Space Odyssey from Abandoned Mining Space Station

The outskirts of the boss’s Consciousness Space were almost devoid of buildings.

Only large swathes of sparse vegetation that looked like it had been implanted not long ago.

The Phase Giant Beast was roaming through the air above the outskirts.

From a distance, it looked like an ordinary manta ray that could swim through the air, nervously observing this new world.

If it hadn’t been brought into the Consciousness Space together with Chen Ming, it would probably have already caused a big commotion.

The boss piloted the Shuttle Boat down to land nearby.

While Chen Ming walked down alone and came to stand before the Phase Giant Beast.

Even though Chen Ming had previously been a robot, that didn’t stop the Phase Giant Beast from sensing the familiar aura on the person before it, along with that faint power from the Crimson Dimension.

The Phase Giant Beast relaxed and lay down in front of Chen Ming.

Chen Ming felt that the Phase Giant Beast’s condition didn’t seem very good; even as a consciousness-form it was showing signs of exhaustion.

But if they couldn’t communicate, he had no way to help the Phase Giant Beast.

So he could only try to speed things up as much as possible.

As soon as Chen Ming approached the Phase Giant Beast, the boss in the Shuttle Boat to the side activated his Spiritual Energy.

It was as if nerves made of Spiritual Energy grew out separately from the consciousness-forms of Chen Ming and the Phase Giant Beast.

The Phase Giant Beast resisted for a moment, but under Chen Ming’s reassurance it immediately calmed down, quietly watching as the two strands of nerve converged together.

The nerves linked the consciousness of Chen Ming and the Phase Giant Beast.

Allowing Chen Ming and the Phase Giant Beast to directly perceive each other’s thoughts.

In the boss’s view, this kind of two-way consciousness exchange was the most suitable for the current situation.

It was just that if the Phase Giant Beast had chosen to resist just now, the boss would have had to resort to somewhat more forceful measures.

But judging by the look of it, that wouldn’t be necessary.

Chen Ming’s consciousness-form closed its eyes.

Feeling whether this consciousness exchange constructed by the boss was any different from the consciousness exchange he’d had with the Insect Queen.

Let’s just say.

The difference was obvious—whether it was because the boss’s Spiritual Energy didn’t work that well on biological entities, or for some other reason.

The consciousness link between Chen Ming and the Phase Giant Beast was rather intermittent; they couldn’t carry out smooth communication.

He could only sense some fragments of thoughts, consciousness, and memories from the Phase Giant Beast’s consciousness-form, seeing a series of not-so-coherent snippets.

Roughly pieced together, they formed bits of the Phase Giant Beast’s experiences, mixed with some thoughts and emotions the Phase Giant Beast wanted to share with Chen Ming.

It was fairly scattered, but Chen Ming still understood what it meant.

Simply put, it was saying that the Phase Giant Beast indeed was a species living in Phase Space, and not a solitary creature, but one that existed in clans.

The clans weren’t very large; the clan of the Phase Giant Beast in front of Chen Ming had only a dozen or so individuals.

However, no matter how small the clan, among every clan a special individual would invariably be born.

Possessing powerful talents and abilities that set it apart from other Phase Giant Beasts, able to tear open Phase Space and the Crimson Dimension, and seize power from the Crimson Dimension.

When this special individual was still weak, the entire clan would spare no effort to raise and protect it.

And once this special individual matured, it would have to shoulder the responsibility of feeding the entire species.

In other words, it was the Clan Leader.

Which means that this Phase Giant Beast had taken Chen Ming to be the special individual of their clan.

After all, Chen Ming really did have the ability to rip open the Crimson Dimension and seize power.

And since Chen Ming had been communicating with the Phase Giant Beast through a robot body, with a body size about that of an ordinary human, the Phase Giant Beast assumed Chen Ming was still in a juvenile stage and needed to undergo growth and nurturing.

So the reason behind what the Phase Giant Beast had done earlier was now clear.

It had simply regarded Chen Ming as a not-yet-adult little fellow, and so decided to obtain food to feed Chen Ming—raise Chen Ming first, then talk.

That’s why it had been puzzled earlier when Chen Ming digested a huge chunk of Crimson flesh but showed no change in body size whatsoever.

Then it turned around and continued to look for—or rather, snatch—Crimson flesh for Chen Ming.

With the consciousness exchange reaching this point, Chen Ming suddenly found it hard to keep a straight face.

Wasn’t this recognition method of the Phase Giant Beast a bit crude?

Anything that could move in Phase Space and could also seize and digest power from the Crimson Dimension was treated as its own kind...

Just as Chen Ming was thinking this, the Phase Giant Beast linked to him by consciousness sent back a response that was roughly, ”Isn’t that how it works?”

Which made it even harder for Chen Ming to hold it in.

Anyway, that was basically the situation.

The Phase Giant Beast wanted to feed Chen Ming and then have Chen Ming sustain the clan.

Even though this clan at the moment seemed to consist of just it and Chen Ming, that was still what it had in mind.

As for why the Phase Giant Beast wasn’t with its own clan but had come out and run into Chen Ming instead, the Phase Giant Beast gave an answer as well.

The emotions accompanying its consciousness exchange turned into the same anger Chen Ming had once felt.

And the target of that anger.

Was the Mechanical Race.

To put it simply again, the Clan Leader of this Phase Giant Beast’s original clan had found a suitable location and was preparing to tear open space to hunt.

And that process was discovered by the Mechanical Race.

What happened afterward, Chen Ming could more or less guess.

But he didn’t need to guess now.

Although the Phase Giant Beast didn’t understand what the Mechanical Race had done, it could see what the Mechanical Race had done.