Revisiting Azur Lane

The light lasted for more than ten seconds and then gradually disappeared. Xuefeng was still the same Xuefeng, but the scars on his body had disappeared.

"She's in this state. Let her rest in the medical room for a night. I've already packed it up."

Zhou He walked forward and touched Xuefeng's slightly cold cheek, sighed in his heart and said.

Tosa nodded and carried Xuefeng towards the headquarters, while Yudachi shouted beside him, "I'll go too," and ran to catch up with Tosa, followed closely by Jarvis. Hood and his group, who did not want to dine at night, left first, leaving a group of young people who had never thought about gaining weight, and followed Zhou He towards the restaurant.

No one was injured in this attack, the Siren cadres were repelled, and Yukikaze meta was rescued. It was a perfect operation.

Therefore, Zhou He asked everyone around him as he walked: "Tell me about the specific process of executing the task."

To be honest, when the Clearer came out to attack Xuefeng, he was extremely nervous. Based on Xuefeng's durability at the time, he was afraid that he would be killed by a few shots from this guy. He was already considering whether to repair Xuefeng's injuries, but then Xuefeng's health bar inexplicably became locked, which dissuaded him from the idea.

"The process of this mission was a bit boring and strange."

The four carriers contributed the most in this operation. Yorktown and Nagashima did not come along, so Zuikaku had the final say. She walked in front of Zhou He, leaning sideways like a crab, and spread her palms towards Zhou He: "After we arrived at the location, we have been waiting for your order, Commander. As a result, those three Siren cadres drove Xuefeng directly in front of us. At that time, I thought the Sirens were plotting something, but after hearing your order, they forced them back and retrieved Xuefeng who had little resistance."

"Is this so?"

Zhou He instinctively felt that something was wrong, but the Siren couldn't find his port area, so it didn't matter if there was a problem. He thought for a moment and said, "Those experimenters must have wanted to use the snow wind as bait to lure you out and lock onto our port area. There must be some corresponding means hidden in the dark, but I didn't expect you to be so brave that they had no place to use their strength."

"Yeah! I thought so too."

Zuikaku showed a rather proud expression when he heard that. In response, Shokaku covered his cheek with his hands to hide his helpless smile. Shentong, Cleveland and the others also smiled when they heard that.

"Hmm! I never thought that Zuikaku and the others could display such powerful combat capabilities at night. It's really eye-opening."

Zhou He liked Zuikaku's straightforward personality that easily won over by praise, so he simply added a touch of praise, making Zuikaku extremely happy. She patted her chest and gave a thumbs-up, saying something like 'this is what I said before the attack, now you believe it, Commander?' - Shokaku next to him blushed, he really didn't expect his sister to be so easily praised, it was so embarrassing.

But... Shokaku stole a glance at Zhou He and found that his expression seemed softer than usual. Perhaps such straightforward praise was not just out of a desire to see Zuikaku's fun.

"By the way, Lingmin, if you want to attack next time, remember to tell me. There's no need to be so quiet."

Taking his attention away from Ruihe, Zhou He suddenly thought of something. He turned his eyes and called out to Lingmin who was about to slip away.

"Hmph~ I didn't attack secretly, it's just that you, Commander, didn't notice me."

The agile figure paused after being called, turned around and waved his fingers in front of him. The expression on his face was a little proud at first, and then became tangled: "I heard that the goal of this mission is to capture a ship girl with abnormal combat capabilities, so I thought that the composition of her ship equipment must be very strange, but I just observed it, and it seems that there is nothing special."

"What does her ship suit look like?"

Zhou He has never seen Xuefeng's meta ship outfit, and her meta element has not been implemented in the game. Could it be that Xuefeng's ship outfit is very plain and simple?

"Yukikaze's ship suit is a wolf."

Someone nearby spoke up to explain, and Zhou He perked up. It turned out to be a wolf, that was so cool.

I remember that the meta ship outfit of someone from Sakura Empire was a demon mask that looked like Prajna. To be honest, I found it a bit hard to appreciate it. It was better to keep it simple.

"That wolf has a lot of life layers, it doesn't look like a mechanical life form, but the strength of her armor is worth pondering."

Although she could think about it, her sensitive expression showed that she was not very interested in it.

“It is very worth pondering.”

Zhou He corrected him, but didn't say much. Instead, he changed the subject: "It's a good thing that Lingmin is here. Can you and Mingshi help design damage control for you? I'm worried that I won't be able to support you in time."

"It's a bit troublesome. I'll think about it later."

