Revisiting Azur Lane

"..."

As calm as Ms. Hood was, a hint of panic flashed in her eyes at this moment. She just blurted it out because she found a good place. When Zhou He asked her, she remembered that she didn't seem to know how to make snacks.

"Commander, the hot water is ready. You've sweated a lot during the exercise just now. I think it would be better to take a bath?"

Hermione's voice came closer and closer, temporarily relieving Hood's crisis. She naturally agreed: "Hermione is right, Commander, your health management is very important, please pay attention to it."

"Ah, I see."

After hearing what Hu De said, Zhou He stammered in his chair for a few times, then got up and went to take a shower.

"Hello, please wait."

After seeing Zhou He off, Hood breathed a sigh of relief and called out to Hermione, who was about to leave with him: "Hermione, do you know how to make tea party desserts?"

"Tea party? Remember something. Are we preparing now?"

Hermione was slightly startled and asked politely.

"No, go and get busy first."

Hood sent Hermione away with a gentle smile.

Chapter 31 Slow Progress

"Hermione, don't scare me again."

After taking a bath, Zhou He walked out of the bathhouse feeling his fatigue disappear. Looking at Hermione who was sitting obediently by the door waiting, his eyes were full of helplessness.

He usually took a bath in his own room, but today Hermione had prepared water for the bathhouse on the first floor. He thought that no one else in his family would come in to take a rest, so he wanted to soak in it for a while and enjoy himself. However, just as he took off his clothes, Hermione followed him in. He was almost petrified, so he hurriedly chased her out.

"Yes."

Hermione's delicate little face revealed a hint of grievance and loss.

She thought that helping with bathing was also part of a maid's job. She missed the opportunity a few days ago, and today when she was ready to show her skills, she was kicked out by Zhou He. She felt indescribable regret.

"..."

Zhou He saw it all, but he couldn't stand a woman barging into the bathhouse when he was taking a bath. He didn't dare to say anything like "next time". He scraped his cheek with his nails helplessly and raised his hand to stroke Hermione's head: "Hermione, I know you mean well, but there is no such custom in my family. I'm really sorry for getting angry at you all of a sudden."

"No~"

Being suddenly touched on the head, Hermione seemed to understand why Yuudachi was so happy when Zhou He touched her head. The sense of security that emerged from the bottom of her heart was difficult for her to describe. The original regret was swept away. She stood up and smiled: "It was my fault this time. I failed to confirm the commander's will before the action. Commander, please rest assured that Hermione will not make such a low-level mistake again in the future."

"Well, that's good, don't put too much pressure on yourself."

Zhou He retracted his hand and could only sigh that Hermione's ability to regulate emotions was really strong. He turned around and walked two steps, then turned back and called Hermione who had entered the bathhouse: "Hood said he would hold a tea party, let's prepare together later."

"Ok!"

Hermione readily agreed and walked into the bathhouse.

"…The maid is awesome. No, it should be Hermione who is awesome?"

Zhou He was inspired and turned around to go out the back door again. He found that Hood had gone somewhere. He could only adjust the position of the recliner and lie down on the side facing the sun, squinting his eyes and focusing on the system interface:

Zuikaku is still working hard on the reconnaissance. The only part of the fog on the new map that has not been cleared is the area near the island. Just looking at the movement of the sirens gathering above, it seems that they have discovered Zuikaku's reconnaissance plane and are chasing it?

In terms of safety, Zhou He was not worried because Zuikaku's main body was near the headquarters and had not even left the range of the "port area" representative pattern. The only thing he had to worry about was whether the Siren aircraft carrier would conduct reconnaissance in this direction due to the flight trajectory of the reconnaissance aircraft. However, Zuikaku's enemy-luring technology was very advanced and he should not make such a mistake.

The remaining ones are Yudachi and Tosa's attack teams. These two seem to have contacted Zuikaku. Zuikaku was scouting in the west, and these two ran to the east. Now they have run out of the thirty nautical miles range of the port representative. Yudachi ran much faster and was still more than forty nautical miles outside the territory. In about an hour, he will be able to light up the new territory in the east.

"It takes four hours to go back and forth. This kind of exploration is too time-consuming and laborious."

