Revisit Azur Lane

Yuudachi glanced at him again, took two steps to the side, and Zhou He followed suit, pointing to a small round hole on the beach in the distance as if he had made a discovery: "I bet it's sandy white inside. Yuudachi, do you remember what it tastes like?"

Yuudachi naturally remembered the delicious food. She licked her lips, still not wanting to pay attention to Zhou He, but then she heard him sigh: "There are no missions this morning, so I can dig up some fresh seafood to cook something delicious. I just don't know if anyone would like to come with me."

"Well."

Yuudachi couldn't hold back any longer. She scratched the sand at her feet with her fingers, puffing out her cheeks and looking quite cute. Zhou He couldn't keep up the act either. He poked Yuudachi's cheek with his finger to deflate her, and at the same time, he reached up to her head and patted her. He softened his voice and said, "I didn't think things through yesterday. I'm sorry. Don't be angry. If you're always angry, you won't be able to eat well."

"Idiot commander."

Yuudachi pouted, but her body instinctively moved closer to Zhou He.

"Yes, yes, I am the stupid commander."

Zhou He chuckled and agreed.

Chapter 143 Adapting to Local Conditions

The sun climbed higher on the mountaintop, and its warm rays warmed up the port area, which had been damp and cold after two days of rain.

At the edge of the bay, Zhou He and Xi Li moved slowly along the coastline. Perhaps because they had been affected by the ominous storm in the mirror-like sea yesterday, there were many strange things on the beach near the tide. As a result, after only a short while of 'beachcombing,' Zhou He's bucket was already quite full.

"I'm really lucky today."

Zhou He shook the bucket in his hand. He planned to go back to draw after breakfast, but playing with Yuudachi was obviously more important. So after a quick breakfast, he followed Yuudachi out to prepare lunch ingredients.

Watching Yuudachi squatting on the sand digging holes, Zhou He couldn't help but smile. He looked up at the calm bay. Although the mirror-like waters affected the ocean, they didn't seem to pose much of a threat to marine life.

'Should we cast a couple of large nets before winter arrive to stock up on food for the winter?'

Because his family lives by the sea, he doesn't usually buy seafood, and he hasn't been fishing since Ruihe. He thinks it's a very promising business opportunity.

"commander!"

Yuudachi pulled clams out of the dug sandpit, woke up the dazed Zhou He, and threw the clams into the bucket with a loud thud.

"Great job! Keep it up! I'll catch a couple of big crabs and steam them for you."

Zhou He smiled and encouraged Xi Li, who wagged her tail and squinted twice, clearly enjoying it. Then she activated her 'hunting mode', striding forward while her sharp eyes scanned the uneven patches on the beach ahead. Generally speaking, if the sand protrudes, something is hidden underneath. Since Zhou He said he wanted to catch crabs, then she would look for crabs!

It's become a common sight for the two to appear together in the port area. Although people are curious, not many people come over. However, there are always exceptions. For example, as soon as Zuikaku noticed Zhou He's presence, she approached him. After Hermione reminded her, she first followed and observed from about ten meters away. Only after confirming that Yuudachi had recovered her mood did she stride closer: "Commander, excuse me."

"Ok?"

Zhou He had long since noticed Ruihe following him. He turned to look at her and shook the bucket: "Want to come along?"

"Haha, I'll just focus on eating. By the way, if you want to catch fish, you can go find U556—cough, I digress. What I was trying to say is that the Sirens are currently weak, so why don't we take advantage of this and take over that Sirens base in the west?"

Ruihe declined Zhou He's invitation and shrugged, raising his own question.

In her view, now is the perfect time to launch a counterattack against the Sirens.

"Yes, I've considered that too. I can observe very accurately that there are three Siren cadres in that base: an Observer, a Purifier, and a Tester. The number of Siren fleet members I've observed is also over fifty—"

Zhou He paused briefly: "If we were to fight, we would definitely win in terms of combat strength alone. However, it is a distance of 200 nautical miles from here to the Sirens base. It would take you at least 4 to 5 hours to travel. That would be enough time for the Purifiers to complete their deployment and wait for the enemy to tire themselves out. Moreover, there may be ambushes inside the base. Your attack may not be able to be decisive in one battle, and there is a great risk involved."

"Hiss, I feel like I need to get my brain working. Commander, stop beating around the bush and just say it directly."

Ruihe quickly stopped Zhou He, saying that it was fine for her to do TTK, but when it came to discussing theory, she could only say that she didn't quite understand.

"The Sirens must know we want to attack that base, so they will be heavily fortified. What we need to do now is to find out the strength of that port area."

