Space Odyssey from Abandoned Mining Space Station

The entire Insect Race fleet was annihilated without leaving a trace.

The Mechanical Race might have guessed something, or simply conducted a sweep to prevent any Insect Race cells from falling onto a planet again due to gravity, causing another insect infestation.

Fortunately, Chen Ming had already dispersed some Insect Race cells into a wider space when the Destruction arrived.

He also planned to place almost undetectable iron atoms in Phase Space to provide him with vision there.

Unless the Mechanical Race thoroughly scours the entire Star System and even the Phase Space, it’s unlikely they will discover the scattered entities providing Chen Ming internal vision of the Star System.

However, only a very few cells, dispersed by Chen Ming and located relatively far from the Star System’s center where the Insect Race fleet converged, escaped disaster.

The vast scope of the scan made Chen Ming wonder about the Radiant Energy capacity of the Mechanical Race’s Mother Ship.

As Chen Ming expanded his vision into Phase Space, he finally saw the Mechanical Race Destruction Carrier.

At first glance, it looked no different from an ordinary Mother Ship, except for the slightly twisted, eye-catching appearance of the Destruction Spine Peak Cannon Head in the center.

However, upon closer inspection, it became apparent that this Mother Ship, much like the Phase Cruisers Chen Ming had observed, underwent significant modifications.

Greatly increased Radiant Energy capacity and greatly reduced Radiant Energy dissipation were achieved through modifications specifically for Phase Space.

That’s not really a problem.

The Mechanical Race, whether ships or individuals, are modular and mass-produced, making component replacement simple; at worst, the Destruction can just detach parts for use on another Mother Ship later.

In Phase Space at this time, besides the Mother Ship, there were dozens of Cruisers accompanying it.

Moreover, just as Chen Ming sent vision-providing entities into Phase Space, several Cruisers suddenly docked with the Mother Ship, seemingly exchanging equipment.

Once the exchange was completed, the Cruisers that exchanged equipment immediately jumped, vanishing from sight.

Chen Ming understood the situation at a glance.

The recent docking and equipment exchange involved the Mother Ship swapping its fully charged Radiant Energy Coils for the Cruisers’ empty ones, allowing the Cruisers to transport these coils beyond normal space.

Radiant Energy typically exists within a ship’s electronic circuits.

The length of the circuits and their current capacity determine the Radiant Energy capacity.

A ship can enhance its overall Radiant Energy capacity by carrying additional Radiant Energy Coils.

Such equipment is, of course, not meant to be casually removed.

Normally, if more than about 10% of total capacity Radiant Energy exists in a ship’s electronic system and Radiant Energy Coils, removing coils without first dissipating the Radiant Energy could cause an explosive disruption, melting disconnection sites and potentially causing an explosion.

However, Phase Space has unique properties that prevent Radiant Energy from dissipating, negating issues present in normal conditions when unloading energy-storing apparatus.

This peculiar opportunity was noticed by the Mechanical Race, who then prepared additional Cruisers to serve as extra coils for the Mother Ship.

These coils act as Radiant Energy capacity batteries, ready to be replaced once charged.

The more Cruisers they bring, the longer the Mother Ship can operate in Phase Space.

This is an extension of the Mechanical Race’s technology based on temporary Phase Ships.

Nevertheless, this technique might be more accurately described as leveraging existing natural laws to create a workaround.

It’s an excellent, special temporary replacement design.

This enabled the Destruction Carrier to continue sweeping the entire Star System for remaining Radiant Energy capacity even after annihilating Chen Ming’s entire Insect Race fleet.

The probability of encountering the dispersed Insect Race cells and iron atoms left by Chen Ming was minimized.

After swapping coils with the Cruisers, the Destruction Carrier regained an acceptable level of Radiant Energy.

The Destruction Carrier began patrolling the Star System within Phase Space.

Chen Ming speculated that the Destruction Carrier might come into contact with those cells or atoms during patrol.

Ultimately, however, this Destruction Carrier avoided the sparse areas where residual Insect Race cells or iron atoms lingered.

Chen Ming couldn’t actively mobilize these cells or atoms toward it.

Stationary, they posed no issue where they were placed.

But if they moved, the Mother Ship equipped with the Spiritual Energy main Weapon would surely detect them.

Better to leave them be, waiting for their chance.

Eventually, some unfortunate entity might stumble upon them.

Wherever an Insect Race fleet passes, cells and atoms remain.

Contact with even a trace is equivalent to being marked by Chen Ming.

Even if Chen Ming’s assaults yield no immediate results, he can eventually lay a path using Insect Race corpses to overcome the Mechanical Race’s control.