On how PhDs become human evil

Shrug and said, "According to Otto, he has become completely withdrawn and has difficulty taking care of himself. He has now been dismissed from his job and sent back to his hometown to retire, treated as a useless person."

"How could this be... Commander...."

Zuikaku stumbled and almost fell to the ground, but fortunately Shoukaku was there to support her.

After giving the devastated Zuikaku a deep look, Bai Jie said, "Well, I've already talked to Cecilia about this before, and she has no objections. I was thinking that you guys might be resistant, so I came to ask."

To be honest, the current situation is very similar to some of the sadistic novels about protagonists in China.

The protagonist is the original commander of Sakura Empire. He has a group of ship girls who could have become his wives, but they were all captured during a campaign and even transformed into the shape of the enemy commander.

Not only that, the enemy commander also planned to take away his position, fundamentally cripple him, and turn him from a winner in life into social scum.

I have to say, this tactic is really underhanded.

Of course, all of this was unintentional on Bai Jie's part. Who would have thought that the Enterprise he had enhanced would be so strong that it could crush three full fleets by itself? And who would have thought that the evil of this world could steal other people's ship girls? Even Bai Jie himself didn't know!

Upon hearing Bai Jie's words, Chi Cheng and the others fell silent.

With all the high-ranking officials resigning and the commander-in-chief withdrawing from public life, it is indeed as Bai Jie said: Japan is now truly leaderless and needs someone to lead it. Although there are certainly people who can take on the role, their abilities are definitely not as good as Bai Jie's.

During their time with Bai Jie, Chi Cheng and the others gained a better understanding of what kind of person Bai Jie was, which can be summed up in one word—omnipotent.

It seems there's nothing Bai Jie can't do. No matter how difficult the situation, he can handle it with ease, and you can't tell he's expended much effort.

After learning about the past, they were even more amazed by Bai Jie's abilities.

A human hero unrecorded in history, who single-handedly laid the foundation for modern civilization, ushered in the age of magic and science, and led humanity to victory over the Honkai... Each of his deeds is an absolute feat on its own, and if he were to lead Sakura Empire, he would be the best choice.

However, this means that Sakura Empire was defeated by just one person.

It wasn't a forced conquest, nor was it a crushing defeat through strategy. Bai Jie really didn't do anything proactively to Sakura Empire. Everything happened naturally, and then Sakura Empire was forced into such a desperate situation.

Despite Sakura Empire's initial action, its overwhelming advantage, and its years of patient preparation, it still lost. Rather than saying Sakura Empire lost in its battle against the Far East Branch, it's more accurate to say it lost to White Knight. Without White Knight, the Far East Branch would have suffered a devastating blow against Sakura Empire.

It can only be said that the Sakura Empire was unlucky; coincidentally, they launched their attack shortly after Bai Jie returned.

"laugh!"

A ball of fire suddenly burst into flames in front of Akagi, and then a piece of paper shaped like a red maple leaf fell into Akagi's hand.

This is a unique method of Sakura Empire. Because of the magic that Bai Jie recreated in this world, Sakura Empire's Yin-Yang techniques have been revived and widely used in various fields, such as communications.

"Akagi? That's me, Kaohsiung."

"Oh dear, Mastiff, what's wrong? Why did you contact me?"

"I didn't really want to contact you traitors, but the situation inside Sakura Empire is really dire, and I had no other choice but to come to you."

It was clear that Takao didn't really want to talk to Akagi, but Akagi didn't seem to mind. Regardless of the reason, they were now Whitebeard's ship girls, which meant they had betrayed Sakura Empire.

Although being treated as a traitor doesn't feel good either.

"I won't waste any more time on the small talk. Akagi, do you know the current situation of the Sakura Empire?"

"Yeah, I heard about it from the commander. Our former commander went into seclusion, and the other high-ranking officers also stepped down. It's really a tragic situation."

Chi Cheng said with a hint of loneliness.

"The once mighty Sakura Empire has actually fallen to this state."

"That's all your fault! If you hadn't betrayed us—" Kaohsiung's roar abruptly stopped, followed by—"Sorry, I got a little emotional."

“No, you’re right, there’s no need to apologize.” Akagi smiled. “Then why did you contact me?”

"...In the past few days, Sakura Empire has had three commanders-in-chief, but each one of them has been incompetent and is no match for the previous commanders-in-chief. Then I heard that someone made a suggestion to Schicksal to let your current commander take over as commander-in-chief."

When Kaohsiung said this, his tone was full of resentment and unbearable pain.

