This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 612 Monopolizing an Evolutionary Path

On a planet at the edge of the chaotic star gap, dust and sand are everywhere, and more than 70% of the area is endless desert.

There is no starport here, but an inconspicuous, mottled spaceship landed in the only gathering place on the planet.

Benito came down from the spaceship, wrapped in a mottled scarf that fluttered in the wind and sand, looking nothing like the might of an X-class life form.

"Given the nature of the three major civilizations, if I don't show up at the scene, they will definitely launch a wanted warrant for me afterwards." Benito had a clear understanding.

This time the coalition forces of the three civilizations are so powerful, how could they allow any imperfect situation to occur?

"However, as long as I disappear for a period of time, the three major civilizations will be helpless." Benito had already made a plan.

The main reason for this kind of dressing is to converge information so as not to leave any traces during the escape.

After that, he will find a more remote civilization to lie dormant, and it will be almost impossible for anyone to miss him.

"The situation should be roughly settled." Benito looked at the somewhat dilapidated gathering place in front of him. In the current chaotic star gap, only remote places like this one still have people.

Taking out the smart terminal, he couldn't help but frown. There was still no network connection.

The spaceship he was on did not belong to his own faction. It was outdated in every way and did not even have navigation or communication equipment.

He also thought that there would be external communication signals on this planet.

"So backward?" He frowned slightly and looked up at a slender metal column in the center of the gathering place. A crude signal capture device was hung on the top, immersed in a colorful and dilapidated bar.

He walked forward on the fine sand, one step deep and one step shallow, thinking something in his mind.

"Anduin and his group of idiots actually dared to take the risk."

"That's the mighty coalition of three civilizations, and Hemod..."

"Even if Qinglong really has the means, he can barely keep the Chaos Star Gap this time. Wouldn't that be even more troublesome? The subsequent attacks will definitely continue... and he will be exhausted from dealing with them..."

"It's impossible for them to stay with Qinglong forever..."

His decision to escape was also a well-considered one. If he got involved in that vortex, he might not even know how he would die in the end.

Pushing open the door of the bar, soft music came into my ears.

It is not noisy here. Various life forms are sitting on chairs, and the aura intensity is not high.

Benito's arrival attracted a lot of people's attention, and the discussion became quieter. It had been a long time since a strange face appeared here.

He didn't care and went straight to the bar and said to the snake bartender in front of him: "I want the communication signal."

"Uh..." The snakeman bartender pulled out a rope from below, handed it to him, and whispered in a non-standard interstellar common language: "Ten star coins per minute..."

After connecting to the smart terminal and the signal was connected, a large number of push messages began to pop up, and an extremely eye-catching title attracted his attention.

[What kind of impact will the appearance of Azure Dragon, the Four Pillars, have on the interstellar landscape? ]

Before he even clicked on it, a bad feeling arose in his heart.

"Four Pillars?" He frowned. He never knew that Qinglong had such a nickname.

"You don't know?" A man with a hairy head and a strong odor suddenly sat down. His whole body was covered with fine hair.

He was surprised and said, "Not long ago, His Excellency Qinglong severely defeated the coalition forces of the three major civilizations and captured twenty-nine X-level life forms. Twenty-nine, do you know what that means..."

"I heard that they killed a man named Hermod and took some guns."

"...I see you were planning to run away too, but now there's no need to run, the Chaos Star Gap is..."

These ordinary life forms do not know the detailed divisions between X-level life forms, nor do they know about the Titan relics.

In their view, killing Hemod was not as shocking as capturing twenty-nine people.

But Benito knew.

He no longer knew what he was saying, as if he was deaf, his eyes were bright, and he kept repeating, "Capture... kill... seize the gun..."

It was like a mouthful of old blood stuck in his chest, and the feeling of regret surged like a tide, drowning his heart.

.........

The original location of the chaos central node has been replaced by an array of neatly arranged and clearly defined mechanical fleets.

Anduin and others were in Mikhail's main ship. Barbaro flexed his muscles from time to time and talked loudly with Reynolds.

Sheffield and Mikhail held wine glasses in their hands and communicated elegantly.

Anduin stood in front of the porthole. The Chaos Center was shattered, and he felt quite emotional.

