Star Ocean: Starting from the Abandoned Mining Space Station

Chapter 82: Changes in whispers, illusory figures

After the Iron Ore successfully entered the channel.

Because of the relationship he had talked with his boss before, Chen Ming planned to follow the boss's instructions and try to get in touch with the Whispering Stone more often.

Maybe in the future, like the boss, he could directly rely on psychic energy fluctuations to activate the range effect of the ectoplasm stone.

Although the activation effect of Whisper seems to be not quite right, it will cause the activator himself to be affected by Whisper.

But there must be a way to solve this, otherwise the boss would not have mentioned the concept of psychic weapons.

The "gentle" spirit stone like the boss is definitely not as suitable as a weapon as the "whisper" Chen Ming.

So Chen Ming took advantage of the fact that the spacecraft was still halfway and Lao Wu was playing with Xiao Shi and came to the engine room.

However, when Chen Ming took out the Whispering Spiritual Stone sealed in the tin can.

He suddenly discovered that the Whispering Stone that had been sealed had undergone some unexpected changes.

The most obvious thing is that the twisted black patterns on the stone have all turned into dark red patterns that look like blood has solidified.

Moreover, these changed patterns are more distorted than before, making people feel obvious discomfort when looking at them with the naked eye.

After actually getting close to the ectoplasmic stone, Chen Ming could directly feel the irritating whisper without even touching it.

Sensing something was wrong, Chen Ming immediately turned around and put on heavy protective clothing.

He approached cautiously, and after feeling that the whispering influence of the Whispering Stone had increased, he cautiously stretched out a finger and pressed it.

Just when Chen Ming had just touched the ectoplasmic stone, a whisper that was stronger than before and more uncontrollable sounded in his ears.

If there was a madman whispering in Chen Ming's ear when he touched the ectoplasmic stone before, then now a group of madmen were stuffed into Chen Ming's head, telling them about their delirium.

The strong whisper stimulated Chen Ming's brain, causing him to immediately let go of his hand.

The whispers subsided, but Chen Ming's brows were still furrowed.

He didn't just hear crazy whispers, he also saw something in the whispers, something visible to the naked eye.

It looked like a scene where a gun was put to the head and killed with one shot.

The gun itself and the person holding the gun were very blurry, but the appearance of the person who was killed was very clear.

A middle-aged man with a mustache, relatively fair face, thin body, about 1.7 meters tall.

Wearing more formal work clothes, the clothes look like they have been velvet and are very warm.

In addition, this person's pockets are slightly bulging.

The moment he fell to the ground dead, a stone the size of a thumb rolled out of his pocket.

Although Chen Ming couldn't see clearly what the stone looked like or the patterns on it.

But he was sure.

This is also a spirit stone.

Although this scene is extremely real.

But Chen Ming was still not sure whether this was an hallucination caused by the whisper.

After thinking about it, he opened the panel and took a look.

What he didn't expect was that the spiritual stone on the panel actually changed.

The original [Ectoplasm Stone (Whispers)] has become [Ectoplasm Stone (Whispers)], and the change in name alone makes people even more uncomfortable.

However, what was obtained by dismantling this spiritual energy stone was still the original 16 grams of spiritual energy without any change.

Chen Ming shook his head to get rid of the aftermath of the whisper in his mind, thinking about any reasonable explanation for the sudden change in the Whispering Stone.

After thinking for a while, Chen Ming felt that the most likely cause of the current situation was the few corpses in the coffin.

The appearance of these corpses is the most obvious situation on the Iron Ore spacecraft in the near future, and is most likely related to the changes in the Whispering Stone.

But what is the truth? It is impossible for Chen Ming, a dabbler in psychic abilities, to draw a correct conclusion.

Old Wu, an ordinary person, must not know about this matter.

Although Xiao Shi seems to be sensitive to psychic abilities, he is just a hamster and can't do anything.

Chen Ming wanted to know the answer, so the only one he could turn to was his boss.

But now the Iron Ore is in the hyperspace channel, and there are no space stations or large colony signal adapters around, so there is no way to connect to the star domain network.

There is no way to contact the boss.

But fortunately, after the Whispering Stone turned into a Lie Stone, except for the abnormality when it came into contact, the scope of influence of the Whispering Stone only increased a little.

As long as the stone is placed in the corner of the engine room, it will not affect other parts of the spacecraft.

Chen Ming also took some time to observe and confirm that the scope of influence of this stone would indeed not expand any further.

It shouldn't be too much of a problem to contact the boss after arriving in the star capital galaxy.

