Chapter 190: A Sidestep

On the Feinan, Yang Ming, who had just woken up, looked at the information summary column in front of him, and his mood gradually sank.

"boss."

Yang Ming rubbed his forehead: "Still no trace of the Valkyrie?"

"Yes," Lu whispered, "We underestimated the difficulty of finding her in the vast interstellar space. The activities of that ghost ship have no regular pattern at all."

Yang Ming pondered for a few seconds, but did not hesitate too much.

"If we can't find any of the forty-eight galaxies, we will withdraw all our forces. Mollymis Mining Group will only carry out economic operations from now on."

"Yes, boss."

Yang Ming stood up and walked to the corner, where he began to stretch his body to stay ready for battle.

at the same time.

Sherman Empire, Skywrath Fortress, a war meeting room somewhere.

Grace and several captains of similar rank were standing or sitting behind the long conference table. Two gray-haired female supervisors were explaining the next action plan.

"This merchant ship that disappeared half a year ago is the Blue Charm, or the Charm Blue. What a damn naming convention!"

"Anyway, this ship has appeared in our monitoring network five times in a row, and once it was very close to the monitoring station outside the Imperial Star Circle."

"The last time I photographed it was two days ago, in this star field... Does it look familiar?"

Gris looked at the meteorite belt circled by the commander and frowned, "The area where the Valkyrie War was fought two years ago."

"That's right," the female boss gave Grace an admiring look.

Several captains standing nearby pouted or rolled their eyes, with dissatisfaction written all over their faces.

Grace didn't care about his brothers' little emotions and continued to ponder: "What the higher-ups mean is that they suspect that the Valkyrie is not dead and is still doing evil?"

“That’s not the conclusion we came to.”

The commander said:

“This is a fact that Professor Kigrove’s original team all agrees on.

“Several core members of the team analyzed the various signs of the ghost ship and its activity trajectory and believed that there was a 30% chance that the Valkyrie controlled the ship through her mind control.

“They are the people in the empire who understand the characteristics of the Ancient Gods and the Valkyries best.

"The Valkyries they are talking about will gradually become the greatest threat to the empire and will pose a threat to the safety of the Imperial Star."

Grace shook his head: "I admit that Valkyrie is the strongest modified body I have ever encountered. She exceeds our definition of biological modification, but this statement is an exaggeration."

"Her appearance was accidental," the commander said slowly. "She is Professor Kigrov's daughter, her only daughter. But fate seemed to have played a joke on Professor Kigrov. Her physical index perfectly met the requirements of the experiment. Kigrov dedicated everything he had to the empire."

The faces of several captains changed immediately.

The commander sighed, "The Valkyries hate the Empire because of all this."

Gris took a deep breath and murmured, "If it was that madman, he could indeed do such a thing, but how can we prove that the Valkyrie is connected to this ghost ship?"

"There's no way to prove it," the commander said, "but even if there's only a glimmer of suspicion, we have to investigate it thoroughly."

"Moreover, this ghost ship itself is somewhat abnormal. Dealing with these abnormal events is the mission of our force."

A captain nodded: "After all, we have nothing to do anyway."

Grace smiled but said nothing.

The commander said solemnly:

"The military has already dispatched 125 exploration ships and three independent squadrons to conduct a wide-area search in this area. The nearby trade routes have been temporarily diverted, and the surrounding administrative stars have also dispatched more than 300 defense warships to search the entire area for traces of this ghost ship.

“Everything was done in secret.

"Based on the performance of this merchant ship and the efficiency of its emergency power system, we concluded that it could not leave this boundary."

The commander drew a big circle on the star map.

"You will each gather your team members, leave the base within the next two galactic hours, and head directly to the area... Do you understand?"

Gris and several captains stood still at the same time and shouted with full energy:

"yes!"

Two galactic hours later.

Three special warships left the Skywrath Fortress, jumped directly in the fortress's gravitational influence area, and rushed into the vast deep space.

…

"Boss, the Sherman Empire suddenly mobilized a large number of ships to search the area in front of us."

"A large number of ships?"

Yang Ming wondered, "How many are there?"

"According to the information I just captured, there are at least four to five hundred exploration ships from various nearby administrative stars."

Lu hummed a few words:

"There are also a large number of military exploration ships operating inside, and their range of activity coincides with the airspace we are going to explore next.

"I'm getting more information."

Yang Ming had a bad feeling: "Check again."

