Shipgirls and Salted Fish Commander, Port Survival Guide

"Really? Hehehe, Commander is awesome!" Changchun was immediately attracted by Jing Su's promise and started dancing with joy.

"Hmm, I'll ask Akashi later. With the port's technological level, it shouldn't be a big problem to make it. Changchun, why don't you start thinking now about what games to play? It just so happens that Ayanami from Sakura Empire is on the ship. You can go ask her. Ayanami is a pro gamer."

Seeing that Yixian and Binjiang seemed to have something to say, Jingsu spoke up, preparing to clear the room.

"Really? Then Sister Yixian..." Upon hearing Jing Su's words, Changchun's eyes lit up. He then turned to look at Yixian. If it were a ship from another faction, Changchun would have already run off to meet his new companion after hearing Jing Su's words.

But Ayanami is different; her historical prototype once invaded the Eastern Empire, and Yixian has always been very concerned about such things.

"Go ahead, but don't play for too long." Yi Xian nodded. She was a very open-minded older sister. When it came to matters of principle, she wouldn't back down. In this vast port area, she did indeed find many Sakura Empire ship girls very disagreeable, whether from a historical perspective or in this world. However, that was in formal settings, and this was not a formal setting, so it had nothing to do with principle.

Not to mention that the Sakura Empire faction is also part of the port area, and everyone is a trustworthy comrade-in-arms on the battlefield, even from a more pragmatic perspective, not interacting with other factions and not learning from their strengths is called being stuck in the past. The Eastern Empire has already suffered a great loss once in its history, so why would it knowingly repeat the same mistake now?

Most importantly, before gaining self-awareness, ship girls are essentially just tools, and tools cannot decide their own fate. What they do, whether they want to do it, and how they do it all depend on the operator. Therefore, the suffering that the Eastern Empire experienced in history cannot be blamed on Ayanami. Instead, those heinous war criminals should be condemned. How can you ignore the people and condemn the tools instead?

If she really did that, wouldn't Yi Xian also have to condemn herself? After all, her historical prototype sank and was salvaged by the Sakura Empire and used as a training ship.

Therefore, in private, Yi Xian doesn't interfere too much with how the ship girls of the Donghuang faction behave. As long as they don't go too far, that's fine. Yi Xian has a calm personality and doesn't show her emotions. In other words, no matter who she is facing or what the situation is, she always has a smile on her face and a peaceful and gentle expression, giving people the impression of an older sister.

Of course, this happened after she met Jing Su. Before joining the port, those familiar with Yi Xian knew that at that time, she was listless and sorrowful, always immersed in her past experiences and almost couldn't get out of it. First, she didn't know where the future lay, and second, she felt angry about the past tragedies and saddened by her own powerlessness.

With Jing Su's encouragement, Yi Xian gradually emerged from the shadows, was able to face the past, and was full of expectations for the future. Then, Jing Su disappeared. At that time, Bin Jiang was really afraid that Yi Xian would sink into despair. Fortunately, Yi Xian, who had been through the rain, eventually grew up and became a strong umbrella for the entire Donghuang camp.

"Commander, can you tell me in detail what exactly happened?" After Changchun ran off happily, Yixian sighed, put on a serious expression, and said to Jing Su.

"Didn't I just give you the gist? Is there anything else I need to add?" Jing Su sighed inwardly. Had what was bound to happen finally come?

“When the commander is hiding something or lying, he always avoids looking us in the eye,” Yi Xian said softly.

"Ahem, you're observing so closely?" Yi Xian had already put it this way, so what could Jing Su do? She continued, "Let me think, where should I begin?"

Then, Jing Su recounted how she suddenly encountered Towa, how she fabricated her interactions with the world, and even the story of the light sphere.

Of course, the whole story about the sticky thing was still not told, but Jing Su knew that even if he didn't say it, the two intelligent girls in front of him could guess it.

"So, Commander, are you sure there's nothing wrong with your eyes?" After listening to Jing Su's description and briefly comparing it with what had just been said, Yi Xian sighed, then looked at Jing Su's eyes with concern.

From any perspective, if the enemy gives one's leader something that is supposedly very important, unless the other party is love-struck, Yi Xian really can't think of any situation that isn't a trap.

"There shouldn't be any problem. I can sense that she doesn't intend to harm me. My intuition is usually very accurate," Jing Su replied with a smile, recalling the time she spent with Tova.

