Revisiting Azur Lane

Tosa retreated tactically, ignoring the free Yudachi and looking at Zuikaku, who raised his hand and smiled innocently: "I don't know either. I crawled out of the wreckage of the Siren. When I found the Siren, I happened to hear the commander's call. I felt that Sister Shokaku would come here too, so I followed her."

"Can't you be more serious? How come you don't even know the commander's situation?"

Tosa didn't know how to complain. When they were built, they were given the memories of the battleships of the old era and the common sense of the current era. They knew that they should fight against the Sirens. She was the same, so she recognized Zhou He as her commander.

The problem is that what she received was not the common sense of this world. Just like Zhou He who created her, she was also completely in the dark about this world.

"You are the same. You went out with the commander for a while and came back in such a good mood."

Zuikaku also complained that Tosa had a blank expression on his face before he left, but when he came back he squinted his eyes and could hardly suppress the corners of his mouth.

"I just came yesterday! And I'm not in a good mood, it's because I feel relieved that the commander understands his own weakness and has a clear goal of becoming stronger!"

Tosa put one hand on the table and explained the reason in a serious tone.

"You had a fight with the commander?"

Zuikaku's eyes were full of disbelief, causing Tosa's mouth to twitch. For a moment, he suspected that he was wasting time trying to get the information he wanted from Zuikaku, and slowly leaned back in his chair: "No."

Hearing that Tosa didn't fight with Zhou He, Zuikaku lost interest and waved his hand, saying, "Although the commander didn't say it explicitly, I can guess that he must have a hidden reason for coming here. How could the commander sneak in alone in such a dangerous place?"

"Ah."

Tosa thought for a moment and added, "Perhaps the commander's rear camp wanted to open up a strategic fulcrum here, but they didn't expect the Siren to advance too fast and didn't have time to pick up the commander when they retreated."

Zuikaku suddenly felt enlightened, leaning forward and speaking in a serious tone, "That makes sense, so we have to bring the commander back safely, or at least open up trade channels."

“…This is a long battle.”

Tosa realized the heavy responsibility he and others had.

"Ahem, what are you thinking about here while leaving me, the client, aside?"

Zhou He's voice suddenly rang out. Tosa and Zuikaku looked up and saw Zhou He looking at them with a smile. They immediately coughed twice and pretended nothing had happened.

Zhou He was also quite helpless, he was just killing fish with Hermione, when he heard the noise he came over to see what was going on, then he heard a series of discussions such as 'Tosa went out with him for a while and came back in a good mood', 'relieved', 'abandoned', 'strategic fulcrum', 'take him back to kill' etc.

This made him a little embarrassed, but the two seemed to really think that they had guessed right and were ready to discuss it in depth, so he had to speak out to stop them.

"My situation is indeed a bit complicated, but it's not what you think. I'll tell you in detail when I have the chance. Don't guess here."

When it comes to his own origins, Zhou He didn't know where to start, but he couldn't just let his own ship girl make rash guesses - his ship girl was indeed a good fighter who inherited the memories of old ships, but she was also an ordinary girl who was curious about everything in the world. What if she passed on a background of being bitter and vengeful, and then found out later that there was no such thing at all.

He was full just thinking about this kind of thing.

"You heard it, right? Nod your head and let me see."

After he finished speaking, he found that the three people on the opposite side did not respond, so he could only emphasize it out loud.

"Uh-huh."

Yudachi, not knowing what was going on, nodded obediently. Zuikaku and Tosa seemed to be embarrassed by themselves and nodded after a while to indicate they heard.

"Very good, rest for a while, the food will be served soon."

Having stopped the rumors from spreading, Zhou He nodded with satisfaction, left a few words and went back to the kitchen.

As soon as he left, Zuikaku and Tosa exchanged glances and each grabbed one of Yuudachi's shoulders.

Chapter 24 Normal

After an early dinner, the sun was still in the sky. Zhou He scrubbed the dishes piled by the sink and glanced out the window. He tilted his head to look at Hermione, who was wearing an apron and humming a little tune while mopping the kitchen floor. "We have been having dinner so early recently. Will you be hungry in the evening, Hermione?"

"No, Commander, you're worrying too much. We only consume a lot of energy when we deploy our ship suits, and then we get hungry easily. There's no problem working from home now."

