This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 496: The Expansion of the Royal Court

After the upgrade, Li Ming was in a good mood. His strength was increased a lot, so he simply contacted the Holy Castle to find out about the situation of the peak transcendence level trial.

As a result, less than twenty minutes after closing his eyes, he opened them with a lingering fear on his face, and a burst of energy particles burst out of his body.

"This peak transcendent level is too powerful..." Li Ming subconsciously touched his head, the pain of being almost beaten to pieces was still vivid in his mind.

"The energy level is at least 500X, close to 600X. It's too abnormal." Li Ming estimated and couldn't help but be amazed.

According to his estimated development progress, it would have to reach at least 60%, and the regular energy level would have to exceed 500X, just to get by.

Take the hammer, more than 1000X, to gain an advantage in the siege.

"Even if I use that ultimate source of essence, it can only reach about 40%, so there is no need to rush." ​​Li Ming pondered. Originally, he thought that if the gap was not big, he would use it directly and open the Holy Castle in one go.

Ideals are full of hope, but reality is very skinny.

He shook his head, took a short break, and continued to develop the genetic seeds.

After more than ten days, they finally arrived at the Mechanical Royal Court node.

After coming out of the star gate, he looked at the endless team in front of him, and then he used Suzaku's special authority to access the exclusive traction channel.

The review of stargate nodes is becoming more and more stringent. All unregistered cargo ships must go through multiple levels of review, not to mention unfamiliar warships like his.

After landing, they quickly switched to a small aircraft and headed for the core base.

Nearly half a year has passed since he left the Mechanical Royal Court.

Time passes too quickly between stars.

The Mechanical Royal Court seemed to have expanded a bit. There were many giant structures on the gravitational track, which seemed to be building a small planet. There was a series of words on the surface - [Superstar Engineering Construction Company]

An engineering company affiliated to the Planet Collector, it mainly undertakes the construction of artificial planets outside the earth.

Barbaroel is not just a landlord.

The Mechanical Royal Court has also come to this step. Li Ming couldn't help but sigh. Ulrich had reported the construction plan to him.

Every large interstellar force will have a similar expansion plan. This kind of artificial planet built based on gravitational orbits is not just an expansion of the assembly line.

More importantly, as a defense node, the drawings left by the forging hammer show a large-scale defense array called the "Star Barrier".

Its main function is to detect, search and defend against X-level life forms. If you want to maintain a high-intensity energy barrier, the supporting nodes must also keep up.

Not only that, Li Ming observed carefully and found that there were many giant buildings on the metal shell of the entire star.

This seemed to have changed the gravitational structure of the entire galaxy, causing it to completely stop functioning, and this dying star was gradually moving away.

The base expansion is a major project, and Ulrich launched a bidding call for it four months ago.

Five companies have been selected as the main engineering contractors for the next phase of expansion plans for the Mechanical Royal Court's main base.

These five contractors all have experience in building super-large interstellar bases and have participated in many mother star expansion projects of star cluster-level civilizations.

In addition, Ulrich learned from the previous experience that due to the rapid expansion of the Mechanical Kingdom, many projects were cancelled before they even started.

An important requirement put forward is greater scalability.

In the end, the entire project was named "Rebirth", with the desolate star as the main base for in-depth construction.

Ultimately, at least sixteen conventional life planets and forty-eight satellites must be expanded, and a gravity system that can almost double its expansion must be left behind.

Using a star as the main base, even if it is a star in its late years, is a very difficult challenge for the five major contractors.

But the advantage of the Mechanical Royal Court is its almost tireless mechanical bodies.

Normal higher life forms would definitely not want to do the work of "moving bricks and plastering", but these mechanical bodies, from D-level to S-level, would not resist.

This advantage is unparalleled, and it also led to Ulrich's severe price pressure.

The entire project is divided into five phases. The first phase is the reconstruction of the gravity system, which is now nearing completion, while the construction of the planet is in progress.

This information was also the report that Ulrich made after he came out of the Red River Star Stream. For most of the matters, he made the decisions on his own because he could not contact Li Ming and Qinglong.

But after all the results, Li Ming was still quite satisfied. After all, it was a deposit, and he would pay when the work was done.

Thinking in his mind, he had already arrived at the core base without alarming anyone.

It was only after arriving that Ulrich was informed.

