Star Ocean: Starting from the Abandoned Mining Space Station

Chapter 74 The inevitable situation and the gradual change of ideas

The factory director was a little surprised that Chen Ming told him directly that he had a military ship.

And Chen Ming did have a bit of gambling in mind.

Because now the factory director has both the military's inaction and not helping the space station when Afterglow attacked, and the large amount of benefits provided by Chen Ming to the factory director.

Therefore, Chen Ming felt that under such circumstances, he could take the initiative to test the factory director's attitude towards the military.

Use this to decide whether to continue to maintain the current relationship with the factory director as colleagues, superiors, subordinates and business partners, or even an even closer relationship.

However, Chen Ming's temptation didn't seem to be of much use.

The factory director didn't seem to care. He just stared at Chen Ming with confusion on his face and realized where Chen Ming went when he was out.

Then he did not shy away from military ships and said bluntly: "The identification codes of military ships can indeed be obtained, and it is easier to obtain than afterglow ships."

"Their ships often have some obsolete models, which are sold to civilians after the military systems are removed."

"You can use your fake ID as you like, as long as you don't expose the military system to the army."

"Speaking of this, I have to remind you that if you really want to return to the prosperous star field in the future, it is best to dismantle those military systems directly, otherwise you may get into trouble."

Dismantle military systems?

Chen Ming was stunned for a moment, his mind suddenly went blank as if he had been electrocuted, and only this sentence remained.

All along, he had overlooked one thing, intentionally or unintentionally.

It is the prosperous star field within the human empire. It is a place where perfect order and rules exist, and there is also powerful force to ensure the existence of order and the implementation of rules.

If Chen Ming wants to go back, he must follow the order and rules established by force.

According to the requirements of the empire's laws, people like him without special status can only fly a castrated version of the civilian spaceship.

This means that all the ships he has on hand, except the Iron Ore, must be castrated before they can safely operate in the prosperous star field.

Even the weapons of the Iron Ore had to be partially castrated according to regulations. At least the weapons removed from the two machines were absolutely useless.

Chen Ming felt a little uncomfortable thinking about this.

But he also knew that this was not something that the factory director could decide. The factory director just reminded him of the rules that he must abide by if he wants to go back.

Facing the factory director's kind reminder, Chen Ming could only honestly say: "I will pay attention."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Ming suddenly felt an inexplicable feeling of anxiety and discomfort in his heart.

This is not a physical discomfort, but a psychological discomfort.

It's like I'm used to wearing loose casual clothes here, but I have to wear tight clothes when I go back.

And the actual situation is much more serious than what clothes to wear.

If Chen Ming didn't do this, if he was found out by the authorities after he returned, it would be easy to tow away the spacecraft and ask for rectification, but he might have to spend several years in prison.

When Chen Ming thought about what might happen in the future, Chen Ming felt an unspeakable feeling in his heart.

Not only is it necessary to be the most restricted by the rules, but there is also the uneasiness of losing the ability to fight and protect oneself.

No matter how prosperous the interior of the empire is, it is not solid. It is impossible to say that there are people in every galaxy and every planet.

This means that there are also pirates in the prosperous star field, and those pirates in the prosperous star field who can form their own fleets will be more powerful and ferocious than those in the edge star field.

Although Chen Ming knew that there would not be as many pirates in the prosperous star field as in the edge star field, and the probability of encountering them was very low.

But if the military system of his spaceship is dismantled, it will really have no ability to resist when it encounters danger.

This insecure situation makes Chen Ming, who has always been more inclined to make decisions before taking action, very uncomfortable.

So much so that he is now slightly shaken by his previous idea of ​​returning to the prosperous star field.

He even somewhat forgot about the current situation.

Chen Ming's sudden silence and strange behavior made the factory director discover something.

He stretched out his hand and dragged a chair next to Chen Ming, and asked in a very gentle tone: "Is this your first time in the Fringe Star Territory, little Mu?"

Chen Ming was suddenly freed from the thoughts that made him extremely anxious. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to answer truthfully: "It can't be considered the first time, but it is indeed the first time to come to a place like this."

"That's not surprising. Do you feel that you basically don't have to follow any rules now, but you have to abide by a lot of rules after you go back, which gives you a headache?"

The factory director said everything Chen Ming was thinking at once. After all, he must be an old man and he is definitely not used to many things.

Chen Ming is indeed a little confused now, so he can try to listen to other people's opinions and make decisions based on his own situation.

So Chen Ming nodded and said, "Yes."

