Revisit Azur Lane

"It's okay, let's just stay like this."

Zhou He was probably used to being hugged and cuddled by Yuudachi in front of a crowd, so he didn't feel anything special. He smiled and put his hand on Yuudachi's back as he spoke to Shoukaku.

"Ok."

Seeing this, Xianghe didn't say much. He stepped back a little to let Zhou He walk in front, and followed behind him downstairs. As he went down, he recounted the process of the battle and the discoveries, as well as the difficulties in fighting the ominous sign.

"Well, I see."

Zhou He listened to every word, and the situation was pretty much as he had guessed. After going down to the hall, he said to Xiang He, "Xiang He, you should also go and rest. I'll have a short meeting and then I'll start cooking."

"Hmm...what about Yudachi?"

Shoukaku looked at Yuudachi, who refused to let go, and Zhou He revealed a mysterious smile. He leaned down and whispered a few words in Yuudachi's fluffy ear. The originally lazy Yuudachi's ears immediately perked up. After letting go, she opened her arms to Zhou He and said coquettishly, "Commander, hug me."

"Good~"

With a smile on his lips, Zhou He bent down, picked up Yuudachi with a powerful movement, spun her around a few times, and then, with slightly unsteady steps, placed her next to Shoukaku. He chuckled and ruffled her hair, saying, "You've taken a bath, come out for dinner."

"Order!"

Yuudachi rubbed against his palm and giggled, revealing her cute fangs.

Chapter 134 "Good Friends"

The wind was howling outside, but as long as you stayed indoors, you weren't afraid of anything, which made Zhou He sigh inwardly at the importance of infrastructure.

Everyone who braved the wind to get home was still taking a bath in their rooms or in the large public bathhouse on the first floor. Zhou He sat alone in the lobby for a while, feeling a bit free, so he selected Hu Teng from the dock and activated the video function. The system interface flickered slightly and the switch was completed.

Compared to Frederick the Great, Hutten's figure is just right. Although she appears aloof, she habitually makes small gestures when walking or talking, making her the most genuinely girlish member of the Zhou He family.

The area behind Hu Teng in the video was still sunny and unaffected by the ominous storm. It just looked like they were still on their way, as the Siren base was still quite far away.

"commander?"

Hu Teng, who had been staring intently at the Purifier, was startled by the strange gaze and quickly noticed Zhou He's projection on his right. He raised an eyebrow slightly and said, "What peculiar communication technology. Has the battle in the port area ended?"

"Everyone is back. The troublesome thing is that this ominous storm looks like it will continue to linger near our port. To deal with these ominous signs, the Sirens' fleet needs to draw their fire."

Zhou He hummed in agreement and explained the situation, asking how long it would take them to reach the Siren base. Hu Teng straightened her gaze and looked into the distance, tentatively reaching out to touch the projection beside her. Zhou He adjusted the video angle based on her finger's movement, ignoring the Purifiers who had turned back due to the conversation. Zhou He saw a massive complex of buildings stretching for at least ten nautical miles around an island at the end of his line of sight. He couldn't help but click his tongue: "As expected, this is the combat base responsible for dealing with the ominous signs. Its scale is dozens of times larger than the Siren base we discovered before."

"Doesn't such a base have dedicated management personnel?"

Hu Teng didn't know how big the 'discovered base' Zhou He mentioned was, but he could tell that it was much larger than their home port. So he voiced his doubts: According to the overlapping laws of the mirror sea, and considering that the Sirens made a mistake and came here, it's like they've entered a different world. So why can these guys directly use this combat base?

"I don't know, but the Sirens' approach is to build the same system in different worlds, so theoretically they should be able to communicate with each other, right?"

This question touched on Zhou He's blind spot. There were no cross-world activities in the game, but judging from the way the outsiders, including Ember, interacted with the experimental agencies, the information of the experimental agencies in different experimental worlds was shared. In other words, their existence and their mainframes belonged to mass-produced subsystems branched off from a higher-level system.

No matter how the world changes, the technology used by the Sirens will not change much.

"..."

Hu Teng admired Zhou He for sending them deep into the Siren base to learn technology without knowing anything, which fully demonstrated their extreme lack of intelligence and that they could only obtain external intelligence through such risks.

The silence on the other end made Zhou He a little embarrassed. He coughed lightly and continued, "Don't worry, this Mirror Sea should be considered a singularity in the Sirens' eyes. Although the reason is unknown, the Sirens' priority is definitely to deal with the Ominous Entity and shut down this singularity first, rather than us. This is the key point that remains unchanged."

"Ah."

