Qianyuan: My crew comes from the world of anime.

With this, he had enough confidence for the upcoming battle to annihilate the 'Scarlet Queen'.

But the question is: where do we get so many recruitment coupons?

Doing missions is not very realistic. Currently, there is only one transport mission that gives three cards, and most of the time it will fail.

If he had hunted the 'Crimson Queen' last time, he might have enough recruitment tickets this time...

With less than two weeks until the Scarlet Queen resurfaces, the Nautilus must be upgraded again as soon as possible to ensure a sure chance of capturing it next time.

Therefore, Luo Tianming quickly took stock of his assets.

Besides the recruitment voucher, he still had 12,000 marks on him, and about 6,000 in mission rewards from Chongshan Station that he hadn't claimed yet. If he could hold out for seven days, he could sell a new batch of craft beer.

In this way, he could eventually get 22,000 marks.

If this money were used to buy 'alien blood plasma' and strange gadgets on the market, it could probably be exchanged for a certain number of recruitment vouchers.

But that's not enough... He needs 30 more, unless there are shipwrecks or ruins where he can earn a large amount of rare materials at once.

Where in the cold caves of Europa could one obtain these things in large quantities?

"..."

There really are—for example, cave areas.

The area where Luo Tianming and the others are currently located is only the upper ocean area of ​​the cold cave.

At a depth of nearly 2000 meters below the surface, there are all sorts of bizarre volcanic cave landscapes, most of which are natural caves formed by past geological activities, and are home to various kinds of creatures.

The caves vary in size, with some having a diameter of over a hundred meters, large enough to accommodate submarines diving and exploring.

The smaller ones are only two meters in size, requiring divers to hunch over to squeeze in.

Of course, the most dangerous creatures in these caves are always the monsters.

Algae crawlers, mud golem velociraptors, tiger tail demons, painted skin parasites... If there's one place on Europa that's every diver's nightmare, it's definitely the cave area.

Similarly, the wealth generated by cave areas also attracts many people.

In addition to changing the shape of caves, submarine volcanic activity also brings up various mineral resources buried deep in the Earth's core.

Chapter 65 Cave Data

Early the next morning, the Nautilus quietly disconnected the airlock and left Red Star Station without the control tower noticing.

Once the navigation system is turned off, finding them becomes like searching for a needle in a haystack.

"..."

Luo Tianming did this because he didn't want the Europa Alliance to know his whereabouts.

As for the so-called mandatory missions of the alliance?

To hell with it.

He was basically certain that the thing was a trap, so it was best not to touch it at all. He could just pretend he was on another mission and drag this out.

"..."

He sat in the captain's seat, manually entered the next destination station, and began fully manual control of the submarine.

The vibrations from the Nautilus's start-up quickly woke Levy, who should have been resting in her cabin.

She yawned, looking like she hadn't woken up yet, and asked, "Where are we going?"

Luo Tianming: "Let's go to Chongshan Station first."

Levi: "First?"

Luo Tianming nodded, and then told Levi about his plan to go to Chongshan Station first before entering the lower cave area.

While starting directly from Red Star Station would save a lot of time, they were completely lost once they reached the cave area.

Instead of wandering around aimlessly, it would be more efficient to go to Chongshan Station first to see if there is any intelligence there before exploring the cave area.

Half a day's journey later, the Nautilus chose an airlock at Shigeyama Station, which was supposed to be at its busiest time of 10 a.m.

"..."

In the past, submarines waiting to enter the station to trade cargo would have formed a long queue, and the radios would have been filled with captains boasting about their transactions, as well as bored captains striking up conversations with the control tower operators...

However, today this place is pitifully empty.

The only two submarines also hurriedly left the station after seeing the Nautilus dock.

"..."

As soon as he opened the airlock, Luo Tianming was shocked by what he saw.

Near the airlock where the Nautilus was docked, dozens of people carrying backpacks taller than themselves immediately approached Luo Tianming as soon as he emerged and inquired:

"Sir! What time does your submarine depart?! The fare is not a problem. Do you accept goods as collateral? Here are some high-purity rough diamonds."

"One hundred and fifty marks! Captain, one hundred and fifty marks to take one person! Quiet down, quiet down—give me fifty marks as a commission first!"

Luo Tianming: "..."

The chaotic scene before him left him feeling somewhat disoriented, yet the arguing people continued to approach Luo Tianming, trying to pull him away.

Just then, Levi appeared behind Luo Tianming. Without even glancing at the people, she raised her gun and pointed it at the crowd.

"I'll count to three, and you'd better disappear from here immediately."

"one,"

"two,"

"...!"

Before she could even count to three, Levi raised her twin pistols.

Bang bang—!

Two gunshots rang out.

However, it was fired at the ceiling.

Because of the sudden warning, the crowd that had been surrounding Luo Tianming scattered like birds and beasts.

"..."

Luo Tianming looked at her helplessly: "Couldn't you have used a gentler method to disperse them?"

