Star Ocean: Starting from the Abandoned Mining Space Station

Chapter 89 Pursuit, escape, promise
The shuttle boat with the logo of the Space Station Administration landed more than ten meters away from the door of the hardware store.

The hatch quickly opened, revealing two heavily armed men who looked like space station patrols inside the shuttle.

Chen Ming stepped back a little warily and could return to the hardware store at any time.

But immediately another head popped out from the door of the shuttle boat, Lao Wu's head.

He was also wearing a set of professional-looking tactical equipment, but it was completely inconsistent with his usual temperament and looked a bit nondescript.

Lao Wu had no self-awareness about this at all. He waved to Chen Ming and said, "Xiao Mu, why are you dressed like this? Forget it, come here quickly, we have to leave."

At the same time, while still hanging up the phone, the factory director also confirmed the identities of the two people on the shuttle boat.

Chen Ming had nothing to hesitate. He greeted the owner of the store, stepped out, and rushed onto the shuttle boat.

During the whole process, Chen Ming did not feel that the ever-present sense of danger increased or decreased, and he did not know whether the military had lost track of him or was suppressing it.

But that doesn't matter, as long as he can successfully reach the authority building, safety can be guaranteed.

Unless the military and the space station completely break up, there is absolutely nothing they can do against him.

Chen Ming was dragged onto the shuttle boat by two patrol members.

The hatch closed instantly, the engine started immediately, and the shuttle flew vertically into the air.

The pilot turned the bow of the shuttle boat and drove straight to the Administration Building located in the center of the space station.

Lao Wu took Chen Ming to find a place to sit inside the shuttle boat, so that Chen Ming could easily see the environment inside the shuttle boat.

It's just that the shuttle boat itself is not big, and the interior looks like a space similar to a troop transport helicopter, without much interesting things.

On the contrary, the outside world deserves more attention from Chen Ming.

The shuttle boat that took off had already passed through in less than half a minute.

The gate of Space Arm No. 2 reached the edge of the city inside the space station safely and quickly.

It takes at most three to four minutes to reach the Space Station Management Bureau.

However, Chen Ming has not forgotten the people in the military. They have already targeted him before and it is impossible to let him go just like that.

Just as Chen Ming thought.

Just when the shuttle boat flew into the sky over the city, the shuttle boat suddenly shook violently, and the red emergency lights lit up inside.

The sense of danger that Chen Ming felt suddenly became apparent.

The driver's voice immediately came from the front of the shuttle boat: "The shuttle boat has a malfunction. The operating system has failed. I can no longer control it."

"And it hasn't crashed yet, it's still flying in the other direction."

The pilot could be seen desperately trying to regain control of the shuttle, but with little success.

"The communication device is also out of order, and I can't contact the administration here."

"Our shuttle boat has been hacked."

Chen Ming immediately lowered his head and found that the communication between him and the factory director had been cut off at some point.

Not only the communication equipment of the shuttle boat, but also the network of the terminal was cut off.

"Damn it, you really dare to do this kind of thing on the space station."

The faces of several people on the boat were not good-looking. They all quickly checked their equipment and were ready for a battle at any time after landing.

Chen Ming looked at their movements and asked, "Are we the only ones?"

At this time, Lao Wu was also inspecting the gun equipped with an automatic locking system that he spent a lot of money to get. When he heard Chen Ming's words, he said: "How is it possible? This is our space station."

"The guard force has been contacted in advance, but it's just that they can't determine where the specific target is before something actually happens, so they can only stand by first."

"As long as we shoot, they will come to support immediately."

"We can get there in three minutes at most from where we are now."

"They'll be finished after three minutes."

Just as the shuttle boat gradually deviated from its original route.

At the farthest point in the shuttle boat's yaw direction, there is an uninhabited, vacant house.

All five members of the military team gathered here.

Xia Chao is currently staying with the team members responsible for electronic equipment related work.

While watching the shuttle boat outside staggering towards them, he said to his teammates: "Your electronic warfare skills are as good as before."

However, his teammates said angrily: "What a fart, if I were good, would I be assigned here?"

"At least it's enough for now."

The captain coughed a little at this time, interrupted the team members' chat, and said: "Get ready. Once the shuttle boat lands, we will take down the people directly. Be prepared for an armed conflict to break out."

