Revisit Azur Lane

It's probably because she, an individual from another world, was identified.

what a pity.

Chapter Seventy-Four: Harmony

"call."

As the massive black vortex that had enveloped the eastern third and fourth districts and the northern fourth and fifth districts disappeared, Zhou He, sitting in his office on the third floor of the command center, breathed a sigh of relief, pushed back his chair, stood up, and looked out the window at the sun that had already begun to set in the west.

The battle lasted a long time, nearly seven hours in total, from morning until four o'clock in the afternoon. Now it was almost five o'clock. Maintaining focus for such a long time was a considerable burden for Zhou He. His own ship girls were taking damage of varying degrees every few minutes. Even switching interfaces to issue commands was extremely urgent, so he could only speak about the key points.

Fortunately, this unexpected support mission came to a successful conclusion. Not only did it yield the admiral Battleship Kaga, providing two mission rewards, it also helped him understand the rules of this temporary ship girl system.

If a ship girl outside the port area becomes curious about the port area he is in and has the idea of ​​going there, she will be classified as a temporary area. As for how to make the temporary area permanent, Zhou He is not sure yet. This time he personally intervened in the case of Kaga and Akagi, but he still failed to make them permanent. The moment they disappeared in the Mirror Sea, they disappeared from the dock.

Is salvaging the boat really that difficult?

Zhou He frowned slightly, then thought for a moment that it might be like Tirpitz, Hipper and the others before them. It wasn't that they didn't want to come from their home port, but that they had no way to truly set foot in this world.

After all, they only knew of his existence through the superimposed state of the mirrored sea, rather than actually arriving in this world through the world-traveling device.

In other words, if he wants to salvage ships, he first needs to get the World Shuttle working; otherwise, no matter how much the ship girls want to join his port, they won't be able to.

"..."

"Does the system sell this thing?"

After a moment of silence, Zhou He sat back down at his office and began browsing through the items in the Home Mall again. He tried various methods to search using keywords, but still couldn't find a machine that could break down the world barrier. The mall only provided equipment for daily life, and even though some of the items were high-tech products, they were still mostly auxiliary.

For example, manned space rockets.

He could hardly imagine how this thing would change his life. Maybe he'd have time to go to space sometime? Or launch a self-developed satellite into space?

This thing is so conspicuous, it feels like it would be intercepted and shot down by the Sirens before it even leaves the atmosphere.

She sighed softly, closed the Home Mall, switched to the Tasks interface, and claimed three completed tasks with a single click.

'6 Wisdom Cubes, 1 Furniture Box (selectable), 5 Research Blueprints (selectable), 7 Ship Equipment Components (selectable), 21 Home Coins'

The previously emptied Rubik's Cube was replenished, and this time the rewards were full. In addition, Zhou He was most concerned about the furniture selection box. After receiving it, he immediately opened it to browse and began to select from the many buildings inside.

Having already chosen a restaurant, which solved his cooking problem, he now has to solve the accommodation problem in the face of the rapidly increasing number of ship girl crew members.

What style of dorm room should I choose?

If Zhou He were to choose a house for himself, he would definitely choose a modern, multi-functional villa. However, this is where his ship girls live, and the various factions are mixed together, making the choice a bit troublesome.

Or, should we just choose a residential apartment building?

……

As dusk fell, darkness slowly enveloped the land and sea. Zhou He sat beneath the pier lighthouse, its high beams gleaming, feeling the cold wind as he gazed into the pitch-black depths of the ocean.

"Commander, everyone's still not back?"

At this time, besides Zhou He, there was only one lazy big cat left in the port area. During the day, it would hide somewhere to slack off, and only come out to forage for food at night. After eating its fill of dried fish, it went out and saw Zhou He under the lighthouse and came over.

"Soon, we should be in Kursk soon."

Zhou He didn't know everyone's exact location either. After entering the 30-nautical-mile zone of the command post, he could no longer see the specific sea map. This clumsy setting made him feel very uncomfortable.

Akashi remembered Kursk. She meowed and found a bench to sit on. She looked up at the beam of light emanating from the lighthouse, where many insects could be seen flying around. She wagged her tail, seemingly very interested in it.

As Zhou He expected, Kursk was the first to return to the port. She did not directly participate in the fight against the Sirens, but followed Zhou He's instructions to complete a lot of auxiliary work. When she received the order to return to the port, she was the closest to the port.

