Shipgirls and Salted Fish Commander, Port Survival Guide

"Little Belfast, what do you think I am?" Jing Su asked softly after hearing what Little Belfast had said. She walked over to her, squatted down, and asked softly.

“A very close presence. A voice inside me is telling me to always stay by your side.” After saying this, Little Belfast did something that left Belfast speechless.

Little Belfast hugged Jing Su tightly and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, Belfast, what are you doing!" Belfast exclaimed pityingly. The other party was a newborn baby girl who had actually done what she had always wanted to do but had never dared to.

"Hmm, sister, is this kind of thing strange? But a deep feeling inside me tells me that I've always wanted to do this, and there's also..."

"Hey, okay, okay, let's not talk about these things now." Before Belfast could finish speaking, Belfast quickly covered the other's mouth, her pretty face blushing, but she quickly realized what she meant and said seriously, "Little Belfast, remember, as a lady, what you just did is not acceptable~"

"Lady? What's that? Can you eat it?"

"Well, it seems you lack a lot of common sense. Well then, since you are my sister, come with me. I will teach you well, including how to be a lady and how to become a perfect royal maid."

"Hmm, although I don't know what it is, when I heard those words, my heart was beating really fast. I'm so happy! Sister, I want to be a perfect maid!" Little Belfast pointed to her heart and said earnestly.

"Well then, congratulations, Belfast. As the head of the Royal Maid Corps, I hereby formally accept you as a member of my Royal Maid Corps. From now on, you are an apprentice maid of the Royal Maid Corps~" Belfast gently stroked Belfast's head and said earnestly.

"Yes, I'm so happy! Ah, I'll try my best!" Little Belfast exclaimed excitedly.

"Oh, right, there's someone you absolutely must remember~" Belfast was also very happy, but being Belfast, the epitome of composure, she quickly thought of other things to keep in mind. "The person behind you is the Commander you mentioned earlier. In the eyes of a royal maid, he's also our master~" You'd better remember that in the future.

Commander, Master, you are the ones we serve, the ones we protect, and... cough cough, I'll let you know about the last one when you grow up~

As she spoke, Belfast blushed and glared at Jing Su.

Jing Su was completely bewildered by the glare. She had been peacefully enjoying the show, but somehow it had turned into her own drama. This didn't seem right. And, judging from Belfast's words, was she going to personally teach little Belfast?

So, it's uncertain how long Belfast's bewildered expression will last.

'Hmm, no, that's not quite right either. If it really was inherited from Belfast, then little Belfast would be very happy about that. Taking care of others and seeing smiles on their faces—that's what she longs for.'

"Hmm, this seems to be a complicated matter... Anyway, it seems I'll be staying here for a while. Apprentice maid Belfast, nice to meet you!"

Belfast looked puzzled, but despite her confusion, her instincts guided her to take the next step.

Little Belfast bowed slightly to Jing Su, lifted her skirt with one hand, and said earnestly.

"Little Belfast, a lady should use both hands to lift her skirt when she curtsies." Before Jing Su could say anything, Belfast preemptively performed the skirt-lifting curtsy to Jing Su.

'Hiss, are they starting to teach us now?' Jing Su was stunned. She had to admit that Belfast was indeed strict.

"Uh, do I have to use both hands? Waaah, I failed~" Little Belfast was a little frustrated and disappointed.

"It's alright, it's alright." At this moment, it was Jing Su's turn to stand up and speak up for her. "Everyone makes mistakes the first time they do something, it's inevitable and normal. Besides, I don't really understand these things either. Let's learn together in the future!"

Jing Su reached out her hand to Xiao Beifa and said with a smile.

"Yes, Commander, thank you for your recognition. I, I will try my best!" Little Belfast blushed, turned her head to look at Belfast, and after receiving the latter's approval, happily reached out and shook hands with Jing Su.

"I am Jing Su, Commander of Dawn Port District, Little Belfast. I look forward to working with you from now on!"

"Yes, Commander, I am the Edinburgh-class light cruiser Belfast, hull number C35. Nice to meet you!"

“You’ve already given that introduction once, so there’s no need to repeat it. Besides, you’re the Edinburgh-class light cruiser Belfast, hull number C35, and I’m also the Edinburgh-class light cruiser Belfast, hull number C35. Saying it like that will only confuse you.” Belfast was initially quite happy to see Little Belfast and Jing Su communicating so harmoniously. Although they had only met recently, Belfast already regarded this adorable little Belfast as her own sister.

