Qianyuan: My crew comes from the world of anime.

Just as he was about to start the engine and speed away from the place, a new indicator appeared on the sonar interface.

The active sonar emitted by the other party immediately caught Luo Tianming's attention, and at the same time—a new sound broke into the radio channel.

An inorganic, electronically synthesized tone has been detected on a public radio frequency band.

"Please don't be nervous, Nautilus... This is the Frozen Tilapia, we have extra fuel on board."

"To reiterate, we have extra fuel on board. If you would like some fuel, please keep the engine at idle and we will go out of the cabin to deliver it."

"..."

Luo Tianming glanced at Levi, who had come closer out of curiosity, and then turned off the microphone.

Revy: "Someone actually brought us fuel! That's great!"

Luo Tianming shook his head: "It's not certain yet... Maybe they're pirates planning to trick us into opening the hatch and then fight us in a boarding battle."

Immediately, he told Levi, "Go to the weapon aiming window, aim the guns at 50 meters behind, and listen to my instructions—open fire as soon as the enemy tries to accelerate closer."

Levi looked excited, apparently finding the mention of 'boarding battles' amusing.

Luo Tianming, however, did not think so. If the other side really was a pirate, the Nautilus's current firepower might not be enough to overwhelm them.

Pirate ships were usually equipped with heavy mass projectiles, and the small Nautilus would have been destroyed in a single hit.

"..."

The only safe way is to start the engine now. Their T1-type reconnaissance submarines can easily outrun the submarines behind them when the engine is overloaded.

However, if you are unsure of what the other party is thinking, it is best not to act rashly.

Let's probe their intentions first.

He then turned on the Nautilus's radio microphone:

"Frozen Tilapia, received—this is Nautilus. Do not approach within 70 meters of my ship, or we will collide."

radio:

"..."

After a moment of silence, the emotionless synthesized electronic voice came again.

"Received, we've switched to idle mode. Nautilus, don't be afraid—we won't do anything."

"If you really lack fuel, we can dump it in the ocean and let you retrieve it yourselves."

Luo Tianming: "..."

Since the other party has gone this far, it means they are most likely not pirates.

Real pirates aren't that kind. They usually follow submarines that are running out of fuel like crazy, waiting for them to fail in power and engine before boarding them.

The pirates in Europa's ocean are mostly people who would risk their lives for money.

Seeing that the other party seemed genuinely interested in providing them with fuel, Luo Tianming decided to tell them the truth. After all, there weren't many ships with such a strong naval spirit these days, and he couldn't afford to disappoint them.

He said in as calm a tone as possible:

"No need, Frozen Tilapia—this is Nautilus, we don't lack fuel, that was just a lie."

"..."

After he said that, the entire radio channel fell into a deathly silence.

If it weren't for the fact that the light spot could still be detected on the sonar, Luo Tianming would have almost thought that the Frozen Tilapia had left.

I don't know how many minutes passed before a voice came through the radio:

"This... I really didn't expect you to admit it so readily. Captain of the Nautilus—are you an officer sent by the Alliance to gather information about the site? What is your rank?"

Luo Tianming:

"No, I'm just a lowly warrant officer. I came to this station to try my luck. Someone told me that if I don't have any money to spend, I can consider coming to this station."

"But I didn't expect it to be so 'xenophobic' here. Are all Jupiter separatists like this?"

radio:"……"

After a moment of silence, the Frozen Tilapia said:

"This is Frozen Tilapia, CRACK—Warrant Officer, I advise you to avoid using the ambiguous term 'Jupiter Separatism' at this station; they'll be unhappy."

"Furthermore, there's a reason for the Alliance's xenophobia here; it's not just simple discrimination... because of 'that incident,' they're not very friendly to any Europa Alliance ships."

"Unless you can bring someone they can trust, the ports here won't open for you."

Luo Tianming: "..."

He suddenly felt a little curious: what was 'that thing'? Why did people here dislike the term 'Jupiter separatism', which was a name that most people accepted?

