Revisit Azur Lane

"perhaps."

Tosa wasn't sure either, since they hadn't encountered any other ports or any random ship girls passing by.

The conversation between the two gradually came to an end, and Bismarck subtly left. In her view, a sword was just an ornament symbolizing status, and she didn't quite understand why these two insisted on finding a purpose for it.

Time passed quietly. After 6:30, Hood went downstairs in formal attire. She glanced at Tosa and Zuikaku, who were fighting fiercely outside the command center, and then at Bismarck and the others who were watching the two fight from a short distance away. She went to the kitchen to find Hermione, ordered a cup of hot milk, and sat down in a nearby spot. She never expected to have a mini-theater to watch as soon as she woke up.

So when Zhou He got up and went downstairs, he saw a very precious scene.

……

For everyone in the port area, Zhou He's arrival symbolized the official start of the day. After he had breakfast, they gathered together to wait for arrangements.

"Didn't we discover the ruins of a building to the west during the previous battle?"

Zhou He was pretty used to this kind of scene, so he shared his thoughts in the hall: "Yesterday I had Kursk search that area and confirmed that the base was safe, but we need to repair the damaged power system to activate it."

He glanced at everyone and, seeing no reaction, continued, "The database at that base likely contains important intelligence for us, so I want to go there myself to investigate. Everyone, please prepare your clothes; we might have to spend the night there."

No one objected to Zhou He's arrangements. After all, it was obvious to everyone that clearing out the Sirens in the vicinity yesterday was to eliminate any potential threats to the exploration of the base ruins. After the brief meeting, people left in twos and threes, while Zhou He himself went to the coast, opened the system interface, and switched to the research page.

Since his ship girl came with full equipment, and he didn't have the materials before, he hadn't studied the ship equipment research project in detail. After dismantling a destroyer yesterday and getting the resources, he found that the normal ship development project had popped up.

He can independently develop destroyers, light and heavy cruisers, battleships and battlecruisers, aircraft carriers and submarines, as well as maintenance and logistics transport ships; however, the required resources, research blueprints, and the number of ship components vary.

For example, because he currently lacks sufficient steel and other materials for large destroyers, and because adding armament requires ship components and related materials, he can only produce small ships with a tonnage of less than a thousand tons and virtually no armament.

As for how to manually create it, the system will provide some ship models, and then let the user modify the design, add or remove parts, and finally integrate them rationally. Once the resources are allocated, it's done.

"too strong."

Zhou He used to tell Rui He that he was a mobile base, but now he can even build ships, so he has truly become a human-shaped military base.

While pondering and reflecting, he chose to develop a patrol boat without weapons, based on a plan he had already devised. The boat would be 54 meters long, 10 meters wide, and have a displacement of 620 tons. It would be gray at the bottom and white on top. The materials used would be exactly half of what he had dismantled the Siren destroyer the day before, but no explosives would be used.

The system is measured in tons. After constructing this patrol boat, the remaining materials are 420 units of steel, 120 units of ammunition, 50 units of aluminum alloy, 8 units of electronic components, 40 units of copper ingots, and 4 units of fluororubber.

These parameters were all disassembled and integrated by the system itself. Zhou He himself didn't understand them very well. He only knew that the materials could be made and there were even leftovers.

After he decided to invest resources in research and development, shimmering points of light emanated from him and drifted towards the sea. The points of light were not conspicuous under the sunlight, but they became exceptionally conspicuous after converging on the sea surface.

Originally designed as a patrol boat, the vessel underwent numerous modifications by Zhou He, transforming it into a three-tiered structure resembling a large luxury yacht. From its hull to its roof, it was as tall as a three-story building. Combined with its length and width, it appeared to Zhou He like Ultraman transforming. A blinding light flashed, and the colossal vessel anchored at the shore.

"That's too exaggerated, too exaggerated."

Zhou He, the instigator, felt for the first time that he had truly opened up, rather than just opening up.

Despite using up the universal research blueprints I got yesterday, it was really worth it. A ship of this caliber would cost at least several tens of dollars in the Home Shop, since speedboats in the shop cost 70 dollars each.

"Ah."

Zhou He thought of the 150-square-meter hot spring resort that cost 15 home coins yesterday, and compared it to the speedboat that cost 70 home coins.

Is that thing really just an ordinary speedboat?

Forget it, he only needs one vehicle anyway, and this ship in front of him is good enough. Its virtual power allows it to reach a normal speed of 40 knots, its internal equipment is universal and of good quality, and it even has automatic navigation.

