to the sky.

But for Li Ming, this sudden outbreak forced their trip to be delayed for two days.

This also meant that when they arrived at the designated delivery location five days later, the people from Black Hole Network were already waiting there.

"It's been nearly ten days, and only 3% has been developed." Li Ming sighed, saying that the development speed was similar to his estimate at the time.

After a little tidying up, he came to the deck. An Ye was already waiting there, and the Black Hole Network's transport ship was slowly landing.

There were eight angular black shuttle-shaped transport ships, which landed on the deck one after another as the flames of their propulsion engines died down.

Even the specifications of the guards this time are different, and the combat armor they wear is at least B-level.

The leader exuded a frightening aura, and his black armor was even more refined.

This is an A-level life form, at least at the level of a person in charge of a star cluster.

"Dear guest, this is your cargo, thirty-six kinds of materials, totaling forty-two tons. Please count them." Even the conversation was very different. His attitude was very respectful, and he locked onto An Ye right away.

What a snob, Li Ming secretly sighed, but saw An Ye looking at him, "Sir Qinglong, I can't tell good from bad."

"Let me do it." Li Ming nodded and walked towards the goods in the boxes.

"Qinglong?" Upon hearing this name, the A-level life form in charge of the escort's eyes moved slightly, and his gaze turned to the long and thin black box behind An Ye.

His eyes flickered, and then he nodded to An Ye, walked to the side, took out a specially made smart terminal, and entered a series of password information.

After three continuously jumping ellipsis marks, a golden exclamation mark suddenly popped up with a big S-level logo in the center.

He paused, his face stiffened, and his breathing stagnated.

"Estimated rating, S-rank...?"

(End of this chapter)