The bay was quiet at night. Zhou He, whose eyes had adjusted to the night light, quickly spotted Kursk's bright white figure. After waving, he attracted Kursk's attention and moved closer.

"Kursk, welcome back."

Zhou He stood on the shore, smiling and extending his hand. Kursk landed using the shallow, stepped steps that the dock had specially provided for them to moor and disembark. After taking off her claw gloves, she grasped Zhou He's hand and, with a light jump, came to stand in front of him.

"You've all had a tough mission. I'll be hosting a celebration banquet and welcome party when you all get back. Would you like to sit in on it?"

Zhou He took two steps back and released Kursk's gloved but still somewhat cold hands. Looking at the girl in front of him, who was much taller than him and had a calm expression but still possessed a strong feminine charm, he casually asked, half-jokingly and half-suggestively.

"...I'm not very good at this."

Under the Kursk night sky, eyes glowed faintly red as they fell upon Zhou He's smiling face. After a slight hesitation, Zhou He looked away and gave his answer.

"Well, it's okay."

Zhou He was just trying it out, and seeing Kursk's reluctance, he didn't say much. Instead, he changed the subject and asked about his feelings after fighting the Sirens.

Kursk did not directly participate in large-scale battles during this trip, but he did operate in that sea area and encountered many enforcers sporadically, and had some exchanges with them.

In this regard, she spoke her mind without much thought: "In terms of firepower, the various models of the Executor have not seen a breakthrough improvement compared to the mass-produced models. What is more troublesome is that their mobility has been improved, which poses a considerable threat if someone is directing them from behind the scenes."

"Yeah."

After a moment's thought, Zhou He realized that the Executors in the game were considered elite monsters, with many high-performance armed forces. However, the Executor team they encountered this time was no different from ordinary warships in terms of performance.

I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but let's keep an eye on it for now.

After a brief exchange with Kursk, the faster destroyers appeared at the entrance to the bay. Yuudachi was the fastest, far ahead of the others. As soon as it entered, it spotted Zhou He's location and roared as it rushed back.

"Go back and rest first."

Zhou He did not try to stop Kursk, and even urged her to take a bath, saying that it would be too late to soak in the hot springs once everyone returned.

Kursk nodded, turned and walked away unhurriedly, while Zhou He used the same trick again, standing on the dock to welcome Yuudachi, who had returned victorious but whose clothes were in disarray. Although she had a lovely smile on her face, Zhou He felt very strange. He was still not used to his ship girl returning injured.

Even so, Zhou He still smiled, looking at Xi Li who was standing on tiptoe in front of him, eager to take credit, and reached out to pat her soft little head: "Welcome back."

"I am back!"

Yuudachi rubbed against Zhou He's palm, blinking and swaying from side to side as if hesitating about something. Noticing this, Zhou He smiled and reached out to pull Yuudachi into his arms: "This is a reward for a good girl."

"Uh-huh!"

Xili squinted, skillfully hugged Zhou He's waist, and snuggled against him, even relaxing her little eyebrows.

Leading the pack was Yuudachi, with Javelin, Lingmin, and the other destroyers not falling too far behind. Upon seeing Yuudachi's coquettish expression, they exchanged glances and then looked at Zhou He. Ultimately, they refrained from following Yuudachi's lead. Javelin and Z23 greeted them politely, while Lingmin, wanting to be a chatterbox, complained to Zhou He that Kursk hadn't come to be her bodyguard, saying she was terrified running through enemy fire.

After finishing, she complained that Zhou He had taken away the job she was supposed to do (repairing and inspecting ship equipment). After the battle, she only saw some damaged ship equipment from the injured White Eagle crew. She didn't even get to touch the ship equipment before it disappeared, which made her very itchy to do so.

Zhou He always responded to these minor incidents with a smile, and then, at the opportune moment, said that it was his fault and that he would pay attention next time.

Lingmin, a genius mechanic, was also won over by this approach. She stopped dwelling on the battle and instead left behind a lot of inspiration she had gained from it, which she was to write down. Zhou He then arranged for Javelin and the others to return to the command post to find their preferred rooms, rest, and then attend the victory celebration banquet.

Yuudachi also left, and Akashi secretly joined the group. Everyone was back, and she, this helpless cat, no longer had to guard Zhou He.