The ship was ready. Zhou He admired it from a distance for a while, then went into the command center. He first went back to the third floor to drag down a box containing a change of clothes, and then went into the kitchen to take out the beef jerky and fish that he had previously smoked and preserved.

As for the ingredients for cooking, he plans to buy them from the home store after he gets on the ship. His own ship girls don't have personal space, so they can't carry too many things when they go out, which is a bit of a pity, but there's nothing he can do about it.

When he went out again, the others had already seen the patrol boats moored in the bay. Yuudachi and Z23 had already deployed their ship equipment and were circling the boat looking for a way to board. Zuikaku turned his head and stared at Zhou He with a rather complicated expression.

"what happened?"

Zhou He felt a little confused by Rui He's gaze, so he walked over and asked her curiously.

"Commander, don't you think this ship is too big?"

Zuikaku took a breath and pointed at the patrol boat, saying, "Such a large boat is suitable for long-distance voyages, but it's completely unnecessary for fishing or short-distance travel."

"what?"

Zhou He was taken aback by what she said, and after thinking about it for a moment, he realized that it made sense.

Oh no! He was too excited about building his first ship, and thinking that the universal design blueprints were valuable, he wanted to make it bigger. He made such a big mistake. He's the only one in the port who needs to take a ship. There's no need for such a big ship at all!

Zuikaku's voice wasn't quiet, and the others heard it too. Cleveland leaned over and smiled to help Zhou He out of the predicament: "It's not that serious, is it? This ship was originally prepared for this long trip. The commander can build some smaller speedboats later."

"really."

Zhou He nodded. He could build the small boat anytime; he just needed general research and development blueprints, which he could obtain by examining the corpses of sirens.

Zuikaku smirked, turned around, hooked his arm around Cleveland's shoulder, and walked to the side, lowering his voice: "We can't spoil the Commander like this. What if the Commander gets used to riding on this kind of big ship? Then when we need to go fishing, we'll have to go with him."

"Fishing? Ah, I think that sounds quite interesting."

Cleveland immediately understood what she meant and comforted Zuikaku with a smile: "Don't worry, there will definitely be people more suitable for logistics than you and me joining the port in the future. The commander isn't unreasonable and won't let you fish forever."

"That's what I said..."

Zuikaku's expression was somewhat subtle. What she was worried about wasn't that kind of thing, but rather that the seniors from the First and Second Carrier Divisions would join the port soon and find out that she had been assigned to a fishing boat. She was afraid that it would embarrass Shoukaku-nee as well.

"Don't worry, think about when the commander has ever made a mistake in his arrangements."

Cleveland only joined a few days ago, and no one knows what Zhou He had planned beforehand; he just said it to reassure Ruihe.

"It seems so."

Hearing her say that, Ruihe realized that Zhou He had taken their adaptability into account when making arrangements for them.

"..."

"What are they talking about?"

As the two were whispering to each other, Tosa came over. Zhou He shrugged and said, "We were talking about whether my ship is too big."

"Wasting energy in such a nonsensical place again."

Tosa frowned. "Ignore them and let's go."

"Hmm, have you figured out how to get up there?"

Zhou He glanced at Zuikaku and Cleveland, then followed Tosa to the beach and casually asked, "Is there any rope in the warehouse?" Tosa stopped in his tracks, staring at Zhou He intently for a long while before finally speaking, "Is there any rope in the warehouse?"

"some."

Zhou He realized he had made a joke and quickly nodded. Tosa snorted and turned to look for a rope.

"hehe."

Hearing the commotion and conversation, Hood smiled faintly, Bismarck adjusted her hat and looked up at the sky, while Hermione looked down at the sand, as if she hadn't heard anything.

Chapter 46 Since We're Here

With the help of Tosa and others, Zhou He finally managed to climb onto the aft deck of the patrol boat using ropes. The aft deck itself wasn't actually very high, but the lack of a dock in the bay meant that he had to climb from the sea, making it seem quite high.

Because climbing ropes was not considered dignified, only Yuudachi, Hermione, Z23, and Cleveland followed Zhou He onto the ship. The main battleship Bismarck and others did not board the ship but instead deployed their ship equipment and set sail at the front.

Ruihe was willing to board the ship, but she needed to be in charge of air superiority and reconnaissance. She protested a few times but eventually gave up, even though she had questioned Zhou He's ship for being too big not long ago.