Zhou He didn't want to say too much. He already understood Ruihe's intention and said directly, "I allow Ruihe to find other aircraft carriers and other members who also want to attack and set off together to launch an attack on the Sirens base. However, you are not allowed to get close. You can only launch long-range air strikes to force the Sirens to take the initiative to attack."

"Understood!"

Zuikaku gave a subtle smile that said, "You really understand me," gave a thumbs-up, and then turned and walked away with high spirits.

“Being brave and good at fighting is a good thing, but being too warlike is not good either.”

Zhou He was a little troubled. Lately, Zuikaku had been fighting every day without getting tired at all. It seemed that there was not enough to do in the port. He would have to talk to Shoukaku later and find out what Zuikaku liked to do besides fighting, so as to suppress her fighting addiction.

"commander!"

Yuuri called out from the side, and Zhou He responded by looking down at her and smiling, "Could it be that Yuuri, you also want to go out for a stroll?"

Unexpectedly, Yuudachi shook her head decisively: "No."

Then she snuggled up to Zhou He and rubbed against him, looking up with a sweet smile: "Today I want to be with the Commander~"

"So nice."

Even though he was already quite close to Yuudachi, Zhou He couldn't resist her cuteness overload and couldn't help but reach out and ruffle Yuudachi's hair: "Let's go catch crabs."

……

It seemed that the temperature had dropped, causing the crabs to become less active. They searched the entire beach but couldn't find many sand crabs of sufficient size. Considering the need for a good meal, Zhou He had Xi Li go to the cliff at the entrance of the bay and collect a lot of oysters and mussels, filling the bucket to the brim before he was satisfied.

Meanwhile, other people in the port area also went out for activities. Relying on the various sports equipment that Zhou He had prepared yesterday, several White Eagle members, led by Cleveland, played basketball and soccer on the open space of the dock platform. Jean Bart mingled among them. Zhou He also wanted to play basketball, but the port area did not have a proper basketball court or shooting hoop, so they could only pass and dribble, which was a bit lacking.

As for the aircraft carriers that Zuikaku called out, naturally only Shoukaku, who doted on her, was among them. It's worth noting that Yukikaze followed along, instantly boosting her combat power to the maximum.

"I'm home!"

Yuudachi came running back from the sea with cheerful steps. When Zhou He greeted him, he reached out and took the bucket. Oh no, if he hadn't reacted quickly, it would have fallen to the ground.

"That's a really generous portion."

Zhou He secretly took a breath, but on the surface he chatted with Xi Li with a smile: "Let's go back and deal with it now, just treat it as a snack."

"Great!"

Whether it's a main dish or a snack, Xi Licai loves to eat any meat dish made by Zhou He. She's so happy when she's around Zhou He that it's like stars are popping out of the sky.

Inside the command building, Hermione, Enterprise, and Jarvis, the three maids, were doing a thorough cleaning. Hermione was sweeping the stairwells and corridors, Jarvis was in charge of the rooms, and Enterprise was wiping the windows. These three were arguably the most diligent people in the entire port. Zhou He felt like ants were crawling all over him and wanted to join in the cleaning.

Until he saw Nagashima Kashin and Haguro, who were playing video games in a small Japanese-style room next to the kitchen with the curtains drawn.

"Hello~ Commander, would you like to come along?"

Yuhei noticed something and lay on his side on the tatami mat, showing the handle to Zhou He.

"...No, you guys play."

Zhou He declined the invitation and went into the kitchen, while Xi Li curiously peeked in, sat in the back watching them play games, and after a few minutes stood up and ran into the kitchen again.

-

It wasn't lunchtime yet, but some people were already eating.

"Commander, you can add more minced garlic to this."

Sitting at the table, Long Island held a large oyster that had just been taken off the fire and was still sizzling. After rubbing off some of the juice, he raised his hand and made a suggestion.

"That's about right, too much and the flavor will change."

Wearing an apron, Zhou He glanced at the table full of people who had inexplicably gathered around it. He had saved oysters specifically for himself when he caught mussels in Cleveland, but today he hadn't even had a chance to eat them before they were almost gone.

"The Commander's Eastern-style approach is still the most authentic; Manju is slightly inferior."

Hu De, being rather elegant, took a sip of the milky-white broth made from clams and other shellfish and praised it.

"…Thank you for the compliment."

Zhou He didn't know how to respond, because the food Man Qiu cooked tasted just like the restaurants he ate before he transmigrated. It was clearly more Donghuang-style, and this was just his personal taste.

