Shipgirls and Salted Fish Commander, Port Survival Guide

To be honest, Hu Teng's bridge is quite large by human standards, and it's definitely well-proportioned. Especially with his long legs, cool expression, and handsome eyes, he's the kind of person who would explode on the spot if you looked at him for too long!

But while there's nothing wrong with being specific, it's all about comparison. Admittedly, Hu Teng has a fantastic figure, but in the context of the port, it's somewhat lacking. She's just an average person. Not to mention similar battleships, she can't even compare to light cruisers.

Because of the size issue, Hutten had a lot of arguments with Plymouth. For some reason, Hutten was always indifferent when interacting with other ship girls, but with Plymouth, they would argue over trivial matters as soon as they met.

The ship girls from other factions also found this very strange, because Plymouth herself was aloof and reserved. When interacting with her, as long as the topic of Jing Su was not specifically brought up, nothing too serious would usually happen.

The fact that two indifferent people could actually create such a strong spark when they were together was a topic of much discussion in the port area.

Given that Plymouth often brings up the fact that they are larger than Hutten, over time, even Hutten, who didn't care at first, has become more prone to nitpicking about it.

"Oh, you're mistaken." After a moment, Jing Su recovered and, seeing Hu Teng's expression, roughly knew what he was thinking. Remembering the little anecdotes about the port area she'd gleaned from Bremerton, she understood. She quickly ran over, put her arm around Hu Teng's waist, and whispered in his ear, "Being a gentleman is too tiring; it's much easier like this~"

"You..." Hu Teng's cheeks flushed red, and he was at a loss for words.

"And also, if I were truly polite to you all, would you be happy?"

"..."

Hu Teng remained silent. What Jing Su said was, to some extent, an unquestionable taboo topic in the port area: there was only one Jing Su, and the number of ship girls was too large.

How to get along with Jing Su is always a topic that the ship girls in the port area can't avoid.

It's worth noting that there are currently nearly 700 ship girls in the port area. Judging from the incident with Belfast, it's possible that new ship girls will join the port area in the future. With such a terrifying number, if one joins every day, it would take two years to complete one cycle.

Therefore, even though many ship girls try their best to avoid it, they can't avoid this problem in the end.

Ultimately, almost all the ship girls agreed that if they wanted a harmonious and happy ending for the port, Jing Su absolutely could not think according to traditional external concepts, such as monogamy, which must be resisted. Such a system that undermines the harmony of the port must not appear in the discussion proposals.

Anyone who dares to bring up this topic will have their Hong Kong residency revoked, or be restricted from interacting with the Commander until the very end!

Under this line of thinking, the ship girls actually hope that Jing Su will do something naughty. After all, if Jing Su does something naughty and wants to spend more time with a certain ship girl, then it has nothing to do with the rotation.

So, on the one hand, the ship girls are working hard to implement the rotation rules. It's better to rotate every two years than to never be able to rise to the top. That's how the rotation between factions came about. On the other hand, the ship girls are also doing their own dirty tricks to tempt Jing Su. If Jing Su can't resist the temptation and chooses to stick close to a certain ship girl, then it has nothing to do with the rotation.

This is why, whenever there's a large gathering, every ship girl goes to great lengths, wearing beautiful clothes and doing things they wouldn't normally dare to do, all in the hopes that Jing Su will come over.

"Hey, Hu Teng, we've been married for so long, don't you know how I see you? You've almost driven me crazy. Although those words might not have much power, I still have to say it: please be gentle tonight." Jing Su was originally thinking of apologizing when she saw Hu Teng's angry expression, but she stopped herself as soon as the words were on the tip of her tongue.

Wait a minute, if Hu Teng gets angry so easily, would he still be Hu Teng?

Moreover, if Hu Teng were truly angry, as the head of the decorated boat, the commotion she caused would be earth-shattering, and it would definitely not be just a simple hammer blow, although the blow she just struck was indeed quite powerful.

