Space Odyssey from Abandoned Mining Space Station-Chapter 558 - 179: Yan Xiong’s Application Method

The next day.

At the agreed time, Chen Ming dialed Bai Quan’s number.

According to Bai Quan’s previous suggestion, it’s best to teach command techniques through a video call.

So Chen Ming did just that.

Bai Quan’s image quickly appeared on the terminal screen.

Chen Ming didn’t waste time and said directly, "I’m ready here. We can start now."

"Okay."

Bai Quan responded but made no other movements.

Causing Chen Ming to ask somewhat puzzledly, "Where’s the teacher who’s supposed to teach me?"

Bai Quan pointed to himself and said, "I’ll do it personally."

"Uh... Aren’t you handling your affairs? I assume they are quite important and can’t be settled that quickly, right?"

"No problem."

Chen Ming stared at the video call, Bai Quan was in a business suit ready for something and asked again, "Really no problem?"

"Really no problem."

"Alright then."

Bai Quan assured him, so Chen Ming had nothing more to say.

Chen Ming projected the image of Bai Quan from the terminal onto the wall for easier viewing.

Then he casually picked up another terminal and said, "The materials have already arrived here. Where should we begin?"

Bai Quan also pulled out newly compiled teaching materials, largely revised from basic texts, based on Chen Ming’s performance in several recorded battles he previously analyzed. He said, "The basics of command terminology."

After Bai Quan began formally teaching Chen Ming.

Two days flew by.

Although Chen Ming was busy almost every moment, after two days he had almost adapted.

And as Chen Ming finished his daily studies today, he casually tallied the situation of those units of the Mechanical Race he had to occasionally visit the Supreme Point warehouse to control.

He could only say it was because he was limited to physical contact with these members of the Mechanical Race to control them.

Moreover, the Mechanical Race isn’t lifeless and can’t be transported using an industrial assembly line approach.

This led to extremely low efficiency in Chen Ming’s control over the Mechanical Race.

Even as the number of Mechanical Race units he controlled increased, the efficiency of transporting them improved.

To this day, those controlled by him only accounted for a little over twenty percent of the entire Mechanical Race city.

If the efficiency could continue to grow at the current rate, it would take at least more than half a month for him to completely control the Mechanical Race city.

This efficiency left Chen Ming slightly tempted to use the newly cultivated members of the Insect Race led by his Insect Queen to actively attack the Mechanical Race.

After all, the Insect Queen could protect the consciousness of those individual Insect Race members through the Hive Mind Network.

And it was relatively easy to control the Mechanical Race once they were damaged in battle.

Perhaps he could even have the Insect Queen actively evolve some members of the Insect Race more suited for battle during combat.

In the end, though, Chen Ming refrained from this thought.

Because he discovered significant issues with the Hive Mind Network of the city’s Mechanical Race.

Unlike the Empire’s cluster of Mechanical Races, those here are operating independently.

Their Hive Mind Network is limited to these individuals scattered outside, without a powerful central consciousness to guide the Mechanical Race here.

This means that the offspring of the Mechanical Race won’t have their consciousness preserved by the Hive Network after their physical death, awaiting implantation in new bodies.

Instead, they are truly dead.

Over the past few days, Chen Ming confirmed this as he attempted to control these Mechanical Race units.

Almost every day in the city, around ten units of the Mechanical Race naturally die due to equipment aging.

But these dead units do not resurrect on any Machine Race bodies inside the city’s factories that are yet to have their consciousness implanted and are not completely aged into disuse.

Or rather, there was no occurrence of Mechanical Race consciousness in any body.

The overall number of the Mechanical Race is dwindling.

This strongly indicates that there is no dominant powerful consciousness over the independent network’s hive mind of those Mechanical Race constructs.

Causing the Mechanical Race connected to the network to be fundamentally unable to be effectively regulated.

Once a Mechanical Race unit dies, it’s truly dead.

This also means all Mechanical Race units lost in battle will reduce the number under Chen Ming’s control afterwards, ultimately diminishing the feedback of Spiritual Power.

Once combat breaks out, it’s not something Chen Ming can stop merely by imagining.

Therefore, these future controllable units of the Mechanical Race, he still doesn’t want to waste internally here.

After all, he still needs time for his Dusk entities to explore the surrounding Star Systems, so the control of the Mechanical Race isn’t that urgent.

Additionally, the universe is so vast that Chen Ming will inevitably land on some other Planets in the future, likely encountering clusters of dangerous beings, presenting opportunities for the Insect Race to surface.

While contemplating the issues of the Mechanical Race, Chen Ming quickly finished his dinner.

Just as Chen Ming was preparing to continue reviewing those Cruiser-related tech files from Bai Quan tonight and possibly resolve some queries with the Extraordinary, remnants from yesterday’s issues were to be addressed.

Chen Ming suddenly received communication from the Director, who finally contacted him after several days.

"Xiao Ming, I’ve almost finished the interrogation on my side."

So Chen Ming didn’t hurry, organizing the few documents he planned to study, and then said to the Director, "Okay, I’m listening. Go ahead."