How to eat pineapple buns on the immigration ship

Chapter 261 Current Status of the Third Pioneer Unit

The previously tense atmosphere in the government meeting room has now become cheerful, even somewhat lively, thanks to an email from Director John. Captain Green Noah's face also shows a genuine smile.

Just then, another new email arrived.

Green Noah glanced at it and saw that it was sent by Wallace.

He opened the email and glanced at it; his expression instantly turned serious.

"Captain Green, what happened?"

With his unparalleled ability to read people's expressions, Ma Chuanhua asked eagerly.

"It's not exactly good news."

Green Noah struck again, once more sending the email to other senior executives.

After reading the email, the expressions on the faces of the government officials became complicated.

This email omits Walkin's overly formal bureaucratic greetings, and has only one central message:
The pioneering troops of the 11th Fleet also knew about this.
-
Just as the government conference room was once again racking its brains over how to deal with this pioneering force, on the Third Pioneer Force's spaceship, Kenny and his team were listening to Rivi talk about Kagawa.

"The year 2022... 2022..."

Kenny took a deep breath, exhaled, and repeated this three times before finally managing to suppress the urge to scream.

But the teammates around them didn't care about that.

"Team Leader Rivi, is this real?! Is it really the 21st century?!"

"Team Leader Rivi, why didn't you tell us sooner! If we had known about this, we would have gone with you to the escort ship and kidnapped them!"

"2022 AD! 2022! Just before World War III. If this is true, those arrogant guys at the Institute of History will probably have to kneel down and thank us this time!"

"Team Leader Rivi! Captain! Let's set a time quickly! We need to bring this girl back to our fleet before she returns to the main ship!"

……

The team members became increasingly excited and their words became more and more outrageous. Before Reeve could even speak, Kenny roared with a dark face:

"Alright, alright! Enough with the talk! We have nanomachines on us. Forget about getting her on board, even if we're 500 meters... or even 1,000 meters away from that girl, Green Noah will probably have someone put their thumb on the nanomachine's activation switch."

Upon hearing this, the pioneering team members, who were lost in a state of wild fantasy, finally stood at attention reluctantly.

—It won't hurt to indulge in a little wishful thinking in our minds!
The team members silently voiced their accusations through their eyes.

Kenny ignored him and turned to Reeve, asking:
"Rive, is what that girl said credible? Could she be deliberately spreading false information to distract us? Or does she have some other purpose?"

"If it were only targeting us, Kagawa-san wouldn't have lied to his own club members or classmates as well."

Recalling Qiu Manman and Aino's expressions at the time, Rivi thought that if even the students' reactions were acting, then their acting skills were too good. Rivi even considered recommending these students to the theaters there when he had the opportunity to go to the Twelfth Fleet.

"Then... could it have been made up on the spot for some personal purpose? Like, to get your attention or something?"

Kenny said half-jokingly, and the other team members couldn't help but stifle their laughter when they heard this.

This wasn't just something he said casually. Back in his hometown, Levi was a very popular and handsome young man. His popularity only increased after he enlisted, and he was completely smitten with the single girls at the 11th Fleet headquarters.

When a handsome young man in a blue military uniform suddenly appears in front of a naive young girl, Kenny thinks she might make up some nonsense to get his attention.

“Captain, if this gets out, it will be considered spreading rumors. Don’t forget that the other party is a minor.” Rivi looked helplessly at the unserious captain. “Besides, there is a noble boy of similar age with her. There’s no way she would be lustful.”

"Maybe they prefer someone more mature?" Kenny chuckled. "Don't be so quick to reject me; I'm actually considering the feasibility of using this method."

—Let Reeve seduce Kagawa. This was a desperate measure that Kenny came up with after hearing Reeve's description. There was no other way; the expansionist troops' movements were currently restricted, so they had to try other approaches.

"Kagawa-san... I think she might not really like me. When I sat next to her, she didn't react much."

As Rive spoke, he recalled his conversation with Kagawa. Kagawa's demeanor towards him was too natural; she didn't seem like a naive high school student, nor a seasoned socialite, but rather...like she was chatting with a classmate?
Although this statement is somewhat far-fetched, Rivière couldn't find any other more suitable analogy.

