Revisiting Azur Lane

"Hahaha, I still remember that Commander, you always played it safe every time you attacked."

Zuikaku followed his line of sight and finally stopped at Shokaku, who was reminding Yudachi and the others to lower their voices. His eyebrows were frivolous and his spirits were high: "Now you are much braver. You dare to let us attack when facing an unknown enemy."

“I was forced to make that choice.”

Zhou He drank the coconut juice in the cup, picked up the chopsticks and began to taste the dishes. He was very concerned about the safety of his own ship girl, but some things had to be done. He could be cowardly when he should be, and he would not hold back when he should fight!

"it's the same."

Zuikaku doesn't care about that, she only looks at the actual situation.

“…Right.”

Zhou He didn't want to discuss too much about his own affairs, so he set his sights on Zuikaku: "Most people in the Sakura Empire have animal characteristics. Zuikaku, although you and Shokaku don't have obvious physical characteristics, you should have inherited some characteristics of cranes. Cranes are very graceful creatures. Why don't you dance for me?"

"? Commander, do you think I can dance?"

Zuikaku was used to Zhou He's shocking remarks, but he couldn't help but smack his lips when he heard the above words, and then turned his eyes away: "I'll go ask Sister Xianghe."

She stood up and went to Shokaku's side and said a few words. Shokaku immediately looked embarrassed. It would not matter if she really knew how to dance, but the problem was that she couldn't. Then, after a brief thought, she took out the bamboo flute that had been hanging on her waist and never used and handed it to Zuikaku with a smile. Zuikaku quickly pushed it back to her.

The interaction between the two caught the attention of Yudachi and others. After a chaotic exchange, Shokaku, under the watchful eyes of Zhou He and the clamor of Yudachi and others, sat down in the central area of ​​the restaurant's multi-room area and played a bamboo flute. The pleasant tune echoed in the restaurant, sometimes soothing and elegant, sometimes fierce and high-pitched. This was the first time that music was heard in the port area. Not only did Yudachi and others quiet down, but even Hood and Bismarck listened quietly.

"It's so beautiful."

Zhou He looked at Xianghe. Although Xianghe was not wearing the crane-sleeved kimono at this time, the charm and posture when playing the bamboo flute revealed beauty and elegance.

It's a pity that he didn't buy a camera, and it's too late to buy one now, and he missed the best time to take pictures.

The tune that Shokaku played was not the music of the old Sakura Empire, but an original tune that belonged to this world after incorporating her life and experiences in Minato. It was generally light-hearted and melodious, but also mixed with a passionate and high-pitched tone like a battle. Even without the harmony of other instruments, it was refreshing enough.

When the song ended, applause broke out in the restaurant.

Zhou He took the picture very hard. He didn't expect that just a sentence used to change the topic would lead to such a wonderful picture.

"How is it, Commander?"

Zuikaku ran over happily to show off, as if the tune just now was played by her.

"Shokaku scored ten points, you scored zero."

Zhou He clasped his hands together and propped up his chin, then gave his answer. Ruihe immediately shouted in dissatisfaction, "That's too much."

Soon, the lively and joyful dinner ended.

……

Different from the lively and cheerful atmosphere in Zhou He's home, a conversation was taking place in a cold and disordered data space.

"I see. The spatial anomaly nearby is caused by something in the singularity that can interfere with the Mirror Sea. I didn't expect it to trigger a bad omen. It's really dangerous."

This is the voice of an observer, frivolous as always, and one can tell at the first sound that it is the voice of someone who has never been severely beaten.

“It’s more than that.”

The Builder's voice came out: "When the sea area near the singularity overlaps with other worlds, I can't interfere, I can't get close, and I don't even know what's going on inside. This is very serious. This singularity has a nature worse than a bad omen, and it will take away our control over the sea area."

"So, you, the Purifier, are the only one who managed to escape alive? Don't you feel ashamed?"

This is the Clearer. Because she was killed before the paving of the mirror sea was completed, she waited here for two full days before the Purifier brought back the information.

