Revisiting Azur Lane

"Tosa, why don't you let Yudachi follow? There's absolutely no problem on my side."

Speeding across the sea, Zuikaku and the other two were hundreds of meters apart and were communicating using the team's intercom. At this moment, Zuikaku was talking to Tosa. The Siren in the west was not far from them. She could hide near the islands in the port area and carry out long-range air strikes, so she did not need Yuudachi's help in keeping watch.

"I think, well, then you should be careful, and Yudachi, you and I will approach the Siren together."

Tosa wanted to enjoy the experience alone and test his own limits, but then he thought that Yudachi was also eager to fight the Sirens, and it was unreasonable to leave her behind, so he agreed: "I will launch an artillery attack on the Sirens after Zuikaku's air strike. At that time, the Sirens will definitely move towards me. Yudachi, can you help me share their attention?"

"Hey, leave it to me!"

As the only 'front row' in the team, Yudachi knew what he should do and took on the task without hesitation.

After a simple communication, the three of them had completed the division of labor. Zuikaku stopped moving forward, Yudachi rushed to the front, and Tosa followed closely behind.

According to Zhou He's description of the Siren's movement route, the Sirens in the west are moving straight south from the north. Without any obstacles, they will arrive at the southwest of the port at noon. The other Siren team in the north is moving to the northeast. At this time, they are hundreds of miles apart and do not have the beyond-visual-range combat capability of an aircraft carrier. If one side is attacked, the other side cannot provide timely support and may not even know that the other side has been attacked.

Zuikaku and his men seized this opportunity. In less than half an hour, Tosa had arrived on the side of the route of the Siren Fleet heading south. Yudachi moved even faster, patrolling and guarding a position about 3 nautical miles away from Tosa.

"The enemy's actions are correct. The airstrike group is on the way. When you see the first batch of planes returning, Tosa, you will attack."

Zuikaku saw the movements of the Siren fleet from afar through a reconnaissance plane and informed Tosa and the other man. After the communication was cut off, she noticed another figure out of the corner of her eye. The Kursk was heading straight west. If they did not launch an attack, the Kursk would collide head-on with the Siren fleet.

"Did the commander give her any instructions?"

Zuikaku still remembered Zhou He's instructions not to interfere too much with Kursk's actions, but in this situation, it shouldn't be considered interference if she informed Kursk of the Siren's movements, right?

In any case, Kursk was a friendly force in Zuikaku's eyes, even though Kursk was a single-man team. After a brief thought, she tried to contact Kursk and the connection was soon established. She explained the situation and listened to a few words from Kursk before the contact was cut off.

"There really is another mission, ah, this seems to be our first conversation?"

Zuikaku muttered a few words quietly and stopped being distracted, focusing her attention on the fleet of planes flying through the clouds in the sky. She had already fought with the Sirens the day before yesterday, so she was more familiar with this air raid. After arriving over the Siren fleet, she directly dispersed the fleet of planes and circled them in the sky to attract firepower, while dropping torpedoes and explosives on the heavy cruiser that was suspected to be the flagship.

Boom boom boom~

The sound of the explosion spread across the sea, splashing layers of water on the sea surface. Red fireworks bloomed on the hull of the Siren ship that was resisting while sailing, and black smoke rose into the sky.

After the first round of bombing, the Sirens had begun to change into a circular formation. Unfortunately, this time they were facing not only an air raid, but also a battleship that was keen on showing its strength. A shell flew from afar and hit a moving destroyer. Along with the shrill sound of the shells pressing on the air, there was an explosion that soared into the sky. The destroyer could not withstand the battleship's salvo and exploded on the spot.

More shells fell from the sky, forcing the Siren to change their formation again. The only nine remaining ships sailed obliquely towards Tosa in the formation of two parallel lines. As they continued to advance under the firepower and air strikes, they encountered Yudachi who came over to attract the firepower.

……

"Commander, you have a strange expression."

Kursk, sailing rapidly on the sea, glanced at the rising black smoke and faint explosions in the distance, and focused his attention on Zhou He, who had a sage-like expression on his face during the video call.

