This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 652 Be careful of Gustav!
Before Li Ming had to wait too long, a video communication request popped up on the virtual projection screen of the smart terminal in his hand before it went off.

"Anatole?" Li Ming muttered to himself after looking at the notes.

This guy is online 24 hours a day, right? I just sent the message and there was a response.

With a slight movement of his heart, Li Ming's skin surface changed slightly, his muscles moved, and he had completely changed his appearance.

After switching to the Qinglong vest, he pressed the connect button, and the flat virtual screen projected by the smart terminal also switched to a vertical one.

"Your Excellency Qinglong..."

On the screen, Anatoly greeted solemnly at first, wearing a bright red suit, the background seemed to be in a cabin, with a silver bulkhead behind him.

There was admiration in his voice: "I didn't expect that you would take action yourself and even find out the truth before us."

"We haven't achieved anything in such a long time. I feel ashamed and have failed your trust."

Li Ming didn't react, but just replied perfunctorily: "I also learned the truth by accident."

"By chance?" Anatoly asked tentatively, his eyes twinkling. "Can you tell me some details?"

Li Ming just looked at him expressionlessly, "You don't trust me, so you contacted me just to question me?"

"No, that's not the case." Anatoly looked terrified and explained hastily, "I'm just surprised. After all, such a powerful Titan branch is too rare."

"I contacted you not to question you, but to remind you."

"Remind me?" Li Ming did not comment. Anatoly deliberately lowered his voice to create a mysterious atmosphere and said, "I suspect that Gustav may have been involved in this matter."

"Oh?" Li Ming couldn't help but feel surprised. Could this old guy predict the future? He could even guess Gustav's future?
"Why?" he inquired.

Seeing that Qinglong was finally interested, Anatoly explained in detail, "At the last joint meeting, Gustav said that he was at the Evil Ancestor base and believed that the Evil Ancestor had been attacked."

"It has been a month and a half since then, and the seven X-level life forms, including the Evil Ancestor, have been attacked no more than half a month apart."

"And right after Gustav witnessed it, there were no more attacks. I always feel that there is something strange about this matter. This may not be a coincidence."

Tsk...Anatole is such a cunning and sly guy.

Li Ming stared at the virtual screen. He had obviously noticed this a long time ago, but he didn't say anything. It was unknown what he was thinking.

Being stared at by Qinglong made Anatoly feel a little scared, but he explained: "Originally, I was just suspicious, so I didn't tell you right away. About half a month ago, I secretly contacted Gustav to test him..."

"His attitude was very strange. He was neither worried nor frightened. He did not look like someone who had witnessed the disappearance of the evil ancestor."

At this point, he asked cautiously, "Did Gusta contact you? Could this conclusion come from Gusta?"

As soon as Qinglong announced the attacker, he contacted him in order to determine whether this incident was related to Gustav.

Qinglong found out the truth so quickly that it would take him a long time to reach the Sea of ​​Stars.

It would take even longer to investigate the attack scenes one by one, but Qinglong's efficiency was terrifyingly high.

Maybe someone has done this for him, and he is adopting a conservative strategy. The only possible person is this guy Gustava.

Gustav was just like him. Although he seemed arrogant, he was actually very cunning in nature. He could negotiate anything and would easily compromise as long as the price was high enough.

The reason why he never compromised with Qinglong was because he had no cards to play.

He really didn't want to see Gustav and Qinglong reach some kind of agreement and then return to the interstellar vision.

He had backstabbed that guy in the first place, and Gustav would not easily forget it.

"Gustav did contact me." Li Ming said lightly. Having said that, he paused and glanced slightly.

There was another communication request from Anduin.

Let’s get together, Li Ming muttered and refused temporarily.

Seeing Qinglong remained silent, Anatoly's heart skipped a beat, thinking that the two had reached an agreement.

But then Qinglong continued, "But the conclusion did not come from him. This information is absolutely reliable and has been verified."

What does that mean? Anatoly was a little confused. It was hard for him to determine whether Gustave and Qinglong had reached an agreement through these words.