So he asked over the radio:

Could you elaborate?

"..."

Frozen Tilapia: "Are you serious?! Oh my god, does the Alliance not teach captains these things anymore? You sound very young, are you a newbie who just started sailing recently?"

“Okay… this all started with ‘Thompsdale.’ You’ve heard of the Tomsdale incident, right?”

Luo Tianming knew, of course, that this was an event that would lead to the complete split of the Jupiter people's movement, but he had to pretend not to know for the moment.

Luo Tianming:

"What happened? Wasn't that place a colony of the Jupiter People's Movement before?"

Frozen Tilapia:

“You’re right, that used to be one of the core areas of the Jupiter People’s Movement. Now that you know about the JPM, this matter is easier to discuss.”

"The JPM and Europa Alliance were founded around the same time. Although their political views and ideologies were completely opposite, they also had their own periods of expansion."

"As both sides expanded their colonization of Europa, the friction between them gradually intensified... For a specific example, you can refer to the 'American Civil War' that occurred on Earth. Although the two sides did not reach the stage of war, they were already at odds."

"The Alliance relies on the strict 'Resource Allocation and Control Law' to manage society, attempting to break free from Earth's control over its colonies. JPM, on the other hand, seeks a more Earth-like democratic policy, pursuing freedom and equality, and quickly gained a large number of supporters, becoming a strong challenger to the Alliance in the Europa elections."

"However, just as the Jupiter People's Movement was about to follow Earth's example and hold a referendum to decide who the true leader of Jupiter was, an accident occurred."

"A site governed by the Jupiter People's Movement, and also the temporary headquarters of JPM—Tomsdale—experienced a serious nuclear accident, with the nuclear reactor melting down, the impact of which was no less than that of the 'Chernobyl nuclear disaster' that once occurred on Earth."

"And at this critical moment of holding the referendum, the nuclear accident resulted in the deaths of 106 people in the Jupiter People's Movement, with only four surviving because they happened to be outside the site when the accident occurred."

"Afterwards, although the Europa Alliance dispatched a search and rescue team immediately, it was ultimately dealt with hastily—the cause of the accident was not disclosed to the outside world."

"Don't you think it's too much of a coincidence? The nuclear accident happened at the site right at the crucial moment of the election... And the election was not canceled. Because the Jupiter People's Movement was still grieving over the incident, the Europa Alliance easily won most of the votes and declared itself the winner."

Luo Tianming: "..."

Frozen Tilapia: "You can guess what happened next—due to the irrational attacks by some people, the Europa Alliance declared the remaining Jupiter People's Movement a terrorist organization, and then came the birth of 'Jupiter separatism'."

"However, this site is different. It was founded by one of the original four survivors as the Jupiter People's Movement Revival Organization, which is why it harbors such particular hatred for the Alliance."

Luo Tianming: "Thank you for the explanation, but I still can't believe it..."

Just then, another voice suddenly entered the radio channel.

The noise was clearly from the control tower at the previous station. Since the radio wasn't far away and they were chatting on a public channel, it was naturally overheard.

Tower:

"Have you finished talking?! Frozen Tilapia and Nautilus, both of you get out of here!"

"..."

Then, the Frozen Tilapia's helpless voice came through the radio:

"There's no other way. If you don't want to be shelled, you'd better get out of here quickly—good luck, Nautilus."

Luo Tianming:

"Thank you so much, Frozen Tilapia."

The two sides inexplicably memorized the identification signals transmitted by each other, which were special marks that allowed them to meet again in the vast deep sea and recognize each other without relying on sight.

Chapter 25 Engine Overload

After drifting in the ocean for two more days, Luo Tianming hurriedly took the two sets of equipment that looked like they had just been retrieved from the seawater and returned to Hongxing Station.

This time, they didn't experience the same disinfection treatment they had at the beginning. As soon as the airlock door opened, Major Soloviev was already waiting at the door.

"...How is our equipment?"