"Hmm? I see Zuikaku's operation was very successful. The combination of aircraft carriers and battleships is so powerful."

After being pressed by Hermione, Zhou He no longer knew whether he was in pain or pleasure. Anyway, he was leaning back in his office drinking tea with his hands still shaking.

"There is no opponent of equal size, and they are attacking first. If they cannot gain an advantage, I will doubt their ability."

Kursk's evaluation was very simple. When she set out, Zhou He gave her two tasks. The first was to observe the battle of Zuikaku and the others. If the situation was not good, she would go to support them. If everything went very smoothly, she would directly transition to the second task: break out of the 90 nautical miles west of the port area and light up the outer sea areas.

Zhou He was concerned about this and hummed, "That's right. Have you contacted Zuikaku? Ask her to help you see if there is any danger further away."

"I have."

Kursk looked at the endless sea. She was personally skeptical about Zhou He's second task. She could obviously let Zuikaku conduct the investigation directly, but he insisted on letting her run away. Could it be that there was something or information here that was very important to Zhou He?

After a brief exchange, Zhou He drank his tea quietly, keeping the video open to observe the number of sirens on the map. Of the 13 sirens heading south, only 5 were left, and their number was decreasing by the minute. They were all killed after drinking half a cup of tea.

"There are no new ship girls."

Just like Zuikaku expected Shokaku to do, Zhou He also hoped to drop a ship girl during the attack. It was simply a fantasy for him to form a large fleet just by relying on the system to assign him tasks and build magic cubes. He had to rely on combat drops to enhance his combat effectiveness.

"commander."

Kursk's voice interrupted Zhou He's fascination. He looked at Kursk in the video and the latter continued, "Zuihe requested permission to go north to destroy another Siren fleet. There are no Sirens blocking the way in my direction."

"Okay, tell them to be safe and cooperate."

As Zhou He was talking, he was thinking in his heart that Kursk usually didn't meet or talk with Zuikaku and the others, but he was quite fluent when helping him convey instructions.

When he talked with Kursk before, he didn't see him show any disgust, which means that he didn't have a communication barrier, nor was he particularly averse to communicating with others, but simply didn't want to mingle with the crowd and liked to act alone.

"It's definitely different from Tosa."

Zhou He felt that the conclusion he had drawn before was too hasty - Kursk himself had a good personality, but he just liked to be alone. On the other hand, Tosa seemed easy to communicate with, but in fact he had a unique arrogance and judged people's value based on their strength.

"How do you judge Tosa's strength? Is it just a personal preference?"

After cutting off the video, Zhou He took a sip of tea. If physical ability was considered, an ordinary person like him naturally could not compare with the KanColle. As for other aspects... well, he still couldn't understand it.

Zhou He gave up thinking and continued to watch Zuikaku and his three companions moving on the map and Kursk running out. He also took the time to go to the dock and replenish the torpedoes that Yudachi had used up. It was really a bit too much for Yudachi to carry 16 torpedoes in one attack. If it was converted into a normal destroyer, it would definitely be able to carry more than this number of torpedoes.

"Commander, I prepared some cookies. Please wait a moment."

Outside the door, Hermione came in happily carrying a plate of snacks. When she got closer, she suddenly found that Zhou He's tea had gone cold. She hurriedly picked up the teapot and ran downstairs again.

"..."

Zhou He's eyes shifted, he took a bite of the cookie, it tasted better than the ones he bought before he crossed over! He threw the remaining half into his mouth and crunched it, thinking that if there were more maids in the future, would he get fatter in advance?

Oh, what a luxury trouble~

After a while, Hermione returned to the office with the re-boiled teapot. Looking at Zhou He who kept reaching out to pick up the biscuits, a faint smile appeared on the corner of her mouth.

……

Things always develop in a regular pattern. Facing a Siren fleet with an additional heavy cruiser as in the previous battle, Zuikaku, Tosa, and Yudachi skillfully carried out air strikes, artillery fire, and monster pulling. In less than half an hour after the battle started, they paralyzed the fleet and waited for Yudachi to check and finish them off one by one.

"Will I really become stronger if I fight against an opponent like this?"

