Azur Lane: I Traveled Through Graduation Port

Chapter 523 Black Snow (3000 words)

Nine o'clock in the evening, Huanyang City.

Dense dark clouds hung over the thousand-year-old capital of the United States of Oran, making it seem extremely depressing and dull.

The cold wave of deep winter is about to approach the East Continent, and the strong cold low pressure even makes this prosperous city seem to be trembling.

The dock of Huanyang City is the largest dock in the Oran United States. Although there are a large number of Oran and Liaozhou people coming and going on the dock even at night, due to weather reasons, it is no longer as lively as before.

Even the vendors who used to enthusiastically sell their goods have closed their stalls and gone home early because of the depressing weather.

Apart from the coast guard holding loudspeakers to maintain order, most people on the dock kept silent, walked forward with their heads down, and were busy with their own affairs.

Zhao Heyan, wearing white winter clothes and carrying a suitcase, followed the crowd down from the passenger ship that came here from Hongye City and returned to her familiar hometown.

But her face did not show the slightest excitement of meeting her family, but instead a deep sense of worry.

While in college, Lin Lan speculated to her father that her temperament was very similar to that of Siren.

And after that, the more she thought about it, the more she felt that this was indeed the case.

Efficient, ruthless, always targeting the Admiralty, advocating abandoning the ocean, all these signs showed that her father was really very wrong.

After finishing all the work of the Student Union, she returned to Huanyang City immediately and prepared to go to the headquarters of the Tianxing Group to confirm again.

If it was true as Lin Lan speculated, her father was a Siren in disguise...

Thinking of this, Zhao Heyan couldn't help but grit his teeth, unwilling to continue thinking about it.

In her memory, after her and her brother's mother passed away, it was Zhao Tianyi who raised her and her brother.

If their father is really a Siren, doesn't that prove that they were raised by Siren?

Siren... can it really have such delicate emotions and such perfect disguise?

It was with these complicated emotions that Zhao Heyan took out her mobile phone after arriving at the Huanyang Transportation Station from the pier and prepared to call her brother Zhao Hesheng, who had a twisted personality.

Although she had always hated what her brother had done and they had basically not contacted each other in the past two years, she now had to call and ask for more details in order to confirm the identity of their father.

But the call from the phone was an automatic response with no one answering.

"At this time, he should still be at the consortium's nightclub having fun... Why didn't he answer the phone?"

Zhao Heyan frowned. Before returning to Huanyang City, she had learned from her channels within the consortium that Zhao Hesheng should be in Huanyang City.

It’s not Zhao Hesheng’s style to not answer the phone.

Since Zhao Hesheng didn't answer the phone, Zhao Heyan ignored it and decided to go home first.

Zhao Tianyi must still be in the Tianxing Building. Since the third-generation robot went out of control, she learned from the employees who were still in the consortium that her father had hardly ever returned home.

While waiting for the auto-navigation car to arrive at the platform, Zhao Heyan was suddenly attracted by the conversation topics of the people around her who were also waiting for the bus.

"Lao Luo, I've been so unlucky these past two days. I just bought a new phone and it suddenly broke down after only two days of use.

Strangely, there is often no signal, and when I called after-sales service, they told me that the queue limit has been reached. Isn’t this nonsense? ”

"Hey, don't tell me, my phone has been having this problem recently. It happened when I was on the phone with a client today, and it caused me to lose this deal."

"Is there something wrong with the signal tower in Huanyang City? The robots laid off a lot of people before, but after the robots disappeared, the Tianxing Consortium hired a bunch of new people to fill the positions."

"Damn it, it brings bad luck when I think of that incident. I was almost scared to death when those robots sold by the Tianxing Consortium went out of control..."

Conversations like these continued one after another, causing Zhao Heyan, the daughter of the Tianxing Group, to lower her head unconsciously.

The incident of the third-generation robots may be just a minor episode for the citizens of Huanyang City, but it is a catastrophe for the Orans in other cities.

Those robots would inexplicably self-disintegrate, and there is still no definite explanation as to why.

The most mainstream statement on the Internet at present is that the Tianxing Group has activated the self-destruction program of the third-generation robot, which is also the most credible statement.

But some people also said that it was Lin Lan, the winner of the Red Leaf Covenant of the New Alliance, who turned the tide and found a CNC method to destroy the third-generation robots.

