This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 602 Deserter
Anduin and the others quickly agreed on the meeting place and sent him the coordinates.

"Lanka... is quite far away..." Li Ming pulled out the star map and found that it was at least ten days' voyage from the Chaos Center, and the star gate node could not be reached directly.

"It won't be long." After calculating the time briefly, he prepared to set off.

Before leaving, he took advantage of the situation to absorb all the metal materials stored in the Mechanical Royal Court.

Affected by the external situation, the Mechanical King's base in the chaotic star gap was greatly affected.

Business volume is less than one-tenth of the original, and more than 60% to 70% of life forms have almost escaped from the chaotic star gap during this period of time.

Therefore, the accumulated metal energy is less, only about 600 million, and the overall balance is still 13.5 billion.

"After this, the Mechanical Royal Court...will blossom everywhere."

Li Ming walked out of the warehouse and headed straight to the spaceship dock. Ulrich had already prepared the spaceship.

The worry on his face was almost unsuppressible, and the outside world was in an uproar.

The three major civilizations have not carried out joint operations for a long time, and the attention of the entire interstellar space is almost all focused here.

The sailing video of the coalition fleet of the three major civilizations has been captured more than once. It is endless, like a long river of steel, full of oppression.

And some information from the meeting of the joint organization of higher life forms has also leaked to the outside world.

Under the impetus of some people, various analytical videos have emerged one after another, with only one theme--
Qinglong has been abandoned by the United Organization of Higher Life Forms and there is no room for maneuver.

The voices of pessimism are rising one after another.

"You..." He hesitated, not knowing what Li Ming was going to do. In the end, he just said, "Be careful on your way."

He did not doubt that Li Ming was planning to run away. The group of people that Li Ming had asked him to pick up were still in the Mechanical Royal Court. If he really wanted to run away, he would definitely take this group of people with him.

"Don't worry." Li Ming left only two words and boarded the spaceship. The propulsion engine spewed out red energy fluid and headed straight for the star gate node.

Inside the spaceship, Li Ming casually swiped the smart terminal. The interstellar network was now full of evil spirits.

The three major civilizations want to regain the face they lost in the last challenge for the board seat from the chaotic star gap and prove that they are still powerful.

Therefore, under deliberate guidance, some horrific and terrible deeds spread every once in a while, such as "raising female life forms" and "imprisonment and killing" incidents.

And vaguely directed the blame on Qinglong, accusing him of being the vice-chairman of the United Organization of Higher Life Forms and setting up a base in the chaotic star gap and leaving it alone.

While catching people's attention with pornography, violence and bloodiness and enhancing the "justice" of the coalition, the popularity of the Chaos Star Gap has never decreased, attracting the attention of various civilizations and countless life forms.

However, some people are naturally dissatisfied with this kind of dirty water throwing behavior, especially the "Chief Dragon Fan" who has accumulated a large number of fans, as well as some enemies of the three major civilizations, who have been refuting the rumors.

Amidst such chaos, the coalition forces of the three major civilizations have been approaching the center of chaos in a mighty manner.

And Li Ming also arrived at Lanka more than ten days later.

This is a desolate planet. A mineral vein was accidentally discovered deep underground. It was taken by Barbaro and later sold to Anduin.

After the deep minerals were mined, they were sublet to a small looting organization as a base.

However, there are no living things on this planet now, as they have all run away.

"Tsk... Reynolds and Mikhail are really nice." Li Ming looked at the virtual screen, on which was the information summarized by Reynolds and Mikhail.

The two of them really spent a lot of money this time. The total number of various types of mechanical bodies has approached 600 million, nearly 10 million battleships, no less than a hundred fortress-class motherships, and the number of X-class mechanical bodies is as high as ten.

"I guess this is not the limit for these two guys." Li Ming couldn't help but exclaim, "They are really rich."

This is the advantage of the assembly line: as long as there are enough resources and time, things are infinite.

The only thing they need to craft by hand is probably the X-level life form.

With a bang, the spaceship landed. Li Ming put away the smart terminal and the hatch opened.

As soon as I walked out of the cabin, a biting cold wind howled, mixed with black sand and gravel. The environment here was extremely harsh, and the ground was full of dry gullies.

Li Ming glanced around and found that this was an abandoned base. The crooked gate of the base was covered with rust.