Hermione stopped mopping the floor and looked over with a faint smile on her face, seeming to be in a good mood.

"That's good. If you're hungry, you can prepare your own midnight snack. You don't have to worry about the ingredients."

Zhou He hummed and looked away. These past few days, Hermione and he had become more and more skilled at cooking together, and it seemed to be getting easier, so the seriousness on their faces turned into a relaxed smile, which was very healing.

To be honest, if he had experienced such a working atmosphere when he was working before he traveled through time, he probably wouldn't have left even if his boss tried to kick him out - but hey, it's just something to think about.

"Is it the same today, Miss Kursk?"

After mopping the floor, Hermione began to wipe the table. She saw the food Zhou He had covered on the table and asked Zhou He with a little curiosity: "The people over at the Northern Alliance should be very enthusiastic and like to be lively."

Zhou He didn't know what to say about this question. He could only say that when Huang Ji was shaping his personality, he was only thinking about his personality. After thinking for a while, he said, "Generally speaking, this is true, but even in the most lively families, there will always be people who like quietness. Maybe when they get to know each other better in the future, Kursk will come back to dine together."

This is a universal answer, but Hermione raised the corner of her mouth slightly and winked at Zhou He: "Then Commander, you have to work harder."

"Haha, I'll try my best."

The two of them chatted while cleaning the kitchen. The sky outside was getting dark. Zhou He stopped and asked Hermione to rest first. Then he went to the refrigerator and opened it. He looked at the processed seafood and the remaining vegetables and meat. After a little thought, he spent 2 home coins (17 remaining) to buy a vegetable meal (a total of 20 kilograms of potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, etc.) from the home store and also bought ten kilograms of beef, which were neatly placed in the refrigerator.

"Next, let's do some research."

After making sure that his ship girl would get up in the middle of the night and would not have no food to cook, Zhou He turned around and found the seafood cooking encyclopedia and began to look through it. He found the recipe for smoked fish. This method can preserve the fish for a longer period of time and also saves the work of handling live fish, but it is a bit time-consuming.

"After the ship girl sets sail, she consumes a lot of energy. This is probably just a way to make ends meet. Beef jerky and fried dried fish are also considered snacks, um..."

The ship girls consume physical energy so that they can go out to work and fight at any time, but it also increases the basic energy intake. From the perspective of attack, it is worse than using fuel, but the replenishment speed is not as fast as using fuel. It can be said that there are pros and cons.

Zhou He thought about it and took out a processed fish weighing about two kilograms from the refrigerator. He marinated it and went to the fireplace. The recipe said that smoked fish could be directly smoked with grain bran after being marinated, or it could be fried in oil and then smoked. He had plenty of time, so he would try direct smoking today and see how it goes tomorrow morning.

Following the instructions in the recipe, Zhou He hung the marinated fish by the fireplace and used a small fan to slowly raise the smoke.

"If we want to expand outward in the future, we will probably have to build a base on an island outside. It's not realistic to start from home."

Through the small fire, Zhou He thought about exploring outside instead of eating. The diameter of an area is 60 nautical miles. Now he has to run 90 nautical miles from home to open the map. Even if Yudachi goes at full speed, it will take three hours, not to mention the time for exploration and searching for the Sirens. If he goes out in the morning, he will not be back until late at night at the latest.

If you want to expand outward with the highest efficiency in the future, you have to proceed step by step, build wherever you go, and send elite fleets to establish strategic fulcrums in the outermost known waters.

"You're overthinking. We don't see any islands here. I hope we can find one if we expand out further."

Having said that, Zhou He has already tacitly agreed on the future development path.

"We're back~ huh? Is the Commander still cooking?"

The sky was dark, and Zuikaku and Yudachi, who had been out for a walk, came back. The puppy seemed to have smelled the fragrance and peeked out of the kitchen. Zuikaku yawned and followed to take a look: "That's it, Kursk's dinner."

"Too cunning, actually asking the commander to give him a special lesson."

Yuli stood on tiptoe to see what Zhou He was doing, but was blocked by the table. He could only see a little bit of the rising smoke, and then he exclaimed when he saw Zhou He standing up.