The two had been in contact since he came out of the Red River Star Stream, and knew that Li Ming was returning.

Ulrich was not surprised to receive the notice.

And when he saw him, Ulrich felt completely relieved.

"Anduin puts so much pressure on you." Li Ming raised his eyebrows and couldn't help but say.

Ulrich's cheeks twitched, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he shook his head helplessly: "It has nothing to do with Lord Anduin..."

It seems that he was tortured badly by Anduin.

Li Ming didn't care and walked towards the base. Ulrich had already informed Anduin.

In the lounge, Anduin was already waiting here, tapping the armrest slowly. Lux stood behind him with her head lowered.

Click--
The door opened automatically and Li Ming walked in. He immediately felt Anduin's scrutinizing gaze.

He was prepared that Anduin would not be able to detect the surge in development progress unless he specifically investigated.

"You're back." Anduin smiled and greeted him like a familiar elder.

"Thank you for guarding the Mechanical Royal Court." Li Ming nodded. On the way back, he learned from Ulrich's report that an X-level life form had been captured.

"If I really want to thank you, I'm curious why the Empire cares so much about that kid." Anduin pointed casually, and Robin, who was standing in the corner, trembled.

I don’t know what’s up with this damn old man, but ever since he captured that X-level life form, he has been keeping him by his side.

Although he was not forced to do anything, the pressure was too great and Robin felt like he had a nervous breakdown.

"Are you scolding me again?" Anduin glanced at him indifferently.

Robin subconsciously tensed his body. Before he could say anything, he heard Li Ming say, "Sir Anduin, if Robin has been rude in any way, I apologize to you on his behalf."

Robin was stunned and looked at Li Ming blankly. For a moment, he felt like tears welling up in his eyes.

Brother, you are my dear brother!

Anduin looked at him and for some reason, he felt that Li Ming was a little different.

He shook his head and laughed, "I won't do anything to him. Your teacher should come back too."

I'm just too lazy to talk to him anymore.

"Well, you guys chat first, I'll go out first." Robin hurriedly said goodbye following Li Ming's gaze.

After the door of the room was automatically locked, the tank guard possessed him, and the Azure Dragon slid online and made a dull voice: "Anduin." Lux couldn't help but look up, and there was a hint of scrutiny in her amber eyes, but she quickly lowered her head.

"It seems like you have gained a lot this time, and you didn't even have time to see me." Anduin stood up and said with a smile.

Li Ming shook his head and motioned Anduin to take a seat. The two sat down together, and he said, "Something unexpected happened, and I need to deal with some urgent matters, so I didn't have time to meet you. I hope you can forgive me."

"Oh..." Anduin's eyes flickered slightly, but he didn't ask any more questions. He casually took out a crystal ball from somewhere, which was filled with mist and he could faintly hear the sound of roaring.

He said meaningfully, "Your Excellency has a lot of talented people under your command. At first I thought these people didn't know about Li Ming's departure and were coming for him. But it turns out that they were coming for that kid named Robin."

"His development potential is actually level 43. If nothing unexpected happens, this is another level X evolution."

Andoyin couldn't figure out where Qinglong got these talents from.

Needless to say, Li Ming must be hiding a huge secret, but this Robin is not simple either.

Even in the Black Hole Hall, with the Black Hole Network as its medium, and with talents everywhere, few can reach the level of Robin.

More importantly, if we only rely on developing potential, it would never be so coveted by the empire.

He studied it openly and secretly for several days but found no clues. The only thing left was to search the memory, but searching the memory would definitely offend Qinglong.

"Do you really want to know?" Li Ming asked back. This caught Anduin off guard. After hesitating for a moment, he shook his head and said, "Forget it. I'm afraid I can't help it."

He was also afraid that Qinglong would deceive him.

Li Ming looked at the crystal ball in front of him, "This is the Scarlet Wolf."

"The Empire's highly genetically evolved form." Anduin explained, "It comes from a certain tribe of orcs and was incorporated into the Empire thousands of years ago."

At this point, he reluctantly explained: "I know he is a trouble, but this guy has come to my house, and I can only trap him. It is definitely not intentional."

What does that mean? Li Ming was stunned. Anduin apologized to him for catching the Scarlet Wolf?
That’s not right, shouldn’t this guy ask for benefits?