"Yes."

On the shuttle boat.

Chen Ming, who was sitting in the corner, watched the other team members prepare anxiously. Feeling the increasing shaking of the ship's hull, he couldn't help but frown.

But as if he thought of something, he suddenly stretched out his hand and pinched the wrist of his left hand a few times to remove the gauntlet of the exoskeleton armor.

Then he pressed his left hand, which was only wearing protective clothing and gloves, on the cabin of the shuttle boat.

The option of whether to control the shuttle boat that was not available when he first boarded the ship immediately appeared in Chen Ming's mind.

"This... is really hard to stretch."

Chen Ming just thought it was because the shuttle boat was not at the level of a frigate, so it didn't mean that the shuttle boat couldn't be controlled.

It turned out that because Chen Ming was wearing gauntlets and was too far away from the cabin of the shuttle boat, the panel did not determine that he had touched the shuttle boat.

Obviously, he was able to contact and control the shuttle boat when he wore a heavy-duty space suit that was almost thick. Could it be a problem with the material?
Chen Ming doesn't understand. It seems that he can only pay more attention to this aspect in the future.

But at least the shuttle boat can be controlled by him, so things will be easier to handle.

Chen Ming put the gauntlet back on his hand again.

His consciousness focused on the shuttle boat panel that just appeared in front of him.

In a few seconds, the emergency lights inside the shuttle boat were turned off, and everything on the shuttle boat equipment returned to normal.

The external control signal was completely blocked by Chen Ming, and the shuttle boat returned to the driver's control again.

"Hey? What's going on?"

"I don't know, the shuttle boat suddenly returned to normal again, and I'm readjusting the course."

Old Wu glanced at Chen Ming subconsciously and didn't say much.

However, Chen Ming opened the map of the space station on the terminal and said to Old Wu next to him: "We have to let the guards block that side."

He stretched out his finger and pointed to a spot on the edge of the city on the space station map and said: "The location where the shuttle boat was about to land just now is here, and their people must be nearby."

"Huh? Oh, I'll be there soon...wait a minute, the communication signal is still cut off."

"I know."

"They don't seem to be relying on hacking into the system to interrupt communications. They should be using high-intensity signal jammers."

"Unless we kill them directly, we have to go to the city first and exceed the range of their jammers before we can restart the communication equipment."

"So I was thinking..."

Chen Ming turned his head and glanced at the electromagnetic weapons assembled by the patrol members next to him, and asked, "Do you have tracer bullets?"

The teammate who was asked by Chen Ming immediately replied: "Yes, when the electromagnetic bomb was designed, in order to facilitate aiming, some bullets were indeed tracer processed, so they can be seen during the day."

Chen Ming showed him the terminal screen and said, "If you see this location, scan the shuttle in that direction."

"Attract the guards here, and then we'll see if their leaders are spiritual enough."

At the same time, in the eyes of several members of the military team.

The shuttle boat suddenly shook a lot, and then resumed its normal trajectory.

And they also saw the cabin door suddenly open, and someone stretched out the muzzle of a gun and fired dozens of shots near their direction.

Several conspicuous tracer bullets flew over their heads instantly and landed somewhere unknown.

The captain suddenly felt a vague uneasiness in his heart.

The sick hacker team member suddenly said in a panic: "There seems to be something wrong here. I suddenly can't control the shuttle boat."

"what happened?"

"I don't know. I was still trying. Just for a moment, all my control rights were suddenly cleared. There are people more powerful than me on the ship."

The hacker team member frantically typed on the computer, but all his attempts were in vain.

"No, it's completely impossible to break in. The shuttle boat's equipment was basically undefended just now, but as soon as I turned around, all the systems were completely locked. I couldn't find any loopholes."

The movements of the hacker's hands gradually slowed down, and his expression gradually became stiff.

"Is there no other way?"

The hacker shook his head and said, "There is no way. This shuttle boat is now like a steel plate cast in one piece. There are no loopholes or gaps. I don't know how he did it."

The captain did not blame him at this time, but comforted him and said: "If hacking in directly doesn't work, then try another method, Xia Chao."

"coming."

Xia Chao stood at the window and raised a square device that looked like an artillery piece.