Zhou He didn't even have to calculate it specifically. The ship girls couldn't deploy their ship equipment and stay in place overnight. They had to run back to rest after each attack, and most of the combat time was spent on the road.

He thought of the islands in the west, occupying them as a base, where his family could spend the night, and then continue to expand outward - but that is a story for the future. The best way would be to get a big ship and go out to explore, resting wherever they go.

"We are so poor and still short of people. If this situation happened in the game, it would probably lead to a stuck state, right?"

It’s not that Zhou He wants to complain about his own system, but there are too few ways to obtain resources. After all, it is a game system. Could it be that he has not yet developed it to the full extent, resulting in some functions not being enabled?

The sun was so comfortable that he began to daydream. After a while of thinking, he connected Zuikaku's video call. The girl standing on the sea looked serious at this time, with her tall ponytail fluttering in the wind, exuding a strange charm. But when she found the video call, she instantly became stupid, and a mysterious smile appeared on the corner of her mouth: "Commander, guess what I found."

"…and found that the Siren carriers did not join in the pursuit of your scout planes?"

Zhou He actually wanted to look at the handsome Zuikaku for a while longer, so he asked back unhappily after being asked. As a result, he found that Zuikaku was stunned for a moment, and he was also stunned: "Am I right?"

"Yes."

Zuikaku scratched his head and didn't keep the secret any longer: "The Siren fleet that Kursk discovered has been hovering near the island. It would attack my reconnaissance plane when it approached, but after I flew a certain distance, its reconnaissance plane would automatically return home. I tried it a few times and felt curious, so I abandoned the three reconnaissance planes and rushed in. The island ruins on that island are quite large. In addition, the Siren fleet was not guarding the island, but was more like being restricted to that area."

"what?"

Zhou He sat up slightly and switched to the map. He found that the island had indeed been explored a little more, but he still couldn't see the whole picture or the entire organization of the aircraft carrier fleet.

But, the aircraft carrier fleet was restricted to a certain area? There was such a magical thing? Wouldn't that be a free mission reward for him?

He thought for a moment and said to Zuikaku, "If you are sure that the fleet is restricted, then just send out the fleet to launch an air strike. I want to see what secrets are there."

"Uh, not so good."

Zhou He's sudden toughness made Ruihe feel guilty. Her guess was just based on a few experiments. If she guessed wrong and the fleet rushed out, wouldn't she, the so-called elite, be ruined?

Zuikaku, who had seen it with his own eyes, was not sure, so Zhou He naturally would not make a decision on his own, so he changed the topic and said, "How about this, Zuikaku, you give up the exploration in the west for now, and cooperate with Yudachi and the others to check out the situation in the east. After you come back, we can discuss how to deal with the Siren fleet."

"it is good!"

Zuikaku on the opposite side seemed to be relieved, with spots of light flickering on the ship's armor plates. Several reconnaissance planes were released again, and the planes soared into the sky and disappeared into the horizon.

The two chatted for a while, and Zhou He cut off the video, closed his eyes and lay down thinking about what Zuikaku had just said. If it was true, then it meant that there was something strange in the remaining unlit fog.

The more he thought about it, the more itchy he felt. He wanted to ask Zuikaku to light up the map immediately, but he couldn't be sure it was true, so he couldn't act rashly.

After a while, he actually fell asleep with his head down.

Hermione, who came out with tea, found Zhou He asleep. She hurriedly turned around and took out a blanket to cover him.

……

In his dream, Zhou He dreamed that a big treasure chest appeared in the western sea. After it was flattened, it gave him a lot of mind cubes and ship equipment materials. Then he woke up happily, staring blankly at the beautiful blue sky.

"Commander? Are you having a nightmare?"

Hermione, who was sitting on a chair next to her reading a cookery book, heard the noise, stood up, and found Zhou He looked very distressed. She put the book in her pocket, walked behind the recliner, and rubbed the acupoints on his head, which helped relieve his headache.

“It’s not really a nightmare.”

Zhou He narrowed his eyes again, and after a while he stood up, folded the blanket on his body and handed it to Hermione: "Thank you."

"It's your job."

Hermione smiled faintly, turned around and walked into the command center. Zhou He behind her raised his hand and stretched. The overlap between his dream and what he was thinking was similar, and there were still a lot of memories left. It can only be said that dreams have everything, but in reality he has to rely on himself to fight.

