The Disqualified Commander of the Abandoned Shipgirl

Then he threw down a plain sentence and left without looking back.

McCall seemed to have been prepared and stood up and left almost at the same time.

All the grease on the mouth had been wiped clean before this.

McCall asked after he followed Lin Shen's steps and the two of them walked outside.

"Shall we go for a walk tonight?"

"Ah."

……

"What do you mean—you don't even look at us?"

Tang Si spoke irritably after Lin Shen left.

After waiting for a long time, it turned out that no one took them seriously at all——

Ignore!

"Ah... whatever, it doesn't matter, it's terrible."

A ship girl whispered in an extremely disappointed tone, then stood up and left the table without looking back.

"Newcastle, do one less job next time, I don't want to come again."

Someone spoke up.

"it is good……"

Newcastle could only offer a one-word response.

"I don't want to come here anymore, so I'll do less of my share."

Then, someone else stood up and left the table.

"They even specially prepared dinner - isn't it enough for the ship girl to drink oil?"

"mine too."

One after another, several figures left the dining table without looking back.

Soon, the originally full seats were only slightly more than half occupied.

"Why does the commander have no intention of explaining?"

Curacao glanced at Newcastle and asked.

"I look down on you~ maybe."

Newcastle is not too concerned about this issue.

"You seem quite happy?"

"Hmm? No, absolutely not. How could that be~"

Newcastle chuckled and denied it.

Then he couldn't help but say.

"This will reduce the workload by one third. With the extra time, I can take a bath and relax. Isn't that nice?"

"You..."

143. Reasons for Not Explaining

"Aren't you going to explain?"

"Explain what?"

"Even if you just tell them that I'm going to use you, squeeze out your value, and then throw you away - it's better than saying nothing."

"That's why I didn't say anything."

"Hmph. Whatever you want."

"Have you actually started to consider me? I recognize your loyalty."

"..."

There was simply no response from the other side.

Lin Shen also withdrew his attention from the private frequency of the soul network.

Even if it's a bad explanation, it's still bringing us closer.

And silence only builds walls.

Communication disappeared, and all that remained was mutual speculation.

When people are uneasy, they always prioritize the worst-case scenario.

Lin Shen just wanted them all to assume the worst.

——It’s best not to have any expectations.

"Even if I explain it to them, it won't matter, right?"

McCall said, coming back to his senses from his slight distraction.

She leaned against Lin Shen, her body still showing slight traces of the exercise just now.

It's another "McColl's big win" tonight.

After the date, of course, we went to a couple's hotel to stay.

Although some hotels may have hidden cameras or something like that.

But how could that kind of thing be hidden from Lin Shen’s soul power detection?

Even an ordinary commander's soul network detection can easily find things hidden in a limited space.

Not to mention Lin Shen.

Fortunately, Lin Shen did not find any strange things in the hotel room both times.

Otherwise, the owner of this hotel would not just be bleeding heavily.

"Oh, do you think so too?"

Lin Shen pulled McCall over and held him in his arms, using him as a pillow.

Soft, as if without bones...

KanColle is made of water after all.

"Could it be that there is some difficulty?"

"No, just - explain, explain what?"

"This one……"

"The worst-case scenario they imagined is the truth. What else can be explained? That's not an explanation at all, it's just a 'whitewash'. Although I am confident that I can force the casualty rate to zero - but you should know that this is unsustainable. In this case, it is better to let them be mentally prepared from the beginning."

"Well... that's what you said, but - you can also explain it clearly and make them... willing?"

McCall said a little unnaturally.

She always felt that apparently simple things, after being dissected, were unusually cold.

Let the soldiers serve me willingly——

This is what a "commander" is supposed to do.

But how to say...

It always feels pretty cold.

There is not a trace of warmth.

However, Glasgow, Hatsumei, and McCall herself did not feel that icy temperature.

"Don't you think this is despicable?" Lin Shen asked.

"Hmm... It always feels weird, they and us——"

"Unlike you, they were forced to come here by me."

"..."

Lin Shen hugged McCall tightly in his arms, put his mouth to her ear and whispered.

"Forced conscription is completely contrary to the original purpose of recruiting you, McCall."

"... Even so... we can still reach the same destination, right?"

"What if not?"

"..."

"By then, your commander will be a hypocrite who is full of lies, uses lies to manipulate others, and promises a lot of unattainable things. Could it be that this is the kind of person you like?"

"No...! The commander I know is not this kind of person..."

McCall hastily denied it.

The Lin Shen she knew...

He was the benefactor who didn't mind that she was a mutant and rescued her when she was about to be abandoned.

He is a powerful man with extraordinary command ability on the battlefield.

He was the only human commander she knew who would consider mutants.

He is also the only one worth following.

He is a real man who keeps his promises.

Even if every step becomes more and more twisted, I still persist painstakingly.

Even after facing countless fierce battles, the pace of moving forward in the direction we agreed upon at the beginning has never stopped -!

It is someone who can be your absolute solid backing!

I am definitely not a so-called hypocrite!

"So, I can't - no, I should say, I can't explain anything."

Lin Shen continued to whisper in McCall's ear.

"At the beginning, I told you all about my goal, and warned you countless times that the next battle would be very dangerous, very dangerous! I can't remember how many times I said similar things - I'm tired of saying it. You all followed me like fools, but now... I can't let them follow me from the bottom of their hearts while tying them with a dog chain, right?"

Lin Shen turned McCall around, stared into her eyes and spoke seriously.

"Relationships between people cannot be superimposed, just like you can no longer be friends after a failed confession. The relationship between them and I is already that of a soldier and a commander, so I can't add 'friends', 'relatives', or some kind of equal relationship on top of that. We're not even 'comrades-in-arms'!"

"Is everything ok, comrade?"

"Do you think the commander sitting in the headquarters and the soldiers fighting on the front line are comrades-in-arms?"

"..."

McCall was stunned.

She had never thought about it so deeply.

“So this can’t be helped.”

Lin Shen touched her head and his expression softened again, no longer as serious as before.

"If we win the battles that need to be fought, then, perhaps many, many years later, when everything has settled down and my ultimate goal has been achieved, maybe I can get a chance to revise our relationship with them. By then, they can do whatever they want. By then, whether our relationship is distant or close, at least our status is equal. By then, I will no longer be the 'commander', and you can do what you like. By then, if they are willing, it will be no problem for us to go on a date on a free afternoon."

"..."

McCall was stunned for a moment, and in a trance he seemed to be able to see the scene that Lin Shen had imagined in his mind.

There was nothing to worry about then, no commanders and no soldiers.

There was only a young man and woman, and at the end of the accumulation of thoughts, one of them extended an invitation to the other.

And the other party agreed.

That must be a very heartwarming story.

But that does not belong to him and them now.