Star Ocean: Starting from the Abandoned Mining Space Station

in a virtual conference room located within the XIV Corps network.

There were about twenty people sitting around the round table in the center of the conference table. There was a number plate in front of each person's seat, marking each person's number.

When Chen Ming's photo was fixed on the projection screen next to the conference table.

The initiator or host of the meeting with the No. 1 sign in front of him spoke first: "The main purpose of this meeting is to discuss Chen Ming's purpose of coming to the headquarters and to take countermeasures."

"In this meeting, all the participants were invited by me, and everyone can probably guess who they are, but as long as you speak carefully, no one will find out your specific identity."

"So please feel free to speak your mind."

As soon as the host finished speaking, No. 2, who was sitting next to him, immediately said: "Isn't Chen Ming's purpose already clear? It's definitely related to Bai Quan."

"Bai Quan's momentum is so strong that the superiors even took the initiative to let him stay at the headquarters to further his studies."

"Chen Ming came here at this time. It is definitely because Bai Quan is unwilling to have his momentum suppressed and wants to continue doing things."

"So the important thing is how to deal with it, and discuss clearly the way to unite Chen Ming and Bai Quan."

No. 2 did not give others a chance to speak, and continued to express his opinion: "There are two connections between Chen Ming and Bai Quan, one is their long-term cooperation, and the other is marriage."

"Chen Ming and Bai Quan now have an absolute relationship of interest, and it is impossible to find a gap in the cooperative relationship."

"So I think it's best to start with marriage."

"If the marriage is destroyed, there will definitely be a thorn left between Chen Ming and Bai Quan, and we can take the opportunity to open the wound."

The figure No. 2 clenched his fist hard, as if to crush the possibility of a powerful alliance between Chen Ming and Bai Quan.

But immediately there was a figure with a somewhat generous figure and the number plate No. 9 in front of him said: "It's a bit too mean."

"It's a joke, do you have any better insights?"

No. 9, who raised the question, immediately became energetic and said, "I prefer to look for opportunities elsewhere."

"How to find it?"

"We don't have to start with Chen Ming and Bai Quan. They still have an immovable target, the branch in the Gallo Star Territory."

"Chen Ming left the branch and came to the headquarters, which means that the branch's backbone is missing."

"We can start there."

What he said sounded reasonable, but it could not avoid being questioned by others.

No. 6 said: "The branch is no different from Chen Baiquan's base camp now."

"Since the last time Baiquan carried out large-scale internal purges under pressure, Baiquan's control over the branch has been absolute."

"Moreover, Chen Ming's psychic power is there. His psychic power has long been determined not only to control the spacecraft, but also to control all metal and mechanized structures."

"No one knows how close the relationship between Chen Ming and Bai Quan is."

"The entire branch may already be under Chen Ming's control."

Of course, there was no way No. 9 would accept his proposal and someone would find out the loopholes. He immediately retorted: "Even if the entire branch is controlled by him, can his psychic power affect this far?"

No. 6 directly took out the previous example and said: "The Caimo incident has just passed not long ago, right? Chen Ming can already have people in the headquarters and the spacecraft in Caimo, why can't he control the branch from the headquarters?"

No. 9 continued to retort: ​​"The distance between Caimo and Jialuo and the distance from headquarters to Jialuo is not small. Moreover, Chen Ming's spaceships in Caimo are all afterglow ships. They must have afterglow cores installed on them. We cannot be 100% sure. Ming must be able to control everything.”

"Unless you ask Chen Ming directly about this kind of thing, no one can get the answer before Chen Ming has actual operations."

No. 6 said that he knew he was being unreasonable, so he softened his tone and said: "At least we have to find a compromise. When Chen Ming uses spaceships at long distances, he always uses afterglow spacecraft with afterglow cores."

"Then let's assume that Chen Ming has the ability to know the situation around the controlled spacecraft as long as he controls it. However, if he wants to control it, he can only do things through the afterglow core."

"I think this is a reasonable guess, right? At least it's consistent with Chen Ming's current performance."

No. 9 did not chase No. 9 fiercely. After all, what No. 6 said did make some sense.

So instead, he followed No. 6's idea and said, "If you think about it this way, it's impossible for the branch to have afterglow cores everywhere."

"Two key figures, Chen Ming and Bai Quan, have left the branch. The defense will definitely be empty. We can really do something there."

No. 10, who was next to No. 9, suddenly spoke: "I don't think there is any need to go into trouble and attack this branch."

"Our headquarters has sent out all the missions, and the spaceships have passed through the star gate. The Beniu Star Territory will inevitably fall into our hands."

"The scale of the star field in Bei Niu is not on the same level as the branch in Baiquan, which was not even able to occupy the star area."

