Qianyuan: My crew comes from the world of anime.

"Let's go!" Nan Mengya's face remained expressionless, but her tone became more cheerful. "Let's go see those newborn marine species!"

"..."

Helpless, Luo Tianming could only take her and plunge into the rarely visited piles of old papers.

On the far from romantic shelf of documents, Nan Mengya was in charge of looking through them, while Luo Tianming was in charge of finding the possible photos and research materials.

What should have been a problem that Lucy could have solved in a few seconds by hacking into the local database turned into a two-hour ordeal due to the two of them working together.

Seeing that she was looking at some information about algae, Luo Tianming calmly piled up the other information he had found next to her.

"Is it interesting?" Luo Tianming asked.

Nan Mengya: "Um, this..."

She pointed to the photo of the algae crawling on the wall, which looked menacing.

"Not cute at all."

Luo Tianming: "..."

Here we go again, JK's whimsical ideas.

How did she associate these things with 'cute'?

Nan Mengya's thoughts suddenly jumped to another question: "Are there any mosasaurs here?"

Luo Tianming: "..."

"Dunkleosteus?"

She seemed very interested in this kind of ancient marine creature.

Luo Tianming: "I thought you would like the cute art style of Sakaban turtles."

Nan Mengya: "Sakaban? Cute?"

"..."

It seems he'll never understand what's going on in JK's head.

Seeing that she couldn't find anything she liked, Luo Tianming pulled out a more pleasing one from a pile of documents.

"How about this? Morocco... a large jellyfish-like creature that has no eyesight and can navigate the ocean using the sensory tendrils arranged on its ventral side."

"The brain or core can pulsate to provide propulsion. When attacked or hit, they emit a powerful, resonant sound."

"This..." Nan Mengya's voice rarely showed any hesitation, "This is so cute~"

"..."

cute?

Luo Tianming found nothing cute about a giant creature, tens of meters long, charging at a submarine in a fit of rage.

But since Nan Mengya thinks it's cute, let's introduce a little more about it.

"Well, these guys are blind, so they are particularly sensitive to noise. As soon as they hear the noise from the submarine, they will rush over and ram it, but they are not fast, and most submarines can shake them off."

"Alternatively, turning off the noise can help you avoid its pursuit. They also protect their young. Unhatched Moroccans are purplish-red and make a very loud sound when injured."

"Wow..." Nan Mengya's eyes widened like jewels. "Hey, where can we find the captain?"

"Um... they usually live in deeper ocean areas, and we might encounter them in the places we're going to later."

“Yes,” Nan Mengya nodded seriously, “Then I’m going to take a lot of photos.”

"..."

Afterwards, they left the archives and wandered around the site.

Since Nan Mengya plans to join Nautilus, Luo Tianming needs to buy her a lot of things, such as changes of clothes, warm and waterproof clothing, toiletries, etc. Real JK girls are very particular about these things.

Luo Tianming even noticed that she bought a huge amount of bath spices...

After buying these things, they bought some food for lunch at an open-air restaurant... Now that there are real JKs on the ship, the old way of eating, like squeezing toothpaste, has to be completely changed.

Nan Mengya is still a young person who is growing, so it's time to get some real food and send it to the ship.

"..."

After the two finished lunch, carrying large bags and small packages, and rested due to high blood sugar, JK next to them suddenly said something surprising.

Nan Mengya: "It feels like we're on a 'date'."

Luo Tianming: "Cough cough cough...!"

JK is truly an incredible creature.

However, this also made him realize something unpleasant: the significant age difference between the two made them look like a father-son duo to outsiders.

No wonder so many people looked at them strangely before; they thought they were perverts.

On a date with a beautiful high school girl in a school uniform on the street, if this were in the original world, she would definitely be eating pork cutlet rice at the cop's place by now.

Fortunately, it's on Europa... Thank you Jupiter, thank you humanity.

However, a nominal 'note' actually did appear.

"Hello~"

The red-haired loli was less than 1.4 meters tall; she had to look up to see Nan Mengya and bend back to see Luo Tianming.

However, this did not diminish her arrogant demeanor at all.

“I heard…” she said with a suspicious look, “that someone is abducting minors, and it’s that famous person from our site, so I came to take a look.”

"..."

In just one morning, has Luo Tianming's heroic and legendary captain identity, who killed the giant beast, been shattered into that of a 'pedophile'?

Faced with Catherine's suspicion, Nan Mengya calmly asked, "Who is this child?"

Catherine: "Ahem, I am the mayor."

Nan Mengya: "You're lying. The mayor can't be such a small child."

"Gurnununu~!" Catherine made an angry sound that only exists in the world of anime, while Nan Mengya still had that calm expression.

Luo Tianming only realized at this moment that Nan Mengya was actually a troublemaker.

