This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 527 "Social Butterfly"

Anatoly continued: "His activities are quite far from me, and I don't know much about him."

"But based on the information we know from various sources, he poses the greatest threat, both to you and to me."

His evolutionary path is special, and reputation plays a more important role to him. He spends so much energy and effort not just for power.

Anatoly smiled. "Compared to an unfamiliar Qinglong, I prefer to cooperate with you. We have already taken the initiative, and I believe Qinglong will not forget this matter."

Gustav remained silent, his mind churning, but he shook his head: "It's not a fight to the death yet. Even though we made a wrong estimate, it doesn't mean we can't ease the situation."

"Of course..." Anatoly nodded. "At our level, it's very difficult to really kill him. We can only suppress him temporarily."

"But..." He changed the subject, "Qinglong has a good relationship with the Empire and the Federation. What happened in the Red River Star Stream probably tied them together."

"With the Empire and the Federation, our situation...is not good."

Gustav naturally understood this. Only Qinglong himself was fine, but the Red River Star Stream incident was involved.

If you are not careful, there is a possibility that you will be attacked from behind.

Gustav didn't think too long before analyzing the pros and cons. He glanced at Anatoly and asked, "How did Qinglong know the coordinates of this place?"

Anatoly couldn't help but smile and explained immediately:
"The first person to discover these coordinates was the Star Alliance. Qinglong probably got them from the Star Alliance. It was probably because his students were attacked some time ago."

"The Covenant suffered a loss in this matter and had to pay something to appease him."

"The Star Alliance took action, most likely because of the Red River Star Stream." Gustav immediately connected the dots, "Among the three great master craftsmen, Azure Dragon's apparent strength is the weakest, so they took action and ended up in trouble."

Now these are all hindsight. If they had known the news earlier, they would not have acted so easily against Qinglong.

"What do you want to know?" Gustave thought for a moment and looked at Anatoly.

Anatoly immediately said: "The origin of Azure Dragon and the general information of Red River Star Stream."

"Qinglong's origins..." Gustav frowned slightly, "I don't know his specific origins either."

"He first appeared in the Land of Stars. His student Li Ming was suspected of killing Prince Ixus of the Itlan civilization..."

“…On the way, they attacked and killed Duke Bai Ye of the Sera civilization and stole their spaceship.”

"And when the spaceship set foot on the land of stars, Li Ming disappeared and Qinglong appeared."

These messages may seem ordinary, but in fact they are all information that is almost impossible to find on the surface. There is no paper information for various details, and even Anatoly cannot find them.

"…This is the first time that Azure Dragon has appeared. It doesn't seem very strong on the surface. It has been hiding for a long time under the control of the collector, Ulrich…"

"... Later, it got involved with the regional resistance organization Torch..." Gustav roughly narrated the clues of Qinglong's "rise".

"Is that all?" Anatoly couldn't help but frown after hearing this. Although these were all confidential information, when taken together, they were of no use.

The origins of Qinglong remain unknown.

"What else?" Gustav said calmly, "Qinglong's methods are not comparable to those of any higher life forms in the galaxy. It just has a higher similarity to the long-dead Forging Master."

"Forging Hammer..." Anatoly shook his head. Ever since the last setback of the Imperial Federation, rumors have been circulating within the Mechanics Association that Qinglong is the Forging Hammer, and they listed many clues.

But this groundless speculation is not supported by any evidence.

"The Black Hole Network knows much more than this," Anatoly emphasized.

"You also know it's the Black Hole Network, not me." Gustav frowned, "The Black Hole Network will not tell me anything that belongs to the user's privacy."

"User privacy?" Anatoly laughed. "Black Hole Network talks about user privacy?"

The credibility of the black hole network is indeed very high, but when higher life forms reach a certain level, they will build their own communication channels.

They firmly believed that the black hole network could not betray any information about A-level and S-level life forms, but it was hard to say about X-level life forms.

"Gustav, you really don't know?" Anatoly asked, "Doesn't Qinglong have a Black Hole Network account? Hasn't the Black Hole Network tried to locate him?"

Gustav still shook his head, "I've already told you everything I can tell you. Although I can communicate with the Black Hole Network, it won't listen to me."