"As long as we can fully occupy Bei Niu and turn Bei Niu into a new branch of ours, Gallo's branch is not worth mentioning."

"When the time comes, the branch over there will become Bei Niu's branch."

No. 9 knocked on the table, interrupting No. 10 who wanted to continue: "The branch in the Gallo Star Territory occupies a geographical advantage."

"The Beniu Star Territory is not a prosperous star territory, not developed enough, nor is it a fringe star territory. It occupies a favorable position for external development. There is no way to completely replace the Gallo Star Territory, which is the information bordering the Afterglow and the Machine Tribe."

"And more importantly, you still want him to spit out the things in Bai Quan's mouth? Have you forgotten what Bai Quan was like before because he entered the political arena?"

"A person's character will affect the way he does things. After he is thoroughly familiar with politics, he will bring in his previous brutal way of doing things."

"Whenever someone wants to attack the meat in his mouth, Baiquan will definitely tear off a bigger piece of meat from the person."

"So what if we make Beniu a completely better branch?"

"The branch in the Gallo Star Territory will still be a branch of the headquarters, and it will also be the headquarters of Baiquan."

"We must take action against the branch while Baiquan's strength is still weak."

"Don't forget that there are also our people in the fleet that just set off. Even though the Beniu Star Territory has been turned into our branch, it will not affect Baiquan's control of the Gallo branch. But we can use some external means to go there now. Change this situation.”

No one had any objections to No. 9’s speech.

But just when the more than twenty people attending the meeting were about to discuss specific measures for the Gallo branch.

No. 17 suddenly poured cold water on everyone: "There are people from the supervision department in the outgoing fleet."

The conference room was silent for a moment, and No. 1 asked: "Supervision department?"

"Yes, although it doesn't appear on the surface, it definitely exists."

"With them watching, all our fleet can do is carry out its mission honestly."

"If you want to extend your hands outside the two star fields, it depends on whether they agree."

"So either send people directly from the headquarters to the Baiquan branch, or don't even think about going through Bei Niu to deal with Gallo."

"Our fleet going to Beniu will at most exert some influence secretly. Any means on the surface, including force and economic interference, are impossible to achieve."

"No, that's okay, as long as someone comes over to help take the blame."

"Who's coming?"

No one spoke.

No one dares to be too presumptuous in front of the supervisory authorities.

The supervisory department of the Fourteenth Legion does not belong to any faction and only serves the commander of the legion.

The legion commander does not have his own faction and exists purely for the benefit of the legion.

Chen Ming's joining is beneficial to the entire legion.

Baiquan walked out on the battlefield and became a lieutenant general, and he was also a powerful figure.

And Chen Ming joined because of Bai Quan, so the connection between Chen Ming and Bai Quan is also beneficial to the legion, so he will definitely protect Chen Ming.

It is absolutely impossible for the legion commander to allow someone to do something that is absolutely detrimental to the interests of the legion.

Of course, protection is protection, and there can also be competition within the legion, but competition cannot be excessive.

Someone went too far last time, which led to the dismissal of the supervisory department.

As a result, a lieutenant general and his faction retired early.

Therefore, everyone present was very wary of the supervision department, and no one wanted to be the next person to be retired.

"Does that mean that Bei Niu's side has no effect at all?"

No. 17 thought about it for a while, but did not say anything: "It's not completely impossible. As long as the war between the mechanical tribes begins, the supervisory department's supervision of us will definitely decrease, and there will be opportunities then."

"In the future, we can only rely on the actions of the headquarters."

"Let's take this opportunity to arrange people."

After No. 17 finished speaking, he said as if he was very familiar with Bai Quan: "Bai Quan has grown very quickly after we targeted him several times. He is no longer the same Bai Quan."

"Directly placing people in the past will not be effective, especially people from the past. Baiquan will not let down his guard at all."

"If there is no way to get help from the fleet in the Beniu Star Territory, then I would rather withdraw my proposal."

At this time, No. 9 started to oppose No. 6 again: "But since Bai Quan is not in the branch, there is still a chance."

No. 6 shook his head and said: "There is a chance, but it certainly cannot be used as the main method. We still have to go back and see if there is any way to disintegrate the connection between Chen Ming and Bai Quan."

No. 2, who was the first to make the suggestion, heard this and immediately said: "Then we have to go back to the beginning?"

"Let's start with the marriage relationship. Chen Ming and Cheng Xinghai must not be allowed to get married."

"A strong alliance is definitely not a good thing for us."

Seeing that no one had any objections to what he said, No. 2 continued: "There are three ways to approach the marriage, Chen Ming, Cheng Xinghai, and Bai Quan."

"Bai Quan is currently learning how to command the machine clan. He is protected and has no chance to contact him. It is impossible to attack him."

"That……"

Just when No. 2 was talking about his thoughts.

