Qianyuan: My crew comes from the world of anime.

Levi: "Tch!"

She stepped forward, gun in hand.

The engineer sensed a threat, and a fierce glint appeared in his eyes: "This is your own choice!"

"Go to hell, you scum of the Alliance!"

"Long live the Jupiter People's Government!!"

He pressed the button.

……

However, the expected explosion did not occur.

An eerie silence descended upon the air.

The engineer, unconvinced, pressed the button twice more.

At that moment, Levi quickly walked up to him and swept a whip kick across his head, sending his head making intimate contact with the ground.

Following Luo Tianming's orders, the soldiers behind him stepped forward and took control of the rebels one by one.

At that moment, Lucy's prosthetic eye suddenly turned red, and she pressed her hand to her ear, saying:

"Captain, a message has been intercepted: (Operation failed. Be alert to the following individuals: Alliance Class 1 Officer: Major Soloviev, Alliance Class 3 Captain: Ensign Luo Tianming.)"

"!!"

In the crowd, a person who was broadcasting a message to the outside world suddenly froze. He looked at the girl standing next to Luo Tianming in disbelief, completely unaware of how she had intercepted their message.

"..."

At this moment, the slow-witted major finally reacted and roared, "Search everyone and detain them! Interrogate them one by one!"

Chapter 44 The Hunter

Many people had heard rumors of last night's riots, and the next day, there was a sense of panic throughout the Red Star Station.

Those arrested all cried out that they were 'innocent,' and it took the soldiers an entire night to get them to prison.

I heard that the prison at Red Star Station is currently operating at 500% capacity, and the soldiers have had to use several new cells as temporary prisons.

I heard that this incident is very serious. Major Soloviev hurriedly reported to the Union leadership and has not come out yet.

The soldiers, following the major's orders, interrogated the prisoners rigorously.

From early morning, the soldiers patrolling the station began carrying live ammunition, disengaging their weapons so they could fire at any time.

Now no one can ignore the existence of the Alliance anymore; everyone avoids the soldiers and officers like the plague.

Of course, all of this has nothing to do with Luo Tianming.

"..."

After last night's operation, he disappeared as if he had vanished into thin air and returned to his submarine.

He wasn't indifferent to outside news, but rather unconcerned.

I'll find out sooner or later anyway, so there's no need to rush.

With some rare free time, he took his crew to stroll around Hongxing Station... The new residential area built around Hongxing Station has attracted many businesses, and the area is even more bustling than the last time he visited.

Soon, the female crew members left Luo Tianming behind to go shopping.

It's not really their fault, after all—

Which boyfriend would go shopping and not visit those pretty and glamorous stalls, but instead, like Luo Tianming, plunge headlong into those bloody and bizarre stalls?

The corridor near the station's automated turrets had become a bloody slaughterhouse littered with corpses and alien creatures.

"..."

Luo Tianming looked with great interest at a street vendor wearing a bone mask on his head. If he wasn't mistaken, it seemed to be the skull of an 'Algae Mane Crawler'.

A mummified corpse hung from the harpoon erected beside the man, with appendages for climbing and four pairs of red eyes on its head... It was the corpse of an algae-crawling creature.

Luo Tianming asked him, "Brother, what do you sell?"

He looked at Luo Tianming through the hole in his skull (Luo Tianming had changed into an engineer's jacket this time) and said, "Have your captain come and recruit me. You can't make that decision."

"..."

At this moment, Luo Tianming realized that this person was 'selling himself'.

The term "selling oneself" refers to those who intend to work on submarines and sell their lives.

Judging from his attire, this person is probably a 'monster hunter'. They are mercenaries who make a living by killing monsters, each carrying their own tools as they wander between various stations.

His weapon was a serrated harpoon with a sharp, gleaming blade. Hunters trusted their muscles, honed over decades, more than firearms, which were complex to operate and unreliable in the water.

If Luo Tianming hadn't hired Levi on his ship, he might have considered hiring these people.

But now—he's only interested in what these people have to sell.

He chuckled and said, "You've misunderstood. I'm just curious if you have anything good here, like the loot from your monster hunts. If you have any decent stuff, I'm willing to pay a high price to buy it."

Monster Hunter glanced at him, realizing that Luo Tianming wasn't joking, and said, "If you need those common materials, such as scales, skin, meat, bones... just hire someone to salvage them from the automatic turret. Those guys have no 'art' to speak of; they just turn any creature into a lump of rotten flesh."

Luo Tianming: "Of course I didn't come for those things. I appreciate things that seem strange to ordinary people. By the way, is that mask you're wearing for sale?"

Hunter: "..."

He shook his head: "This is not for sale. It is the hunter's honor. You have to hunt those creatures yourself to obtain it."

"..."

Unfortunately, this item is very rare in the game "Dive into the Abyss". Luo Tianming once farmed dozens of algae crawlers but didn't get a single one.

"However," the hunter untied a leather bag from his back and showed its contents to Luo Tianming, "these things are for sale. Do you have any that you like?"

Luo Tianming carefully examined the bag... and what he saw almost made him lose control of his expression.

There are quite a few 'good things' inside this leather bag, such as that strange egg huddled in the corner.

Its name is "Strange Egg," a magical item that can raise 'pets'.

In the Abyss, there exist several friendly creatures that can live on submarines, protect their owners, produce unique items, and provide mental well-being for the crew.