Seeing Catherine's exasperated state, Luo Tianming quickly tried to salvage the situation, saying, "Don't be like that. You're the mayor's man, why are you arguing with ordinary citizens?"

Thanks to his timely intervention, Catherine didn't throw a childish tantrum.

At that moment, Revy's voice from inside the submarine came through the earpiece.

"Ah Luo, have you finished flirting with the high school girl? The engine is already burning hot. If you don't come back soon, we'll sail away."

Luo Tianming, back in the airlock, brought Nan Mengya back to everyone and formally introduced her to them.

After the previous incident, the group seemed to have grown somewhat estranged.

It was Revy, who had been jealous before, who was the first to step forward and extend her hand:

"Let's build a good relationship, newbie!"

Judging from her mocking expression, you can tell she's not being sincere.

Nan Mengya ignored her outstretched hand and said coldly, "I won't be on good terms with you."

Levi looked at Luo Tianming and muttered, "Is this child sick?"

Nan Mengya: "I'm just sick."

"..."

The young girl felt she was different from them, and the adults who smoked and drank also revealed an atmosphere where they couldn't connect with the little girl.

Perhaps only Luo Tianming was willing to patiently guide her, which made her position on the ship even more awkward. Perhaps she really was just a marginal "assistant"?

Luo Tianming continued to leverage his role as a peacemaker:

"Ahem~ From now on, Nan will be a member of our ship. She will be in charge of the [assistant] duties, mainly working on the bridge. Even if you don't need to build a good relationship, you will still talk often. Don't make the atmosphere on the ship too awkward. As women, look out for each other."

"Also, from now on, cigarettes and alcohol are prohibited outside of the smoking room. Don't you dare lead people astray."

"..."

After agreeing to the three rules with them, Luo Tianming turned his gaze back to Nan Mengya and said to her:

"Life on a ship can be tough. If you really can't adapt, why don't you stay and live at this station? The environment here is nice, and the pace is much slower... It would be even better if you could become friends with Catherine."

"..."

Nan Mengya suddenly realized:

The reason Luo Tianming took her sightseeing for the entire morning was actually to give her another option: a choice where she didn't have to board a ship and could live a stable life.

"..."

After a moment of silence, she asked, "Will I be a burden to you while I'm on the ship?"

Luo Tianming knew she had misunderstood, and explained, "Not at all. On the contrary, you can be of great help to us. However, life on the ship can be dangerous, and I cannot guarantee that you will not get hurt."

“But,” Nan Mengya added, “you also said that information here is very limited, and there’s no way to find a way to other timelines, right?”

Others: "...(staring)"

To avoid being labeled a kidnapper, Luo Tianming quickly explained, "Even if we weren't on the ship, I would still try to find out for you."

Nan Mengya shook her head: "Eh, I still prefer to do it myself. After all, dreams can't be forced on others."

"Please continue to guide me in the future."

JK bowed to the group, and they accepted the newcomer.

Luo Tianming looked like he had just remembered: "Oh right, here, take this..."

He handed Nan Mengya something resembling a Bluetooth headset; it was the last synchronous communication device.

"With this, you can contact us anytime."

Nan Mengya put it on her ear: "So, this is proof that I'm a crew member on the Nautilus?"

On the other end, Levi's voice also came through the earphone:

"Stop dawdling and let's get going."

With a pleasant and soothing engine start-up sound, the Nautilus departed from Chongshan Station.

Chapter 99 Daily Life Without Him

They arrived at the military station two days later.

"..."

Luo Tianming watched silently from behind Nan Mengya as she rotated the weapon to the locked position and cut off the power supply to prevent accidental discharge.

She did these things with such skill that it didn't seem like it was her first time.

During the voyage, Luo Tianming deliberately found a few algae crawling as targets for her to practice on. She smashed them with great precision, and her talent for wielding weapons left even Luo Tianming speechless.

Is this what a typical high school student in Japan is like?

Luo Tianming couldn't help but sigh.

He opened the log to check Nan Mengya's specific data and the current bonus of the trait called "Cute is Justice".

Mood: [Neither good nor bad] All base values ​​adjusted by ±0%.

Just like its description suggests, it's neither good nor bad.

"..."

However, it is also worth mentioning that at the beginning, Nan Mengya was sitting obediently in the chair to control the ship, but at some point, she started squatting in the chair and using her sleeves to operate the ship.

She looks like a delinquent girl from an arcade.

"……&"

After the Nautilus sent a docking request, a stealthy radio signal quickly penetrated their channel:

"Lieutenant Luo Tianming, please come to the General Staff Headquarters."

"..."

Luo Tianming recognized the mature female voice; it belonged to Migra, the female staff officer whose chest had almost ripped her uniform.