Qianyuan: My crew comes from the world of anime.

With each thrust of the bulging, ferocious beast, one could feel the viscous interior tightly adhering, followed by a granular, rubbing sensation...

Their hearts were pounding so hard they felt like they were about to explode. The two of them completely forgot their original purpose and only cared about enjoying themselves.

And Lucy—finally understood the answer in her heart: to take action.

With her face lounging beneath the man, tongue lolling out, eyes rolled back, she looked like a wild beast in heat... making it impossible to imagine that she was once a genius hacker girl from Night City.

Chapter 83 Naming Difficulty

"..."

In the dimly lit, cramped room, two plumes of smoke rose straight up to the ceiling. Apart from the sound of heavy breathing and deep inhalation, it was so quiet that it hardly felt like being inside a submarine.

As the saying goes, "A cigarette after the deed is like being in heaven."

In particular, neither of them has to leave their warm beds to face the cruel 'reality'.

However... the incredible thing is that the two of them are in a state of:

Lucy, with her breasts exposed and a cigarette dangling from her lips, leaned against the pillow, while Luo Tianming was the one lying on his side.

"..."

There's a feeling that he's the one who was 'slept with'.

The two let the cigarette burn down to its last bit. Lost in thought for a long time, Lucy finally spoke, somewhat dazedly:

"The human body is truly amazing!"

Luo Tianming: "..."

Thinking back on last night's madness, it's no wonder she's in a state of 'wise contemplation of life' now.

First, a series of problems occurred one after another—Lucy was really driven to the point of 'crash'.

Her eyes rolled back completely, and she fell straight down... If she hadn't still been breathing and had a heartbeat, Luo Tianming would have thought she was dead.

Dr. Takemi, who was brought over for the examination, glared at the two of them and then concluded: "Her brain was overstimulated, and her prosthetic body triggered a self-protection mechanism."

And... don't pretend to be asleep in front of the doctor!

After the doctor left, Lucy, who had already woken up, shyly explained that she had just fainted from excitement because she had never experienced such a shock before. In fact, Luo Tianming had already woken up when he called the doctor.

The two, caught up in the moment, didn't say a word, and after a passionate kiss, they rolled around in bed again... and then, once again, it was Lucy's problem.

At first, Luo Tianming thought her body temperature was simply high, but the fact that it was getting hotter and hotter made him realize that something was definitely wrong—after measuring her body temperature with a thermometer, he found that it was 39.1°C.

It wasn't that she had a cold, but rather that Lucy's prosthetic body was overheating and she really needed to add coolant.

For her, the best way to cool down was to soak herself in ice water.

The jacuzzi was filled with a mixture of ice water, and when Lucy was put in, she didn't tremble at all; instead, she seemed to enjoy it with a blissful expression.

Then, not having had enough fun, Lucy pulled Luo Tianming into the bathtub and gave him a 'fire and ice' experience...

If Luo Tianming hadn't been physically strong, he probably would have caught a cold by now.

However, even he felt somewhat powerless to help in the face of the ensuing chaos.

The silence between the two didn't last long; Levi quickly came down the gangway and found them.

"Hey~ It's really unfair of you two to hide down there smoking without calling me out, isn't it?"

As soon as Levi landed, she made a squelching sound as she stepped into the water.

Instantly, her wails echoed throughout the room.

"Oh my god! The floor is soaked! Are you guys fighting in the bathtub?! Wait... my carpet!!"

Indeed, as a consequence of their battle in the bathtub: water splashed everywhere, even ruining their clothes.

So, it's not that the two of them wouldn't get out of bed, but rather that they had nowhere else to go besides the bed.

"..."

Ultimately, Levy gave each of them a mechanic's uniform and ordered them to thoroughly clean up the water stains in the room and repair the damage.

It took Luo Tianming a full hour to completely wash the stains off the carpet and restore their original color... During that hour of constant high-pressure water washing, his mind was completely emptied, achieving an effect even better than meditation.

