Shipgirls and Salted Fish Commander, Port Survival Guide

'So this is what it feels like to be suddenly confessed to by someone you like?'

"So this is what it feels like to confess to someone you like. I'm so nervous. Will the Commander agree? Was I too sudden? What should I do if the Commander doesn't agree? Will we be able to get along in the future?"

Oh dear, was I too impulsive?

However, seeing how Anchorage and the Commander interacted, I just couldn't stand it anymore. There are so many sisters in the port; if we waited for each of them to confess to the Commander, it would take forever!

Yes, Lexington's sudden impulsiveness was actually influenced by Anchorage. Although Jing Su didn't come to the command room in the morning, his whereabouts were being closely watched by the ship girls.

Although Anchorage had the idea of ​​setting up a secret base, she was simple-minded or didn't think too deeply about it. The ship girls easily found the exact location, and the idle staff watched the whole process.

The sight of Anchorage and Jing Su learning to swim together, with their close and intimate moments, made all the ship girls who were secretly watching it so eager that they wanted to rush out immediately, leave Anchorage aside, and take over themselves!

However, the unspoken rule in the port area is that when a ship girl is launching an attack, other ship girls should not interfere unless absolutely necessary. This is a tacitly agreed-upon dark forest law. After all, if you violate this rule, you might be disturbed by other ship girls when you are alone with Jing Su in the future, which would be bad for everyone.

That's why no one bothered Jing Su all morning.

But even though I won't bother you, I'm genuinely anxious!

Especially when you see how far they've gone, with all that pasting, in the past, this level of pasting was basically kept in the room, and no one else could see it even if they wanted to. Of course, even if they could see it, they wouldn't, because my heart can't take that kind of stimulation.

But Anchorage's is different; her secret base is actually a swimming pool, and it's outdoors, so even if people don't want to see it, they can't avoid it.

Or rather, no one expected that Anchorage would be so bold as to get so close to the Commander in broad daylight!

While some physical contact is normal when teaching swimming, and it's understandable that Anchorage might not know how to tie ropes or that his swimsuit might be loose, what you actually did was openly display that. What is that called? That's actively provoking the commander! That's a crime!

What kind of test is this for human nature!

What upset the ship girls the most was that Anchorage actually did it. Although she was a married ship herself, and strictly speaking, no one could find fault with what she did—it's normal for an old married couple to do some intimate things—the ship girls were just heartbroken. Especially after Anchorage discovered that Jing Su couldn't wear the ring all the time, she kept nagging Jing Su to go to the store to buy some accessories that she could wear all the time, and in the end, she succeeded.

This incident strongly stimulated the ship girls present, especially those who had not yet received their rings.

Jing Su organized a bunch of activities without stopping after arriving. Before the ship girls could recover from the impact of the activities, the seasonal offensive started again, and a large number of ship girls went to the front line to fight the Sirens, leaving the front line much empty.

This gives many ship girls the illusion that the competition isn't very fierce, since there aren't many people, so they can take their time, develop feelings for each other, and that's how they create a romantic feeling.

But Anchorage's actions directly tore away this veil of pretense.

Who says the competition isn't fierce?

If you don't take action soon, Anchorage will have already succeeded in taking over. Aren't you worried?

For this reason, many ship girls felt that they should stop pretending and launch an offensive while Jing Su was still on the front lines, and not wait until Jing Su ran to another faction before regretting it.

This includes Lexington. In fact, Lexington had been waiting for Jing Su to take the initiative to express his feelings to her. As a perceptive ship girl, she could sense that Jing Su's feelings for her were just one step away from being realized. However, given the current situation in the port, or rather, the situation on the front lines, it was really hard to say when that one step would be realized by simply waiting.

Therefore, Lexington chose to take the initiative.

According to Saratoga, as the older sister, she was rather slow to react when it came to matters of the heart. Despite having the position of director of the command center, she had spent the entire day yesterday with Jing Su, which was a tremendous opportunity, yet she squandered it.