Moreover, Chen Ming will only spend two days at most when he goes out this time. He will wait until he gets back.

Chen Ming was right at this time and a half.

Of course, to be on the safe side, Chen Ming finally threw the Whispering Stone directly onto the mule level.

Stay away from the coffin, stay away from the Iron Ore, stay away from Gamma B, stay away from Chen Ming himself.

From the space station to the dark cemetery, from entering the hyperspace channel to exiting the hyperspace channel, it only takes less than 1 minute, including the acceleration time in the middle.

It took Chen Ming more than six hours to get from the Dark Cemetery to the galaxy where the Star Territory Government is located.

And as Chen Ming's spaceship approached the capital of the star field, many other spacecraft passed by around the channel.

Most of them were caravan spaceships, but there were also some that looked like bounty hunter spaceships, and Chen Ming even saw some military spaceships.

So much so that his fighter ship was somewhat inconspicuous.

But this is good news for Chen Ming.

Before Chen Ming controlled the spacecraft to jump out of the hyperspace channel and head to the galaxy, he turned on the spacecraft's transponder in advance.

Just in case you are spotted by a patrol looking for trouble as soon as you enter.

The four spaceships quickly jumped out of the hyperspace channel and arrived at the capital of the star field, the edge of the RJW star system.

Here, Chen Ming can have a clear view of the interior of the galaxy.

This is a galaxy with seven planets.

It orbits a yellow dwarf star called the RJW at the center of the galaxy.

There are seven planets in the galaxy from the inside to the outside. They are two hot planets close to the star.

A planet that looks bare, earthy brown, and desolate.

Half of the planet is covered in white, and except for the equatorial part where some green can be seen, the other half is also white.

This planet is where the star capital colony is located.

Further out is a planet showing red flames.

On the outermost side are a gas giant planet and an ice giant planet.

The sensors of the Iron Ore show that these planets have space stations with different shapes and functions built in their orbits.

And on every space station and on the surface of every planet, a large number of spacecraft are taking off and landing at every moment.

At the same time, there are more flying out of the galaxy.

This scene is even worse than the colony in Yuhui.

In addition, these can show signs of the internal development and vitality of the galaxy.

What attracted Chen Ming's attention the most in the entire galaxy was the star gate, the crystallization of human technology built in the orbit of the fourth planet in the galaxy.

This is the capital of the Galo Star Territory where Chen Ming is currently located.

Here, Chen Ming seemed to be able to see a glimpse of the prosperous star field.

Chen Ming turned off the autopilot and manually controlled the Iron Ore to bring the other three ships close to the space station of the white, habitable planet in the galaxy.

He had done some homework before.

The functions of the outer space stations surrounding the colony planet and the space station on Sunset are basically the same.

Just a small branch of a colony.

Complete some simple tasks here, or provide some supplies to passing ships.

There is no need for people to land on the planet because of trivial matters, saving time.

But that's not so good for things like pirate bounties.

Chen Ming still has to go to the surface of the planet and go to the government's professional agency for follow-up operations.

Originally, if the Iron Mine had not modified its militarized system, it would only need to apply to land directly.

But now, the several armed spaceships brought by Chen Ming can only be temporarily docked in the space station.

He himself can go up and down the space station and the surface through the space elevator or the public personnel transport ship provided by the space station.

Otherwise, if it violates the rules and directly breaks into the planet's atmosphere, the heavy defense array weapons deployed on the surface are no joke.

As several spacecraft controlled by Chen Ming gradually approached the space station in the orbit of the white planet.

Chen Ming took the initiative to send an inbound request to the space station.

Then the communication from the space station was sent.

After being connected, a gentle female voice sounded inside the communication channel: "Hello, please explain your purpose so that we can register your spacecraft."

"Submit a bounty."

"Okay, your identity and purpose have been recorded, please follow the signal lights and enter the dock."

Within a few minutes, Chen Ming successfully parked all four ships in the dock of the space station.

The two maps were quickly sent along the space station's network.

A map of the space station, a map of the surface.

The places where Chen Ming needs to go to pay the bounty are specially marked on it, which is very user-friendly.

As before, Chen Ming stuffed the small stone into the protective suit and helmet and took off the Iron Ore.

Looking at the different architectural styles around the pirate space station.

Chen Ming looked at it with some interest, but as he looked at it, he suddenly thought of a very practical problem.He turned to look at Old Wu, who had an expression of relief from his busy work, and asked, "By the way, how much is the parking fee at the space station?"

"With your current wealth, do you still care about the parking fee?"

"Oh, too."