However, compared to the first statement, Zhao Heyan believed the second statement more in his heart.

Not only her, but other students of Red Leaf Naval Academy are the same.

Back then in Hongye City, Lin Lan and his powerful ship girls brought them hope, and Ji Chenlin and several generals of the Navy also recognized Lin Lan's identity.

Perhaps, her junior fellow student really has the ability to change Orlan's future destiny.

After getting in the car, Zhao Heyan kept browsing the latest news about the new alliance and Lin Lan on his mobile phone.

Although Lin Lan has not appeared since the emergency broadcast, the new alliance is very active.

The allocation of materials between cities, large-scale job recruitment, the signing of various cooperation agreements between the three consortiums, and the transportation of materials to the Western Continent...

Moreover, whether it was the port commanders within the Navy Department or those greedy city agents, they all cooperated fully in the implementation of the new alliance's policies.

It is hard to imagine that such a newly formed temporary alliance can handle all aspects of domestic affairs so meticulously.

In contrast to the thriving new alliance, the Tianxing Group seemed to have disappeared after absorbing the Noahdesin Group and has not taken any action since.

Not even a press conference was held.

As Zhao Tianyi's daughter, she keenly felt that this was very abnormal.

Looking at the bustling streets of the city and the rushing river reflecting the lights outside the window, Zhao Heyan always felt that something was wrong.

Why are there no ships traveling on the river today?

She did not see the announcement of river control issued by Huanyang City on the homepage of the news website. Logically, there should be many sightseeing boats or cargo ships on this wide river.

But at this time, the river was empty.

For some reason, she always felt like there was some terrifying existence under the river staring at her, as if it wanted to swallow up the entire city.

"Maybe... it's a psychological effect."

Zhao Heyan didn't dare to continue watching.

He quickly withdrew his gaze from the river and sighed softly.

The river surface control may have been issued when the third-generation robot went out of control and has not been lifted. It is not too strange that no announcement appeared on the homepage.

Compared to this, what she should be most worried about right now is finding clues related to the Siren from her father tomorrow.

With deep worry in her heart, Zhao Heyan finally returned to the villa area built by the Tianxing Group, entered the community and arrived at her doorstep.

But just as she dragged her suitcase and opened the door, preparing to have a good rest tonight, a foul smell suddenly blew towards her in the house.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough!"

The disgusting smell made Zhao Heyan feel like retching, but she forced herself to suppress it, holding her breath and rushing into the house.

"This smell comes from upstairs. What on earth is so smelly?"

After Zhao Heyan vigilantly scanned the empty living room, he immediately determined that the source of the smell should be on the second floor.

And when she quickly walked up the stairs and came to the corridor on the second floor, her eyes suddenly widened, as if she saw a scene that made her soul tremble.

On the wall at the end of the corridor, there was a rotten corpse of a man who had been dead for a long time.

It was her biological brother, the person Lin Lan hated the most - Zhao Hesheng!

"No... Impossible, this is..."

Such a shocking scene made Zhao Heyan feel cold all over and even dizzy.

Although she hated Zhao Hesheng very much, despite his twisted personality and his murderous behavior, he attached great importance to his family.

The posture of Zhao Hesheng's death made Zhao Heyan feel even more terrified.

His neck was severely deformed, and the reason why the body was hanging on the wall was because his neck was smashed into the wall!

It was as if the murderer possessed terrifying brute force. He grabbed Zhao Hesheng's neck, broke it, and then punched the wall to break it, embedding himself inside!

Zhao Heyan suppressed the grief and fear in his heart, tremblingly took out a pistol for self-defense from inside his cotton-padded jacket, and walked slowly to Zhao Hesheng's body.

When Zhao Heyan saw that the wall was even covered with spider-web-like cracks due to the dent, she could no longer hold back her emotions and collapsed to the ground, covering her face and crying.

Her crying wasn't just about Cho Hyuk-seung's death.

It was also for her father, Zhao Tianyi.

In Oran, there are only three types of people who can kill Zhao Hesheng, the young master of a consortium, in this way.

First, it is the out-of-control third-generation robot.

However, the degree of decay of Zhao Hesheng's body was not very serious, which must have occurred after the third-generation robot disappeared.