Li Ming couldn't help but wonder, and Anduin continued, "You should have the contact information of the Empire. They will probably give you 500 million or 600 million star coins."

"Five or six hundred million star coins?" Li Ming was surprised: "This redemption price is too low."

Qinglong doesn’t know the unspoken rules?

Anduin was quite surprised and couldn't help but smile bitterly: "There is no redemption price for X-level life forms. If you don't want to break up with the Empire, you have no choice but to let it go."

Li Ming immediately understood that it was because of the majesty of the empire.

Although the other party took action first, the Empire doesn't care. Every X-level life form is important and a powerful weapon.

If you catch him and really dare to kill him, there will be a lot of X-level life forms waiting to come to you.

But the offended party is obviously unwilling to release the person directly, so there is a symbolic redemption price.

No matter how unwilling you are, you have to swallow the bitter fruit.

This is also the reason why Anduin and others want to vigorously promote the joint organization of higher life forms.

They are already almost at the top of the food chain, so naturally they don't want to be suppressed by the three major civilizations.

At the same time, this is also an important reason why the three major civilizations are able to gather most of the X-level life forms.

Although the United Organization of Higher Life Forms has been established, it is still just an empty shell in the short term and is far from being able to compete.

"I understand." Li Ming nodded thoughtfully and said, "Then please let him out, Your Excellency."

"It will be difficult to deal with them if we let them out." Anduin shook his head and picked up the crystal ball. Without him making any movement, the crystal ball suddenly grew larger, covering the two of them.

This Anduin... is really not simple.

Li Ming was secretly surprised that the combat capability of this special evolutionary system was difficult to estimate directly.

Ivan was almost exhausted. Not only did this space seem to have no end, but it also drained his strength all the time. He could only roar from time to time.

"Qinglong...you..."

Ivan paused halfway through his words, and saw a figure suddenly appear in front of him, a majestic light golden mecha.

He had seen its pictures and videos, and was very familiar with it.

"Qinglong, it's really you." Ivan's face changed slightly and his voice quickly dropped.

He couldn't see Anduin?
This guy is really cautious. Li Ming glanced at Anduin who was standing next to him.

It is also understandable that Anduin only came to help and did not want to get involved.

Anduin remained silent. Ivan would definitely be let go, and he didn't want to get into trouble.

"Sir Ivan." Li Ming walked forward, grabbed the scarlet wolf, and began to absorb the genetic essence without any hesitation.

"What... are you doing?" Ivan looked fierce but was actually timid. When he found out that Qinglong just pulled him up and didn't take any further action, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

After all, he is a member of the empire. Qinglong can torture him a little, but he can't really do anything to him.

"I would like to ask, what do you want to do?" Li Ming chattered casually, simply buying time for him to absorb the gene source.

"I admit that I am not as skilled as you." Ivan straightened his body and said in a deep voice, "But you will never get any useful information from me."

Seeing this, Anduin's face turned cold and he felt annoyed, but he sighed.

Ivan's first X-level gene seed has not yet been fully developed, and its combat capability level does not exceed 200X.

Qinglong could crush him to death with just one finger, yet he was pretending to be strong.

He simply relied on the empire's support and was sure that these people would not dare to kill him.

"It seems that you are still a tough guy." Li Ming's voice showed no emotion, he was just conducting a routine interrogation.

He already knew exactly who the instigator was and what the purpose was.

Ivan was really getting impatient with the questions. Everyone knew the unspoken rules of the interstellar world. If Qinglong was really unhappy, the worst that could happen was that he beat him up and then threw him back to the empire.

There's no point talking about this now. He definitely won't be able to reveal who the mastermind behind this is.

Since I don't dare to really kill him, why bother pretending to interrogate him?

Thinking of this, he could not help but snort coldly: "Your Excellency, don't ask any more questions. You can kill me or chop me up as you wish. I will not answer any questions."

Anduin's expression became even uglier. This was clearly a squeeze.

Even if Qinglong wasn't angry, he would be angry.

After this matter is over, or when the united organization of higher life forms gradually grows stronger, he will definitely instigate Qinglong to settle accounts with this person.

It is difficult to kill him now because the empire knows that this person has fallen into Qinglong's hands.

After a dozen years, who will still remember this?

(End of this chapter)