This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 81 A big harvest
After looking at the three-dimensional map, Li Ming found Tu Zheng's room. It was built very luxuriously, with a 4*4 large bed that took up most of the space.

The holographic images all around simulate a prairie, so lifelike that you can even hear the rustling of grass in the wind.

"This fat guy really knows how to enjoy himself." Li Ming fumbled for a while and found his target, the safe that Tu Zheng had placed at the bedside, which he quickly opened.

The safe was not big, and inside it was a pile of golden crystals - refined liquid gold, an interstellar precious metal.

Li Ming recognized it at a glance. It was more expensive than the purple crystal he had obtained from Scarface Tiger before, costing more than ten thousand star coins per gram.

"Tsk..." Li Ming grinned.

According to a rough estimate, this small stack is worth three million star coins, and there are also two pick-up cards from Giant Shield Company, but I don’t know what they are.

Afterwards, he went to the warehouse in the secret castle. Various firearms and weapons were neatly arranged, at least two or three hundred in number. The most noteworthy of them was the full metal combat armor in the glass cabinet.

It is painted black with sharp edges and corners, and almost all visible parts are made of alloy castings. Even the joints have purple-black titanium fiber linings that can only be seen when it moves.

[Tank Guard 211 Close Combat Armor - Class D: Made of diamond alloy, mixed titanium fiber lining, heavy individual combat armor.

Control conditions: 7,000 points of metal energy
Control effect: Defense blessing--150%
Control ability - Tank Guard: Increases defense by 300%. 】

The ability is simple and crude, adding up to a 450% defense boost. After mastering it, ordinary kinetic bullets can't even break his hairs when they land on his skin.

It has to be at least at the D suffix level to break his defense.

Even if you don't have control, with the tank armor on the outside and the array armor on the inside, you can still resist for a while when facing D-level life forms.

"This time it's a big harvest." Li Ming was in a good mood and packed up the guns. These were all metal energy, including some F and E-class heavy weapons.

This windfall is more than all the previous gains combined.

After killing three big fish, he received a reward of three million star coins, and the various things in the secret castle added up to a rough estimate of five or six million.

The total value is eight or nine million star coins, and there are also two anonymous storage cards of Giant Shield Company, which may contain small surprises.

Although this place was also made of metal, he couldn't stay here for long. He packed up his things and left quickly.

.........

Half a day later, Yang Peng stood here with a blank look on his face. Section Chief Wang reported in a low voice: "The minister's place has been cleaned up. There is no data in the monitoring terminal."

"Does anyone else know this place?" Yang Peng couldn't help but look at Zeng Hao.

"Those who know this place are all Tu Zheng's confidants. Although there are few of them, there are still a few." Zeng Hao shook his head helplessly: "I don't know who got there first."

"Shadow!" Yang Peng suddenly uttered two words. Zeng Hao's face froze slightly, while Section Chief Wang's expression brightened: "How did the Minister know it was him?"

"Intuition." Yang Peng frowned. "I don't know why, but I always feel like he's always one step ahead of us."

"You mean, there's a traitor in the department?" Section Chief Wang deliberately lowered his voice.

"It's just my speculation, don't talk nonsense." Yang Peng shook his head and sighed.

……

"Another USB flash drive?" Li Ming was speechless, looking at the USB flash drive in the box.

After he absorbed the refined liquid gold and those firearms and equipment, he obtained nearly 60,000 metal energies. After controlling the tank guard, there were still about 55,000 left, an unprecedentedly large number.

Then he went to Judun Company to pick up the goods. This was one of the two anonymous storage cards left by Tu Zheng.

He plugged it into the smart terminal and took a look. It turned out to be another piece of criminal evidence, which had a lot of overlap with what Qin Xiao had collected.

But there are differences.

What Qin Xiao collected were mostly middle and high-level ones, but Tu Zheng had a lot of evidence of low-level government officials accepting bribes, not just the city guards, but all departments, with the number as high as four to five hundred.

However, some of the bribes were only a few thousand star coins, just to do a small favor.

"Everyone is using this kind of thing to protect themselves now, right? If they get caught, they'll just be thrown out and blow up a large area." Li Ming copied it into the smart terminal and destroyed the original USB flash drive.

Suddenly I realized that my smart terminal had also become a bomb.

It’s still a mixed bomb. It would be fun if it was lost someday, he thought aimlessly.

Although this USB flash drive disappointed him, another thing gave him a surprise--
[D-72 high-energy thermobaric bomb - consumption: a bomb with huge destructive power.

Control conditions: 10,000 points of metal energy
Control Effect - Powerful Blast: Consume the controlled object, temporarily upgrade the host to the D-level life form standard, and control the fire element, duration - 60s]

"Thermobaric bullet, are you trying to fight to the death?" Li Ming stroked the delicate metal hollow patterns on its surface.