After all, it is half of his home base and he has invested a lot of resources in it over the years. To a certain extent, it represents the prosperity of the Chaos Star Gap.

"Chaos Star Gap must have a landmark building." He said suddenly.

Sheffield looked over and nodded, "Yes, since it's broken, let's rebuild a bigger one."

"Let's go somewhere else." Anduin turned around, walked to the bar, and picked up a glass of wine that Mikhail had just poured.

"Mechanical Court?" Sheffield's eyes moved slightly, and Anduin couldn't help but smile: "It seems that we are thinking the same thing."

Mikhail was really good at flattering. He despised her in his heart, but he raised his glass and said, "Without destruction, there is no construction. I believe that you will have a brighter future."

The three guys here are all old foxes and get along naturally well with each other.

After a while, the metal door made a humming sound and faded to both sides.

Everyone looked slightly stiff, and Barbarole and Reynolds, who were laughing, stopped.

Li Ming, wearing a tank uniform, walked in. In their eyes, he was Qinglong.

"Your Excellency Qinglong..." The first person to greet was Carter. She was standing in the corner with a low presence.

Benito escaped, Sven betrayed, but she was the only one who did nothing. In comparison, she became the biggest winner.

Others also spoke up, their eyes falling on the Kashmir Spear in his hand one by one, and then quickly looking away.

Li Ming nodded casually and said to Mikhail, "I'll have to trouble you two to continue to watch over Gaius and his men."

He didn't have any corresponding guarding measures, so he could only let the other party do it for him.

"These are all trivial matters..." Reynolds said nonchalantly.

Mikhail was a little hesitant and asked, "How are you going to deal with these people?"

He seemed a little worried, and added: "My personal suggestion is that it is best not to kill anyone. Otherwise, we will only force the three major civilizations to go to war."

He was afraid that Qinglong would get carried away and take revenge on the three major civilizations.

In his eyes, war is not that simple. It is not that Qinglong will lose, but the price paid is too high and the benefits gained are not that great.

Killing Adam or Malcolm doesn't mean that the dynasty will change. The security war will last until the end of the universe. The Empire's strength crushed the Holy Revolutionary Army, but they still kept active for thousands of years.

It was almost destroyed some time ago due to the suppression by the United Organization of Higher Life Forms, but recently it has shown signs of revival.

The interstellar space is so vast that it is impossible for the top leaders to rush around on their own.

"Of course I won't kill them." Li Ming couldn't help but shake his head. "Trading prisoners can bring me the greatest benefit. Besides, I'm not a warmongerer. There's no benefit for me in starting a war."

These guys are needed to fill the huge gap in the control of the Gun of Kashmir.

After hearing what he said, not only Mikhail, but everyone else also breathed a sigh of relief and felt relaxed again.

"That's right..." Mikhail agreed, "We mechanics are all businessmen. Only an overall stable interstellar environment can allow us to flourish."

He laid the groundwork briefly, glanced at Anduin and the others, and said, "I have a plan in my hand. I have been planning it for a while, and I feel that now is the best time to implement it."

"Oh." Li Ming became more excited. He wondered what kind of brilliant ideas Mikhail would come up with.

"Mechanical Renaissance..." Mikhail uttered a few words, attracting everyone's attention.

He explained: "With the prototype of the Mechanical Seed provided by you, Reynolds and I have made rapid progress in our research. We estimate that it will take at most another six months to fully reproduce it."

"The Mechanical Seed has great value and is the orthodox path of mechanical evolution. I plan to spread it across the interstellar space, which is worthy of the original intention of establishing the Mechanic Association."

The seed of machinery, the path to mechanical evolution?
Anduin and Sheffield looked at each other. They were confused by what they heard, but they understood that this was another major event that would affect the interstellar landscape.

The emergence of an evolutionary path with extremely wide applicability will cause such a sensation.

"That's right." Li Ming also nodded, realizing Mikhail's thoughts.

The technology of the Mechanical Seed is possessed by almost only three of them, or to be more precise, only Reynolds and Mikhail.

He possesses it in disguise through the ability of control. The advantage is that the mechanical bodies he controls completely obey his orders. The disadvantage is that this method cannot be rolled out on a large scale.

