Walk alone in the abyss

"Captain Kelie, this way please."

The two girls in tight long skirts with high slits led Yang Ming in a light gray corridor.

The security here is strict, but the degree of automation is very low, and most areas rely on manpower to keep watch and patrol.

Almost every three to five meters, there will be a simulated gravity device to increase the weight of the mountain and avoid the gravity detection commonly used today; the coating on the four sides of the corridor is also made of special materials, which can absorb the electromagnetic waves emitted by various instruments to the greatest extent.

Yang Ming kept looking around, acting like a seasoned pirate captain, with a little excitement of exploring the unknown, but also with a bit of cunning and vigilance.

In short, no matter who looks at it, he doesn't seem to be acting.

Yang Ming seldom wears robes.

His usual attire includes big underpants, slippers, and a small vest for homely ones, slim-fitting dresses and military uniforms of the two empires for more formal ones, and his white ghost exoskeleton armor-battle-damaged version at most for exciting ones.

He only wore the robe two or three times, and he always felt that there was no protection and no sense of security when he walked.

"Where are we going?"

Yang Ming couldn't help asking.

The girl in front turned her head and looked over, and smiled charmingly at Boss Yang: "Go see our mother."

"Uh, you two are blood sisters?"

"No," they explained softly, "mother is a kind of honorific title, analogous to other cultural systems, you can understand it as a priest, bishop, educator or person in charge."

"Mother is the person in charge of this base."

Yang Ming asked, "Is that a woman?"

"Yes, you have obviously accepted this concept. Generally speaking, only 72% of 'mothers' are women, because women are more tolerant and gentle when facing enemies."

"What about you?" Yang Ming asked knowingly, "What kind of positions are you in your organization?"

"Agent?"

"Or, it's the mother's personal guard."

Yang Ming gave a thumbs up, and he didn't hesitate to praise these two girls whose spirits were influenced by him.

After turning seven or eight times, Yang Ming didn't know where he was going inside the mountain. He just felt like he was wandering around in the Zerg's nest, completely losing his sense of direction.

"Master Captain, the mother's living room is in front of you."

The two girls stopped in their tracks, and pushed open the two alloy doors facing each other, a blue metal screen caught Yang Ming's eyes.

The relief on the screen is very simple, it is a lush tree.

The overall tone of the relief is dark. In the upper left corner of the screen relief, a branch about the length of a little finger, together with seven or eight leaves on the branch, are marked with bright colors.

Does this represent the 'status' of the base here in their organization?

If this is the case, then the next thing I want to meet is the little boss of the tree of life religious group?

"Please come in, we are going to prepare refreshments for you."

Yang Ming nodded, and briefly met the eyes of these two girls, and did not notice any danger warning.

If you want to play a job well, you must learn to think like a practitioner of that job.

Boss Yang cleared his throat, raised his hand and straightened his collar, and before going in, he lightly rubbed the soles of his shoes at the door, scanning back and forth with falcon-like eyes.

The size of the room is quite large, and the structure is very simple. Behind the screen is a 'back'-shaped sofa, with a tea table in the middle, and the art decorations hanging on the walls are all in the normal aesthetic category of human beings.

A woman with gray hair and wearing a loose robe is kneeling and sitting in the front left corner, praying silently to a metal statue more than three meters high.

Yang Ming pondered for a while.

This statue always looks so familiar. This kind of goddess with wings and shaped like an angel has a sexy and beautiful face...

"Captain Cole."

A gentle, gentle and somewhat magnetic female voice came, and the 'mother' slowly got up, and turned to look at Yang Ming.

Boss Yang showed a smile that he thought was very friendly.

This is an old man with kind eyebrows and kind eyes. Although his eyes are clear, they are full of indifference and tranquility after going through vicissitudes.

"Oh, what should I call you? I heard from them that you are the person in charge here?"

"Yes," the old man nodded with a smile, "you can call me by my last name, Carmen."

"Mrs. Carmen," Yang Ming gave a gentleman's salute that is more popular in the New Federation, "I want to express my gratitude for your helping me. If it wasn't for the help from the Domingos, I should have been captured by those imperial soldiers. Got the bounty."

"You are welcome, Captain Kelie, I heard from them that you also provided a lot of supplies and guns for our holy and brave fighters."

"It's different," Yang Ming said, "That's my business."

"Really? Please sit here, your maintenance robot is on its way."

Mrs. Carmen said with a smile:

"Please forgive us for being rude, we had to disassemble it and read its information to verify the authenticity of your identity.

"You and the imperial fleet appeared almost at the same time, which really made us a little more worried.

"In addition, it should be the first time for you to come directly to our home planet... What are you doing here?"

"Actually, I veered," Yang Ming sighed, "I was going to do a business, selling two invisible airships to my clients on planet R230, but I was caught by the Empire's patrols on the way. The frontier fleet was watching, and there was an angle deviation during the hasty transition."