No. 13 suddenly said: "Actually, Bai Quan's wife should also be able to influence Cheng Xing..."

Before he finished speaking, the conference room, which was still listening to No. 2 quietly, suddenly became noisy.

"Are you stupid?"

"roll."

"Kicked him."

The figure on No. 13 disappeared into the conference room instantly.

After all, the people who can participate in this meeting are not too young, and they basically have wives and children.

Everyone agrees that if they fight, they will fight, and it will not bring harm to their wives and children.

If one person breaks the rules, everyone will suffer.

Of course, Cheng Xinghai's situation is different. Although Cheng Xinghai is Bai Quan's adopted daughter, she is a soldier and a soldier who has been on the battlefield. This is the difference.

Since you have embarked on the path of the army, you must be prepared to face the consequences.

After confirming that No. 13 had been kicked out, No. 2 continued to speak: "There is no way to attack Bai Quan, so we can only attack Cheng Xinghai and Chen Ming."

"Chen Ming's spiritual energy is there, no one wants to touch it, right? So I prefer Cheng Xinghai."

"Does anyone know Cheng Xinghai's location?"

No. 1 immediately replied: "It's the end of May now. Cheng Xinghai is a junior. He must be in school. No need to guess."

"good."

No. 2 nodded to No. 1 and said: "The way to prevent the marriage between Chen Ming and Cheng Xinghai is very simple. Just find a better one for Cheng Xinghai."

"Chen Ming is 26 this year, and Cheng Xinghai is 19. They are seven years apart. Based on their age alone, we should be able to find quite a few suitable people."

"A young man within 7 years of age who is better than Chen Ming, or not even better."

"For the younger generation, does anyone have any recommendations?"

No. 8 raised her hand slightly and said, "Cheng Xinghai is directly affiliated with the Military University majoring in military command. In this major, there are indeed some outstanding students in her class."

"But let's put it this way, almost all people of the opposite sex who are of the same age as Cheng Xinghai have been introduced to Baiquan by various families."

"People of the same age, two or three years apart, as long as they have some ability, there is absolutely no one left out."

"The result is that none of them succeeded."

"Normally no one would say anything about the failure of a door-to-door marriage proposal, so you probably don't know, but I know."

"I can also say that it is impossible to find someone from Cheng Xinghai to replace Chen Ming."

"Looking at the entire empire, there may be some, but there really are no suitable people among the people that the Fourteenth Legion can come into contact with."

No. 8's often arrogant tone made No. 2 very unwilling. He persisted in his own thoughts and asked: "What if I don't look at ability, but just look at the suitability in terms of status?"

No. 8 immediately said again: "Cheng Xinghai is the adopted daughter of the Lieutenant General of the Fourteenth Legion, and she is also a psyker. It is impossible for her to get married. The person she wants to marry must be at least one level above her, or the other party also has psyker status, which can be relaxed appropriately. "

"That is to say, if you are not looking for a psyker, then at least it must be the son of the admiral."

"But as far as I know, most of the generals in our army have grandchildren. They are all from the lower generation and cannot be compared to Cheng Xinghai."

"Only the general's youngest son can barely be considered of this generation."

"It is indeed okay for the general not to participate in the factional struggle, but who can influence the general? And the general's son is only fifteen years old. Is it appropriate?"

No. 2 still didn’t want to give up: “Where are the other legions?”

Seeing that what No. 2 said was getting more and more outrageous.

No. 6, who originally resisted No. 2's idea, couldn't stand it any longer and interrupted: "Stop talking nonsense. I've heard what No. 8 said. The most we can do is start with Chen Ming."

"Speaking of which, has Chen Ming not been very active recently? Isn't this the first influential thing he has done at the headquarters?"

"That's not the case." No. 20 said: "Chen Ming's lack of action recently does not mean that Chen Ming is not doing anything. He has been publishing various research and development results."

"Especially the extraordinary laboratory he has opened over there. The research results on the machine race can be published in a few days."

"His spiritual energy can control the mechanical race, so the materials provided by the higher-ups are quite a lot. Many established laboratories that research the mechanical race may not be as powerful as theirs."

"After all, if they want to do any experiments over there, they can just directly control the machine race. It's strange that the efficiency is not high."

"There are also some relics of that civilization that are being handed over to Chen Ming for study. Those things are also very exaggerated."

"And he also has some patents on anti-matter technology. Don't think that he is not doing something unless he makes big moves."

No. 1 was very surprised and asked No. 20, a person suspected of being from the Legion's scientific research department: "Is there such a thing?"

"Not everyone cares about the patents of the technology they use. Don't think that he has only been in our legion for a while and is still an ordinary person without vision."

"To introduce a suitable candidate to Chen Ming, we must not only consider Chen Ming's psychic abilities, but also Chen Ming's own abilities."

