Revisiting Azur Lane

"Well, actually our port was only recently established, and we don't have a complete number yet. We are worried about how to find allies to deal with the Siren's unusual movements. What a coincidence~"

Hood smiled faintly and followed Zhou He's instructions without releasing any of his own intelligence. As for whether Lexington's remarks were true or false, it didn't matter. From the words of Zhanlie Kaga, who came from an independent world, it had been confirmed that the course of history in each parallel world was similar.

Although she and Bismarck passed away early, there were still people in the family who had spent the war peacefully. As long as they got a little historical information from Lexington, they could roughly judge the current world situation.

Therefore, after their respective attempts to ask each other questions failed, Hood went straight to the point and mentioned that they were originally exploring the topography of the sea area around the port area, and suddenly discovered that Lexington and several others were confronting the Sirens, and that Akagi Kaga of the Sakura Empire was among the Sirens. She emphasized that they didn't know 'why Akagi Kaga was hanging out with the Sirens'.

“We don’t know about this either.”

Lexington didn't say anything superficial when he got to the point. Instead, he frowned and said, "The mission we received was to intercept the Siren transport fleet that would pass through the coral island. However, shortly after the encounter, we entered the mirror sea area here and then started fighting with the Siren commanded by Akagi and the others."

"Coral Island?"

Zuikaku, who was explaining the port situation to Shokaku, looked sideways at the place name. Wasn't this the place where she and Shokaku sank the Lexington together?

Is it such a coincidence?

"Well, what's the problem here?"

Lexington listened to Zuikaku's speech with a sidelong glance.

"Don't you..."

Zuikaku, who was outspoken, wanted to ask directly, but was interrupted by Shokaku with a faint and comfortable smile on his face: "It just sounds a little familiar. Not long ago, we also received an order to go here to carry out a mission, but we didn't carry it out afterwards for some reason."

"I see."

Lexington had no doubts, because the headquarters had indeed received intelligence that the Sakura Empire fleet was active near the coral island. Therefore, when they first met the Akagi sisters, they did not hesitate too much and asked them to let them pass.

But the situation was very different from what they had imagined.

"Ugh..."

Zuikaku had an indescribable expression on his face, and he ran to the side with Shokaku and whispered, "Sister Shokaku, if nothing unexpected happens, the battle will start soon. It would be terrible if we just let it go."

"It's okay. Look at their condition. After this battle, they will have to return home for maintenance for at least three months or even half a year. Even if the Siren wants to recreate history, it won't be now."

At this moment, Shokaku really wanted to reach out and touch Zuikaku's head, praising her for being a straightforward and kind child.

"Ah! Yes."

Zuikaku suddenly realized and instantly felt refreshed, but soon hugged his head again: "But, if this is true, then these White Eagle people are also from other worlds, and our home is not near the coral island at all!"

"This is really a bit regrettable."

Shokaku originally didn't know why his fleet had to join forces with the White Eagle Fleet, but now he knows.

She glanced sideways at the two people who were still chatting and laughing in front of her, feeling a little amazed. With their talents, they must have noticed this, but they were still able to maintain such a natural conversation. It was quite amazing.

The team moved forward slowly, and suddenly, Lexington felt a slight change in the brightness of the surrounding environment. When she was about to speak, she suddenly found that the fleet that was originally beside her had disappeared. Looking back, the other people in the team were also shocked.

"Sister, that fleet is indeed..."

Saratoga blurted out the words she had been holding back all the way. After hearing Hood's self-introduction, she felt something was wrong. Why would the royal family appear near the coral island? And then when she saw Bismarck and the people from the Sakura Empire, she realized that they had encountered a very serious incident.

"Yes, I didn't expect that so many shipgirls from different factions could come together to act together."

Lexington naturally noticed something unusual, but compared to the abnormality, she was more concerned about the scenes that she could not even dream of, such as "the Royal and Iron Blood ship girls fighting side by side" and "the White Eagle and the Sakura Empire people mingling together."