Mrs. Carmen nodded slightly: "Your maintenance robot does have relevant detailed records."

Yang Ming smiled and nodded.

Of course there is a record, this is a script designed by Labrador, he read it after a few glances and wrote it down.

The door opened, and the two girls walked in with their heads bowed, bringing two cups of warm refreshing drinks.

Yang Ming kept staring at one of them. ——He wanted to deliberately show a little weakness to the other party.

"Captain Kelie, how is your loss this time?"

"Oh, don't mention it," Yang Ming said with a gloomy expression, "However, being able to survive is Xingkong's best gift to me. Praise Xingkong, this is my reward."

"Do you have any other merchant ships?"

"There are four or five ships," Yang Ming said with a smile, "But I think, compared to merchant ships, I have more, and this is the experience."

Mrs. Carmen smiled and said, "You are an expert in this industry, can I ask you a few questions?"

"Of course," Yang Ming raised his legs, "You can ask whatever you want."

"I heard that you used to be a pirate, and I have learned about this industry," Mrs. Carmen said softly, "I heard that you have certain melee combat capabilities in this line of work. When you want to stop a merchant ship, you must Get close to them with special assault craft."

"Hahaha."

Yang Ming smiled heartily, his eyes lit up, and he began to talk eloquently:

"What you are talking about is a nail boat. In fact, only about 30% of the time when doing business, nails are used.

"Other times, we have a tacit understanding with the merchants, we show the weapons that can sink them, and they give us a toll.

"Those remote commercial lines that are not patrolled by medium and large national fleets are our precious assets. In fact, we rarely encounter extreme situations that actually destroy merchant ships. I have a record of not turning on the main gun for three consecutive years."

Mrs. Carmen smiled softly: "That sounds peaceful."

"You are an elder who rarely uses this kind of vocabulary to describe our profession."

"Then why didn't you do it?"

"Mainly because of safety concerns."

Old Kolev's old face appeared in Yang Ming's mind, and his eyes became a little distant:

"Threats from our peers are the biggest challenge for us. It is not easy to get out unscathed. I am also making sure that my crew members get enough dividends before announcing the dissolution on the spot.

"Then I got into the shipping business.

"Actually, my mentality is very old. I have a wish. After I leave enough footprints in the Milky Way, I will drive a 100-meter-long transport ship transformed from a frigate to jump to the edge of the Milky Way. , with the ashes of my lost love, on an eternal voyage between the great galaxy clusters."

Mrs. Carmen's eyes showed a longing that was not disguised: "What a romantic ideal, I didn't expect that you are still so emotional."

"Oh," Yang Ming sighed, staring at Mrs. Carmen, with a faint red light in his eyes, "So, what about you?"

Mrs. Carmen's reactions seemed to have become a little sluggish.

She murmured: "Me? What?"

"Your story," Yang Ming said warmly, "don't you want to explain this tree of life to me? You saved me, so I should find a way to repay you."

"Yes, you should repay us, but what we want is to make you a non-staff personnel who can share your fleet and channels with us."

"Is that all?"

Yang Ming raised his eyebrows slightly.

These guys are not bad, but since he has already made a move, there is no need to stop.

Open and hang for a while;

Always open and hang, always cool.

"Come on," Yang Ming took a sip of tea, "Tell me about your tree of life. I'm really curious about you, and I will help you."

"You are an honorable captain."

Mrs. Carmen pondered for a moment, she didn't notice anything unusual about herself, she just felt that the person in front of her was very kind and could be trusted completely, and she could tell all the secrets to him, which was a great thing for her nation and ideals good thing.

Of course she would not know that this is the mind control of the ancient god's life form.

...

"In the beginning, sixteen great pioneers responded to the call of the goddess and formed the original tree of life.

"In the beginning, we were not a religious organization in a broad sense. We didn't have many programs and no clear religious worship. The purpose of this organization was to make society more united, to fight against bad ethos in society, and to actively carry out effective sequential reproductive activities.

"Orderly childbearing refers to family-style childbirth. Adult men and women form families to live together and raise these children together.

"Why is there such a concept as 'orderly reproduction'?

"It's very simple. In the rapid development of the Domingos star, because it is a small country and it is too close to the powerful Sherman Empire, we have great pressure to survive, and we have been seeking to join the democratic alliance in the galaxy. Or the Fate of the Federation, and then we have accepted the impact of many so-called advanced concepts.

"Our economy is gradually controlled by powerful foreign capital with various financial instruments, and the well-being of the people is constantly being squeezed. Like other small countries, Star Domingos has also been reduced to a processing plant for low-end manufacturing.

