This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 556: The Deterrent Power of the Empire
This time, Li Ming felt the deterrent power of the empire more intuitively.

The number of X-level members in the United Organization of Higher Life Forms far exceeds that of the Empire.

Even if it was due to the inertia of past fear, they wouldn't be so scared as to hold a party in secret.

But just five days later, Li Ming realized that his ideas were still too conservative.

According to the anonymous channel sent through the black hole network, Li Ming accessed the virtual conference space that was only accessible by invitation.

The bright blue rays quickly constructed the surrounding scenes, but to Li Ming's surprise, the other virtual projections swayed like ink dropped into turbid water.

When he focused his observation, it became increasingly blurry and unclear.

Everyone arrived in the form of hidden projections.

He was speechless immediately. Was he really that scared?
And when he descended, everyone's eyes turned to him, because he was the only one who descended as a projection of his true body.

"True face?" Anduin sent a message secretly, "It's hard to say with your true face."

It was quiet all around, but Li Ming seemed to be able to see the strange looks behind these hidden projections.

"What a wrong decision..." Li Ming was speechless. He only encrypted the channel and didn't care about the problem of mimicry projection.

He was not interested in being the maverick. He glanced around and found that there were only about thirty figures arriving at the moment, so he simply logged off.

After completing the virtual disguise, he waited nearly half an hour before coming online again.

Most of the people have basically arrived, probably just a few more. Some are whispering and discussing him.

"… Really? Lord Qinglong just descended in his true form? So powerful?"

"It's not like we haven't fought the Empire before, so we're not afraid."

"It's not a question of whether or not to be afraid. We have to be careful. Besides, the situation inside the Red River Star Stream is special. It's hard to say for sure this time."

"Keep your voice down, he might have come again."

"I didn't say anything. Besides, this is a hidden projection. Do you know who I am? I might be Qinglong."

"..."

Li Ming didn't mind this. He looked around and decided to stay where he was!

After waiting for a while, two or three figures came online, and then someone spoke. The voice was processed, and the tone and manner of speech were unrecognizable. "After removing those official x-level life forms, the number is almost enough."

Someone immediately said, "Don't talk nonsense. Everyone is hiding their identities. How can we talk about the matter of the Star of Eternal Silence?"

"Need I say more? We have to rob it. It's a powerful weapon left over from the Terrax era. The reason why the empire became an empire is closely related to it."

"That's right. We must grab this kind of good stuff. With so many of us combined, the Empire can't do anything about it. As long as we grab the stuff, we can immediately become the strongest group of people in the galaxy."

"Who is this idiot? You haven't even got the stuff yet, and you're already discussing how to use it."

Concealing their identities from each other, this group of people spoke without restraint.

"Everyone seems to be very excited. This is about the lifeblood of the empire. It's not that easy to get the Star of Eternal Silence. We must fight for our lives. I wouldn't be surprised if dozens of X-level life forms died."

I don't know who said this, but the surroundings suddenly became quiet.

"If you are scared, you can leave now."

No one went offline. For them, there was almost no chance of a fish leap. Even though the chance of getting the Star of Eternal Annihilation was slim, they had to give it a try.

After a moment of silence, someone said calmly, "It's impossible to get it easily without paying the price of life, but we have to go."

"But where should we go? The deep dimension world is huge, and we can't just look for a needle in a haystack."

"I have news. In addition to the Empire, there is another organization active in the deep dimensional world."

Suddenly someone spoke, and the noisy voices around suddenly quieted down.

Everyone had different thoughts, but they all realized that it must be a big shot in the board of directors who spoke up, and it would be difficult for others to have such a channel.

Li Ming's eyes moved slightly, and he couldn't help but look at the figure who was speaking.

Gust? Or Anatoly?

Now, he realized the difficulty of hiding his identity.

Although there are not many suspects, suspicion is still suspicion.

"Pioneer..." the figure continued, and the surrounding voices became noisy again.

Someone has already remembered this organization, which cut a piece of flesh from the empire several years ago.

"So it was them. I thought they were secretly eliminated by the Empire, but I didn't expect them to do something big and actually compete with the Empire for the Star of Eternal Silence."

"According to their information, the Star of Eternal Silence is now only one step away from being found." The guy said one more sentence.