Tosa didn't feel any pain from beating a weak opponent, but the fight was too easy and she really didn't feel like she had grown in any way.

Farther behind, Zuikaku, who was gathering the returning carrier-based aircraft, suddenly remembered something: Zhou He had said before that he wanted to tow the wreckage of the Siren back for research, but she and Yudachi couldn't do it at the time. Now with the battleship Tosa, three people should be able to tow a destroyer.

So he urgently contacted Yudachi and asked her not to act too hastily and to leave one to be dragged away.

"what!?"

Yudachi looked down blankly at the torpedo launcher that had just been fired and was now empty, then looked at the last two Siren destroyers in the distance that had stopped waiting to be struck by torpedoes.

Boom boom!

A sharp explosion sounded. Facing a target that could not move, Yudachi had no chance of firing air mines. The two destroyers, which were originally relatively intact, were each blown with several holes, and water was flooding in.

Soon, the two boats began to sink. Unable to bear watching, Yudachi turned around and whispered to Zuikaku: "I accidentally sank them all. What should I do?"

"…Now, you can only pretend that you know nothing. If the commander asks you, just say that the Siren resisted fiercely and no one was left alive."

Zuikaku actually guessed it. All her air raid planes had returned, so how could there be any survivors left in Yudachi's army?

"Hmm."

Yuudachi nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

"Ugh."

This is guaranteed to make Ruihe feel uneasy. When she asked for a fight before, she also asked Yuudachi not to give her up, but Yuudachi shouted louder than anyone else. One can only hope that Zhou He didn't think of this.

The two were still discussing countermeasures when Zhou He's instructions had already reached Xili. After receiving the order, Gouzi's ears stood up and he turned around flexibly. He looked at the figure who came out of the billowing black smoke when the Siren capsized and exploded due to the seawater entering the interior and squeezing it. The figure covered his mouth and nose with a blue handkerchief. His eyes lit up instantly and he stepped over to slide into the sea water.

The woman who walked out of the wreckage of the Siren was half a head taller than Yudachi. She was tightly wrapped in a ship outfit and wore a simple blue corset skirt. She wore a blue and white wide-brimmed hat on her long, smooth golden hair. Her blue eyes were as beautiful as the sea. She looked at Yudachi who was approaching, with a gentle smile on her delicate young face that made people feel good. She gently pressed down on the shawl engraved with the flag of the royal camp that was fluttering in the wind, and said in a gentle and pleasant voice: "Are you Miss Yudachi?"

"it's me!"

Yudachi raised his hand and replied: "The commander asked me to take you back."

"Well, please lead the way."

When he heard the word "commander", Hood's eyes flickered slightly, and he began to communicate with Yuli as cordially as an aunt next door.

Chapter 27: Flowing Like Clouds and Water

"Hood, he actually lost the back row again."

In the office, Zhou He looked at the little man Hood who appeared on the map and had reunited with Ruihe and others. While he was happy, he also felt that his family's luck was a bit strange.

Normally, shouldn't destroyers and light cruisers be the easiest to drop? How come he lost a heavy cruiser, a battlecruiser and an aircraft carrier in three sorties? His combat power must have been greatly improved, but starting from Tosa, he found that the more unique the ship girls were, the harder it was for him to deal with them. They were not as easy to fool as the destroyers and light cruisers.

"never mind."

After thinking about it, he realized that he couldn't control what kind of ship it was, so it was good enough that it could be produced. So Zhou He turned his gaze to Hermione who was coming back from putting cookies on a plate: "Hermione, you should know about the Hood, right?"

Hermione stepped forward and placed the dessert plate on the table in front of Zhou He, and stood aside naturally: "Of course I know, Ms. Hood's story is widely circulated in the Royal Navy. She is an excellent role model for all of us Royal Navy girls."

"The glory of the Royal Navy, well, she will be arriving at our port soon, Hermione, what do you think?"

In the game, Hood was a useful back row warrior in the early stages, but as the era and version changed, he became a warehouse keeper. At this time, Zhou He's impression of Hood was only the word "elegant". Now that he was asked to face the real person, he was really unsure.

"what?"

