Qianyuan: My crew comes from the world of anime.

And so, she led Luo Tianming, whom she did not yet fully trust, directly to the location of the 'Painted Skin Cult'.

Chapter 53 Two Objectives

Considering the negative influence of the Painted Skin Cult, Chongshan Station would naturally not place them in a place that could be seen at a glance.

Luo Tianming followed Catherine down the massive pillars inside the station...

The further down you go, the more dilapidated Chongshan Station appears... After descending the bright and shiny stairs, the surrounding environment feels like entering a dark and damp underground sewer.

Curious about everything, Luo Tianming asked, "How did this area end up like this?"

"..."

Catherine, walking ahead, said without turning her head, "Three years ago, the previous Minister of Agriculture wanted to implement some kind of major agricultural reform as soon as he took office."

"He plans to plant high-value bananas throughout the entire Chongshan Station area in order to generate profits for the station."

Luo Tianming: "This is a good thing."

Catherine couldn't help but roll her eyes at him when she returned: "But those who grow bananas don't know... if you want to transport bananas, you have to pick them early—if you wait until they turn yellow, they'll rot in a couple of days."

"We can't dump all those rotten bananas into the sea at once, so when we pile them up here for composting, the bottom layer slowly rots."

Luo Tianming: "..."

No wonder there was such a strong smell of rotten bananas when the airlock was opened; it turns out this was a miscalculation in agricultural production.

But even so, isn't that a bit too exaggerated?

He said dismissively, "That's fine too. If you peel and slice the bananas, and freeze them into freeze-dried banana chips using liquid nitrogen or something similar, they can probably be stored for a long time."

"!"

Catherine immediately stopped, looking surprised at his idea, and turned back with a wry smile, saying, "Perhaps you should become our Minister of Agriculture..."

Luo Tianming: "The current..."

"I am the current minister."

Catherine walked away, tossing her hair as she walked in her little leather shoes.

Luo Tianming quickly caught up, and as they talked, they arrived at the area where the 'Painted Skin Cult' was located. This was the darkest place in the entire Chongshan Station, completely covered by layers of superstructures.

The believers living here all wear hoods, and their pale, slender wrists are visible beneath their sleeves.

Some of them gleamed warily beneath their hoods, but Catherine remained unfazed. She stepped forward, hands on her hips, and demanded, "Where is your missionary? Tell him to come out and see me!"

Believers: "..."

They looked at each other, not seeing any threat from a little red-haired girl.

The red-haired loli maintained her composure for a moment, then looked back at Luo Tianming uneasily, as if to say, "What are you looking at? Come and help me."

"..."

He felt he must have done something terribly wrong in his past life...

Luo Tianming stepped forward and casually revealed his weapon, saying at the same time, "Call your supervisor here, or I'll arrest you all and line you up to be sent to the incinerator!"

His threat was clearly effective, and soon a tall but hunched-over man was brought out.

He seemed to have some kind of tube inserted into his body; part of his skin resembled the bark of an old tree, while another part was as white and pink as newborn skin…

Of course, with patches of skin scattered all over his body, it looked like a tattered plaster stuck to his skin.

The missionary bowed his head and said, "Miss Catherine..."

That couldn't be called a voice at all; it must have been caused by his throat being corroded by sulfuric acid or something similar, which made his speech sound like it was leaking air.

"Call me Councilor Catherine!" The red-haired girl stomped her foot. "I'm asking you, were your sect members using deception to lure people into joining your sect today?!"

"..."

The missionary glanced back at the believers behind him: "Someone did that?"

Catherine: "You can't use your excuses. The young man tormented by the parasite is still in his hospital bed. He is the best evidence."

"Chongshan Station only accepted you because of its inclusive nature, but don't forget the conditions for allowing your Painted Skin Cult to set up shop here!"

The missionary nodded and said, "'We will not actively persuade people to convert outside our cabins,' this is an agreement I made with your father..."

