Shipgirls and Salted Fish Commander, Port Survival Guide

The voices of war weariness were filled with helplessness.

"Ahem, my fault~" Knowing that Warspite was referring to her directly or indirectly, Jing Su immediately stood at attention and answered in a solemn voice.

"That would be perfect!"

"So, should we go on this assignment? Is there any word on who should be chosen?"

"Commander, just do what you think is best. Don't worry about messing it up. In Seaside City, the Royal Family is the law, and our word is law. Even if the sky falls, we can hold it up. Just go for it, Commander. Don't worry, we've got you covered."

Although they hadn't met face-to-face, Jing Su could roughly guess what Yan Zhan was like now.

Holding the phone in one hand and patting his chest with the other, he stood ramrod straight, his eyes slightly narrowed, the corners of his mouth curved, his expression proud and fearless.

"Oh, I see. With that, I know what to do. Okay, I'll process these documents first and then see you later." Jing Su's eyes lit up as an idea began to form in her mind, and she prepared to start planning.

"Eh~"

"dudu~"

War-weary wanted to say something more, but then heard a busy signal.

'Hey, didn't the Commander just say "See you later"? Hehe, does that mean he wants me to be alone with him? Haha, Commander, I'm coming right away, wait for me~'

Chapter 75 I plan to go over and have some fun

"Commander, I'm here~"

'Clang~'

The door was suddenly pushed open, and Warspite, dressed in a purple miniskirt, a crown on her head, and white stockings, walked in with great interest.

Good morning, Warwear.

"Queen Elizabeth-class battleship Warspite, hull number 03, reporting for duty, awaiting instructions!"

Seeing Jing Su working, Yan Zhan stood at attention and saluted with a serious expression.

"Ah, this~" Jing Su was a bit taken aback. He was stunned by Yan Zhan's sudden outburst, but he quickly recovered and said, "No need to be so serious. There's no need for this between us."

The Elizabeth-class battleships have very different personalities, but Warspite is the most unique one. She considers herself an elder and often says strange things.

Jing Su really liked Warspite. In the game, Warspite was one of Jing Su's main battleships in the early stages, and she used it for a long time. When it was later modified, she immediately modified it. However, just like her situation in real life, as the game progressed, Warspite became more and more of a relic of the past.

But no matter what, the fact that she became a 'tear of the times' means that she was at least a legend. War-weary, whether from a historical or gaming perspective, deserves this title.

"The commander's orders are law to me, and I will take them as my priority. The commander must have a lot to deal with right now, and I can help." Warspite blushed slightly, walked to Jing Su's side, picked up some documents, and offered to help.

"Haha, okay, okay, Warspite has really been a great help. If I were to handle this huge pile of documents by myself, I'm afraid it would take me all day. But to be honest, I still feel a little guilty about asking Warspite for help."

"Hey, why is that?" Warspite had just sat down with the documents in his arms when he heard Jing Su's words and was a little curious.

"Well, in my education, employing child labor is illegal. What do you think of Warspite? He's just a kid, haha~"

"what!?"

War-weariness has reached a fever pitch.

Although Warspite is more composed than her sister ships, she is still an Elizabeth-class battleship, and all battleships of this type share a common Achilles' heel.

"Hehe, Commander, I'm smaller than I thought. Oh, I'm so sorry! I'm supposed to be an elder, but I look like a child. It's really something to be ashamed of, Commander. Since you're a child, it's okay for me to make a joke, right?"

Commander, my dear Commander, well then, this petite and adorable Warspite lady would like to invite you to take a 15-inch shell, I wonder if that's alright~

"Ah, this." Warspite's reddened eyes and gloomy expression were too frightening. Jing Su quickly admitted defeat and begged for forgiveness. "How could it be? Warspite, you are a respected elder, a legend of the Royal Navy. Whether in history or in the port, you are a pillar. Back then, the development of our port was largely thanks to you."

Besides, with our relationship, this kind of talk is more like playful banter between a young couple. Don't you think it's quite romantic?

"Young, young couple~" Warspite originally wanted to say something, but after hearing Jing Su's words, he forgot everything else.

I should be angry that I was called a child.

But, but Commander, Commander, he said the young couple...

Hehe~ you two are a perfect couple.

Seeing Warspite's increasingly shy expression, Jing Su knew that his words had worked. However, he hadn't been entirely trying to offend her; Warspite was, after all, his marriage ship.

Today, Warspite is dressed in gloves, the white gloves extending past her elbows, adding a touch of nobility, and on this flawless masterpiece, a diamond ring sparkles.

"Warspite, how about coming out with me for some adventures?" Seeing that Warspite had calmed down a bit, Jing Su quickly offered her suggestion.

"Okay, wait a minute, let's go out and explore? Explore what?" Yan Zhan originally thought Jing Su was going to take him on a date, and happily agreed, but quickly realized that the word "date" had nothing to do with "exploring".

As a ship girl of Jingsu, Warspite understands the Eastern Huang language, or rather, all the ship girls in the port area can speak the Eastern Huang language. Perhaps they don't understand some of the cultural customs, but at the very least they can understand the meaning.