But just as Belfast was pondering how to proceed with Little Belfast's teaching plan, she heard Little Belfast's earnest and serious self-introduction. Her brows furrowed instantly. For some reason, she had a feeling that she had been... well, you know, something, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Oh dear, did I say something wrong again?!" Little Belfast cried out in pity.

"Hehe, don't worry, I'll teach you well, in every aspect~"

"Yes..."

Chapter 303 Time in the Port Area

Belfast's drive and action are among the strongest in the entire port area.

Having just made the decision to properly teach Belfast, Belfast, without saying a word, prepared to drag her to emergency training.

"Commander, I'll take Belfast for some emergency training first. Now that she's decided to become my royal maid, she can't be left without some proper training~" With that, Belfast grabbed Belfast and hurriedly left.

Jing Su didn't even have time to say a word.

"Xiao..." Seeing the closed door, Jing Su froze on the spot, not knowing what to say for a moment.

'This... drive is a bit too much...'

After a moment's thought, Jing Su understood Belfast's anxious thoughts. As the perfect head maid, Belfast was, to some extent, a perfectionist. If she didn't strive for perfection in everything, she wouldn't be able to do this.

Belfast's performance just now can be described as stimulating Belfast's perfectionist heart in every way.

From another perspective, this was also the first time Jing Su had witnessed the birth of a new ship girl. Judging from Belfast's performance, Jing Su finally understood why ship girls also needed to learn in various aspects.

Judging from her physical appearance, if we compare her to someone in the human world, she would be about the age of someone who has just started elementary school, at most no more than the third grade. Normally, children of this age have accumulated a certain amount of experience, although it is very shallow, and they can still be categorized as not understanding anything.

But Belfast's behavior was completely different from that of ordinary children. You might say she was naive and knew nothing, but she was very serious and knowledgeable when she talked to people. She actually knew quite a lot and was quite professional. According to Belfast, Jing Su estimated that if you threw a bunch of scrap materials at her, she could build a warship out of the ground. But you might say she was very intelligent and knowledgeable. She seemed strange in many ways. It was one thing that she didn't know about interpersonal relationships and social customs, and it was also understandable that she didn't know the meaning of some things.

For example, when Belfast first appeared, she said she wanted to find her sister, but she didn't know who her sister was. Even when she saw Belfast, she didn't realize that the other person was the sister she had been looking for all along.

She mentioned the commander, but still didn't know who the commander was. Jing Su stood in front of her, and she still couldn't figure out what was going on.

But Little Belfast instinctively felt that Jing Su was very kind. When Belfast questioned her, Little Belfast was visibly scared and then subconsciously ran behind Jing Su for protection. Her speed and decisiveness made Belfast think that Little Belfast was trying to take advantage of Jing Su.

Later, it was discovered that Xiao Beifa genuinely didn't know Jing Su. The only thing she could say was that she felt Jing Su was very kind and wanted to be with him.

Seeing this scene, Belfast thought, "This is outrageous!" If Jing Su hadn't been there, she would have immediately started giving little Belfast a science lesson.

Of course, it's possible that Belfast was a little jealous. No, she was actually quite annoyed by how naturally Belfast clung to Jing Su and how she would ask Jing Su for a hug every now and then.

'I'm still racking my brains trying to figure out how to ask the Commander for a hug, and you, my little sister, are already turning against me?!'

Belfast was immediately furious, especially since little Belfast, aside from being confused, was practically a smaller version of herself. That made her even more upset. What in the world could be more horrifying than "herself" doing "herself" to the point of being disgusted?

In general, Xiao Beifa's current state is very similar to that of an AI. She has a lot of knowledge in her head and can suddenly utter a lot of highly professional terms, but she herself cannot understand the meaning of these things.

The difference between ship girls and humans lies in this: from birth, they are basically big children. Many of them are mature and intellectual beauties who are mature beyond their years, but their minds are very young compared to their appearance, or to put it bluntly, a bit naive.

This needs to be remedied through education. During the process of receiving education, the differences between ship girls will gradually become apparent. Just like in human society, some ship girls learn quickly, while others learn slowly. Of course, for ship girls, with their intelligence, learning the knowledge in textbooks is not difficult; it's simply a matter of whether they want to or not.

