Qianyuan: My crew comes from the world of anime.

Then, he was so shocked by the exorbitant prices that he could hardly breathe.

"..."

These projects cost him a total of 21,000 marks... Even though he was somewhat prepared, he was still caught off guard by this sudden cut, and instantly only had less than 5000 marks left in his hands.

If he hadn't completed a major commission from the major, he would have had to honestly run ten transport missions for the Alliance to earn the money spent on this modification.

……

Fortunately, all the effort paid off... When he boarded the remodeled Nautilus, he instantly felt that all the money he spent was worthwhile.

The overall structural strength increased by 20%...

Battery capacity increased by 60%...

The reactor, now fueled with new fuel, has an ultimate overload temperature of 6000°C and an ultimate meltdown temperature of 7435°C.

The submarine's power increased by 8%...

Voltage carrying capacity increased by 10%...

The cold mark has been replaced by numerical strength, but it hasn't actually disappeared at all (which is just a way of comforting myself).

The newly renovated Nautilus also has more space. The original cargo hold has been moved to the bottom, and Miao Miao's infirmary is now larger, with room for an additional research table.

In terms of firepower, two new pulse lasers have been added. These weapons can release a short, powerful laser after charging for 1.25 seconds, which can cause massive burns and small-scale explosions, and can basically ignore the armor on medium-sized monsters.

Even against other pirate ships, the laser can inflict considerable armor-piercing structural damage.

With this equipment, Luo Tianming no longer needs to worry about encountering things like the Mother of Creepers. He will tear her to pieces the next time they meet!

After completing all preparations, the Nautilus was ready to depart. They had stayed long enough and had replenished all the necessary supplies.

Most importantly, they don't have much time left.

Luo Tianming looked at the logbook and saw that there were still five days left until the next update.

A round trip would take a whole day, and we still don't know how big the ruins are underneath, so it's best to allow enough time to explore the entire site.

With a mechanical sound of the airlock disengaging, the Nautilus embarked on its journey once again.

…………

The bridge was quiet and spacious, with no other sounds except for the occasional beeping of the sonar.

Levi slumped in a chair to rest and recharge, while Wu Jianmiao packed a large amount of medicine in the medical room, some of which she would test for efficacy before giving them to the two of them.

In "The Abyss," most of the drugs are only meant to save lives and don't care about the side effects at all, so he could hear Miao Miao complaining in the laboratory from time to time.

If all goes well, we should arrive at the alien ruins in about five hours...

But as is well known, things are unlikely to go smoothly on Europa.

"...!"

Suddenly, the sonar system in front of Luo Tianming detected something, and the alarm immediately woke up Levi in ​​the weapon control position.

"What's wrong?! Is it an enemy?"

Looking at the subtle metallic signal transmitted back by the sonar system, Luo Tianming said uncertainly, "It's hard to say. Since the other party isn't moving, it's very likely not an enemy, but a sunken ship."

"A shipwreck!" Levi immediately perked up. "Isn't this a good find? Let's hurry! Let's get closer and see if there's any treasure!"

"Last time we got a cabinet full of pearls, hopefully this time we'll have a ship's hold full of gold!"

"..."

Luo Tianming shook his head helplessly at Lei Wei's money-grubbing ideas.

It's still uncertain what it is, and not every shipwreck contains treasure.

Strangely, this time the 'Captain's Log' in his arms didn't make any sound... It was too quiet, something was wrong.

He slightly adjusted the course, turned the bow around, and used the reverse propeller to slowly glide them toward the sunken ship.

The deep ocean was completely dark; only the ship's external monitors could see things within a range of about several tens of meters.

The sea area around the cold cave is still quite spacious; there should be very few shipwrecks here...

But the metallic echoes transmitted by the sonar system are not wrong; such a large and regular shape can only be man-made.

Could it be a sunken site?

The more Luo Tianming thought about it, the stranger it seemed. The probability of encountering another intact shipwreck on the seabed was about the same as winning the lottery.

That's why Luo Tianming was so excited last time.

Therefore, when the sonar indicated that he was 100 meters away from the sunken ship, he turned on the ship's propulsion system, ending the inertial gliding phase.