"It's not shameful. I dealt with a group of newly born ominous entities, and I also had the experience of interacting with the people in the singularity. I am confident that I can obtain more information next time."

Purification was very happy - they were now communicating in the form of hosts, and she had already obtained the information handed in by the individuals. She was extremely happy at this moment. Originally, she should have acted as the opponent of the ship girls with a very "bad" attitude and observed their growth, but this world did not require her to play the villain at all, and she could directly make friends with the ship girls of that singularity.

Never had such a wonderful experience.

"That's enough. The problem now is that the fleet nearby is running out of reserves. The nodes near the singularity are likely to be removed. What should we do?"

The tester was very angry. Her individual was set as the core by the constructor, and she died in vain without any information being conveyed back.

"It's very simple. Strengthen the defense of the nodes and mobilize the fleet to blockade this sea area to expand the attack and defense range. The bad omen on the front line is trying to break the blockade again. Constructors and cleaners, you go and deal with the situation over there first. I will temporarily control the node permissions here. Testers and purifiers, send a few machines over to help me defend."

The observer was not at all panicked by his colleague's anger and calmly provided a solution.

"Tsk, those annoying guys are delaying my revenge."

The Clearer was annoyed, but didn't say anything else and exited the group chat. The Builder followed closely behind him. The remaining Observers began to discuss countermeasures with the two old friends, the Tester and the Purifier.

……

The shadow covering his head dissipated, and Zhou He had a sound sleep. When he woke up, it was already light outside. His half-closed eyes opened instantly, he propped himself up with his hands, sat up, washed, changed clothes, and went downstairs.

"My biological clock has already been adjusted, but I still overslept."

Although Zhou He was muttering to himself as he walked up the stairs, he was in a surprisingly good mood and felt a lot more relaxed than in previous days.

In the lobby on the first floor, Hermione was wiping the sofa. When she heard the footsteps, she stood up and approached the stairs. She greeted Zhou He who was coming down with a smile on her face: "Good morning, Commander."

"Ah."

Zhou He responded and glanced at the wall clock. It was already half past eight? This was the latest time he had gotten up in the past half month.

"Commander, did you have a good rest yesterday?"

Hermione observed Zhou He's expression. Although she was asking, she already had the answer in her mind. She smiled and continued, "I remember that Xili wanted to rest with you last night, Commander. After being stopped, she is still sulking today."

"Haha, there's nothing we can do about it."

Hearing Yuli, Zhou He laughed twice. He drank a lot of drinks at the celebration last night. He thought that he would have to get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Yuli had fought all day yesterday and should have a good rest, so he refused.

It's not that he doesn't want to sleep with Yuli, it's mainly because he only gets hard sometimes when he wakes up in the morning, but it's definitely hard when he wakes up at night. If he doesn't have a clear mind at night and does something bad, then it will be a big problem.

"Where is Yuudachi now? I'll go check it out."

Fortunately, Zhou He was in a good mood today and prepared to clear up the misunderstanding first. He still had to draw a map by hand later. Although there was not much on the map, it would still take some effort for him to draw the distance accurately.

"Based on his usual whereabouts, Yudachi should be practicing on the sea now."

Hermione accompanied Zhou He out of the empty hall. The sun outside had just risen. A round sun appeared from the top of the hill at the mouth of the bay. The sunlight was warm but also a little dazzling.

Standing at the door and looking into the distance, I found Yuudachi by the bay as expected. However, she was not practicing. Instead, she was squatting on the beach alone, looking at something.

"Hermione, go and prepare some breakfast for me. I'll be back soon."

Zhou He brushed away the bangs sticking out from under his hat and strode towards Yuli. Yuli could already smell Zhou He's scent from a distance and instinctively glanced at him before immediately turning his head away. Zhou He couldn't help laughing at his childish look. He walked over and squatted with Yuli, sighing deliberately and lowering his voice: "Sure enough, I can't live without Yuli by my side. You're so old, but you still oversleep."