But Jing Su's words just now were clearly not what Yan Zhan understood.

"Yes, there is something that requires a strong, decisive, and resolute person..."

"Commander, no need for further explanation. What is it? I'll take it on. Where is the enemy? Should we launch an attack? Or should we pursue the remaining enemy? As long as Warspite is here, no matter how far the enemy runs, I can take them down. I'm a sharpshooter!"

Before Jing Su could finish speaking, Warspite interrupted her. Warspite stood ramrod straight, her expression solemn, and a large sword had appeared in her hand—it was Warspite's ship equipment.

Warspite thrust her sword into the ground, her hair moving without wind, exuding an imposing aura, her eyes burning with anticipation as she looked at Jing Su.

As one of the symbols of the royal camp, Queen Elizabeth's poor little helper, War-weary, has not been out of action for a long time. She is a warrior, a legend on the battlefield, and although she is old, she still longs for battle.

"There's no need to be so serious." Jing Su was startled by Warspite's commotion and could roughly guess what Warspite had misunderstood. He felt helpless and a little heartbroken. As the commander, he could naturally feel the joys and sorrows of the ship girls. He could also sense what the girls cared about to some extent. However, if the matter to be carried out next was not handled well, a battle might indeed break out.

"Huh, isn't it an attack?" Warspite was dumbfounded. Had she misunderstood? Well, that didn't seem wrong. Jing Su hadn't revealed any information yet, and she had just assumed it was an attack.

'What a huge blunder! Ugh! I'm so embarrassed, no, I need to crawl into a hole, I want to disappear! Waaah, this is so shameful!'

War-weary was on the verge of tears, but still forced himself to remain calm and said, "No matter what it is, I will do my best."

"Haha, I'm relieved to hear that. As for combat, well, that's a possibility!"

"Hmm?" Warspite was puzzled. There was no attack, and no expedition commission at the moment, so why was there a battle scene?

"Do you remember the rescue request I asked you about earlier?" Jing Su didn't explain, but asked in return.

"A rescue request?" Warspite pondered. "Oh, the one I asked about on the phone. Is there a problem with this request?"

"At first I didn't think there was any problem, but then I had a sudden urge and asked TB to help me check the information of the forces behind it. I found some interesting things that I think will be very interesting."

"so?"

“I’m planning to go over and have some fun~” Jing Su gave a mysterious smile.

Chapter Seventy-Six: Announcing My Existence to the World

"Commander, what's wrong with that request?" Seeing Jing Su's playful expression, Warspite's expression turned serious.

“There are indeed many things that are not right.” Jing Su unfolded her tablet, turned on the 3D stereoscopic projector, pulled up the resources she had found, and began to explain.

"These are the search and rescue contracts we've accepted." Jing Su waved one hand, and eight contract forms appeared on the projector.

As Warspite mentioned earlier, most of these near-shore missions require ship girls to do shady things, and since the rewards are not known, most factions are not interested in these missions.

The commissions that Jing Su found were taken by girls who were bored and just wanted to join in the fun.

"Most of these subsequent commissions require us to hunt down Siren warships of purple grade or higher and obtain their cores, as the commission issuers want to conduct research. Heh, it seems the Maritime Bureau isn't a monolithic entity after all."

"So, Commander, did you notice anything amiss with this mission? If it's about hunting Sirens, there's no need to give gold materials." Jing Su deliberately enlarged the reward section of the mission, and Warspite, following this line of thought, frowned.

brow.

There aren't many nearshore rescue orders, only eight in total. And among these orders, the pay is generally low, with the best being a blue-grade item.

This makes sense, though. How serious can an accident be for a ship near the shore? At most, it might run aground, encounter pirates, or be caught in a storm. But if it really gets into a storm, sending ship girls to rescue it won't make much difference.

Therefore, the rewards for nearshore rescue orders are not high to begin with. But now, this rescue order that appeared on the commission system is actually rewarded with gold materials, and not just one, but three.

Yi Xian's previous purpose in coming to the port area was to test the new ship equipment, so Jing Su was aware of the cost of materials. According to the remuneration on this order, if he used it sparingly, he could make at least one Jin Gaoping.

This is a very generous reward; even if the actual reward isn't that much, it's still a terrifying figure.

"Commander, so you mean this is a trap? But that shouldn't be the case. We don't usually care much about these kinds of missions. Even if it is a trap, we can just ignore it." Although Warspite realized the problem with the mission, he still expressed his confusion.

As Warspite said, whether or not to accept such a request is a matter of mutual consent. If someone really feels there is a problem, they can simply ignore you, and what can you do about it?

“That’s one of the reasons I’m bringing it up specifically.” Jing Su leaned back in her chair and said, “I’m wondering if it’s possible that this rescue request is real, and that there really is a ship in crisis that urgently needs rescue.”

"Then what does this have to do with us?" Warspite was even more puzzled. Just a moment ago they were discussing the possibility that this commission was a trap, and now it seems to have come true.

“It could be real or fake, it all depends on our reaction.” Jing Su moved her finger and pulled up a document. “I had TB investigate the organization that issued the commission, but we didn’t find any useful information. We only found a company that was just established yesterday. The company’s official website says that its business is intelligence analysis, but we can’t find any details about the company’s legal representative or employees.”