"It is undoubtedly a humiliation to let the enemy commander lead us, but I do not want Sakura Empire to collapse from within. So Akagi, I hope you can persuade your commander to come to Sakura Empire."

Akagi's eyes widened involuntarily. She knew Takao's personality well; in short, she embodied the so-called Bushido spirit. And now that even she had expressed a willingness to submit to Hakuge, it meant that Sakura Empire was truly on its last legs.

With a sigh, Akagi said, "Alright, I'll talk to the Commander. You guys have to keep the Sakura Empire in check until we get back."

"We can do it without you telling us."

As soon as Kaohsiung finished speaking, the piece of paper turned into a ball of fire and disappeared.

After exchanging glances, Akagi, Kaga, Zuikaku, Shoukaku, and Ayanami all looked at Bai Jie.

Looking at the five people staring at him, Bai Jie sighed. It seemed that he had no choice but to take on the role of Commander-in-Chief of Sakura Empire.

P.S.: Tonight, I'll first review the customs, traditions, and myths of Mesopotamia, then study how artificial intelligence works, and finally revisit basic humanities knowledge. That's how fulfilling a good student's night is.

Section 324, paragraph 18: I will take care of your wife; do not worry about her.

Cherry Blossom Country, the land of the rising sun in the far east.

As one of the powerful factions in Azur Lane, its combat experience is mainly concentrated in the battles around the Sakura Islands. However, after the birth of magic, its Yin-Yang techniques and many mysterious powers passed down from generation to generation have developed rapidly. The fleet formed by these has quickly grown its strength and has become capable of competing with the Eagle Union and other major powers in a short period of time.

In addition, Sakura Empire left Azur Lane a few years ago and joined the Red Axis, where they began researching Sirens' technology. No wonder Sakura Empire had the idea of ​​attacking the Far East Branch.

In their view, although the Far East Branch was a major branch under Destiny, it was still just a branch. Taking it down would be effortless. It would not only weaken Destiny's fighting power but also give those hostile organizations a warning, killing two birds with one stone.

However, this action dealt an irreparable blow to Sakura Empire, leaving them with no choice but to sue for peace with Schicksal and hand over command of their navy to the people sent by Schicksal.

————————————————————————

December 2043, 11.

This was the day the commander sent by Destiny would arrive. To welcome the new commander, the newly appointed high-ranking officials of Sakura Empire arrived at the airport early.

Although important figures now travel between countries using space teleportation magic circles, Sakura Empire has long since broken away from Azur Lane, and the magic circles connecting it to other countries were dismantled long ago, with only those with a few allied nations that are also part of the Red Axis still remaining.

Therefore, if Azur Lane players want to travel to Sakura Empire, they can only do so by plane or ship, and ships are definitely slower than planes.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!"

A whirlwind swept across the airport, and to the astonishment of the Sakura Empire's high command, a giant gray wolf crashed down from the sky like a mountain, creating a huge crater in the ground!

The violent impact swept out in an instant, surging outwards like a raging torrent. The surrounding ground instantly turned into a cracked wasteland, and the fierce storm blew everyone away.

Aside from those ship girls that easily exceed tens of thousands of tons.

"enemy?!"

Seeing the giant wolf suddenly appear, Takao immediately drew his katana and stood in front of a man in a wheelchair behind him, shouting, "Atago! Ren! Take the commander away!"

Yes, the man in the wheelchair is their commander, and also the former commander-in-chief of the Sakura Empire. Although he has been exiled, Takao still regards him as her master, so she must protect his safety.

Just as Kaohsiung considered the giant wolf an enemy and was on high alert preparing to launch an attack, a voice suddenly rang out: "Ah Tsai! How many times have I told you not to run so fast! I know you're excited because you haven't been out for a walk in a long time, but you don't have to run around like that!"

It was the voice of a man who sounded very young, probably no more than thirty years old, and full of energy. After the shout, the gray giant wolf, which was over ten meters tall, shrank rapidly like a deflated balloon, eventually turning into a small wolfhound that looked like a husky.

As the giant wolf shrank, several figures fell from the sky.

It was a depraved group of one man and six women. Although Kaohsiung did not recognize the man in the lead or the woman with the white eagle symbol, he recognized the five people following behind.

"Akagi! Kaga! Zuikaku! Shoukaku! Ayanami!"

Kaohsiung exclaimed in surprise the names of her colleagues. Upon hearing Kaohsiung call her name, Akagi and the others immediately waved to her. Akagi then said, "Yo, Kaohsiung, we're back."

"Oh, welcome back... wait! This way of returning is really something else! What happened to the plane you were supposed to come back by?"