"If, we can also..."

She sighed softly. Even though they had not completely fallen out, it was almost the same. If this continued, when would they be able to drive out the Siren?

"Sister, the headquarters' communication is connected."

Saratoga at this time did not have the tenacity to shoulder the responsibility in the future, and did not understand Lexington's regret. She just conveyed the news from the headquarters: "The mission failed, and the headquarters asked us to go back and recuperate."

"Well, let's go home too."

A faint smile appeared on Lexington's face again, and he led the fleet and disappeared into the sea.

……

In another ocean, the sun was hanging high in the sky. A silver-haired girl wearing black mechanical animal ears was lying on a ship outfit covered with tentacles, her golden eyes flashing with data.

"I thought I could use this opportunity to communicate with observers from other worlds, but it seems the isolation rules between worlds are more rigid than I thought."

The observer muttered to herself. After leaving the matter to the tester and the purifier, she began to try to visit the world where Zhou He was. However, no matter how many times she applied for access, she could not get permission from the 'host' of that world.

Perhaps she, an individual from another world, was identified.

what a pity.

Chapter 74: Reconciliation

"call."

Watching the huge black vortex covering East Districts 3 and 4 and North Districts 4 and 5 disappear, Zhou He, who was sitting in the office on the third floor of the command center, breathed a sigh of relief, pushed his chair aside, stood up and looked out the window at the sun that was already setting.

This battle lasted a long time, nearly seven hours, from morning to four in the afternoon, and now it was almost five o'clock. It was no small burden for Zhou He to concentrate for such a long time. His own warships would suffer varying degrees of damage every few minutes. Even switching interfaces and issuing commands were quite urgent, so he could only talk about the key points.

Fortunately, this sudden support mission was successfully concluded. Not only did he gain the general Battleship Kaga and get two mission rewards, but he also understood the rules of this temporary ship girl system:

If the ship girls outside the port area become curious about the port area where he is and want to go there, they will be classified as temporary areas. As for how to make temporary become permanent, Zhou He is not sure yet. This time he personally intervened with Kaga and Akagi, but failed to make them regulars. The moment the mirror sea disappeared, they disappeared from the dock.

“Is it so difficult to salvage the boat?”

Zhou He frowned slightly, then thought, maybe it was the same as Tirpitz, Hipper and others before. It was not that they did not want to come from their home port area, but that they had no way to truly set foot in this world.

After all, they only knew of his existence through the superposition state of the mirror sea, rather than actually arriving in this world through the world shuttle device.

In other words, if he wants to salvage the ship, he has to build a world shuttle first, otherwise no matter how much the ship girls want to join his port, they will not be able to join.

"..."

"Is this system for sale?"

After a moment's silence, Zhou He sat back in his office seat and looked through the props in the Home Mall again. He tried every way to search with keywords, but still couldn't find the machine to break the world wall. Only equipment for daily use was provided here. Even if some of the things in it were cutting-edge technology, they were still just auxiliary things.

For example, manned space rockets.

It was hard for him to imagine what changes this thing would bring to his life. Would he go to space when he had time? Would he carry a satellite developed independently into space?

Such a conspicuous thing feels like it will be intercepted and shot down by the Sirens before it even leaves the atmosphere.

He sighed lightly, closed the home mall and switched to the task interface, claiming three completed tasks with one click.

'Mind Cube x6, Optional Furniture Box x1, Optional Research and Development Blueprint x5, Optional Ship Equipment Parts x7, Home Coin 21'

The Rubik's Cube that was originally emptied was replenished again, and this time the rewards were full. In addition, what Zhou He was most concerned about was the self-selected furniture box. After getting it, he immediately clicked it to browse and began to choose from the many buildings inside.

He had previously chosen a restaurant, which solved his cooking problem. Next, facing the rapidly increasing number of ship girls, he had to solve the accommodation problem.

'What style of dormitory should I choose?'

