Qianyuan: My crew comes from the world of anime.

The middle-aged man, drawing out his strength, practically roared, "Enough!!! Everyone, stop right now!!"

"..."

In the darkness, the bluish-white electric light emitted by the Faraday crystal shone on Colonel Ivan's face, and everyone felt a sense of awe at his imposing presence.

His thunderous voice rang out again: "What kind of nonsense are you all spouting! The Alliance provides you with the highest priority access to resources, and all you've produced is a bunch of useless cowards who act like headless flies when things get tough?!"

"..."

The colonel was clearly dissatisfied with these people, so he turned to Luo Tianming, the only one he found agreeable today, and gave him a 'friendly' smile, saying:

"Lieutenant Luo, could you please explain to us... what exactly is the effect of this magical artifact?"

Everyone focused their attention on today's protagonist, their eyes no longer filled with doubt, but with admiration—to bring back something so deadly, one could only imagine their bravery.

Migra's gaze was so alluring it could practically draw out silk...

Luo Tianming coughed lightly: "Ahem... Colonel, one of the characteristics of this so-called Faraday artifact is that it generates a large amount of electricity in the air."

"Its second characteristic is that it releases an electromagnetic pulse within an 8-meter radius every 15 seconds, which is commonly known as an EMP attack."

"!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, some scientists began to wail in despair:

"Ah!! EMP?! My camera is ruined, it didn't record anything!"

"Wait a minute—that makes sense when the power outage is over."

Some scientists are also analyzing the effectiveness of this amazing device: "If we can utilize its discharge capability, could we consider supplying power to the stations?"

"Stop talking nonsense, this thing is far less efficient than nuclear energy—but this EMP capability, if made into a weapon, might be able to cause considerable damage to enemy submarines."

"Hmph~ How could there be other submarine enemies in the sea... If there are, they are those who have sided with Jupiter's separatism."

"..."

Seeing the discussion getting increasingly wild, Colonel Ivan quickly ordered, "Ahem, have the scientists contain the artifact first, we can discuss the research later."

"Immediately have the soldiers seal off the shipyard, erase all traces of this place, and make a list of everyone here today for a period of time for monitoring and secrecy."

"What happened here today must never be told to anyone!"

"..."

The colonel's words also carried a warning to Luo Tianming.

The newly discovered artifact is of great significance, and if this news gets out, it will cause huge trouble for the Alliance in managing the alien ruins.

As Miguel led his soldiers to supervise the scientists' departure, Colonel Ivan finally had the chance to look back at the hero of this mission: Luo Tianming.

"..."

He began in the manner of an elder trying to win over a junior: "Lieutenant Luo, you have made a tremendous contribution to the Alliance this time..."

Luo Tianming disliked such empty words, like thanking humanity for its great contributions... Only money that he could actually get his hands on was real.

So, he casually reminded him, "Sir, this expedition to the alien ruins is extremely dangerous. Not only were my crew members injured, but I almost didn't make it back because of this dangerous artifact."

"..."

What he meant was: I've made such a big sacrifice, shouldn't the league give me some reward as a token of appreciation?

Giving only 6000 marks is too stingy.

Colonel Ivan was naturally shrewd; he couldn't possibly misunderstand Luo Tianming's words, and he naturally changed the subject.

"The Europa Alliance will not forget every officer who has made a great contribution to the Alliance, and I will record this in your resume."

"From now on, you will be included as a technical advisor at the research station, and you and your ship will be given priority consideration for similar missions in the future."

Luo Tianming: "..."

That's all?

That's it?

What about the reward?

Are you expecting to pay him a salary by giving him such a hollow title as "technical consultant"?

He made no attempt to hide his disdain: "Okay, it's a pleasure to serve the alliance."

Colonel Ivan didn't comment on him, but instead said in a cryptic tone, "Lieutenant Luo, don't you have anything to say?"

"For example—you only mentioned finding this new alien artifact, but did you find anything else interesting?"

Luo Tianming: "..."

Chapter 39 Technical Consultant

The other party was implying that he had not only gained the artifact on this trip, but also some private gains.

Since they all knew, Luo Tianming simply stopped pretending:

"I actually have a batch of alien relics. I wonder if the Alliance would be interested in acquiring them?"

However, his words drew the ire of the female staff officer behind Colonel Ivan.

Migra deliberately pushed up her glasses as if rubbing her chest: "Lieutenant Luo, that's Alliance property, please hand it over."

Luo Tianming: "...Which law?"

Migra: "The Resource Allocation and Control Law stipulates that all resources in any region under the administration of the Alliance must belong to the Alliance... Lieutenant Luo, your actions constitute 'theft.' Please return the Alliance's property as soon as possible."

Luo Tianming: "..."

He never expected this busty girl to be so rigid; he should have known better than to say anything.

Luo Tianming said, as if deliberately trying to disgust her:

"Oh, you mean those belongings? I meant: I thought they were just trash, so I flushed them all down the toilet."

Migra: "You!"

"..."

In any case, ordinary Alliance personnel are not allowed to board their submarines without the submarine captain's permission.

Unless there is solid evidence of the captain's betrayal, there is no way to arrest and search them.

Colonel Ivan, standing to the side, calmly said, "Alright, Honey, don't make things difficult for him—if you push them too far, they'll definitely turn to the 'Jupiter Separatists' to sell the stolen goods."

Luo Tianming: "..."

