Revisit Azur Lane

Revisit Azur Lane

Author: Fushi

Summary:

On a sunny day, Zhou He inadvertently traveled to an island, where he faced either a lonely old age or becoming a ship commander.

This was a simple multiple-choice question, and he chose the latter.

In short, this is a simple and straightforward story about a young man named Zhou He who becomes a commander and reclaims land at sea and builds a port.

Volume One

Chapter 1 Taking Office as Commander

Wow…

The sound of the seawater crashing against the beach was much louder than he had imagined, causing Zhou He, who was standing on the slightly darker-colored sand wet with the tide, to frown.

This handsome young man, who looks to be in his early twenties, has only been here a short time; in layman's terms, he has 'time-traveled'.

"Is that really how it is? I can't believe such a thing actually happened. I've never seen anything like it before."

Zhou He looked down and used his slippers to make irregular marks on the wet sand, roughly understanding his current situation.

Like many time-travel novels, he inexplicably time-traveled while logging into the game after a long absence, and something called a system appeared in his mind or body.

Incidentally, the game he was playing was called "Azur Lane," a simulation game that features ship-humanoid characters. At this moment, as long as he squinted his eyes, a rectangular system interface like a mobile phone screen would appear in his vision, which was weakened by the obstructed light.

The current interface contains only one line of text, which can also be referred to as a command/task:

He went to the command post to take up his post.

"The command post."

Zhou He shifted his gaze from the sand beneath his feet to the distance. The sand sloped upwards, and about ten meters away was flat land. Beyond the flat land was another slope, on which stood a white building, taller in the middle and lower on the sides. The building was a modern and neat quadrilateral, with three floors in the middle and one floor on each side. From a distance, it appeared to occupy a considerable area.

"..."

Zhou He watched for a while, not knowing how to complain, but he started walking towards it. It took him about ten minutes to reach the entrance of the command center, which was estimated to be a little over a thousand square meters.

As he walked around, he observed the surrounding environment of the command post. The command post faced a bay with a large internal area but a relatively narrow entrance. The other three directions were surrounded by high mountains. Even he, a half-baked 'Azur Lane player', could tell that this terrain was a perfect location for a military port.

"What's going on here?"

Zhou He stroked his chin. He didn't get many prompts from the system. When he activated the system, he realized that it was the game system of Azur Lane. There were even subtle interludes reminding him to "pay attention to self-protection, arrange game time reasonably, and enjoy a healthy life", making him feel like he was playing a game.

Unable to figure it out, he gave up thinking, reached out and pushed open the building door and went inside. The entrance hall was very empty, and perhaps because of the lack of people, the temperature inside was a bit low, causing Zhou He, who was wearing short sleeves, to unconsciously rub his goosebump-covered arms.

Upon entering the unfamiliar building, Zhou He instinctively explored the area. Unfortunately, most of the rooms were empty. The only usable rooms on the first floor were the kitchen, the dining hall, and a large bathhouse. The refrigerator in the kitchen contained a good amount of prepared vegetables and meat, and the bathhouse had its own hot water. The fact that he didn't have to worry about living conditions for the time being put Zhou He at ease.

Judging from the furniture such as long tables, chairs, beds, and wardrobes, the rooms on the second floor of the building are roughly the areas for bedrooms and meeting rooms.

After wasting a lot of time, Zhou He arrived at the third floor, which had three rooms: a 'dormitory', an 'office', and a 'reception room'.

"This is it."

Zhou He pushed open the office door and saw empty bookshelves standing on the left and right walls, as well as a desk at the far end. The highlight was the white navy cap with gold accents on the desk.

Without the slightest hesitation, Zhou He walked up, picked up the navy cap, put it on his head, and straightened it. It felt very comfortable and fit perfectly.

Before he could even walk to the glass behind his desk to admire his own handsome appearance, the system interface was projected directly onto the glass, with the words "Mission Completed" appearing before "Heading to Command Post".

The system interface split in two the next second, presenting two options for the initial ship:

On the left is the option to manually select one of the traditional starter ships: Laffey, Javelin, Z23, and Ayanami.