"Since the commander is confident, then let's do it this way~" Actually, Yi Xian was still very worried, thinking about whether to turn around on the spot and go back to the base camp for a full physical examination or something, but since Jing Su insisted, she had no choice but to think that after returning to the base, she would definitely drag Jing Su to get a check-up.

"Any other questions?" Seeing Binjiang hesitate, Jing Su took the initiative to ask.

"Commander, what's the status of that arsenal? Why has it been shut down?" Binjiang immediately asked, as the topic shifted to him, voicing what he was most concerned about.

Yi Xian, as the head of Donghuang, considered things more comprehensively, while Binjiang focused more on combat. After waking up, Binjiang immediately checked the time and found that three hours had passed from when he lost consciousness to when he woke up.

This is an extremely important matter, three hours!

What if the Sirens come and fire a burst of bullets at you during this process? What kind of battle can withstand your main combat force being idle for three hours?

Moreover, this reveals a crucial question: Why did the ship girls inexplicably fall asleep for three hours?

This situation has never occurred in previous battles against the Sirens. If the ship girls had known that the Sirens had this ability, they would never have brought so few people to the front lines this time. No, they wouldn't have even sent Jing Su to the front lines!

Now, the only thing Binjiang is hoping for is that the Sirens' sleeping offensive is limited and the conditions for triggering it are very strict; otherwise, this would be very bad news.

However, compared to the Siren's sleeping offensive, Binjiang was more concerned about why the Siren Armory hadn't made any moves after sleeping for so long. Even excluding the cruise ship, Taiyuan and Anshan were near the armory, but according to their feedback, Anshan and the others had also fallen into a slumber and hadn't been attacked during that time.

This is also why Binjiang and Yixian acknowledged Jing Su's claim that the Siren had no hostility towards him. After all, if they really wanted to take action, they would have done so long ago. Even if they didn't harm Jing Su, these ship girls would definitely not come out on top.

"The arsenal, that thing, strictly speaking, is now... my property...?" Jing Su pondered for a moment, then said in an uncertain tone.

"Huh...?" At this moment, both Yixian and Binjiang showed surprised looks. What do you mean by "it's their property"? Also, what's with that uncertain expression on your face, Commander?

"Simply put, that guy transferred the control of this arsenal to me, saying that to make the most of the show, since it's a relatively old factory anyway, and even if we took it back, it would just have to be demolished anyway, so he simply handed it over to me. But, I don't know exactly what this thing can do. Before she finished speaking, she disappeared."

Jing Su recalled Towa's parting words and organized her thoughts.

Following Towa's instructions, she gave the mimicry substance to Jing Su. From then on, Jing Su was one of their own in the Sirens' system. However, being one of their own did not mean absolute safety. After all, in the Sirens' operating logic, everything must play its role. You either fight desperately on the front lines or work hard to produce in the rear. Slacking off and being lazy are absolutely not allowed.

Therefore, if Jing Su doesn't do anything, and the system really identifies him, it will assign him a task, most likely an order to go to the front line to fight. In that case, he will be exposed directly, as Jing Su's small body doesn't look like he can fight at all.

To prevent him from becoming a casualty on the battlefield, Tova had no choice but to find Jing Su a job in logistics. Under this idea, becoming the production manager of the arsenal was a good idea. After becoming the factory manager, Jing Su would not only no longer have to go to the front line, but in case of special circumstances, he could also urgently summon nearby Siren warships to protect him.

As for why Jing Su said he didn't know what the arsenal could do, it was because after Tova transferred the authority to him, he said that the arsenal was too old. Although it was not so old that it was unusable, the materials and energy inside were almost used up. In short, it was just an empty shell.

Even if Tova is love-struck, he wouldn't give Jing Su a fully-fledged arms factory. Not only would it be aiding the enemy, but it would also be easily exposed. Doing so wouldn't be caring for Jing Su; it would be harming him instead.

"What? The authority has been transferred to you, Commander?" Binjiang exclaimed, his astonished expression as if he had seen a ghost.

"It's just an empty shell. There's not much energy or resources inside. Those warships that came out to fight us were the last of the arsenal's strength. Now they've all been wiped out. Soon, the arsenal will have to stop operating."