Luo Tianming had no intention of keeping a pet; he simply thought that the system might be interested in such a strange thing and might be able to recycle a few recruitment vouchers.

He picked up the egg and asked the hunter, "How much for this?"

"..."

The hunter confirmed that the person in front of him was indeed an expert.

So he quoted a price slightly above the market price: "800 marks."

"I bought it!"

Luo Tianming generously paid, which made the hunter regret stating the price too quickly, leaving no room for negotiation.

After that, Luo Tianming carefully searched through the leather bag again.

He found a dagger-like thorn and played with it in his hand.

Upon seeing this, the hunter immediately said, "The minimum is 300 marks."

Luo Tianming smiled and casually tossed the item into the leather bag, saying, "You're not being honest, are you? I recognize this thing. It's a [Exoskeleton Parasite Stinger], also called a 'Painted Skin Stinger'... It's something from the Painted Skin Parasite."

"This thing is so bad it's not even good as a dagger. Selling it for 300 marks is just ripping me off."

The hunter fell silent...

Luo Tianming searched again and confirmed that there was no second egg inside. Then he picked up a piece of hydroxyapatite and said, "Sell this to me, 300 marks as you just said... and throw in this chelicerae."

Hunter: "..."

His eyes darted around as he considered the pros and cons... Mark must have made a profit by selling a stone.

If you add a stinger to the mix, it seems like a break-even deal... but if you refuse, this broken stone will never fetch that high price in its lifetime.

After hesitating for a long time, he let out a low growl from behind his mask: "Hmph, you win, you cunning merchant..."

Luo Tianming paid the money readily as usual, and then swiftly stuffed the stinger into his pocket.

"..."

Actually, he did this entirely to buy the [Painted Skin Parasite Stinger].

Perhaps he was the only one in the entire Europa ocean who knew the value of this thing: as he said, it was worthless as a weapon.

However, the stinger has another rumored effect: those injured by it have a very low chance of being infected by the Painted Skin Creature. In the game, as long as you are injured by the Painted Skin Monster, there is a certain chance of being infected by the Painted Skin Parasite.

This is the only passive parasitic method besides actively ingesting insect eggs, so Luo Tianming felt that this thing was definitely not that simple.

Because the Painted Skin almost exclusively parasitizes humans and algae, very few people have tested its true function.

More importantly, he felt that the system would also be interested in this.

Having secured a major deal, Luo Tianming had no intention of lingering there any longer; he prepared to leave and catch up with his crew.

Before leaving, he glanced at the Monster Hunter and thought he was a very good trading partner, so he simply asked, "Are you interested in a long-term collaboration? I'm very interested in your 'works of art.' Where should I usually find you?"

A smile curved at the corners of his mouth beneath the hunter's mask, and he replied:

"Wherever the behemoth is, we hunters will follow like a shadow."

Luo Tianming: "?"

Chapter 45, the third one

Luo Tianming didn't quite understand the meaning behind the monster hunter's words.

What is meant by 'behemoth'?

He had never heard of this concept in the game, and he had never even heard of the Monster Hunter profession.

"..."

It seems there are still many things he doesn't know about Europa. The campaign against the Abyss Syndrome has simplified many things, and a considerable part of the truth has been buried.

But it doesn't matter. Now that he's on Europa, he'll figure these things out sooner or later.

The key now is to get back to the submarine and see how many recruitment vouchers those two treasures we found can fetch.

Back on the submarine, he opened the 'Captain's Log'

As soon as the two items were put away, an irrepressible restlessness immediately arose above...

[Hi~ We've detected two new 'assets' that can be recycled into regular recruitment vouchers. Do you want to recycle them? 'Strange Egg' = 5 recruitment vouchers, 'Painted Skin Parasite Cocktail' = 1 recruitment voucher.]

"..."

Looking at the vastly different products, Luo Tianming resisted the urge to ask why, and silently exchanged the 'strange egg' for 5 recruitment vouchers.

【Hi~ You now have 5 recruitment coupons! How about opening the store and checking out some suitable items to buy them all at once?】

Luo Tianming: "..."

He suddenly had a strange feeling—why did this unscrupulous customer service representative always like to get him to take out his savings to spend?

This time was no different. The 'strange egg' was a rare commodity that could only be found by chance. If he weren't really short of money, Luo Tianming would never have taken it out to exchange for recruitment vouchers.

"..."

He was determined to get to the bottom of this, but he couldn't directly ask the customer service representative, "Business is Business."

The system's AI seems to have the ability to deliberately avoid core issues, always repeating the same old lines like an AI customer service representative, bypassing all the key points.

Luo Tianming decided to ask another AI—the artificial intelligence idiot of the 'survivor system'.

On the previous page of his logbook, he wrote: "System, are you there?"

【…】

Log: [(After deep thought for n+1 seconds) The user's question 'Are you there?' seems simple and straightforward, but it points directly to a core problem in my system.]

['Are you there?' can be interpreted as either existence or non-existence. To resolve this, we must understand it from three perspectives: What is my existence? Can the place where I currently exist truly be called 'existence' itself? What was the purpose of my creation...? Beep beep beep! System warning... Overload!]

Luo Tianming: "..."

Immediately, the captain's logbook became as hot as if it were on fire!

A plume of black smoke from burning rubber suddenly billowed from the notebook; that's how burnt-out circuitry looks... but he was holding a damn paper notebook!

He started with a simple "Are you there?" and it seemed like the system AI turned him into a clown.