"Here it comes..." A familiar voice sounded in my ears. Ripples appeared in the void, and a familiar figure appeared. It was Anduin.

This guy even ran out of the Chaos Center. Li Ming nodded: "Sir Anduin."

"Your teacher really let you come like this." Anduin was quite emotional. He glanced at Li Ming and found that the other party did not restrain his information state and displayed it so unscrupulously.

He had come into contact with the other party before, and he was immediately sure that it was not a mimicry of life, and he felt more and more impressed.

The two entered the center of the abandoned base and found that it had been roughly tidied up and was quite clean.

Sheffield had arrived, and so had Carter.

Li Ming greeted each other. Sheffield responded warmly, with a flash of green in his pupils. He looked at Anduin and smiled.
"We haven't seen each other for a while. Monica often talks to me about you. You young people should talk more."

This was not the first time Sheffield had come into contact with Li Ming. Due to his own gene seeds, he was highly sensitive to information states and was sure that there was no problem with the other party.

Carter was the only one here who had not come into contact with Li Ming. With flickering eyes, he kept looking at this "life form with the highest potential for development in history."

"Barbarol will be here soon," Anduin said. He looked at Li Ming and asked hesitantly, "Didn't your teacher tell you anything when he came?"

"No." Li Ming shook his head. "The teacher just wanted me to be assured, and everyone else as well."

Anduin and Sheffield looked at each other, both quite helpless, in typical Qinglong style.

The few of them chatted idly, and whether intentionally or for other reasons, no one mentioned the upcoming meeting with the coalition forces of the three civilizations.

After waiting for about five days, Barbaroel arrived, and after another three days, Sven arrived.

There are less than ten days left until the deadline given by the three major civilizations. Considering their journey to the Chaos Star Gap, it is actually a bit late to set off at this time.

"Why hasn't Benito come yet?" Sven frowned and stared at the virtual screen. "We can no longer reach the Chaos Center at the agreed time."

"It's late, so what? Don't they really allow us to be late?" Barbaro said in a muffled voice.

It is of course nonsense to say that being late is not allowed. What the three major civilizations say is just an attitude.

At least the coalition forces of the three major civilizations have not yet reached the center of chaos.

They waited for another five days, but Benito's response was always "sooner, sooner". However, Benito did not arrive until the coalition forces of the three civilizations arrived at the center of chaos.

It was Barbaro who was getting impatient and picked up the smart terminal to scold him. Then Benito told the truth, his face helpless and his eyes evasive: "Actually, I'm not going to go."

"You're not coming?" Barbaro was slightly stunned, and a surge of anger rose in his heart for no reason. He said in a deep voice: "Didn't we agree on this at the beginning?"

"Alas..." Benito sighed, "Don't blame me, we are just going to die if we go there like this."

"The United Organization of Higher Life Forms is unwilling to help us. Your Excellency Qinglong, I'm afraid you can't do it alone."

Several people looked unhappy. They had come here with all their might, and now someone backed out, which was like a bucket of cold water poured on them.

Anduin deadpanned, "Since you're not coming, you should have told me earlier to save us from wasting our time."

"Alas..." Benito knew he was in the wrong and was too embarrassed to say anything when he was accused, so he explained:
"I was actually hesitating until just now when I made up my mind."

"Alright, you can go away now. Go as far as you can. There will be no place for you in the Chaos Star Gap from now on." Anduin said calmly.

"Coward." Barbaroel spat even more fiercely.

"Idiot..." Sheffield shook his head.

Seeing the contemptuous eyes of several people, Benito also felt a little ashamed. He was not afraid of the virtual screen. He said coldly: "In the future? Will there be another chaotic star gap in the future..."

Before he could finish his words, an arc of electricity burst out from the smart terminal in Barbaro's hand, and the virtual screen closed. It was Anduin who made the move.

After confirming that Qinglong would take action, things became less embarrassing than before.

At worst, they can turn against their own side in the middle of a battle.

Of course, doing so would completely offend Qinglong.

But Anduin also has his own logic. They believe that Qinglong has a solution, so they are willing to take the risk.

In the end, Qinglong couldn't hold on any longer, and it couldn't be blamed on them for turning against him.

After so many years in the interstellar world, Anduin has become accustomed to betrayal.

However, that was a last resort, and he didn't want to do that until it was the last resort.

