Qianyuan: My crew comes from the world of anime.

"..."

Undoubtedly, his words instantly drew the attention of all the male creatures in the room to him, as if they wanted to eliminate this unromantic being.

The female civil servant pushed up her glasses: "You don't need to call me superior. My position isn't much higher than yours. I'm Migra, a staff officer at headquarters."

"Furthermore, this is not an 'interrogation' but a formal investigation. Command has the right to conduct investigations on any military personnel..."

“But all I want is a permit,” Luo Tianming interrupted. “Can’t you just give me a submarine modification permit and send me on my way?”

"..."

That's right, his goal was simple... he just wanted a license.

He planned to leave as soon as he finished modifying the submarine; he didn't want to waste any more time here.

Migra: "..."

This time, she took off her red-rimmed glasses and looked at Luo Tianming expressionlessly.

Everyone noticed that she was getting angry.

“Lieutenant Luo,” she said, though she was angry, she still tried to be considerate of the submariners’ feelings and spoke in a tactful way, “I know… every one of you doesn’t want a woman to be your superior, so it’s normal to have a resistant attitude.”

"My job is to help all submarine captains eliminate potential problems, including psychological issues; you can consult me ​​about anything."

"I can give you the license you want right now, but you have to answer a few questions for me honestly."

Luo Tianming was clearly glancing at her sideways.

Heh~ Answering a few questions, it's to confirm your loyalty to the alliance, right?

All the Alliance officials were like that; they treated the submarine captain like a dog on a leash, pulling him over when needed and tightening the leash from time to time to prevent him from running away.

Migra: "Lieutenant Luo, according to your flight log... you performed a dangerous maneuver 7 hours ago. Can you explain what happened?"

Luo Tianming smiled dismissively: "I don't know when engine overload technology became what you call 'dangerous operation'. If you don't understand, why don't you ask the site's chief engineer, Wohlheim, and ask him—is this considered dangerous operation?"

"..."

Miguel: "I'll ask him... There's another issue here. Surveys show that your ship is severely understaffed, and it's mostly women?"

After saying this, Luo Tianming once again received a lot of attention in the room, and this time even the lieutenant who was wandering around outside stopped in his tracks.

The female staff officer looked him up and down with a strange expression: "Why didn't you recruit more crew members? At least there should be an engineer on board, right?"

Luo Tianming: "The reason for not recruiting crew members is very simple... You saw my resume about surviving at 'Polaris Outpost', right?"

Migra: "..."

Luo Tianming: "That's why I don't hire people; I can't trust them."

"At the outpost, almost all of my crew abandoned me and fled for their lives; not a single one stayed by my side while I was wounded."

How can you expect me to trust that someone won't betray me?

"Therefore, I only recruit people I can trust."

The female staff officer nodded: "That's a very good excuse."

Luo Tianming was annoyed. He didn't like this interrogation-style question-and-answer session, which sounded like the Alliance was testing his loyalty.

He stood up and said, "My ship doesn't need your interference. I'll handle my own affairs."

"That's enough for today. I'll ask Colonel Ivan for the permit when he's here."

Just as Luo Tianming was about to turn and leave, a voice came from behind him.

Miguel: "Colonel Ivan is my uncle."

"..."

Luo Tianming stopped in his tracks, then glanced at the guys around him, as if to say: Why didn't you tell me beforehand?

Immediately, these people rolled their eyes at him... Did he even need to think about it?

A female officer, a staff officer at headquarters, and an age so young it's hard to believe... she must have a family member in the upper echelons of the alliance to be able to sit in this position.

“You guessed right.” Migra readily admitted, “I did get this job because of my uncle’s connections. Otherwise, a girl who graduated from military academy a few years ago would at most become an assistant before being forced to retire.”

"Of course, becoming a staff officer isn't all good things..."

"Most officers find it difficult to tolerate a female superior, believing that they will hysterically nitpick from time to time."

"As far as the conversation logs go, Lieutenant Luo, you are the submarine captain I've talked to the longest so far. Most people just close the door and leave when they hear that Colonel Ivan is not here."

"I see." Luo Tianming nodded. "It must feel terrible to be ignored."

Migra: "No, those people never knew—within the Alliance, I was actually Uncle Ivan's full agent when he wasn't here."

"In other words, any document that I signed using his handwriting is completely equivalent to his permission; he gave me that authority when he asked me to come here."

"..."

Luo Tianming's attitude immediately changed completely. He obediently sat down in the chair and placed his hands obediently on his knees.

He's probably sitting up straighter than he did in his first class in high school.

"..."

Call him two-faced or obsequious, but none of that can stop Luo Tianming from looking at the female staff officer with shining eyes.

What was she...? She was essentially a 'human stamp,' and those officers who chose to leave would never know what opportunity they had missed.

This is a chance to get a document personally signed by an Alliance colonel. As long as we can get things done, what does it matter if it's a woman... so what if it's a woman?

…………

Migra looked at him with satisfaction: "Very good, you will receive a license 'personally' issued by the colonel, which is enough for you to complete any modifications to the submarine."

"Also, Lieutenant Luo... please forgive my 'harsh' questioning of you before. The reason I had to test you in this regard is because there is a mission that is very suitable for your 'fearless' spirit."

Luo Tianming: "..."

Have you ever heard of 'alien ruins'?

Luo Tianming: "..."

My journal was vibrating wildly; there must be another deadly mission nearby.

Chapter 27 Alien Ruins

The location of the alien ruins scattered throughout Europa's ocean is one of the Alliance's top secrets.

The reason is simple: these ruins are irrefutable evidence that 'aliens' once existed on Europa. Once this information is exposed, it will cause panic among those who are unaware of this news.