This time, No. 2 was not bothered by what No. 20 said about Chen Ming's situation, and said decisively: "Then let's not consider his ability first."

"People always look upward. If they have good things and bad things, they will definitely not want them, let alone the bad things haven't gotten to them yet."

No. 8 suddenly couldn't help but interjected: "Wait a minute, do you have any wrong understanding of good and bad?"

"Who can make Chen Ming give up his relationship with Bai Quan and choose someone else? Who can give Chen Ming more benefits than Cheng Xinghai?"

"This is where you got it wrong." No. 2 said confidently: "You don't have to let Chen Ming choose, but let Bai Quan choose."

"If Chen Ming is not a good gentleman, but a rotten person who shows mercy, will Bai Quan give his daughter to him?"

No. 8 didn't understand what No. 2 meant, but he knew one thing: "Chen Ming is not a good gentleman."

"As long as you understand what I mean, Chen Ming is definitely a man of ability and good character."

"So my idea is not to let Chen Ming choose someone else, but just to let Chen Ming do some irrational things so that Bai Quan can't marry Chen Ming despite Chen Ming's infamous reputation."

"Whose daughter or granddaughter is of the right age? The good-looking one will go first."

No. 10, who had never spoken before, finally spoke at this moment: "Isn't this much easier to find?"

Although everyone in the conference room just said something against Chen Ming and Bai Quan, they actually didn't have any deep grudge against Chen Ming.

Many people wouldn't mind if their daughter or granddaughter could be exchanged for the relationship of a level 5 psyker, or even a psyker whose upper limit was far beyond that, even if it was just a superficial relationship.

However, some people fell silent.

Everyone present was from the Fourteenth Legion and had a military background.

Some people can accept using some political means to achieve their goals when doing things, but selling out female members is still a very shameful way to achieve it, and it is unacceptable to them.

Suddenly, only half of the people in the conference room, where everyone would express their opinions occasionally, were discussing the feasibility of the plan proposed on the 2nd.

The rest of the people all remained silent.

The atmosphere in the conference room suddenly became weird.

The people who were talking immediately noticed this, and the discussion about choosing the right person to use some unfair means to engage Chen Ming immediately stopped.

But everyone knows that what No. 2 said is indeed an achievable method, and someone will definitely try it.

There are always people with flexible moral bottom lines.

The conference room was silent for a while.

In the end, No. 1 opened up the situation: "Maybe there is another person we can look for opportunities with."

"who?"

"Cheng Xinghe."

"He had conflicts with Chen Ming before. He had a conflict with Chen Ming in the Gallo Star Territory and was captured by Chen Ming. He was later redeemed by Bai Quan."

"Although their conflict seems to have been resolved through Baiquan, they all understand. They are arrogant and arrogant, and they will definitely not accept someone of their own age putting pressure on them."

"We can find ways to exert some influence on the people around him and let those people use Cheng Xinghe's defeat to Chen Ming to suppress him."

"Create some conflict between him and Chen Ming."

"Find a way to bring up old things again and magnify the conflict between Chen Ming and Cheng Xinghe into a life-or-death feud."

"Cheng Xinghai and Cheng Xinghe are brothers and sisters no matter what. As long as the relationship between Chen Ming and Cheng Xinghe continues to deteriorate, there will definitely be a gap between Chen Ming and Cheng Xinghai."

This proposal made the attendees’ eyes light up.

And the meeting continues.

at the same time.

The spaceship Chen Ming took arrived at the headquarters colony. It was not a military colony on a volcanic planet, but a comprehensive colony belonging to the Fourteenth Legion.

Although the military base is built on a volcanic planet.

But since the Fourteenth Army Corps alone controls a star field, it must have a supporting government affairs team, so the government affairs team naturally falls on this comprehensive colony.

When Chen Ming's spacecraft landed on the space station connected to the ground through a space elevator, Chen Ming felt a spiritual wave directly locking him.

Of course, this psychic wave did not show any hostility, it simply locked onto him and warned Chen Ming not to do bad things in the headquarters.

Of course Chen Ming would not seek death.

Follow He Gu silently.

Anyway, He Gu came to him at Bai Quan's request, so he would naturally help him arrange everything that followed.

Then.

He Gu did not take Chen Ming to see Bai Quan immediately, but took Chen Ming to a building.

In a corner near the building where no one would notice, He Gu said to Chen Ming: "Disguise a little bit."

"camouflage?"

Chen Ming rubbed a medical mask with his hands, put on a pair of dark glasses and said, "Okay."

He Gu looked at Chen Ming up and down, after confirming that people who were not familiar with him would not notice the problem.

He took Chen Ming into the building and entered a room in the corner of the first floor of the building.

This room is not empty, but a huge lecture hall where about three to four hundred people are already sitting.