But precisely because of her great strength, Jing Su discovered something amiss. As mentioned before, when ship girls don't deploy their ship equipment, their strength isn't much different from that of ordinary girls. A classic example is Glorious, who complains every now and then that her shoulders hurt when she walks, she gets tired easily, and she has difficulty maintaining her balance.

Although it is often interpreted as showing off her figure, it is quite telling. With her ship equipment deployed, Illustrious is a Valkyrie on the battlefield, with immense strength and the power to overturn rivers and seas. Without her ship equipment deployed, Illustrious is an elegant and delicate noble lady. She is not exactly frail, but she is indeed not very strong.

When Jing Su and Guang Hui were playing in the park, they got tired and Guang Hui suggested massaging Jing Su's shoulders. Judging from his expression, Guang Hui had used all his strength, but Jing Su didn't feel anything at all.

Considering that Guanghui would almost never play any tricks on him, Jing Su had reason to believe that she was really not very strong. By the same token, Hu Teng, who had just made him scream in pain, was actually deliberately controlling his strength.

As the commander, Jing Su could sense the power fluctuations after the ship girl deployed her ship equipment. Although Hu Teng concealed it very well and the whole process was very brief, Jing Su still managed to detect the power fluctuations.

The ship's equipment was deployed and then quickly retracted. In this brief process, there was also a gap in time to punch Jing Su. All of this shows that Hu Teng was not angry at all, but did it on purpose!

Considering what Hu Teng had done before, Jing Su had reason to believe that Hu Teng was planning to do something to her that night. Considering that after arriving at the front line, as long as no other ship girls came looking for her, Hu Teng would launch a night raid. Jing Su said, "Don't launch night raids, I'll choose you tonight!"

"What...what are you saying!" Hu Teng seemed to have been electrocuted, and a blush quickly rose to his cheeks. It was a mixture of embarrassment at his own scheme being exposed and the misunderstanding of Jing Su's lack of romantic understanding.

'Can't I be shy? Can't I try to do something indirectly?'

"What do you think? Tonight, after seven o'clock, it's been a while since we got together. Today, this body is yours to do whatever you want with." Jing Su pinched Hu Teng's slender waist, then, as if she had thought of something, said in a slightly weak voice, "But you're not allowed to touch your ears. Not to mention the past few days, just today alone, you've already suffered a lot of stimulation!"

"Hehe, don't worry, I won't touch your ears~" Seeing that Jing Su had already revealed his plan, Hu Teng simply stopped pretending, lightly stroked Jing Su's back, and said, "Weren't you going to draw for me just now? I just finished the lines when Belfast interrupted. Let's finish that tonight~"

"Huh!?" Jing Su was taken aback. He had thought Hu Teng would talk about something else, like unlocking new positions or making a few more holes, but it turned out to be painting. Although Hu Teng's so-called painting seemed to be something he was planning to do for a lifetime, if he remembered correctly, "This isn't Z46's..."

Jing Su originally wanted to use the fact that this was a request from other ship girls to avoid Hu Teng's proposal. After all, even if you were to draw normally, lying in bed for several hours without moving would be quite annoying, not to mention that what Hu Teng drew was not the normal kind.

“It’s not entirely Z46’s proposal. I also have something I want to draw. Initially, I wanted Z46’s to be the same as what she has on her body, but I rejected that. After all, if it were really like Z46, having some patterns drawn on the back of her hand would be too easy for people to see. If you don’t like it, it would be troublesome. I think these things still need your approval, Commander,” Hu Teng explained.

"Hu Teng~" Jing Su was so touched, but before he could say anything, Hu Teng interrupted him.

"So I switched to drawing on your back. Nobody can see that area, so it doesn't matter what I draw or how long I leave it there," Hu Teng said mockingly, looking at Jing Su with amusement. He thought to himself, 'Little brat, I can't mess with you! You dare joke about my body? I was originally thinking of just drawing something simple and that would be it, but now, hehe, I've changed my mind. This time I'm going to give you something complicated, make you lie in bed for hours, and then, once your body is numb, the rest is up to me!'