After being in a daze for two minutes, Zhou He walked back and forth in circles on the concrete road, focusing his attention on the attack map. He found that the new map in the east had also been activated, and even half of the area had been lit up. Xi Li was standing in the new sea area, and there was an icon of a submarine not far from her.

This discovery made Zhou He's eyes widen instantly. Just as he was about to notify Yuli, he saw that the submarine icon disappeared. After exclaiming, he remembered that Yuli had anti-submarine equipment, and anti-submarine was indeed the job of a destroyer, so he calmed down immediately.

"Speaking of which, if a ship girl is dropped when attacking a submarine, will she appear directly on the sea surface or directly in the water?"

Zhou He, who was unable to rest, immediately found a difficult problem for himself, and finally came to the conclusion that he appeared on the sea surface, because he could not imagine the feeling of suddenly appearing hundreds of meters deep in the sea. He felt suffocated just by thinking about it.

Even if the ship girl's body is special and her life is not in danger, her mood must be very bad. The drops from killing monsters should be a function of the system, so it will not cause her such a problem.

"It's almost time, let Yudachi and the others come back."

After finishing his useless thinking, Zhou He gave the return order to Tosa, Yudachi and Zuikaku in succession, then he turned back to the headquarters, went into the kitchen and started counting the ingredients. After thinking about it, he bought (22 remaining) a set of ingredients for making desserts (sugar, cream, etc.) from the home store and put them aside for preparation.

In terms of food raw materials, the Home Store sells them quite cheaply, mainly because of the large quantities. One serving of a finished dish is 1 Home Coin, but 1 Home Coin can be used to buy raw materials for at least ten servings. For this, he can only say that the system understands technical charges very well.

The three people who went out to attack came back early. Zhou He, who had prepared the ingredients, came out and ran into Hermione. He looked around and said, "Hermione, have you seen Hood? I also wanted to ask her what snacks to prepare for the royal tea."

"Ms. Hood said she was going to explore the island and left a list before she left."

Hermione groaned, patted her hands lightly, took out a piece of paper with a list of delicate words from her pocket and handed it to Zhou He: "I know a little bit about how to make these snacks. If the commander wants to learn, I will assist the commander."

"Then I'll trouble you, Hermione."

Zhou He looked at the handwriting on the note and sighed, "Your Donghuang characters are really well written."

"Commander, it's also very well written."

Hermione responded with a faint smile, and her sincere expression made Zhou He grin in embarrassment. His handwriting could only be described as barely readable, and it had nothing to do with the word good.

The two of them exchanged a few polite words, and Zhou He took Hermione out of the headquarters and took a walk on the lawn where the humidity had almost dissipated. He casually said, "But the royal tea party should be afternoon tea, right? When Yuli and the others come back and have dinner, it will be afternoon. Wouldn't it be a bit difficult to hold a tea party by then?"

"Well, to borrow the words of the ladies, 'sweets are in another stomach'. Commander, please be careful with your wording. It's okay for other camps, but the ladies of the royal family always have their own special things that they care about and don't want to be made public."

Hermione had doubts about the truth of this statement, but if she was just having afternoon tea with Zhou He, she felt that there was absolutely no problem with it.

She closed her eyes gently, feeling the conflict in her thoughts.

"Yeah, I remember."

Zhou He often heard this sentence in anime, but the truth was that he felt sick of desserts after a full meal. However, the wording should be chosen carefully. For example, the Royal's Crawler was nicknamed a fat dinosaur by players because it was too heavy. I wonder if Crawler will be troubled by its weight after it was built.

weight…

The weight of the ship girl?

Zhou He observed Hermione's perfect figure from the side. Normally, he only gave Yuudachi physical contact by patting her head, and he had never tried to pick her up. Judging from the strength levels displayed by Tosa and Kursk, their weight must be beyond the 'visual estimation' level.

"..."

Hermione opened her eyes as if she had sensed something and looked sideways at Zhou He: "Commander, are you thinking of something impolite?"

"Just some little questions that suddenly occurred to me."

