Revisit Azur Lane

However, these mere four aircraft carriers managed to fight to a standstill against the more than ten aircraft carriers on the Sirens' side.

The battle situation at sea was even more intense. The numerical improvements gave Zhou He's ship girls a sense of hierarchy, with the earlier they joined the port, the stronger they became. Yuudachi was using the destroyer's armament to deal damage to the light cruisers. Kursk hadn't made many moves, but its firepower was already approaching that of battleships and battlecruisers. Tosa and Hood were even more formidable; basically, one salvo from them would be enough to kill a Sirius.

Without aerial pressure, the numerous mass-produced ships had become nothing more than cannon fodder in the eyes of the crowd.

"Commander~ We're back!"

Zhou He stood on the shore, watching the figure appear at the end of his vision. As usual, a white figure rushed to the front. When she was about seven meters away from Zhou He, Yuudachi jumped on the wave. In the light of the disappearing ship equipment, she left a shadow in the air like a carp leaping over the dragon gate. She spread her hands and landed steadily with a thud on the wave in front of Zhou He. Water and brown sand splashed everywhere. Her smile was excited and bright. But when she looked up, she found that Zhou He was still far away from her.

“Yuudachi, I can tell you’re happy.”

Zhou He pressed down his hat, glanced down at his still-dirty trouser legs, took a slight breath, walked over and patted Xi Li's shoulder, earnestly advising, "But remember to log in normally next time, it will hurt a lot if you fall."

"understood!"

Yuudachi wagged its tail and answered with an undiminished smile, then naturally opened its arms and hugged Zhou He, rubbing its cheek against his chest.

"..."

Zhou He strongly suspected that Xi Li hadn't even heard what he said, but there was nothing he could do. Even the most obedient dog has its disobedient moments. He would remind him a few more times in the future.

Yuudachi led the way, and the others gradually returned to the shore. They were all too familiar with the scene of Yuudachi taking the lead. After landing, Jintsu glanced back at the main fleet still at the entrance of the bay, then bowed slightly to Zhou He: "Commander, this operation went very smoothly. Our squad alone defeated five heavy cruisers, nine light cruisers, fifteen destroyers, and eight submarines head-on. If we include the results of the other squads, the total number of ships should be over a hundred."

"Very good. At this efficiency, we only need to carry out a few more missions to be able to fight the main force of the Sirens in a fair and square manner."

Zhou He nodded, but he was very puzzled. Why hadn't a single new ship girl been lost among so many ships? It was the same before. Sometimes they fought fiercely but didn't see any new ships. Other times, they would fight a lone Siren squadron and lose ships instead.

Comparing the conditions, does the system only activate the judgment to drop ship girls when the enemy can be completely annihilated or when the forces are evenly matched?

'Well, this is probably the system's protection for the new ship girl.'

This operation earned him two Rubik's Cubes from the daily sorties, which roughly translates to two ships. He now has nine Rubik's Cubes in reserve, which he can use for large-scale construction a few days before the counterattack against the Sirens, allowing the new ship girls to adapt to the situation.

After a slight pause, Zhou He suddenly asked, "Shen Tong, do you know what day it is today, or what day of the week it is?"

Having lived here for so long, he only recognizes time in a 24-hour day. He doesn't know the year, month, and day of this world. He doesn't care about it usually, but if there's something he needs to do a few days later, he gets confused and can't keep track of the progress.

"Today's date?"

Shen Tong frowned upon hearing this, and after a moment's thought, shook his head: "I'm very sorry, I don't know anything about this either."

She could only sense the passage of time within a single day.

"That's a bad thing."

Zhou He hummed in agreement. He had discussed similar topics with Hermione and the others before. Perhaps because ship girls don't have a sense of lifespan, they didn't feel anything special about the changing seasons. They would only lament the beautiful flowers fading when passing by the garden in front of the restaurant.

"If we can breach the Sirens' base, there should be some records inside."

Zhou He said.

In a world with calendars, even when he's not working, he makes different life decisions by watching the changing dates. Now, he needs a calendar to record the dates of his future events, ensuring they can be held on time next year, thus forming unique festival customs in the port area.

Festivals that exist around his intuitive preferences.

Shen Tong wanted to agree, but then he heard Zhou He say, "Hopefully we can take that place before winter comes."

"winter?"

Jintsuu and Yuudachi in his arms were both surprised. After a moment of thought, Jintsuu said, "Even in winter, because the air currents at sea are too complex, it will basically never snow on an island of this size. The temperature may be a little lower, but that will not affect our ability to go out to fight."

Do you think that's the case?

Zhou He gently rubbed Xi Li's hair with his palm, revealing a mysterious smile.