"Okay boss."

Lu remained silent, while Yang Ming retrieved the airspace map and quickly marked a series of points based on the information currently available.

During this period of time, they traveled all over the small, uninhabited deep space, invested a lot of money, built a network, and placed monitors, but they only found a few clues.

And now, the Sherman Empire is likely to get ahead of them and find the ghost ship first.

"Boss, they are looking for the blue number."

"I knew it," Yang Ming cursed, "but this also shows that the route we have determined at this stage is likely correct. This is the Sherman Empire, and the imperial officials must have more intelligence than we do."

Yang Ming exhaled lightly and continued, "Let the Feinan and Dongfeng stop temporarily. I need to think about a countermeasure."

"Yes, boss."

The Feinan and Dongfeng were stationary at the same time, one in front and one behind.

Of course, there is no absolute stillness in the universe. Space itself is expanding, and large galaxy clusters are also moving towards larger gravitational sources. Stillness is still a relative concept.

Yang Ming quickly made up his mind.

"Have the Dongfeng continue to provide long-range reinforcements. Don't enter the front airspace unless it is absolutely necessary. It cannot be directly exposed to the sight of the Empire ." Yang Ming said, "Feinan and White Ghost enter the front area. If they are discovered by them, we will send a request for coordination and say that we suspect there is a swarm of insects hiding nearby."

Lu thought carefully and reminded: "If the Valkyrie is really found in the airspace ahead, boss, do you want to fight the Valkyrie as the White Ghost?"

"No," Yang Ming thought for a moment, "I will make a judgment based on the situation. Don't worry, I cherish my life very much. If the conditions are not ripe, I will not have a head-on collision with the Valkyrie."

Lu added: "Also, if you appear near the Valkyrie, she should be able to sense your presence."

"Didn't you make two sets of signal shielding equipment for Hera?" Yang Ming said with a smile, "If I remember correctly, there is also a set on the Feinan. Bring it over to me."

"Okay boss, I'll go check it out right away."

"Go ahead, I'll drive myself from now on."

Yang Ming made a gesture, and the floating square rudder of the Feinan floated over and was held tightly by him.

Ultimately, destiny is in your own hands.

The Feinan entered full stealth mode, accelerating towards the airspace ahead.

Through long-term infiltration of the Sherman Empire network, Lu has established an intelligence system that relies on civilian networks.

At this moment, the intelligence system is operating at full capacity.

The Sherman Empire's search operation was directly ordered by the superior leaders of the special forces. All administrative stars and garrison space stations in this airspace urgently dispatched idle ships to cooperate with the work.

Because the orders were issued too hastily, many administrative star commanders directly used dual-use military and civilian ships in order to meet the targets.

This provided Lu with a window to spy on the official actions of the empire.

A steady stream of information was summarized on the projection screen next to Yang Ming.

Discovered traces of Sherman's special forces;

All the ships participating in this air search received all kinds of information about the blue ship;

The Imperial military dispatched a large number of ships. Although there were no heavy firepower ships, their combat power should not be underestimated...

All signs indicate that the Sherman Empire has indeed set its sights on the ghost ship and suspects that the ship may be hiding some weapons of mass destruction.

Otherwise they wouldn't use special forces.

Lu was amazed and said, "It would be great if the Valkyrie could be killed directly by the Sherman Empire."

"It depends on the situation," Yang Ming said, "What I'm worried about is that the Empire is not determined enough to get rid of the Valkyrie, and is thinking of capturing her for research."

"This possibility is very high," Lu warned, "but even if it does happen, I don't recommend you to take action under these conditions. If the Valkyrie is caught by the opponent, it is possible that she will replicate the way she escaped last time."

Yang Ming murmured, "She would still run away like that, right? She still left a cell cluster in a hidden corner."

"Yes, boss. This is almost inevitable," said Lu. "One of the main purposes of our proactive attack this time is that after defeating her, you can try to sense the location of her cell cluster at close range and eliminate the problem ."

Yang Ming nodded and began to remain silent.

The Flying South entered the Sherman Empire's search area.

It followed a civilian ship and slowly advanced towards the center of the encirclement built by the Sherman Empire.

Two hours later, the civilian ships were suddenly asked to stop and return.

Yang Ming's tense nerves trembled slightly: "Did they find the ghost ship?"

The lawyer did not answer immediately, but was trying his best to search and confirm the information.

