Shipgirls and Salted Fish Commander, Port Survival Guide

Jing Su realized that he had been misunderstanding the strength of the port area. Although he had tried his best to exaggerate the strength of the port area, it seemed that he had still underestimated it.

However, upon closer reflection, it seems that Jing Su's misjudgment is understandable. After all, since he transmigrated to this world, the girls in the port area have never really told him how strong the port area is. Jing Su has had to guess based on the details.

As for ship girls, is strength really that important? Is it more important than being close to the commander? They're already the strongest in the world, so what's the point of talking about these things? Of course, the most important thing is that the port was actually developed by Jing Su. The ship girls feel that even if their commander has lost his memories, he shouldn't have forgotten such basic things.

Moreover, during a meeting of the leaders, someone was thinking about why Jing Su suddenly disappeared, and whether the Hong Kong government had done something wrong. Amidst various arguments and veergencing off-topic, the answer they came up with was that the Hong Kong government was so powerful, yet its creators were not enjoying the treatment they deserved. Despite being the strongest, they still had to care about the feelings of others. Any wise leader would feel uncomfortable in that situation.

For ship girls, Jing Su, who single-handedly created the port area, is undoubtedly a wise ruler.

However, this conclusion was initially accepted by all the decision-makers, but it was soon rejected because it gave the impression that Jing Su had abandoned the port, which was something that none of the ship girls could accept and that would cause the port to collapse instantly.

Fortunately, Jing Su returned. Although we don't know what happened, Jing Su lost his past. But so what? He is still our commander. You could even say that without his memories, Jing Su is like a blank sheet of paper. Wouldn't that make it easier for the ship girls to draw?

Therefore, unless Jing Su asks her directly, the ship girls tacitly avoid mentioning the strength of the port. In the past, the port was so powerful that Jing Su disappeared inexplicably. Now, despite the port's division, given the current state of the ship girls, separation actually allows the faction to develop more effectively. As the saying goes, scattered stars are scattered across the sky. In other words, once the port is unified, it will only be stronger than before.

What if Jing Su disappears again?

The ship girls can no longer withstand this catastrophe.

“Commander, please allow me to continue explaining.” As Jing Su was deep in thought, Plymouth interrupted his thoughts.

"Oh, okay." Jing Su nodded, her thoughts returning to reality. As for strength, it would be clear once they got to the front lines. What place could better showcase the port's power than the front lines?

“Yes, Commander.” Plymouth was clearly pleased to receive Jing Su’s order and pointed to the purple core, saying, “According to research, the source of the Siren’s core material seems to be the same as that of our ship girls’ Mind Cube.”

"Huh?" Jing Su exclaimed in surprise. The news from Plymouth really shocked him. In the game, the Wisdom Cube is light blue, and its specific material is not explained in detail. However, judging from the fact that Frederick the Great was able to use the Wisdom Cube to awaken the High Seas Fleet, and that each faction launches a research ship girl every now and then, the materials for the Wisdom Cube are at least not difficult to obtain.

But no matter how uncommon it may be, suddenly telling Jing Su that her daughter and their enemy are actually the same thing is somewhat beyond Jing Su's acceptable range.

After all, the core in front of Jing Su was almost bigger than him, and Jing Su could vaguely sense that the core was emanating an aura that made him uncomfortable. Compared to the pleasure of being by the side of the ship girls, the difference was too great.

“Yes, Commander. Although I hate to admit it, I can feel a power in the Siren Core that is the same as mine.” Plymouth nodded and then said, “But I can feel that this power, which is the same as mine, is very violent. Although it is powerful, it is uncontrollable, as if it has been corrupted. In short, this power is like it has been corrupted.”

"Meta-ification?" After hearing Plymouth's explanation, Jing Su suddenly had this concept in mind, and then asked, "Plymouth, where are those meta-ified ship girls in our port now?"

"I don't know, I'm sorry I can't answer your question, Commander." Plymouth shook her head, indicating that she really didn't know.

