Transmigrated into Azur Lane

Although Lin Dong was afraid of death, he would never allow Donghuang to forcibly control him and force the ship girls to work for Donghuang; this was his bottom line. After the first interrogation, Lin Dong knew that he was most likely not going to die. All his efforts were to demonstrate his value so that Donghuang would not be willing to give him up, and so that the power of the party would not completely fall into Donghuang's hands.

"I need to go back and think about it," Cheng Haonan said coldly.

"Sure, thank you for your trouble." Lin Dong said politely without thinking, since it wasn't worth much anyway.

Soon, Cheng Haonan met with Lin Dong again, and Donghuang finally agreed to Li Dong's request. Cheng Haonan's mediation played a significant role in this, as the Navy's weakness put immense pressure on him. Even just resolving the security issues in a certain sea area would greatly enhance the Navy's strength. As for Lin Dong's requests, apart from establishing a new department, they were really minor issues. For example, the requirement not to initiate attacks—these days, everyone was too busy dealing with the Sirens to have time for infighting.

After two hours of negotiation, the two sides finally reached an agreement, with each getting what they wanted and everyone happy.

Chapter 7 History

Soon, Lin Dong saw Spence and Ford again in the newly arranged dormitory building of the military region.

“Commander…” Spence greeted Lin Dong politely.

Ford, however, rudely ignored Lin Dong and pounced on Cleveland.

Lin Dong wasn't too surprised. After all, he was an office worker and didn't have time to train the so-called Fletcher low-fuel-consumption squad, so his relationship with Ford and Spence had always been that of strangers.

Seeing Ford's closeness to Cleveland, Lin Dong suddenly remembered that Ford had been hit in the rear by a torpedo during the Battle of Queen Augusta Bay, and it was Cleveland who dragged her back. No wonder Ford was behaving unusually well-behaved.

"Good boy." Lin Dong patted Spence's head.

“Uh…” The timid Spence trembled in fright at Lin Dong’s head pat.

Seeing Spence's timid appearance, Lin Dong couldn't help but feel a mischievous urge, and pinched Spence's chubby, round little face again.

"Waaaaah!" Spence finally couldn't take Lin Dong's teasing anymore and ran into his room to hide.

"…………" Lin Dong was also a little frightened by Spence's overreaction.

"Snapped"

"hiss…………"

Lin Dong suddenly felt a pain in his calf. He turned around and saw Ford glaring at him with his arms crossed.

"Don't bully your sister."

"Little Ford, you can't treat the Commander like that."

Ford had barely finished speaking when Cleveland smacked him hard on the head.

"Uh……"

Seeing the adorable sight of Ford holding his head in his hands, Lin Dong couldn't help but pat Ford's head to comfort him.

"Does it hurt?"

"Hmph!" The little girl wasn't buying it.

"Little Ford, apologize to the Commander."

Although Cleveland's tone was gentle, his actions were ruthless, delivering another heavy blow to Ford's head.

"Commander...I'm sorry..."

……

Over the next few days, Lin Dong began to cram on knowledge about the other world. This world had a similar history to the world Lin Dong lived in, but the turning point came in the second month after the end of World War II when a group of uninvited guests appeared on the ocean—the Sirens.

Ship girls are one of the important technologies the Sirens brought to this world. Using their Mind Cubes, the Sirens captured the consciousness of various warships remaining on this planet and materialized and humanized them. However, the Sirens never expected that these lingering warship consciousnesses would be so troublesome. The ship girls possessed strong self-awareness after birth and even inherited the memories of the warship consciousnesses.

The resources required for the Sirens to fully control these highly self-aware ship girls far exceeded their budget. In order to dominate the entire ocean of this new world, the Sirens ultimately decided to divide the Mind Cube, resulting in a reduced-powered version of the ship girls, devoid of self-awareness. Although a reduced-powered version, they were still far beyond the capabilities of any nation newly emerged from World War II. With their overwhelming advantages of small size, high speed, strong firepower, and easy resupply, coupled with the mass-produced warships specifically developed for the ship girls, the Sirens quickly dominated the oceans and became the most powerful force on the planet.

The year after the Sirens appeared, Sakura Empire scientists made a major breakthrough, discovering that the fragments of the Wisdom Cube could fuse together to form a complete cube. Excited, the Sakura Empire scientists decided to focus their research on the wreckage of the Sirens' ship girls, and ultimately, the battleship Mikasa appeared.