Lingmin did not refuse. During today's attack, she saw the laser cannon of the Cleaners. Weapons of that level were simply beyond the capability of their ships and bodies to withstand. It was not just about damage control. She thought that more protective devices needed to be installed on the ships.

"please."

Zhou He smiled and nodded. He believed in Akashi's R&D capabilities.

After several exchanges, the crowd had arrived outside the restaurant. The interior of the restaurant was lit with warm yellow lights, which looked extremely cozy. Zhou He invited everyone in and asked the barbarians to serve him midnight snacks, but he did not eat them himself. Instead, he found an excuse to slip out, walking on the night road with the cold wind blowing, checking the parameters of the black-framed portrait with the unlimited background text 'Snow Wind.META' that appeared in the dock.

As expected, the strength of Xuefeng was reduced. The original durability value of 50,000 was reduced to just over 20,000. Other parameters were also cut in half, but there were still more than 300 artillery strikes and 1,000 lightning strikes.

This girl still has a weird stats, but at least her stats haven't been nerfed to levels even lower than those of an ordinary ship like when playing the game. The system still uses the basic laws, and the meta ship girl has the same stats as an ordinary ship girl. So hasn't her suffering been in vain, and hasn't she been meta-ized in vain?

I really hope that these game operators could do something about their human resources, at least not make the awesome characters in the plot become disabled people in the hands of players.

"Huh, I wonder if Xuefeng will make a fuss about going back when she wakes up."

After turning off the system panel, Zhou He returned to the command building with a breath. It was also quite lively here. Tosa was leaning against the wall outside the infirmary door, while Yudachi and Jarvis were inside observing Yukikaze.

In the game and the background story, Yudachi has a very good relationship with Yukikaze and Shigure, but now Yudachi is not concerned about his friends, but is concerned about the Yukikaze meta with the mentality of "nothing can happen to the new member."

"Is the treatment complete?"

Looking at Zhou He who appeared, Tosa asked casually, and Zhou He nodded: "The light that just lit up was to remove and disperse the energy that exceeded her body's tolerance. The remaining power will no longer affect her consciousness. It's just that her mental state is very poor, and she may need to rest for a long time."

"..."

Tosa pursed her lips. She thought she was used to Zhou He's abilities, but Zhou He always gave her new tricks. After a moment of silence, she asked, "Did anyone else say anything to you?"

"We talked about your mission process. You need Agility to help with damage control."

Zhou He counted them carefully on his fingers, then instinctively covered his mouth with his hand and yawned. He hadn't stayed up late for a long time, and he started to feel sleepy before 12 o'clock.

This is not the reaction a Hong Kong commander-in-chief should have.

"Yes, you should go to bed early."

Tosa hummed, and without saying anything else, he stood up and left.

"I hate the Riddler."

Zhou He curled his lips, but he knew clearly what Tosa meant - this time he snatched the Yukikaze meta from the Siren cadres, and coupled with the old grudge from a few days ago, the Siren would definitely retaliate more severely, and their external situation might become more severe than it is now.

Tosa, Hood, Bismarck and the others all knew this, but they hadn't discussed it with him, probably because it was already late today and they didn't want him to go to sleep with doubts and pressure.

What a nice group of girls.

Zhou He thought to himself and walked into the infirmary to check Xuefeng's current condition. Jarvis performed his essential work, checked Xuefeng's current physical condition, and answered with a serious face: "Currently Xuefeng's body has been completely restored, but her consciousness is not awake, which means that her spirit has suffered a strong and profound blow. The best way is to let her body feedback to her spirit to wake up on its own. Another way is to wake her up forcibly, but her spirit may not be stable."

"Let her rest. You heard it, Yudachi. Don't worry. Go eat first."

Zhou He was not in a hurry to wake up the Xuefeng meta, and walked forward and patted Yudachi's shoulder.

"Well, I got it."

Faced with the choice between food and care, Yuudachi hesitated for half a second before choosing food. Then he took a step and ran away.

"Greedy little guy."

Zhou He couldn't help laughing, and then nodded to Jarvis: "Jarvis, you should go and have a rest too. The port is very safe."

"Wait a moment, Commander, please go and rest."

Jarvis remained calm, sitting next to Xuefeng and admonishing Zhou He in return.

"Then I'll leave first."

Now that everyone was rescued, Zhou He naturally had no reason to stay up late. After briefly explaining a few words to Jarvis, he turned around and tried to go upstairs. Halfway up, he remembered that he had to sleep in the new dormitory tonight, so he had to turn back, left through the back door in the cold wind, and quickly went into the new dormitory and turned on the lights inside.