"Well, then I have a few ways to help you solve the problem. Just listen to it. How you decide is your own business."

"The first one is the easiest. Go to any serious space station in the edge star field and stay for a while. It's best to find a temporary job and try to relax in a normal environment."

"Just abide by the rules and don't run around. You'll usually get used to it in a month or two. Then you can go back with a large caravan with an official background, and your safety will be guaranteed."

The factory director looked at Chen Ming as he spoke.

However, Chen Ming was sitting motionless on the chair now. No one could see what kind of expression or thoughts he had under the protective clothing.

The factory director exhaled slightly, and after a slight hesitation, he suddenly said as if he had made up his mind: "Another way."

"You saw it when you signed the contract before, we are a subsidiary of Xinda Company."

"Actually, Xinda Company has a special armed fleet, which can drive military ships in the prosperous star field."

"You know about the Armed Ship Permit, right?"

"know."

An armed ship license is something that ordinary people cannot apply for, but it will be issued by the empire official to some specific people.

In addition to giving licenses to large companies like Sindar, the government will also give licenses to bounty hunters or mercenaries who have made a name for themselves in the Fringe Star Territory, requiring them to deal with pirates.

Dealing with the elite pirates in the prosperous star field that are not worthy of special treatment by the military, but cannot be dealt with by the patrol team equipped by the system itself.

It is normal for Xinda Company to have such things, and it is normal for them to be distributed to others, but it is not normal for them to be distributed to Chen Ming.

So Chen Ming didn't say anything, just waiting for the factory director to continue talking.

"Although our space station is in a weird place like this and doesn't have a serious reputation, the promotion path within the company is included."

"That is to say, if you do well with us, you can be promoted to the main company."

"As long as your skills can be promoted along the way, it won't be a big problem to get a license."

What the factory director said was very clear, but Chen Ming knew that he had not yet said it, but there was one thing that both people present understood.

If Chen Ming wants to go up through the internal route of Xinda Company, he must join as his true identity.

In the past, Chen Ming only wanted to support himself, but now he is always pursuing opportunities to improve himself and develop himself.

So joining a big company is definitely an option.

And Chen Ming did have a rough idea during this time.

Chen Ming 30 years ago wanted to do this relatively difficult job in the edge star field to improve his qualifications.

When the task arrangement cycle is over, you can definitely be promoted to one and a half levels when you go back to the company headquarters.

I repeated this process several times when I was young, from a maintenance engineer to a maintenance engineer general manager, and from a technical position to a management position.

At this point, it was enough for Chen Ming.

But it's not enough for Chen Ming now.

Now he wants to return to a technical position from a management position on this basis.

Of course not to be a maintenance worker, but to be a researcher.

Chen Ming knew that large companies like Xinda usually have their own specialized research institutes, and only the top technical talents can enter.

Even if these technicians spend many years in laboratories and research institutes, they will definitely master more skills and know-how than Chen Ming does now.

That's why Chen Mingcai wanted to invest more in the research of spacecraft technology, and wanted to join a place like this on his own.

The purpose is very simple, one is to improve yourself.

The other one is to match his panel.

Chen Ming's ability to directly control the spacecraft through the panel can definitely be used in the research of spacecraft technology.

As long as Chen Ming can use his ability to publish some research results, give full play to his abilities and technical talents, he will gradually gain a certain say within the institute.

If everything goes well, he should eventually have a research institute of his own.

Isn't this far better than being a small manager with a low status in the company?

Chen Ming believes that he is talented.

Because if he remembers correctly, he should be 25 years old now, not counting the cryo-dormant time.

It took an orphan 25 years to go from having nothing to becoming a professional maintenance technician responsible for important maintenance tasks under the Sinda Company. If he didn't have talent, then no one could say he had talent.

Chen Ming himself, without any foundation, spent only half a year to completely master everything in the past 25 years through memory.

Even the actual operation has not fallen behind. At most, there are only some long-term experience deficiencies.

Therefore, under the circumstances where the time, place and people are favorable, Chen Ming occupies the right time and the talent of Renhe.

Joining a large company to become a professional technical researcher is a path plan that Chen Ming is happy to accept.

But this matter happened to be in the right place.

What the factory director proposed at this time was Xinda Company, leaving Chen Ming completely unable to make a decision.

Although it is certain that the factory director does not have a good attitude towards the military, and his daily income of several million is enough for him to protect Chen Ming in many places.

But Chen Ming still doesn't know the company's attitude.