About half a minute later, several pictures appeared in front of Yang Ming.

It was on the outskirts of a dim gas giant, beneath a magnificent planetary ring composed of gas and dust. The cargo ship with blue and white paint was quietly suspended.

It is as small as dust.

It doesn't seem to have any life.

Whether it was intuitive sensing or instrument data, it showed no signs of life.

Yang Ming exhaled lightly.

He was in a complicated mood, and at this moment he was burning with an irrepressible desire to fight.

Only by defeating the Valkyrie can he live a stable life and plan and engineer more important events without any worries.

Just end it here?

No, you can't have this kind of thinking, otherwise it will affect your judgment.

At present, the Sherman Empire officials have intervened, and under this premise, we must get the greatest benefits and minimize the losses.

"Boss, a special forces ship has arrived in the area and has dispatched several boats."

"Let's also move closer and observe from the outside," Yang Ming said slowly, "Set the particle transmission landing point on the deck of the Imperial Special Forces ship and keep the farthest distance."

"This is a bit risky... OK, boss, I'll do it."

Lu didn't give much advice.

On the Dongfeng, Mimili and Kolev completed the jump preparations skillfully. They stared at the information shared by Lu and secretly worried for Yang Ming.

Compared to a super-biochemically modified human, the Sherman Empire is obviously more terrifying.

…

On those fast-moving boats.

Gris frowned and looked at the cargo ship in front of him, feeling a little nervous.

He rarely gets nervous. The last time he felt nervous was when he faced the massive swarm of insects on the battlefield of Zubin Star.

"Boss," several team members in the back laughed, "The higher-ups really think highly of us. They just let us explore the way and blow up the ship directly."

Grace said, "They want data, and no one knows if there are any survivors here. Don't complain. All three of our teams have sent their elite troops, which is already fair."

The men and women chuckled.

There were six people in the boat.

Gris is a 'well-rounded' soldier who shoulders the responsibilities of captain, observing the situation and taking command.

Two muscular biochemical warriors, equipped with super-powerful defensive shields, are the two gates of the team.

Two mechanically modified warriors equipped with mechanical prosthetics, each connected to a remote fire control and detection device, can carry out small-scale fire suppression in a short period of time.

There is also a general modified warrior, the same type as Gris, who is mainly responsible for communications and firepower replenishment, and will continue to fly the airship later.

The other two teams have similar configurations.

Gris glanced at his watch and said, "Check the equipment and we will enter from the hatch in the middle of the cargo ship."

The six people were busy in silence.

The airship began to slow down, and the six people were pulled forward slightly by inertia.

The six people activated their space suits and put on their flight backpacks. The left and right doors of the airship opened, and a total of eighteen elite special forces soldiers left the three small boats and flew towards the cargo ship several thousand meters ahead.

"Boss, there are faint signs of life inside, but we can barely detect them at this distance."

"It could be in the emergency shelter or nutrition warehouse."

Gris nodded.

He had already obtained more detailed test data, which included some corpses with horrific deaths and signs of life on the bridge.

It was based on these test data that the decision was made to send them out for exploration.

The jetpack lit up with a halo.

Gris picked up the laser rifle and aimed it at the hatch. Two biochemically modified warriors took the lead and one of them unfolded a lightsaber, pierced the hatch and slid slowly.

Gris and the other two mechanical transformers turned on the fire safety at the same time.

With a dull thud, the hatch slowly slid shut.

There was no air rushing out.

Simulates gravity as normal.

The cabin was quiet, without a single light.

Gris's Adam's apple trembled a few times, and he flew in first with a gun in hand. He was captured by the simulated gravity. Two burly men held out their lightsabers, and a female mechanic at the back lit up the sphere suspended on her shoulder, completely illuminating this section of the cabin.

"ah!"

Seeing the horrific corpses in the cabin, the new cyborg couldn't help but scream and immediately covered his mouth.

Grace didn't bother to look at her, but just glanced around vigilantly.

…

On board the Feinan.

Yang Ming had no way of knowing what the situation was like inside the cabin. He could only guess from afar and sense it carefully.

There is no breath of Valkyrie for the time being.

She hid in a gas planet?

The environment in here is extremely harsh.

Yang Ming muttered quietly: "Does the Sherman Empire not like drone technology at all? Why not arrange a few drones to explore the way first?"

Lu muttered, "They have to calculate the cost."

"Special forces aren't cheap!"