Catherine was a little angry, but it seemed more because he was referring to her father rather than herself.

"If that's the case, how do you explain the fact that some people are infected with the 'Painted Skin Parasite'?"

The missionary winked at the people behind him, and then three believers came out. Luo Tianming and Catherine both recognized them.

The missionary explained to Catherine:

"Are you looking for those three? I think I can give you an answer about this matter. They didn't force that young man... He was just too eager to gain 'new life' so he swallowed it hastily. It has nothing to do with our faculty."

"On the contrary, if no one had intervened at the time, our believers would have given him a dose of 'skin-repelling medicine'."

Catherine retorted angrily, "This kind of sophistry sounds like selling someone a gun and then claiming that the person who pulled the trigger killed someone and that it had nothing to do with the seller."

The missionary said, "In fact, the person behind you can also testify—it was the young man who swallowed it himself."

Catherine glanced at Luo Tianming, who nodded helplessly.

The red-haired loli suddenly deflated like a punctured balloon, completely powerless... If that person really did swallow the parasite himself, then they would be unable to hold the Painted Skin Cult accountable.

Just as Catherine was feeling disappointed, Luo Tianming spoke up from behind her:

"However... you don't deny that you're selling this kind of 'deceptive parasite,' right?"

The missionary chuckled: "What? Are you going to arrest me on charges of manufacturing dangerous goods? Sir, this isn't the Europa Alliance. You can't use the Alliance's laws to punish me."

Luo Tianming wasn't angry; instead, he stared at him calmly and said:

"That's true—but if I remember correctly, the Painted Skin Parasite is a creature that is difficult to survive for long after it leaves its host. Once the eggs of this parasite are collected, they must be immediately mixed with calcium carbonate to put them into a dormant state."

The missionary said unhurriedly, "You seem to know a lot about 'Painted Skin.' Would you be interested in joining our Painted Skin Cult?"

Catherine: "You..."

Luo Tianming reached out and pressed down on the red-haired loli's head to prevent her from kicking him.

This was indeed a good time to infiltrate the sect, but he didn't want to just walk in so easily...

He gave the missionary a troublesome smile and said, "Most people have few ways to deal with the skin that has just been removed from a corpse..."

"However, there is another way to preserve this parasite. That is to freeze it along with the corpse, which can greatly extend the parasite's survival time."

The missionary's expression changed: "What are you trying to say!"

Luo Tianming stopped beating around the bush: "It's very simple. What that young man bought wasn't a processed, dormant veil, but parasite eggs that had just been taken from a living organism."

"And bringing in the corpse of the parasite that is painted skin is absolutely forbidden by any station."

He looked at the three pale-faced men behind the missionary and said in a threatening tone:

"Would you mind if I searched your recent cargo receipts? I suspect some captains are cooperating with you in dangerous smuggling..."

"..."

Instantly, the atmosphere around the missionary changed. He no longer adopted the same attitude as when he was fooling the little girl, but instead stared at Luo Tianming with great vigilance.

As he said, the only flaw in this matter was that it was a living parasite, and he thought he could get away with it by relying on the fact that these people did not understand the creatures in the painted skin.

Unexpectedly, someone was able to detect this flaw... and in an instant, they used the 'smuggling suspicion' to completely reverse the situation.

Now he faces a choice—should he have them review the flawed transaction records, or...?

The missionary turned around and glanced at the three believers who were already drenched in sweat. He sighed and said, "Someone, throw these three into the 'water torture chamber' and release them in a month."

Whoosh—!

The three believers' groins instantly burst, and hot, yellow liquid trickled down... Clearly, they knew how terrible 'water torture' was.

As for releasing them after a month?

Don't be ridiculous. Are you saying that a month later they'll be even more thoroughly decomposed than the humus at the bottom of Chongshan Station, and then released to be used as fertilizer?

"..."

The missionary had no interest in the believers; he was more concerned with whether his actions would satisfy them than with their lives.