Moreover, defecting is not without disadvantages, as the three major civilizations will inevitably use some means to harm you.

"Since Benito is unwilling to come, let's get ready to set off," said Anduin.

"Ladies and gentlemen, could you please wait for a moment?" Li Ming suddenly asked, and several people looked over.

Barbaroer teased, half jokingly and half seriously, "Why, are you scared too?"

Li Ming shook his head and laughed. He did not respond to Barbaro's teasing. He just said, "Teacher, you haven't given me the signal to go."

"Oh?" Several people's expressions became subtle.

Sven's eyes flickered, and he asked impatiently, "Master Qinglong, do you have any preparations?"

Li Ming did not answer, but smiled and said, "I hope you will wait a little longer."

"Let's wait a little longer." Anduin murmured.

Several people nodded, but they were all wondering in their hearts what methods Qinglong had prepared.

.........

The chaos central node, a huge translucent shield covers the entire node.

The starport, which normally would have been tens of thousands of kilometers away, was now completely empty. The siphon tunnel was still in operation, but there were only a few dilapidated spacecrafts on the magnetic rail berth that was supposed to be handling cargo ships.
Endless warships have surrounded the entire central node. They seem to be integrated into one, but they are clearly divided into different styles and appearances. Various warships are guarding the mothership to form a combat unit.

The Federation's giant whale-shaped motherships most resemble the appearance of warships in textbooks, demonstrating the empire's profound heritage. These standard hulls with a length of more than 80 kilometers are made entirely of cutting-edge metal armor.

The main ray gun at the bow, which was powerful enough to penetrate an terrestrial planet, was now flashing a dark blue ring-shaped charging pattern.

The Federation's mothership is even simpler, with a streamlined silver-gray hull covered with nano-scale wave-absorbing scales, and spatial folds appearing around it from time to time.

What attracts the most attention is the Covenant's fleet. As a complex civilization, it has all kinds of warships, giving people the feeling of a ragtag army.

Among them, there is a group of motherships that completely subvert the traditional concept of ships. Their surfaces are covered with biomass armor similar to insect compound eyes, with thousands of tentacle-like biological electromagnetic cannons, and they secrete green fluorescent plasma mucus.

At the outermost edge of the coalition camp, a large number of media spaceships gathered, filming the coalition fleet in front of them from various angles.

Some people estimate that the total number of various warships of this coalition will not be less than 95 million, which is enough to sweep away % of the civilizations in the universe, not to mention the accompanying X-level life forms.

The original purpose of the three major civilizations was to deter with force, so they would naturally not block the news. Instead, they hoped that as many people as possible would know about it.

However, during the process, no information will be allowed to be leaked in advance, and these media will only be allowed to connect to the outside world after the operation is completed.

One of the most eye-catching interstellar fortresses is located in the center of the coalition. Its surface is covered with honeycomb-shaped energy diversion grooves. Dark red condensation tubes grow along the patterns and connect to prismatic gun muzzles, with purple arcs leaping out of them.

In the central command room, the operational commanders of the three major civilizations gathered together, and on the virtual screen in front of them were the heads of the three civilizations.

This operation is large-scale and extremely important, so it naturally requires a top leader to personally supervise it.

"The time has come, but Anduin and others have not appeared yet." One of them spoke. There were several black lines on his cheeks and his eyes were pitch black without any whites.

It is three meters tall, with a sturdy build, covered in metal armor, holding a light golden spear in his hand, and his whole body is flowing with a light golden glow between metal and energy. If you look closely, you will find that they are special symbols.

Three dark matter star rings are suspended at the end, rotating counterclockwise, and lines of thorns extend from the handle, penetrating the dense cracks on the gun body.

Hemod, the "gunman" of the Covenant, is also the commander-in-chief of this operation.

The representative of the higher life forms of the empire standing next to him whispered:

"Previous secret intelligence said that Azure Dragon intended to have Anduin and the others come, but the recent joint meeting of higher life forms dealt a heavy blow to Azure Dragon's reputation. Seeing that the situation was not good, they might give up coming."

"Don't worry." Adam on the screen said calmly, "It's only been a short time. Wait for them for a while."

The Star Alliance representative hesitated: "Will Qinglong really let Li Ming take the risk?"

"I always feel it's unlikely, like a smoke screen."

(End of this chapter)