This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 577: Open and covert fighting, the movements of all parties

"Mr. Qinglong..." Sheffield greeted him immediately, and his attitude was much more polite and respectful.

"Mr. Sheffield." Li Ming responded simply and got straight to the point. "How is the gene seed preparation going?"

Sheffield responded quickly: "Although it's slow, it's progressing. I have found alternatives for many materials. I estimate that in about a year, we should be able to enter the late modulation stage."

So fast... Li Ming was a little surprised. It seemed that he had made the right choice by finding Sheffield.

"Your skills are indeed superb. If you have any difficulties, please tell me in time." Li Ming hinted.

Sheffield was stunned for a moment, and after a little hesitation, he couldn't help but smile bitterly, "I just encountered a really weird thing. An old friend from the Empire contacted me and asked me to hand over the star beast that Your Excellency gave me."

Hand it over?
Li Ming felt a little cold in his heart, but his face was calm: "Oh? What did you say?"

Sheffield said solemnly: "Of course I sternly refused. The most important thing for doing business is reputation. If I do this, where will my reputation be?"

"Then, the other party retreated?" Li Ming asked back, feeling a little surprised.

"Seeing how determined I was, he just asked me to cancel the order, but I ignored him completely." Sheffield said sincerely: "Since I promised you, I will definitely do my best to complete it."

Li Ming's reaction was very calm and he breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems that the priority of this gene seed is indeed not high in the eyes of the three major civilizations. It just simply threatens Sheffield and there is no follow-up.

I just heard from Sheffield that the other party asked him to hand over the star beast. I thought the three major civilizations had found out something, but it seems that it was just a personal behavior.

It sounds simple to say the three major civilizations, but it is not a procedure. Once an order comes down from above and reaches the specific executor, there is a lot of room for maneuver.

Perhaps, the purpose of the three major civilizations is just to make Sheffield break away from him, which is expected.

The idea of ​​handing over the star beast was the idea of ​​the specific executors, who wanted to gain some benefits.

Otherwise, he would not have backed down easily after being rejected by Sheffield.

"Sir Sheffield, please put your own interests first. If anything goes wrong, just let me know. It's just an X-level gene seed. There's no rush." ​​He acted casually.

Sheffield was not surprised. It was just an X-level gene seed. It would be strange if Qinglong showed that he cared a lot about it.

After thinking about it, he also left himself a way out: "Please rest assured, if the pressure is really too great, I will make a decision, but in any case, your interests will not be harmed."

Li Ming nodded indifferently, reminded him to report the progress and then ended the communication.

The light of the projection capture device in front of him gradually went out. After finding out that the three major civilizations did not take this matter too seriously, Li Ming was temporarily relieved.

"But... Sheffield's attitude is quite firm..." He pondered, "Is it because of Klonoa's death?"

"I think this incident caused quite a stir, and the Higher Life Forms United Organization must have reacted as well."

This matter accounts for a large proportion in his best strategy.

The pressure from the three major civilizations was overwhelming. In the early stages, many higher life forms were forced to avoid it due to inertia.

The death of Klonoa can to a large extent alleviate the pressure that the three major civilizations bring to others.

A deep voice echoed in the room, "Gustav and Anatoly should not be fools, unless they really want to be dogs of the three major civilizations forever..."

.........

At the same time, a meeting was being held in the secret channel of the black hole network.

In the virtual conference room, there are blurry figures everywhere, and you can’t even see anyone’s face.

It was a secret gathering organized by a coalition of higher life forms.

But this time, Qinglong was not invited.

"…I have received information that the three major civilizations have already started to cooperate. Currently, many people have received warnings to sever ties with Azure Dragon…"

I don't know who was speaking, but the tone was calm, and someone responded immediately, "Isn't this expected? Cut off the tentacles to show your power..."

"What is the purpose of holding this meeting? Could it be that someone wants to support Qinglong?"

"So what if we provide support? The three great civilizations have been high and mighty for too long. Are we going to be bullied by them at will?"

"We are not interested in being cannon fodder for others." Someone responded indifferently, "We don't think Qinglong can lead us to victory."

"Perhaps there is a piece of news that some people don't know yet." Someone suddenly said calmly, "Klonoa is dead."

