Space Odyssey from Abandoned Mining Space Station

Li Sheng’s gesture blocked everything his deputy was about to say.

Once he had issued the order, he couldn’t possibly stop halfway.

Moreover.

”I just need you to say that it was because we didn’t detect An Wuping’s biological signal, so we presumed An Wuping died in the battle with the Psychic of Zuo Jing. Is that difficult?”

The deputy felt a headache at the thought that An Wuping’s death might cause several factions, especially the Spiritual Ability Association and Audan Star Realm, to come questioning.

If there was clear evidence that An Wuping died in battle, it would be fine; he would have ample excuse to deflect the issue.

But the current situation was obviously different.

It was Li Sheng who ordered the fire cleansing.

And An Wuping might have died from Li Sheng’s order after his battle with the Psychic of Zuo Jing; that’s the crux.

Li Sheng, as the commander, was primarily responsible for combat matters.

But as Li Sheng’s deputy, it was naturally his responsibility to handle more clerical matters, meaning he directly faced the questioning and inquiries from these two factions.

Regarding Audan Star Realm, their involvement in Cai Mo affairs purely relied on brazen tactics; their main demands could be blocked.

Moreover, Audan Star Realm was already geographically distant from Cai Mo, not part of the local forces near the Fifth Legion, requiring not much attention.

But the Spiritual Ability Association was different.

Although the Spiritual Ability Association had always been a loose organization, it had consistently kept in step with the Empire.

The Association had some people muddling along, but mostly those who would act beneficially for the Empire when their interests aligned with the Empire’s.

The president of the Spiritual Ability Association could currently be considered one of the top Psychics of the entire Empire.

Such a force couldn’t be easily dismissed by anyone.

In this Cai Mo-related incident, the Fifth Legion managed to establish its voice primarily because the situation had escalated, requiring urgent support from the Legion.

If this incident occurred only within a few star systems, on a smaller scale, the Fifth Legion wouldn’t have any advantage and couldn’t seize some narrative control from the Spiritual Ability Association.

While the Association can’t heavily involve itself due to the extensive scope of affairs, it still must be respected.

The Association’s attitude towards An Wuping was quite amicable, in stark contrast to theirs.

Considering all these aspects, the deputy said quite awkwardly to Li Sheng, ”Mainly explaining to others is difficult.”

”Others? Explain? Explain what? Once a person is dead, there’s no need to explain to others.”

Li Sheng fully understood the deputy’s concerns, hence directly silenced him with the president’s words: ”You know the warning from the Spiritual Ability Association’s president, right?”

”An Wuping was infected by dimensions twice, each infection essentially providing a coordinate to another dimension,”

”Such a person might hold some value alive and might be protected, but if he’s dead, no one would care at all.”

”But...”

The deputy’s words were interrupted by Li Sheng in a slightly angry tone: ”The Host of Zuo Jing was killed; its Spiritual Energy effect completely failed, causing the power of dimensional infection to disappear. All our previous losses and efforts were in vain.”

”Ultimately, the biggest beneficiary turns out to be the unrelated Audan, can you accept this?”

The deputy remained silent, not daring to respond; he was fully aware of the Fifth Legion’s losses and how substantial they were to Li Sheng.

Even their fleet faced a certain level of internal chaos before heading out, highlighting their woes.

”But why does Audan become the biggest beneficiary?”

Li Sheng pointed at the deputy’s nose and questioned, ”I ask you, regarding the Cai Mo Star Realm incident, what is the biggest benefit we can obtain?”

The deputy was not bothered by Li Sheng’s attitude, being accustomed to it.

He thought carefully for a while and hesitantly asked, ”Resolving Zuo Jing?”

Li Sheng denied, ”Resolving Zuo Jing benefits everyone.”

”Those research results published by Zuo Jing? Our Fifth Legion’s control over Cai Mo Star Realm is unprecedented; we can leverage the samples left by Zuo Jing for research.”

”The dimensional infection research plan is available to everyone; Zuo Jing didn’t care who could access these plans when disclosing them.”

”We can’t preserve those samples either; they would eventually end up in other factions’ hands.”

”Both the Spiritual Ability Association and Fan Chao Research Institute could potentially seize those things from us.”

”Moreover, remember not to overlook one person, Hu Yi. His approach has logical problems, clearly showing a sound strategic view, but tends to make mistakes in swift decision-making involving minor matters.”

”Normal people wouldn’t be like that; someone is coaching him in the background.”

”Hu Yi was previously taken to another star system by Zuo Jing, used as bait like An Wuping to distract us.”

The deputy said, ”I recall that star system...”

”Our fleet lost in that star system, handing it over to Zuo Jing, with Hu Yi being the strongest individual there.”

”The news of the star system’s recovery was received before the Psychic of Zuo Jing was killed by An Wuping.”