"Don't know?" Jing Su raised an eyebrow. Actually, after asking this question, several possibilities flashed through Jing Su's mind. First, there was no such thing as a Meta ship girl in this world. After all, the game's plot only gradually introduced the concept of Meta after the open world was brought out. At the beginning of the game, there was no concept of Meta. At most, the Sirens were simply moved from behind the scenes to the front line and treated as the main enemy. Later, it could even be seen from the lines that the Sirens were not an absolute enemy.

Therefore, it's understandable that Jing Su would say she doesn't know about Meta Shipgirls if Plymouth claims otherwise.

Jing Su's other guess is that the Meta ship girls are all fighting on the front lines. After all, Jing Su has not seen any Meta ship girls in the Royal Navy, but Jing Su clearly remembers that she has Meta ship girls. In fact, in the game's storyline, Queen Elizabeth of the Royal Navy took the lead in contacting Meta ship girls.

As a result, Plymouth told himself that he didn't know where the Meta ship girls were.

“Yes, since the port split, the Meta ship girls seem to have disappeared overnight. No one knows where they went. Commander, perhaps you could ask Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. She might know something.” Plymouth looked very remorseful, as if she had done something terribly wrong. For her, failing to answer Jing Su’s question correctly and clear up his doubts was the greatest sin in the world.

"Is that so?" Jing Su nodded, then said, "I'll ask about it when I have time."

After that, Jing Su stopped asking about the Meta ship girls. Judging from Plymouth's expression, she really didn't know anything. If she really wanted to know something, she would have asked and she wouldn't have refused to tell him. Under these circumstances, continuing to ask would only make Plymouth feel more upset and guilty, and it would be pointless.

Moreover, Plymouth's remarks just now actually revealed quite a lot of information.

First of all, there are Meta ship girls in this world. At least the girls in our own port know the concept of Meta. However, the extent to which they know probably varies. After all, Plymouth's statement about the Siren Core was that she felt the power was corrupted, while Jing Su had a strange feeling that this thing was like the power of Meta.

Knowing about Meta Ship Girls but not knowing where they went is understandable. According to the game's setting, Meta Ship Girls, or rather the Metaification of Ship Girls, is actually an application of the power of the Mind Cube. However, this application may cause the Ship Girls to lose their rationality and enter a berserk state.

In other words, it's about exchanging reason for power, and once metamorphosis reaches a certain level, it's irreversible. Jing Su vaguely remembers that the initial definition of metamorphosis in the game was losing all reason, emotions, and even memories, becoming a machine that only knows how to kill, exhausting its last bit of power in endless battles, and then returning to deep love.

After Meta ship girls could join the port, more Meta-ification settings emerged, such as Meta-ification being reversible to a certain extent, ship girls potentially becoming Meta-ified after experiencing major setbacks, and even the concept of reshaping was later introduced.

However, Jing Su had no idea what would happen next. According to his thinking, this reshaping might be a setting to make the Meta-transformed ship girls normal again, or it might be an emergency insurance for the Meta-transformed ship girls. After all, there was indeed a faction in the story that had a deep understanding of Meta-transformation. This faction was not the player faction, but seemed to be a force from another world.

So, did the Meta Ship Girls go to another world?

Jing Su began to think. At this moment, he suddenly remembered some of Hu Teng's behavior when he first arrived in this world. On the streets of the port area, Jing Su and Hu Teng had walked side by side and chatted idly. Of course, at that time, Jing Su was still in a daze, so Hu Teng was talking and Jing Su was responding.

That was also the first time Jing Su discovered that Hu Teng, who was expressionless in the game, was actually so talkative in private. To be precise, Hu Teng's character was cold on the outside but warm on the inside. He looked expressionless, but he was indeed a very gentle person in private.

In short, during that communication, Hu Teng earnestly expressed this statement, roughly meaning that the Ironblood faction has never given up on searching for Jing Su. If they cannot find him in this world, they will break through the void and go to other worlds, even if they fall into the endless void, they will still find Jing Su.