The information Jing Su retrieved showed the information of the person who commissioned the publication, but as Jing Su said, there was no useful information at all.

"Doesn't that further prove it's a trap?" Warspite frowned. With all this information combined, didn't it confirm that this commission was a trap?

"It can be, or it can not be." Jing Su stood up and said seriously, "I'll set up this scenario for you. Right now, there really is a ship in a huge crisis that urgently needs rescue, so it has entrusted an intermediary to find rescue, and the intermediary has come to us."

But here's the crucial point: this agency was actually a newly set up trap just to target us. If we accept the commission and go to the location, it will be a trap; if we don't go, then the commission will be a genuine rescue order, and then there will be online trolls and other forms of media condemning us for refusing to help, for having such powerful resources and massive supplies but not doing anything, etc.

"Huh?" Warspite was genuinely stunned. "It can't be that bad, can it? Is it really that disgusting?"

But we don't care about public opinion. Let them say what they want; we don't care.

After listening to Jing Su's analysis, Warspite also felt that it made a lot of sense, but the same question remained: even if a media offensive were launched, it wouldn't have much impact on the ship girls.

They are two completely different worlds. If you want to curse, then curse. Just treat it like flies buzzing around.

If you keep making noise, haha, what should you do if you encounter annoying flies flying everywhere?

Of course, you should slap them to death!

It's not like we don't have that power.

“Hehe, that’s true.” Jing Su nodded. “Either the main battleground of the forces behind us is related to public opinion, or is greatly influenced by it, or he doesn’t understand our port area and thinks we will be swayed by public opinion.”

Of course, I actually lean more towards the third possibility: the forces behind the scenes are using someone else to do their dirty work, leveraging the influence of our Hong Kong region to achieve their own goals.

"Huh?" Warspite was a little confused. How did things get so messy and confusing?

"The information is not comprehensive enough to analyze the whole picture. However, based on the principle that whoever benefits is the mastermind, I think it is possible that the recent incident of misappropriation of resources has made some forces see the possibility of rising to power and they plan to take advantage of this to bring down the current government."

If we're talking about who benefits most from stirring up public opinion for rescue efforts, Jing Su doesn't know, but who will definitely be most affected is the ruling cabinet.

The ship girls will not be swayed by public opinion, so their real target is obviously not the port area. However, just because the ship girls don't care about the public's opinion doesn't mean that others don't care. Jing Su learned that the Maritime Safety Administration is an electoral system, elected by the whole people.

This model is naturally susceptible to being swayed by public opinion.

Jing Su had seen too many similar situations in his previous life. For example, a certain country next door that claimed to be the origin of the universe had a ship sink, and because the government didn't handle it well, the president was ousted from office.

"So, Commander, what do you want?"

"Hehe, no matter what his situation is, if he really needs a rescue, then forget it. Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. Let's just say we're in a good mood, so let's go rescue him and earn some resources along the way. From the perspective of reward, it's no problem to do this job."

But if he's trying to use us, then we'll have to say something. Nobody dares to use us as a pretext.

And don't you think this is a great opportunity?

"Chance?"

"I've been back for so long, the whole port knows, but the outside world doesn't, hehe~"

Chapter Seventy-Seven: Abandon this terrible idea

"Commander, are we really okay like this? Will something bad happen?" Warspite asked Jing Su, who was enjoying the sea breeze, from the deck of the speedboat.

"Isn't it because you're here? Warspite, I feel at ease with you here." Jing Su knew what Warspite was worried about, which was nothing more than fear that something might happen to her, so she jokingly reassured her.

"Even if we sink and are plunged into endless darkness, I will not allow anyone to touch a single hair on the Commander's head!" Warspite stood firm, speaking earnestly and solemnly.

"It doesn't have to be that serious." Jing Su originally wanted to make a joke to lighten the mood, but seeing Warspite's expression, he held back. He knew that Warspite was serious. Although he was indeed quite moved, Jing Su still wanted to say that it really wasn't that serious.

Jing Su was not a reckless man or a hothead. He roughly knew his position in the hearts of the ship girls, so he would not participate in any dangerous actions.

However, there are some things that do require my intervention as the commander, such as this current request.

Jing Su can't do much for the port right now. Firstly, he's not capable enough, and secondly, to put it bluntly, the ship girls don't let him do it because they're afraid he'll get tired.

Although Jing Su repeatedly stated that this was an opportunity to train herself, the ship girls continued to do as they pleased.

Previously, when Jing Su was stationed at Donghuang, he was in charge of logistics. At first, it was indeed complicated and he was overwhelmed. However, after mastering the work, he was able to handle it quite well.

Otherwise, where would Jing Su have found the time to remotely direct the negotiation process regarding the Maritime Safety Administration's misappropriation of resources?

However, when Jing Su suggested taking things a step further, Yi Xian refused, citing concerns that he might overwork himself. Despite Jing Su's repeated assurances that the work was nothing, she still refused.

Jing Su responded, "If you won't give it to me, then I'll have to find it myself."