Space Odyssey from Abandoned Mining Space Station

Psychological issues, especially those involving Zuo Jing and civilians.

The first person Chen Ming thought of who could help him resolve this was, of course, Bai Quan.

On Bai Quan’s end, just like usual, he quickly answered Chen Ming’s call.

Before Bai Quan could ask, Chen Ming spoke first: ”Let me ask you something, if you needed to sacrifice a group of people to achieve your goals, would you do it?”

Bai Quan was confused by Chen Ming’s sudden and inexplicable question, but he still answered seriously: ”If it’s on the battlefield, of course, I would. Why do you ask?”

”Just asking, what if it’s not on the battlefield?”

”If it’s not on the battlefield, it would depend on the situation. I’d have to see if what I’m doing aligns with my values when sacrificing a group of people.”

Chen Ming gave an example: ”What if a Space Station with Zuo Jing has kidnapped civilians, threatening to explode if you approach them? Would you sacrifice those civilians to eliminate Zuo Jing?”

”I would.”

Bai Quan answered without hesitation, ”As long as my goal isn’t self-serving, I’d sacrifice them without any hesitation. Did you run into a problem? Or is your group leader facing an issue over at Cai Mo?”

”I just suddenly thought of something, so I wanted to ask.”

”...Are you serious...”

Bai Quan didn’t believe Chen Ming would be sitting quietly at the division and suddenly ponder such questions.

He could easily guess that Chen Ming was secretly using his Spiritual Energy for something and encountered a similar situation, prompting him to ask.

Nowadays, synthetic technology is so advanced that it’s not difficult to create a robot that looks exactly like a human with a bit of effort.

As far as he knew, the Empire indeed had people manufacturing and producing such synthetic robots for companionship.

Especially in the Prosperous Star Realm, these robots aren’t considered rare.

If Chen Ming’s Spiritual Energy is controlling such a synthetic robot while piloting a spaceship, it’s generally hard to tell.

In fact, if Bai Quan hadn’t secretly ordered a detailed body scan and DNA testing on Chen Ming when he arrived at the division, he would have doubted whether the Chen Ming at the division was the real one.

Upon hearing Bai Quan’s suspicion, Chen Ming felt a bit embarrassed at being questioned.

The effects of his Spiritual Energy had long been analyzed, and Bai Quan had been the first to deduce the effects from the traces of his actions.

So, it’s certainly been thought of to use Spiritual Energy to manufacture mechanical replicas; Bai Quan’s think tank had even considered this beforehand.

But Bai Quan surely wasn’t aware of matters regarding the Insect Race.

Yet this was enough for Bai Quan to think that Chen Ming was causing trouble outside.

To Bai Quan, whatever Chen Ming is doing right now doesn’t really matter.

Chen Ming was probably just controlling some robot or autopilot spaceship running around the Empire, accidentally encountering similar issues he just mentioned.

Lately, incidents involving Zuo Jing have been happening everywhere in the Empire, making it impossible to guess where Chen Ming might have taken a robot.

Though there’s a primary suspect—the Cai Mo Star Realm—the situation there is extremely complex right now.

The Fourteenth Legion currently focuses mostly on the war with the Mechanical Race and Dusk, leaving internal matters to other legions, so they aren’t paying much attention and certainly don’t know much.

But no matter what, as long as Chen Ming doesn’t violate that unwritten rule, it’s fine.

Which means, never use Spiritual Energy to control things that don’t belong to Chen Ming.

Even if Chen Ming is clearly asking about this matter now, clearly staying at the division, controlling robots or spaceships outside, Bai Quan still trusts Chen Ming to adhere to a comforting personal boundary.

Of course, Bai Quan feels assured himself, but there’s always someone who doesn’t think the same.

So Bai Quan made efforts to protect Chen Ming, occasionally hinting to him during class.

Chen Ming’s no fool; he knows very well how powerful his Spiritual Energy is and how much concern it can cause among people.

Luckily, his Spiritual Energy can only spread through direct contact and indirect contact using Dusk, otherwise there’d be more people trying to limit him.

So he always cooperates, at least his fake body cooperates within the Fourteenth Legion.

All fake bodies brought to the Fourteenth Legion with Dusk cores are openly placed in front of Bai Quan for monitoring.

The only others with Dusk cores are the small fleet wandering around the Gallo Star Realm earning pocket money.

Because Chen Ming acts transparently, Bai Quan isn’t worried about Chen Ming trying to stir up trouble, he sincerely replied, ”Let me put it this way, even for myself, I’m a necessary sacrificial object in my own eyes.”

”Just like if sacrificing me now could solve the Mechanical Race, Zuo Jing, or Dusk, I’d willingly sacrifice now.”

Bai Quan spoke nobly, and Chen Ming believed Bai Quan would indeed do so, but he wasn’t Bai Quan, surely having different thoughts when pondering some matters.

He was more inclined to use Bai Quan’s perspective as a reference to the predicament he currently faced.

”If it’s not for such goals, but more personal ones? Like you’re not part of the government army besieging Zuo Jing, but just an ordinary person holding a grudge against them.”