This thing is the military BZ-19 directional electromagnetic pulse generator, and its actual effect is already written on its name.

Xia Chao held up the electromagnetic pulse generator and immediately pressed the launch button after locking the shuttle boat.

The generator starts up without any visible fluctuations.

But the interior of the shuttle boat instantly fell into darkness.

All the flashing buttons and signal lights in the cab were also turned off, and even the emergency lights could not be turned on.

Old Wu rushed to the door of the cab and said, "What happened this time?"

Before the pilot could speak, Chen Ming said directly: "It's an electromagnetic pulse. The electronic components and circuits of the shuttle boat were fused."

At this time, a thin layer of sweat appeared on the pilot's forehead. He immediately said: "The shuttle boat has stopped and we have to make an emergency landing, otherwise..."

The pilot suddenly froze in mid-sentence, because all the shuttle boat's equipment was gradually recovering, as if the electromagnetic pulse did not exist just now.

And Chen Ming's voice also sounded: "Keep driving, don't worry about anything else."

The pilot glanced at Chen Ming, who was sitting in the corner of the shuttle boat on the monitor next to him, and couldn't help but swallow.

Not daring to hesitate, he immediately started the shuttle boat's engine in the air again and continued flying into the city.

But just a few seconds after flying out, the interior of the shuttle was once again plunged into darkness.

Upon seeing this, Chen Ming continued to select the maintenance shuttle boat on the panel.

Directly and completely repair the damage caused by electromagnetic pulse.

The damage caused by electromagnetic pulse to the shuttle boat equipment is basically fuse, and the amount of material itself is not much lost.

In other words, Chen Ming can completely disassemble some damaged parts and then recycle them.

It only takes a little bit of wear and tear to keep the shuttle boat going.

If there were any missing materials, he would use the materials from the tools he brought with him to cover them.

If that doesn't work, other places on the ship can also be used to demolish the east wall and make up for the west wall.

The shuttle's signal light suddenly came on again.

But then it fell into darkness again.

The driver couldn't help but cursed, "What the hell..."

"Stop talking nonsense and speed up."

Chen Ming did not hesitate at all and repaired the shuttle boat again.

This method of demolishing the east wall to repair the west wall will eventually cause some damage to the shuttle boat's equipment.

The performance of the shuttle boat will also be reduced to a certain extent, but at least it will be enough to reach the administration.

The recovered shuttle boat has approached the middle of the space station city, where some high-rise buildings have appeared.

Under the control of the pilot, the shuttle boat flexibly traveled between high-rise buildings, avoiding the electromagnetic pulses that constantly attacked the spacecraft, and broke out of the coverage of the signal jammer.

Disappeared in the eyes of the military team.

Xia Chao watched the shuttle boat disappear behind a tall building, then looked at his teammates and asked, "Will a shuttle boat like this be equipped with electromagnetic pulse protection equipment?"

The hacker team member said: "As far as I know, there is no such thing."

"But they do."

The atmosphere in the team gradually became depressed.

The captain said as if summarizing at this time: "Chen Ming's reaction was too fast." "From the moment he noticed someone was paying attention to him in the spaceship, to when he came to this place where we didn't even dare to enter, and then there were The administration’s shuttle boat is here to pick you up.”

"The only time we can take action against him is when he just gets off the shuttle boat to the No. 2 space arm."

"But we were not prepared enough at the time, and the success rate of direct action was very low."

The team member who was responsible for supervising the dock and monitoring Chen Ming showed a painful expression on his face and said, "Did you notice something was wrong with just one unexpected glance? This is all my problem."

"I don't have time to blame myself here. The mission must continue."

"But he has already entered the Management Bureau. The Management Bureau has specially arranged for him a shuttle boat that only their internal staff can use. The attitude of Xinda Company should be very clear. Can we really take him away?"

The captain hammered the wall next to him and said decisively: "The mission has not been completely failed."

"It's impossible for Xinda Company to let Chen Ming stay here for the rest of his life. They will definitely take him away."

"Before Chen Ming is picked up by people from Xinda Company, we still have a chance."

"Leave here first, I have to report the situation to the station manager."

Everyone in the team got up and prepared to leave.

But at this moment, the hacker team member suddenly said: "Wait a minute, captain, we seem to be in trouble."

