Qianyuan: My crew comes from the world of anime.

The product page isn't infinite; you can only refresh it four times at a time, and you'll have to wait until the countdown ends in 96 hours before you can refresh it again.

Looking at the three newly refreshed items, Luo Tianming felt they were still inferior to the previous 2B recruitment vouchers. Some items on the shelves were indeed useful, but none of them were things he needed right now.

Simply increasing his own combat strength is completely meaningless; even with all that, he is far less safe than if Levi were protecting him.

Hey~ What item have you got your eye on? If you feel you don't have enough money, you can exchange it for something else~

It seems she really wants to get something out of me.

After a moment of silence, Luo Tianming wrote: [What's the general pattern of the exchange? For example, if I have alien items like 'alien blood plasma,' how many recruitment vouchers can I exchange for?]

【…】

The logbook suddenly froze for a moment, then started spewing complaints again:

You have something good but you won't give it to me! You have something good but you won't give it to me!

【…】

【Hey~ You get what you pay for. We're very interested in the alien blood you mentioned. If we have any, we're willing to offer 3 recruitment vouchers to buy it.】

However, more of anything is never better. If a certain commodity becomes abundant, we will lower its purchase price. The diversity and variety of goods are paramount.

[Once you have any good items, you can also entrust them to us for auction, and then convert them into the resources you need... At present, it seems that there are buyers who are very interested in the special 'alien relics' of this dimension, so please work hard to collect them.]

Luo Tianming: "..."

One piece of alien blood plasma can be exchanged for three recruitment vouchers, which seems quite a good deal, considering that blood plasma is just a basic medical supply in "The Abyss," and can be obtained from most enemies.

But—something that can give blood to people of any blood type is itself a kind of miraculous medicine. If the side effects could be eliminated, it would mean that blood loss would no longer be a threat to humanity.

Therefore, this kind of thing, which is only produced on Europa, is far more valuable than ordinary items.

As for the 'alien relics' mentioned in the log, those are things found only in ancient alien ruins, and they may represent a corner of the technology tree of other civilizations.

However, he can't go to the alien ruins at this stage. The guards at the entrance alone are enough to give him a hard time, not to mention the alien artifacts with terrifying effects.

Chapter 21 Why not take it if it's free?

After Levi and Wu Jianmiao returned from Red Star Station, Luo Tianming explained to them the matter that the major had entrusted to them.

"..."

Revy: "Go to that submarine from before? No way!!"

She flatly rejected Luo Tianming's suggestion. Wu Jianmiao, unaware of what had happened, stood silently with her arms crossed.

Levi frowned: "Have you forgotten that you almost died there before?! You're planning to go through something so dangerous again? Do you think you've lived too long?"

Luo Tianming raised his hands in surrender, saying, "I had absolutely no such intention. I had no choice but to do dangerous things before. If I had a choice, who would choose to risk their life?"

"Besides, now that there are three of us, we need to be even more careful..."

He turned his gaze to Takemi Myo on the side.

Miaomiao is a more mature adult than the two of them. Although she is new, since she has already boarded their "pirate ship", the opinion of a third person is naturally more important.

She clearly hadn't expected this question to be posed to her, and after thinking for a moment, she stared at Luo Tianming and said:

“Since you have experienced a near-death experience before, I believe you will not do anything irrational.”

"The fact that you dared to take on that major's mission means you must have a way to deal with it, right?"

Luo Tianming puffed out his chest confidently: "Of course, otherwise I wouldn't have accepted the mission without discussing it with you."

"..."

"Actually... we already have the two sets of equipment that the major wants, but if we take them out now, they might become suspicious. So we'll pretend to go to the shipwreck and then sell the equipment to them."

Wu Jianmiao then raised a question.

"That's a set of equipment for the entire site, right? It's so big, how did you manage to bring it back?"

Levi suddenly remembered: "Oh, just like how you 'conjured' that cabinet full of pearls before?"

"Pearls?!" Miaomiao looked at them in surprise. "What pearls? And a whole cabinet of them?!"

"..."

Luo Tianming felt it was time to reveal some information to his crew.

So he took out the 'Captain's Log' and said, "This thing has a certain storage capacity. I don't know if it will still have any effect after it leaves my hands."

Wu Jianmiao stepped forward and curiously touched it: "This? How can such a small notebook store such a big thing? Is this Doraemon's 'four-dimensional pocket'?"

Luo Tianming: "..."

Does Miaomiao think of herself as Doraemon...?

However, compared to Doraemon's four-dimensional pocket, he felt that the concept of this thing was more like something else: 'two-dimensional foil'.

A dimensional weapon capable of transforming all three-dimensional concepts into two-dimensional planes.

Of course, the thing in his hand wasn't that scary.

At the very least, when storing this item, it's necessary to determine whether it's a 'whole unit'.

Thinking about this, a strange idea suddenly popped into Luo Tianming's head.

That is: if it were placed on a living organism, could it contain the organism? What would happen if the organism were transformed from three-dimensional to two-dimensional?

"..."

After thinking about it, he decided it was best not to put it into practice.

We don't yet know how well this logbook is protected; if it gets damaged by accident, it would be a huge loss.

What's even more terrifying is that if this thing judges a person's skin as a 'whole body' and peels it off completely, the sight would be truly horrifying.

After all the goods that Levi and Miaomiao had purchased at Red Star Station were loaded into the submarine, the soldiers sent by the major arrived as scheduled.

In front of them, Luo Tianming deliberately placed a bottle of Johnnie Walker that had been resealed with wax in a black box and then handed it to the soldier.

It's likely that Major Soloviev wanted to satisfy his vanity, so he specifically chose a greenhorn recruit.