Looking back now, it's true that I seem to have missed a lot of opportunities, but thankfully it's not too late.

The best time to plant a tree was ten years ago; the second best time is now.

Starting in the morning, after Saratoga's reminder, Lexington set up a trap. As the office director, she suggested that Jing Su could take the initiative to wander around the front lines. With her and other faction commanders in the command room, there would be no trouble. The commander had been busy at the front lines for so long, but hadn't properly learned about the White Eagle base yet, which was not good.

Through this method, Jing Su was driven out of the command room. With Jing Su gone, the ship girls from other factions lost their core motivation to stay in the command room. They were also lured away from the command room by the excuse that Lexington had already prepared.

In this way, the only ship girls left in the entire command room were her and Saratoga, and Saratoga didn't even need to find a reason; she could just shout out any excuse.

Although the Anchorage incident occurred during the operation, fortunately, the overall situation was still under control.

Now, in the huge command center, only she and Jing Su are left.

"As expected, it still won't work? Yes..." After waiting for a long time without receiving a response from Jing Su, Lexington's momentum quickly waned. Yes, her plan actually had one major uncertainty: whether Jing Su could accept it.

Although she felt that her relationship with Jing Su had reached its peak, it was ultimately just her feeling, and what if she was wrong?

"Lexington~" Jing Su quickly came to her senses and understood what had just happened. She chuckled and reached out to hug Lexington, saying, "You, Saratoga always complains that you're a quiet person. You're so charming, but you're always so slow to react."

I think she, as the younger sister, doesn't understand you, her older sister, at all.

"Commander!?" Suddenly embraced by Jing Su, Lexington snapped out of her daze and found herself in a warm embrace. Feeling the aura emanating from Jing Su, she was uncontrollably immersed in it, her mind going completely blank.

"Lexington, there are some things I was too slow to react to, I'm sorry~" Jing Su patted Lexington's back and said, "It was so obvious, but I didn't react. Many people say I'm a blockhead, which is normal. It's my fault for taking your feelings for granted and ignoring them."

So, as a price, would you please accept this?

After saying that, Jing Su took out a small box-like object from her pocket and handed it to Lexington.

“Commander!” Lexington covered her face, incredulous, tears welling in her eyes.

Happiness came so suddenly that she couldn't believe for a moment whether it was reality or a dream.

"Actually, how should I put it, I've been looking for an opportunity to give this to you, but it seems I haven't found a suitable opportunity yet, which has made you worry~" Jing Su told a little lie here that wasn't really a lie. Before coming to the front line, Jing Su had already prepared a lot of accessories.

However, since I only have ten fingers, I couldn't possibly wear them all, so on Hu Teng's suggestion, I prepared some other accessories, but due to time constraints, I didn't prepare many.

So, the truth of what she just said is that this thing was indeed prepared a long time ago, but the untruth is that it wasn't specifically prepared for Lexington. Just like the Oath Ring in the game, the design is the same, so whoever comes across it gets it.

Whoever takes the initiative first gets to claim it.

Jing Su had originally intended to give it to Anchorage that morning, but before he could even take it out, Anchorage dragged him to Akashi's shop to buy a new one himself, causing him a lot of trouble.

"Commander~ You were ready all along?" Lexington, or rather, all the ship girls have the ability to tell if someone is lying. Lexington could sense that Jing Su was telling the truth and wasn't lying, so her ears instantly turned red.

'Waaah, this is so embarrassing! The Commander had everything prepared all along. What was I even doing? What will the Commander think of me now?'

"Lexington, accept this. I've become so familiar with your company that I've forgotten that this familiarity stems from the feelings between us. Feelings need to be nurtured. We're too familiar with each other, so familiar that I've forgotten that there are some things I should have told you long ago."

I love you, Lexington~

Chapter 293 Issue my order: Assemble the entire army.

