This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 398 The plan cannot keep up with the changes

He adjusted Qinglong's mentality and chose to answer the call.

"Sir Qinglong." Blackbeard was very polite. When facing Qinglong, he always felt a sense of fear, as if he was facing his nemesis. He felt that he was being played around by Qinglong.

Starting from the incident of the Ascendant Ruins in the Corona Borealis Ring, Qinglong had been testing step by step, weaving a big net and letting him fall into it invisibly.

After arriving in the central world, he had become the backbone of the force and forced the pioneers to agree to his entry into the council by exchanging various benefits.

And now, it seems that he is about to take charge of some big plans, enter the game personally, and eventually become the chess player.

Whenever Blackbeard thought about it, he felt a chill and fear.

"How's the investigation going?" Li Ming asked straight to the point.

Blackbeard's voice was a little cautious. "I did find some clues in the Corona Borealis ring. A group of Prince Ryan's people are secretly operating. The Itlan civilization seems to be cooperating with them, and the personnel transfers are very frequent."

"However, the time is too short, and I am still investigating what it is doing."

"They are transporting star-destroying weapons to certain planets." Li Ming said concisely.

"Star-destroyer-level weapon?" Blackbeard was shocked, but said nothing.

In fact, he had some guesses in his mind, because he had discovered some other clues, and with the attention of the pioneers, he had deduced that the purpose of this group of people was not simple.

"What is Ryan planning to do?" Blackbeard couldn't help but ask. In order to allow him to conduct a fair and objective investigation, the Pioneer did not tell him what Qinglong said, so as to avoid subjective emotions being mixed into the investigation results.

But Li Ming didn't have so many scruples, and said immediately: "He plans to destroy the entire Corona Borealis ring."

"What!?" Blackbeard was completely shocked and blurted out: "How dare he...?"

Li Ming shook his head, his eyes flickering, "Is this all you have found out? What is the identity of the person Ryan sent? What is his strength?"

Blackbeard was feeling uneasy, as a star ring-level interstellar massacre had almost never happened, even before the establishment of the Interstellar Alliance.

What's more, the interstellar environment is now mainly peaceful. But then, his mind became active. If this matter is confirmed, the blow to the empire will be no less than a knife cutting into the aorta.

Thinking in his heart, he did not forget to answer Qinglong's question, "Among the people sent, there are two S-level life forms, Thor - the sub-elf, and Garrett - the Seo stoneman. They are both S-level life forms with a development progress of more than 60%. They are the backbone of Seon."

After a pause, he said with lingering fear: "There is another powerful star beast, the Star Devouring Prison Dragon."

Didn’t you find out about Levenbaker’s existence?

Li Ming's heart moved slightly, but he suddenly reacted, his pupils condensed slightly, and he made his voice sound calm: "Swallowing Star Prison Dragon?"

"Yes." Blackbeard did not doubt him and explained, "It has been rumored that Prince Ryan raises a terrible star beast, but no one has ever seen it."

"When I was tracking them a few days ago, I used my super quantum observation ability to find out, and I was almost discovered."

"I didn't expect it to be a Star Devouring Hell Dragon, a variant of the Star Devouring Hell Dragon raised by the Empire. It is extremely rare, and its strength is comparable to that of an S-level life form with 100% development progress."

Blackbeard was still in shock. "I was still confused at the time. What kind of event could make Prince Ryan take it so seriously? I didn't expect it..."

Star-Swallowing Prison Dragon… Li Ming had already stood up and was pacing back and forth in the room. Of course he knew this name, as he had noticed it when selecting the target star beast.

But he didn't even consider this thing as a target because it was too rare and a variant.

Mutants are the result of benign gene mutations of star beasts. There are many types of results, and only when their strength is greatly enhanced can they be called mutants.

His target is the Star-Swallowing Dark Dragon, a star beast that is similar to an S-level life form with 90% development progress.

As its variant, the Star-Swallowing Prison Dragon is even more powerful, and has almost evolved to the limit of S-level star beasts. It is almost impossible to find the Star-Swallowing Hell Dragon, let alone the Star-Swallowing Prison Dragon.

I didn’t expect it, I didn’t expect it…

It's really... it comes without any effort. Li Ming had the urge to laugh, but he suppressed the throbbing in his heart and calmed himself down.

Seeing Qinglong remained silent, Blackbeard tentatively said: "For such a big matter, should we hold a Pioneer meeting to discuss how to maximize the benefits?"