Jing Su's words were also an answer to Bin Jiang's question earlier: why hasn't the arsenal reacted at all? Because all of its energy and resources have been diverted by Towa to build the world where he was dating Jing Su.

Where would they find the strength to resist the ship girls?

"Lack of energy? Lack of resources? Haha, Commander, you're really joking. Right now, our port area lacks everything except resources and energy. Come on, let's go take a look. This is a complete arsenal, even the old-fashioned ones. It can be of great help to our research on the Siren warships." Binjiang nudged Jing Su's shoulder with his elbow and said cheerfully.

“Yes, Commander, we have the resources on our cruise ship. However, could we please have the necessary permissions to take a look? It’s always best to be careful with these kinds of things,” Yi Xian chimed in.

"And you're talking about me~" Jing Su took a deep breath. These two girls were so nervous just now, but now that they can research an arms factory, they're more enthusiastic than him, who's been there firsthand. What's going on?

Despite her reluctance, Jing Su tapped her watch a few times, and soon a deep blue holographic projection appeared in front of the three of them.

"This is..."

Chapter 338 Speculation

"Mimicry, resource gathering, construction, and even independent research and development—my goodness, is this armory really that versatile?"

After quickly glancing at the arsenal's instruction manual, Binjiang let out a heartfelt sigh.

"Commander, could you tell us about that independent research and development and construction function? What's the situation?" Yi Xian was more focused on the practicalities. The description sounded very impressive, but what exactly was the situation? Did it match the description? If not, how much of a difference was there? These were all questions that needed further investigation.

"Most of the functions are exactly what they sound like. Mimicry is about simulating the surrounding environment. The reason why the port area has been unable to find the Siren Arsenal for so many years is precisely because of this. In the vast ocean, the arsenal can dive into the sea, activate mimicry, and even if you stand right in front of it, you might not be able to find it."

Specialized equipment is required to find it.

“Then…” Binjiang’s eyes lit up when he heard Jing Su’s answer, but he was interrupted before he could finish speaking.

"It's useless. Since that guy dared to hand over this arsenal to me, he's not afraid that I'll use it to find arsenals hidden in the ocean." Jing Su recalled Tova's words and said, "On the one hand, this arsenal is relatively old and belongs to technology that was phased out a long time ago. Using it to target the Sirens' current mimicry capabilities is not very useful."

On the other hand, it also lies in the fact that different Sirens are not subordinate to each other. After that guy activated this arsenal, he used her exclusive code, but she is not specifically in charge of the Sirens in our world. After this battle, she will return to her original defense zone and do what she was originally supposed to do.

Therefore, even if we decipher the mimicry code used by this arsenal, it won't be of much use in finding other arsenals.

Towa didn't really just transfer the permissions to Jing Su and then wash his hands of it. Instead, he personally taught Jing Su some of the basic functions, teaching her step by step!

Although Jing Su strongly suspected that the guy was taking the opportunity to retaliate, he created a bunch of random functions, only explained them once, and then asked Jing Su to repeat them. If she couldn't repeat them, he would laugh at her for being stupid, saying that the Sirens would know how to use similar functions without being taught!

Enraged, Jing Su gave Towa a severe beating on the bed, suppressing the proud little girl until she was completely subdued before continuing her studies.

However, even if only the basic functions were taught, it was enough for Jing Su to have a relatively intuitive understanding of the Sirens' technology.

That's really exaggerated!

Especially after learning about the function of building worlds, he was even more terrified. Towa said that everything Jing Su built in this information world could be brought into the real world exactly as it was. At that time, Jing Su didn't have much of an understanding of this function, but he was shocked after discovering the raw materials used to build worlds!

The raw materials are just ordinary air and seawater, with at most some minerals added.

In other words, the arsenal directly alters the form of matter at the atomic level; or to put it simply, the arsenal can transform air into things like gold.

Keep in mind that this is an old machine from many years ago on the Sirens' side. The instruments that the Sirens use now have gone through countless iterations, and who knows how far they have developed.

"Unusable?" Hearing Jing Su's explanation, Yi Xian was quite disappointed. The port area and the Sirens were currently at a stalemate on the front line, largely because they couldn't find the Sirens' deployment points. Many times, after capturing a piece of territory, before they could consolidate it, a large number of warships would suddenly appear out of nowhere, which was extremely annoying.

