Revisit Azur Lane

"He's a good boy."

Zhou He's conflicted emotions dissipated, leaving only a strange sense of relief. He poured himself some soup and asked, "How is it? Is there anything that needs adjusting?"

"Well."

Yuudachi leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes in thought, then opened them and leaned forward to look at Zhou He earnestly, answering, "The rice was delicious, and the meat was delicious too, but there wasn't enough meat!"

"Is that really the case?"

Zhou He hummed in agreement, put down his bowl, got up, and went into the kitchen. He stopped by the oven, which was already finished, and bent down to open it—the fragrant aroma of roasted meat immediately wafted out. A 'splat' sound came from outside the kitchen. Zhou He turned around and saw Yuudachi peeking out from the wall. He smiled, put on gloves, and took out a poundful of roasted meat.

"I thought these side dishes wouldn't be enough for you, Yuudachi, so I prepared a proper meal. Can you still eat it?"

"Mmm! Yuudachi can still be eaten!"

Yuudachi's red eyes were immediately fixed on the grilled meat, and she felt her mouth watering. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand and nodded.

"That's good. The meat would be a bit tough if it were for dinner."

Zhou He, a smile playing on his lips, carried the grilled meat past Yuudachi and placed it on the table. He then turned to Yuudachi and said earnestly, "This is my first time serving as a commander, and I don't know much about ship girls. In order to provide better logistical support, I need your assistance, Yuudachi, to provide me with reference data—such as actual meal portions. Yuudachi doesn't want everyone to go hungry during sorties, does she?"

"Have we been discovered?"

Upon hearing this, Yuudachi scratched her head and chuckled, then stuck out her tongue at Zhou He in a cute manner: "Yuudachi can actually eat a lot, I'm a little worried that I might scare the Commander!"

Zhou He hummed in agreement and tapped the tabletop lightly with his finger: "This is the last time."

"Yes!"

Yuu-Dachi quickly sat down, watching eagerly as Zhou He used a knife and fork to cut pieces of meat for her and put them on her plate—now she really was the dog being fed.

"Ah."

Zhou He couldn't help but chuckle. He had thought the system was being generous when he checked the ingredients and found they were enough for two people for a week. But when he heard from Yuudachi that they were sailing using physical strength instead of fuel, he suddenly realized something was wrong. Even if the ship girls were a piece of advanced technology, they still had to abide by the law of conservation of energy.

Looking at Yuudachi's elegant manner while dining, it was as if she were savoring an appetizer.

"This afternoon, I want you to go as far away from the port as possible, Yuudachi. It will probably be quite far. Make sure you eat well, and if you're still hungry, I'll prepare more."

Watching Yuudachi devour her meat, Zhou He squinted and obtained a Home Coin from a ship girl in the system task panel. He then switched to the Home Shop and exchanged it for a telescope. He wanted to see how far he had to go from the command center to reach other map areas.

"Mmmm."

Yuudachi's mouth was so full that she could barely speak.

Chapter Five: Just the Right Amount of Petiteness

The ship girls' appetite, or rather, the energy they need, is beyond Zhou He's expectations. Even the destroyer Yuudachi only felt half full after eating a large plate of several kilograms of grilled meat. In the future, the more powerful ship girls will probably have to eat from buckets.

"What's with this feeling of nostalgia?"

As Zhou He washed the pots and pans, he imagined a scene in his mind of 'Akagi and a group of people eating while holding wooden buckets'. It wasn't exactly abstract, but it was still very impressive, reminding him of the earliest 'Kantai Collection' game and anime scenes, stirring up his nostalgia for the past.

However, Yuudachi is currently eating ordinary food. He personally believes that if the ingredients and ready-made meals from the Home Mall were available, they would definitely provide more energy for the ship girls, so that they wouldn't all become gluttons.

After cleaning the kitchen, Zhou He rubbed his hands together and went to the living room. The room was nearly 100 square meters in size and was empty at the moment. In the future, he could exchange for or handcraft some furniture to place there.

"commander!"

The sound coming from the stairwell caught Zhou He's attention. Yu Li hopped up from above, looking like she was in a good mood.

"Have you chosen a room?"

Zhou He asked with a smile. Xi Li always had a smile on her face, and he had been infected by it. Now he would unconsciously smile when he spoke.

Yuudachi nodded repeatedly, then looked up and pointed to the ceiling on the left: "It's the innermost room, you can see the sea! There should also be a sunrise!"

"Oh? That's pretty good."

