Revisit Azur Lane

"Yes! I understand."

Z23 immediately realized his mistake and quietly apologized to Bismarck, who shook his head slightly: "It's alright, it was my statement that was misleading."

"..."

Hood looked at Bismarck, then at Zhou He: "Commander, is our next task to defeat them and close the testing grounds?"

Even if the pieces appearing in the Sirens' testing grounds are all victims, she will not show any mercy, even if there are royal colleagues among them.

This is war, and those who lack this awareness are not qualified to set foot in this field!

"Well, we can destroy them and shut down the testing ground right here."

Zhou He stroked his chin, his gaze shifting between Hood and Bismarck: "The choice is in your hands. Whether to destroy it directly, or... there's no need to rush to answer. We have plenty of time."

Exploring the Mirror Sea offers good rewards, but not exploring it doesn't result in any loss. Since closing the test site and completing the occupation mission should be enough, you won't lose anything.

Chapter Fifty-One: The Civil War

The decision was postponed, and the atmosphere at the scene eased somewhat, with the topic shifting from the Sirens to Zhou He.

It was because Zhou He had just shown that he seemed to know a lot about Sirens technology. He mainly asked questions to Hood and Bismarck. Tosa was very interested but did not ask any questions. The rest just listened to the story from the side.

"...That's all I know."

In fact, Zhou He didn't know much about the Sirens either—or rather, the game's explanations were too general and simplistic, with various settings and technologies only scratching the surface, and little that could be expressed in words.

However, this was already a lot for his ship girls. Hermione wrote down his speech and handed it to Hood afterward, who then handed it to Bismarck after glancing at it briefly.

"According to the intelligence the commander knows, the Sirens seem to have mastered very special technology, invaded multiple worlds and conducted such experiments on a large scale, and formed a multi-layered structure to manage the worlds for these experiments from top to bottom. Our place is one of them, right?"

Hu De watched as Zhou He kept rubbing his hands together, trying to clean them, and briefly summarized the intelligence he had provided.

The existence of multiple 'worlds' didn't surprise Zhou He's ship girls at all, thanks to Zhou He's occasional slips of the tongue and boasts, such as knowing the history of Kaga's active battleship form and witnessing the different world ship girls and the Sirens' war.

"correct."

Completely drained, Zhou He could only nod. He had just seriously sorted out the information he had gathered and discovered something very subtle: the story settings he had played Azur Lane for several years were now just like things that you would find in the tutorials of other games.

We know the Sirens' background story and the direction of their technological development, but we don't know their purpose in doing these things, their high-end combat capabilities, or even whether they are the ultimate enemy. All the rest will need to be learned as the story progresses.

'How did I end up playing such a game?'

Because your skin feels rough? That's alright.

Zhou He's expression gradually softened, and his sage-like demeanor made Hu De realize that Zhou He had indeed done his best. So he turned his head and asked the silent Bismarck, "Well? If you can't bring yourself to do it, then let me deal with the Ironblood fleet inside."

"..."

Bismarck hesitated for a moment, then sighed and said in a deep voice, "There's no need. Letting them die as warriors is the best respect I can give them."

As for the guilt of killing her comrade, she can repay it slowly after the real Tirpitz and the others join the port.

"So, you've decided to take down these guys inside?"

Having said all that, it was quite obvious whether or not a fight would break out. Zuikaku, who was explaining to Cleveland the 'principle of how Sirens' ships fall,' turned his gaze over, eager to try.

Even defeating the Sirens will drop new ship girls, so sinking these humanoid chess pieces should increase the chance of dropping ship girls, right?

"That's exactly what I mean, Commander."

Hu De continued, looking at Zhou He with a steady gaze: "Please give the order."

"I see."

Having emerged from his sage mode, Zhou He gave a pre-planned arrangement: "Cleveland, Hermione, you two figure out where to enter the experimental world and find a safe teleportation point."

After a brief pause, he took two steps back and swept his gaze across everyone watching him: "This battle is different from usual. Facing enemies who are also humanoid, fighting at extremely long distances is obviously not suitable. You need to close the combat distance to ensure accuracy. You can handle the specific situation yourselves."