If we could decipher the Sirens' concealment techniques, even just finding their hidden arsenals would help improve the situation at the front lines in Jiaozuo.

“Collecting and building these are easy to understand, but what does ‘independent research and development’ mean? Does this arsenal even have intelligent AI?” Compared to Yixian, Binjiang was more open-minded. If they couldn’t find the Siren arsenal, they just couldn’t find it. It’s less interesting to fight if there are fewer enemies.

Compared to finding the arsenal, Binjiang is more concerned with practical matters. Since the Sirens are all commanded by intelligent AI, the decapitation tactic is very effective against them. Once the command ship is found and destroyed when encountering a Siren formation, the remaining Siren warships become useless, even if the Maritime Safety Administration's navy can sink them with their warships.

However, if the command ship is not destroyed in time and the Sirens are not able to encircle it, then fighting the Sirens will become an extremely disgusting thing. The almost endless number of Sirens will make any reinforcements extremely difficult. In the end, powerful ship girls will have to be sent out to ensure that the Sirens' reinforcements cannot keep up with the rate at which they are sunk, and the Sirens will be gradually eroded.

In general, if the commander is not sunk in time, the encounter with the Sirens will almost always become a protracted battle, often lasting ten days to half a month.

Now, Binjiang has heard some bad news from Jingsu: the arsenal actually has the ability to conduct its own research and development!

This means that the AI ​​of the Armory has become intelligent enough to iterate itself. It means that if the Armory is given enough time to develop, it can easily become a Zerg hive, which is extremely disgusting.

Moreover, since the arsenal uses resources from our own world, the longer it drags on, the fewer resources the port area can utilize, creating a zero-sum game.

"Don't be so nervous." Jing Su, seeing what Binjiang was worried about, reassured him: "You can think of an arsenal as a large computer. It's powerful, but it's just a machine. What functions it can perform depends on the user."

The initial AI of the Armory was weak and had very limited permissions. It could only defend and counterattack based on external circumstances and could not do much. As long as the permission for self-iteration was not granted to the Armory, it could be used as a large computer.

Once iteration permissions are granted, the arsenal will be very active and easy to locate. The process from when the system begins upgrading to when it poses a threat to us is very lengthy, giving us ample time to destroy the arsenal.

Jing Su's meaning is simple: the Siren Arsenal does indeed have the ability to self-iterate and evolve into a very terrifying existence. However, under normal circumstances, this function is locked. If it is not activated, the arsenal is just a large computer, or even worse than a computer. At least a computer can be used to play games, while the arsenal can only perform 3D printing.

"Oh, that Sirens, they even told the Commander about this? Could it be a trap?" After listening to Jing Su's explanation, Binjiang breathed a sigh of relief. It's good that their intelligence level isn't high. As long as they make a lot of noise when they start up, it's easy to solve the problem if they can be detected. What's worrying is that the arsenal develops secretly, and by the time it's discovered, it has already become a force to be reckoned with.

But then again, the port has existed in this world for so long, and those few arsenals have never become a big problem. They are always used as deployment points in the game and are taken down incidentally. Sometimes, if the arsenals are far away, the ship girls are too lazy to attack them, since attacking arsenals is troublesome and the returns are low.

The Siren Factory's ability to extract resources is truly remarkable. Once activated, it can drain all available resources in the surrounding area in a very short time. This makes attacking the factory a very difficult and thankless task. If you attack, all your resources will be depleted, and you won't get anything good after taking it. If you don't attack, you'll just watch helplessly as a production point keeps producing units for you if you ignore it, which is equally frustrating.

Now Binjiang understands that the Armory's mass production of units is already disgusting enough, but this is an Armory that isn't even fully activated? It's even more disgusting.

"Possibly, since it's like revealing the weakness of our main fighting force. However, even if she didn't say it, we would still destroy any activated arsenals anyway. So whether she says it or not doesn't really matter much; at most, it will only strengthen our resolve to destroy the Siren arsenals," Jing Su offered his assessment.

Actually, besides the trap, Jing Su had another idea in mind, but it was a bit crazy: that Tova revealing the characteristics of the arsenal might be a way of using someone else to do his dirty work.

Based on Tova's description of the arsenal, Jing Su felt that once fully activated, it was less like an arsenal and more like a miniature Siren mainframe. Most of its functions were normally locked, with only the ability to manufacture warships remaining. Once activated, it would rapidly iterate on its own. This rapid iteration was quite intriguing.