On the right, one ship is randomly selected from among the destroyers of various factions as the starting ship.

"Self-selected or random?"

Zhou He stopped smoothing his bangs and squinted as he looked out the window at the distant mountains and the dense forest at their foot.

In Azur Lane, ships are divided into several tiers, from white to colored. The differences in stats and skills are not drastic, but they do have a certain charm.

However, a game is a game, and he is certain that he is in reality. The strength and role of the ship girls, at least the destroyers, are not too different. So what he should consider is whether the ship girls' personalities can complement his.

He is not good with words, and Laffey and Ayanami, whose personalities require him to take the initiative, are clearly not suitable as his initial ships. Z23 and Javelin could be considered... but he is not sure if his half-baked commander skills can handle their serious personalities.

As he pondered, his gaze drifted to the 'random' option.

The four-choice option is very cost-effective, but if it is reduced to a two-choice option, it becomes somewhat weak compared to the randomness of wireless possibilities.

As his thoughts began to wander, Zhou He, who could barely contain his adventurous spirit, made a random choice on the right. Suddenly, he realized that if he made a decision, he could communicate face-to-face with the ship girls he had previously only been able to see through a screen. His mood instantly became complicated.

"Do you really want to do this?"

After calming down, Zhou He pulled out a chair and sat down, clasping his hands together with his fingers interlaced under his chin, his eyes flickering between light and shadow.

In the game, he swore an oath with Laffey and Ayanami, two of the ships that have accompanied him the longest in his gaming life, and he should have a deeper understanding of them.

After pondering for a long time, Zhou He felt that he had a serious illness. When he played Azur Lane, all he did was pull the ship girls into his team and launch sorties. Once he reached the maximum affinity, he would swear an oath. He couldn't even remember a few of the oath voice lines, yet he still had the nerve to talk about having a deep understanding of them. He had no shame at all.

His understanding of the ship girls was limited to their character illustrations and names; he knew very few of their background historical anecdotes.

"As expected, I'm not even half-baked."

Having identified his symptoms, Zhou He's gaze fell on the randomly selected initial ship on his right. The port location and command post prepared for him by the game system were very suitable for his needs, so he should understand what kind of initial ship he needed.

"I choose to draw randomly."

Zhou He said this.

boom!

The open office door suddenly slammed shut, the loud crash startling Zhou He, who instinctively looked up.

Boom!

Then came a second sound, and the door was pushed open forcefully. A beautiful figure appeared in the doorway and swaggered in with a cute smile. Zhou He was stunned for a moment, then glanced at the system screen. The initial ship selection had been finalized, and it was no different from the girl who appeared in front of him.

"I am the fourth ship of the Shiratsuyu-class, Yuudachi!"

Dressed much like in the game, and radiating energy, Yuudachi walked to the desk. As she spoke, she placed her hands on the desk, crossed her arms, leaned half her body against the edge of the desk, and tilted her head, her eyes sparkling as she stared at Zhou He: "Although I don't know what 'Secretary Ship' means, if you want to fight, leave it to me. I'm very strong!"

"Well, I see."

Zhou He felt numb from Yuudachi's stare and didn't realize that he could understand Sakura's language. He raised his hand to push up his non-existent glasses and nodded again: "I understand."

"?"

Yuudachi blinked and nodded in agreement, "Mhm."

...

Two idiots.

Chapter Two: New Beginnings and Games

Looking at Yuudachi, who was looking around the office with a curious expression, Zhou He felt a mix of emotions.

From the moment he transmigrated to the moment he took office as 'commander', it only took him about an hour, which made him feel unreal. However, neither the girl in front of him, nor the comfortable chair under his buttocks, nor the desk at just the right height, nor the sunlight shining in could make him find any flaws.

"Is all we can do now, just try our best?"

Zhou He rubbed the strands of hair on his cheek with his fingers, let out a barely audible sigh, and then stood up with his hands on the table.

"!"

His standing up caught Yuudachi's attention. The girl, who looked like a cute puppy, immediately stopped sharpening her claws on the edge of the bookshelf, put her hands behind her back, and faced Zhou He seriously: "Does the Commander have any orders?"