Jing Su once thought that Hu Teng was expressing his and the Ironblood faction's belief in finding themselves. Now, thinking about it, Hu Teng might not be joking. Hu Teng is not one to joke. In addition, in the game's background, almost every faction has the ability to shatter the void, and now there is the collective disappearance of the Meta ship girls.

Jing Su suddenly became very curious. He really wanted to find the leaders of each faction and ask them this question: "What exactly have you been doing behind my back?!"

Jing Su kept these questions to herself. There was no point in talking about them now. She had already been to two factions' bases, and including Hu Teng, she had worked with three factions. But none of the ship girls had mentioned anything about it, which meant there must be some hidden story. Since there was a hidden story, Jing Su naturally wouldn't force it, so as not to make everyone unhappy.

After skipping the topic of Meta Ship Girls, let's continue with the explanation of the Siren Core.

According to Plymouth, the Sirens are similar to those in the game, with the same ship type classification as the ship girls. If there is any difference, it is that the Sirens do not have the terms light carriers or battlecruisers. Whenever they appear, the aircraft carriers are the main carriers and the battleships are battleships in the true sense.

Apart from that, there are no fancy things like torpedo patrols, artillery patrols, or even submarine carriers.

However, the Sirens do have many strange auxiliary warships, such as the one that is currently in front of Jing Su. This thing is somewhat like a large smoke generator, specifically used to provide cover for the fleet.

When the main Sirens launch their attack, they are usually accompanied by several cover Sirens. However, due to their highly specialized functions, these support ships have virtually no self-defense capabilities. On the battlefield, they can destroy not only the mass-produced ships in the port area, but also the warships of the Maritime Safety Administration.

So, Plymouth said it was the first time he had ever seen an auxiliary warship appear alone like this, and release its presence so blatantly, as if afraid of not being detected.

"Can we find the main warship?" Jing Su asked after obtaining some information about the auxiliary warships.

As mentioned earlier, auxiliary warships generally do not operate alone. This time, they were clearly sacrificed. Therefore, we can arrive at two conclusions: either this thing is a trap, specifically designed to lure people in, or the main warship is damaged or delayed by something and urgently needs time.

Regardless of the reason, there is a high probability that there are major warships nearby. Since there are major warships, Jing Su naturally has to go and eliminate them. Putting aside everything else, just looking at Qianwei's expectant and flushed face, Jing Su knows that he definitely has to find a way to find out the hidden Siren warships.

As for traps and such, Jing Su just chuckled. Don't be fooled by the small number of ship girls around him; in terms of strength, they are among the best in the entire port. Plymouth alone is both durable and powerful, not to mention the presence of a main battleship like Warspite Vanguard. Although some people criticize Warspite as a disgrace to the "colorful" ships, that's because the battleship class is just too unpredictable, and Warspite suffered from being deployed too early. In terms of sheer strength, Warspite is still very powerful.

"We might need to ask Miss Perseus. She's an aircraft carrier, and her search capabilities are the strongest among us. If she says she can find it, then that's fine," Plymouth suggested after a moment's thought.

In a small-scale battle, it is usually the aircraft carrier that is sent to search for the enemy. Ship girls, after all, suffer from the disadvantage of being small in size. Even if they have radar, it is indeed a bit difficult to ask ship girls to find the enemy with just two eyes on the vast ocean.

"In that case, let's hurry to the captain's cabin. Hehe, Vanguard is already urging us."

"Yes, Commander."

Chapter 173 This Feeling

In the captain's cabin, four women and one man were gathered around a 3D projection, seemingly discussing something.

"Commander, this is a satellite cloud image of our area. Except for some areas obscured by clouds, the rest has been 3D modeled. And these are photos taken by reconnaissance aircraft, in a circle with a radius of fifty nautical miles centered on our cruise ship. Anything I think is problematic has been photographed."

A cool, clear voice rang out as a pink-haired, voluptuous girl explained to the only man in the room.