Listening to the two people singing the same tune, Zhou He felt a little helpless. He looked back at the fireworks in the fireplace. After confirming that there were no safety hazards, he walked out of the kitchen and hooked his hand to the two people: "I am studying the dry food for your later attack. I have something to ask you first. Can your ship's space store other things?"

"May I?"

Yudachi raised his head and asked Zuikaku, who simply shook his head: "Commander, you have to ask the ship's equipment designer about this matter."

"That's not allowed."

Zhou He felt the same way. Zuikaku didn't even know how to resupply his ship with ammunition, so how could there be extra space for things - the game didn't say that the ship girls had their own personal space. He probably read too many novels.

'I have the storage space anyway, so it's not a big problem.'

Thinking of his empty system warehouse, Zhou He stopped thinking about this problem. He turned off the lights in the kitchen, looked back in the direction of the fireplace before leaving with the two of them.

……

After a tiring whole day, Zhou He said goodbye to the two, went back to his room, washed up, and fell asleep. However, when he woke up the next day, his thighs, waist, and arms were all sore, and this soreness reached its peak after breakfast.

"The wind today is a bit noisy."

After adding some grains to the fireplace, Zhou He, who had burned out his fire, sat down at the gate of the headquarters like a salted fish, looking at the sky which had changed from the clear sky of the past to a gloomy one. Gray clouds were floating in the sky, as if a rainstorm would fall at any time. The sea breeze also became much colder, blowing the grass on the lawn to one side.

"It's not a good day to go out today. I want to go out and play with the Siren."

Ignoring Zhou He's literary speech, Ruihe leaned against the wall not far away with her arms folded across her chest, the corners of her clothes and her ponytail trembling in the wind.

'You want to play with the Siren every day.'

Zhou He complained in his heart, leaning his head against the solid wall and tilting his sight to the system panel to open the map: After the Sirens were killed in large numbers the day before yesterday, there were unexpectedly not many Sirens replenished in the past two days. After careful counting, there were only two Siren fleets wandering over, one in the north and one in the west, with a total of 27 ships, including three heavy cruisers, and no battleships or aircraft carriers.

"Could it be that the Sirens around here have been almost defeated?"

He felt a little surprised, but when he thought about it, his two attacks sank dozens of Siren destroyers and light cruisers. No matter how powerful the Sirens were, it was impossible for them to have large fleets with aircraft carriers or battleships all over the world, right?

After the weather clears up, let Zuikaku and others defeat the two fleets one by one, and then they can try to expand outward. The larger the area that can be observed on the map, the more active his combat power will be.

"Zuihe, before it rains, please do me a small favor."

After turning off the system panel, Zhou He stood up with a gritted teeth and inhaled cold air. He now felt that his muscles were tense. It was okay if he didn't move, but if he moved, his whole body would hurt.

It was clearly the work that I did yesterday, but the price I had to pay for it was postponed until today.

Zuikaku looked at Zhou He's trembling appearance and couldn't help but smile: "Commander, your body is too weak, you need to exercise more."

"Even if you are exercising, you still have to eat one bite at a time."

Zhou He patted his stiff thigh, which was almost numb. It took him a while to recover. He and Zuikaku came to the left side of the command center, to the place where the wood was placed yesterday. However, there were already guests here. Yudachi was jumping up and down on the stacked wood, and Tosa was sitting on the grass next to him, looking at the sky, not knowing what he was thinking.

Seeing Zhou He coming, Xili jumped off the wood and ran over. After circling Zhou He twice, he looked at his appearance and thought for a moment before saying, "Today I am the commander in the form of an old man."

puff.

Zhou He heard laughter. The culprit was right in his sight, shrugging his shoulders with his back to him. This made him grit his teeth but he could do nothing. He could only say that his system was not good enough and could not strengthen his body - even to be a commander, one needs a very strong body!

Facing Yudachi's bright gaze, Zhou He pointed his finger at the stacked wood: "Yudachi, you and Zuikaku help arrange these six pieces of wood into a rectangle so that I can see the actual size inside."

"understood."

After receiving the order, Yuudachi turned around and ran over to untie the rope, but it was stacked very well and did not collapse.

Next, Zuikaku and Yudachi easily lifted the wood and arranged it into a rectangle. The front was about seven meters long and a little over three meters wide. The space inside was the larger rental house that Zhou He lived in before he traveled through time. If it was a small hot spring, it would be very cozy after decorating it, but for a large hot spring, this space was obviously not enough.