If the upper management of Xinda Company and the military are the same, then Chen Ming is basically no different from throwing himself into a trap.In front of the real superiors of the company, the identity of the factory director is somewhat unsatisfactory.

It is impossible for Chen Ming to go to the office of the director of the space station administration and ask him what he thinks of the abandoned mining space station.

The investigation can only be conducted indirectly through the factory director.

Moreover, it would be best for Chen Ming to wait until the factory director sees the benefits of his technology and has substantial interests tied up before trying to ask the factory director if he knows anything about the mining space station.

Only when the company's attitude is completely determined can Chen Ming really make a decision.

So now, Chen Ming's answer can only be: "I'll think about it again."

"Okay."

The factory director said casually: "Anyway, you actually have a third way to go, continue to stay here."

"When will I make enough money and be able to live a life of debauchery? Isn't it better to find a good planet to stay on than now?"

"Come to me if you change your mind. The same goes for the previous one. The price I will give you will definitely be the best."

Chen Ming nodded solemnly to the factory director, stood up and left the office.

After leaving the building of the Administration Bureau, Chen Ming returned to Space Arm No. 15, but instead of returning to the maintenance plant, he directly chose to skip work.

Came near the Iron Ore.

The Iron Mine is now very different from when Chen Ming first returned to the space station.

Because he has carried out a wave of major modifications to the Iron Ore in the past few days.

The overall appearance of the Iron Mine has changed from the original square iron cube to the current slightly streamlined appearance, but the overall bright white color has not changed.

And not only the appearance, the interior of the Iron Ore has also undergone a lot of modifications.

All the 30-year-old equipment on the Iron Mine was dismantled by Chen Ming and replaced with the best models within the range that his wallet could accept.

After the equipment was updated, Chen Ming deliberately slightly reduced the proportion of useless space in the ship, such as the completely useless captain's cabin.

More space and load were used for cargo bays, armor and engines.

These are nothing, the most important thing is that Chen Ming also installed a new system on the Iron Mine, the radiation system.

This means that the Iron Ore can start using shield modules and truly professional and powerful military weapons.

This entire system cost him nearly ten million, almost one-fifth of his assets.

So much so that Chen Ming was still thinking about it during the process of transformation.

Is it possible to save money by cutting a complete shield module from other frigates in half and then repairing each to make two complete shield modules?

It's a pity that after Chen Ming tried it, he found that it didn't work. The shield module cut in half would be reconnected as soon as it was repaired.

The repair interface on the panel always only shows the almost negligible materials needed to glue the shield module that was cut in half.

Even if he stayed in the space station holding half of the shield modules and threw the other half to the dark cemetery.

As long as the repair button is pressed, the other half of the shield module will suddenly appear in liquid form in Chen Ming's palm, and be connected with the half of the shield module in his hand for repair.

And doing so will also consume a lot of his mental energy, which is completely an act that outweighs the gains and losses.

So in the end, Chen Ming had no choice but to reluctantly spend the money.

The final result of the transformation is that although this ship still looks like a civilian mining ship, inside it is a professional military spacecraft with extremely strong survivability.

After all, the purpose of the Iron Mine is very clear. It is the spaceship that Chen Ming flies daily, and it is also the last line of defense to protect him.

All modifications were carried out with life-saving capabilities as the highest priority, and Chen Ming spent a lot of time and effort.

But just such a spaceship gave Chen Ming an extremely headache when he saw it.

The reason for the headache was naturally the rules he had to abide by after returning to the prosperous star field.

Chen Ming didn't think about what to do now. He could only sigh slightly, look away from the Iron Ore, and ignore this matter for the time being.

He came here not to see what happened to his spaceship, but because he had other things to do.

At this time, next to the Iron Ore, there were several strong men wearing exoskeletons waiting for something.

Chen Ming naturally knew who they were waiting for, but he was not in a hurry to go there right away. Instead, he took advantage of the moment to take a closer look at the exoskeleton equipment they were wearing.

This is the rare time Chen Ming has seen someone wearing this kind of mechanical exoskeleton for auxiliary operations since he came to the space station.

Chen Ming must be interested in these things.

However, I have no idea of ​​actual research and actual use.

Because most of the knowledge in Chen Ming's mind is about spacecraft technology and large-scale equipment technology, he doesn't know much about this kind of exoskeleton machinery applied to individuals.

If he really wanted to study, he would have to learn a lot of new things.

But now, apart from going to work every day, he spends his evenings and other free time reading various professional books, and he doesn't have much energy to do anything else.