"The environment is polluted, resources are consumed rapidly, there are more and more immigrants, and the local ethnic culture has disappeared. With the accelerated development of urbanization, compared with the slow improvement of social well-being, people's life pressure is increasing, and the burden of having children Costs and education costs are also skyrocketing, so our own fertility rate has dropped dramatically.

"Then, two trends of thought emerged in the society, one is to rely on social institutions to allocate fertilized eggs, and the other is to introduce a large number of low-quality and low-quality people from poor countries to make up for the vacancies in low-end manufacturing industries.

"It's certainly short-sighted and fraught with negativity.

"So, sixteen pioneers stood up, they were politicians, businessmen, artists of the time, and without exception, they were all pure Domingos.

"The tree of life has developed rapidly since then, and we have also united most of the planet to a certain extent.

"It must be stated that they do not exclude immigrants from other planets, but the Dominguez planet has always been a place where the Dominguez people thrive, and they can build their own homes in their own hometown. After we become rich, , can also provide them with material and technical assistance. This is the attitude of the tree of life towards outsiders, and it is not extreme, but has clear principles.

"Then, when we got back on track to a certain extent, we were bought by the politicians of the new federation and made some mistakes that cost us dearly.

"You should have heard of the Dominguez tragedy. Hundreds of millions of people died tragically in that war. Half of the Dominguez people were looted and became slaves of the empire.

"The mission of the tree of life, as these events progress, there has been an evolution..."

Madame Carmen's narration turned into a long sigh.

Yang Ming wondered, "Evolution? Is the concept becoming more intense?"

"Yes, you guessed right."

Mrs. Carmen smiled bitterly, and then continued:

"The seeds of hatred took root in the Tree of Life organization, and since then, we have an enemy, the Sherman Empire.

"Not only that, we also hate those new federalists who started the war but ignored it after the war broke out."

"But," Yang Ming asked, "As far as I know, many Dominguez people choose to cooperate with the New Federation."

Mrs. Carmen sighed:

"Hatred and death have divided the Domingos into two factions, one is the revenge faction and the other is the extreme radical faction. The extreme radical faction is still being used by the federal people and has become a terrifying terrorist organization in the interstellar world.

"Of course, the Vengeance faction is more moderate. What we want is to return all the sufferings this nation has endured to the empire. Because of the empire's political structure, our enemies are clearly the aristocratic class of the empire and the Sherman royal family.

"After the suffering, Dominguez can no longer afford to be divided, we made a lot of trade-offs, and finally ensured that the two factions could work together.

"In order to retaliate against the empire, we have formulated three hundred-year plans."

Yang Ming wrinkled slightly.

Three Centennial Plans?

The Dominguez people are ruthless enough, and they will directly involve more than a dozen generations in revenge.

Mrs. Carmen said:

"After our detailed calculations, there is only one way to defeat the empire, and that is birth.

"Population is the foundation of everything. Only when our population base is large enough and it gradually blossoms and bears fruit in various regions of the galaxy can the soul of our nation be passed on.

"In the first century plan, we overachieved many goals, including uniting the slaves in the empire, orderly planting the fire of the Domingos on more than one hundred planets, and through our The large population in the territory infiltrated the imperial army step by step.

"The path they took with the extreme radicals, which in our view is very risky, has ensured the survival of the Dominguez people in terms of culture and tradition.

"Next, we just need to follow this route unswervingly, each Dominguez will give birth to at least two to three healthy individuals, and maintain their purity and faith through family education.

"The tree of life has thus become the belief sustenance of the Dominguez people.

"Later, the empire hit us and allowed us to successfully go underground. We no longer spread our influence outside, but lead the Domingos in the entire galaxy through our home star."

Mrs. Carmen's eyes showed a bit of satisfaction and intoxication.

She asked softly: "Captain Ke Lie, do you think we will succeed in avenging the Empire?"

Yang Ming: ...

"The goddess has always protected us," Mrs. Carmen murmured, "Whenever we are in trouble and can't find our way, the goddess will send an oracle to help us tide over the difficulties."

Yang Ming was stunned for a moment: "Is this lady goddess real?"

"Yes," Mrs. Carmen looked at Yang Ming, and said lightly the biggest secret in their organization, "She is the god of reason and wisdom."

God of reason and wisdom?

This is really brazen.

Is this an organization created by the Faya people to prepare to subvert the empire? It shouldn't be, the Faya people never claim to be gods, they usually play the truth...huh?

God of Reason and Wisdom... Reason...

Yang Ming was startled.

He stood up abruptly, rushed towards the metal idol in the corner, imagining how the idol would look after being coated with a layer of realistic skin, and then slowly compared it with the girl with twin ponytails in his memory. The images of the two seemed to be constantly overlapping .

"Lying..."

Boss Yang swallowed and stared at the statue.

The Dominguez tragedy, the tree of life, the 300-year plan of the Dominguez people, the purpose of the revenge empire is to subvert the royal family and clear the nobles...

"groove?"