Zhou He rubbed his chin. His dormitory was on the third floor. He wondered if he could see the sea and the sunrise. Before he transmigrated, he probably couldn't even dream of such a scene. He chuckled and walked towards the room at the back of the first floor: "There are bedding prepared here. You can take a set with you, Yuudachi."

Based on the perceived temperature and sunlight, Zhou He judged that it should be approaching autumn here. He felt fine wearing short sleeves at this time, but it was uncertain at night.

"Hmm~"

Yuudachi jogged after Zhou He, and after rummaging around in the warehouse for a while, they picked up the bedding and came out one after the other. After arriving on the second floor, Zhou He first followed Yuudachi to the room she had chosen to take a look. These were all single rooms with a bathroom area. The rooms had a bed, wardrobe, and desk. You could see the sea through the window, and the lighting was very good. The space was more than enough for a single person to live in.

"Are you used to sleeping in a bed? Would you like to put down a tatami mat?"

Zhou He was quite familiar with Japanese style elements. Looking at the large bed, which was at least 1.5 meters wide, he asked Yuudachi, who had just walked in, about it. Yuudachi replied without much thought, "No problem!"

"Okay, I'll go up now. See you in a bit."

Zhou He turned and left with a bit of regret. Actually, he was quite interested in tatami mats, which were somewhat similar to but completely different from summer mats. There were tatami mats in the warehouse, but if he were to set them up himself, it would definitely look awkward. He would wait until a traditional Sakura Empire ship girl built a Japanese-style room before visiting it.

Incidentally, his favorite scene is having two futons placed on either side of a Japanese-style room; it looks very intimate.

After spending some time making the bed, Zhou He opened the window of his room, letting the breeze dispel the stuffiness. The distant bay was sparkling under the sun, and unfamiliar seabirds circled in the sky. The natural beauty made him lean against the window frame and admire it.

Without external interference, Zhou He had more free time during his lunch break. He sat on the bed and studied the system for a while. There were so many items in the home store, but after searching for a long time, he couldn't find any items related to ship equipment research. This confirmed that the 'ship blueprints' and 'ship parts' needed for research could only be obtained through missions or by going out to fight the enemy.

The system is encouraging him to go out and explore, instead of resting on his laurels at home.

"..."

Composing himself, Zhou He glanced at the door, got up, took a clean white naval uniform from the closet, and walked out. He gestured to Yuudachi, who was standing in the hallway with her ears and hands raised, looking terrified as if she'd been caught: "How's this uniform?"

"Ow?"

Yuudachi stepped back two paces and looked up to observe Zhou He: He was a little over 170 cm tall. As a soldier, Zhou He's bangs, which covered his eyebrows, didn't look quite right. However, this didn't stop him from being a fair-skinned and very handsome young man. Wearing a casual short-sleeved shirt, he looked like a slightly down-on-his-luck neighbor. But when paired with a formal military uniform, a chemical reaction occurred, giving him a reliable aura of 'having experienced a lot and being emotionally reserved'!

She nodded seriously: "Perfect for the Commander."

"Then let's wear this outfit starting tomorrow."

Zhou He didn't care about his clothes; since Xi Li thought they were suitable, he would wear them.

He put the clothes back in the closet, turned around and walked with Yuudachi, chatting casually as they left the command post and arrived at the beach washed by the waves. He pointed straight ahead into the bay: "Yuudachi, you'll be heading straight ahead from here in a moment. Remember not to stray off course. I'll be watching you from here. Once you're out of my sight, I'll contact you via video. If you spot anything strange or any enemies, tell me immediately. Don't approach or attack without permission, okay?"

"Okay! Got it."

Yuudachi listened attentively to Zhou He's instructions, and after a brief pause, she spoke up: "Shall we set off now?"

"If I'm feeling well, we can set off now."

Zhou He lowered his gaze to Yuudachi's head, which looked very cuddly. Before his transmigration, many people used anime and game-related information to determine the height of ship girls. Many destroyers were around 150cm or shorter. He estimated that Yuudachi's height was 155cm, which was just the right amount of petite and cute to him.

In other words, if the New Jersey crew really did build him to be 1.9 or 2 meters tall, then he would be just the right size for these ship girls, the kind who would probably have to look up to talk to them.

"..."

Zhou He started to have a headache.

"?"

Yuudachi noticed Zhou He's subtle emotional change, but when she looked up, Zhou He poked her forehead with his finger, distracting her. She covered her forehead, took a few steps back, and puffed out her cheeks.

"You look great, let's go."

Zhou He withdrew his hand and laughed, inwardly marveling at how terrifying the beast-eared girl was. Just now, he had been lost in thought and his body had subconsciously wanted to touch her head, but luckily he reacted quickly enough to change his move.

