This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 68 Upgrading the Explosion-Proof Shield, Silver-Gray Mother Ore
The next day, Li Ming and others were called to the conference room, where Qin Xiao had already been waiting.

His eyes immediately fell on Li Ming, and the smile on his face suddenly became more intense. "I never thought that we have such a great genius here."

He seemed to be in a good mood, but only seemed to be. He learned about this shortly after the banquet ended yesterday.

But he was not happy, because Professor Wu's special treatment might make Li Ming have inappropriate thoughts.

Originally, he was the most important person Li Ming could come into contact with, but now with Professor Wu, would Li Ming still be in awe of him?
"Minister, you are joking." Li Ming said seriously.

The rest of the people had mixed feelings. It would be a lie to say they were not jealous.

Qin Xiao laughed twice and got to the point: "At eight o'clock, you will follow reporter Xu and several staff members of the Interstellar Alliance to inspect and interview the branch of Xingchuang Company. Protect her safety and make sure nothing goes wrong."

It’s time to steal something, Li Ming understood, and listened to Qin Xiao’s arrangements.

This trip to Star Creation Company was just for a routine investigation, and the core members of the Interstellar Review Team were dispersed, some stayed in Silver Ash City, and some went to Star Dome City.

"Yes!" Wang Zhiheng nodded. There were sixteen of them in total, divided into two teams, led by Wang Zhiheng and Zhao Xiong respectively.

As luck would have it, Li Ming was assigned to the team led by Zhao Xiong, and Wang Zhiheng glanced at him several times.

Li Ming wondered secretly how many of Qin Xiao’s people were in this entire team.

The transport ship was ready. With nearly forty people in total, the cabin seemed quite crowded.

"Li Ming!" Xu Wei greeted him excitedly, and politely communicated with the colleagues around Li Ming and exchanged seats with them.

Xu Wei sat down, pulled the safety belt across his body, buckled it around his abdomen, and asked in a low voice, "Are you okay with your injuries?"

"It's okay, it's just a superficial injury." Li Ming glanced at her. Due to the seat belt, Xu Wei's chest was forced to straighten out, which was thrilling.

"That's good..." Xu Wei nodded, and said excitedly: "I heard that you are a rookie in the Silver Ash City Guard."

"Yeah." Li Ming nodded. Seeing that Xu Wei had taken out the recorder, opened the smart terminal, and a virtual screen popped up.

"I also heard that your father passed away not long ago, and you haven't been to school for two years because of school bullying." Xu Wei's expression changed slightly, he looked up and asked:
"So what motivated you to kill a heinous criminal just a few days after joining the city guard?"

"You..." Li Ming looked her up and down, "Are you interviewing me?"

"Oh oh..." Xu Wei, whose eyes were originally sharp, suddenly reacted and hurriedly explained: "I just asked a few questions."

After hesitating for a moment, she continued, "I do want to do an interview with you. You are from a single-parent family, your father just passed away, and this involves the sensitive topic of school bullying. It should be a hot topic."

"Can I refuse?" Li Ming's face was calm.

"Of course." Xu Wei nodded, and whispered, "I know your concerns, but don't worry, I will beautify some aspects that are not favorable to you."

"You are a regular city guard, from a law enforcement agency. Your positive reputation will be of great benefit to you."

The transport ship had already taken off, and a few people were looking at them vaguely.

Maybe she wanted to return the favor? But now was not the right time. Li Ming shook his head and said, "Reporter Xu, let me think about this matter."

Xu Wei felt a little regretful, but she didn't force it. She was a reporter for the Blue Star Times, and being able to come here with the interstellar review team also represented something.

Normally, such a small matter would not be able to make the news in the Blue Star Times, but she could do it.

However, Li Ming seemed a little resistant.

Is it because you don’t want your past, which you don’t want to look back on, to be exposed to the public?
She guessed that, after all, Li Ming was now a mighty city guard, but in the past he was a poor boy who was bullied so much that he dared not speak out.

Many famous people have this idea, not to mention that Li Ming is still at an age where he needs to save face.

But the past is a foregone conclusion and cannot be changed. If one can profit from it, then it would be justification for the injustice suffered.

There is still time, I will make him change his mind, Xu Wei thought.

Li Ming, who seemed to be in a daze, opened the control bar.

In the past two days, when he had nothing to do, he would activate his [Gene Radiation] ability. After much hard work, the development progress had reached 3%, but his physical energy was also being consumed all the time.

It would be hard for him to last a day if he was always on, so he planned to upgrade his explosion-proof shield to increase his physical strength and endurance.

After three thousand points of metal energy were consumed, the explosion-proof shield icon became wider and seemed to have turned into a cone.

【B-11 High Energy Explosion-proof Shield--Class D: Advanced explosion-proof shield with extremely strong impact resistance.

……

Control effect: Physical strength boost--100%
Control ability - Strong Wall: Increases defense by 150%. 】

The physical strength blessing doubled, the blessing doubled, the defense ability after using [Solid Wall] is probably not worse than the same level gene seeds that are good at defense. Li Ming was satisfied. Outside the porthole, Silver Gray City gradually shrank and was left behind. This voyage took a very long time, and it was the first time that Li Ming was truly away from Silver Gray City.