He believed his system would allow him and the island to experience the full cycle of spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

The chatter attracted a few interested listeners, but most wanted to finish their post-battle rest and leave as soon as possible. Yukikaze hesitated because he hadn't 'returned' for a long time, so he lagged behind Yuudachi and the others. After landing, he wanted to show off his achievements to Zhou He, but when he saw that Yuudachi and Jintsu had taken up all the seats inside and outside, his strange excitement vanished instantly, and he left silently with a little disappointment.

"Snow Wind".

Zhou He saw her, raised his hand to stop her, and smiled, "You are the tactical core of today's attack, and it's also the first time you've cooperated with others from the port area in an attack. How does it feel?"

"Feel?"

Xuefeng stopped two meters away and looked up at Zhou He: "It's not bad. The small number of personnel is a drawback, but the combat capability is very strong, which can make up for the lack of coordination. It can handle more than twice the number of mass-produced Executor fleets. If it seizes the opportunity, it can also kill the mass-produced individuals of those guys from the Experiment Agency."

"Hmm, so there are still problems with coordination."

Zhou He thought of Bismarck's words yesterday, but there was nothing he could do about it. After all, his own side was a complex combination of multiple factions. To achieve seamless cooperation, he needed to find a combination of people like Jintsuu and Yukikaze, and Hamman and Yorktown, who had worked together during the prototype ship era.

So he smiled and said, "Let's not talk about that for now. I heard from Shoukaku's report that you towed back several capital ships, Yukikaze. You've worked hard. I've prepared some fruit cakes for you. I don't know if you'd like them."

"Fruit cake?" x2

Yukikaze and Yuudachi in Zhou He's arms asked in unison. Then Yuudachi looked at Yukikaze as if he had discovered an accomplice. Yukikaze, who had been indifferent, blushed and pursed his lips to maintain his aloof demeanor, but he blinked frequently because of Yuudachi's stare.

"Yes, Yukikaze, you've helped me a lot this time. This cake is my apology and thanks to you."

Zhou He chuckled inwardly, but remained outwardly serious.

After discussing it with Xianghe, he thought it over and over and decided to spend a lot of money (2 Homeland Coins) to buy 20 catties of strawberries, mangoes, peaches and other fruits, and put all his effort into making a deluxe fruit cake that even he himself had never eaten before.

When he saw the finished product, he was convinced that no one in his port area could refuse it.

"Hmph~ You know that much, no one has ever questioned my abilities."

Xuefeng seemed to have let something slip and hastily corrected herself, quite surprised. She hadn't felt such emotional fluctuations while talking to anyone for a long time. She thought she had long lost her emotions, but it turned out they had always been there, just ignored by herself.

"Me too! Every time we sortie, the commander praises me for doing a great job!"

Yuudachi released Zhou He, moved closer to Yukikaze, and proudly patted her chest, which was heaving more noticeably than Yukikaze's.

"..."

Yukikaze glanced at Yuudachi, then looked at Zhou He: "Where's the fruit cake?"

"It's in the kitchen. Let Yuudachi take you there."

Zhou He smiled, watching Yukikaze turn around immediately and Yuudachi follow, then turned to Shintsudo: "Go help Yuudachi... no, Shintsudo, you just go and keep an eye on them, no need to interfere."

He believed that Yuudachi could get along well with Yukikaze, even if it meant they would argue and fight every time they met.

"understood."

Shen Tong responded with a faint smile and followed the two.

Chapter 121 Poverty of Living Materials

Unlike the hasty and impulsive destroyers, capital ships are mostly rational and mature entities. Their first reaction after landing is usually to smooth out the wrinkles in their clothes, the wind-blown hair, and cover up the places where their clothes were torn by bullets.

However, in a classic case, all four aircraft carriers looked no different from when they set out, except that Yorktown was accompanied by Hammanman, who was on a tugboat mission and was therefore not seriously injured.

"Haha! Commander, today's fight was really exhilarating, it's a pity you didn't see it."

After landing, Zuikaku lightly skipped over to Zhou He's side, patting his shoulder with a grin in a disrespectful manner. Zhou He had roughly guessed that she would react this way, because Shentong had said that this victory was a great one, and that no one was seriously injured, which meant that they had unilaterally crushed the Sirens fleet.

He reached out and pushed Zuikaku's hand away, leaned closer and whispered in her ear, "I didn't see the others, but Shoukaku's excellence left a deep impression on me. I wonder when you, Zuikaku, will be able to learn more from Shoukaku?"

"babble!"

Zuikaku always took the initiative to approach Zhou He, but this time, when Zhou He suddenly approached and spoke into her ear, she trembled and took several steps back before raising her eyebrows, crossing her arms and looking at Zhou He: "Of course I know how excellent Shoukaku-nee is, but Commander, you are not allowed to have any designs on Shoukaku-nee."

"What's the idea?"