Soloviev was eager to bring his men into the Nautilus, but without Luo Tianming's permission, even though he was a major, he couldn't easily enter another captain's submarine.

Luo Tianming nodded: "They're all in the cargo hold. Let's send technical experts in to check if the equipment can be started. After all, so much time has passed, and it wouldn't be good if it got damaged during transport."

Soloviev immediately signaled the engineers behind him to board the ship, and then the engineers took a large number of instruments and equipment inside to conduct tests.

At the same time, the major looked at Luo Tianming with a smile and said, "Warrant Lieutenant Luo, no... perhaps soon I will have to call you 'Second Lieutenant'."

"You did not disappoint me. I knew I hadn't misjudged you."

Luo Tianming said modestly, "In fact, it was Major who gave me this opportunity. If I hadn't been able to reach Red Star Station, these things would probably never have been salvaged."

While they were chatting, the engineer behind Luo Tianming had already quickly completed the test and excitedly reported to Soloviev:

"Major! These things are almost fault-free, they're like new, and we can install them on the site immediately."

Soloviev was delighted and waved his hand – immediately two soldiers handed over the counted 20,000 marks to Luo Tianming, as if afraid he would change his mind.

And that is indeed the case—if Luo Tianming could find any other buyer, he certainly wouldn't have considered Soloviev.

The major looked at him with delight: "Your official appointment will be coming soon. Before that, why don't you come to the station for a drink?"

Luo Tianming: "..."

He was very skeptical about what kind of "drink" the major meant, given his memory of almost getting drunk last time; naturally, he didn't dare to agree easily.

I could only decline and suggest we drink it another day.

With the assistance of Red Star Station, Luo Tianming's submarine unloaded the cargo in less than two hours.

He then quickly had the soldiers load him with about a ton of high-grade elastic fiber.

This is cargo destined for a military station, where Red Star Station has been struggling because no submarines are willing to travel to and from their location.

If this batch of fiber raw materials could be sent to a military site, it would likely receive more attention, and a steady stream of submarines would connect Red Star Station with other sites.

Having confirmed that his rank of 'Second Lieutenant' had been officially registered in the Europa Alliance system, Luo Tianming activated the submarine's disengagement device without hesitation and left without even exchanging pleasantries with Soloviev.

"..."

Luo Tianming couldn't help but feel anxious... because there were less than 24 hours left before the system's 'shop' refreshed, and he only had 6 recruitment tickets on hand.

I'm four shards short of getting 10 2B recruitment tickets.

Even if you complete the "Save the Site" mission now, you will only receive three recruitment tickets.

Current number of recruitment vouchers = 9

"..."

Just one more piece, just one more piece to get the fragment.

Luo Tianming looked at the second task below the system: [Transport Goods (Transport a batch of urgently needed fiber from Red Star Station to the military station; the soldiers there will thank you.) Reward: Recruitment Voucher x1]

If he can complete the task within the specified time, he will be able to exchange ten recruitment tickets for that fragment.

"Damn it, let's go for it!"

Luo Tianming glanced at the engine overload button on the submarine and smashed it without hesitation.

"...!"

In an instant, the entire Nautilus seemed to tremble. Fuel rods were inserted into the nuclear reactor in the power room, and the chain reaction intensified—the internal core temperature quickly rose from 2500 degrees Celsius to 3000 degrees Celsius, 4000 degrees Celsius, and approached the 5000-degree mark.

Immediately, the overheating alarm sounded throughout the entire submarine, and the deathly red alarm beeping echoed in the corridors and bridge.

Sensing something was wrong, Revy and Takemi came out in a panic and asked, "What happened?!"

The engine's yellow high-temperature warning light came on.

The various instruments were making a lot of noise, but Luo Tianming remained completely calm in his captain's position.

"It's nothing. I'm performing engine overload control, so it's normal to get some warnings."

"From now on, close the road to the power room. It might get very hot there. Keep an eye on the Geiger counter in the corridor. Let me know if it reaches 3.6 roentgens or higher!"