Hu Teng didn't really care about these theories, but through what she saw with her own eyes, she knew that the Sirens were far stronger than their port. If they could get some technology from this Siren base, it would be a huge boost to their port.

They had only exchanged a few words when the Purifier swarmed over like flies, leaning against Hu Teng's right side with its big eyes fixed on the projection on the screen. Then it asked Hu Teng, "Excuse me, is this a gentleman or a lady?"

"No comment."

Hu Teng frowned slightly. She didn't know what was wrong with the Purifier. Zhou He looked like a man no matter how you looked at him.

"Ah, that's not important at all—from my observation, you seem to have a natural resistance to the Ominous Contamination. The ship girls in the initial stages also had some resistance, but over time they will also be contaminated to varying degrees. The Council has not yet incorporated this technology into the ship girls' mental cube data, so I don't think you are an organization that broke away from the Council."

Purification didn't care. She understood that as the boss of the organization, she needed to have some mystery. This didn't stop her from making brilliant deductions. After giving her conclusion, she even showed a smug smile, making her look even more foolish.

“We are indeed not members of the council.”

Since the Purifiers couldn't see his face clearly, or even distinguish his gender by his voice, Zhou He directly attributed the credit to the system, even though he didn't know what it was for.

However, he did have some questions he wanted answered directly from the Purifiers. It was a very simple question: "Purifiers, can you detect traces of Yukikaze through the radar system?"

"No."

The Purifier quickly responded, while countering with, "You can detect our presence using radar, right?"

"Hutten, is your radar responding?"

Zhou He threw the question to Hu Teng, who simply glanced coldly at the Purifier: "If we meet on the battlefield, I can kill you with a single shot from ten nautical miles away."

"Terrible~"

Purification was not afraid at all. Instead, it responded with a smile: "You are indeed not pawns. Your core database has been upgraded, surpassing the original batch of ship girls, and even on par with us who have undergone countless iterations and evolutions. If your creator had been born in that original era, he might have completely changed the world."

"So you guys use words like 'if' too."

Listening to the Purifier's praise, Zhou He couldn't help but laugh. In the game, the Siren model that was closest to the player was the Purifier. There was even a time when she joined the port and aided the enemy after losing her memory. Now that it had come to life, this girl was still the same as before, behaving so strangely that no one knew what she did.

"That's for sure. Our natural deduction system can only predict the development of the mirror world that we have complete control over. As for you, the Council and the Ominous Ones, we can only gather information and make subjective inferences by accumulating the number of times we interact with you."

The Purifier was truly delighted. Created by the 'Creator,' her initial task was to 'train ship girls,' making them stronger through various means and channels—if she were to be released as part of a normal project, she would become the ship girls' best friend.

However, with the arrival of the ominous sign, her development was terminated before it was completed. It wasn't until humanity was driven to the brink of despair by the ominous sign that their research project as 'Sirens' was able to continue. After continuous repairs by the creators, they developed considerable resistance to the ominous sign's contamination. Based on them and the collected data, a new combat model was developed, and they possessed the power to directly defeat the ominous sign.

After the ominous signs were brought under control, the technology of the Mirror Sea was further developed. The highest decision was to initiate the 'experiment', and countless experimental worlds began to appear. She and five other models who were initially planned as training partners for ship girls became the managers of the experimental institutions.

The combat-ready models, known as the Arbitration Agency, are responsible for fighting against the Council and dealing with the ever-disrupting Omens and the wild meta ship girls infected by Omens in the experimental world.

However, no matter how many more experimental worlds were added, there were no more ship girls in their world that needed her to train. She could only deal with some troublesome matters in the mirror world on a daily basis, until the appearance of Zhou He's wild ship girl team in their sight.

"..."

Zhou He, who didn't understand why the Purifier was so happy, saw that she was being honest, so he asked Hu Teng the question she had just asked.

"This is a military secret, but it's not that I can't tell you."

Purification kept her in suspense for a moment, then patted her chest with pride: "Because in all the areas of the Mirror Sea where ominous entities have appeared, there are traces left by us. These bases were built under our personal command. It's just that my machine can't hold that much data, so I don't know which world this is."

"You have no way to completely eliminate the ominous signs?"

Hu Teng frowned, realizing the core issue.

"of course can."

The Purifier was very confident: "Once production begins, it will only take one day to eliminate these newly formed ominous entities. However, this area has already been transformed by some guys into a place suitable for ominous activity, and new ominous entities will be generated here after a while."

'You can eliminate ominous signs, but you can't stop them from being born.'

Zhou He understood, but felt it was even more troublesome; an enemy that cannot be eradicated is the most terrifying existence.

"Is someone assisting the ominous sign?"