"Of course I know..." Anatoly smiled, and did not continue to bother Qinglong, but asked, "What about the Red River Star Stream incident? How big is it?"

"This matter..." Gustav exhaled, "Since the Empire and the Federation flowed out of the Red River Star, the Dean of the Royal Academy of Sciences Raphael disappeared, and the Federation's lifelong consultant Granger disappeared."

"…Three months later, the Empire and the Federation allocated at least one trillion star coins of various resources, and several experts in genetic evolution disappeared…"

"The Black Hole Network speculates that what happened in the Red River Star Stream must involve major interstellar changes. There is a 70% probability that it may be related to the ultimate life form..."

No matter how secretive the actions of the Empire and the Federation are, some resources will not disappear for no reason. By combining the data and information and seeing the big picture from the small, we can roughly estimate something.

"The ultimate life form..." Anatoly's expression also became solemn. "Once the ultimate life form is born from either the Empire or the Federation, it will immediately reshape the rules of the galaxy."

Gustav sighed, "At present, the only people who know about this matter, besides the Empire and the Federation, are the three great masters. Azure Dragon is not easy to mess with, and Reynolds and Mikhail are not vegetarians either. There has been no news from them recently..."

Anatoly frowned. "One move can affect the entire body. The Empire and the Federation will certainly do their best to prevent this news from being leaked prematurely."

Suddenly, he seemed to remember something. "Since this matter is so secretive, why did the Empire and the Federation allow the three of them to be safe and sound?"

“Who resisted this pressure?”

Although Anatoly was asking, he actually already had the answer in his heart.

"Qinglong again..." Anatoly stroked his wine glass, also feeling that this was a difficult situation. "It would be difficult for us to figure this out on our own. We need to find another ally."

"You want to find the Star Alliance?" Gustav frowned slightly.

"This is our only choice and a natural ally." Anatoly said in a deep voice, then sighed, "It's a pity, if we haven't reached an agreement yet, we don't have to let Li Ming go, an S-level life form."

Gustav shook his head: "It's not time to fall out yet. No one wants to light this fuse."

.........

For the next period of time, Li Ming lived a fulfilling life. He turned into a socialite and visited all the remaining X-level life forms one after another.

As the top of the interstellar food chain, they have huge industries under their control and are the overlords of one area.

Having been forced to attack Qinglong before, he naturally felt guilty and could not refuse Li Ming's request. He could only grit his teeth and cut his flesh and bleed.

With their help and the channels of the Mechanics Association, the development of the Mechanical Court will remain rapid for a long time to come.

So, three months later, when they arrived at the Desolate Anchor Stargate node from the Desolate Channel, Ford was stunned.

People were constantly moving around in Augustus' conference room.

The people belonging to the Mechanical Royal Court sat on one side with numb expressions, while the people on the other side kept changing and signing a large number of contracts.

Industrial land leasing, low-interest loans, tax incentives, price discounts, etc.

Ford's throat rolled, and it took him a long time to react. He quietly pulled Li Ming's clothes and whispered: "These guys took the wrong medicine. They dare to sign such a big discount?"

He was really confused. Li Ming had not told him explicitly before that he would no longer go to the Dusk Banquet, so in the past six months, he was still studying the matter of the Dusk Banquet.

Considering the behaviors and industries of the X-level life forms present, he originally estimated that no more than five companies would be able to reach cooperation, and various negotiations would be required.

But the current scene was beyond his imagination, not to mention those forces that had no overlap with the Mechanical Royal Court's industries.

Even if there were forces with overlapping industries, he still cut out a piece of meat for them to eat. He was really a good person.

"Maybe I really took the wrong medicine." Li Ming shook his head. Ford stayed to continue to look at the contract, and he walked out of the meeting room.

At the entrance of the banquet hall, Robin lowered his head and shivered. In the short five or six minutes just now, he saw more than a dozen X-level life forms.

Each one of them frightened him, because that was the difference in life levels, just like a mouse seeing a cat, his body reacted instinctively and he couldn't stop it.

He now deeply regretted following Ford here.

"Boss, you are finally here."

When Robin saw Li Ming, he rushed over as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw, but he shut his mouth before he could say a few words.

Anatoly came over, and the reputation of this twilight hermit was now quite big.