"Something's not right, nine out of ten things are wrong. Commander, something definitely went wrong between you and your sister while Sarah was away!"

That's why Saratoga is known for being quirky and unpredictable.

Before Jing Su and Lexington could flirt for long, Saratoga rushed back to the room, startling the two into quickly separating and no longer sticking close together.

But some traces are destined not to disappear quickly, especially when both of them have a glint in their eyes and their ears turn red. With such an obvious difference, it would be hard for Saratoga not to notice.

“What are you saying, Sara? Where are the clothes I asked for?” Lexington glared at Saratoga, her skin looking as if it could be squeezed for water.

"Here it is! Sister, you're so sly! What good things are happening? You don't share them with your sister, you just sneak some to eat by yourself!" Saratoga glanced at Lexington's fingers and said sourly.

"So that's why they sent me away! That's absolutely outrageous!"

"What do you mean by stealing food? Sarah, if you're hungry, you can go to the mess hall to get something to eat. This is the command center, there's no food here." Lexington stammered.

"Still saying no! Commander, that's too much from my sister~" Saratoga's eyes suddenly lit up, as if she'd just thought of something, and she teased, "Who said there's no good food here? Didn't you already eat? Commander, I want the treats you gave me earlier too~"

"Sister Sarah!" Lexington scolded angrily.

"Give it to me~ Commander, please give it to Sara, I want it too~ In return, I can secretly tell you what color underwear I'm wearing today~"

"Saratoga!" Lexington couldn't hold back any longer and reached out to pinch Saratoga's face, rubbing it wantonly.

"Commander, oh, oh, oh, help, help!" Saratoga managed to utter these words, his words mumbled and stammering.

“Commander, I think Saratoga is a bit too young to be disciplined. I’ll leave for a bit and teach her about manners, morality, and respect for hierarchy!” With that, Lexington dragged Saratoga away from the room, leaving Jing Su alone in the room, completely bewildered.

"Hey, wait a minute, do you White Eagle faction still have any sense of propriety and shame? Something feels off."

Hey, aren't you the commander? We're in the middle of a war, what kind of situation is it if the commander runs away?!

Jing Su was completely bewildered. Although there was no wind in the command room, his confusion was no less than that of a catkin drifting in the wind; he was like a headless fly bumping around everywhere.

But despite being confused, things still had to be done.

‘Dingling bell~’

Sure enough, the phone rang the moment Lexington left.

Jing Su is the only one in the command center now. Even if he doesn't understand, he has to take the call.

"The frontline command center, that person?"

"Eh, Commander!?" A surprised voice came from the other end.

"Ahem, it's me. Lexington is temporarily unavailable. What's the situation at the front?"

"Oh, right, Commander, this is Cleveland. There's a situation at the front, a major situation!"

"Daddy Ke!?" Jing Su blurted out the question subconsciously.

"Huh!?" A moment later, a shocked voice came from the phone, followed by several bursts of laughter.

"Ahem, it's nothing. What's going on?" Jing Su coughed lightly, inwardly cursing. Oh no, he was too used to it and ended up calling out Cleveland's nickname. This was really embarrassing.

"Commander, a new teleportation anchor point has been discovered at the front."

"Teleportation anchor point? How close is it to the defense zone?"

Even a novice like Jing Su realized something was wrong with that sound. For the port area, especially the White Eagle camp on the front line, in order to maintain the security of the defense zone, they would carry out high-frequency patrols near the defense line.

The goal is to minimize the Sirens' invasion.

In this situation, within a 50-nautical-mile radius of the front line, let alone a teleportation anchor point, any appearance of a large-scale Siren fleet would be due to the patrol team's negligence that day.

It's normal for the Siren fleet to keep attacking the defense line during the current quarterly offensive, but the appearance of a teleportation anchor point is definitely a major event that will shake the port.