Moreover, there is actually no suitable environment for the use of exoskeletons.

Chen Ming has now returned from Ruimu Planet, and it is unlikely that he will need to go out to work in person, so it is good to have a look at the exoskeleton. There is no need for it in actual use.

Chen Ming looked at the exoskeleton for a while and then walked up and said hello to a few people waiting next to the Iron Mine.

After confirming their identities, they asked them to help carry all the dozen boxes of heavy goods they had brought onto the spacecraft.

These goods are a large amount of materials that Chen Ming purchased a few days ago from the owner of the recycling shop recommended by Lao Wu.

Because some materials needed to be ordered or were out of stock, it took until today to get them together.

It just so happened that Chen Ming was on duty today and didn't need to go out, so he asked the owner of the recycling shop to deliver it today.

In addition to a large number of basic materials and advanced metal materials, there are also a small amount of special metal materials.

The effect is naturally obvious.

After more than a dozen boxes of goods were moved, although Chen Ming was sure that the boss was not short of anything, he still pretended to count them and signed the receipt certificate.

But today's things are not over here yet.

Chen Ming closed the hatch directly and started the Iron Ore's engine.

Driving the Iron Ore, he flew out of the space station alone and entered the hyperspace channel at the edge of the galaxy.

Set off for the Dark Cemetery.

The Iron Ore arrived at its destination almost instantly and connected to the communication channels of two spacecraft controlled by gamma AI.

Although Chen Ming takes time every day to chat with the two AIs staying near the dark cemetery, talking about afterglow or human beings.

However, out of concern to prevent Yuhui from suffering from depression or other problems, Chen Ming asked specifically: "Is it okay for you to stay here alone?"

Gamma A is still the same as before; it immediately answered Chen Ming's question: "No problem, we can consume time by studying the data downloaded before."

"As long as you can take us back to the galaxy with the afterglow communication beacon every once in a while, we can stay like this forever."

After Gamma A finished speaking, Gamma B simply said: "Me too."

"That's good."

After Chen Ming confirmed that there was no problem with Gamma AI, he turned around and began to prepare what he wanted to do.

Repair spaceship.

There are four spaceships parked on this side of the dark cemetery, namely Diopter, Shimmer, Fighter Kai and Centurion.

The Diopter had been previously overhauled at Afterglow Colony and required no repairs, while the remaining three ships were repaired with the help of panels.

Except for the Shimmer-level damage to the other Afterglow ship, which was relatively serious and took a little longer, the other two ships were basically repaired instantly.

In fact, the Shimmer-class ship had the opportunity to be repaired when Diopter docked at the colony.
Just because this ship was taken away by Diopter in a destroyed state, the original AI core on it had been removed and the hull was abandoned.

So on the Afterglow side, this shimmer-class ship is in the hands of Gamma A.

Therefore, repairing it in the colony is not free, but requires consuming Gamma A's material quota.

Although it is not impossible to repair, if it really needs to be repaired, it will have to take out all the four ships that were squeezed together in the Diopter's belly at that time.

The most indispensable thing in a place like a factory is a variety of equipment with strange functions.

If the ship factory has scanning equipment and happens to scan the inside of the Iron Ore, then the problem will be huge.

So at that time, Chen Ming felt that it was too dangerous, so he simply gave up the idea.

Later, when Chen Mingcai was chatting with Gamma A, he learned about the specific situation of the ship factory in Yuhui.

To put it simply, the factory will do what you need to do for you.

If there is no special request and there is no obvious damage to the ship, the factory will definitely not waste fuel to activate the scanning equipment.

But the problem is not that big. The worst thing is that Chen Ming can just fix it himself.

Anyway, now Gamma A's property is his property, and using Gamma A's material ration is equivalent to using Chen Ming's own money.

So judging from the results, Chen Ming did not spend any more than he should have.

After waiting for a while, the low-light level was completely repaired.

Chen Ming opened the panel and confirmed that there was still a lot of material left in the batch of materials he purchased.

These were not the extra ones he had miscalculated, but he had bought extra ones before, intending to make modifications similar to those of the Iron Ore for other spaceships.

Although after being reminded by the factory director, Chen Ming knew that his abnormal modification might not be of use in the future and would have to be dismantled.

But what if?
If he gets an armed ship license, if he really doesn't go to the prosperous star field in the end, wouldn't these modifications come in handy?
So Chen Ming finally decided not to think too much about it and just modified it first.

all will be good.

If it can't be straightened, then he will rely on his own ability to straighten the boat.

(End of this chapter)