Admittedly, Hu Teng did have ulterior motives just now, but he was genuinely angry. The things he wanted to do that night had actually been planned out by Jing Su after she left the command center with Belfast. Hu Teng was just casually refining the tasks for the night while dealing with the phone calls from the front lines.

Jing Su: "......"

So in the end, he still couldn't escape?!

"Hehe, don't make that face. You brought all this on yourself. If you're angry, go talk to Z46. She's finally become a bit more cheerful lately. Commander, you probably don't want to destroy a little girl's admiration for you, do you?" Seeing Jing Su's expression, Hu Teng added insult to injury.

"Well... okay~" Recalling Z46's melancholy expression at the swimsuit ball earlier, Jing Su finally nodded. Just as Hu Teng said, he really didn't want to destroy Z46's hopes.

"However, I'm still very curious about Z46's thought process. Is there any necessary connection between his aspirations and drawing on people's bodies? What kind of strange thing is this...?"

Artistic girls are all so quirky!

Recalling the works about artistic girls I saw in my past life, there were those who liked to eat books, those who liked to travel the world, and now there's one more: those who like to draw on people's bodies!

Although Z46's drawing, in terms of its location and process, was somewhat troublesome.

"Hehe, it's good that you approve, Commander." Seeing Jing Su agree, Hu Teng's lips curled into a slight smile. As mentioned before, although this was a carefully crafted little scheme, ultimately, Jing Su's approval was still needed. After all, according to Z46's requirements, once the drawing was done, removing it wouldn't be a simple matter.

"What difference does it make whether you approve or not?" Jing Su chuckled, then suddenly pulled Hu Teng into her arms, giving him a quick kiss on the lips amidst his surprised gaze, leaving two blushing faces. "I can't speak for others, but we've been together for so long, don't you know how I feel about you?"

"Commander, you, I, I'll go prepare lunch for you. It's already this late!" Hu Teng felt hot all over and dared not linger any longer. He pushed Jing Su away and quickly fled the command center, disappearing in a flash.

"Phew, I still can't control you!" Jing Su was a little smug, quite pleased with himself for making Hu Teng run away in embarrassment. You have to understand, this is Hu Teng, the absolute ice queen of the port area, who is now being taught by him to be a little wife.

Of course, Hu Teng was shy, but that was only in special circumstances. Most of the time, even when she was with him, Hu Teng remained aloof and indifferent, as if she had no interest in anything in the world and was simply a workaholic. If Jing Su hadn't seen Hu Teng blush and be shy in person, she would have thought she was a robot.

Hu Teng went to cook. Thanks to Jing Su's group message, the ship girls at the front knew the general situation, and not many people called. There was also no major movement from the Sirens. For a time, the combat command room fell silent again.

Jing Su, having finally gained some time, was able to think about some strange things.

There was something that had been bothering him since earlier, and now was the perfect time to check what it was.

“TB, are you there, TB?” Jing Su tapped her watch on her wrist a few times.

After a while, the navigator TB appeared before them.

"Commander, Navigator TB is at your service. How can I help you?"

"..."

TB appeared, but Jing Su did not speak immediately. Instead, she sat silently in place, staring intently at TB.

TB, too, silently watched Jing Su. Jing Su didn't speak, and neither did she, remaining completely still. Before, after she was summoned, TB's figure would flicker every now and then. Now, with her azure blue figure, white hair, and white skin, she resembled a porcelain doll.

"There is something I wanted to ask you." In the end, Jing Su broke the silence first. Just now, it was his attempt to probe, but it seems to have failed.

"Commander, please give TB your orders, and I will do some things for you."

"So you've managed to find out something, huh?" Jing Su's lips curled up as she murmured, "TB, are you really just TB?"

“…” TB did not respond to Jing Su’s question. After a while, TB’s figure in front of Jing Su suddenly began to show a large amount of data. This was the normal process of TB searching for intelligence.

When encountering situations where the Hong Kong database is unavailable or communication with external networks is needed, TB will disappear, replaced by a rapidly flowing stream of data.

