Revisit Azur Lane

Having figured it out, Zhou He walked around on the grass, found a spot, squatted down, tore off a piece of turf as a marker, clapped his hands, walked into the island for a while, and came to a higher position to look out—but he couldn't spot Kursk.

"Hunter, hunter, Kursk wouldn't have gone hunting by himself, would he?"

With no one around, Zhou He could only look into the deepest part of the forest. Ruihe had said there were wild boars in this forest, so there must be a lot of other wild animals. Someone like him who didn't know anything about wilderness survival would definitely not survive if he went in, but Kursk should be fine, right?

"Let Kursk tell us about the situation inside. This island is so big, it will have to be developed sooner or later."

This was an unexpected bonus. Zhou He waited for a while but still didn't see Kursk appear, so he turned around and slipped into the command post through the back door.

Before long, the sky turned from bright to dark, and the once quiet grassland was filled with faint insect chirps. It wasn't until late at night that a figure emerged from the dark forest, with long silver hair and clothes that were quite conspicuous even in the darkness.

……

Bright light streamed through the windows into the office on the third floor of the command post. Zhou He, sitting inside, was calculating the materials needed to build his own hot spring house when the door, which wasn't fully closed, was suddenly pushed open. Yuudachi peeked out from the side and asked, "Commander, do we have any missions today?"

"Task?"

Zhou He, who had played too many games, instinctively looked up to respond when he heard the word. He only realized what it meant when he saw Yuudachi. He rubbed his chin with his knuckles and said, "You guys fought with the Sirens yesterday, so why don't you rest at home today? If you can't sit still, how about you go find Zuikaku and catch some fish with your fishing net?"

"Catching fish?"

Yuudachi tilted her head to the side, revealing three question marks; clearly, she didn't know how to catch fish.

“Zuihe knows, you can just ask her.”

Zhou He smiled at her: "Food that you've worked hard to earn tastes even better."

"Although I don't understand it very well, I understand now!"

Yuudachi's question mark turned into an exclamation mark. After nodding seriously, she ran out of the office. Less than five minutes later, someone else came to the office. Yuudachi did not close the door. Zhou He looked up at the sound of footsteps and saw Tosa wearing a black inner shirt and a black and white coat, with a knife at her waist and a calm expression like a delinquent girl.

"I heard from Zuikaku and the others that they couldn't launch an attack a few days ago because there were too many Sirens. They wiped out the Sirens yesterday, so shouldn't they take this opportunity to go out and scout the enemy today?"

Tosa, who walked in, obviously knew that Zhou He had sent Yuudachi and Zuikaku to fish. His eyes casually swept across the clean office before finally settling on Zhou He.

"Logically, we should indeed go out to conduct reconnaissance, but before that, we also need to pay attention to logistics."

Zhou He put down his pen and looked at Tosa, his tone calm: "Our port is currently unable to contact the outside world. Although we are not short of supplies, they are all ordinary ingredients that need to be prepared on the spot. If we don't spend time processing them, you will have to cook for yourselves on your long journey. In comparison, I think it is more efficient to prepare your food before you leave."

"Logistics, I see."

After a moment's thought, Tosa realized that she definitely couldn't cook, and neither could Zuikaku and Yuudachi. Only Hermione seemed to know how to cook. In addition, cooking itself takes a lot of time, and cooking smoke is easy for the enemy to spot. It was indeed better to bring dry rations.

"That's right. Well, I happen to need someone's help with something. Tosa, if you're interested, come with me to cut down trees."

Zhou He looked down at the design drawings of the hot spring house he had drawn, stood up and spread his hands towards Tosa, saying, "I need wood to build the hot spring house."

"..."

Tosa's gaze sharpened, and he was about to refuse, but then he thought of Zuikaku who had gone fishing. He was also quite free. After taking another look at Zhou He's not-so-strong body, he turned and walked out of the office: "You have tools for cutting down trees, right? My knife isn't for cutting down trees."