The second is the detained people who came to Oran from the Natlan Empire and the Nine Islands of Liaozhou. Some of them possess supernatural powers and may also have this ability.

But although Zhao Hesheng is a pervert with a twisted personality, he is not a fool.

Are those killers and bodyguards under Zhao Hesheng, and even the gatekeepers at the villa area whose identities are strictly checked when entering and leaving, all freeloaders?

Then the only possible identity of the murderer is the third possibility...

Zhao Heyan's mind flashed back to the last time in the conference room of Tianxing Building, when her father Zhao Tianyi gave her a cold look full of silent murderous intent.

"Sai...Ren!"

Zhao Heyan clenched his fists and confirmed everything.

Her face was covered with traces of tears. Just as she was about to get up and ask someone to collect her brother's body, her eyes were suddenly attracted by the scene outside the window on the wall where Zhao Hesheng's body was hanging.

Her pupils suddenly shrank, as if she saw something strange.

It’s snowing in Huanyang City.

But if it was just snowing, it wouldn't be enough to shock her so much at the moment when she was in such a sad mood.

The snowflakes that were supposed to be floating outside the window were actually... a black color filled with terror and ominousness.

Chapter 524 Christmas Preparations

After Lin Lan left the Xinghai Base, time flew by and ten days passed quickly.

The day after watching Lexington and Saratoga Live, the virtual world amusement park on the artificial island opened as scheduled.

Lin Lan also went to experience it with Lexington, Xiao Gaga, and the five dumplings of the Essex class.

He had to admit that after Akashi went to the Church of Jesus, the virtual world he built with Ariel and several ship girls from the Star Sea Base really had the characteristics of an alien world.

I believe that when they return to the port area in the future, this virtual world playground will definitely be a popular check-in spot for the ship girls from all factions, allowing Akashi to make a fortune.

This journey in the virtual world also left a deep impression on Lin Lan. Essex also successfully played the role of a script savior who turned the tide and fulfilled her dream of being the leading role.

In the next few days, Lin Lan went to the Xinghai Base several times to cooperate with Memphis and the Goddess of the Vestal and others to conduct physical examinations and strength tests.

Unfortunately, the equipment at Xinghai Base did not find anything different in his body from that of ordinary people.

Apart from his extremely high adaptability to the Rubik's Cube, he is no different from an ordinary person who is healthy and exercises regularly.

Therefore, Memphis' suggestion to him was to let the more professional girls help analyze the reasons after they reunited with the Sakura Empire camp.

After all, as a camp that masters various mystical arts and natural elements, the Sakura Empire must be more professional than the White Eagles in analyzing this kind of mysterious power.

Lin Lan still agrees with this point.

He already knew from the game that some of the Sakura Empire's ship girls were good at creating barriers, some could control natural elements, and some shrine maidens could draw exorcism spells.

There are even psychic destroyers Kasumi and Shiranui who can communicate directly with the dead.

However, he also knew that not all Sakura Empire ship girls were good at this seemingly traditional power.

For example, Senior Mikasa said in the game that she was not good at these Sakura Empire secret techniques, but was better at relying on ship-mounted artillery combat.

The Sakura Empire camp once upon a time was able to compete with the White Eagle camp in terms of air power due to the reforms of radical factions such as Akagi, and was firmly ranked among the top three in the Hong Kong area.

The Sakura Empire is such a powerful camp composed of ship girls who embody both tradition and innovation.

In addition to this incident, Ariel's console core was finally built on the eve of Christmas Eve.

The girl who was the host of the Rubik's Cube Energy Robot finally regained the host and took over all the Rubik's Cube Energy Robots on the artificial island.

Seeing those Rubik's Cube Energy Robots controlled by Ariel rapidly learning all kinds of knowledge, the small profiteer Akashi was very worried.

After all, with the help of the Rubik's Cube Energy Robot, the Barbarians no longer have to be hired by various camps in the port area to work as coolies.

As the small profiteer who is the leader of Manju, he will naturally become the biggest loser after the port area invests in the Rubik's Cube Energy Robot.

Compared to the worried Mingshi, Lin Lan has been very busy recently.

In addition to going to the Xinghai Base, he also had to deal with various invitations from the White Eagle Ship Girls, and was forced to work overtime at night.