"..."

The Nautilus shook violently, and then everyone could feel that the ship's current course had changed.

Levi: "Hey, Alo...aren't you going the wrong way? Aren't we supposed to be heading to the shipwreck?"

Luo Tianming frowned: "Something's not right. I feel like something's not right... Levi, turn on our new pulse laser and fire a shot at the sunken ship!"

Levi: "..."

She didn't speak, but instead moved the cannon with great precision, aiming it at the direction of the sunken ship.

Levi said somewhat uncertainly, "I really did hit it."

It seems she's still worried about what would happen if there were any treasures down there and the place was sunk by a single shot.

Actually, Luo Tianming was also a little worried... what if he guessed wrong? But he trusted his intuition more than his greed.

Luo Tianming comforted her, saying, "It's alright. Energy dissipates faster at a distance of 100 meters. The laser won't be able to destroy that ship."

She immediately pulled the trigger... Two pent-up laser cannons unleashed red rays of destruction, illuminating the dark sea in an instant.

Subsequently, some of the seawater evaporated, forming bubbles on the monitoring screen.

Levi: "Nothing..."

She hadn't finished speaking.

"Beep beep beep—!"

The sonar system suddenly emitted a buzzer-like alarm sound, and several tiny particles of light suddenly appeared on the panel.

Luo Tianming's mind immediately went into overdrive: "Levi, near-explosion fuse, remember that?!"

"!!"

The rapid-fire cannon immediately fired a series of shells. The shells with proximity fuses exploded instantly within a 50-meter radius, forming a circular defensive zone with a radius of more than ten meters.

The light spots on the sonar system had barely disappeared when an even more dramatic change occurred below. The sunken ship, as if a hunter had shed its disguise, revealed several tentacle-like spots of light on the control panel.

Their tips were only a dozen meters away from the submarine, just a hair's breadth away from securing the Nautilus, and the sunken ship below began to rapidly produce more small white dots.

Without hesitation, Luo Tianming activated the engine at maximum power the instant Levi fired the first shot, allowing the Nautilus to easily shake off those guys at full power.

"..."

After a brief jolt, the engine returned to normal. Wu Jianmiao emerged from the infirmary, still somewhat shaken, and asked, "What was that just now? Why were you all so scared?"

Looking at what the sonar system had detected earlier, Luo Tianming said, "'White blood cells,' those are sub-organisms created by the thalamic organisms."

Miaomiao: "Huh?"

For her, a medical student, white blood cells were naturally nothing new. But the 'white blood cells' Luo Tianming was referring to weren't the white blood cells in the human body; they were the name of a monster—like the white blood cells in the human body, they were killers created specifically to target other organisms.

The thing on that shipwreck is called a 'thalamus'—a static plant entity that parasitizes the shipwreck and attempts to attack any foreign object.

The previous "painted skin" was a parasite that specifically targets humanoid creatures, while the thalamus is a parasitic plant that specifically targets submarine machinery.

Once they attach themselves to a shipwreck, they grow rapidly and lock onto and transform the entire shipwreck, making it an integral part of their own body.

Next, various organs will grow from the outside: there are organs that specifically produce 'white blood cells', and they will continuously produce a kind of green algae with a diameter of about one meter. These things can corrode the hull and paralyze the ship and its organisms.

The troublesome thing about white blood cells is that they are produced almost endlessly. Once your ship gets stuck, these cells will slowly parasitize and damage your ship and crew.

There are also organs that launch fleshy tentacles, which inject another troublesome type of cell—terminal cells, a type of algae that explodes.

If you can't completely kill the thalamus host that's parasitizing the shipwreck, you'll never get rid of these things.

Therefore, in the game world of The Abyss, the thalamus is one of the creatures that almost no player wants to encounter.

It, along with the 'Giant Spine Spear' and the 'Bone Tail Demon', is known as one of the three great beasts in this game.

Fortunately, Luo Tianming had made preparations to escape in advance; otherwise, if the submarine had been held up, he and Levi would have had to risk their lives to remove the thalamus.

It seems that even with such firepower, it's hardly a foolproof strategy in Europa's monster-infested ocean.

