Revisit Azur Lane

Bismarck's voice rang out at the right moment, and everyone began to adjust their formation. Battleship Kaga moved with Tosa, her expression quite strange: "This one looks like she's also a battleship, so why did she know about the enemy attack before the aircraft carrier?"

"It's a message from the commander."

This was the first thing Tosa said to the battleship Kaga.

Unlike Zuikaku, who always hoped to meet her older sister, Shoukaku could naturally get along well with her. However, she never thought she would have an older sister, let alone get along well with her.

"Commander? Ah, I see."

Battleship Kaga remembered that Zhou He had given her information before. She tilted her head and smiled, "What a formidable guy. If he could be paired with a smart brain like Amagi, no matter how many Sirens came, they wouldn't be a threat."

"It sounds like you have great respect for Amagi. That doesn't sound like you're describing a formidable rival."

Tosa glanced at her; it seemed his older sister had quite a few bad habits.

"There's no conflict, I often beat her too."

Battleship Kaga answered matter-of-factly, "In terms of physical strength."

"..."

Tosa hesitated, then remained silent.

Chapter Seventy-Two: A Brief Cooperation

Looking at the entire battlefield, the opposing situation between the two sides was completely divided into three parts after Zhou He led his men into the arena.

The Ironblood Sakura Empire squadron, led by Bismarck, encountered Kaga in the East Third District and successfully advanced to the East Fourth District after repelling the Purifiers. After sparring with the Akagi and Kaga sisters, they continued northward to confront the second Executor fleet brought by the Purifiers.

Meanwhile, Hood's squad attracted a significant portion of the Sirens' firepower, bringing a period of relative balance to the White Eagle fleet, which had been on the defensive. Led by several experienced capital ships, the fleet launched a counterattack and consciously converged on Hood and his group.

Standing between the two fleets was the test subject who had been specifically dispatched by the observers: a woman with long white hair, a gloomy face, and a bat-like black ship rigging on her back, her entire body thickly covered in armor.

"Lexington, Saratoga, Washington... the parameters of these Eagle Union ship girls don't match the tactics I used in previous battles."

The tester was not a traditional battleship, but a test ship girl-specific machine that could switch freely between battleship and aircraft carrier modes. Its carrier-based aircraft were currently mixed in with the battle against several White Eagle carriers, clearly observing their combat parameters. As for herself, she was facing the Hood and her crew, whose air power was weak.

The battle lines were very long, with at least fifty nautical miles between the White Eagles and Hood. The testers looked up at the smoke from the explosions in the distance and could feel the intensity of the battle from the waves that were constantly shaking the sea.

"Hood... appeared at the wrong time."

The tester calmly muttered to herself that, in their natural calculation system, Hood and Bismarck would complete the treatment of the Rubik's Cube's energy erosion at a much more distant point in time. The Hood who appeared here now was clearly not a piece within her purview, nor were the White Eagles, whose combat abilities and performance parameters differed.

Dealing with these ship girl pieces that are not under one's jurisdiction is a very troublesome thing. Important anchors like Saratoga and Hood are very important components in the natural calculation system, which means that these people have different scripts and roles in their respective experimental worlds.

Simply put, it cannot sink them here.

"That wretched observer has once again pushed this troublesome matter onto me."

The tester was just a bit rigid in his approach, but he was quite quick-witted and soon deduced why the observer had specifically sent him to handle the situation.

However, her mainframe contains many similar cases of 'handling experimental out-of-control situations'. Now, all it needs to do is keep these two groups occupied and wait for the observer to close the mirror-like sea area.

The most effective way to buy time is to take the initiative and severely damage one of the fleets, forcing them to flee and avoiding the possibility of the two fleets joining up.

"pick one of two."

After comparing the combat capabilities of the two fleets, the testers did not hesitate and set off directly for the battlefield where Hood and others were located.

……

"There are more and more Sirens coming this way."

Navigating through the hail of incoming shells, Jean Bart frowned and contacted Hood, the team's nominal flagship: "The enemy's firepower is stronger than ours. If we continue fighting, we will have a hard time dealing with it."

“Indeed, it’s time. Hermione, Javelin, Cleveland, you two retreat to protect Long Island. Jean, you provide cover fire for me.”