“The Commander originally planned to return by plane, but halfway there he remembered that he hadn’t let his pet dog out for a walk in a while, so he changed trains at the last minute,” Akagi said with a smile, then pointed to Bai Jie: “By the way, this is our Commander, Fafnir.”

After patting his Fenrir's head, Bai Jie looked at the ship girl in the white naval uniform in front of him, then looked past her and onto the lifeless-eyed man behind her.

"Wow, that's really terrible. It's not just his mind that's been affected, his body is being eroded too." Bai Jie stroked his chin. "Well, I guess we can only call it an undeserved disaster. Let's pray for this brother."

"Commander, you're the one who caused this!" Zuikaku glared at Bai Jie, annoyed. "Atago-nee, Takao-nee, the Commander, he..."

Sheathing his katana, Takao closed his eyes as if reluctant to let go, and shook his head heavily: "We've had many checkups, but every doctor says the Commander is already in a vegetative state and there's no hope."

Gritting her teeth, Zuikaku suddenly turned around and grabbed Shiro's clothes: "Commander! You must have a way to save him, right! Zuikaku, please, please save him!"

"Snapped!"

Enterprise abruptly slapped Zuikaku's hand away: "Zuikaku, do you know what you're saying? Heal him? This won't do the Commander any good—"

“Alright, Enterprise, I know Zuikaku didn’t mean it.” Bai Jie reached out and pressed down on Enterprise’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Zuikaku, even I can’t do anything about this. He has been completely corrupted by my power. Even if I intervene, I can only prolong his life a little longer. It’s impossible for him to fully recover.”

The evil of this world is a deadly poison to humans; even a little bit can be fatal. When Bai Jie was bathing in the black mud, his body was destroyed in an instant, leaving only his soul protected by Talulah.

Although the man's body was not damaged, his spirit and soul were corrupted by the evil of this world. After all, the contract ritual between the commander and the ship girl involves the soul and spirit.

Bai Jie's words were like the last straw that broke the camel's back. Ruihe's face drained of color in an instant, and his body trembled slightly.

With a helpless sigh, Bai Jie patted her head, then went to the man, squatted down, and brought his face level with his: "Although it was unintentional, you were indeed hurt by me. I apologize to you here, and I swear to you—"

"I will take good care of your ship girls, so go ahead without worry."

P.S.: How's the new Azur Lane event going? I'm a casual player, and I just finished SP4 this morning. Rhythm games are so much fun!

Section 325, Chapter 19. Zuikaku: The power furnace hurts so much.

After the commotion at the airport, Sakura Empire finally recovered from the shock and hurriedly drove the special car that was supposed to pick up Bai Jie to the airport, taking Bai Jie and the ship girls to Sakura Empire's first command post.

Although they have separated from Azur Lane and are researching Sirens' technology, Sakura Empire's ultimate goal is still to fight against the Sirens. Therefore, its first command post is located in Sakura Empire's largest port.

Led by Zuikaku, the former first secretary ship of Sakura Empire, Bai Jie, just like he had done at the Far East Branch, first spent two hours walking around all the places in the Sakura Empire Command Headquarters to make sure he wouldn't get lost again before heading to the main office.

Compared to the Far East branch office, the office in Sakura Empire had a more Japanese feel, almost like a shrine. The interior furnishings were far removed from modernity, and Bai Jie even sensed an extremely strong magical aura emanating from the office.

It's likely that this office wasn't built with any technology at all; it was purely constructed using magic. From the main beams and pillars to the decorations and even the paint colors, everything has a magical meaning.

This is no ordinary office; it's practically a magic fortress.

“Because the Commander-in-Chief is a very important position, in order to prevent any accidents from happening to him, this office, which also serves as a strategic command center, is not only equipped with the most advanced barrier and defense spells, but also enhances the Commander-in-Chief’s abilities to the maximum extent whenever he enters here,” Ruihe explained to Bai Jie. “Although I think that with your abilities, Commander, you probably don’t need this level of enhancement.”

Just as Ruihe said, as soon as he entered this place, Bai Jie clearly felt a magical power entering his body, strengthening his abilities. Although for Bai Jie it was only a percent... no, at most one-thousandth, for an ordinary person, this level of enhancement would be enough to turn them into a superman.

"It seems you take the Commander-in-Chief's safety very seriously."

“Of course, the Commander-in-Chief is to some extent the heart of Sakura Empire, and its defenses must be the best.” As he said this, a bitter look flashed across Zuikaku’s face. “However, that is all in the past.”