The group was getting closer and closer to the base. Hu Teng noticed the keyword and asked about it, but the Purifier shook her head, indicating that she could not answer.

This Siren base was built around an island, with each branch having its own independent port area. From a distance, it looked like a large city with towering buildings, but upon closer inspection, it was found to be deserted, like a ghost town.

"Tsk."

Through the video, Zhou He saw the port area design that he envied. Since Hu Teng had safely reached the Sirens base, he should not encounter any more dangers. So, after giving a few words of advice, he cut off the video.

"How's the situation with Hutten?"

The once empty hall was now filled with people during Zhou He's video call. The person asking the question was Bismarck, who had learned about Hu Teng and the others' whereabouts from Shentong. She was sitting opposite Zhou He, waiting for his attention to return before asking.

"It went very smoothly. According to the Purifier, it will only take one day to eliminate all those ominous entities."

Zhou He leaned back on the sofa and stroked his chin. A day was too short. Even if Akashi was a true genius, it was impossible for him to understand the operating principles and production technology of such a large military base in a single day.

"one day?"

Bismarck was astonished that the Sirens could handle something they hadn't been able to do in a single day.

"The Sirens possess abundant resources and technology, and it's not surprising that the Omen Entity is an opponent they've dealt with countless times."

Zhou He recalled what the Purifier had said, which contained a lot of information. Unfortunately, he was currently weak and, even if he knew the information, he would not be able to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

He gazed at Bismarck, who had just emerged from a bath, his long hair still faintly steaming. His slightly furrowed brows relaxed: "We are now surrounded by ominous celestial phenomena and ominous entities. Although those guys can't get into our area, they seem to have detected the presence of life forms like us in this region and have been approaching."

The five-mile safety zone surrounding the island remained safe. The ominous celestial phenomenon only affected the island's climate by the wind passing through the safety line. However, neither the ominous celestial phenomenon nor its physical form could actually enter the safety zone. During Zhou He's meeting, the sky above the island resembled a battle of magic, with lightning and thunder followed by a rapid darkening of the sky. A torrential downpour then fell from the sky like bullets, carried by strong winds.

"In conclusion, we were outmaneuvered by the Purifiers and used as bait."

Inside the hall, Zhou He narrowed his eyes, nodded to Ms. Hood who was sitting not far from Bismarck after changing into new clothes, and continued, "Those ominous entities have no commanders and will continue to be attracted to our side, while the Purifiers will take the opportunity to produce fleets and then turn around to support us."

"Yes, but after the ominous sign, the fleet brought by the Purifiers also poses a significant threat to us."

Having been chased back by the ominous storm, Ms. Hood had put aside her displeasure at seeking help from the Sirens, skipped the ominous rhythm, and brought the topic back to their game against the Sirens.

"Indeed, this aspect needs to be considered in advance."

Zhou He glanced at the clock, which showed it was already 5:30 PM, and after thinking for a moment, he spread his hands to the ship girls who had gathered around him and were passing by: "After the Siren fleet and the Omen fight tomorrow, I will observe the growth rate of the Omen entity. At that time, I will issue the retreat order to you in advance according to the situation."

He paused briefly, then frowned. "Furthermore, we have reached a cooperation agreement with the Purifiers, so you cannot launch a unilateral attack on the Sirens before the battle ends. Even if the opponent is the Sirens, we must abide by our alliance agreement."

"Can it be done?"

Zhou He's voice was slightly deep as he scanned the dozen or so ship girls present.

"It is a very foolish thing to keep an agreement with the enemy."

Wearing a black coat, Tosa walked down from the second floor, the sword at her waist clinking as she moved. She looked at Zhou He and said, "But it wouldn't hurt to take this opportunity to test whether the enemy's moral standards are worthy of respect."

"I will obey the commander's orders."

Bismarck expressed her position: she was not afraid of the Sirens' fleet and there was absolutely no need for her to break her promise because of it.

"A reasonable judgment."

Hu De nodded, "Even on the battlefield, one must maintain one's bottom line."

Chapter 135 A rare leisure time

The meeting didn't last long. Outside, the strong winds brought by the ominous storm were blowing quite vigorously. It was the first time Zhou He had been so close to a 'high-level typhoon,' and he couldn't calm down at all. Even while cooking after the meeting, he would occasionally drift off and observe the situation outside the window. Fortunately, the area had been cleared by the system, leaving only the lawn. Otherwise, he would have been really worried that some big trees would be uprooted and damage his building.

"commander."

With the increase in staff, the number of kitchen helpers is also steadily increasing. The Royal Family alone has three maids helping out. Shoukaku has peeked into the kitchen several times but hasn't found a suitable opportunity to enter.