After a brief silence, the atmosphere on the scene became more intense.

"It's only one step away, so hurry up and don't let them get there first."

"It's too late to smell anything."

"It's not that simple. If we really want to get it soon, the other party will not contact this unknown big shot."

"I remember that according to rumors, His Excellency Qinglong seems to be a member of the pioneers."

"..."

"Tsk...those Pioneers are not honest either." Li Ming pondered, wondering who was contacting this group of people.

Immediately afterwards, the person who spoke suddenly stretched out an arm with five fingers of uneven length, and a ball of data light emerged from it.

As he shook his hand, the data ball quickly spread in front of everyone as if it was copied and pasted.

"This is the coordinates of where the Star of Eternal Silence appeared last time."

There was silence again, and everyone was analyzing the situation quickly, including Li Ming.

After analyzing it, he compared it and found that, as expected, --
These are the coordinates of the first time-space riot. The pioneers and the empire have long since moved away from that area.

Li Ming realized that this guy was holding back, or that this place was just a gathering place. If he followed him, it wouldn't take too long.

"We have the coordinates. Although I don't know who you are, you are really amazing." Someone laughed and said, "So what are we waiting for? Let's meet at this coordinate point in half a month, how about that?"

There was a sneer immediately: "Half a month later? Believe it or not, someone will go there immediately after it goes offline. Besides, the punctuation here is probably not very detailed."

No one refuted him.

Li Ming watched coldly, hoping that this gang of foxes could really work together, which would be no less than becoming the ultimate life forms.

They are just pretending to be a united organization of higher life forms to fight against the empire, but when it comes to real action, everyone ends up doing their own thing.

"Everyone, please do as you please. However, if we really have to face the empire's stranglehold in the end, I hope you will all work together."

"Of course." Everyone agreed. This was also the main purpose of this meeting, to build consensus.

The brevity of the entire meeting was far beyond Li Ming's expectations.

It took less than ten minutes in total to set the goal and reach consensus.

Even when the virtual projections around him disappeared, he was still sighing: "Take off the mask of hypocrisy, and the efficiency of action will be high."

And immediately, his old friend Anduin contacted him again, with suppressed excitement in his eyes, and asked him when he would set off.

"I'm not sure yet..." Li Ming rubbed his chin. He had the latest coordinates and didn't need to waste extra time looking for them.

At the same time, Chlonoa hadn't figured out how to deal with the situation yet, so he couldn't leave.

"That's right..." Anduin's excited expression eased, "The environment in the deep dimensional world is even worse, and it's not suitable for large-scale combat of mechanical bodies..."

He thought Qinglong was hesitating about his combat strength.

Currently, the interstellar world has reached a consensus that Qinglong's powerful strength comes from his Mechanical Holy Spirit.

However, cluster combat of mechanical bodies is subject to great environmental constraints. In some extremely harsh places, the mechanical bodies will suffer heavy losses before the battle even begins.

Like the Red River Star Stream, like a deep dimensional world.

Moreover, it is inconvenient to move with so many mechanical bodies. Once something goes wrong in the deep dimensional world like the Hammer Master, it would not be worth it.

Li Ming narrowed his eyes slightly and did not explain.

"I guess the Empire already knows our plan. I wonder how they will respond. I'm really eager to try." Anduin is already gearing up for a fight. This time he will face the Empire head-on.

He was not naive enough to think that so many people who had just attended the meeting could keep the secret. Someone must have leaked the news, or even more than one person.

And this is part of the pressure exerted by the Star Alliance. Every step taken by this group of X-level life forms will be known to the Empire.

But it is precisely because of this understanding that we feel a sense of urgency.

"I also want to know how the empire should respond." Li Ming was also curious about this.

He didn't underestimate Adam at all and didn't think that he would surrender.

Anduin sighed: "I hope the Empire can hold out longer this time and not succumb to the Covenant so easily."

If the Empire does not surrender, the Covenant will not express its position. The three major civilizations are not related, so they have room to maneuver.

Anduin originally wanted to invite Qinglong to go with him, but after finding out that Qinglong had no intention of going, he chatted with him for a few words and then went offline, apparently to go and make preparations.

Li Ming’s pensive face was reflected on the extinguished virtual screen.

Adam, how are you going to break this situation?
.........