Just like learning in real life, many subjects are not that students can't learn them, but rather that they instinctively resist them, don't want to learn them, or engage in frantic self-suggestion, scaring themselves. Specifically, they feel annoyed when they see a certain subject, don't want to move, don't want to pay attention, and are either sleeping or daydreaming in class. Naturally, they can't learn anything from this.

Fortunately, the port area has ample time for learning. Jing Su once asked Glorious and Warspite how long the port area had existed in total, and the answer was - they didn't know.

Yes, even the ship girls themselves cannot be sure how long the port has existed. As the saying goes, time flies, and for a long time, the ship girls' lives consisted of following Jing Su's arrangements: some would go on sorties, some would go on expeditions, and those who had nothing else to do would stay in the port and find something they liked to do.

Day after day, year after year, they lived like this. Time passed so long that the ship girls thought life would continue like this forever, until one day, they were horrified to discover that Jing Su was gone.

It was from that day on that the ship girls' time became completely normal, or rather, they began to record what happened afterward.

Jing Su did a simple estimate. If calculated according to the progress in the game, he couldn't remember exactly how many times he had launched attacks, but it must have been at least tens of thousands. If he counted one attack as one day, even ignoring expeditions and exercises, it would still be about three hundred years.

The figure of three hundred years is definitely problematic; even rounding down by a zero would be an exaggeration, so there must be some unknown factors involved.

However, Jing Su herself is not a person with a strong thirst for knowledge. She is too lazy to study things that cannot be explained. Wouldn't it be better to spend that time getting close to the ship girls?

'Since there's nothing urgent for now, let's hurry back to the command center and see if Hu Teng needs any help.'

After resting for a while, Jing Su found that she could contact TB again. She originally thought of using TB to briefly contact Hu Teng and tell her about Belfast's situation, but considering TB's strange behavior just now, she put aside the idea and decided to walk to the conference room.

Chapter 304 The Forgotten Past

"The commander is fine. He's just a little tired and has gone back to his room to rest."

"Yes, I'm in command now. If anything happens, just let me know. The commander is fine; he's with Belfast... What do you mean this is the biggest problem?"

Okay, I know what you want. Support will be here soon. Remember to send a few people to the supply depot to meet you.

Yes, it's not a ship from our port area; it was requisitioned from the Maritime Safety Administration. Be careful not to shoot it down on the spot like a Siren.

"This is the command center. What...you're the one rebelling! Speak if you have something to say, don't fight if you don't!!!"

Veneto, where is Veneto?

In my capacity as the secretary ship of the command center, I hereby order that Marco Polo is strictly prohibited from accessing any equipment with communication capabilities!

...

"Phew, does Belfast usually communicate with these people? She didn't break down, she's really strong inside."

After hanging up the phone, Hu Teng leaned back on the bench, placed his gloved hand on his forehead, and closed his eyes to rest. From the time Jing Su left until now, a full hour had passed.

In just one hour, Hu Teng said he was exhausted and completely drained.

She now understood why so many Eagle Union ship girls would rather fight the Sirens on the battlefield than spend a day in the command room.

From the moment she took over the command center until now, less than an hour in total, she has received more than thirty phone calls, averaging one every two minutes, one after another without stopping. It's as if she had just hung up one call when the next one came in.

This was only because she was alone in the command center, so only one telephone line was turned on; otherwise, the number of calls would have been much higher.

If these calls were seeking support, that would be one thing, since it's a battle, but logistical support and operational coordination outside the battlefield are the responsibility of the command center.

The problem is that nine out of ten of these dozens of calls were to inquire about what happened to Jing Su. The few calls that actually needed support were made after first asking the commander about the situation before requesting assistance.

Hu Teng stated that these people were using the pretext of providing support to inquire about Jing Su's whereabouts!

"Hey, these guys~"

Hu Teng sighed and, after confirming that there was nothing major happening at the front, announced that it was lunchtime. All frontline units should conduct their patrols, and the rest should rest. The battle was suspended, and unless something major happened, the fighting would end there for the day.

Hu Teng was simply fed up and scared; he really didn't want to answer the phone anymore.