He doesn't want to become the kind of person who lacks boundaries.

"Hmm~ Okay, Commander, please be careful at home and let me know immediately if you encounter any danger."

Yuudachi looked around at Zhou He's face but couldn't find any more information. After nodding in response, she walked away from Zhou He, turning back every few steps, and stepped onto the beach where the tide was washing.

Under Zhou He's gaze, blue, visible, shimmering starlight emerged around Yuudachi. The starlight entangled with her around her, forming a virtual form of the ship's equipment, which finally solidified and enveloped Yuudachi.

"Commander, I'm setting off again!"

Yuudachi took two steps forward and floated on the deep seawater. Before leaving, she turned back and waved to Zhou He with the claws on the back of her hand equipped with ship guns.

Go ahead, but be careful.

The more Zhou He looked at them, the more he felt that the ship girls were truly amazing, both cute and cool, no wonder they were the kind of girls he liked.

Upon receiving a response, Yuudachi turned around happily and began to sail, while Zhou He took out military binoculars from the void (system warehouse) and stood on the beach watching Yuudachi's departure until his figure disappeared from sight.

Chapter Six: Encountering the Enemy and Retreating

"It's so fast."

Zhou He, who could no longer see Yuudachi's back, put down his binoculars. He vaguely remembered that the ship girls in Azur Lane seemed to have had their speed parameters enhanced.

A quick calculation suggests that Yuudachi had already covered more than ten kilometers in less than ten minutes since setting off. However, due to the lighting conditions, Zhou He had already disappeared from sight after about six minutes. Compared to fighting on land, long-distance engagements on the sea still rely on reconnaissance aircraft in the sky.

Glancing at the gray map of the sortie, Zhou He casually tossed aside his binoculars and began walking along the beach of the bay. The binoculars, which had been thrown away, disappeared from reality and returned to the system's storage, just like the reversed display of Yuudachi's ship equipment.

The system comes with a portable warehouse, so even if this place is captured, he won't go hungry when he runs away.

The unpolluted sea and coastline were incredibly beautiful, and the natural ecology was self-evident. With a deliberate search, Zhou He quickly spotted small crabs scurrying across the beach, leaving behind tiny footprints. He also saw many sand crabs and large crabs that had been washed out of the sand by the tide. After silently memorizing their locations, he walked to the grass not far from the beach, sat down, stared at the 3D Xiaoyu Li on the interface, activated the function, and unilaterally started a video.

Squinting, the projection occupied nearly half of his field of vision. His perspective was still to Yuudachi's right. Watching Yuudachi walk against the wind with her long hair flowing, Zhou He had a feeling of watching a movie. However, this time he did not focus all his attention on Yuudachi. Instead, he observed the receding waves of the sea from the side.

It's no exaggeration to say that he had never seen a proper ocean in his previous life, let alone sailed on it. He tried to put his own senses into Yuudachi's perspective—obviously, it wouldn't work. His butt was still sore from being pricked by grass roots, so how could he just put his senses into it?

"Ah, the commander is here."

Soon, Yuudachi noticed someone was watching her. She turned her head suspiciously and saw Zhou He with a calm expression on his face. She greeted him familiarly.

Zhou He nodded and hummed in agreement, consciously cropping the video and map onto the system display screen. Looking at the still gray map, he said, "Yudachi, can you calculate how far you've run? Report to me every five kilometers... five nautical miles."

"Oh, I should be thirteen nautical miles away from the commander now."

Yuudachi gave her answer without much thought. Although she seemed clumsy in daily life, Yuudachi's innate calculation ability as a ship girl far exceeded that of any normal human. When her ship equipment was deployed, she was almost equivalent to a destroyer operating at full capacity. Identifying directions, detecting hostile creatures, and engaging in combat were all instinctive for her, and she was also adept at controlling distances.

"13 nautical miles, let's keep going."

Zhou He remembered it, and while supervising Yuudachi's voyage, he found some unrelated topics to chat with Yuudachi: such as asking about Yuudachi's memories before she was built, her views on other faction ship girls after joining the port, her ship equipment configuration, and so on.

The answers are as follows:

Yuudachi possesses memories of her combat experiences with the 'Yuudachi-class destroyer', but these memories come from the history of 'another world (the original real world)' rather than from the world in which Yuudachi herself was born.

In the world she knew, the Sirens existed even before World War II or World War I, and she only inherited this combat experience from the Wisdom Cube to resist the Sirens' invasion, without inheriting the war hatred from the faction (personal).