After the words were spoken, someone gasped and the entire virtual conference room fell into deathly silence.

After a long time, someone asked with difficulty: "Did Qinglong do it?"

"What else?" The man said, "This news is easy to verify."

"Qinglong, do you have the ability to kill the forbidden life form head-on?" Many people were puzzled. "Then do we still need to fear the three major civilizations?"

"Should you have used other means?"

"No matter what means are used, death is a fact."

In the virtual conference room, everyone started a lively discussion.

The man quickly said loudly: "The purpose of my sharing this news is mainly to tell you that the three major civilizations are indeed high and mighty, but our vice chairman is not simple either."

"Don't place your bets so early and so quickly."

"Fuck it, I've already had my company tear up the contract."

Someone sneered, "What an idiot! Now that the Higher Life Forms United Organization is out in the open, it has some power. It won't be a problem to do business with the Mechanical King Court. Are you really afraid that the three major civilizations will come to kill you?"

After being scolded, the guy who said he wanted to tear up the contract did not respond.

Some X-level life forms that had not yet torn up the contract were immediately overjoyed.

I'm still not used to the days of having the support of a united organization of higher life forms.

It may be difficult to work together on big issues right now, but if a business deal is threatened and there are guys with bad tempers, I’m afraid they won’t mind speaking up.

"I am prepared to provide some resource support to our vice president." Someone suddenly spoke up, "The large-scale warning issued by the three civilizations this time is largely due to the existence of the joint organization. They are afraid that we will unite and support Qinglong."

The noisy voices suddenly fell silent, but after a moment, they aroused a warm response.

Since Qinglong has shown his ability, they don't mind giving him some support to see how long he can last.

Once a clustering effect is formed, the fear of the three major civilizations in people's hearts will be greatly weakened.

"Alas...it's really troublesome to integrate these people."

After a moment, the virtual projection in front of him collapsed, and Anatoly stood up and sighed. Gust was still sitting in the chair, "It's good to be able to do this. If it weren't for Klonoa's death, it would still be difficult for these people to do anything."

"Klonoa..." Anatoly couldn't help showing a little shock on his face, "What a big surprise, but the three major civilizations don't seem to be disturbed by this news."

Gustave explained: "From what I heard, they seem to be convinced that Qinglong did not win head-on, but used other means."

"That's good..." Anatoly breathed a sigh of relief, but hesitated, "Then... Qinglong is still at a disadvantage?"

"It doesn't matter whether we are at a disadvantage or not." Gustave shook his head.

"We just want to use him to gather the consensus of the higher life forms and plant a seed to let them understand that if we unite, we can really fight against the three major civilizations. But this is a slow process."

"Hope..." Anatoly said two words, but paused.

He also didn't know whether to hope Qinglong would succeed or fail.

The interstellar space was still eerily quiet, but even ordinary life forms sensed something was amiss. Some hidden information was circulating in secret, such as "the three major civilizations are uniting" and "Blue Dragon...Holy Castle".

But they were all quickly blocked, and those who happened to learn about them were all dumbfounded.

However, the pressure that was overwhelming had undergone subtle changes. Many people came into contact with the Mechanical Court again to start new transactions.

However, even in this atmosphere of impending storm, time passed like a white horse, and in the blink of an eye, a month and a half had passed.

On this day, Li Ming was waiting early in the spaceship dock of the star's main base. Two transport spaceships of different shapes landed with tail flames, and the magnetic anchor chains pierced into the berths.

As the hatch opened, a mechanical body walked down and locked onto Li Ming: "Sir Li Ming, this is something sent by the Mechanical Soul (Creation) Master Craftsman."

Li Ming's gaze fell on the spaceship, and a hint of heat flashed across his eyes. He didn't say anything polite and immediately asked the people to unload.

The total amount in the neatly-arranged metal box was not large, but they were all extremely precious X-grade alloys, and were the strategic reserve resources of the two.

Half a month ago, part of the resources from the Holy Revolutionary Army arrived, providing him with a total of 2 billion metal energies.

Adding the accumulation during this period, the balance of metal energy has reached 6 billion. If this large batch is absorbed, I wonder if it can reach 20 billion.