"Next up is the battleship Kaga. In the game, it's called Kaga BB, but I think it's more appropriate to just call it Kaga now."

After seeing off the destroyers, Zhou He did some quick calculations and remembered that the Kaga battleship in the game had a very enthusiastic personality, or you could say it was as energetic as Yuudachi. However, it also had a considerable amount of arrogance, and like the Tosa, it had the demeanor of a strongman. Therefore, he addressed Kaga directly, which was a sign of respect for the existence of the battleship Kaga.

In theory, he should be able to make a good impression on the battleship Kaga.

This large-scale operation resulted in defeating so many ship girls, yet only Kaga dropped. Considering the previous drop rates, this was a bit unlucky. However, the mission reward was six cubes, which is equivalent to getting seven ship girls in one sortie, so overall it was quite good.

Hermione, Cleveland, and the other light cruisers were more composed than the destroyers. Instead of taking the lead because of their higher speed, they obediently followed the capital ships back to the port as escorts.

"commander!"

After landing, Ruihe rushed to Zhou He's side, her emotions running high, a smile on her face, yet not entirely genuine.

"Are you trying to compliment me? No problem, I can take it."

Zhou He snapped his fingers, revealing an expression that said, "I'm awesome, aren't I?"

After Shoukaku and Zuikaku met up, he had a video chat with Zuikaku. He didn't expect that Zuikaku would nag him about Shoukaku every day. When he actually found out about Shoukaku, he was a little shocked. When he wanted to watch the show on video, he was scolded by Zuikaku for not informing her in advance. She didn't even think of any lines to praise Shoukaku, and she was very sincere.

"It doesn't matter how many or how many words of praise you say."

Zuikaku picked up the conversation, immediately putting her arm around Zhou He's shoulder and pulling him aside with a serious expression: "Commander, please don't tell me I've worked part-time on fishing boats. I can keep these things to myself, but if Shoukaku-nee finds out, I'll lose face."

She is, after all, a noble aircraft carrier, and theoretically a minor leader. If her own people knew that her function in the port area was to serve as a fishing boat, they would be somewhat unable to keep quiet.

"That's all? No problem."

Zhou He raised an eyebrow and revealed a mysterious smile.

"Hey, don't laugh so creepily, okay? At worst, if Sister Shoukaku cooks, I'll share some with you."

Zuikaku's eyes widened. She knew that her commander seemed to have a bit of a fun-loving side, so she quickly offered some conditions to interact with him.

"That's it."

Zhou He gave an OK sign, then put his arm around Ruihe's shoulder and patted him on the shoulder. After letting go, he looked at the others. The veteran members could probably guess what the two were discussing, but Xianghe was surprised that Ruihe and Zhou He had such a good relationship.

As for Kaga, she glanced briefly at the dock and the brightly lit restaurant and command post in the distance, then focused her gaze on Zhou He. She touched her chin, tilted her head, thought for a moment, and gave him a thumbs-up with a bright smile: "Commander, you should be able to get Tosa to call me 'older sister,' right?"

"Hmm... You have to respect Tosa's wishes in this matter."

Zhou He wanted to nod in agreement, but when his gaze fell on the calm Tosa behind Kaga, he compared them side by side and realized that Tosa was clearly more important to him.

"Tsk, I knew it wouldn't work."

Kaga had clearly anticipated this outcome, and frowned with regret.

On the way, she tried her best to get Tosa to talk, but she didn't achieve anything except making Tosa's eyes even colder. This puzzled her. Why were Shoukaku and Zuikaku so close, but she and Tosa were so awkward?

"Since Kaga wants Tosa to call you 'older sister,' why don't you two have a spar? I think the older sister Tosa would acknowledge must be stronger than her."

Zhou He thought for a moment and made a suggestion.

He remembered that in the game, Tosa addressed Amagi as "older sister," and Amagi had outmaneuvered Tosa in terms of strategy, thus earning her respect. Kaga could follow suit.

"good idea!"

Kaga's eyes sparkled. She had sparred with Akagi more than once before, all to prove that she was stronger and could better suppress her opponent.

Zhou He smiled and turned his gaze to Tosa: "So? Interested?"

"..."

Tosa's face remained expressionless, but he was tempted. Although Kaga seemed rather foolish, she was extremely capable in combat. A real fight to determine the winner would be better than being bothered by her every day.

So he nodded: "Okay."

"As expected of the Commander, I acknowledge you!"