"The people who were on the shuttle boat just now should have noticed the position where I let the shuttle boat land when they kicked me out of the shuttle boat's control authority."

"Those tracer bullets were used to locate the guarding troops. Several guarding troops have already surrounded us."

"What about the planned escape route?"

"No problem, the surveillance we deployed found no trace of the guarding troops."

"Then follow the previous plan."

"Yes."

Several members of the military team quickly left the uninhabited settlement where they were, relying on the previously planned escape route to avoid the sight of the guarding troops.

It entered the underground sewage system of the space station city.

Relying on the signal blocking device they left behind, all equipment in a large area around the residence they stayed at failed.

They successfully got rid of the guarding troops, changed their disguises, and reappeared at the hotel they had booked.

After knocking Tian Jiwen unconscious again, the captain contacted their superior, the commander of the military outpost.

"Webmaster, Chen Ming's identity and location have been confirmed. The first arrest attempt failed."

"He got help from Sindar and entered the space station administration building. It was difficult for us to get in."

"We have not yet found a specific identity and are preparing for a second arrest operation."

The other end of the terminal was silent for a while before saying, "I don't care what you do or how you do it."

"The result I want is very clear, either bring him back or kill him directly. If you can't do the first thing, then do the next thing."

"In addition, I can give you the informant you asked me for before. Even if you lose him, the mission must be completed."

"Yes."

The captain put down the terminal and said to the team members next to him: "Did you hear that? If we fail to complete the task, the fate of this informant will be our fate."

While the military team contacted their superiors.

The shuttle boat Chen Ming was riding on had landed on the rooftop of the building.

Under the protection of two guards, he was quickly escorted to the underground of the administration building, the workshop belonging to the maintenance plant.

This is definitely one of the safest places in the entire space station.

When Chen Ming arrived at the underground of the administration building, the factory director was already waiting at the door with several guards.

The anxious look on his face was relieved after seeing Chen Ming in person.

"Xiao Mu, you're here. Why are you dressed like this... Forget it, it's okay. It's good to be dressed like this."

"Let's go into the studio and talk to the person I contacted before."

"Who exactly?"

The factory director whispered into Chen Ming's ear: "Xu Lin, the company's board member and chairman, is sent by the company. He asked me to contact you immediately after learning about your matter."

"Chairman?"

"Yes, although the chairman cannot represent the entire company's board of directors or the entire company, he can at least guide the overall direction of the company."

"With his help, as long as you can seize the opportunity to initiate a vote on the board of directors, the company will definitely protect you."

Chen Ming nodded and walked into the workroom.

"By the way, there are your things too."

The factory director picked up a box with an identity card on it.

"Someone just sent it over. It was scanned by the security check when I came in. There was no problem. It should be yours, right?"

"Correct."

He put away the card with more than 400 million in it and walked into the workroom holding the box.

There was no one in the workroom at this time. There were basically only a few equipment used for maintenance work, a large workbench and a few tables and chairs for resting and working.

On the large workbench opposite the workshop door, there is a lighted terminal.

Chen Ming was the first to walk in, followed closely by the factory director and Lao Wu. The two patrol members who had escorted Chen Ming also followed in and closed the door smoothly.

There are five people in the studio, including the four guards outside.

It's enough in a relatively small place like the underground.

Chen Ming sat next to the workbench, put the box aside, and clicked on the terminal in front of him.

The terminal automatically initiated a video call.

Soon a somewhat old face appeared on the screen.

"Hello, Chen Ming, I am Xu Lin, the chairman of Xinda Company."

"Hello."

Xu Lin stared at Chen Ming for a while and said, "I have known you before, and I know what you want."

"As long as you are willing, you are still an employee of our Xinda Company."

"So, we might as well talk about cooperation straight to the point."

Chen Ming said bluntly: "No problem, otherwise I wouldn't have to contact Director Lu specifically. So what is the content of the cooperation?"

"We need you as proof that the DG-C-32 mining space station was not destroyed by bugs 9527 years ago."

"Just oral confessions and physical evidence are not enough, or they are not actually important."

"What really matters is you, the person who worked on the space station 30 years ago."

"With you, we have a solution to our problem."

"Why do you say that?"