Li Ming came back to his senses and said calmly: "Well, talk to the Navigator and the Bloodfallen first and see what they say."

Blackbeard looked embarrassed. He had already sent a copy of the investigation materials to each of the two people, but they had not responded to him yet.

But he couldn't say it out loud, or it would seem too disrespectful, so he just responded, "Understood."

After finishing the communication with the other party, Li Ming slowly exhaled.

The sudden appearance of the Star-Devouring Hell Dragon disrupted his original plan, but he was not angry, but very excited.

Simplicity is the perfect ingredient for S-grade gene seed preparation.

"My current goal must be to obtain this Prison Dragon as soon as possible, but the Pioneer and I have different goals, so we have a disagreement." Li Ming speculated.

Not long after, Blackbeard sent him another message, inviting him to the Iron Throne Hall.

Since Li Ming always kept the ring in the control space, he was unable to sense other people's calls, and usually Blackbeard sent messages to him.

Entering the Iron Throne Hall, the Navigator and the Bloodstained were already in place, along with Blackbeard and several other shadows. Not many people were gathered this time, just a small discussion.

"After comprehensive investigation of various information, it has been basically confirmed that Ryan has indeed made a big move in the Itlan civilization and invested a lot of manpower. If nothing unexpected happens, what His Excellency Qinglong said should be true." The navigator spoke and pondered, "Prince Ryan is really preparing to sacrifice the entire Corona Borealis ring with blood."

The atmosphere in the field was silent and shrouded in shadows, making it difficult to discern each person's reactions.

The navigator continued: "So, we can start discussing how we should deal with this matter."

"There are still a few key issues that need to be resolved." The Bloodfaller added: "Why did he do this? And what method does he plan to use to accomplish it?"

Blackbeard said, "We haven't investigated it yet. They use warriors secretly trained by Itlan. We can't interfere."

"The current known information is basically all from my personal investigation."

"Does Lord Qinglong have anything to add?" asked the Bloodfallen Man. Blackbeard was also quite curious. This matter was first proposed by Qinglong, so there should be deeper information, right?
"I only know that they use something similar to biotechnology, which can kill all life on the entire planet in a short period of time." Li Ming said simply, without revealing the existence of Levenbaker.

He felt that this news was too important to be leaked.

Biotechnology? Everyone has different ideas.

After a pause, he continued, "As for its specific function, I'm not quite sure."

The navigator did not comment and turned to Blackbeard and said, "Continue to investigate this matter. If necessary, you can arrest a few core members of Itlan."

"Understood." Blackbeard agreed. In fact, he had already caught him, but no one knew about it. Probably only a few people knew about it.

The navigator said in a deep voice: "The tentative name of the plan is "Hunting the King". We need to consider how to cause the greatest damage to the empire."

"But we can set the highest goal first, and force the Empire to remove Ryan from the position of Prince." There are currently a total of nine princes in the Empire, but five of them have almost disappeared, and the outside world speculates that they have long been at the end of their lifespan.

There are only four active princes. If they force the empire to abolish this position, it would be like slapping themselves in the face.

But this is only the highest goal, which is very difficult to achieve. Not only does it require pressure from external public opinion, but it also requires internal uproar and cooperation from senior management.

After that, the navigator asked, "Mr. Qinglong, what do you think?"

Li Ming responded calmly, "I have no objection."

Blackbeard was muttering in his heart and glanced at Qinglong. As expected, the navigator was still in the lead.

If Qinglong were to truly complete the "Hunting the King" plan, wouldn't his prestige among the pioneers soar?

Wouldn't Qinglong resist? After all, he was the one who initiated this matter.

Blackbeard muttered, and couldn't help but speak:
"When will the conference be held? This kind of major event requires the cooperation of all parties."

"This plan is far more invasive than any of our previous plans. Let's notify others at the end," said the navigator.

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Li Ming remained silent with a slightly gloomy look in his eyes. These guys are cruel enough.

Blackbeard was puzzled. "If I don't inform others, I may not be able to stop it by myself..."

He suddenly stopped talking halfway, and a chill ran down his spine.

He realized the most contradictory point of the whole plan, which was how to confirm the authenticity of the blood sacrifice.

If they prevented the blood sacrifice from happening in advance, no matter how much irrefutable evidence they produced, it would be useless. The Empire could just ignore it.

Because this thing didn't happen, and if it didn't happen, no one would pay attention to it.