Chen Ming nodded and followed the map's guidance to the location of the space elevator connecting the space station to the planet's surface.

After waiting for a few minutes and going through security, he got on board something he had only seen in science fiction movies.

As the elevator descended, Chen Ming could even see through the transparent portholes next to it that the almost undulating surface of the planet was getting closer and closer.

When passing through the atmosphere, Chen Ming could even see the heavy snow falling outside.

This is the origin of the white appearance of this planet.

Protective clothing can keep warm in the space environment, and this kind of low temperature that is acceptable to humans is naturally not a problem.

At this moment, Old Wu suddenly said like a tour guide: "Although this planet has snow all year round, at the equator, the temperature is above [-] degrees Celsius for four months a year, so it is considered a habitable planet."

"Originally, colonies would not be built on such planets. After all, there are many good livable planets, but other planets in the galaxy are too good."

When Chen Ming heard Lao Wu's nagging, he remembered the situation of Yuhui's colony before. After comparing the development gap between the two sides, he asked with great interest: "How good is it?"

Old Wu suddenly seemed to be excited and said: "The two innermost planets of the galaxy contain a large amount of ordinary metal resources and high-grade metal resources."

"Being close to the star causes the environment to be very hot. There is no atmosphere and there is no need to worry about pollution. It has a unique advantage when building industrial smelting equipment."

"The two outermost giant planets, a gas giant and an ice giant, can provide large amounts of rare isotopes such as deuterium that can be used in industry."

"Although the remaining two planets are relatively average, they also have resources worth developing."

"That desolate planet was once a habitable planet, and the internal rock formations contain a large number of fossils that can be studied."

"Although that planet with violent geological changes and volcanoes everywhere has no development value, the galaxy's patrol headquarters is built on it."

Chen Ming also asked with some confusion: "The headquarters of the Galaxy Patrol is built in such a harsh place?"

"Yes, in fact, most galactic governments that can build patrol headquarters will choose to build patrol headquarters on volcanic planets in the galaxy if possible."

"I haven't learned much about this, why is that?"

Old Wu smiled at Chen Ming and said, "Hey, I don't know either."

"In short, because of the relationship with other planets, the star domain government ended up being located on the only habitable planet in the galaxy."

"This galaxy is simply a perfect galaxy template. It can almost achieve self-sufficiency within the galaxy alone."

"There should be no such galaxies within thousands of light years."

At this time, Chen Ming turned his attention from the heavy snow back to his side and asked, "Why do you know so well?"

Old Wu shook the terminal in his hand with some pride and said, "I just checked."

"..."

The space elevator successfully reached the ground after a while.

Because the climate of the planet itself is somewhat cold, most of the buildings with permanent residents are basically built on the equator.

The space elevator just goes directly to the equator, and it is not too far from the star domain government.

With a moving robot helping to carry the coffin, Chen Ming and Lao Wu quickly arrived at the government building.

Although it looks like it's getting closer to night outside, government departments are still continuing to work.

According to the regulations of the Empire, all government department working hours must be regulated in accordance with Earth Standard Time, regardless of what time the local time is.

Anyway, with the level of human technology, if it gets dark, just get more lighting and that's it.

The same technical means can make the room as dark as night during the day without affecting people's normal rest.

Such unified planning facilitates the flow of people between galaxies.

There are security checks at the gate of the government park just like the space elevator.

The person in charge of the inspection was the same as the person in charge of the security inspection of the space elevator. He just let Chen Ming go as if he didn't see what was lying in the coffin at all.

He even pointed out to Chen Ming where he would go next, the government police department.

Only the guard responsible for letting people pass clearly got the news that they were allowed to pass, but he seemed to want to say something, but was immediately blocked by Old Wu who pushed something into his hand.

Chen Ming and Lao Wu still successfully entered the government park with the coffin and arrived at a separate small building next to the government building.

This is the colonial headquarters of security.

When I walked in, there were several service windows next to them. They were all empty and no one wanted to do anything.

Chen Ming stepped forward and knocked on the glass gently.

The clerk who was processing the documents raised his head, noticed the transport robot behind Chen Ming, and the several coffins on it, and said, "Hello, you two, do you need to confirm the bounty?"

"Correct."

"Ok."

After receiving Chen Ming's affirmative reply, the clerk familiarly picked up a terminal from the side and clicked on it a few times to show it to Chen Ming.

"Please use your terminal to scan it, register your identity, and then prepare the required materials, including battle records and videos, spacecraft wreckage and other physical objects."

"Also, please explain who you need to receive the bounty from."