Fortunately, before leaving the command room, Jing Su sent a group message clearly stating that she would temporarily handle all affairs in the command room. Otherwise, she really wouldn't have been able to issue this order. Even if she had, not to mention the other factions, it's doubtful that anyone in her own Ironblood faction would have followed it.

Putting everything else aside, Ron, who's gone mad with killing, might not even want to come back.

However, Hutten's willingness to issue this order was also somewhat related to the Sirens. The Sirens were in a state of confusion today, or rather, they didn't know what had happened. In the morning, things were pretty much the same as before, with both sides tearing each other apart and killing each other to their hearts' content.

Around noon, or more precisely, after Jing Su left the room, the situation suddenly changed. The attacks became less proactive and less aggressive, and no reinforcements arrived. After verifying with various parties and confirming that the Sirens had indeed temporarily suspended their offensive, Hu Teng finally issued an order for the entire army to rest.

Of course, while she said it was to give the whole army a rest, she really just wanted to relax herself, as all sorts of random phone calls were giving her a headache.

'Eh, she's a ship girl, yet she got defeated by something like this. I guess I'm better suited for the battlefield!'

Hu Teng murmured.

At the same time, her resentment towards Jing Su deepened, and she was also full of resentment towards herself. Her belly was so disappointing. She had secretly tried to see Jing Su so many times, but there was no reaction at all. Belfast, on the other hand, got pregnant after just one time. Who could she complain to?

"Hey, who made our ice queen angry? Come on, tell me, I'll teach him a lesson for you!"

Upon hearing this voice, a glint of light flashed in Hu Teng's eyes, and joy quickly welled up within him, but he still restrained his inner impulse. "What, you're not going to take care of Belfast anymore? Don't regret it if something happens to the child."

"Ahem, Belfast was teaching the child, and she took her away too quickly. I wanted to help, but there was nothing I could do." Jing Su was a little embarrassed. How did Hu Teng find out about little Belfast so quickly?

"Huh? What! The baby's already out!?" Hu Teng was stunned. No, it was the first time yesterday, and it's already out today? Even if ship girls have special constitutions, this is too exaggerated, isn't it?

"Oh, didn't you already know that?"

‘Click~’

A crisp sound rang out; it turned out that Hu Tengsheng had snapped a piece off the table.

"What do I know? What should I know?!" Hu Teng gritted her teeth. It's true that she's portrayed as a calm and collected war goddess, but no matter how composed she is, she's still a girl. Hearing that her beloved's child had suddenly appeared, it's already a testament to her composure that she didn't smash Jing Su's head.

"Cough cough cough, let me explain!" Seeing Hu Teng's expression, Jing Su knew that she had misunderstood, so she quickly spoke up to comfort him.

"What, you don't want to take responsibility!?" Hu Teng's eyes turned cold, and he immediately wanted to hit Jing Su. Compared to her husband suddenly having a child, the fact that he didn't want to take responsibility was even more upsetting.

"What is all this nonsense?!" Jing Su almost fell to the ground because of Hu Teng's antics, and immediately told Hu Teng what had just happened.

"Little Belfast? Small boat? It inherited the memories of the warship, but it doesn't have the corresponding common sense. That's interesting~" After listening to Jing Su's explanation, Hu Teng breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time felt a little sad. When did he become so sensitive and mysterious?

I received a bunch of random phone calls, which made me angry. Yeah, that's how it should be.

So, in the end, it was still the commander's fault!

Looks like I'll have to add some spice tonight.

It's decided, I have to find a way to have a child, like a little Hu Teng, I really want one~

Speaking of raising children, how should one handle it? Shouldn't one read some books?

“How is that interesting... You have no idea how troublesome it is to raise a child~” Jing Su rolled her eyes at Hu Teng.

"Have you ever raised one? Why are you saying that?"

"I've never raised any children myself. I did take care of some for a while back in my hometown. During the Lunar New Year, other relatives would gather in small groups to play cards, leaving all the kids to me. Seven kids! It was exhausting..."

"Enough, enough, let's not talk about these things anymore. It's all in the past. Let's focus on the future."

Towards the end, Jing Su became somewhat melancholic, wondering if she would ever have the chance to go back to her hometown again in this lifetime.

"Alright, let's not talk about that. I know you've had a hard time. Come here, let me give you an ear bridge~" Hu Teng keenly noticed the change in Jing Su's emotions, put his legs together, patted his thigh lightly, and said softly.