The surface of the planet has hardly changed, with vast deserts, barren rocks, and almost no vegetation.

The mountain-like black mining machines give off an even more depressing and gloomy feeling under the dark clouds.

Xu Wei took photos many times for record keeping.

Five hours later, they finally landed at the Xingchuang Company branch. Before getting off the ship, they could see the towering building through the porthole.

The exterior walls are made of black metal and glass, reflecting the desolate surroundings. There are almost no windows, which makes people feel depressed.

Chen Songnan has already sent people to wait here, with rows of black hovercrafts waiting, very enthusiastic, with a high-pitched tone: "On behalf of the Silver Gray Star Branch of Xingchuang Company and all colleagues, welcome everyone here!"

No one paid any attention to him. The highest-ranking person in the group was a short, green-skinned man named Sandra, wearing a blue hooded robe with purple patterns embroidered on it, like some kind of flower.

"Let's go. I need to review Star Creation's mining records in recent years, as well as other data..." He said in a dull voice.

"Of course. Please come in." Chen Songnan said calmly. He asked everyone to get in the car and head towards the huge building.

Buzz--
The glass door opened, and the floor and walls were gray-brown. Except for the glass booth in the center, there was almost nothing on the first floor.

A mass of gray particles that looked like some kind of particles was suspended in the center of the glass booth, constantly evolving into various irregular shapes, which was quite strange.

"This is the mother ore of silver-ash..." Chen Songnan introduced it appropriately, and sighed: "I have been in charge of the affairs of Silver-ash Star for many years, and only three pieces of this mother ore have been discovered. The other two pieces have been sent away, and only this one is left for exhibition."

Mother ore? Li Ming suddenly became excited. The kind that contains special energy?
Xu Wei took two photos. "As expected of a wealthy Xingchuang company, such a precious thing is put on display here."

"Reporter Xu, you're joking. It's not precious at all." Chen Songnan chuckled, "The mother ore is not replicable, which means that anything made from it cannot be mass-produced. It's more of a research material."

Li Ming took a closer look and realized that this was just a virtual projection. According to Chen Songnan's casual remark, the real thing was in his office.

"There are 256 floors and 9752 employees here. Most of them are native residents of Silver-Gray Star." In the suspended elevator, everyone slowly rose. Outside the glass cabin, every floor was filled with busy employees.

Chen Songnan introduced with a smile, "There are more than 50 mining workers in the entire Silver Grey Star. Their food, clothing, housing, transportation, food, drink, and entertainment bring hundreds of millions of star coins to Silver Grey Star every year."

"Really..." Xu Wei said as she took photos, "But as far as I know, it is almost impossible for them to go to Silver Ash City or Star Dome City. All their consumption is done at the nearest station."

"And the station is run by your Xingchuang Company itself, squeezing the wages of the mining workers while making money from them."

"Also, on Silver Grey Star, the crime rate among non-natives has been increasing year by year. Don't tell me that those are all illegal immigrants."

Chen Songnan was a little embarrassed, and he forced a smile: "People's minds are unpredictable. Before we accept every mining worker, we will conduct a strict review, but it is inevitable that there will be omissions."

Ding!
The elevator opened, and Chen Songnan said at the right time: "Everyone, please come in. I have prepared everything you need to check, and I have arranged your accommodation."

"Tomorrow, I will personally accompany you to the front line for investigation. Don't worry, our Star Creation Company strictly abides by the interstellar discipline law and the local laws of Blue Star, and there will be no violations."

For Li Ming and others, the most important thing is to stand guard. The review has nothing to do with them.

"No, whether Xingchuang Company has violated any regulations or not can be known with just a quick look. Why is there any need to investigate? Even a child would know this." Wang Zhiheng was dissatisfied and spoke in a low voice to Li Ming.

"That's not the case." Xu Wei couldn't help but shake his head when he heard this, and explained, "Xingchuang Company's over-exploitation is an established fact, but it is still within the scope allowed by the contract."

"The Interstellar Review Team is investigating whether Star Creation deliberately concealed the dangers of over-development and bribed Blue Star officials in charge of the matter when signing the contract."

"What do you mean?" Wang Zhiheng was puzzled.

Li Ming shook his head: "What I mean is that if Blue Star knew the dangers of over-development and still chose to sign a contract with Star Creation Company, and there was no insider operation, then there would be no problem with Star Creation Company."

"Not bad." Xu Wei nodded.

Wang Zhiheng was stunned. "Isn't the Interstellar Review Team here to support us?"

"They?" Xu Wei paused, "We are not of the same race, why should they support us?"

"What about sand-lime disease? What about environmental trauma?" Wang Zhiheng asked.

"You have to pay the money, that's all we have to do." Xu Wei also sighed.

Wang Zhiheng was stunned for a long time, and cursed: "Damn bureaucrats!"

"Li Ming, come over and discuss tomorrow's maintenance plan." Zhao Xiong called him.

The group asked for a meeting room, and after closing the door, Zhao Xiong took out a palm-sized metal plate.

After being placed on the table, bases popped out from all sides, and a crack appeared in the middle. A bright blue light column slowly rose, and electromagnetic waves surged, enveloping them.

(End of this chapter)