"It's surprisingly spacious inside."

The aft deck connects the lower and second floors. The cockpit is on the second floor. After Zhou He led the way up, Z23 looked around the interior. Upon entering, there was a fairly spacious hall with comfortable-looking sofas and some tables and chairs. Further inside was the kitchen and dining area, and beyond that, in a separate room separated by a wall, was the cockpit.

"This floor, the floor above, and the outer deck are the leisure area, while the floor below is the main and secondary bedrooms and the power area."

This ship was the result of Zhou He manually adjusting and optimizing the system. Zhou He knew the general structure and explained it briefly when he passed through the living room. However, he was unfamiliar with the specific features inside. For example, when he looked at the sofa and coffee table in the hall, he wondered if he could move them into his home.

Of course, this was just a thought. Taking advantage of the opportunity while Yuudachi and the others were visiting and experiencing the ship, he brought Hermione to the cockpit, which contained all sorts of electronic devices that displayed the ship's status parameters and control consoles for adjusting course and speed.

Completely clueless about military matters, Zhou He pretended to survey the area before handing over the center position to Hermione. He glanced back at the three people outside the door and lowered his voice, "Hermione, you should be able to understand, right?"

"perhaps."

Hermione smiled modestly, went over the various devices, found the control panel and made some adjustments, allowing the patrol boat, which was originally moored, to begin to accelerate smoothly. After finishing, she looked at the ocean map on the display and turned to Zhou He with a puzzled expression, "Commander, this shows that it can lock onto the target location and allow the ship to autopilot. I don't quite understand."

"Well, Hermione, you guys probably weren't this smart back then, right? That's how it is."

Zhou He naturally understood that Hermione was giving him a way out, so he blushed, coughed lightly, and stepped forward to select the western port area as his target by touching the screen. He then chose the route that led directly to the ruins base from among the three different routes.

"So awesome~"

Hermione clapped and praised from the side, but Zhou He couldn't hold back any longer. Anyone who didn't know better would think that she was making fun of him. He raised his hand to stop Hermione from clapping and pointed to the devices in front of him: "Hermione, tell me, what is the function of each of these?"

"Yes."

Hermione readily accepted the task and naturally helped explain the functions of these devices in detail.

Meanwhile, the patrol boats, now in autonomous driving mode, gradually accelerated. Although they could reach 40 knots, Zhou He opted to travel at 25 knots, considering the speed of his main vessel.

Soon, the patrol boat sailed out of the bay in the port area.

……

Because of its autonomous driving capability, the patrol boat was very easy to operate. Zhou He figured it out in about ten minutes (meaning he took notes), and then sent the 'follow the boat' command to Kursk, which was still within the port's coverage area.

"If it's self-driving, it shouldn't need anyone to watch over it, right?"

Zhou He walked out of the command room and glanced at Hermione, who was still inside. He mentioned the matter to Hermione, but Hermione thought that someone still needed to stay inside just in case.

Does 'details determine success or failure'?

Having noted this down, Zhou He arrived at the kitchen area. This ship, like the one in the port area, used void energy (the source of which was unknown), so all the appliances and stoves worked normally. After trying them a few times, Zhou He opened the empty refrigerator and searched for suitable ingredients in the homestead shop, however…

"stare--"

On the counter connecting the kitchen and dining area and the living room area, Cleveland, Z23, and Yuudachi stood side by side, watching Zhou He's movements. This made Zhou He's expression tense, and he turned his head to look at them: "What's wrong? Why are you staring at me like that?"

"I'm just curious if the commander will prepare our food supplies like he did when building this ship."

Cleveland flashed a bright smile, revealing his bright teeth. Yuudachi next to him nodded in agreement. Z23 was muttering something, but Zhou He couldn't hear it. However, he felt it necessary to explain: "These two are different."

Zhou He closed the refrigerator door, walked to the chopping table, and with a flick of his right hand, a large plate of different vegetables appeared out of thin air. He picked up a potato and placed it in front of them, saying, "The ingredients we use for cooking are real vegetables, as fresh as if they were just dug out of the ground—you may not understand, but I paid for them. I bought these ingredients from 'elsewhere,' and then they were stored in my warehouse, which I can take out and use at any time."

"so complicated."

Yuudachi was completely confused. She took two steps back and collapsed onto the soft sofa, curling up into a ball on her side, displaying her adorable charm.