Needless to say, the benefits of monopolizing an evolutionary path are enormous.
Seeing Qinglong nod, Mikhail went on to say, "So, I plan to set up a company first. The three of us will work together. You will hold 50% of the shares, and Reynolds and I will each hold 25%. We will use this to sell the mechanical seeds to the outside world."

"The first batch of mechanical seeds will be given to the advanced mechanical bodies within the association. After all, they have been members for a long time and have made many contributions to the association. This is considered a benefit for them."

Reynolds didn't react much when he heard the profit distribution ratio.

Anduin couldn't help but feel contempt in his heart, what a flatterer.

Mikhail was not reluctant at all and let Qinglong take 50%, but it was not just to flatter.

Without Qinglong's support from behind, this matter would not have been possible. It would be a brand new path of evolution, and the three major civilizations would certainly try their best to get involved.

Li Ming's eyes lit up slightly, wow... Mikhail's technique in cutting leeks is too proficient, it's probably not the first time he has done this.

Those senior mechanics are all wealthy and will definitely make a fortune.

Li Ming nodded: "This matter should indeed be put on the agenda. It will give interstellar citizens one more path to evolution and one more choice."

He had no objection to this profit distribution method. In the end, it was probably Reynolds and Mikhail who were busy, and he just had to wait in the background to collect the money.

"However, there is one thing I need your help with beforehand." Mikhail said, "The Mechanics Association needs to be untied."

"Unbind..." Li Ming seemed to be thinking about something.

The Mechanics Association will become the best channel for them to sell mechanical seeds. It is indeed not appropriate to hang a chain around the neck, as it may easily cause problems at the bottom.

The interstellar world is so vast that it is impossible for them to solve the problem in each small civilization one by one. It is better to eliminate the problem from the root.

“It may have been troublesome before, but it shouldn’t be a problem now…” Li Ming nodded casually.

The road of evolution has not yet reached its end, and the eternal abyss hangs over his head. Li Ming is still quite resistant to the word "invincible".

But many things that were impossible before are no longer a problem now.

Everything is different now.

Anduin couldn't help but sigh in his heart. The Mechanics Guild had only been supervised for a few years and now it was about to be relaxed again.

It's a pity that he is not a mechanic, otherwise he could have also had a share of the pie.

Well... I can arrange a few mechanics to work on this matter when I get back.

Sheffield also realized that they knew about this before anyone else, and with this relationship, there would be no problem in having a bite of soup.

After finalizing this matter, Li Ming was in a good mood.

After chatting casually, I learned an unexpected news from Anduin.

"Rebuilding the Chaos Center near the Mechanical Royal Court?" Li Ming was quite surprised.

Anduin nodded. "Yes, we have discussed this. Chaos Star Gap has an advantageous geographical location. Whether it is active or passive, after this period of time, more life forms will come here than before. We must have a landmark building."

“So, we are going to work together to rebuild.”

Working together to rebuild...means I don't have to worry about anything.

Li Ming naturally would not refuse, as this would only benefit him and not harm him.

A few people were chatting casually in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere until Sheffield's wristband smart terminal suddenly vibrated continuously.

With a faint smile on his face, he casually placed the wine glass in his hand on the bar, and with a click, a small virtual screen popped up.

After just a glance, his expression suddenly changed, and he said in astonishment: "My company was attacked!"

Ok?
Li Ming's eyes suddenly froze, and in a flash, he appeared next to Sheffield.

"Attacked?" Anduin looked strange. The Sheffield biological company's main business is selling genetic seeds to the outside world.

As a businessman, I am kind to others in my daily life and basically have never offended anyone.

Besides, all X-level gene seeds need to be customized, and attacking his company will only result in a bunch of useless gene seeds.

No... Anduin suddenly thought of something. Before, Hemod had inexplicably staged a drama. Not only did he want to capture Sheffield, but he also wanted to kill him in the end.

Li Ming even spoke up to try to stop the other party from taking Sheffield away.

Moreover, judging from Qinglong's attitude now, he is also very concerned about this.

What is the reason?

He couldn't help but speculate, his expression changed slightly, and he soon thought of a possibility.

Could it be...the ultimate gene seed?
"...an attack that happened sixteen hours ago?" Li Ming looked at the report from Sheffield's men on the screen, "...cleaned the entire company..."

Almost at the same time they stepped into the central node.

(End of this chapter)