Originally, the clams should have been left to soak for half a day to remove the sand before being used to make soup. However, when he was halfway through grilling the oysters, Hood, who had been playing chess with Bismarck and whose outcome was still unknown, came in and started ordering food. He had no choice but to cook them anyway.

After a while, the crowd dispersed, and Yuudachi, who was full and with a slightly flushed face, leaned back on the sofa and squinted her eyes contentedly.

"Just like a little kid."

After clearing away the dishes with Hermione's help, Zhou He came to the hall and found that Yuudachi was breathing steadily and had actually fallen asleep on his side, which made him chuckle.

"Is that so? In the Commander's eyes, is Yuudachi just a child?"

Hermione found a thin blanket in the storeroom and covered Yuudachi with it. She smiled and asked Zhou He, who did not answer. He just leaned back on the sofa and looked down at Yuudachi's sleeping face with a smile.

"Hermione, could you please look after Yuudachi for a while? I need to go upstairs and take care of some things."

Avoiding Hermione's question, Zhou He gave her some instructions and turned to leave—his silence wasn't because he harbored any improper thoughts about Yuudachi, but rather to be on the safe side; he didn't want to appear inconsistent in front of his ship girl.

However, Hermione's question made him realize something: did he not need to follow the various national policy indicators of the Eastern Empire when he was dating here?

……

"Drawing, drawing, tsk, there's hardly any place in the port area where I need to work. At this rate, my office skills as the commander-in-chief might even be worse than my drawing skills?"

Back in his office, Zhou He muttered to himself as he took a large sheet of paper from the bookshelf, laid it flat on the desk, weighed down the four corners with books, and opened the system's attack interface:

In the panoramic view, it is clear that there is no trace of Sirens in the area within 150 nautical miles of the port, that is, in the two zones of east, west, south and north. Among the three zones, only the north and west zones have Sirens, while there is no trace of Siren invasion in the south and east zones.

At this moment, Ruihe and his group, who were sent out by Zhou He, were in the area of ​​West Zone 1. However, it was visible to the naked eye that the number of Sirens in West Zone 3 was decreasing. The aircraft carrier's beyond-visual-range strike was just that domineering!

I wonder if I can use energy supplies on stalls 01 and 02 near my house...?

"Should we salvage the Builder's mech?"

Zhou He suddenly remembered the Builder, and his heart immediately burned with excitement. He focused his gaze and opened the map provided to him by the South Third District base. He observed the system map with his eyes, measured and calculated the approximate map scale with a ruler, and determined the general drawing order before starting to draw.

He excels at working with rulers. Whether drawing straight lines or circles, he needs auxiliary equipment. Therefore, he needs to test and modify a drawing repeatedly. It is not difficult, but it is by no means simple.

After finishing the last stroke and marking the approximate terrain, Zhou He put down his pen, leaned back on the sofa, stretched, and let out a long sigh. He then stood up, twisted his waist, and began to move around, while turning his gaze to the two Ruihe sisters and the approaching Siren fleet.

"They couldn't even take down two aircraft carriers? Could it be that they've exhausted all the Sirens' reserves at this Siren base? They're out of aircraft carriers?"

Zhou He stroked his chin, convinced that something was amiss. A powerful port area with a mirror-like sea area inside could store at least seventy or eighty ships, if not a hundred. As long as there were enough carrier-based aircraft, they could easily crush the Twin Crane sisters.

But in reality, the two sisters, Zuikaku and Shoukaku, were completely overwhelmed by a single Siren base. Is that really the case?

Thinking this, he made a video call to Shoukaku: Shoukaku's serious expression and slightly furrowed brows were clearly visible in the video, as if he was enduring something. In contrast, Zuikaku next door looked much more relaxed, and even looked around from time to time, appearing quite leisurely.

"commander."

After a brief moment of thought, Shoukaku noticed Zhou He's light screen, pursed his lips, and relaxed his brows slightly: "After several rounds of combat, it is clear that the number of Sirens' aircraft carriers is insufficient, which is unreasonable. Commander, you guessed right. The Sirens are hiding their strength to lure us into launching an attack on them."

"Ah."

Zhou He had the same idea. Even if only one of the twenty ships was on the right track, the Sirens had at least five aircraft carriers. It would be a 5-on-2 situation, with both sides evenly matched. Was that possible?

…That is indeed possible, after all, Zuikaku's combat power is amazing, and it's not a problem for one of them to be used as three.

Moreover, the fact that the other side wouldn't allow the test subjects to come out and stand on the field when aircraft carriers are so scarce is enough to show that they haven't given it their all—it's estimated that the observers don't know that they can monitor them inside in real time, so they're still using such clumsy acting skills.