"Won't there be any hidden details?" Jing Su asked, pointing to the thunderclouds in the photo after hearing the question. After all, she had just learned from Plymouth that the Sirens had the power to summon dark clouds.

"It's highly unlikely." Perseus shook his head. "I've sent reconnaissance planes to all the areas with clouds, and they haven't found anything unusual."

"So, what's the situation now? Are there no signs of the main Sirens force nearby?" Jing Su asked with some concern after thinking for a moment.

“There shouldn’t be any on the main route. Beyond fifty nautical miles, you’re in the patrol area of ​​other patrol teams. I’ve already asked today’s patrol team, and there’s no news yet.” Perseus then shook his head.

In fact, when Jing Su expressed his intention to find the main force of the Sirens, Perseus had already begun searching the nearby seas. Not only did it search on its own, but Perseus also mobilized other patrol forces to search for information.

Perseus has deployed several of these, including but not limited to satellites in the sky, patrol groups on the sea, and even temporary signal stations.

If no news was found despite such an intensive search, it can only mean that there is no news of the enemy within this area.

"Main route?" Jing Su caught a key piece of information.

If there are main routes, then there are naturally secondary routes.

"There are three safe routes from the mainland to the front line. These three routes are patrolled by our port partners. Commander, the route we are on now is maintained by our Royal Navy. We have established a warning network on this route. Any large-scale Sirens invasion will be detected and eliminated by the patrol team's ship girls. Small-scale Sirens will be annihilated by the escorting partners."

Therefore, this route is safe. I wouldn't say it's absolutely safe, but at least the risks are manageable. Even if something happens, it won't result in a major accident, unless the people transporting the goods smuggle something unclean on board, or they take the risk of venturing into dangerous waters for their own speed.

Javelin stepped forward to explain to Jing Su that, as a destroyer girl who was upgraded from purple to gold, Javelin's consumption was still at the level of a purple destroyer even after becoming a gold-tier ship. Naturally, she had participated in several expeditions. Not only expeditions, but also patrol and search and rescue missions, Javelin had participated in them all. Therefore, she was the most knowledgeable about the route matters among those present.

"So, Javelin, you mean that the main force of the Sirens is most likely on a secondary route?" Jing Su asked, following Javelin's train of thought. For Jing Su, if the main force was too far away and it would be too much trouble to go and wipe them out, then it would be better to just send out an attack. It would be time-consuming and laborious, and the key point was that there was no guarantee of any benefit. Why do something that would be more profitable than costly?

Since the ship girls have divided into primary and secondary routes, there must be something on the secondary routes that the port is unwilling to eliminate. Whether it's because there are risks on the routes or simply because they are too lazy to go, since no one has added new routes for so long, Jing Su will assume that the ship girls are unwilling. Jing Su said that she would not do things that the ship girls are unwilling to do.

"Commander, there might be a Sirens plot here!" Upon seeing Jing Su's words, Vanguard sensed that her husband's fighting spirit was rapidly waning, and she immediately became anxious. She had finally managed to get a chance to attack, she had even put on her exclusive battle suit, and she had been looking forward to it and excited for so long, and now she was being told that they couldn't attack!? You might as well just let me worry to death.

During the conversation, the vanguard repeatedly winked at Warspite, the meaning of which was clear: quickly persuade the commander, don't you want to launch an attack?

If we're talking about who in the Royal Army can be considered a war fanatic, Vanguard is definitely in the top tier. She practically has "eating, sleeping, and fighting Sirens" on her lips all the time. And below Vanguard, War-weary's fighting desire is also second to none in the Royal Army. Perhaps she can't be called a war fanatic, but she definitely craves battle.

Or rather, every royal knight is a battle maniac brimming with fighting spirit.

"Ahem, Commander, think about it. If the main Sirens force is on a secondary route, and they still send decoys so far to cover the main force, it goes without saying that their ambitions are not small. If we don't wipe them out now, it will be much more troublesome to deal with them later when the Sirens have done what they wanted to do."