Although it is only the size of a fist, this thing is powerful enough to reduce several city blocks to ashes, comparable to a small missile.

If such a serious terrorist attack were to occur, the entire city guard would be almost completely destroyed, if not completely emaciated.

Happily in control, I have one more trump card. As for trump cards, you can never have too many. There are still 45,000 metal energy left.

When they returned to the City Guard Building, Yang Peng happened to be leading the team back with a gloomy face, and Lin Yaoxian had a sad face.

Yang Peng saw him coming back leisurely from outside and asked him a few questions suspiciously, but he couldn't get to the bottom of it.

In the afternoon, the city guards were all discussing the unlucky guy Lin Yaoxian, and many of them were gloating over his misfortune.

Li Ming sat in the chair, thinking, now he was burdened with a huge sum of money. Since the Sixth Patrol Fleet had left two days ago, the Black Hole Network resumed distribution.

But he was not in a hurry to transform them all into metal energy. At present, the remaining metal energy was enough to handle the D level.

However, the metal energy required to control C-level objects can be easily sucked dry.

At the beginning of August, the disturbance in Silver Ash City had passed, and what happened not long ago seemed like a dream.

In Chengwei's family apartment.

"Come here, come here..." Yang Yu was wearing a long top, the hem of which revealed her glowing white thighs. She was holding a bowl of milky fish soup in her hand, which she placed in the middle of the table.

Yang Peng was busy in the kitchen, while Old Yang was sitting on the sofa, fidgeting.

"Mr. Yang, are you still not used to it after such a long time?" Li Ming said with a smile upon seeing this.

"This place is like a birdcage. I can't get used to it." Old Yang said dissatisfiedly, "There's no one to talk to on weekdays. I might as well move back."

Having said that, Mr. Yang did not force him to move back. He also knew that Yang Peng's current status was not ordinary, and moving back would not be a good idea.

"Alas...when Yu'er goes to school, I'll be alone at home." Old Yang seemed a little lonely.

"Don't worry, Grandpa. I will video chat with you often. You can ask Dad to install a holographic projection at home. Then I will be no different from being at home."

Yang Yu said nonchalantly that the girl had no sadness about leaving, only longing for the future.

"Haha, the world outside is so exciting, who will remember grandpa by then?" Old Yang grinned.

The four of them had lunch. At the table, Yang Yu couldn't wait to ask, "Li Ming, hasn't the Guard University recruited you yet?" Seeing Li Ming shaking his head, Yang Yu looked at his father and frowned, "Dad, what's going on?"

She also wants to go to the Capital Star with Li Ming.

"How should I know?" Yang Peng looked puzzled, as he had no control over the Guard University.

After dinner, he and Yang Peng went out together and headed for the City Guard Building.

"The new minister has been confirmed and will be transferred from another galaxy. He is on the way and it is estimated that it will take more than a month for him to arrive." Yang Peng said casually on the hovercraft.

"Uncle Yang, we have to keep a low profile and not ask the new minister to come and pay us a visit." Li Ming said earnestly.

"You little brat, do I need you to remind me?" Yang Peng was speechless, and then he glared at him again: "I almost got tricked by you. He's the minister, it's good enough that he didn't make things difficult for me. Why are you bowing down to him?"

"Ha..." Li Ming laughed, "You have the Records of Officials, what are you afraid of?"

"What is the Records of Officials' Conduct? You are talking about the USB flash drive." Yang Peng's voice suddenly lowered and he sighed, "I don't know whether it is right or wrong."

Li Ming emphasized: "Of course it is right. How do we check those who received one or two thousand star coins? If we check them all, Silver Ash City will still be in trouble. As long as they don't commit the same mistake again in the future, it will be fine."

Yang Peng snorted coldly: "Do I need you to comfort me?"

The USB flash drive appeared at their doorstep not long ago. The surveillance camera didn't capture anything, but the contents inside were shocking to Yang Peng.

But he finally chose to keep it secret.

When they arrived at the Chengcheng Building, the two parted ways. Li Ming went to train. Although he didn't have to stay in the training room because he had the [Thunder Equipment Ball], there was unlimited nutrient solution in the training room, so he might as well use it.

"22%"

The progress was good, and Li Ming began to pre-test his own development progress for record keeping.

In the afternoon, someone came and called him, saying that Yang Peng was looking for him.

Arriving at the top floor, in the office that originally belonged to Qin Xiao, Yang Peng saw him coming in and said helplessly: "It's Jingyin again, right?"

Li Ming shrugged.

