But since we need to get in touch with Old Wu again.
Actually, thereâs another thing Chen Ming wants to do along the way.
Itâs to let Old Wu help him continue finishing the bounty hunting work for pirates,
Of course, itâs not about letting Old Wu pilot the ship to fight; Chen Ming just needs Old Wu to help a bit.
Chen Ming is busy on his end, so itâs best if things start moving elsewhere, otherwise, itâs like wasting his ability to remotely control spaceships.
So Chen Mingâs idea is to use the assets he has at hand to buy spaceships and organize a temporary fleet to go out and fight the pirates with bounties on their heads.
In the end, all thatâs needed is for Old Wu to help collect the bounty.
Anyway, with Chen Mingâs previous experience, he can be certain that the identity of the person collecting the bounty isnât important.
He previously wore a suit that completely concealed his identity the whole time, and people from the government didnât say anything at all.
When the time comes, having someone help collect shouldnât be a big issue, though Chen Ming will give Old Wu some compensation for this matter.
This idea has two main purposes.
The first one is obviously to make money.
One of Chen Mingâs current goals is to build a fleet, which requires a lot of money.
Although the bounty is somewhat unstable, under Chen Mingâs current situation, making some extra money is still a good thing.
As for the second purpose, itâs something else Chen Ming is considering.
He wants to test the fleetâs composition through battles with the pirates.
What kind of fleet composition is suitable? What kind of ships are fit for him to control personally? What logistics and combat support are needed?
All can be learned in real combat.
Speculating about the fleetâs final form is definitely not reliable; only through gradually assessing in real battles can the most suitable and realistic choices be determined.
As for whether the fleet can defeat the pirates, Chen Ming does not have much doubt.
He can directly control three ships.
Before, with just two ships, one Centurion and one modified Warrior, he managed to defeat a pirate fleet with a twenty million bounty on its head and ten ships.
With three ships, Chen Ming doesnât believe they canât beat them.
Moreover, Chen Ming plans to choose some relatively simple ships for support.
For example, ships that just need to launch a round of missiles and start reloading without doing anything else, or like the Centurion, go up to take damage and then activate the damping field and idle until other ships finish the job.
As long as there are these two types of ships in the fleet, the number of ships Chen Ming can effectively single-handedly operate should double and then some.
Otherwise, if he really can only operate three ships, then thereâs no need for Chen Ming to test the fleet composition.
Nothing meaningful would come out of testing just three.
On the contrary, like now, if Chen Ming can maintain good combat power with a multi-tasking fleet composition,
in the future, when Chen Ming has more pilots, the effect certainly wonât be too far off, and most likely will be better.
And Chen Mingâs abilities are not static; the number of ships he can control will definitely increase over time.
Luckily, the fleet needs to be built and expanded gradually, precisely matching Chen Mingâs situation.
A two-birds-with-one-stone situation, why not do it if itâs there for the taking?
Chen Ming immediately contacted Old Wu.
Before Chen Ming could speak, Old Wu preemptively said: "Xiao Ming? The company has been reaching out to me lately, looking for you. If youâre going to, you might want to contact me less."
Chen Ming wasnât surprised that the company would contact someone he knows and said: "Itâs okay, company contact is just that. Whether they can find me or not is uncertain."
"If Dusk were that easy to get to, they wouldnât have taken so long to develop here."
"Why does it seem like youâre quite happy about being unreachable?"
Chen Ming said with a somewhat helpless tone: "Forced by circumstances, this is all I can do. Should I cry and hope for the company to rescue me? If the companyâs support had come earlier, I wouldnât be in this situation, would I?"
"By the way, the company probably isnât surveilling me, although they might be monitoring you."
Old Wu, with a rather indifferent attitude, said: "I know, thatâs why Iâm thinking why youâre still contacting me."
Since Chen Ming had just mentioned this possibility he had been hinting at and seemed unfazed, Old Wu also didnât say much.
He had already given a heads-up when he came up, if Chen Ming wonât listen, thereâs nothing he can do.
And Chen Ming evidently had considered this possibility before contacting, saying: "Thereâs obviously a reason Iâm contacting you now, because some things need the company to know."
Chen Mingâs thoughts on the company are very simple now.
Cooperation is possible to a certain extent, but trust should never be fully handed over.
Chen Ming had some expectation of the company before, but after what happened, Chen Ming believes that he cannot completely trust others on anything; ultimately, one must rely on oneself.
So the company can do what they want; if the company wonât do it, heâll do it himself.
If what they do is acceptable to Chen Ming, but if it substantially affects his arrangements, then Chen Ming would rather not need them.
And currently, from Chen Mingâs perspective, the company would absolutely need a cruiser fleet to interfere with him here, not just a single cruiser.
Therefore, Chen Ming thinks itâs best to let the company side maintain its own course for now.
After all, the company is anxious about getting Sky Steel, and heâs not; Sky Steel isnât even his.
Chen Ming doesnât believe the company could reach Duskâs Colony in just a few days to disrupt his plans and take him away.