This is not mechanical ascension.

After looking at the three-dimensional map first, Li Ming found Tu Zheng's room. It was very extravagantly built, with a 4*4 large bed taking up most of the space.

The surrounding holographic image simulates a prairie, lifelike, and even has the sound of the wind rustling the grass.

"This fat man really knows how to enjoy it." Li Ming fumbled for a moment and found his target. The safe that Tu Zheng placed on the bedside quickly opened it.

The safe is not big, and there is a pile of golden crystals in it - refined liquid gold, an interstellar precious metal.

Li Ming recognized it at a glance. It was more expensive than the amethyst he had obtained from Scarface Tiger before, exceeding 10,000 star coins per gram.

"Tsk..." Li Ming grinned.

According to a rough estimate, this small pile is worth three million star coins, and there are also two delivery cards from the Giant Shield Company. I don't know what they are.

Then, he went to the warehouse in this secret castle. Various firearms and weapons were neatly arranged, at least two to three hundred. The most noteworthy one was the full-metal combat armor in the glass cabinet.

Painted in black, with sharp edges and corners, almost all visible parts are made of alloy. Even at the joint joints, the purple-black titanium fiber lining can only be seen when moving.

[Tanwei 211 personal combat armor - D level: made of diamond alloy, mixed titanium fiber lining, thick individual combat armor.

Control conditions: 7,000 points of metal energy

Control effect: Defense blessing--150%

Control ability-Tan Guard: Bless 300% defense. 】

The ability is simple and crude, adding up to a 450% defense boost. After mastering it, ordinary kinetic energy bullets landed on his skin, hitting even his hairs.

It must be at least the energy level with the D suffix in order to break through his defense.

Even if you don't control it, with a tank guard on the outside and array armor on the inside, you can still resist for a while against D-class lifeforms.

"This is a big harvest." Li Ming was in a happy mood and packed up the firearms. These were all metal energy, including many F and E-class heavy weapons.

This windfall is more than all the previous gains combined.

Killing three big fish earned a reward of three million star coins, and the total number of items in the secret castle was roughly estimated to be worth five to six million.

The total value is eight to nine million star coins, and there are two anonymous storage cards from the Giant Shield Company. There may be a little surprise hidden in them.

Although this place was also made of metal materials, he couldn't stay here for long, so he packed up, took his things, and left quickly.

………

Half a day later, Yang Peng stood here with a blank expression. Section Chief Wang reported in a low voice: "The minister's place has been cleaned up. There is no data in the monitoring terminal."

"Does anyone else know about this place?" Yang Peng couldn't help but look at Zeng Hao.

"Although there are only a few people who know that the people here are Tu Zheng's confidants, there are still a few." Zeng Hao shook his head helplessly: "I don't know who took the lead."

"Youying!" Yang Peng suddenly uttered two words. Zeng Hao's face condensed slightly, and Section Chief Wang's expression perked up: "How did the minister know it was him?"

"Intuition." Yang Peng frowned: "I don't know what's going on, I always feel it. He seems to be one step ahead of us in everything."

"You mean, there is a spy in the department?" Section Chief Wang deliberately lowered his voice.

"It's just my speculation, don't talk nonsense." Yang Peng shook his head and sighed.

…

"Another USB flash drive?" Li Ming was speechless and looked at the USB flash drive in the box.

After absorbing the refined liquid gold and those firearms and equipment, he obtained nearly 60,000 metal energy. After taking control of the tank guards, he was left with about 55,000, an unprecedented number.

Then he went to Judun Company to pick up the goods. This was one of the two anonymous storage cards left by Tu Zheng.

He plugged in the smart terminal and looked at it. It turned out to be a piece of criminal evidence, which had many overlaps with what Qin Xiao had collected.

But there are differences.

What Qin Xiao collected was mostly from middle and high-level people, but Tu Zheng had a lot of evidence of low-level government officials accepting bribes, not just from the city guards, but from various departments, with the number being as high as four to five hundred.

However, some of the bribes were only a few thousand star coins, just for small things.

"Everyone is doing something like this to protect themselves now, right? If you are caught, throw it out and blow it up." Li Ming copied it into the smart terminal and destroyed the original USB flash drive.

Suddenly I realized that my smart terminal had also become a bomb.

It's still a mixed bomb. It would be fun if it were lost one day, he thought aimlessly.

Although this USB flash drive disappointed him, another thing gave him a surprise--

[D-72 high-energy thermobaric bomb - consumption: bomb with huge destructive power.

