Space Odyssey from Abandoned Mining Space Station

So they also know very well what kind of negative impact it would have on humanity if, before the war even began, a human fleet were wiped out by the Mechanical Race.

Although only a handful of people even know about Chen Ming’s fleet, and even if it got completely wiped out, it’d still only be known to those few.

But from the Mechanical Race’s point of view, Chen Ming is a Psychic candidate who has received the Empire’s orders to conduct external expansion.

If someone like that were to be lost, it would definitely be a heavy blow to the Empire, which makes their actions logical.

This can fully explain why the Mechanical Race did what they did.

This shouldn’t really count as Chen Ming being narcissistic, because the Mechanical Race does indeed know of his existence.

But this explanation also has its own problems.

Because even if Chen Ming captured a Cruiser, dug out its complete database, he still wouldn’t be able to completely determine whether this situation would actually occur.

If it can’t be confirmed, it means this might really just be one of Chen Ming’s random guesses, something that would never happen.

Right now, Chen Ming can only gamble.

And when he gambles, he only bets on one outcome—that he loses.

So Chen Ming has to seriously consider whether he should temporarily give up on close-range regional exploration and directly send the fleet to the next jump point.

But there’s no need to rush this decision just yet.

The Mechanical Race’s plan has just been thwarted, their asses set on fire by a Phase Giant Beast.

Before they put out the flames, the Mechanical Race won’t risk being infiltrated by the Empire by coming after Chen Ming.

He still has time.

So for now, Chen Ming dismantled the useless capture device from this Mechanical Race Cruiser and shoved the ship into his Cruiser inventory.

Speaking of which, Chen Ming actually still has three Mechanical Race Cruisers he can use, and counting this one, that makes four.

Each Mechanical Race Cruiser has a dedicated Core Chip unique to their ships, with an effect similar to Dusk’s core, but weaker.

Chen Ming doesn’t need to consume his controllable ship limit to control these Cruisers.

It’s just that, when facing the Mechanical Race, he doesn’t really want to send their Cruisers out to fight.

After all, his other firepower is already enough; if he also throws Mechanical Race Cruisers into the fray, it might raise his threat level in their eyes.

Chen Ming has no desire to have the Mechanical Race thinking about him day and night, so it’s better to keep a slightly lower profile.

Not that he’s any better off holding two hundred Armor Piercing ships anyway.

But that’s not a big problem.

After tossing one Mechanical Race Cruiser into his fleet’s backup list—

His attention shifted to another Cruiser.

This was a standard Mechanical Race combat-model Cruiser.

Just like the previous one, almost everything about it was perfectly ordinary, except that in the most central location, where the Mechanical Race Cruiser chip should have been installed, there was an extra object.

A one-meter cube overall shaped like a sphere, with six columnar extensions protruding along the up, down, left, right, front, and back axes—a mechanical construct.

The precision of this construct was on a completely different level from the surrounding Mechanical Race warship, one could even say, from a completely different era.

Observing its internal structure with Spiritual Energy, its uniqueness was evident even to the naked eye.

And this mechanical construct was called the [Personality Core].

Chen Ming’s Spiritual Energy instantly grasped how to use the Personality Core.

At the same time, he also understood why the Mechanical Race fleet had risked being taken out by a Phase Giant Beast to carry it off the Planet and send it away.

Because it was the foundation of Mother Ship Manufacturing for the Mechanical Race.

It was the core of a Mechanical Race fleet.

A Mechanical Race Mother Ship is a Main Ship–class vessel, but compared to the Empire’s or Dusk’s Main Ships, a Mother Ship is not purely a Main Ship; it’s a colossal mechanical factory and war fortress.

It has a far more comprehensive set of functions; wherever it appears is where the Mechanical Race takes root.

And the Spiritual Energy Fluctuation contained within it was telling Chen Ming that it was also the foundation of the Mechanical Race’s Hive Mind Network.

The Insect Queen’s Hive Mind Network is based on pheromones.

Chen Ming’s Hive Mind Network is the linkage between his own Spiritual Energy and the Insect Queen’s mind, essentially using his Spiritual Energy and the Crimson Dimension—a presence capable of transcending space—to achieve this.

The Mechanical Race’s Hive Mind Network implementation is currently unknown, but the fact that it can be blocked by Silent Alloy shows that it is also related to Spiritual Energy.

Now, the answer was laid out clearly in front of Chen Ming.

One could say the Mechanical Race had gone all-in.

Their level of importance placed on this location needed no further explanation.

Chen Ming even felt that this place might have been newly built by the Mechanical Race after he destroyed their last colony.

They finally got the Planet’s development to a decent level, just about ready to further expand into other Star Systems—

Then they ran into a Phase Giant Beast, and just so happened to provoke Chen Ming at that very moment, leading to him coming over and clubbing away their Personality Core.

It was just a pity that Chen Ming’s Spiritual Energy could only figure out how to use the Personality Core, not its underlying operating principles.

Even when he used his Spiritual Energy for an in-depth probe, he couldn’t see its specific effects.

He could only see that inside it was a special structure composed of Spiritual Materials.

Just like... the other relics of the Shimmering Civilization.

But the Spiritual structure inside the Personality Core was nothing like the Purgatory Core’s, which Chen Ming had easily figured out.