He had no other thoughts about the approaching behemoth.

He has already issued the most serious warnings to the alliance, the site, and the major; why worry about the death of an insignificant person?

Judging from the current situation, the casualties at Hongxing Station will be very heavy... In the worst case, the entire station may even be destroyed.

Who cares? The dead are just a bunch of unambitious civilians, the soldiers who would smile kindly at you and call you 'Lieutenant,' and a major who's always drowning his sorrows in alcohol and is a bit of a nice guy...

"..."

As he was rushing, Luo Tianming suddenly stopped what he was doing.

To be honest, he didn't care how many people died. Even if the entire site was littered with corpses on the floor, Luo Tianming would still rummage through the pockets of the bodies to see if there was anything valuable.

But if Major Soloviev were lying on the ground, he might feel a strange sadness. A nearly fifty-year-old, all-encompassing major whose only wish was to drown himself in the ocean of vodka in his homeland... but instead he died on the ocean of an alien planet.

So what can he do?

Stay and persuade the major to find a safe place to hide?

"..."

It was obvious that the major would not accept the offer—as a former submarine captain, he would certainly reply: 'The captain lives and dies with the ship; I cannot leave my ship until everyone has finished taking refuge.'

Although the submarine was replaced by a station, the outcome should remain the same.

So it seems that all Luo Tianming can do is manage his ship well and kill the giant beasts here as much as possible, thereby reducing the probability of this situation occurring.

Chaos at Red Star Station was foreseeable... but the chaos itself wouldn't lead to the major's death; mission failure would.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but think of the Alliance's massive intelligence department... Even if they could resolve the danger of the giant beast attack, this enemy from behind would probably still not let them go.

"..."

"You look like some damn savior trying to save humanity, pshaw!"

A vulgar voice sounded behind him. Levi was standing with her arms crossed, looking at the stunned Luo Tianming with disdain. Lucy wasn't the only one who noticed that something was wrong with Luo Tianming.

“Don’t fucking think so much,” Levi pointed at his head.

"You don't have the ability to save everyone. You're just a small submarine captain. Even if the sky falls, there are people much more capable than you who can hold it up. Relax, we're just a ship of small-scale merchants. We fight when there's power, and we run away as soon as things look bad."

"...So there's no need to worry so much about the lives of other people. Taking care of the people on your own ship is already quite an achievement."

Without realizing it, Levi had already put her arm around his shoulder and was trying to make him happy with a series of witty remarks.

It must be said that although she is not very good at comforting others, her words were quite effective.

Luo Tianming said frankly, "Thank you for your comfort, Levi."

Levi suddenly blushed: "I wasn't trying to comfort you."

"If I really want to comfort you, I'll find you a members-only club, get you two girls dressed as bunny girls, and have you drink a mix of whiskey, brandy, and vodka until you're completely drunk."

"...and then I slept until the evening of the next day and all my damn worries were gone."

Then, she whispered, "No...maybe I don't need to find you two girls, if it's after this battle..."

Luo Tianming quickly interrupted her as she made her promise: "Stop talking! I promise you—we'll drink until we throw up!"

Levi: "Really?"

Luo Tianming nodded sincerely. Although he already knew it was a combination of alcohol and liver damage, nothing was more important than agreeing to Levi's request at this moment.

"Great!" Levi suddenly grabbed him and said with high spirits, "To hell with that behemoth! When it reappears—we'll just fire the cannonballs for free!"

"..."

Chapter 84 Failure

The next day, 13 days had passed since the 'Scarlet Queen' last appearance.

No one could accurately predict that the behemoth would appear precisely on the 14th day... It wouldn't be surprising if it appeared at any time.

Trying to deduce patterns from things that are inherently irregular—this often leads to significant losses.

A night after Luo Tianming issued his warning, a tense atmosphere finally began to emerge at the entire Red Star Station.

Soldiers who used to be lazy and leisurely are now carrying sandbags and disaster relief supplies like their lives depend on it. People are being driven back home, and the streets are being distributed with three days' worth of space food rations and a supply of fresh water.