Yang Peng really had no way to deal with Li Ming, so he said, "Just now, the Capital Guard Academy sent a notice that they want to recruit you through the internal channels of the City Guard."

"You'll be starting school at the same time as the freshmen, and you're about the same age, so get ready to buy your ticket."

Li Ming nodded, and then said: "Uncle Yang, please help me reject it."

"Hmm...Hmm?" Yang Peng was looking for something with his head down. When he heard this, he looked at Li Ming in surprise: "What did you say?"

"I will go to Capital University of Technology." Li Ming continued.

"Capital Institute of Technology!?" Yang Peng's voice rose a notch.

"How... did you get in?" He felt puzzled, and then suddenly realized something, and said in a deep voice: "Entered through a special channel?"

"Ah."

"Shadow?" Yang Peng suddenly shouted. Li Ming looked at him, his eyes containing three parts puzzlement, three parts confusion, three parts astonishment, and one part as if he was a lunatic.

"…What did you say?"

"Nothing." Yang Peng shook his head, and then sneered in his heart, thinking that he was really hysterical.

"Which channel?" he inquired.

"The letter of recommendation was bought by my father at a high price," Li Ming explained.

“Brother Changhai…” The suspicion that had disappeared from Yang Peng’s eyes surged up again, and he said solemnly: “Tell me…Tell me honestly, does father have any secrets?”

"You also have doubts?" Li Ming was shocked. "I have had this suspicion for a long time. His death was too strange. It took so long to find out the cause. Even after you became the interim minister, you used a lot of resources, but still couldn't find any clues."

Yang Peng's face suddenly became awkward, and he felt that Li Ming's next question would be "What do you do for a living?" His eyes were erratic, and he said in a deep voice: "Okay, okay, I won't ask any more questions. Let's go, let's go quickly."

Li Ming stood up and prepared to leave, when he suddenly heard Yang Peng say, "Yu'er, she doesn't know yet."

"I haven't had the chance to say it yet." Li Ming responded, and the sound of grinding teeth could be vaguely heard.

Good boy, good boy... Yang Yu now eagerly hopes that Li Ming can go to the Capital Star with her.

But Li Ming didn't say anything, just kept the person hanging and gave a surprise at the end.

My poor daughter is completely controlled by this boy.

"If you..." Yang Peng wanted to give him a warning, but when he thought about it, the time was high and the emperor was far away, and it would take him more than a month to go back and forth, so warning would be of no use.

Suddenly, he lost interest and waved his hand: "Forget it, take good care of her."

"Don't worry." Li Ming smiled.

.........

On August 16, the starport of Silver Gray Star looked a bit shabby, with only three connecting channels. There were mottled marks of repairs on the edge of the platform, and it looked like it had been hit several times.

On weekdays, non-human races are basically not seen, and there are not many humans. The hall can be said to be empty. Even the most ordinary ticket for interstellar voyages across galaxies costs no less than 10,000 star coins.

Today is quite lively. The Ministry of Education of Silver Gray Star has specially sent people here. Not only students from Capital University of Technology, but also students from other schools, all set off today.

There are discounts on boat tickets purchased through the Ministry of Education.

The interweaving of excitement and sadness is also a rare scene. Yang Yu stood on tiptoe, looked around, and asked anxiously: "Where is Li Ming? Why didn't he come?"

"He hasn't told you yet?" Yang Peng, who had finally gotten away from the situation and came to see him off, had a ferocious look on his face. Good boy, you kept him hanging for so long!
"Tell me what?" Yang Yu frowned.

Yang Peng wanted to say it directly, but he first looked at the anxiety and uneasiness in his daughter's brow, and then thought of her excitement and happiness after seeing Li Ming later.

She pursed her lips, finally not wanting to ruin this little surprise, and said, "Nothing... maybe he has something wrong."

"Oh" the light in Yang Yu's eyes suddenly dimmed and he waved goodbye. Old Yang couldn't help but take a few steps forward, his eyes full of reluctance.

When she boarded the spaceship, she didn't bring much luggage. Yang Yu was a little distraught. She stuffed her luggage into the luggage rack and sat by the porthole, holding her chin with her hand, looking worried.

"Dear passengers, welcome aboard the Piccolo interstellar spaceship. This voyage will take five days and our destination is Xiaoyun Port. Please do not make loud noises during the journey. During the rest period, please pay attention to your personal manners. I wish you a pleasant journey."

"..."

With the beautiful prompt sound, the spacecraft gradually left the orbit, the gray-brown silver-gray star shrank smaller, deep pits and gullies were clearly visible, the atmospheric clouds were unpredictable, and the boys and girls lay in front of the porthole.

After the initial excitement, there was some silence in the cabin.

(End of this chapter)