Regardless of how Kagawa viewed him, since she had no feelings for him, Wei didn't think about it in that way.

And now his own captain wants him to flirt with female students! The world is going to the dogs! Rivi silently shook his head and sighed in his heart.

"It's hard to say. Maybe they're saying one thing but thinking another."

When Kenny said this, all the team members, including Riviera, looked at him with a speechless expression, as if to ask: Captain, why are you so knowledgeable about relationships? We remember you were still single.
"Uh... cough, I didn't say that. I saw it in the comments section when I saw people discussing these issues on the Third Fleet's SNS today."

This explanation was too gossipy. Even someone as thick-skinned as Kenny couldn't help but turn his face away, temporarily unable to face the disdainful looks of his teammates.
-
After a while, the spaceship of the pioneering team returned to a normal discussion environment.

“In short, with this thing in hand right now,” Levi patted his wrist, “neither escaping the Third Fleet’s sphere of influence nor taking this information turbulence contactor with us is a wise choice. Acting rashly could even plunge all of us, and even the Eleventh Fleet behind us, into an abyss of no return.”

"So what's your suggestion?" Kenny asked seriously.

"Wait."

"Wait?" The group looked at each other in bewilderment.

“Yes.” Rivi nodded. “According to the intelligence we obtained before, the exchange period between fleets is only five years away, or even less. Even if the Third Fleet is isolated from other fleets on the network, once the exchange period begins, the Third Fleet will most likely make contact with other fleets. We can find a way to get out of here at that time.”

“But… what if the third fleet doesn’t participate in this fleet exchange period?” Kenny frowned.

"Although the Third Fleet has never been absent before, this was based on the premise that they had never had access to information turbulence. Now that female student has brought about such a big change in the Third Fleet in just a few months, I don't think the Third Fleet will give up this opportunity for transformation. They can choose to withdraw, lie low until two thousand years later, and then make a formal appearance in the next round of fleet exchange."

Rivi nodded and said, “That’s what I thought at first too. But if that’s really what they intend to do, they won’t disconnect the spacetime network at such a critical juncture and draft a new bill. The enactment of a new bill requires the support of practical data. If the Third Fleet wants the central government to pass this bill more steadily, then it should be brought up again during the next fleet exchange period.”

"But they didn't; instead, they put it out in front of their own people."

As he spoke, Riviera opened the official website of the Third Fleet's Agricultural Bureau, where the "Agricultural Product Production Increase Ratio Adjustment Act" was prominently displayed.

"It is obvious that they intend to submit it to the central government during this exchange of ships."

Kenny stared at the draft on the screen for a while, then suddenly laughed.

“That’s good. At least we can go back in a few more years, right?” He said, patting Rivi’s shoulder. “Thinking about it, this is not bad. If the Third Fleet plans to wait until the next fleet exchange period to submit this, then our small unit will either have to settle down here or become the next missing pioneering unit.”

In other words, either the Third Fleet will change their fleet's origin through some means, forcing Kenny's Third Pioneer Force to become a member of the Third Fleet, or the Third Fleet will deal with them in some underhanded way, turning them into cosmic dust.

Either way, it would be unacceptable for everyone in the Eleventh Fleet, whose families were all with them.

“In that sense, it seems like we’re in the best possible situation right now,” Rivi said, looking at the screen that was open in front of him. “Now we’ll see how they’ll take care of us. I personally really want to go and see the flagship of the Third Fleet. Kagawa recommended a lot of good food to me.”

"Hey, I think you're the one who's got a thing for that female student, aren't you? Why are you bringing her up again?"

"...Captain, seducing a minor is illegal. Do I look like someone who knowingly breaks the law?" Reeve's gaze towards Kenny turned cold.

"Who knows? You always have the same expression, maybe you're secretly a pervert... Ouch!"

Unable to contain himself any longer, Rivi gave his captain an elbow strike, then clapped his hands and left the meeting room.

The remaining team members surrounded Kenny, who was unable to leave the meeting room due to back pain, and began asking him a barrage of questions about the food culture of the Third Fleet.

This ordeal meant that even the next day, when Kagawa was forced to get up in the student dormitory to make breakfast with the rest of Class 8, the members of the pioneering team were still full of energy on the spaceship.