'As expected, Taobao is really something else!'

Seeing this scene, Jing Su understood.

Actually, Jing Su had had this idea about TB for a long time. From the game's perspective, TB looks exactly like a Siren. Although the official explanation of the relationship between TB and the Watchers has never been made, and Jing Su hadn't considered that possibility, in this world, one cannot simply rely on the official design to think about problems.

After all, some of the official settings are contradictory.

Jing Su only truly realized this after Xiao Beifa appeared. She had subconsciously ignored this point before, but now that she thinks about it, it's not too late to realize it.

"Commander, TB has collected all the data in the world, but found no answer to your question. I'm sorry, Commander, I couldn't answer your question!"

After an unknown amount of time, while Jing Su was pondering, TB's voice quietly sounded.

"I can't find you." Jing Su sighed softly. "If I can't find you, I can't find you. It's not a big deal. I just wanted to see you. Actually, I'm the one who should apologize. I've been using you as a search tool since I came back. It must have been very tiring."

“…” TB remained silent, seemingly unaware of the meaning behind Jing Su’s words, or perhaps unsure how to respond.

"Anyway, you've really worked hard these past few days, thank you so much, TB." After saying that, Jing Su reached out her hand, seemingly wanting to touch TB, but the final result was naturally unsuccessful. Jing Su's hand passed directly through TB's body and reached the other side.

"Oh dear, what a lapse in judgment! I completely forgot that TB, you're just a projection. Oh, TB, if only you really existed in this world, no matter what, I really want to hug you!"

"Om~"

A ringing sound rang in my ears, and a bright light flashed across the entire room.

"Commander, what happened? I just sensed a very strong force... Commander!?" A moment later, Hu Teng, wearing an apron, rushed in.

"Ahem, it's nothing, or rather, something interesting is about to happen." Jing Su looked at the disconnected TB on her watch and said softly.

"?"

Chapter 307 There's already someone here tonight!

Su didn't say much about TB's strange behavior, after all, it was just her own deduction, and it was hard to say what the situation was.

After eating the lunch prepared by Hu Teng, before Jing Su could ask what was going to happen in the afternoon, Hu Teng took the initiative to say that she was going to leave the command room to go back to her room to prepare some things, as she had a new idea for the evening.

Jing Su naturally had no objection to this. He always wholeheartedly supported whatever his daughter wanted to do, otherwise she wouldn't have been subjected to all sorts of torment by the ship girls.

Hu Teng has always been a man of action. After making this decision, Jing Su left in a hurry right after finishing lunch. According to her, she wanted to seize the inspiration and, while the feeling was so strong, quickly create the work so that she could wear it that very evening!

Looking at the decisive Hu Teng, Jing Su felt somewhat helpless. Now, she was all alone in the command room again.

'How about we wander around some more?'

Leaning back in her chair, Jing Su looked up at the ceiling and thought to herself.

According to reports from the front lines, the Sirens suddenly drastically reduced their battle lines for some unknown reason. To be precise, no new Siren warships were coming to support them, and the ship girls' terrifying killing efficiency cleared the map in a very short time.

TB has done the calculations. With the current density of Siren warships, even if reinforcements resume, it will take until tomorrow morning at the earliest to restore the offensive momentum of this morning. In other words, the port is unusually free of fighting today.

This is also the key reason why Hu Teng dared to leave the command room directly to prepare his own work.

Without war, the front lines can handle the allocation of supplies themselves. If problems arise, TB will handle the calculations. In other words, Jing Su's operations command room has nothing to do now. Like Hu Teng, he is on vacation!

Most of the ship girls here are currently on the front lines fighting the Sirens, so there aren't many left at the base. Jing Su thinks this is a great opportunity to take a look around the base.

'Hmm, this idea feels familiar... I've had it before.'

Before setting off, Jing Su had a strange thought in her mind. It seemed that she had thought about wandering around before, but was disturbed by some ship girls.

And so, Jing Su wandered aimlessly around the front-line garrison, without direction or goal, just walking wherever the road took her.