It was not easy to continue asking, so Anatoly could only play it safe and pretend to be relieved:

"It's good that the news didn't come from him. Gustav is a man who has no bottom line in his behavior and is extremely cunning. You must be careful when dealing with him."

"Him?" Li Ming couldn't help feeling funny as he thought about Gustav who had turned into ashes, and a strange smile appeared on his face.

In Anatoly's eyes, it was a kind of indifference and contempt. He couldn't help but remind him: "Don't underestimate him. I have dealt with Gustav a lot."

"Although on the surface, he has always been very honest within the organization, he has actually been in contact with certain people. Due to his strength, not many people dare to offend him in secret."

"Once he finds an opportunity, he will definitely strike back fiercely. Although he has now disappeared from the interstellar space and looks very embarrassed, in a sense he is also hiding in the dark."

Anatoly has always been wary of Gustav. After stabbing him in the back, he tried to avoid confrontation with him at joint meetings, for fear that he would attack him secretly.

But he has been secretly looking for the other party's traces, trying to eliminate this hidden danger.

However, given the vastness of the interstellar space, Gustav deliberately hid himself, making it almost impossible to find.

"I see." Li Ming nodded, his reaction still calm, "Thank you for your reminder."

Anatoly pursed his lips and wanted to say something else.

But he also understood the principle that too much is as bad as too little. If he continued, it would seem that he looked down on Qinglong.

Finally, he could only nod and said, "It's good that you know. We will end the investigation and return home."

After ending the communication, Li Ming's eyes flickered. This sudden investigation result really shocked many people.

He found Anduin's contact information and called back. The call was quickly connected. The background of his call was different from Anduin's. Instead, it seemed like he was in a starry sky.

"Your Excellency Qinglong..." Anduin looked a little alert and looked around vaguely.

"Where are you?" Li Ming noticed something was wrong and asked. "Moselini Star Belt..." Anduin spit out a location.

"Not with Anatoly?" Li Ming couldn't help but wonder.

"That guy..." Anduin's face darkened and he said angrily, "He is too cowardly. With his efficiency, it would be impossible to find the murderer even if he spent ten thousand years investigating. I parted ways with him a month ago."

"Based on the trajectory of the attack, I estimate that we are near a Class X life form base. Let's see if any rabbits run into us."

"You are so brave, the evil ancestor has disappeared." Li Ming was a little surprised.

"X-level life forms have been attacked one after another. If the truth is not found out soon, the situation will be unfavorable. I am certain that I will not take risks in person." Anduin said helplessly, and then said: "Since you have found the murderer, I don't need to take risks."

At this point, Anduin's expression became quite solemn. "However, I found some strange things in the process. Gustav is indeed investigating this matter and has contacted many X-level life forms."

"But after the incident with the Evil Ancestor, he no longer had any contact with any X-level life forms."

"If the attackers in secret are from the Titan branch, he might cooperate with them. I even think they might come after you."

Anduin was quite worried. "Have you seen the attacker? Is it the Titan offshoot you killed before?"

"Not really. This is a brand new group. But don't worry, I will handle this matter myself." Li Ming shook his head and spoke vaguely, "As for Gustav, they will not be a threat."

Anduin was relieved to see that Qinglong knew what was going on. However, after hearing the last sentence, he also thought that Qinglong did not take Gustav seriously, so he couldn't help but remind him:
"Gustav's evolutionary level is not low and should not be underestimated. He is in the dark and in the light, so we have to be on guard."

"Yeah." Li Ming nodded. He didn't expect that the matter was declared over. Instead, everyone reminded him to be careful.

However, he also understood that these things were essentially speculations by Anduin, Anatoly and others, without any substantial evidence.

It is because the matter seems to have been settled and there will be no chance to bring up these clues if they are not mentioned now, so they are brought up.

After chatting with Anduin for a while, he couldn't help but say, "Sir, don't trust Anatoly too much. He is very cunning."

I don’t know what kind of conflict there was between the two that made Anduin so angry.

Li Ming didn't care about ending the communication. He certainly didn't trust Anatoly.

However, the other party's survival brings him greater benefits. As long as force can intimidate, such people will always crawl at his feet.