Even those intelligence officers who outwardly complied but inwardly defied the rules were now forced to act in accordance with the rigid disaster relief regulations set by the alliance.

The major finally persuaded a few of his old subordinates to quickly approve the war preparation plan, and the most basic disaster relief command system was established.

Once the military becomes tense, the public naturally begins to feel anxious and uneasy.

Everyone was hoping the Alliance's so-called 'inducement operation' would succeed, but clearly everyone was prepared for the worst.

The guy who was sent to be the 'scapegoat' was making the sign of the cross with both hands. If he wasn't worried about it affecting the accuracy of the sonic torpedo, he probably would have brought over all the tokens of the gods in the world to appease the machine spirit.

"..."

Nobody wanted to think about the worst-case scenario, but everyone seemed to be starting to think that the so-called sonic torpedo was unreliable.

Therefore, when the emergency alarm sounded at Red Star Station, everyone's heart was in their throat.

——！

The operator in the control tower shouted into the microphone, "Ocean turbulence detected! This matches the signs the lieutenant mentioned last time!"

On the other side, Major Soloviev calmly addressed the intelligence officer beside him:

"You all heard that, how's the preparation going... By the way, if you dare say the weapons aren't being properly tested, I'll kick you out of the station immediately."

The intelligence officer swallowed hard, sweat beading on his forehead, and replied:

"The parameters are ready, and we can launch at any time."

"We can't be sure it's definitely a giant beast coming. It could be a change in ocean currents or tides..."

"What are you spouting about ocean dynamics at a depth of 1000 meters!" the major roared, interrupting him. "Orderlies! Keep an eye on these guys. If the operation goes well, you'll be fine... but if it fails..."

The major stared at him as if he wanted to memorize his face: "Even if I die, I'll send you all to the gallows in a military court!"

"!"

The intelligence officer immediately dropped his tone and shouted at his subordinates like a death knell:

"Level 1 launch preparation! Fill torpedo tubes with water!"

"..."

Meanwhile, Luo Tianming's Nautilus entered a state of combat readiness earlier than Red Star Station. Their drones were the first to detect the presence of turbulence, and with the appearance of the Empress's 'honor guard'... it had become a fait accompli that it arrived a day earlier than scheduled.

Luo Tianming: "Airlock disengaged...!"

They immediately went into battle mode.

Red Star Station reacted much slower, only confirming the appearance of the behemoth on the sonar system a minute and a half after the Nautilus had separated from the airlock.

"The appearance of the behemoth has been confirmed. Torpedo launch!"

With a command, the sonic torpedo was launched directly from the loading compartment.

A subsonic wave, almost imperceptible to humans but highly stimulating to large creatures, was emitted from the torpedo's removed warhead.

Provoked by the commotion, the Scarlet Queen roared in response, then locked onto the torpedo's direction amidst the turbulence.

The hearts of everyone on Red Star Station departed along with the torpedo that was launched...

At this moment, in the private office of the intelligence section of the military site.

Colonel Ivan was casually fiddling with the chessboard on the table that hadn't been tidied up yet.

He, playing black, utterly defeated his opponent's white pieces, leaving them completely annihilated... Although he also suffered heavy losses, his opponent was left with only his king and a pawn.

The white king is already in a dead end, but the pieces are still undecided – the pawn has the potential to be promoted to another piece, but can it really reach the black's tightly guarded bottom line?

He considered the game a dead end. Colonel Ivan casually picked up the white piece from the board and placed it on two documents beside him.

The document clearly contained information on Major Soloviev and Lieutenant Luo Tianming.

"..."

After setting down the chess pieces, Colonel Ivan slowly sank into the comfort of the sofa to ease the inexplicable throbbing in his temples.

He spoke as if he were in the shadows, his words like the spitting of a venomous snake:

"Lieutenant and Major, blame yourselves for knowing too much... The intelligence department must not leak information about radiation changes."