Commander, there's a saying in the Eastern Empire—"Prevention is better than cure."

Feeling helpless after receiving the avant-garde suggestion, he shouted at the top of his lungs.

However, she wasn't entirely helpless. While on the ship, she watched Perseus display its might on the battlefield, its dashing and heroic figure making her incredibly envious. Especially after seeing Jing Su's expression after Perseus's performance, Warspite could tell she was utterly jealous and envious!

To paraphrase an old saying from the Eastern Empire: "To launch an attack is what I desire, and to get close to the commander is also what I desire. I can have both, which is the ultimate desire!"

Now that such an opportunity has come up, I must work hard! It will allow me to showcase myself in front of Jing Su, build camaraderie, delay my arrival at the front lines, and indirectly increase the time I can spend alone with Jing Su – a win-win-win situation!

“That’s true.” After hearing Warspite’s words, Jing Su thought about it for a moment and agreed. The Sirens weren’t some kind of brainless beings. Although the Sirens were indeed eccentric in terms of executing plans, they weren’t really stupid. After all, they were supercomputers and knew how to make strategic adjustments.

It's clear that the Sirens have grand ambitions, and even someone as strategically naive as Jing Su understands the importance of making things difficult for the enemy.

"Perseus, would it be a big problem to expand the search area?" With a plan in mind, the remaining considerations were naturally the execution. As Perseus had just mentioned, she had searched an area of ​​fifty nautical miles, which was by no means small.

Don't be fooled by how quickly the Perseus took photos—it covered almost the entire area in about an hour—that was from a plane. If they actually found the enemy, it would be fifty nautical miles away. By the time the cruise ship got there, the Sirens would probably be somewhere else entirely.

The cruise ship Jing Su is currently on is traveling at a speed of about 40 knots. If it goes at full speed, it can reach about 48 knots. It will take a little over an hour to travel 50 nautical miles (one knot equals one nautical mile per hour). It seems that it will take about two hours to run to and from the enemy, and at most three hours including the battle. If they work hard, they might even make it in time for dinner, right?

But that's not how it works. If the Sirens happened to be right on the edge of the Perseus search area and found them quickly, and then stayed there waiting for Jing Su to come and find them, then that would indeed be how it works.

But the Sirens aren't stupid. With their satellites out of commission, they can only rely on Perseus aircraft to locate enemies. If the Sirens see an aircraft circling overhead, wouldn't they use their anti-aircraft weapons to shoot it down? Even if they can't shoot it down, it's clear that an enemy is coming for them. If they can win, they can call for reinforcements; if they can't, they can hide.

In reality, the enemy won't stay still; often both sides are moving. In such cases, relative speed must be considered. Whether or not you can catch up, and how long it would take, is a big question mark.

Naval battles, from the discovery of the enemy to the engagement, can take anywhere from five or six hours to a whole day. This is based on naval battles during World War II. If we consider the era of sailing warships, a battle that lasts less than one or two days is hardly considered a fight.

"If we use satellite to investigate, there's no problem." After a moment of contemplation, Perseus gave its answer.

According to her plan, she would first use satellites to survey the sea surface to find places where Sirens might be present, then fly over there by plane. If she found that it was the main force, she would set off immediately. Of course, at this time, she would not go by cruise ship, but by speedboat.

This speedboat has an overclocking mode. If it really takes off, it can reach a speed of over 180 knots. In other words, as long as it detects the enemy, it can make a round trip without any problems, even without supplies.

"You guys even crammed this thing into the cruise ship?" Hearing that there was a speedboat on the ship, Jing Su was a little confused. He could understand putting a lifeboat on the ship, but what was with putting a speedboat, especially one specially designed for traveling? Well, so you guys had already planned to launch an attack on the road, huh?

"Ahem, better safe than sorry, hehe~" Hearing Jing Su's words, Qianwei scratched her head awkwardly. She was the one who secretly slipped the speedboat into the cruise ship. Under normal circumstances, Guanghui would definitely not let her do this. But if he wouldn't allow it on the surface, couldn't she just secretly put it in there?