"Lieutenant Luo," Colonel Ivan turned to him solemnly and said, "Do you know why I didn't increase your mission bonus, but instead gave you a nominal position as a technical advisor at the research station?"

Luo Tianming: "..."

Colonel Ivan: "I'm not as 'rigid' as Mia. The Alliance knows that to make a horse run, you have to fill its trough with enough oats."

"Therefore, the Alliance has issued a regulation: submarine captains have full privacy rights and can refuse requests from the Alliance to board and search their ships... Do you know why?"

Luo Tianming: "Because it's impossible to completely eliminate submarine captains' smuggling, the only way is to let them carry out smuggling in an organized manner, rather than in a blatant way?"

Colonel Ivan nodded: "Yes, as long as you are given complete privacy, submarine captains will place 'smuggling' in a very delicate position. They won't do it unless there is enough benefit."

"So, no matter where the Alliance's submarines are or what they are carrying... as long as there is no risk of overthrowing the Alliance's rule, we will usually turn a blind eye."

"And the captains are also very worried about being caught, so they dare not help the Jupiter separatists too much. This makes the captains a weight in the middle of the scale, swaying back and forth, and you will never take sides... This is the purpose of the alliance."

"Now let's talk about the 'technical advisor' thing."

Colonel Ivan smiled at him and said, "With your intelligence, I doubt you can't see what this position entails."

Luo Tianming: "..."

He analyzed it carefully and then voiced his guess: "A technical consultant, as the name suggests, is here to provide 'technology'."

"But I can't really help the scientists in any way. The advisor title is just a nominal one. It's just an opportunity for me to get in touch with the scientists."

Colonel Ivan remained smiling.

Luo Tianming added, "Being able to contact scientists means I can be involved in things that are not part of my military duties."

"For example: what relics should be provided to scientists?"

“It’s ‘technology’,” Colonel Ivan corrected.

“Yes, yes, it’s technology.” Luo Tianming smiled as well. “Those scientists must be quite interested in these technologies that come from the ‘ruins’.”

"What others consider worthless might be priceless treasures in the eyes of scientists, who would be willing to pay money to buy them?"

Colonel Ivan nodded in satisfaction: "The Alliance will also allocate some funding to those scientists, from which they will identify and purchase anything they deem helpful for their research."

"Regarding the price..." Luo Tianming said with some concern.

"We won't let the advisors suffer losses," Colonel Ivan said. "After all, some of these items were bought on the black market, and we'll buy them all at the original price."

"Haha, that would be perfect, they must all be from the 'black market' first-hand price."

"Haha, this young man is quick to understand!"

The two of them: "Hahahaha—!"

Migra: "..."

She watched as the two officers, one tall and one short, laughed in a very tasteless manner, and then pouted.

Actually, this matter sounds complicated, but it's actually quite simple:

That is—Luo Tianming now has a legal channel to 'sell stolen goods' to the Alliance.

He could sell everything he collected from ruins or Europa's ocean to scientists.

The alliance will certainly pay for the scientists' research; they can openly allocate funds for acquisitions.

This is why everything requires complete procedures and a legitimate source... And once this channel for selling stolen goods is opened, in addition to Luo Tianming, who is the beneficiary, Colonel Ivan can also profit from it.

The reason lies entirely in Colonel Ivan's statement: everything will be purchased at black market prices.

The black market is definitely rife with inflated prices, so the Alliance will likely overcharge the prices quoted by the Alliance.

The excess portion, naturally, went to Colonel Ivan, another client on this route of selling stolen goods.

This achieves the following: the procedures are reasonable, the price is reasonable, and there are no problems with the accounts on the surface.

It's just that the middle portion of the profit was taken by 'Commissioner Smith'.

Colonel Ivan found the young man increasingly pleasing to the eye, and said, "You did a good job this time. There are still a few ruins waiting to be developed. How about we pick one?"

However, this time Luo Tianming shook his head and said, "My crew member is injured. Let's wait until everything is ready."

Colonel Ivan: "Alright."

This wasn't him being hypocritical; he genuinely felt that exploring ruins wasn't a good mission.

The rewards are meager, and the risks are high.

If he could find a ruin that hadn't been touched by the Alliance, he might be able to earn even more.

Just think about all those amazing mechanisms in the ruins; if we could recreate one, we could definitely make a fortune.

"..."

“Oh, right,” Colonel Ivan said, looking at him and suddenly remembering that there was something he could ask him.

"I remember you were on good terms with Major Soloviev of Red Star Station?"

Luo Tianming: "?"

“Perfect timing, there’s something I need to do—go to Red Star Station and ask him to help recruit and train some Alliance personnel.”

"As you know, the Alliance recently plans to convert that ruin into a research station, which requires a large number of personnel."

“Hongxing Station is the largest residential station in the vicinity, so it is very convenient to transfer personnel from there.”

Luo Tianming was somewhat conflicted—he didn't really want anyone else to enter his submarine.

The colonel was aware of this and added, "You're just going to help deliver some diving suits; the work of a transporter isn't really suitable for your surveying model."

He nodded, then said goodbye to Colonel Ivan.

Luo Tianming had more important things to do. The mission log in his arms sent a message that the mission was completed, which meant that the special recruitment ticket was now within his grasp.

Chapter 40 Luxina Kushina

Back on the submarine, Luo Tianming did not immediately open the captain's log.