Especially when these aliens' technology is generally far more advanced than that of humans.

"..."

Luo Tianming, who was familiar with the game "Dive into the Abyss," knew that aliens once existed on Europa, but now only their ruins should remain in the ocean.

But the alliance doesn't see it that way. Some people are worried: what if there are aliens on Europa? Wouldn't humanity be wiped out if they attacked?

Therefore, the entire alliance developed its military power almost in a reckless and militaristic manner.

Human phobias can actually be understood as 'fear of insufficient firepower'.

If I could destroy a planet with a single click, why would I care about any aliens? The world would only contain humans and various canned alien food.

"..."

Of course, such things are just wishful thinking at best... Right now, the scientists in the alliance can't even figure out the mechanisms of alien ruins, let alone those strange alien artifacts.

There's the 'Sky Artifact' that can consume 50000 units of oxygen per second, the 'Heat Artifact' that burns periodically and violates the laws of thermodynamics, the 'Psychopathic Alien Artifact' that can completely change a person's mind every so often, the 'Nasonov Artifact' that can attract attacks from all living beings, and the 'Faraday Artifact' that unleashes an EMP shockwave every 15 seconds.

These things completely overturn the laws of physics and can promote the understanding of a new type of technology.

Alliance scientists have been trying to reverse engineer the technology of these alien artifacts by studying them, thereby enabling human science to advance to a higher level.

Similarly, not only the Alliance, but also Luo Tianming wanted to obtain this alien artifact.

The journal in his arms grew increasingly hot, as if he had developed a strong interest in some alien relic.

Luo Tianming had already learned from the "business is business" customer service representative that some customers were very interested in this product, so he naturally wouldn't let it slip by now that such a product had appeared.

He nodded, trying to appear calm, and replied, "I've heard of it, it's dangerous... but it seems to be a secret of the Alliance?"

Migra: "Of course, it can be said that all the alien ruins we know of are under the Alliance's surveillance, and some of the particularly dangerous ones have been designated as no-fly zones."

“That’s not what I wanted to say… I saw on your resume that you have experience salvaging large equipment on submarines, so I think you might be the talent we need.”

Luo Tianming: "You want me to salvage something from an alien ruin?"

Staff Officer Migra nodded vaguely in response to his question:

"Yes, it is very dangerous... but please don't be afraid. If it were a mission where death was certain, we wouldn't send anyone there to their deaths. Rest assured, the danger near that ruin has been basically eliminated."

She knocked on the table twice, and the people inside immediately began to leave, closing the door behind them.

Only Migra and Luo Tianming remained in the room. She then pulled out a few photos from under the table:

"These photos were taken a week ago when our submersible went to the vicinity of the ruins."

Luo Tianming: "..."

The photo quality is like a blurry graffiti, with double images everywhere due to poor focus.

Even with such poor image quality, Luo Tianming could still see a broken circular glass dome in the picture, behind which was a series of mechanical structures resembling a spine.

"The guardian of the ruins?" Luo Tianming guessed. "But this damage... could it be broken?"

Migra smiled and said, "You're quite impressive; you even know about the Ruins Guardian."

“You guessed right, we don’t know why either, but this thing is indeed broken. In the past, the biggest trouble when trying to enter alien ruins was these things, but this ruin has basically eliminated that danger.”

Luo Tianming: "Do you have any closer photos?"

"..."

He turned his head and saw Migra looking at him with a resentful expression.

“How could that be?” The female staff officer shook her head. “If only we could get closer. Since you know about the guardians of the ruins, you must also know about the guards in the other types of ruins. If we get too close, the entire submersible will not be able to return.”

Luo Tianming: "Didn't you try sending someone down?"

Migra: "We did send a small team over before, but it was a team mainly composed of research members, and they've been out of contact with us for several days."

"We don't know what's going on inside yet. We hope you can go there and, if possible, bring out the alien artifacts inside."

"So, are you going to accept this mission?"

Luo Tianming asked, "Then, what type of relics are inside the ruins?"

Migra: "We can only tell you this after you sign the confidentiality agreement... We're not entirely sure which one it is, but it shouldn't be the most dangerous of the four."

Four types?

It seems that the Europa Alliance's intelligence is far worse than what we know, but they certainly know some things that are not in the game.

Luo Tianming didn't want to say too much, lest the alliance notice something amiss.

He looked at the photos, and then, recalling what he had overheard the workers at the military site saying, a question suddenly arose in his mind:

Is this alien ruin very far from here?

Migra: "It's not far, actually about 5 hours..."

"!!"

She realized she had said the wrong thing and looked at Luo Tianming in astonishment.

He could only say apologetically, "I didn't mean to trick you into telling me anything. I just tried to connect it with what was happening on the site and that's how I guessed it."

"Recently, the Alliance has suddenly increased its demand for high-pressure diving suits, and I even specially transported a ton of elastic fiber from the Red Star Station."

"Does the Alliance want to train a large number of divers and then develop that alien ruin?"

For the first time, Migra felt her intelligence was insufficient; she worried that if she said anything else, she would reveal everything.

Even if she didn't say it, she had already given Luo Tianming an answer.

Just as he had thought—the Alliance had begun to consider using alien technology, and might even establish a new research station at that ruin.

At this point, Migra had no choice but to beg Luo Tianming to take on the mission, because she had revealed too much information.

"Lieutenant Luo, you already know quite a lot. I hope you can take on this task."

"Even if you don't plan to answer for the time being, you are forbidden from talking about this with anyone else. This is a confidential matter of the alliance, understand?"