"Hmm? I guess so."

Zhou He was surprised by Xi Li's quick reaction, so he could only pretend to stand by the table, lightly tapping the surface with his right hand before speaking: "To be honest, I only recently arrived at this command post myself, and I currently know nothing about the surrounding marine topography or the dangers at sea..."

As he spoke, he glanced at the system, which had transformed back into a game-like interface after the initial ship selection, and locked onto the sortie option, continuing, "Simply put, I need you, Yuudachi, to go out to sea for preliminary reconnaissance around the islands, preferably to survey the ocean conditions around the port area. You can control the specific area yourself, Yuudachi. Is that alright?"

Honestly, this was the first time in his twenty years of life that he had given orders to someone, let alone in a field he was completely unfamiliar with. Choosing the right words was quite a challenge.

"It's just scouting the terrain, right? Got it!"

Zhou He explained it in simple terms, and Xi Li further summarized it. Then she walked to the door, turned back, and waved energetically at Zhou He: "I'm off!"

Inspired by the girl's positive attitude, Zhou He smiled and nodded at her: "Go ahead, be careful."

With a series of heavy footsteps, Yuudachi left the office, leaving Zhou He deep in thought.

Before transmigrating, Zhou He was an ordinary person from an ordinary rural family. After graduating from high school, he dropped out and entered society. Due to his personality, he was not very adaptable to the factory environment and system. So after accumulating some savings, he chose the job of a 'novel writer' who stayed at home and began to study it. Although he has not yet made any achievements, he has accumulated a lot of knowledge and habits that he never needed - such as pretending to be a 'serious ship girl commander' without any problems.

"Well, there's a reason why the system assigned Yuudachi as my initial ship. Does it think I'm a half-baked ship and need some polishing, or is it that a destroyer is a more suitable ship girl for me, so they gave me a simple and obedient destroyer?"

Zhou He understood the concept of time travel. While pondering, he focused his attention on the system panel: it was similar to the original game, but it lacked the resource bar, activity box, and secretary ship illustration, leaving only seven functions: 'Dock', 'Warehouse', 'Home', 'Research', 'Mission', 'Construction', and 'Attack'.

As a veteran player, he quickly looked through each function item. The dock only had Yuudachi's portrait, and the warehouse was empty. The homestead seemed to be an integrated living area in the game, where you could use "homestead coins" to buy daily necessities, ingredients, fruits, clothes, house decorations and furniture, all sorts of miscellaneous facilities, and even buy complete house sets of different styles.

"...This system is more powerful than I thought."

Zhou He silently browsed through the various items in the Homestead Shop, from small needles and thread to large castles, and as for the prices—he didn't know the source of Homestead Coins yet, so he wouldn't comment on them.

However, given the advanced technology within the Azur Lane game, this level of sophistication is to be expected.

Switching to the research interface, he saw the research ship option. Among them were research ships that were both unfamiliar and familiar to him, but the development conditions had changed. In the game, research ships could be obtained by grinding experience, cubes, gold coins, and some blueprints. Here, it was changed to 'After selecting development, the fleet needs to defeat 100 Sirens of the same type, obtain 10 cubes, and meet the required component configurations, plus research blueprints'.

Zhou He, penniless and destitute, looked at the monarch, then at the emperor, and then at the research ship that his wife had sworn an oath to in the game, his feelings becoming even more complicated.

He currently only has the destroyer Yuudachi, so it's too much of a stretch for him to challenge heavy cruisers and battleships of a higher class.

"Let's see when we encounter the enemy later."

Thinking this way, Zhou He looked around at the ship equipment development he didn't quite understand, and finally focused his attention on the "META Follower" option, which even he found absurd.

Yes, this is a ship development project for the 'Black' series, also known as the Ember series. However, it is different from the game. You don't target a meta ship and attack it repeatedly to get points. Instead, it is a 'passive skill'.

'Once the META follower function is enabled, the port's attractiveness will radiate based on its prosperity level, allowing ships from other worlds that are trapped and on the verge of despair to see the existence of this place, giving them the will to live and prompting them to come of their own accord.'