"..."

Yuli glanced at him again and took two steps to the side. Zhou He also took two steps and pointed at the small round hole on the beach in the distance as if he had discovered something: "I guess there is white sand in there. Yuli, do you still remember its taste?"

Yudachi naturally remembered the delicious food. She licked her lips and still didn't want to pay attention to Zhou He, but then she heard him sigh: "There is no attack mission this morning, so I just want to dig some fresh seafood and make some delicious food. I just don't know if anyone is willing to accompany me."

"Well."

Yuli couldn't hold it in any longer, so she scratched the sand at her feet with her fingers, puffing up her cheeks and looking very cute. Zhou He couldn't act any more, so he poked Yuli's cheek with his fingers to make her feel relieved. At the same time, he put his palm on the top of her head and touched her. He slowed down his voice: "I was inconsiderate yesterday. I'm sorry. Don't be angry. If you keep angry, the food won't taste good."

"Stupid commander."

Yuli pouted, but moved closer to Zhou He consciously.

"Yes, yes, I am the stupid commander."

Zhou He chuckled and agreed.

Chapter 143: Local Suitability

The sun climbed up from the top of the mountain, and the warm sunshine warmed up the port area which had been cold and wet after two days of rain.

At the edge of the bay, Zhou He and Yuli moved slowly along the coastline. Perhaps because of the impact of the ominous storm in the mirror sea yesterday, there were many strange things on the beach near the tide, so that after just a short while of "catching fish at sea", Zhou He had already gained a lot in the bucket he was carrying.

"Today's luck is really good."

Zhou He shook the bucket in his hand. He planned to go back to draw after breakfast, but playing with Yuudachi was obviously more important, so after he had a simple breakfast, he followed Yuudachi out to pack up the lunch ingredients.

Looking at Yuli squatting on the sand and digging holes, Zhou He couldn't help but smile and looked up at the calm bay. Although the mirror-like sea area will affect the sea, it does not seem to be too harmful to marine life.

'Should we cast two nets as a winter food reserve before winter arrives?'

Because his home was close to the sea, he didn't usually buy seafood ingredients, and he hadn't done fishing since Zuikaku, so he thought it was worthwhile.

"commander!"

Taking out the clams from the dug sand pit, Yudachi woke up the dazed Zhou He and threw the clams into the bucket, making a thumping sound of plastic.

"That's great. Keep it up. Catch two big crabs and I'll steam them for you."

Zhou He encouraged Yuli with a smile, and the latter was very pleased, wagging her tail, squinting her eyes and humming twice, then she turned on the 'hunting mode', striding forward and scanning the uneven areas on the beach in front of her with her sharp eyes. Generally speaking, if the sand is convex, there must be something hidden underneath. Since Zhou He said he wanted to catch crabs, then she would look for crabs!

It was already a normal scene for the two of them to appear in pairs in the port area. Although they were curious, not many people came over. However, there were exceptions to everything. For example, Zuikaku came over as soon as he noticed Zhou He's presence. After Hermione's reminder, he followed and observed from a distance of about ten meters. After making sure that Yudachi had recovered his mood, he strode closer: "Commander, excuse me."

"Ok?"

Zhou He had already noticed Ruihe's following, so he turned sideways to glance at her and shook the bucket: "Come together?"

"Haha, I'm only responsible for eating. By the way, if you want to catch fish, you can go find U556 - Ahem, I'm getting off topic. What I meant is that the Siren troops are now empty, why don't we take advantage of the situation to capture the Siren base in the west?"

Ruihe declined Zhou He's invitation, spread his hands and asked his own questions.

In her opinion, now is a good time to counterattack the Siren.