Hood was also dodging the enemy's shells. Her damaged and slightly curled clothes showed that she had been hit. However, although her carefully styled hair was scattered and stuck to the side of her face because of the seawater, her posture on the battlefield was still elegant and her face was calm. She did not take the Sirens, who were many times her size, seriously at all.

"..."

The others responded and began to carry out the orders. Jean Bart accelerated by using radar to rush out of the water column formed by the shells, and adjusted the main gun to fire at the dense enemy formation. There was no precise aiming action; he just used firepower casually to hinder the enemy's judgment.

Unfortunately, neither the executors nor the mass-produced models had any thinking ability; they were simply driven by program commands. Every time the people retreating from the front lines were covered by dense artillery fire, their clothes and pants would be quite damaged when they rushed out again—but the people themselves and their ship equipment would be completely unharmed.

"Move eastward. Bismarck and the others are on their way. Once they are within Zuikaku and Shoukaku's air superiority range, we will launch a counterattack."

Waiting for the vanguard to safely withdraw from the enemy's fire range, Hood gave the second order. The angle of movement was also very important. It was a grazing route given by Zhou He after observing the position of the Sirens' capital ship from a god's-eye view. It felt like it could hit, but at such a distance, it was impossible to hit.

"Be careful to avoid the shells. There is a 'tester' mixed in among these executors. It is a special Siren individual with command capabilities. Its combat ability is still unknown. Javelin and Agility, you two should withdraw from the combat area first. The rest of you stay put."

Under Zhou He's 'micromanagement', Hu De and his group weaved in and out of the sirens from a very strange angle. Despite the roar of cannons and the rain of shells, no one suffered any major damage. The only problem was that the planes in the sky were following them very closely and were very annoying.

In the game, three front-line ships specializing in air defense can block all aircraft, but this is not possible in reality. Even with the combined efforts of Cleveland and Montpellier and Long Island, the defense is still not very effective, and air superiority is almost lost, leaving them barely able to defend themselves.

"Huh? That's it?"

Suddenly, a large formation of Sakura Empire aircraft appeared on the distant horizon. Nagashima was the first to notice it. Her face turned bitter as she was first taken aback, then overjoyed, and finally shocked: "Those don't seem to be Zuikaku's carrier-based aircraft."

"Could it be? Be careful to avoid it!"

The group was momentarily stunned before regrouping around Long Island to prepare for the next air raid. To their surprise, the incoming air force did not attack them. Instead, their sheer number of aircraft disrupted the flight path of the pursuing Sirens, and they even shot down several Sirens' aircraft before flying over Hood and the others.

"what's the situation?"

The people below were somewhat confused, but they knew this was a good opportunity, so they all began to speed up and move towards Bismarck's squad.

What are those two doing!?

The same doubts arose about the tester, making its already gloomy face even more so. Usually, it was always being tricked by the observers and dragged down by the purifiers. Unexpectedly, even its two 'partners', Akagi and Kaga, started to increase its strength this time.

Habits may be one thing, but the first two are colleagues within the system, so it's understandable. However, the latter two are key targets for observation, and there must be a reason why they made such a fuss.

Since Hood and the others have already changed course, their goal of preventing the two sides from meeting has been achieved. Let's see what tricks the Akagi sisters are up to.

Thinking this way, the tester, hidden in the crowd, retreated and slowly sank into the sea.

……

“Akagi-nee, she’s over there.”

In the center of the battlefield, Kaga followed Akagi. After learning that she was going to find the transport ship that had been chased by the Eagle Union fleet, she first used her memory to find the general direction. In order to prevent those ships from leaving the Mirror Sea, she suggested that planes be sent out to follow them. If they showed any signs of leaving, they should be crippled.

"The tester and the observer are both useless. They haven't gotten rid of these people after all this time."

Akagi vaguely sensed that Kaga's statement had ulterior motives, but compared to the coordinates of this special world, neither these Sirens nor the ship girls who were currently fighting were important. When flying over Hood and the others, she 'accidentally' shot down several Sirens' planes, and for this, she harshly criticized the tester's efficiency.

"Doing so might attract the attention of the testers."

Kaga only wanted to slow down the Sirens' pursuit, never expecting that Akagi hated these Sirens even more than she imagined.