Then Zhou He asked Xili and the other person to form a rectangular shape that was twelve meters long and six meters wide, and he immediately got the feeling.

"Okay, do you think these pieces of wood can be used to make a raft?"

With a rough framework in mind, Zhou He only needed a little calculation to figure out the amount of work and material requirements. He instantly thought of other uses for these pieces of wood. He could spend the Garden Coins to buy a speedboat to go out to sea, or he could make a raft and have people pull it to go out to sea, saving money!

"Commander wants to go to sea?"

The two guessed his idea at the same time, and at the same time denied Zhou He's intention. Zuikaku restrained his frivolous expression and shook his head seriously: "I don't recommend that the commander take a raft to the sea. Even with us by his side, it is too dangerous. The danger of the sea is far beyond your expectations, commander."

Yudachi echoed: "If the commander accidentally falls into the water, we may not be able to rescue him in time."

Zhou He was quite surprised. He didn't expect that the two ship girls couldn't guarantee his safety when he went out to sea. It seemed that he had indeed underestimated the dangers of the sea. So he nodded: "I see, I thought too simply. I will think about going out to sea again."

"Uh-huh."

The two nodded, and Zhou He pointed at the wood and said, "Then you should put these woods under the eaves of the headquarters. It looks like it's going to rain soon, and it will be troublesome to dry the dead wood after it gets wet in the rain."

"This is simple."

Although Zhou He is a semi-otaku, he is still an adult male after all. It was exhausting for him to carry one of these 30cm thick and three-meter long woods. In front of Zuikaku and the other ship girls, these woods were just ordinary twigs. Zuikaku originally wanted to carry two back at a time, but after Zhou He reminded her that it would dirty her clothes, she chose to carry them back with Yuudachi. Yuudachi held the wood high above her head in front, and Zuikaku lifted the wood to her chest.

"All the shipgirls are born with supernatural powers."

Zhou He could no longer remember the specific settings of the ship girls in the game, but the ship girls in front of him were all top-notch fighters even without their ship outfits deployed. Not to mention uprooting a weeping willow, at least they had no problem carrying him away.

If this broke into his bedroom at night, it wouldn't be a question of whether he wanted to resist or not.

“…What am I thinking about?”

Zhou He knocked his head and glanced at Tosa, who seemed to be living a peaceful life. He did not dare to go near him and prepared to find a place to lie down. However, after he had taken two steps, a drizzle began to fall from the sky. He quickly turned around and went back to the command center.

The rain came quickly, and Tosa had no habit of taking a shower in the rain, so he stood up, brushed off the weeds behind him, came to the eaves of the headquarters, and entered the headquarters through the back door.

"What's wrong with Tosa? You seem even less motivated than me."

Seeing Yuudachi and Zuikaku running over carrying the last piece of wood, Zhou He helped to secure the wood with a rope and asked in a low voice.

"I'm not sure. Maybe the cloudy day brought back some bad memories for her."

Zuikaku glanced at the heavy rain outside and rolled up the sleeves of her clothes with her hands. They inherited good memories, but also sad memories, such as the moment when Zuikaku lost Shokaku.

"Yeah."

Zhou He thought about it. In history, the construction of Tosa was stopped halfway through, and then it became a target for artillery fire. Isn't this a bad thing? He couldn't even think of any "good memories" that Tosa could inherit.

The rain outside was getting heavier, and Zhou He and the other two were forced to go into the headquarters. Zhou He wanted to talk to Tosa, but halfway through, he suddenly remembered that it was raining so hard, and Kursk might still be in the forest. He quickly started a video call through the dock.

The video unfolded. The background was unexpectedly a clean room, and Kursk was doing self-training in the room. During the second video call, Kursk was very natural. He stopped exercising, sat on the ground, and wiped the sweat with the towel around his neck: "Commander, what's the matter?"

Kursk was very calm, but Zhou He was a little bit nervous. At this time, Kursk was wearing a gray sports bra. His well-trained yet soft body made him not know where to look. He could only pretend to be calm and said, "It's raining. Let me see where you are."

"Thank you for your trouble, Commander."