The soldier's hands trembled as he took the bottle, and the onlookers looked on in astonishment. This was a relic from Earth, and they wondered who this captain was who would offer such a precious item to Major Soloviev.

"..."

Luo Tianming emerged from the airlock escorted by soldiers. This time, the scrutinizing gazes directed at him were completely gone. Because he was always followed by two soldiers from the residential station, they dared not misbehave towards him.

“Uh,” Luo Tianming was a little unaccustomed to this change in status. He said to the two soldiers behind him, “Could you tell your major that I don’t really need close protection?”

One of the soldiers stood at attention and said, "Lieutenant Luo, please understand our work. Major Soloviev said that you are a distinguished guest of our Red Star Station, and we must ensure that you are safe and sound here."

Luo Tianming: "..."

What kind of accident could happen to a captain from the Europa Alliance in a settlement? This isn't some kind of chaotic black market site.

I suspect the protection is a pretense... the surveillance is the real purpose.

The major was also worried that he planned to sell the equipment to others. This kind of thing, especially equipment that ordinary sites cannot manufacture, could make a lot of money on the black market by selling it to Jupiter separatists, and also increase his reputation.

The presence of the two soldiers behind him was tantamount to monitoring him to prevent those Jupiter separatists from approaching him.

"..."

As he walked, Luo Tianming suddenly spotted the drug dealer he had encountered earlier in the corner of his field of vision.

He was hunched over, and people avoided him in the crowd, but he was easily spotted.

That guy clearly glanced at Luo Tianming, his eyes obviously wanting to get closer, but he didn't dare to.

(What's that guy up to?)

Luo Tianming thought for a moment and guessed that the reason the other party dared not approach was because of the two soldiers behind him.

So he simply took out 100 marks from his pocket and said to the two soldiers, "Consider it a favor to me. Take this money and have some fun. Don't tell the major... This is my personal money for you."

The soldier hesitated, "But, Warrant Officer..."

Luo Tianming: "I know, I know... You must be bored being cooped up in the station. Go ahead, and when you see the submarine start up, just go back to Major and report 'nothing happened'."

The two soldiers looked at each other, then took the 100 marks given to them by Luo Tianming, turned around and walked into a place flashing neon lights to contribute to the great cause of human reproduction.

After a short wait, the guy indeed stepped forward and approached Luo Tianming.

He had no patience for these drug addicts: "Heh, want another beating?!"

The drug dealer was clearly flustered: "No, no, sir, I came to make a deal with you... not with medicine. I want you to help me get some people out of here."

Luo Tianming: "Humans?"

The drug dealer nodded: "Some of our brothers can't stand the cold here anymore, and we'd like to pay you to take us to another station."

Luo Tianming shook his head: "No way, no site is willing to take in parasites like you."

"My lord..." He leaned closer mysteriously and whispered, "The alliance itself isn't doing so well, but what if it weren't for the alliance's power?"

Luo Tianming: "...You mean, Jupiter separatists?"

The drug dealer panicked: "Shh! Sir, please keep your voice down~ If the Alliance soldiers hear us, we're doomed."

"Heh~" Luo Tianming sneered, "Have you forgotten that I am also a warrant officer in the Alliance?"

He gave an awkward smile:

"Everyone knows that you submarine transport people are all smooth talkers. Otherwise, how would the Jupiter separatists get those goods and resources that only the Alliance has?"

“I can see that… the Alliance people don’t respect you. If you had transported that batch of building materials to the Jupiter separation site, you definitely wouldn’t have been treated like this.”

Luo Tianming: "..."

"To be honest, we've made contact with the Jupiter separatists, but they can't send a submarine to pick us up. Submarines rarely travel here, and if we miss this one, we don't know how long we'll have to wait for the next one."

"If you'd like to give us a ride, we're willing to pay for the transportation. Ten people... 300 marks per person."

Transporting a person earns 3000 marks, which is quite a profitable deal.

But Luo Tianming made an outrageous demand:

"Give me 3000 marks immediately, this is the deposit—I'll give you six hours to prepare, and you need to give me another 3000 after I get you to your destination!"

"..."

Faced with Luo Tianming's cold face, which left little room for negotiation, the drug dealer could only grit his teeth and count out 3000 marks to give to him.

He also learned the location of the Jupiter separatist site.

He casually stuffed the money into his wallet and said expressionlessly, "Alright, hurry up and pack your things. Meet at airlock number two in six hours."

The drug dealer ran back happily, unaware that Luo Tianming watched his departing figure, a cryptic smile playing on his lips.

-

The drug dealer ran back into the alley, shouting, "It's done! It's done! The captain agreed to our request!"

The person lying inside shouted, "So, how much does he want?"

Drug dealer: "That heartless guy wants 6000 marks, 3,000 is a deposit, and we'll meet at airlock number two in six hours."

"Yeah, if you're not ruthless, you're not in the transport business. Don't wait six hours, hurry up and pack your things... delay might cause problems!"

Just as they were talking—a rumble! A vibration that swept across the entire site interrupted them; it was the turbulent vibration that only occurs when a submarine leaves or approaches.

"!"

The drug dealers and others immediately looked toward the location of the second airlock, only to find that the connection had already been severed, and the submarine docked at the second airlock on the surveillance screen was speeding away.

...!

Suddenly, the drug dealers and others realized: they might have been 'scammed'!

"They're gone!!"

"No, that's our ship! Hey, don't go—!"

They shouted at the monitor.

The drug dealers happened to see the soldiers coming out of the red-light district and went up to them, saying, "Sir! Someone cheated us out of our money!"

"It's the captain of that submarine docked at airlock number two. He took our money but left us here! We can't let him get away with this!!"

"..."

The two soldiers who came out looked indifferent. They looked at the drug dealers and said, "Nothing happened today... Let's go, just tell the major that."

"..."