Revy, however, remained nonchalant: "Isn't this the duty of a security officer? I'm responsible for protecting you... What do I care about the lives of others?"

"..."

Okay, she still uses the same robber logic as always.

But this attitude of caring only about you made Luo Tianming feel a little smug for some reason.

Upon entering Chongshan Station again, Luo Tianming almost felt like he had gone to the wrong place.

The once bustling circular street had become deserted. The echo of military boots on the floor sounded hollow, and the few people who saw Luo Tianming hurriedly hid to the side.

'...'

He sighed helplessly, "Phew, it seems the 'new hunting ground' thing has made things quite tense here."

Relying on his memory, Luo Tianming walked all the way to the familiar office of the Minister of Agriculture.

I knocked on the door...

"Come in...come in~"

A slightly trembling child's voice came from inside.

Luo Tianming pushed the door open and went in, just in time to see Catherine using both her hands and feet to climb onto the chair that was too short for her.

Upon seeing that it was Luo Tianming, the red-haired loli inexplicably pouted, and even her voice sounded a little tearful:

"I thought you ran away!"

Luo Tianming: "...Where did you get the idea that I was going to run away? Just because I went to the Alliance's site? Didn't I say I was going to the nearest Red Star station to deliver the message first? The stationmaster there is my friend..."

Catherine: "..."

She didn't say anything, she just stared at him with teary eyes.

Luo Tianming: "Didn't the Frozen Tilapia return? Didn't they tell you?"

Catherine: "Of course I told them—and it worked like crazy. Thanks to them, those guys came back and started bragging on the public radio and drinking in the pubs, wanting the whole site to know."

"Now all the residents know that this place has been designated as a 'giant beast hunting ground,' and they've all run away!"

She looked quite aggrieved; if Luo Tianming hadn't been there, Catherine would definitely be secretly shedding tears right now.

Luo Tianming comforted him, "Don't be so pessimistic. What if the giant beast is killed? Then those people will come back, right?"

Catherine: "Does the Alliance have a solution?"

Luo Tianming: "..."

Uh, it's best not to tell her about their plan to shift the blame elsewhere, otherwise this girl will definitely burst into tears.

He explained, "If someone hadn't intervened last time, I would have chopped that guy's head off as a trophy."

Catherine: "You... alright, let's get back to the point. What are you here for? As you can see—Chongshan Station is now completely deserted, and I, the Minister of Agriculture, probably only have agricultural work left to do."

Luo Tianming: "Where are the others?"

Catherine: "They've all run away. What brainwashed the Alliance did to that 'Fang Cen' you brought back? Now he's frantically sowing discord among the other upper house members, and he's gotten rid of several of them. Even the residents are running off to other factions."

Luo Tianming: "..."

It seems that guy really did his job well. He said calmly, "This is a good thing. Look... when those councilors left, they vacated their positions, didn't they?"

"In this way, if we simply have those who are loyal to us fill those positions, wouldn't we be able to easily increase our strength?"

Catherine: "You...you're bending the law for personal gain!"

Luo Tianming: "This is called extraordinary measures for extraordinary times... Who told those guys to run away on their own? We should be grateful for this perfect opportunity of the giant beast's attack. Once the crisis is over, Chongshan Station will be reborn."

Catherine: "..."

Although she still looked dissatisfied, she stopped saying anything.

This crisis also exposed her to the wickedness of many people's hearts, especially those who claimed they would live here for life, who suddenly packed their belongings and ran away. No matter how she tried to persuade them, they refused to stay.

Since that's the case, let's do as Luo Tianming suggested: teach those who chose to leave Chongshan Station a lesson.

"Alright." Catherine seemed to have matured quite a bit. "What do you want to do?"

Luo Tianming: "First, confiscate their houses and cabins, which originally belonged to Chongshan Station. In the future, after commercial development is completed, the usage rights will be sold as real estate."

Catherine asked, "Then how can we develop a business?"

"That's impressive. I see that the food at your station is quite good. As long as the supply of that food is maintained, the primary industry should be able to accumulate wealth quickly."

"..."

Sensing something was wrong, he hesitated and said:

"Those foods won't..."

Catherine: "Yes, we traded other things for it. Since the last agricultural reform failed, Chongshan Station has only had less than four cabins of agriculture left."

"Now that the people have left, we can't collect commercial taxes from Chongshan Station anymore."

Luo Tianming: "..."

So he has to help rebuild this site from scratch.

But—agriculture, precisely, must begin with the most basic agriculture…

——!

Suddenly, it was as if a bolt of lightning struck his mind.

Oh, and he also has a 'Captain's Log'.

Seeing Catherine's still sorrowful face, Luo Tianming calmly opened his journal and wrote:

[Customer service, please explain the health benefits of that 'delicious' mushroom.]

【…】

Log: [Hi~ You finally remembered my purpose! I thought you weren't interested in this item at all, after all, it's that 'delicious' mushroom.]