Control conditions: 10,000 points of metal energy

Control effect - powerful blast: consume the control object, temporarily raise the host to D-level life form standard, and control the fire element, duration - 60s]

"Is the thermobaric bullet trying to kill the enemy?" Li Ming stroked the delicate metal hollow lines on its surface.

Although it is only the size of a fist, this thing is powerful enough to turn several city blocks into ashes, comparable to small missiles.

If there were such a serious terrorist attack, the entire city guard would probably be stripped off a layer of skin.

Happy to take control, I have one more trump card. There is no such thing as too many trump cards. I still have 45,000 metal energy left.

When they returned to the Chengwei Building, it happened that Yang Peng also returned with his team, his face gloomy, and Lin Yao first looked sad.

Yang Peng saw him leisurely coming back from outside and asked a few questions suspiciously, but didn't find out why.

In the afternoon, the city guards were discussing the unlucky Lin Yaoxian, and many people were gloating.

Li Ming sat on a chair, thinking that he was now in a huge sum of money. Since the Sixth Patrol Fleet had left two days ago, the black hole network resumed distribution.

But he was not in a hurry to turn them all into metal energy. The remaining metal energy was still enough for D-level.

But the metal energy required for C-level control objects could easily suck him dry.

In early August, the turmoil in Silver Gray City had passed, and what happened not long ago seemed like a dream.

In the family apartment of the city guards.

"Come here, come here..." Yang Yu was wearing a long top, the hem of which revealed his glowing white thighs, holding a bowl of milky fish soup in his hand and placed it in the middle of the table.

Yang Peng was busy in the kitchen, and Old Yang was fidgeting on the sofa.

"Old Yang, you're still not used to it after so long?" Li Ming smiled when he saw this.

"It's like a birdcage here, I can't get used to it." Old Yang said dissatisfiedly: "There's no one to talk to on weekdays, I might as well move back."

Although he said so, Old Yang did not force him to move back. He also knew that Yang Peng's current status was not ordinary, and moving back would be bad.

"Alas... When Yu'er goes to school, I will be alone at home." Old Yang seemed a little lonely.

"Grandpa, don't worry, I will often video call you at that time. You can ask Dad to install a holographic projection at home, and then I will be no different from being at home."

Yang Yu said nonchalantly. The girl had no sadness before parting, only a vision of the future.

"Haha, the outside world is so exciting, how can I remember Grandpa by then." Old Yang grinned.

The four of them had lunch. At the dinner table, Yang Yu couldn't wait to ask: "Li Ming, hasn't the Guard University recruited you yet?"

Seeing Li Ming shaking his head, Yang Yu looked at his father and frowned: "Dad, what's going on."

She still wanted to go to the capital star with Li Ming.

"How should I know?" Yang Peng looked puzzled, and he couldn't control the Guard University.

After dinner, he and Yang Peng went out together and headed to the City Guard Building.

"The new minister has been confirmed. He will be transferred from another star system and is on the way. It is estimated that it will take more than a month to arrive." Yang Peng said casually on the hovercraft.

"Uncle Yang, we must keep a low profile and don't make the new minister come to pay a visit." Li Ming said earnestly.

"You little brat, do I need you to remind me?" Yang Peng was speechless, and then glared at him again: "I almost got tricked by you. He is a minister, and it's good enough that he didn't make things difficult for me. Why are you bowing to me?"

"Ha..." Li Ming laughed, "You have the Records of Officials, what are you afraid of?"

"What Records of Officials... You mean the USB flash drive." Yang Peng's voice suddenly lowered, and he sighed: "I don't know whether it is right or wrong."

Li Ming emphasized: "Of course it is right, how to check those who received one or two thousand star coins? If they check everything, will Silver Gray City still be able to operate? As long as they don't commit the same crime again in the future, it will be fine."

Yang Peng snorted coldly: "Do I need you to comfort me?"

The USB flash drive appeared at their door not long ago, and the surveillance camera didn't capture anything, and the things in it made Yang Peng even more shocked.

But he finally chose to hide it.

When they arrived at Chengcheng Building, the two went their separate ways. Li Ming went to train. Although he didn't have to stay in the training room because of the Thunder Ball, there was unlimited nutrient solution in the training room, so he would have missed it.

"22%"

Progress was good, and Li Ming began to pre-test his development progress for record.

In the afternoon, someone came to call him, saying that Yang Peng was looking for him.

Coming to the top floor, in the office that originally belonged to Qin Xiao, Yang Peng saw him come in and said helplessly: "It's Jingyin again, right?"