"Whatever. Cooperating with these guys is just a temporary measure anyway. Now that I have a better plan, anyone who dares to stand in my way will be sent to their death."

Akagi snorted coldly, speaking without the slightest hesitation.

"..."

Kaga didn't reply, but he was thinking that the two of them might not be able to defeat the test subject. But that's just Akagi's personality; once she's made up her mind, no one can stop her.

Soon after, the two sisters passed by Hood and the others, who were hundreds of meters apart. The pursuing Executors stopped firing. Akagi raised her chin slightly and surveyed the group in front of her like a peacock. She was somewhat shocked. Although they seemed to have been beaten to a pulp by the Sirens, their bodies and ship equipment were undamaged. This showed that their combat ability was always at its peak and would not decline.

The so-called retreat is nothing more than changing to a battlefield that is more advantageous to oneself.

"If only I had that kind of power."

Akagi's heart was burning with passion. She firmly believed that her strength and abilities were very powerful, but that was far from enough to revitalize Sakura Empire. That's why she colluded with the Sirens in order to obtain more combat data and the advanced technology they possessed.

Having heard Kaga's explanation and witnessed it firsthand, the ship girl fleet they encountered this time was theoretically invincible. If their numbers were doubled, they would be an unbeatable fleet.

"According to Kaga, their power has a source, so..."

Akagi's thoughts drifted away, and only after she and Kaga were far away from Hood and the others did the Executors resume their pursuit.

What are you looking for?

Suddenly, Akagi "heard" a young man's voice, as if he were speaking right next to her ear. She slammed on the brakes and looked back, only to see Kaga, who was as quiet as ever.

"The sound, Kaga, did you hear it too?"

Akagi frowned and asked Kaga, who paused for a moment, then nodded and said, "It seems that you, Akagi-nee, have also been affected. Based on my deduction, it may be related to our thoughts."

"Yeah."

At this moment, Akagi felt very curious. Judging from the voice, it seemed that the one who possessed this power was a human. She couldn't remember when she last saw a human. Every day she had to deal with the Sirens and that group of stubborn old men from the Sakura Empire, which was really annoying.

"He asked me what I was looking for. How should I answer?"

Akagi raised a question, and Kaga shook his head slightly: "It's just a one-way transmission of information."

"Boring. Have you found the transport ship yet?"

Upon hearing this, Akagi ignored the question and began searching for the location of the transport ship. The most urgent thing now was to obtain the coordinates, as she did not know when the observer would close this mirrored sea area.

"It's been found, but someone beat us to it."

Kaga's gaze wandered; she couldn't find it, but someone had already found it and relayed the news to her.

"Then what are we waiting for? Lead the way and seize the goods."

Akagi's gaze instantly turned cold, no longer paying attention to the suddenly occurring voice. Kaga responded and led Akagi toward the direction of the 'notification'. Soon, they spotted a white figure standing next to the wreckage of the transport ship using their carrier-based aircraft. Zooming in, they could see that she was holding a square mechanical document box in her hand.

"..."

Is this the thing?

Kursk waved the mechanical box in front of Zhou He's eyes in the video: Originally, she was following behind Lingmin as a bodyguard, but halfway through the run, Zhou He suddenly changed his mind and told her to chase after the transport ship, saying that there were important things inside. She went through a lot of trouble to prevent the transport ship from exploding and retrieved the things from inside.

"This is it. In a little while, two fox spirits, one red and one white, will come looking for this box. When they do, just tell them you can give them the box, but they need your help to deal with the sirens that are following them."

Zhou He took a closer look, not knowing what it was, but judging from Akagi and the others' movement trajectory, it seemed they were heading this way, most likely because they wanted this thing. There was also a 'tester' following behind them.

It's fine that he wants to salvage ships, but they have to be the ones used to fight the Sirens. If Akagi and Kaga refuse to deal with the testers, then it can only be said that it's not his family's business.

"understood."

Kursk didn't ask any more questions. Zhou He was quite fond of the small animals. This fox spirit was probably a ship girl similar to Tosa.

Soon after, a large number of carrier-based aircraft circled in the sky. Akagi brought Kaga to Kursk and coldly extended his hand: "Give me that thing."

"Take care of the sirens that follow, and I'll give it to you."