It's important to understand that even the White Eagle forces, which have advanced the deepest, have only advanced thirty nautical miles, far from reaching the fifty-nautical-mile warning range. Today, Jing Su's orders are to consolidate the defense line and not to let the ship girls fight outwards. In other words, it is impossible for a teleportation anchor point to appear within twenty nautical miles of the front line.

“According to the report sent back by Hermes, it’s about ten nautical miles, but…” Cleveland’s voice trailed off at the end.

"But what?"

“That teleportation anchor point hasn’t been activated.” Cleveland’s tone was quite uncertain.

"Not activated? What's going on?" Jing Su was a little confused. According to the Sirens' usual practice, the teleportation anchor point either doesn't activate or keeps working until it is discovered by the ship girls and then destroyed.

After all, the teleportation anchor is the most important tool for the Sirenwech's combat power in this world. Without it, even if the Sirenwech has immense power, they will not be able to unleash it.

Now, an unactivated teleportation point has suddenly appeared near the defensive line, which is clearly problematic.

"I don't know. The teleportation anchor point is surrounded by Siren warships and is well protected. Hermes' planes can't get close and can only take some blurry photos. Commander, I'll send you the photos in a bit."

"Okay, Cleveland, cough cough, Cleveland, you need to be extra careful on your end. You'll be the flagship, leading the vanguard. If you spot anything unusual, retreat immediately. Defenses don't matter; your safety is the most important thing. Remember, if anything unusual happens, retreat immediately. That's an order!"

"Yes!" Cleveland responded loudly, then hung up the phone.

But Jing Su could vaguely hear Cleveland's complaint, "Why do you all call me 'Daddy Cleveland'? Aren't I a girl?", and the silvery laughter of the girls around him.

There was a moment of awkwardness. Cleveland was a ship girl he was quite familiar with. While he could recognize some ship girls on sight, Cleveland was one of the few he could vaguely recall just by her voice.

After all, Cleveland was one of the more memorable characters in the early days of Azur Lane.

When Jing Su played Azur Lane, it was a time of nascent creation, a state of chaos. Everything was haphazard back then – the game itself was chaotic, the storyline was chaotic, and even the official developers were somewhat chaotic.

Under these circumstances, Jing Su got hooked. At that time, he was lying in bed and couldn't do anything, and he couldn't play games that required particularly high skill.

Azur Lane is suitable in every way, but the most important reason why Jing Su started playing Azur Lane is simply because the character art in Azur Lane really suited his taste, so he started playing.

Therefore, with this kind of "playing it off" mentality, don't expect Jing Su to put much effort into improving equipment and team composition.

After doing a quick online search for guides, I assembled a team and have been using it ever since. The Cleveland was one of the ships in that initial team.

The team is basically: Enterprise and Illustrious in the back row, Prinz Eugen and Cleveland in the front row. When the training level is higher, Illustrious will lead the team. For Enterprise boss battles, Cleveland and Eugen will basically be the mid-lane team.

Jing Su used this team for a long time, all the way until Shimakaze landed, before she had the idea of ​​changing the team configuration.

It's easy to imagine how familiar Jing Su is with Cleveland. Given that Cleveland was an extremely popular character in the early days of Azur Lane, Jing Su naturally listened to the entire voice acting.

That was quite a catchy phrase, and Cleveland became one of the few front-line ship girls that Jing Su married in the early days.

'An unactivated teleportation anchor? What exactly do the Sirens want?' Jing Su pondered this shortly after the call ended.

‘Dingling bell~’

The phone rang again.

"Hello, frontline command center."

"Hey, Commander! It's you~"

A voice of surprise came.

"Yes, it's me. Lexington had something come up, so I'm handling the call right now. What's the situation on the front lines?"

"Oh, Commander, this is the Donghuang defense line. This is Anshan. A new, unactivated Siren teleportation anchor point has been discovered in the area about 20 nautical miles from the front line."

"Another one?" Jing Su exclaimed in surprise.

"What? Another one? Wait, could it be that new teleportation anchors have appeared elsewhere besides this one?"