Chen Ming recalled the information he had written down before and said: "A pirate nicknamed Ascaris, whose real name should be Liu Kang, has a bounty of 2000 and two million, and three of his men."

"We don't have the battle video or the wreckage of the spacecraft, but we brought the body."

Chen Ming reached out and patted the metal coffin behind him.

After all, battle videos and records will expose his afterglow ship, and the wreckage of the ship has basically become material.

The Mule class is still useful as a destroyer. It is impossible to hand it over. Moreover, it has been repaired and has no value as evidence.

A trace of surprise flashed in the clerk's eyes. Two thousand and two million pirates may not be considered a big deal, but they are not small at all. They still have some weight.

He continued to type on the computer in front of him and said, "It's okay to just bring the body. Please wait a moment."

The clerk quickly printed a paper form and handed it to Chen Ming.

It contains all the information just stated.

"Please take this thing to the white building next to you. Someone will guide you after entering."

"Ah."

When walking out of the General Security Bureau, Chen Ming suddenly realized that he seemed to see a somewhat familiar figure flashing past in the distance and disappearing outside the gate of the government park.

Chen Ming squinted his eyes to take a closer look, but the figure seemed to disappear out of thin air.

He frowned slightly and didn't pay attention to that person, maybe he saw it wrong.

Chen Ming continued to follow the direction just mentioned by the clerk and found the white building that looked like a laboratory.

As soon as Chen Ming took Lao Wu in, he was immediately greeted by a researcher in a white coat. With a smile on his face, he said to Chen Ming: "Hello, Mr. Mu, this is the pirate you are going to hand over, right? It's convenient." Shall we open it and confirm?”

"no problem."

Chen Ming asked the transport robot to place several coffins flat on the ground, then reached out and pressed on the corner of one of the coffins.

The lid of the coffin opened automatically, revealing the body of the pirate leader that had lost its human form inside.

Thanks to the metal coffin given by the boss, it was thoughtfully equipped with a small freezing device to prevent the body from rotting, otherwise the situation Chen Ming saw now might have been even worse.

Chen Ming couldn't help but whispered to Lao Wu beside him: "The boss looks quite angry."

Old Wu also said in a low voice: "The colony that I spent a lot of money and connections to build is still in the development stage, but I was angry when someone suddenly took away the supplies."

The researcher took the terminal and looked at the corpse carefully for a long time, and then he barely recognized that the contents of the coffin were the same as the person on the reward list.

He put away the terminal and said to Chen Ming as if reciting a formulaic rhetoric: "No problem, Mr. Mu, then we will take the body away."

The researcher didn't seem too suspicious. After all, Chen Ming and Lao Wu registered their identities all the way here, and they had to come in person to collect the bounty.

If you want to defraud the bounty by substituting the fake for the real, the end result will be a prison cell.

"We will conduct DNA tests on them and contact you after the results come out. We expect to get a reply within one working day."

"As long as there is no problem with the verification, you can go to the place where you worked before to collect the bounty."

"There is no need to pay taxes on the bounty. If you are missing something when you receive it, you can go directly to the building to complain to the relevant department."

After the researcher finished speaking, he immediately summoned one of their internal humanoid handling robots, which was significantly more technologically advanced than Chen Ming's spider-type handling robot, and took away several coffins together.

Chen Ming couldn't help but look at the robot a few more times. He was basically sure that this robot could not only carry things, but would also definitely not lack in combat effectiveness.

This is a good thing from the government.

Chen Ming can only look at it now, but he doesn't want to have any special ideas.

After leaving the government park, Old Wu, who had been a little confused, suddenly seemed to be resurrected. He asked Chen Ming excitedly: "Do we have one day left to have some fun?"

Chen Ming considered Lao Wu's proposal. He had indeed not had a complete rest for a long time.

It’s not bad to relax and think about it for a day.

So Chen Ming did not refuse and replied: "Then just find a place."

"I said, OK."

Old Wu thought for a moment and said, "I know there is a place that might interest you."

"Where?"

"black market."

After half an hour.

Chen Ming and Lao Wu took the bus and arrived near the black market that Lao Wu mentioned.

Originally, Lao Wu wanted to take a public airship, but because Chen Ming wanted to see more of this snowy city, they ended up taking a bus here.

Although the name of the black market that Lao Wu mentioned was a black market, Chen Ming actually discovered it only after arriving.

The black market is a commercial street that looks very prosperous.

Guard troops without identity badges could be seen outside maintaining order.

The inside is basically similar to an ordinary commercial street, except that the shops inside are basically large shops with large storefronts.

(End of this chapter)