Logically speaking, a factory only needs to build warships; why give it the ability to iterate itself? Isn't that just asking for trouble? What if the AI ​​evolves too quickly and goes out of control?

The Sirens still granted the Armory feature, which is fine, but under normal circumstances, they locked it out. Isn't that pointless and unnecessary?

If this feature was designed, then turning it off is clearly illogical.

It is reasonable to speculate that the arsenal is actually a backup of the Sirens mainframe, which is not activated or only lightly activated under normal circumstances to manufacture warships. After all, such a large factory is just sitting idle, and it would be a waste not to make use of it.

When Jing Su was with Tova before, she showed fear for quite some time after realizing that she had lost control of the core. At the time, Jing Su didn't think much about it, but now, after analyzing it, she seems to have discovered a new world.

"So, Commander, you mean that the armory is actually a sub-machine of the Siren mainframe, which is usually in standby mode. Once the original mainframe is destroyed, the sub-machine immediately activates its self-programming ability, iterates, and then quickly becomes the new mainframe?" Binjiang summarized after Jing Su explained his thoughts.

"It's uncertain, but this is the most likely result after analyzing a lot of information," Jing Su nodded.

"Then, why did that Siren tell you these things, Commander?" Yi Xian asked. She was quite concerned about this. Although Jing Su's analysis was very reasonable, there was a question: why would Tova do this?

This is truly betraying our own people!

Or rather, regardless of whether the arsenal is a Siren extension, once Jing Su said this, no matter what the situation, whenever the port sees the arsenal, they will go all out to rush up and destroy it.

"Perhaps, the Sirens aren't as harmonious as we imagine?" Jing Su recalled the game's plot and offered another guess.

"Huh?" Upon hearing this, both Yi Xian and Bin Jiang were shocked. This was major news. There was discord within the Sirens.

Can intelligent AI also have thoughts of disharmony?

"What's so surprising? Isn't our port district a perfect example?" Jing Su said helplessly, looking at the two shocked people.

"It seems...that's true~" Binjiang scratched his head and said awkwardly.

Although a long time has passed, and although she herself had not yet been born at that time, Binjiang often heard ship girls from other factions talking about what happened on land in the past. Before Jingsu established its port district, the relationship between different factions was no longer just one of opposition, but rather a real war.

Putting aside other things, Hood of the Royal Navy was seriously injured by Bismarck of the Iron Blood faction and almost sank into the deep sea, thus recreating history. Lexington was besieged and seriously injured, and Amagi was beaten down to the point of being reduced to a mere data segment. Later, with the help of Jing Su, it returned from the void, awoke, and even changed its ship equipment, transforming from a battleship into an aircraft carrier.

She is the first ship girl in the port area with two forms. When the Sirens are far away, she launches planes; when they are close, she throws her deck and performs a 'bang bang bang' performance of tearing the Sirens apart with her bare hands.

Therefore, without Jing Su's sudden emergence, the various factions would likely still be in a state of severe confrontation, as evidenced by the fact that the port area split up shortly after Jing Su's disappearance.

Even in ports where people share life and death on the battlefield, various conflicts exist, so it is not surprising that there are antagonistic situations within the Sirens.

“Strictly speaking, I do have evidence, but it’s not easy to produce that evidence right now.” Seeing the change in the two women’s expressions, Jing Su knew that they had accepted her statement.

Actually, just now, when Jing Su was expressing his opinion, he suddenly thought of a Siren. When he went to the front line with Warspite and others, they encountered a resource point on the way. At that place, Jing Su was also teleported to the Siren's cyberspace and was even rescued by a Siren.

Jing Su hadn't realized it before, but now it suddenly dawned on her: who else could the guy who saved her be but the Observer?

In the game's storyline, this observer, although a member of the Sirens' faction, has a very intriguing stance, giving off the feeling of an awakened being.

"If we can't produce it, then we won't. Commander, what you said makes a lot of sense. It seems that the port's strategy will need to be adjusted accordingly in the future." Yi Xian said seriously, thinking of calling Jing Su to go to the room for a combat meeting.

"Boom! Boom boom!"

Before Yixian could even voice his plan, a deafening sound suddenly came from outside the window.

"what's the situation?"

"alert!"

"Protect the commander!"