Mikasa, relying on the memories inherited from the battleship's consciousness, decides to continue serving Sakura Empire. Mikasa's appearance also makes Sakura Empire determined. Soon, Sakura Empire decides to launch a nationwide suicide attack on the Sirens' nearest stronghold. As a defeated nation in World War II, Sakura Empire has no choice, because Sakura Empire is an island nation...

This sudden war caught the Sirens off guard, and the Sakura Empire, riding high on its success, salvaged the wreckage of dozens of Siren shipgirls. The battle, known as the Sakura Empire Breakout, came to a perfect end.

However, things weren't that simple. Because of the arrival of the African god, Sakura Empire attempted to rebuild the 37 salvaged Siren shipgirl wreckage and the cubes five times, all ending in failure.

Meanwhile, the Sirens, having realized what was happening, were sharpening their knives and gathering all their military forces deployed in Asia to prepare for a naval blockade of Sakura Empire.

In desperation, Sakura Empire appealed to the United Nations, offering its ship girl research results in exchange for international support...

Thus, the era of giant ship girls arrived!

Chapter 8 Donghuang Sea Area Security Bureau

With the release of Sakura Empire's research findings, the naval military power of various nations was greatly strengthened, and their understanding of the Sirens' strength deepened. In the initial destruction of various Sirens' strongholds, each nation discovered an extremely large number of Mind Cubes. While these supplies enhanced their naval strength, they also indirectly confirmed the Sirens' power. The Sirens quickly proved the nations' suspicions correct; the day after the destruction of the Sirens' strongholds, a steady stream of Sirens arrived to establish new ones. Of course, these were strongholds no longer used for storing supplies—the Sirens weren't idiots.

Furthermore, because humans constructed the ship girls using the simplest and most brutal methods (resulting in an extremely low success rate), many of the necessary processes employed by the Sirens were omitted, resulting in ship girls with an exceptionally strong sense of self. Even the Sirens were unable to control these ship girls who were loyal to humanity.

Lin Dong also discovered from the military's documents that there were two naval marshals in the Eastern Empire. One of them was Cheng Haonan, whom Lin Dong had met before, while the other marshal was shrouded in mystery. The documents only stated that she was a ship girl, but the Eastern Empire had not revealed her specific ship type. Lin Dong only knew that she was currently stationed in the Liaodong region of his previous life, a place not only home to the largest naval fortress in all of Asia deployed by the Sirens, but also to the ever-watchful Northern Alliance.

……

"Donghuang Maritime Security Bureau, not bad, not bad, very impressive." Lin Dong looked at the letter of appointment issued by Donghuang with satisfaction. He didn't care about being Donghuang's lackey. After gaining a slight understanding of the world's structure, Lin Dong didn't have any further thoughts. Going it alone in this world was simply courting death. Oil resources had already been divided up by the major factions and listed as important strategic reserves. Even civilian transportation in this world was mainly powered by electricity. If he went it alone, Lin Dong wouldn't even be able to get the oil needed for the daily maintenance of the ship girls. What was wrong with being Donghuang's lackey? The agreement he signed at the time stipulated that Lin Dong's personal annual salary would reach tens of millions, not including the ship girls' salaries. Lin Dong was already satisfied with such benefits.

Lin Dong then received the ID card issued by Donghuang and officially became a proud Donghuang citizen.

The specific location for the Security Bureau's address has not yet been determined, as this involves huge interests and fierce competition among various coastal provinces and cities, but this is none of Lin Dong's business.

At this moment, Lin Dong held his pen with a frown, staring at the white paper on the table as if facing a formidable enemy. Although Donghuang also used simplified characters, what really troubled Lin Dong was the new order issued by the big boss: to write about the current state of the world where Lin Dong originally lived. The higher-ups seemed to be very interested in Earth, where Lin Dong originally lived.

During the interrogation, Lin Dong boasted a lot, such as, "Our commanders can defeat the Sirens like it's nothing. If the newly released ship girls are low-level, they can just bully a few Sirens." "In order to prevent the complete extinction of the Sirens, the country has mandated that commanders can only bring two squads at a time, with six people in each squad." In short, Lin Dong dared to say any nonsense in order to increase his value. At that time, he boasted so much that even the lie detector failed to detect him.

Unexpectedly, retribution came so quickly. Getting Lin Dong to write this report now would be no less difficult than writing an epic science fiction novel.

"Due to severe head trauma sustained when I transmigrated to another world, and the lack of timely treatment during interrogation, I have amnesia." Lin Dong thought for a long time before finally writing this brief report, trying to shift the blame to Cheng Haonan.