“In addition,” he said cautiously, sizing up the tall and short pair, “I will cover all the young man’s medical expenses, give him a sum of marks as compensation, and guarantee that this matter will never occur outside of our sect.”

Are you satisfied now?

Before Catherine could speak, Luo Tianming interrupted her, saying, "Are you satisfied now, Councilor Catherine...?"

"..."

While seemingly asking for her opinion, they were actually telling her: know when to stop, because if any problems are found, the submarine captains will also be implicated.

The red-haired girl pouted: "Pay up the taxes you missed!"

Then she walked away, her little leather shoes clicking away.

Luo Tianming: "...or is it really true that 'only death and taxes are inevitable'?"

As the missionary watched Councilwoman Catherine leave, he quickly stepped forward to Luo Tianming, pulled out a metal-carved, twisted parasite badge, and shoved it into his hand.

He added, “You seem quite interested in us. If you have time, why not come to the cult for a cup of tea… We can discuss our Heavenly Father and Savior together.”

Luo Tianming: "..."

He quietly put away the medal, which could serve as a pass.

With this, he will be able to enter and exit the areas of various "Painted Skin Cults" from now on.

The missionary also realized that although Luo Tianming was the main threat just now, they wouldn't have been able to settle the matter by just paying some money without his "meddling".

Therefore, giving him some benefits at this moment could actually win over a submarine captain.

Luo Tianming accepted his 'recruitment'... after all, one of his purposes for this trip was to gain the favor of the Painted Skin Cult.

As for the other purpose...

Catherine, who had walked a distance away, suddenly turned back and shouted at him, "What are you doing! Come here right now!"

"..."

It seems that we are not far from achieving it.

Chapter 54 Side Story

Following Catherine, they arrived at a room marked 'Dedicated Room for Upper House Members,' where a row of small gold lettering on a large desk read: Minister of Agriculture, Jupiter People's Government.

Catherine sat in the office chair where her feet couldn't even reach the ground.

She looked at Luo Tianming and coughed lightly: "Cough, you did very well this time."

Looking at the thirteen-year-old girl who acted all mature for her age, Luo Tianming suddenly found the scene quite comical... especially since she, the 'Minister of Agriculture,' was actually a genuine, democratically elected government run by a child. He felt it was nothing short of a satirical political story.

"Hey!"

Catherine was very unhappy that he laughed out loud.

Luo Tianming: "I'm so sorry..."

Catherine: "I know you all look down on me! You think my position as a member of parliament is inherited from my deceased father, and that no one can understand what this position can do since the last Minister of Agriculture."

"Nobody takes me seriously; they just treat me like a mascot..."

Luo Tianming had heard that this Catherine was actually the daughter of the leader who established this site, and her father was one of the four lucky survivors of the 'Tomsdale' incident.

Logically speaking, given her father's prestige, the founder's daughter shouldn't have ended up like this.

With this question in mind, Luo Tianming asked, "What about your father's old friends? Won't they help you?"

Catherine: "..."

“You don’t understand JPM at all,” she said, shaking her head. “Although Father was the founder, the Jupiter People’s Government is now divided into different factions.”

"After my father's death, the moderate faction, led by him, immediately collapsed and scattered, joining other factions. The moderate faction is now defunct in name only."

Catherine hesitated, then said, "The 'Scott' engineer, whom we expelled before and who wanted to attack the Alliance Red Star site, is a representative of the [radicals]."

"Besides them, there are two other groups: the conservatives and the independents."

Luo Tianming: "What's the difference between the moderates and the conservatives?"

Catherine: "We moderates are based on the Jupiter People's Movement's core ideology of 'nonviolent non-cooperation,' and advocate for democratic elections and free markets."

"The conservatives, on the other hand, advocate a sit-in war and trade cut-offs, and they are more focused on confrontation with the alliance than on cooperation... The 'independence' faction is centered on establishing the independence and autonomy of the Jupiter people's movement."