Robin didn't even dare to look at it out of the corner of his eye. During the six months they had been in Desolate Anchor, news about the Dusk Banquet had been endless.

This is a true top interstellar boss, even more powerful than those just mentioned.

"Are you leaving?" Anatoly asked kindly.

"Well, thank you for your care these days." Li Ming nodded.

"It's my duty." Anatoly said calmly, "By the way, I heard that you were discussing business. I have some connections in the Federation and have already made the contact. You can just send someone to connect with me."

"Excuse me, sir." Li Ming accepted everyone who came. As long as Qinglong could withstand it, there would be no problem.

Anatoly smiled, but his eyes became more profound.

About two months ago, they were on their way back from the Deserted Channel.

The Star Alliance suddenly announced the cessation of sanctions against the Mechanics Guild, causing quite a stir.

At this point, the multiple rounds of sanctions launched by the three major civilizations against the Mechanics Association have all ended.

Although more than half a year has passed since Li Ming was kidnapped, many people still link this incident to the previous one, believing that it was Qinglong's doing.

But in Anatoly's opinion, it is much more than that.

In order to appease Qinglong, the Star Alliance not only gave up the coordinates, but also stopped attacking the Mechanics Association.

This deal was beyond Anatoly's expectations. The price was too high, and he became more wary of Qinglong.

"Where's your teacher?" Gustav also came over and glanced at Robin, who looked ordinary in a tailor-made black suit. "Still can't get in touch with him?"

Robin's breathing stagnated. He was the chairman of the United Organization of Higher Life Forms, the founder of the Black Hole Hall, and he was also a member of the Black Hole Hall.

"I still can't get in touch with you for now." Li Ming said apologetically, "My teacher disappears all the time. I'm really sorry. I can pass on whatever you two have to say."

"Nothing, just asking." Gustave shook his head, thinking that Qinglong simply didn't want to bother with them.

The contract was almost signed soon. Li Ming took his people, said goodbye to them, and left Augustus.

Outside the Anchor of Desolation stargate node, a large number of scavenging spaceships were trembling. Many people have recognized that in this huge fleet before them, there are many strangely shaped spaceships that are all vehicles for X-level life forms.

Anatoly looked at Li Ming and others leaving the window and whispered, "What's going on with the Star Alliance?"

Gustav's eyes flickered. "I only know that they spent a lot of energy, seemingly searching for someone, and several battles broke out as a result."

"Who?" Anatole asked impatiently.

After the cooperation was reached that day, they contacted Gutierrez.

However, contrary to their expectations, Gutierrez, although somewhat interested in their olive branch, was not that great.

He only promised to help each other and provide some assistance in the expansion of the United Organization of Higher Life Forms. He did not seem to be anxious about the Red River Star Stream.

This made the two of them realize that something was wrong. They thought that the attitude of the Star Alliance should not be so indifferent, so they mobilized their own connections to investigate the secrets behind it.

Gustav said in a deep voice: "I don't know, I only know that there is a codename called Alchemist Baron. It seems that it was this person who assisted Ryan in the interstellar massacre."

"When did you start investigating?" Anatoly asked, "Was it after Li Ming was kidnapped?"

"Almost." Gustave nodded.

Anatoly was thoughtful. "That makes sense. Perhaps it was Azure Dragon who revealed this name to them. But what is the relationship between this Alchemist Baron and the secrets of the Red River Star Stream?"

"I don't know..." Gustave explained, "But this person is not simple. He has been hiding in the Sea of ​​Stars for many years, and the Star Alliance still has no specific clues."

"At least we have a clue, which is better than being clueless." Anatoly couldn't help but say, "Let's investigate this guy."

……

"How did you run into them?"

Back on the spaceship, Robin couldn't help but ask, "It was rumored a while ago that everyone who attended the Dusk Banquet disappeared. It caused a lot of uproar and sparked a lot of speculation."

"We met by chance." Li Ming casually flipped through the smart terminal. Ford was sorting out the materials. Hearing this, he couldn't help but ask, "Shall we go back to the Mechanical King's Court now?"

"Yeah." Li Ming nodded, his expression changed slightly, and he looked at the virtual screen: "New civilization?"

(End of this chapter)