If Zhou He were asked to choose a house for himself, he would definitely choose a modern multifunctional villa, but this is where his ship girls live, and there are people from different camps mixed together, so it is a bit troublesome to choose.

Otherwise, why not just go for a residential apartment building?

……

As the sky gradually darkened, darkness slowly enveloped the earth and the ocean. Zhou He sat under the dock lighthouse with its high beam shining, feeling the cold wind and looking into the depths of the pitch-black sea.

"Commander, everyone hasn't come back yet, meow?"

At this time, besides Zhou He, there was only a lazy big cat left in the port area. It hid somewhere and fished during the day, and only came out to look for food at night. After eating enough dried fish, it went out and saw Zhou He under the lighthouse, so it came over.

"It's almost there. Kursk should be here soon."

Zhou He didn't know everyone's exact location. After entering the 30-nautical-mile range of the command center, he could no longer see the specific sea map. This clumsy setting made him feel very uncomfortable.

Akashi had an impression of Kursk. She meowed and found a bench nearby to sit down. She looked up at the beam of light emitted by the lighthouse. She could see many insects flying in it. She wagged her tail and seemed to be very interested in it.

As Zhou He expected, the first one to return to the port was Kursk. On this trip, she did not directly participate in the team fighting against the Sirens, but just followed Zhou He's instructions and completed a lot of ancillary tasks. When she received the order to return to the port, she was the one closest to the port.

The bay was very quiet at night. Zhou He, whose eyes had adapted to the night light, quickly caught sight of Kursk's bright white figure. After waving, he attracted Kursk's attention and came over.

"Kursk, welcome back."

Zhou He stood on the shore and stretched out his hand with a smile. Kursk landed along the stepped shallow steps specially provided for them to moor and go ashore at the pier. After taking off his sharp claw gloves, he held Zhou He's hand and cooperated with him with a light jump to come in front of him.

"You've been hard on this mission. I'll be hosting a celebration party and welcome party when everyone returns. Would you like to sit in?"

Zhou He took two steps back and let go of Kursk's gloved but still somewhat cold hand. He looked at the girl in front of him who was much taller than him, with a calm expression but still possessed a strong feminine charm, and asked casually with a tone that was half joking and half suggestion.

“…I’m not very good at this.”

Under the night sky of Kursk, his eyes, emitting a faint red glow, fell on Zhou He's smiling face. He hesitated slightly before looking away and gave an answer.

"Well, it's okay."

Zhou He was just trying it. Seeing Kursk was reluctant, he didn't say much. He changed the subject and asked about his feelings after fighting with the Siren Executor.

Kursk did not directly participate in large-scale fighting during this trip, but he also operated in that sea area and encountered many executors and had battles with them.

In this regard, she spoke her mind without much thought: "In terms of firepower, many models of Executors have not been significantly enhanced compared to mass-produced models. The more troublesome thing is that their mobility has been improved. Under the premise of someone directing from behind, they are a considerable threat."

"Yeah."

Zhou He thought about it for a moment. The executors in the game were more or less at the elite level, with a number of high-performance armed forces. However, the executor team they encountered this time was no different from ordinary battleships in terms of performance.

I don’t know whether it is a good thing or a bad thing, but let’s pay attention to it.

After a brief exchange with Kursk, the faster destroyers appeared at the entrance of the bay. Yuli was the fastest and was far ahead. As soon as he came in, he found Zhou He's position and ran back screaming.

"Go back and rest first."

Zhou He did not try to keep Kursk, and even urged her to take a bath. Everyone would come back soon, and it would be too late for her to take a hot spring bath.

Kursk nodded, turned around and walked away slowly, while Zhou He repeated his old trick and stood on the dock to welcome Yudachi, who had returned victorious but with her clothes in tatters. Although she had a lovely smile on her face, Zhou He felt very strange in his heart, as he was not used to his own ship girl returning with injuries.