Chapter 9 Waiting

Because Lin Dong's existence is a top secret in Donghuang, even the bigwigs in the coastal provinces and cities only have a general idea. Their information suggests that Donghuang may be establishing an extremely powerful coastal defense agency. Although the information is unclear, this hasn't stopped them from arguing. It's said that at this morning's meeting, the provincial leaders started getting physical. Rumor has it that a leader in his sixties even fired the first shot in a brawl, sustaining minor injuries and being taken to the hospital.

Since the Donghuang Maritime Security Bureau was not yet officially operational, and the bigwigs were still holding meetings and bickering, Lin Dong and the three women could only stay in their military dormitory and wait for a formal decision.

"Spence, come and have some candy." Lin Dong squatted on the ground, holding candy in his hand and waving it at Spence.

"No."

Spence, clutching a cushion, sat on the sofa, watching Lin Dong warily without moving.

"Sigh..." Lin Dong wasn't good at interacting with little girls. In his previous life, his social circle wasn't wide, especially in the years after graduation, his few friends only exchanged a few simple text messages. The 9-to-8 workday and his addiction to mobile games made Lin Dong live a completely lonely life. However, he still tried his best to maintain a good relationship with his ship girls, after all, barring any unforeseen circumstances, they might be living together for the rest of their lives.

Undeterred by his rejected interaction request, Lin Dong turned his attention to Fu Te, who was drawing on the ground.

"Fort, what are you drawing?"

Lin Dong shamelessly lay down next to Fute.

"Commander, you're such a hassle!"

Ford frowned and turned to look at Lin Dong with impatience.

"I'm drawing my sister Cleveland."

Ford added a sentence, then buried his head and continued doodling.

Is Cleveland rectangular?

"Do you even know what a rectangle is?! Besides, where is it? Commander, you're so annoying."

"Oh, this cannon needs to be drawn a bit thicker."

Lin Dong was completely ignorant about World War II. He only learned about many things because of the game Azur Lane. He had never even seen what the Cleveland map looked like, but he still talked nonsense in order to interact with Ford.

"Uh... Commander, hurry up and go, you're such a nuisance."

Lin Dong was a little embarrassed by being scolded by a little girl, so he quickly got up and laughed it off.

"Then I won't bother you anymore, Ford. It's a great drawing. Sister Cleveland will be very happy to see it."

"understood."

"Hmm... my favorability rating should have increased a little."

Lin Dong stroked his chin, looking at Ford lying on the ground, and thought that after hearing Lin Dong's praise, the little girl's legs started to swing up and down, probably because she had scratched an itch.

Keep up the good work!

Then Lin Dong saw Cleveland on the small balcony of his dormitory. During this time, Cleveland had somehow acquired several giant bonsai. She was standing there pruning the bonsai with large shears, humming an unknown tune. She seemed to be in a very good mood. However, after spending time with her these past few days, Lin Dong knew that Cleveland was always this energetic 24 hours a day.

"Cleveland, do you really like bonsai?"

"Yes, Commander, look! This is a money tree! We'll move it to our own territory, and I guarantee you'll have a lot of money to come!"

"Is this even possible? Cleveland, what about this one?"

As a southerner, Lin Dong still believes in feng shui and metaphysics. After listening to Cleveland's introduction, he pointed to the bonsai next to him.

"This is a boxwood tree, which is said to ward off evil spirits and bring wealth."

"Do you have any..." Lin Dong wanted to ask if there were any bonsai trees that could increase one's luck, since Donghuang would be sending another batch of construction materials soon.

"Commander, you're overthinking it! Bonsai are mainly for decoration. You can't change your fate by spending money, and luck can't save you from bad luck. Haven't you heard that, Commander?"

"Uh…………"

"But it doesn't matter if it's not quite right. Commander, just tell Cleveland what you want!"

"father."

"Commander, you're so annoying! I'm a girl, so why does everyone call me Cleveland?"

Cleveland put down the scissors and asked, somewhat angrily.

"Because Cleveland is very capable. Just like you said, no matter what ship the commanders want to salvage, the first thing they think of is Cleveland."

"Hmph, of course, Cleveland is the strongest."

After listening to Lin Dong's flattery, Cleveland picked up the scissors again and continued pruning the money tree.

"Here, wipe your sweat."

Seeing that his father had calmed down, Lin Dong quickly took out a pack of tissues from his pocket and offered them to him as a token of his sincerity.

"Commander, you're so slow! Can't you see I'm busy right now?"

Cleveland then stopped what she was doing, turned her head and looked at Lin Dong.