The empire doesn't even need to say anything, as there are countless people from the Spiritual Empire helping them defend themselves in public opinion.

Therefore, if you want to achieve the highest goal you set, you must make this happen. Only when the horrific news sweeps the entire galaxy will it attract attention.

Blackbeard is not a merciful person, but after realizing this, he couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart. This is a Star Ring-level massacre!
"If we don't stop him and let Ryan achieve his goal, it's hard to say what the final result will be." Li Ming said suddenly.

"It's not that we won't stop him." The Bloodfaller explained, "We just need to prevent him from being 100% successful. A blood sacrifice of one-tenth or one-fifth will do. We must have solid facts to support our claims and achieve our goal."

The navigator added: "Of course, if you want to control this perfectly, you must know their specific action plan and process. This depends on Blackbeard."

He said calmly, "Master Qinglong, please be patient."

Realizing that he could no longer change the decision, Li Ming stopped talking.

Blackbeard sighed inwardly, thinking that Qinglong had been accepted by the Navigator and his men, as he still seemed to be on alert.

When consciousness returned, everything in front of him gradually became clear, and Li Ming's eyes narrowed.

"Just be patient?"

This goes against his thoughts. His main goal now is to inflict trauma on the empire?

Stop it, it won't do him any good.

What he needs now is strength, soft power, hard power, the strength to fight against all obstacles.

Therefore, he has to become an S-class life form. The Star-Devouring Prison Dragon is just around the corner. It is unknown how long he will have to wait to cooperate with the Pioneer's plan.

If something unexpected happens at that time, everything will be unpredictable.

With his current development progress, if he captures the Star-Devouring Prison Dragon and gives it to Yeyue Biological Company, according to the modulation speed, he should be able to use it smoothly when his development progress reaches 100% without having to wait.

He originally wanted to borrow the power of the Pioneer. The energy level of the Star-Swallowing Prison Dragon should not be underestimated. It is estimated that its energy level is 3 or 4X. After all, it is a top-level mutant star beast.

There is also this mysterious guy named Levenbaker. He may not be able to stabilize the situation even if he does it on his own.

But now that the pioneer had decided to wait, he had no choice but to change his original plan.

"If I could control the Infinite Hammer now, my chances would be much higher." Li Ming pondered, feeling a little annoyed.

Two billion metal energies is not a small number for him now.

"We have to be absolutely sure when we take action," Li Ming estimated.

After a while, Ford knocked on his door and stuck his head out, "Are you looking for me?"

After Ford came in, Li Ming said, "Contact Asmara and share the location of Ryan's men in real time in the next period of time, especially the location of that weirdo."

"Could it be..." Ford's eyes narrowed slightly, and he was a little excited. "I understand."

"There is one more thing. Does your Itlan civilization have any stocks of precious metal materials?" Li Ming asked naturally.

"Metal materials?" Ford seemed to have activated some memory, his eyes were a little dazed. He remembered that Li Ming liked to collect metal materials before.

Later, the Azure Dragon emerged from the water, and many people suddenly realized that it was this big guy behind the scenes.

"Hmm..." Ford frowned. "We don't have much stock of precious metal materials. We use ordinary metal materials to make warships and weapons."

Manufacturing more advanced weapons requires more than just metal materials, and they will not reproduce automatically once purchased. Generally, high-level metal materials will only be purchased in fixed quantities when there is demand.

"But..." Ford changed the subject, "It's wartime now, and Asmara has a stronger voice. Perhaps a small portion of the funds can be diverted for special purchases."

"How much do you need?" he asked proactively.

"Oh?" Li Ming became interested. "If it's 100 billion star coins, how long will it take?"

"One hundred billion?" Ford's mouth twitched, his face was calm, and he didn't dare to speak.

"What about 50 billion?" Li Ming also knew that he was asking too much. After all, Itlan was not Asmara's sole authority.

Ford swallowed his saliva and said, "This is a large amount of money. We need to forge the bill first and then submit it to the Finance Department for approval. It may be rejected at the first time. Then Asmara will make a strong request and after a few rounds of negotiation, those guys will agree."

"After approval, you need to go to the Interstellar Bank to check the exchange rate, and then convert it into star coins. If you want to buy it again, it will take at least three months...or at most half a year."

Advanced civilizations basically have their own currency, mainly because their own currency is not as strong as star coins.

But at the critical moment, at least they can secretly print more, so there will be no problem with domestic circulation, and it will not be easy to be harvested by more advanced civilizations.

(End of this chapter)