Even so, Zhou He still smiled, looking at Yuli who was standing on tiptoe in front of him to ask for credit, and reached out to touch her little head which felt very good: "Welcome back."

"I am back!"

Yuli rubbed Zhou He's palm, blinked, and swayed his body from side to side, as if hesitating about something. Zhou He noticed and smiled, reaching out to hold Yuli in his arms: "This is a reward for a good child."

"Uh-huh!"

Yuli narrowed his eyes, skillfully hugged Zhou He's waist and rubbed it in his arms, even his little eyebrows relaxed.

The one running in the front was Yudachi, and the Javelin, Lingmin and other destroyers behind were not too far behind. They came over and saw Yudachi acting like a spoiled child, then looked left and right and then at Zhou He, but finally they were reserved and did not choose to do the same as Yudachi. Javelin and Z23 greeted politely, while Lingmin wanted to be a chatterbox and complained to Zhou He that Kursk did not go to be her bodyguard, and she was scared to death when she rushed into the enemy's artillery coverage area.

After that, she complained that Zhou He had taken away the job she was supposed to do (repairing and inspecting ship equipment). After the battle, she only saw some damaged ship equipment from the injured White Eagles, and they disappeared before she could even touch them with her own hands, which made her very itchy.

Zhou He always responded to such minor quarrels with a smile, and then at the right time he said that it was his problem and he would pay attention next time.

Lingmin, a genius mechanic, also fell for it. She didn't dwell on the battle anymore. Instead, she got a lot of inspiration from the battle and wrote it down. Then Zhou He arranged for Javelin and others to go back to the headquarters to find a room of her choice, renovate it, and then attend the celebration banquet.

Yuudachi also left, and Akashi also secretly joined the team. Now that everyone was back, she, a powerless cat, no longer had to guard Zhou He.

"Next is Senrei Kaga. In the game, it's Kaga BB, but it would be more appropriate for me to just call him Kaga now."

After sending off the destroyers, Zhou He counted on his fingers and remembered that Kaga BB in the game had a very enthusiastic personality. It could be said that he was as energetic as Yudachi, but he had a lot of arrogance in his personality. Like Tosa, he was a strong man, so he called Kaga directly, which was equivalent to respecting the existence of Battleship Kaga.

In theory, it should be possible to create a good impression with Battleship Kaga.

In this large-scale operation, so many ship girls were defeated but only one ship, Kaga, was dropped. It was a bit unlucky according to the previous delivery rate, but the mission reward was six Rubik's Cubes, which was equivalent to collecting seven ship girls in one attack. Overall, it was quite good.

Hermione, Cleveland and several other light cruisers were more stable than the destroyers. They did not run back just because they were faster, but followed the battleships obediently and returned to the port as a guard.

"commander!"

After Zuikaku landed, he quickly came to Zhou He in two steps. He was very excited and had a smile on his face, but it was not a complete smile.

"You want to compliment me? No problem, I can handle it."

Zhou He snapped his fingers, revealing an expression that said, "Am I awesome?"

After Shokaku and Zuikaku reunited, he had a video call with Zuikaku. He didn't expect that Zuikaku would nag him about Shokaku every day, and he was actually a little scared when he actually found Shokaku. When he wanted to watch the show on video, Zuikaku complained about him, saying that he didn't inform her in advance, and she didn't even think of praising Shokaku's lines, etc. The main point was sincerity.

"It doesn't matter how many compliments you say."

Zuikaku took over the conversation, and directly put his arm around Zhou He's shoulder like a friend, and took him aside with a serious look on his face: "Commander, please don't say that I worked part-time on a fishing boat. I can do these things by myself, but if Sister Xianghe knew about it, I would be embarrassed."

After all, she is a noble aircraft mother and theoretically a small leader. If her family knew that her function in the port area is to serve as a fishing boat, she would be somewhat overwhelmed.

"That's all, it's nothing."

Zhou He raised his eyebrows and smiled mysteriously.