In fact, his trust in Anduin was also conservative, but much higher than that of Anatoly.

Hmm... we need to find someone to replace Gustav as the vice chairman.

Shaking his head, Li Ming turned over and lay on the bed. While he was talking to the two people, many X-level life forms responded to the message he sent. He picked out a few enthusiastic ones and replied.

Two or three days later, the star gate passage here returned to normal. Li Ming boarded the spacecraft immediately, went through the formalities, and entered the star gate.

It takes about one and a half months to return to the Mechanical Royal Court from here, which is not a short time.

And just half a month later, a piece of news came from the Star Alliance--
"The Star Alliance Council announced that Chairman Gutierrez has resigned from the position of Chairman due to health reasons. He will be replaced temporarily by Vice Chairman Antigo. The new Star Alliance Chairman will be decided by voting within 60 days."

A single stone can cause a thousand ripples. This was the resignation of the top leader of the Star Alliance, and it was not a normal change of leadership. It immediately sparked heated discussions on the interstellar network.

Many interstellar critics jumped out and took stock and sorted out various information.

"…The President of the Covenant is elected by representative voting, and is a representative of the civilization on the Covenant Council, voting on behalf of all citizens of that civilization."

"... can be re-elected for three terms, each term lasting 1,000 years. This is Gutierrez's second term in office. He is the sixth chairman in the history of the Star Alliance who has not served three full terms..."

"…The first five have basically all caused great damage to the Star Alliance, either causing a significant economic recession or causing heavy casualties. The same is true for Gutierrez."

"…the Chaos Star Gap siege resulted in a large number of evolved beings of the Star Alliance being captured and the important weapon, the Kashmir Spear, being lost. At the time, there were rumors that he would resign, but no one expected that the chairman would be so skilled and hold on."

"Later, the much-discussed Saint Castle incident was exposed. It was revealed that the Star Alliance invested a huge amount of resources in it, but gained nothing. At the same time, an X-level life form was captured..."

"I didn't expect that I would last until now before resigning."

Everyone is speculating on the reasons for Gutierrez's resignation. Some key events had already happened, but Gutierrez remained standing.

It's really strange that he suddenly resigned when there has been no trouble recently.

"...The Overlord's flesh and blood should have been handed over, and Gutierrez's last value has been squeezed out..."

In the spaceship, Li Ming was reading the news and couldn't help but sigh. Gutierrez was quite tactful and must have made Adam and Malcolm quite disgusted.

At a press conference for media reporters, Gutierrez made his last appearance. He seemed to be in good condition, with a look of nostalgia and sighs.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that he felt relieved.

Gutierrez even joked in response to the reporter's questions, "...Maybe I'll publish a few books, talking about the inside story of the Star Alliance, and earn some money for my retirement..."

This immediately caused a burst of laughter, and then another reporter asked, "Do you have anything to say to your successor or the Star Alliance?"

Gutierrez paused, then faced the camera and said in a serious tone: "If you find a threat, kill it as soon as possible, at all costs."

The momentum of many years of high positions and the oppressive feeling of an X-level life form, mixed with the vague murderous aura, made the entire media scene silent.

But soon, he grinned and said, "Of course, if you can't kill him, then we'll build a good relationship with him as soon as possible."

These remarks naturally sparked a lot of discussion among people, who believed that Gutierrez had some hidden agenda.

"It's really interesting. The status of these senior leaders after they have left office is completely different from that when they were in office." Li Ming found it interesting. He closed the related news and opened several other dialog boxes to take a look at them one by one.

Gutierrez's resignation has sparked heated discussions among the general public.

Among the high-ranking interstellar officials, another piece of news attracted more attention:
The Titan branch that suddenly appeared indiscriminately attacked X-level life forms.

This piece of news came from the United Organization of Higher Life Forms. The person who confirmed the news was Chairman Qinglong. Thanks to the endorsement of this super boss, almost no one doubted it, and everyone was in danger.

Almost all X-level life forms left their nests, and even their confidants were afraid to tell their whereabouts, which triggered a series of events.

The impact was so great that even Li Ming himself was a little surprised.

(End of this chapter)