In the deep dimensional world, the Wandering Legion, the prison ship of the 13th Squadron.

Boom!Boom!Boom!
The dull thud of combat boots hitting the metal floor echoed in the corridor.

The burly figure walking in the front was much larger than the soldiers behind him.

A guy with disheveled hair and a bloody face was detained in the middle and dragged forward by soldiers on both sides.

When they arrived at the room at the end of the corridor, it seemed that someone had been waiting there. He was not wearing a combat mecha, but his uniform was neat. He jokingly said, "Joseph, why are you on the mission again?"

"I caught this guy, so naturally I have to catch him again." Joseph pushed open the black metal door, turned around, and grabbed the detained figure with a metal hand, and said in a deep voice:
"You are quite capable to have escaped three times in a row. I am very curious about how you managed to escape."

Zoro raised his head with difficulty, grinning to reveal the bloody gap between his teeth, then he tried his best to spit out a mouthful of blood foam, which fell on the shell of the mecha in front of him.

"Okay." The pupils on Joseph's visor lit up, and he threw Zorro into the room.

The metal walls in the room spit out liquid metal, which instantly wrapped around his limbs and condensed into barbed shackles. Countless metal hairs grew on the inner walls, contracting in sync with the rhythm of his pulse.

Once it exceeds the normal rules, it will be locked immediately.

The purple-black light hanging from the ceiling was casting a shadow on the left side of Zorro's cheek.

The genetic lock on his neck ring suddenly became hot, and under his skin, he felt a pain like being bitten by millions of ants.

This was the prison's bait for his abilities, triggering neural signals whenever his cells tried to break out.

“…In these three prison escapes, each time he perfectly avoided the patrolling soldiers and escaped the surveillance equipment. It’s really unbelievable…” the man standing next to Joseph outside the door exclaimed.

"I have already reported that the group of lunatics at the Imperial Academy of Sciences are very interested in him."

While he was speaking, the imprisonment measures had been completed and a large amount of unknown drugs had been injected. Zoro was already extremely weak, and now he couldn't even walk.

"This is a confinement measure for Class A life forms. You should feel honored." Joseph said indifferently. He had Zorro carried and taken to the depths of the prison.

Buzz--
The door of the prison cabin was opened, revealing translucent single cells, with almost one resident in each cell.

There are special mechanical rings on their wrists and ankles to limit their abilities.

The guys who were originally lying on the metal floor, either sleeping or chatting with their cellmates, stopped what they were doing when they heard the noise.

The red-skinned people who were lying down and sleeping turned over and approached the electrified fence cautiously.

They looked towards the gate, with no fear on their faces, but rather an uneasy anticipation, uneasiness and excitement.

"It's Zorro again, he's been caught!" The person closest to the cell door suddenly shouted, and the voice spread instantly.

After a brief silence, there was a burst of noise, some lamenting, some excited.

"Haha, I knew he couldn't get away. Old Bro, kneel down and kowtow."

"You idiot, I trusted you so much!"

"... "

Joseph suddenly stopped, raised his right arm, and tapped it a few times casually. There were crackling sounds of electric arcs, and the whole prison was filled with miserable wailing.

He threw Zoro into an empty cabin, and after standing still, he opened the armor on his left ribs. He took out the broken black communicator and said in a cold voice: "Last chance, who are you contacting?"

"Haha..." Zorro sneered. Seeing this, Joseph could not help but say coldly: "Scavenger, no one can save you, and no one dares to challenge the empire. Give up your unrealistic fantasies."

After Joseph left, there was some movement around. In the prison next to him, a short goblin gnashed his teeth and whispered:

"Zorro, Zorro, you bastard, that was my treasured old-fashioned communicator. I told you to hide it carefully. How come it was destroyed?"

"Don't worry...I'll pay you back tenfold when I get out." Zoro said in a low voice.

"Go out? You've gone out three times." The goblin jumped up and down anxiously. "You've looted all the good things on us. Didn't you say you could ask for help?"

"Of course, he is my life-long brother, he will definitely come to save me." Zorro responded unconsciously with a weak breath.

"Your brother!?" Everyone around was silent, their faces changed, and they cursed: "Didn't you say that you are the descendant of a powerful person?"

(End of this chapter)