"Hey, why did the commander go over there?"

Before Yuli entered the restaurant, he found that the lights in the new dormitory were on, and Zhou He's figure was reflected in the light. He felt something strange and an inspiration flashed through his mind, and he showed an honest smile.

Chapter 113 Taking in Xuefeng

When he regained consciousness, Zhou He's first feeling was that it was very hot, and his second feeling was that it was very noisy. Although there was no sound in his ears, he felt as if he was on a battlefield. The sounds of explosions, wind, the rolling waves of the sea, and people's shouts came together, making him feel irritated from the bottom of his heart. He opened his eyes with a frown.

It was not a strange ceiling. What immediately caught Zhou He's eyes was a scene like a war disaster movie: multiple warships of different shapes were bombed by aerial aircraft. The burning flames were reflected on the sea, as if the sea was burning. The black smoke accompanied by the flames of the explosion rose into the sky and mixed with the aircraft groups that covered the sky, almost covering the entire sky.

A dark and cold feeling kept coming from all parts of his body. Suddenly, a black and red plane swooped towards Zhou He. He instinctively raised his hand to block it, but a figure stood in front of him. Intensive gunfire sounded and the plane was forced to rise high.

Zhou He recognized the familiar figure, it was Shen Tong.

"what happened…"

He tried to ask, but found that he could not make a sound. Shentong turned around at this time. His military uniform was tattered and even fluttering in the wind, but there was no trace of his beauty. There were many deep and bloody wounds that could cause phantom pain to the naked eye.

"The front line has been lost. Follow me and leave the battlefield."

Shentong's originally beautiful and neat long hair was now wet and scattered on her face, covering half of her face. She looked disheveled, but her expression was stern and there was fire burning in her eyes. She did not look like a defeated general at all.

It seemed like he was talking to himself. Zhou He wanted to answer, but his vision suddenly changed. His body suddenly became so light that he was blown back by the sea breeze. He also saw clearly who Shentong was talking to: Xuefeng.

'Is this a dream?'

At this moment, Zhou He finally sorted out his thoughts, and his eyes were fixed on Xuefeng who was gathering teams in various places on the battlefield with Shentong, until they slowly left with their backs to the burning battlefield. The last scene was Xuefeng looking back.

Zhou He was unable to see Yukikaze's expression at this moment, because a strong pulling force carried him as if he was riding in a car and began to shuttle between many scenes, including Yukikaze's rest and adjustments after returning to leave the Shentong team and join other teams to participate in combat and escort missions, including Mogami, Hiei, Shokaku, Takao, Agano, Fuso, Suzuya, Chikuma and other ship girls of the Sakura Empire that Zhou He knew.

Xuefeng also changed from being a protected person at the beginning to a brave fighter, constantly participating in battles, getting injured, fighting, and getting injured.

The process was hard, but the ending was cruel. Every battle she participated in ended in failure. Facing the pressing Siren fleet, the combat team that Yukikaze participated in would see a reduction in personnel every time. Both the front-row vanguard and the main force in the back row were sacrificed indiscriminately. Even the decisive ships of the Sakura Empire, Musashi, Shinano and others became Yukikaze's background board.

During this period, Xuefeng gradually changed from being lively and intelligent to being silent, even crazy. He always charged at the front in battle, but always came back alive. His figure standing alone on the sea looked so lonely.

Even so, the Siren's army was still advancing. The entire Sakura Empire had been beaten to the point of losing its ability to take care of itself, and almost all of its battleships were dead. At this point, Yukikaze, who had returned from the defeat, was injected with an energy agent of unknown origin by the Sakura Empire's scientific researchers who had been driven crazy in the name of "maintenance and repair."

Later, the experimental base was razed to the ground by the infighting between Xuefeng and others, and the others had already evacuated, and Xuefeng was completely abandoned.

In silence and despair, she walked towards the deep sea. During the battle, the magic cube energy in her body began to run wild. Her body, clothes and even ship uniforms underwent drastic changes. The final scene was frozen on the scene where Xuefeng met with the observer and others who led the team.

But Zhou He's body was still moving forward, passing through the endless darkness and seeing a faint light - it was a seemingly simple island port area, a very frugal-looking living room, in which stood many girls with different expressions but all with expectations and smiles, and in the middle of them stood a person.

The moment he saw himself, Zhou He woke up in shock.

……

“Is this what the system calls propaganda?”

Zhou He, who was startled awake in the unfamiliar new dormitory, sat up abruptly, raised his right hand to touch his forehead covered with sweat, and calmed his breathing from rapidity. He took a long breath, but frowned quickly again: "Is that the experience before Xuefeng turned evil?"