Chapter 31 Entering the Ruins

Five hours later, the Nautilus arrived at the designated coordinates. The sonar system showed a huge blue stepped structure below them, with a hollow echo coming from inside.

"We've arrived... This is the outer side of the alien ruins."

Luo Tianming remotely controlled the external monitor, looking at the ancient, sea-blue walls, the distorted and meaningless symbols, and the dilapidated ruins that seemed to have been there for thousands of years... Only at this moment could they truly feel that they had arrived on an alien planet.

Levi: "Hey hey... so alien ruins aren't a joke after all. There really are aliens in this world. I thought those guys were living like primitive people on some other planet."

Takemi: "Hmm, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes—I almost thought it was the legend of 'Atlantis'. If aliens exist, how did they become extinct?"

Luo Tianming: "..."

Knowing the whole truth, he did not choose to remain silent at this moment, but simply did not want to interrupt this beautiful moment.

The external monitoring panel was very small; the two women had to squeeze together on the back of the captain's seat to see a 480p image that was only the size of a palm.

Even through their military uniforms, you can feel the different textures of their breasts... The slightly larger and more elastic one on the left is Levi's; it has a great shape, and when you press down, you can feel its rounded lower curve.

Levi's voice came from the left: "Who cares how they went extinct? As long as we get the money, that's all that matters."

"..."

The one on the right that is slightly less full is definitely Miaomiao's breast, but not being full doesn't mean it's bad.

On the contrary, because she wasn't very voluptuous, Miao Miao's breasts were extremely soft, and when she pressed down on him, she sank in like a marshmallow.

Wu Jianmiao nestled against his shoulder, her breath sweet and fragrant against his ear:

"I'd like to study the physical structure of extraterrestrials and see how they change their muscles and structure while living in the deep sea and under the ice. The creatures on Europa are already bizarre enough, but it's incredible that some of them have evolved intelligence that surpasses that of humans."

"You said... did these creatures ever visit Earth? Could there be traces of them left behind on Earth?"

Luo Tianming: "There's probably no hope... These aliens are already used to Europa's ocean and gravity. If they suddenly go to Earth, they won't be able to adapt to life there. The high concentration of oxygen on ancient Earth could very well be poisonous to other alien life forms."

Wu Jianmiao: "That makes some sense. I didn't realize you knew so much!"

Miaomiao, her fingers adorned with red nail polish, stroked down his right cheek, while Levi pulled Luo Tianming's head into her arms, creating two 'cushions' on the back of his head, and dragged him backward, saying:

"Stop talking nonsense and get ready to exit the cabin... Don't even think about leaving me behind this time!"

"Wait a moment!"

Takemi, who was standing still, called out to the two of them, "I'll go too."

She stepped forward, hands in her pockets, and said, "I'm also very interested in what's beneath the ruins."

Indeed, there were three diving suits in the closet, just enough for the three of them.

but--

"No, someone has to stay behind to watch the ship."

Levi refused outright, saying, "We can't all leave the cabin. Otherwise, if we get trapped outside the submarine, we're all doomed."

“But…” Takemi hesitated, “I don’t know how to drive a boat, let alone operate weapons…”

Luo Tianming: "It's alright. Monsters rarely come near alien ruins. Unless we're unlucky enough to get the 'Nasonov Artifact,' there's generally no danger."

“Levy is right. We must leave one person on the ship just in case. As the ship's doctor, you are the most suitable. If we are injured down below, we can immediately find a way back to the ship to wait for treatment.”

Wu Jianmiao: "...Okay, wait for me a moment, I'll go get you some first aid medication downstairs."

Seeing her somewhat reluctant expression, Miaomiao really wanted to explore and study the alien ruins.

She returned shortly afterward.

She gave Luo Tianming and Levi each a small medicine packet, and then began to explain:

"From now on, these will be the standard medications you carry with you. Listen up."

"There are all kinds of medicines inside. Take the corresponding medicine at the corresponding time. These medicines are meant to save your lives in critical moments. As long as you can hold on until you get back to the submarine, no matter what kind of injuries you have, I will definitely save you."