Zhou He asked back as if he didn't understand, but the smile on his lips betrayed everything—Zuihe understood, and so did Xianghe beside her. Xianghe blushed slightly and looked away, patting Ruihe's back several times with her right hand, which was hidden by Ruihe's body, signaling her to stop talking nonsense.

Given Ruihe's straightforward personality, I was afraid she would blurt it out in public if I didn't remind her.

"Ahem, it's nothing."

After being tapped twice by Shoukaku, Zuikaku finally realized that Shoukaku was right beside her. She quickly coughed lightly and changed the subject. In just a few seconds, her embarrassed expression turned into one of excitement: "Commander, you can say that Shoukaku is very good, but the division of labor between Shoukaku and me has always been that I fight and Shoukaku commands and assists. This time I shot down at least three hundred Sirens. I think I've emptied their inventory."

"Oh?"

Zhou He was genuinely drawn to this. Xiang He hadn't told him before why they were able to hold off the Sirens even with half their carriers gone. It turned out that Zuikaku had taken the lead. He glanced at Zuikaku's panel in the system. Her initial aviation stat was 79, and now it was 153, almost doubling. Her reload, durability, and anti-air stats were all about the same. One of them was equivalent to two.

The numerical display shows a simple 1+1=2, but as any normal person knows, if a person's physical fitness doubles, their combat power will definitely increase by more than double. Zuikaku's situation should be the same. It is highly likely that the number of aircraft could not be increased, so the improvement was in quality.

"Zuikaku, can you defeat four mass-produced aircraft carriers right now?"

Zhou He thought for a moment, then held up his palm and showed a number. Ruihe was taken aback and touched his hair: "I haven't tried it, but it probably won't work, right? The number of planes on four aircraft carriers is four or five times that of mine. I can't stop so many fighter jets from searching for and attacking me."

"Well, I see."

Zhou He understood that her subtext was that if the Sirens hadn't discovered her location, four aircraft carriers wouldn't be a problem.

This would make it much easier for him to implement his plan.

Now that Zuikaku has grown to this level, Tosa and Kursk, who joined right after him, must have improved greatly as well. He looked at Tosa, who simply nodded to him and prepared to leave with Kaga. He had originally wanted to have Tosa as his mount again, but he changed his mind. Always having Tosa ride alone was a bit of a favoritism. He could try finding someone else.

"Commander, as Zuikaku said, the Sirens' carrier strike group lost a large number of aircraft in this operation, while our ammunition is inexhaustible. Perhaps we should take this opportunity to launch another attack and expand our gains."

Bismarck strode forward, her eyes flashing with a terrifying light. Her slightly tattered clothes only added to her murderous aura, making Zhou He feel as if he were approaching not Bismarck, but a towering mountain that he had to look up to yet was trying to make him bow down. Her aura, far surpassing that of this fake commander, made Zhou He's heart pound.

Bismarck was already quite imposing, and after winning the battle, she was even more formidable. However, Zhou He knew Bismarck's true intentions. Although his heart was pounding, he didn't feel guilty at all. He looked at her straight in the eye and nodded: "A very good judgment, but no, those guys have already started to move."

"pity."

Bismarck frowned slightly and summed it up in two words: he readily abandoned the idea of ​​a second attack.

She had witnessed the advanced weaponry of the Sirens' officers. She wasn't afraid of direct confrontation, but if these guys were to ambush them from the shadows, there would be massive losses. She knew when to fight and when to play it safe.

"Commander, I wonder if it's just my imagination, but perhaps these Siren officers aren't good at commanding operations?"

Jean Bart, who had originally intended to leave but stayed after hearing Bismarck's proposal to launch an attack, thought for a moment and then voiced his question: "With such a huge troop advantage, why let mass-produced aircraft wander around loosely, leaving them vulnerable to air attacks? Any commander who understands military affairs would not do that."

"I'm not sure about that."

Zhou He stroked his chin, thinking about the people in the experimental units in the game. Whether they appeared alone or led troops into battle, they all used the method of sneak attacks. Overall, they were more offensive. Now they were playing defense. He guessed they hadn't figured it out yet.

However, he wasn't interested in these things, and the others at the scene dispersed without a word of explanation. Jean Bart, having received no answer, didn't react much, and muttered to himself as he went home, his hands behind his head.

"Speaking of which, what exactly are those Siren executives up to? Are they lurking around the port area that I can't see?"

Having met everyone, Zhou He lost interest in chatting. He turned around, observing the locations of the testers and others on the map, while collecting his daily Home Coins, which rose from 21 to 50, making him slightly more than he needed.

As I strolled back to the command center, I was surprised to find it packed with people, some holding cakes and others eating fruit.

"Commander, could you please provide some more fruit?"

Hood peeled the apple gracefully; she hadn't eaten fresh fruit in a long time.

Hmm? Something seems off.

After thinking about it for a while, she realized that this was the first time she had ever eaten fruit.