"Well, I've thought about this too. I can accurately observe that there are three Siren cadres in that base: Observer, Purifier and Tester. The number of Siren fleets I've observed alone is more than fifty people—"

Zhou He paused for a moment and said, "If we fight, we will definitely win in terms of combat power alone. However, the distance from here to the Siren Base is 4 nautical miles. You will have to run for at least 5 to hours. This is enough time for the Purifiers to complete their deployment and wait for the enemy to attack. In addition, there may be ambushes inside the base. You may not be able to win in one battle. There is a great risk."

"Hiss, I think I need to grow a brain. Commander, stop beating around the bush and just speak directly."

Ruihe quickly stopped Zhou He and told her that it was okay for her to do ttk, but when it came to talking about theory, she could only say that she didn't quite understand it.

"The Sirens must know that we want to attack that base, so they will focus on defense. What we should do now is to find out the strength of that port area."

Zhou He didn't want to talk too much. He already understood Zuikaku's intention, so he said directly: "I allow you, Zuikaku, to find an aircraft carrier that is also willing to attack and other members to attack the Siren base together, but you are not allowed to get close. You can only launch long-range air strikes to force the Siren to attack actively."

"Understood!"

Zuikaku gave a subtle smile that said "you still understand me", gave a thumbs up, then turned around and walked away with high morale.

"Being brave and warlike is a good thing, but being too warlike is not a good thing either."

Zhou He was a little annoyed. They had been fighting every day recently, but Zuikaku didn't feel tired at all. It seemed that there were too few things to do in the port area. He would have to discuss with Shokaku later to find out what Zuikaku liked to do besides fighting, so as to suppress her addiction to fighting.

"commander!"

Xili called out from the side, Zhou He responded and looked down at her and smiled: "Xili, do you want to go out for a walk too?"

Unexpectedly, Yuuri shook his head decisively: "No."

Then she moved closer to Zhou He and rubbed against him, then raised her head and smiled: "I want to be with the Commander today~"

"So nice."

Although he was already very close to Yudachi, Zhou He still couldn't resist the cuteness and couldn't help but ruffle Yudachi's hair with his free hands: "Let's go catch crabs."

……

It seemed that the temperature had dropped and the crabs' activity had decreased. They ran all over the beach but couldn't find a few sand crabs of sufficient size. Considering the desire to eat more, Zhou He asked Xili to go to the cliff at the entrance of the bay to get a lot of oysters and mussels. He was not satisfied until the bucket was full.

During this time, other people in the port area also went out for activities. Relying on the various sports equipment Zhou He prepared yesterday, several White Eagle members led by Cleveland played basketball and football in the open space on the dock platform. Jean Bart joined them. Zhou He also wanted to play basketball together, but the port area did not have a proper basketball court or shooting frame, so they could only pass the ball and dribble, which was a bit lacking.

As for the aircraft carrier that was called out by Zuikaku, it was naturally only Shokaku who doted on her. It is worth noting that Yukikaze followed and its combat effectiveness was directly maximized.

"I'm home!"

Yuli came running back from the sea with a cheerful step. Zhou He reached out to take the bucket to greet him. If he hadn't reacted quickly, it would have fallen to the ground.

“It’s a really generous portion.”

Zhou He secretly took a deep breath, but on the surface he was chatting with Xi Li with a smile: "Let's go back and deal with it now, just think of it as a snack."

"Great!"

No matter whether it was staple food or snacks, Yulicai liked to eat all meat dishes made by Zhou He. She was in such a good mood when she was around Zhou He that stars started to appear around her.

Inside the command building, Hermione, Jinqun and Jarvis, three maids, were doing the general cleaning. Hermione was cleaning the stairwell, Jarvis was responsible for the interior of each room, and Jinqun was wiping the windows. These three could be said to be the most diligent in the entire port area. Zhou He felt like ants crawling all over his body as he looked at them, and wanted to join in the general cleaning.

Until he saw Nagashima Kashin, Yuguro and others playing games in the small Japanese-style room next to the kitchen with the curtains drawn.

"Hello~ Commander, do you want to join us?"

Yuguro noticed something and lay on the tatami to show Zhou He the handle.

“…No, you guys go ahead and play.”