Zhou He smiled and retracted his gaze. He would know when Xili came back. It would be no problem to ask Hermione for help, but it would be easier to fool than Xili. It would be better to have less trouble than more. He put one hand on his waist and looked at the bay in the distance: "Everyone in the port area is working so hard. I have to work hard too. Let's pave another 20 meters of road tomorrow."

"Well, rather than the road behind, Commander, would you like to cover the lawn in front of the headquarters first?"

Hermione hesitated for a moment and gave a suggestion: "It often rains for several consecutive days at sea. If we don't prepare early, it will be difficult for us to go out."

Zhou He frowned slightly. This was indeed a problem. It snowed for a while yesterday and then stopped. If it continued to snow for a few days, the grass would turn into mud. If we wanted to attack then we would have to wade through the mud first. It would be a picture of hell.

But judging from the thickness of the coverage in the morning, the thickness of the converted cement floor is about 18~20cm, which is too high to cover the grass directly... Is it really possible?

He followed Hermione and looked back. The foundation of the headquarters was nearly half a meter higher than the lawn. One had to walk down three steps. If the lawn was covered with a road, the three steps would become just one step. Did that seem acceptable?

"Hmm... using height differences to highlight different levels is also an architectural technique?"

Zhou He touched his chin and felt some limitations of the home system products.

If I have the chance in the future, I will buy machines and raw materials directly and do it myself to have enough food and clothing.

Chapter 32 Exploration

"Hey, Commander."

Following the order, Zuikaku, which was closest to the port, turned around and returned to the bay. Seeing Zhou He and Hermione walking on the beach, he walked over quite naturally, waved and said with a smile as if he hadn't seen them for a long time, "I'm back."

"Welcome back, Zuikaku, but it seems like you haven't been out very far."

Zhou He didn't understand why Zuikaku was so happy. He raised his hand to cooperate and clapped his hands before complaining. Seeing that Zuikaku didn't care, he shrugged and changed the subject: "My 'enemy radar' can only see the areas you have surveyed. Your reconnaissance plane didn't fly over the islands and the mysterious sea, so I can't see the exact situation here. Tell me in detail what your reconnaissance plane saw."

How should I put it? His system is convenient, but too rigid. For many things, you can only get feedback from the system if you do them down to earth.

"Commander, this isn't as useful as I thought. Well, this is what happened..."

Zuikaku made a magical complaint, then realized he was being stared at by Zhou He, and looked away embarrassedly before explaining the situation in more detail.

In war, often times one has to take risks in order to obtain intelligence. This was also the case with Zuikaku's reconnaissance this time. After learning that there was an aircraft carrier fleet near the island, she first scouted that area. As a result, she was discovered by the Sirens as soon as she approached. The reconnaissance plane was chased by fighter jets from the Siren aircraft carrier for a long time before it ran away. After circling nearby for half an hour, she approached again, but was discovered and chased for a long time again. After several attempts back and forth, the Siren aircraft carrier did not chase her to the end.

Later, she abandoned the reconnaissance plane and saw the aircraft carrier fleet anchored on the sea outside the island from afar. It was unmoved by the teasing of her reconnaissance plane. If it came close, it would be attacked, and if it didn't come close, it would be ignored. This is the main reason why Zuikaku guessed that the Siren aircraft carrier was restricted and guarding the open space.

"It does seem to be the case when you put it that way."

Zhou He touched his chin. The Sirens they encountered before were the type that would fight to the death. This aircraft carrier fleet that was parked on the sea and ignored the enemy must have some problems.

But it is not certain that the Siren Fleet will have other actions when it uses an aircraft carrier or battleship as the flagship. In short, this is something worthy of attention and something to be thankful for. Otherwise, based on the previous fighting on his side, if the Siren Fleet came to support him, he would really have to move away and escape.

"I see. I'll make arrangements for the Siren tomorrow. Zuikaku, did you see Hood when you came back? He said he went to scout the island's terrain."

Putting the matter aside, Zhou He looked towards the direction of the bay. Everyone, including him, thought the topography of this port was great, but only Hood really went to inspect it carefully. It can only be said that the older generation of ships are indeed detailed and cautious enough.

"Well, I saw it. It's at the foot of the mountain over there. There are many fruit trees growing by the beach. I wonder if we can eat them."

Zuikaku thought for a moment and pointed to the high mountains on the right side of the bay.

"Really? Come and have a look when you have time."