The specific division of labor was the same as usual: Yuudachi, Hermione and others were in the front row to attract fire, Hood, Tosa and Bismarck were in the middle, and Zuikaku was in the back row.

"Understood!"

Upon receiving the orders, everyone began to take action. Cleveland and Hermione were searching for the basement's structure and the portal, respectively, while Hermione was looking for a way to enter the experimental world. The others were also making preparations for the battle. Yuudachi, Tosa, and Zuikaku were eager to try, while Hood, Bismarck, and Z23 remained relatively calm.

Before long, Hermione found a way to locate the experimental world. Cleveland couldn't find the teleportation point because he could open doors anywhere using the console.

Hermione quickly created a portal at the entrance to the control room. The portal was a huge blue halo, leading directly into the experimental field. The world inside was just as dim as the surveillance footage, with murky air and the salty smell of the sea hitting the door. The constantly rolling waves brought a noisy sound, making the quiet control room lively.

"How do you do it? Teach me."

Zhou He huddled in front of the computer to ask Hermione for help. After practicing opening and closing the door several times, he roughly grasped how to locate and open the door, and personally placed the teleportation point near a sea area where a battle was taking place.

After taking a deep breath, Zhou He turned to the crowd and raised his hand forward: "All troops, attack!"

……

The test site was not without light sources; a full moon hung in the sky, illuminating the world. However, the cool light source caused the overall tone of the world to appear cold and dim.

The distant explosions and roars even made the seawater tremble. Bismarck and the others who had crossed the portal into this world gathered together to unify their team's voice communication channels.

"Twenty nautical miles away from you, the Ironblood Admiral Hipper and the trio of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau are engaged in a battle with the Royal Navy's Glory, Nelson, and Rodney. In addition to them, there are multiple Siren fleets around them, with 3 aircraft carriers, 5 battleships, and other fleets... They are fighting fiercely and for a long time. Zuikaku, you should directly dispatch your air force to conduct a coverage bombardment, determine the available combat power of both sides, and prioritize dealing with the aircraft carriers."

Zhou He arrived at the portal and relayed the scene displayed on the monitor to his ship girls on the other side of the portal.

"They're all familiar names."

Hearing this, Hu De sighed. She knew about these ships, but she didn't know what they would look like as ship girls.

"Okay! Commander, please close the door quickly to avoid being accidentally injured."

Zuikaku answered loudly, raised his hand and waved it on the deck beside him. The exquisite model airplane was pushed out and took off. It circled in the sky several times before returning to its normal airplane form, creating a strong wind that made the hair of the people around it flutter.

"Please be careful too."

Zhou He peeked inside and found it uninteresting. After exiting, he gave a brief instruction, closed the portal at the control panel, found a seat, and looked at the screen on the wall. At the same time, he switched the system interface to the dock, ready to make emergency repairs at any time.

On the other side, Bismarck and the others in the test field, where the wind was howling, also began to take action. In the sky, Zuikaku's formation was discovered by both sides of the battle before it could be formed. She simply rushed directly towards the fighters of both sides and used her aerial vision advantage to inform the three of Tosa about the location of the 'battleship-type' aircraft carrier.

"An aircraft carrier has actually sailed to the vicinity of the battlefield. What do these guys mean by this?"

Hood and Bismarck felt inexplicably complicated as they secured their positions.

The aircraft carriers of the Ironblood-Royal Fleet, which were engaged in combat, were less than 10 nautical miles from the battlefield, almost face-to-face with the enemy battleships. Do these guys even know how to fight?

"After all, they're just fakes made by the Sirens; we can't have too high expectations for them..."

The two, who had initially felt a bit of a psychological distance, suddenly felt relieved—the person who could fight in such an irrational way could not possibly be one of the people they knew.

"Tosa, you go to the left, we'll go to the right."

Zhou He's teleportation point wasn't chosen randomly. The location he placed was such that Tosa, Bismarck, and Hood only needed to run forward a little to reach the enemy carrier. After learning the location of these carriers, the three of them decisively divided the tasks.

Faced with this suddenly appearing fleet, the two battle fleets were unable to adjust their formations for a time. In just ten minutes, with the main guns firing in unison, the sky, which had been buzzing with the number of planes, suddenly became quiet. A large number of carrier-based aircraft swooped down, either vertically or diagonally, and those that crashed into the sea exploded into fragments on the spot. Those that crashed into the warships were even heavier, and the flames illuminated this cold world for a moment.