Li Ming shrugged.

Yang Peng really had no way to deal with Li Ming, and turned to say: "Just now, the Capital Guard Academy notified that they want to recruit you through the internal channels of the City Guard."

"You will start school with the same batch of freshmen, and you are about the same age, so prepare to buy a ticket."

Li Ming nodded, and then said: "Uncle Yang, please help me reject it."

"Hmm... Hmm?" Yang Peng was looking for something with his head down, and he couldn't help but look at Li Ming in surprise when he heard this: "What did you say."

"I will go to Capital University of Technology." Li Ming continued.

"Capital Polytechnic!" Yang Peng's voice rose.

"How did you get in?" He felt incredible, and then suddenly realized something, and said in a deep voice: "Entered through a special channel?"

"Yes."

"Shadow?" Yang Peng suddenly shouted, Li Ming looked at him, with three parts of puzzlement, three parts of confusion, three parts of astonishment, and one part of looking at him like a lunatic.

"...What did you say?"

"Nothing." Yang Peng shook his head, and then sneered in his heart, he was really hysterical.

"What channel?" He asked.

"The recommendation letter, my father bought it at a high price." Li Ming explained.

"Brother Changhai..." Yang Peng's suspicion, which had disappeared, surged again, and he said solemnly: "You... Tell me honestly, does your father have any secrets?"

"You suspect it too?" Li Ming was shocked, "I have had this guess for a long time. His death was too strange. It has not been found out for such a long time. Even after you became the temporary minister, you have used a lot of resources, but still can't find any clues."

Yang Peng's face suddenly became awkward. He felt that Li Ming's next sentence would be "What do you do for a living". His eyes were erratic and he said in a deep voice: "Okay, okay, I won't ask anymore. Let's go, let's go quickly."

Li Ming stood up and was about to leave, when he suddenly heard Yang Peng say, "Yu'er, she doesn't know yet."

"I haven't had a chance to tell you yet." Li Ming responded, and the sound of grinding teeth could be heard faintly.

Good boy, good boy... Yang Yu now desperately hopes that Li Ming can go to the capital star with her.

But Li Ming didn't say anything, just kept her hanging, and then gave her a surprise at the end.

Poor daughter, she was controlled by this boy.

"If you..." Yang Peng wanted to warn her, but when he thought about it, the emperor was far away, and it would take more than a month for him to go back and forth, so the warning was useless.

He immediately lost interest and waved his hand: "Forget it, take good care of her."

"Don't worry." Li Ming smiled.

………

On August 16, the star port of Silver Gray Star looked a little shabby, with only three connecting channels, and there were mottled repair marks on the edge of the platform, which looked like it had been hit several times.

On weekdays, non-human races are basically not seen, and there are not many humans. The hall can be said to be empty. Even the most ordinary tickets for interstellar voyages across galaxies cost no less than 10,000 star coins.

Today is a bit more lively. The Ministry of Education of Silver Gray Star has specially sent people, not only students from Capital University of Technology, but also students from other schools, all departing today.

Tickets purchased by the Ministry of Education are discounted.

Excitement and sadness are also a rare scene. Yang Yu stood on tiptoe, looked around, and said anxiously: "Where is Li Ming, why didn't he come?"

"Hasn't he told you yet?" It was rare for him to get away. Yang Peng, who came to see him off, had a ferocious face. Good boy, you stayed for so long!

"Tell me what?" Yang Yu frowned.

Yang Peng wanted to say it directly, but first he saw his daughter's anxiety and uneasiness in his brows, and then he thought of her excitement and happiness after seeing Li Ming later.

She pursed her lips, but didn't ruin the little surprise in the end, saying, "Nothing... maybe he's in trouble."

"Oh" Yang Yu's eyes dimmed, and she waved goodbye. Old Yang couldn't help but take a few steps forward, his eyes full of reluctance.

She didn't bring much luggage on board the spaceship, and Yang Yu was a little lost. She stuffed it into the luggage rack and sat by the porthole, holding her chin, worried.

"Dear passengers, welcome to the Piccolo interstellar spaceship. The voyage is five days, and the destination is Xiaoyun Port. Please don't make loud noises during the trip. During the rest period, pay attention to your personal qualities. I wish you a pleasant journey."

"..."

With the beautiful prompt sound, the spaceship gradually left the orbit, the gray-brown silver-gray star shrank smaller, the deep pits and gullies were clearly visible, the atmospheric clouds were unpredictable, and the boys and girls lay in front of the porthole.

After the initial excitement, there was some silence in the cabin.