Hermione cried out in surprise, but quickly adjusted herself, folding her hands in front of her and speaking softly, "Commander, you should know that we are not simply the personification of warships. Now I am both the royal Hermione and the Hermione as a maid."

As she spoke, she leaned forward slightly and leaned closer to Zhou He's ear: "Mr. Commander is the master Hermione serves now~"

"hiss."

Hermione's call of "master" almost made Zhou He's bones melt, but that was not what he wanted to ask. He wanted to know how he should behave when facing the Hood, so he coughed lightly and expressed his thoughts.

This made Hermione, who had self-destructed, feel a little embarrassed. Her cheeks flushed slightly, but her tone was very serious: "Commander, please be confident. Since Ms. Hood came to our port area, she was naturally attracted by your will. As long as you are honest, even Ms. Hood will not embarrass you."

"..."

After hearing Hermione's half-reprimanding, half-comforting words, Zhou He felt much more relaxed. He raised his cup and took a sip of tea, then tilted his head to look at Hermione: "Then can you call me master again?"

Hermione's face straightened: "Commander, please respect yourself."

"Ah~"

Zhou He stretched out his voice reluctantly, but looking at the cute Hermione with a slightly red face, he felt that he had gained a lot, and did not make trouble anymore. Instead, he shifted his attention to the Kursk little man who had reached the outermost edge of the lit map and was moving.

After thinking about it, he opened the video call again, and the handsome silver-haired girl appeared in front of him again, and the perspective changed with the ups and downs of the waves.

"Commander, how far are we from the designated location?"

Within a minute, Kursk noticed Zhou He who was watching from the sidelines. He showed no impatience due to the more than two hours of rushing, and his voice was as steady as usual.

"Five miles or so ahead, can we use a seaplane for reconnaissance? Be careful."

Zhou He gave the order after a little thought. It was definitely not enough to just light up the map section. He also needed to properly explore some foggy areas. Then when he got closer to this side, he could rely on the system map to search for the enemy.

"can."

Kursk's answer was simple. While adjusting the ship's equipment, two seaplanes appeared on a very small runway. According to instinctive calculations, they ran five nautical miles and then released the two seaplanes. They explored outwards slightly stiffly at an altitude of 600 meters above the horizontal line.

The results of her hard work in investigation were directly displayed on Zhou He's map. There were two thick straight lines extending on the new map covered by fog. Its efficiency was slightly lower than that of Zuikaku's reconnaissance aircraft, but it was faster than the ship girl running around on the sea.

After running for more than ten nautical miles, the plane on the right suddenly stopped moving, while the one on the left began to turn right. Zhou He soon got the answer: "The seaplane on the right was discovered by the Siren and blown up."

"commander."

Kursk in the video frowned and looked at Zhou He seriously: "Further northwest, a seaplane reconnaissance plane discovered an island, and the fighter jet that shot down the reconnaissance plane was from there."

"Siren aircraft carrier?"

Zhou He's eyes widened a little. There was a Siren aircraft carrier a hundred miles away from the port? The previous battle did not attract the hatred of this fleet.

"It's not clear that there is at least one light aircraft carrier."

Kursk turned and retreated very skillfully, and the seaplane on the left had become a discarded pawn to attract the carrier-based aircraft of the Siren aircraft carrier.

"I remember. Do you need Zuikaku's support?"

Zhou He tapped his fingers lightly on the table, looking at the fog on the map - his map included areas that his own ship girls or reconnaissance planes "passed by", not areas observed by reconnaissance planes. He couldn't see the islands that Kursk mentioned, and he couldn't see the Siren fleet that was pursuing him either.

Although it has the effect of lighting up once and then continuing to be observed, before the reconnaissance is completely completed, this map can only provide a basic effect of "there are sirens in this area".

"It doesn't matter. Those sirens can't find my location."

Kursk had a calm expression and didn't take the Siren's aircraft carrier seriously at all, but Zhou He didn't think so. He briefly explained a few words before cutting off the video and conveyed instructions to Zuikaku, asking her to send a team of fighter jets to hover over the sea west of the port area. If they found the Siren fleet, they would help interfere and guide them away.

……