Yes, this boat was carried onto the cruise ship by Qianwei herself the night before departure. Because of it, she almost overslept and was nagged by Queen Elizabeth for a while.

"Since everything is so well prepared, what can I say? Perseus, I'll have to trouble you to scout the enemy later. Vanguard, Warspite, and Javelin, go and wait by the speedboat. Once Perseus spots anything, set off immediately."

"Yes, Commander!" x3.

"Go ahead and play well. Let me see your heroic spirit. I'm really looking forward to your performance!" Jing Su said with a smile.

"Please look forward to our performance, Commander~"

With that, Vanguard rushed out of the room first, while Warspite shook his head, followed with a wry smile. Javelin looked somewhat embarrassed, unsure of what to do with his hands, and finally just called out, "Wait for me!"

Then he disappeared from Jing Su's sight.

"These guys~" Seeing the avant-garde's impatient actions, Jing Su was also helpless. Are they in such a hurry?

Just now, Perseus gave Jing Su a simple explanation of the difference between safe and dangerous routes. The only difference is whether there are ship girls patrolling. Routes patrolled by ship girls are safe routes, and those without are dangerous routes. On safe routes, if a powerful Siren is discovered, the ship girls will take action to eliminate the Siren. On dangerous routes, they will ignore it.

But regardless of whether it's a dangerous or safe route, it's essentially the rear, already screened by the front-line defenses. In other words, for the ship girls in the port area, the Siren warships on these two routes aren't much stronger.

Safety and danger are only from the perspective of the Maritime Safety Administration. The safe routes can be defeated by the Maritime Safety Administration's own warships. The dangerous routes are those where Siren warships appear, which the Maritime Safety Administration cannot handle.

In gaming terms, the safe route is the green sea, which any warship can pass through. The dangerous route is the red sea for the Maritime Safety Administration, but for the current port area, it is still the green sea, so you can go wherever you want. When Jing Su was considering whether to launch an attack, he was thinking about whether he could catch up, not whether he could win.

"Commander, the satellite cloud imagery has been updated. Calculations indicate that the Sirens may be present in these areas."

While Jing Su was deep in thought, the voice of Perseus Qing Lei suddenly rang out. Coming back to her senses, she found several photos of Perseus placed in front of her.

"Ahem, so fast?" Jing Su was a little embarrassed, feeling like she had been caught daydreaming in class by the teacher. However, facing Perseus, it seemed that having this feeling was not a problem.

If it weren't for Perseus's serious expression, Jing Su would have genuinely wanted to say, "Perseus, you're really strict!"

"Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth mobilized all the nearby satellites, and borrowed satellites from other factions as well, which is why it was able to be so fast." Don't be fooled by Perseus's seemingly taciturn nature; she's actually quite adorable. Perseus is just a bit socially awkward, but essentially a very cute girl, provided you can ignore her unconsciously sharp tongue.

"Is that so?" Jing Su was a little embarrassed, thinking that she just wanted to deal with the possible problems, was it really necessary to make such a big fuss?

"What else? This is the first time the Commander has taken the initiative, so naturally our Royal Army will provide you with full protection. Although we are in the rear, we are still the enemy, so we can't let our guard down. Hmm." Perseus's expression was very languid.

"......"

"Commander, please analyze where the enemy is most likely to be encountered." Perseus then handed the photo to Jing Su.

"Ah this."

"This is your responsibility. Since you've decided to launch an attack, then you should take on the responsibility of a commander properly. You can't just give the order to launch an attack and then sit in the back doing nothing. Wouldn't that be like a lazy pig waiting to die?"

"Ahem, I'll do it, I'll do it." Since Perseus had said so, what else could Jing Su do? She could only bite the bullet and go for it. As for how she had absolutely no idea how to analyze the situation, she didn't care and would just go with her gut feeling.