Most of the normal dreams would be forgotten upon waking up, but this dream, which seemed so real, was so vivid in his memory that he had to suspect that the system was playing tricks on him.

Moreover, this system is too honest, isn't it? The so-called "attraction" is to show the situation of the ship girls before the meta-blackening? The main theme is reality, right? How can this attract people?

Well, it seems that there is.

Zhou He gradually calmed down but still felt very hot. Perhaps it was because the bed was covered with a down quilt for winter. Even covered with a blanket... something was wrong.

Zhou He lowered his head to glance at the bulging blanket on his left hand, reached out and pulled it away. Xi Lizheng, who was curled up in his pajamas, opened his eyes dazedly. His hazy, innocent eyes were matched with messy hair sticking to his face and his furry ears twitching.

If he hadn't been awakened and his emotions fluctuated greatly, Zhou He reasonably suspected that he would have had a big bump because of Yuudachi's sleeping posture that was so cute that it made people want to eat it.

But there was no if, Zhou He turned around decisively, got out of bed and started to get dressed.

"Um, Commander?"

Yuli rubbed his eyes and sat up. He saw Wei was looking at Zhou He obediently. Zhou He looked askance. He couldn't help leaning over and supporting himself on the bed with one hand. He rubbed Yuli's head with the other hand and said viciously, "When did you get in last night? Look, you made me sweat."

"Hey~"

Yuudachi enjoyed Zhou He's touch, her body swaying left and right with his strength, revealing a cute look of getting away with it.

"Hmph, I won't pursue it this time. Remember to pay attention next time. I'm going to pass by first."

Zhou He naturally didn't really want to hold Yuli accountable. After giving him a verbal warning, he put on his clothes, walked out of the bedroom first, closed the door, and then let out a long sigh. He rubbed his equally messy hair, walked through the living room and left the new dormitory. He didn't think he would have a "nightmare" and didn't bring any clean clothes. He could only quickly return to the command building, and under the strange gazes of other people who got up early, he stepped up to the third floor, took a quiet shower, and changed into new clothes.

And after he went downstairs, he got the news.

"Xuefeng has woken up."

Even without Jarvis' reminder, Zhou He saw Xuefeng standing by the door of the infirmary. She was still wearing the black dress she wore yesterday. This was not a simple dress, but a new dress obtained by the resonance of the clothes on her body with her energy during Xuefeng's energy rampage. The quality was guaranteed, and it was a bulletproof vest similar to a cannon-proof vest.

Before the time travel, there was no Xuefeng meta in the game. Last night, Zhou He was still thinking about how to get along with Xuefeng. Then he saw her life experience in his dream. Now when he saw Xuefeng meta herself, his mind was full of Xuefeng's experience without a trace of hope. It was too heavy, so heavy that he didn't even know how to say hello.

His mind was going through a storm, but his body didn't stop. He walked slowly to the door of the infirmary and stood in front of Xuefeng. He looked at the girl in front of him, who was completely different from the lively and cheerful Xuefeng in his memory. She was silent and cold, and even comparable to Tosa. His body was one step faster than his brain and smiled: "Hello, we found you were besieged by Sirens yesterday, so we found a way to bring you out. How do you feel now? Are you feeling unwell?"

"Thank you. I feel great."

Xuefeng raised his head, staring at Zhou He with his orange eyes, and said in a pleasant voice with a little lowness: "I have nowhere to go back to, can you take me in here?"

"Well... of course, as long as you don't mind my small port area."

Unexpectedly, Xuefeng was so direct that Zhou He hesitated for a moment before nodding. He wanted to add, "You can leave when you want to," but this was too hypocritical. It really went against his original intention of "keeping" Xuefeng as a meta. He couldn't say it out loud, but turned around and looked at the early risers who were all peeking over here. He pointed at Shentong who was hiding the farthest away and said, "Shentong, you be Xuefeng's temporary instructor. Don't let her learn bad things from Zuikaku and Kaga."

"Hey!"

Before Shentong could say anything, someone jumped in from the main door and stared at Zhou He with wide eyes: "I haven't shown up for a while, Commander, and you're already saying bad things about me?"

"is it?"

Zhou He raised his eyebrows, his eyes first stayed on Zuikaku, then glanced behind her. In an instant, Zuikaku sensed a sense of crisis, and immediately raised his hand and coughed twice: "These are all mistakes made when I was immature. Commander, please don't keep holding on to them. I believe Kaga will agree with me."

"Well, not next time."