Li Ming was thinking, but Ulrich came over in a hurry, with a strange look on his face. He came up and reported in a low voice: "... We received another communication letter from a company. They are willing to provide a 50 billion interest-free loan..."

"It's an interest-free loan again. Since they are willing to give it, just take it first." Li Ming said indifferently.

Ulrich nodded, wanting to say something but stopping himself. He originally thought that the Mechanical King's Court would be deserted by its friends and relatives.

As a result, the trough seemed to last just over a month.

Not long after Li Ming came back, the company that had previously responded coldly changed its face and approached him eagerly, even willing to provide generous interest-free loans and new order contracts.

This really confused Ulrich.

Li Ming knew in his heart that Anduin had already told him about the anonymous meeting a month and a half ago, which was probably the work of Gustav and Anatoly.

The death of Chlonoa was equivalent to tearing a crack in the shadow of the three major civilizations, and many people wanted to bet on both sides.

During this period, the scattered interest-free loans amounted to nearly 400 billion star coins. Li Ming took a part of it to purchase alloy resources.

It is worth mentioning that the alloy resources he purchased from several channels were also slightly cheaper.

Li Ming followed this batch of resources all the way back to the Heavenly Palace. After letting the transporting mechanical body leave, he couldn't wait to open the box.

The dazzling array of colorful lights made it difficult for him to open his eyes, and he immediately began to absorb the metal energy skillfully.

Although it contained a lot of metal energy, it didn't take too much time because it was an extremely cutting-edge alloy.

However, in just one day, his metal energy balance reached a terrifying 18 billion.

Li Ming's throat rolled, unfortunately he had not yet found the auxiliary materials that could be promoted to the ultimate control object.

Without even a clue on this front, he could only speculate based on the resources needed for the previous promotions, from Dimensional Crystals to World Blood.

Basically, you are dealing with the dimensional world if you want to upgrade to the ultimate control object.

What might be needed is a higher-level material of the World Blood - World Essence.

According to the Supervisor, this thing is the main material for advancement to the Overlord Titan, and it can only be born in an Overlord-level dimensional world.

But in the current deep dimension, he had never heard of the birth of a dimensional world of this level.

There will always be a way out when you reach the mountain... Li Ming suppressed his thoughts and pulled out the Star of Eternal Silence in his body.

After clenching his fist, tremendous metal energy surged out. In just a moment, hundreds of billions of metal energy disappeared without a trace.

In the control column, two almost identical fragments were shining brightly.

He exhaled slowly, feeling a long-lost pain in his flesh, but soon began to try to control the difference.

A layer of fuzzy space-time distortion area covers the surface of his body. This is [Regional Time Regulation], which is extremely fine, like a mimic skin.

Before he gained control, he was far from being able to be so precise. This has many benefits, and reducing losses is one of them.

He tried to slow down the flow of time, but suddenly he felt his body go weak and his strength drained away like a flood.

Then everything around entered a special slowed-down state. The running track of the track cutting machine in the distance was clearly discernible, and one could see the changes when each thin alloy slice cut through the light.

"Sure enough, it still needs to be under control..." Li Ming couldn't help but sigh. This level of precision in control is far beyond what can be achieved through normal use.

He can even use this difference in time flow to fight.

However, when he tried to activate the power of another fragment, he found that the flow rate of time and space could not be superimposed and was still 1:2.

"Only by combining them can the ability become stronger." Li Ming stretched out his hand, and two pieces of metal energy fragments appeared in his palm.

This time, he received completely different information.

"It takes 10 billion metal energies to bridge the gap..." Li Ming raised his eyebrows slightly, and couldn't help sighing. It's great to be rich and powerful. 10 billion metal energies can be described as "talent".

"However, why is there no indication of the metal energy required to fully restore the device?"

He muttered something and began to patch up the fragments.

As the metal energy surged out, the two fragments in his hands trembled, and streams of bright blue light surged out, weaving overlapping Ouroboros rings in the gaps between the fragments.

It then transformed into liquid threads to repair another piece of debris. Each thread of light split into more at the moment of contact, gradually pulling the two fragments together.

The moment the two pieces came together, a faint blue arc burst out, melting along the wrinkles of space and time at the cracks in the fragments, and soon they came together.

(End of this chapter)