Surrounded by so many girls I'm close to, why do I feel inexplicably lonely?

As she walked, Jing Su casually found a chair and felt a pang of sadness.

'Oh no, this is ridiculous. I'm feeling emo for no reason.' Shaking her head, Jing Su realized that something was wrong with her. She then turned the ring on her finger and chuckled, 'You're really ungrateful. You have so many people with you, yet you still feel lonely. You must have something wrong with your head.'

"Hmm, Commander, are you in a bad mood? Why are you sitting here?" At this moment, a very gentle voice sounded in Jing Su's ear.

"Ah, it's the goddess of the hearth~" Turning his head, he saw a stunningly beautiful mature woman with silver hair, blue eyes, braided hair, wearing a tight mini skirt and white stockings. She appeared next to Jing Su at some point, and Jing Su recognized her at a glance.

Repair ship – Vestal, hull number AR-4, is one of the few repair ships in the port. She has a gentle and considerate personality, is generous and dignified, and is an unforgettable older sister type character.

"Hmm, Commander, I noticed you've been sitting here for a while, and you don't seem very happy, so I came to check on you." The Vess showed a worried expression. In fact, shortly after Jing Su left the command room, the ship girls who remained at the base found out about Jing Su's whereabouts through their own means.

Everyone was initially eager to have a wonderful encounter, but after watching for a while, the ship girls were surprised to find that Jing Su's mood was off. For some reason, Jing Su suddenly fell into a state of dejection, which set off alarm bells in the hearts of the ship girls.

After Jing Su went missing, the ship girls had a heated discussion about why he disappeared. Apart from the highly-rated answers that he was kidnapped or that something happened, the most popular answer was that Jing Su ran away on his own and that the girls had done something wrong to disappoint him.

Therefore, when Jing Su exhibited extreme emotions again, the ship girls were on high alert, and everyone quickly implemented an early warning plan, determined to find a way to cheer Jing Su up.

After some discussion, the ship girls decided to let Vestal step forward to appease Jing Su. The whole process was smooth and natural, without any conflict or argument, and Vestal was naturally chosen.

After receiving the notification, Vestal also acted quickly and went to the area where Jing Su was. As the emotional expert of the port, there are very few ship girls on the entire front line, including Belfast, who dare to say that they are better at helping people sort out their feelings than Vestal.

"Oh, that? I'm fine. Men have their days when they're in a bad mood, it's normal," Jing Su said cheerfully, composing himself.

"Huh? I only know that girls have those few uncomfortable days every month, but I didn't know that boys do too?" The female Kitchen Goddess asked with a puzzled expression.

"Both men and women experience it, but women have a stronger physiological reaction, which can cause real physical discomfort. Regardless of gender, it's easy to fall into a state of emotional depression in the middle of the night—or, in internet slang, 'late-night emo'," Jing Su replied, while simultaneously wondering to herself. Having been in this world for so long, she had never heard of a ship girl named Hikari experiencing something like this.

'Thinking about it carefully, it makes sense. Ship girls aren't really human, and many of them even openly admit they're Rubik's Cube-like beings.'

"So, is the Commander currently... uh, emo?" The Goddess of the Hearth looked puzzled, but inwardly she breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that Jing Su was alright. When she came, she was worried not about Jing Su having emotional problems, but about Jing Su not reacting at all and not responding. If that happened, something really serious would have happened to Jing Su.

Although I'm not entirely sure what EMO means, I've heard it from some experienced internet users. It seems to be an abbreviation for emotional state. Even though I don't really understand the meaning of those letters, I'm still very happy to see that Jing Su is alright.

To some extent, the female stove god suffered from being too cultured, and due to cultural differences, what she saw as an abbreviation of a common noun or adjective was, in Jing Su's eyes, a synonym for loss.

Regardless of the circumstances, Jing Su's willingness to communicate meant that, for the Goddess of the Stove, the task of appeasement was already half successful.

"I guess so. I'm just a little disappointed for no reason," Jing Su said softly, looking up at the sky.