Without the aircraft carrier's restraint, Zuikaku waved his hand and gave the order, and all the carrier-based aircraft began to target and bomb the many warships that had already suffered heavy damage and were at their last gasp. Combined with the second salvo from Tosa and the three men, the Royal Navy and Ironblood fleets suffered heavy casualties.

"Damn it, a third party has joined in. Is this why the Sirens haven't shown up for so long?"

On the battlefield, Admiral Hipper, somewhat disheveled from the successive explosions of the surrounding escort ships, wiped the blood and wounds from her face, leaving a dark mark. After complaining, she gritted her teeth and contacted the Scharnhorst sisters: "This place is no good, we need to retreat."

"Retreat? Why retreat? No matter how many enemies there are, defeating them is our mission."

Scharnhorst's slightly frantic voice reached Admiral Hipper's ears, infuriating her: "Do you know why Tirpitz made me follow you? It's because you're always like this!"

"There's no point in saying more! If you want to escape, you can escape yourself. I'm going to face the new enemy. Let's go."

Scharnhorst ignored Admiral Hipper's orders and charged out of the fleet into the face of gunfire with Gneisenau. However, they were met with intense artillery fire from the Royal Navy after only a few steps. After dodging the fire, they discovered that the Royal Navy was also sending figures out of their ranks. The two sides then engaged in another tense and exciting close-range gun battle.

"Whatever you want!"

Admiral Hipper, who had come out with them, saw them locked in a fierce battle with the opposing pieces and turned to leave.

Unlike these guys, she didn't want to die such a meaningless death!

"..."

Despite thinking this, Admiral Hipper drew a circle on the sea surface and approached the 'third fleet' from another direction—not because she had changed her mind, but because she wanted to ascertain the composition of this newly emerged fleet, and she needed to bring this information back with her.

Carrier-based aircraft flew overhead but did not attack her, seemingly unaware of her presence. She advanced silently, and soon after, her radar detected several movements. Only then did she realize that they could only be humanoid. She thought to herself, "So, they really are new pawns?"

Although she didn't know why, she continued to approach the 'enemy camp'. During this time, she encountered Hermione, the vanguard escorting Hood. Strangely, Hermione of the royals did not attack her, but simply followed at a certain distance. Then, she saw two figures appear at the end of her line of sight, and her pupils suddenly dilated.

……

“A piece is approaching; it’s Hipper. The commander said to let her approach.”

Bismarck, holding the Ironblood banner, changed the direction of the main gun that was originally preparing to attack and relayed the message to the others.

"...Her reaction was different from the others. Was it because her level of awakening was higher?"

Hood was not far behind Bismarck. Unfortunately, the three royal 'pawns' showed no intention of approaching them. They remained mired in the quagmire of the battlefield, fighting to the death even after the intervention of these third parties, like wild beasts without the ability to think.

"I don't know, let's see what she's planning."

Bismarck's eyes flickered slightly as she spoke: "The Commander said that a new comrade has joined us."

"Hmm? Ironblood?"

Hood glanced sideways; the fact that Bismarck was only notified meant that it was most likely a member of the Ironblood.

"Underwater, you asked Hermione if she could find her?"

Bismarck smiled slightly, and her cheerful tone made Hood raise an eyebrow. When she asked Hermione privately, she received no response.

"Looks like an excellent subordinate."

Hood understood that Bismarck was showing off to her, so she decided to play along and praised the submarine she had never met.

"She's here, let's go."

Without giving a direct response to Hood, Bismarck activated his thrusters to meet Admiral Hipper. According to Zhou He, if Hipper had no intention of fighting them, he could be taken back as a prisoner depending on the circumstances.

A moment later, against the backdrop of distant, flickering flames, Bismarck appeared before Admiral Hipper, accompanied by Hood. He calmly looked at the seemingly trembling Admiral Hipper and said, "It's been a long time."

"Why...why are you here?"

Hipper looked at Bismarck, his voice lacking the confidence he had when he shouted back at Scharnhorst, filled with a sense of powerlessness.

"Because I came here as Bismarck, not as a pawn of the Sirens."