"All information about the mining space station and you is available from the government."

"Your existence proves that everything the military said is nonsense, and what happened 32 years ago will be completely exposed."

Chen Ming had actually been looking forward to this for a long time and asked, "So what are you going to do?"

"The reason why the military blocked the galaxy 32 years ago was that there was an insect plague on the space station that carried a deadly virus and was extremely capable of spreading."

"And since you survived from the space station, it means that the interior of the galaxy is safe enough. We can ask the government to let the military lift the blockade of the galaxy and return the development rights of the galaxy to our company."

"And this requires you to go to the star capital to verify your identity there and use it as evidence so that we can submit an application to the government."

"..."

"I just came back from the capital of the Star Territory."

"..."

Xu Lin chose to ignore Chen Ming's words and said, "We will arrange a special ship to take you to the capital of the Star Territory."

"When this matter is completed, we will directly use the star gate to send you to the galaxy where the company's headquarters is located."

"I heard from Xiao Lu that you want to get a special armed ship license and continue to climb up the promotion path?"

"Do you want to take the management route or the research institute route? No matter which one you choose, I can arrange it for you, assign you a special tutor, and arrange special teaching for you."

"As long as you need it, I can help you with anything within the company."

"And what are your thoughts?"

Chen Ming silently complained in his heart at first. Whether it was the factory director, Lao Wu, the boss or even the current chairman of the company, they all liked to use a small word when calling people. It was almost like a hereditary thing.

Then he thought about it carefully and said, "Okay."

Chen Ming actually doesn't have too many ideas at the moment. He will definitely try to find a stable path that can satisfy him and realize his own value.

He is still young now, and even if he makes a wrong move, he still has the possibility of regretting it.

"Very good, the boat to pick you up will arrive at your side in about twelve hours."

"As long as you get to the star region government, the military and government in your star region will no longer have the power to control you."

Communication was hung up.

Chen Ming raised his head and asked the factory director next to him: "Director, did you say I was the one?"

"Speaking of which, originally Old Dong... Well, the old chairman was still a little unsure whether to help you. After learning about your situation, he asked me to contact you directly."

"The conditions given to you are also the best, but how high you can climb is your own business."

"Row."

Chen Ming lowered his head again, took out his terminal, and clicked on it a few times.

"Oh? There are actually more."

Old Wu, who had been hanging up next to him, came over curiously and asked, "What's there?"

"My 32 years' salary."

Chen Ming placed the terminal on the workbench in front of him so that Old Wu could see it.

Chen Ming's own debit card interface was opening on the terminal.

In the card, 30 years of salary are placed in it, every penny.

"My previous salary was 32 yuan a month during my working period, 200 yuan a month during the dormant period, and [-] yuan a year. In [-] years, it was almost less than [-] million."

"Including what I had in my card before, it's almost 320 million."

Although the money is not much compared to Chen Ming's current situation.

But Chen Ming was happy to see that the money still existed in his card.

Because that's the attitude of the company.

Chen Ming turned off the terminal, leaned back in his chair and breathed a sigh of relief.

Joining the company and climbing up the corporate ladder is indeed the path he wants to take.

If the company's attitude can be maintained like this, then he may not regret his current decision in the future.

Chen Ming didn't think too much about what would happen in the future.

Because he knew that the military's pursuit would not necessarily end here, and he had to make some other preparations.

Chen Ming closed his eyes, but the sight of the spaceship over the dark cemetery appeared in front of him.

After explaining something to the two gamma AIs, Chen Ming returned to the space station.

Since Sindar's ship to pick him up would not arrive for another twelve hours, he actually had nothing to do for the time being.

So Chen Ming simply carried the box to the workbench and began to count the materials he had bought from the owner of the second recycling shop.

Old Wu, who had already taken out his terminal and was about to watch the video, said as if he had no idea at all: "Are you still thinking about working at this time?"

"Ah."

Chen Ming nodded and said, "I think it should be useful."

As soon as Chen Ming finished speaking, he heard loud noises coming from outside the workshop door.

The sense of danger that had gone silent suddenly sounded like an alarm bell in Chen Ming's mind.

The door to the workshop suddenly opened.

A grenade rolled in through the crack in the door.

(End of this chapter)