"Of course, it's in the warehouse on the first floor."

Zhou He closed the blueprints on the table and quickly followed Tosa.

When the two arrived on the first floor, Yuudachi and Zuikaku were still in the lobby fiddling with fishing nets, with Hermione giving them instructions. They seemed quite experienced. Upon seeing Zhou He come down, Zuikaku immediately protested, "Commander, can you give me some other work? Fishing is something my seniors will definitely laugh at if they find out."

"Sigh, it's such an easy job. I'm going to go cut down trees with Tosa. Do you want to come along?"

Zhou He noticed that Hermione seemed to know something about fishing boat techniques, so he didn't force Ruihe and casually beckoned to her.

Zuikaku's face immediately fell: "Isn't there a more respectable job? Like fighting the Sirens or something."

"If you can accept going hungry after fighting the Sirens, I'll arrange for you to go on an expedition."

Zhou He's reply was quite ruthless. After speaking, he exclaimed "Ah!" and held up his finger: "I've already found a location for the hot spring pool. Otherwise, Ruihe, why don't you dig up the road leading there?"

"This is not the port life I imagined. Ah, I know, I'm going to go catch some fish."

Among the four choices Zhou He gave, Ruihe chose fishing. It wasn't that she disliked cutting down trees, but simply that she felt that if Hermione stayed at home, she could at least have some snacks when she came back, while if Hermione went out fishing, everything would be ruined.

"come on."

Zhou He patted her shoulder with a smile, then turned and went into the warehouse with Tosa to select axes, saws, and ropes for cutting down trees. When they came out, Yuudachi and Zuikaku had already left, and only Hermione was still standing in the hall, as if waiting for orders. Zhou He thought for a moment and said to her, "Hermione, why don't you do some housework at home and prepare some snacks? Zuikaku and the others probably think the same thing."

"I understand."

Hermione then smiled with relief and bowed slightly to Zhou He and the other man, saying, "Please be careful while working."

"Well, let's go."

Zhou He waved his hand and left the command post with Tosa, heading straight for the island's forest.

Today was a warm, sunny day, and the refreshing breeze felt nice on Zhou He's face. He glanced at the lawn, which was even darker than when he first arrived, and thought that he would probably have to buy a lawnmower, otherwise, with the weeds growing like this, it would be a real problem later.

"Commander, why did you choose to take up your post here?"

Tosa had followed Zhou He all the way. Yesterday, she had observed the terrain and topography of this place. It was a perfect port location. Even though she didn't have any serious combat memories, she knew that this was a strategic location. However, such an important place should theoretically be a place that all countries would fight for. But now, only Zhou He was defending it, and it had even lost contact with the outside world. This was very strange and the thing she couldn't understand the most.

"Who knows? It's all about interest."

Zhou He couldn't bring himself to admit that he had been abducted, but one thing was clear to him: "Wouldn't it be exciting to be able to grow stronger and even launch a counterattack while surrounded by the Sirens?"

Upon hearing this, Tosa paused slightly, looking at Zhou He who was walking ahead, holding an axe in one hand and a rope in the other: "There's some truth to that. Is this all there is to your ambition?"

"No, that's not it. The counterattack against the Sirens is just something I did on the side. My top priority is to build a luxurious and prosperous port, or rather, a maritime kingdom."

Zhou He casually replied that all the system's functions were directly linked to the number of ship girls. To accommodate a large number of ship girls, the port area needed to be developed on a large scale. Incidentally, it could also attract black series meta ship girls from other worlds to come and serve as security guards. As long as there were enough meta ship girls stationed there, they could fight against the high-end combat power among the Sirens and ensure that their own territory would not be wiped out.

Everything is interconnected, and he is only in the initial stage.

"It sounds like a child's whimsical idea."

Zhou He spoke naturally, but Tosa felt it wasn't as interesting as counterattacking the Sirens, because the target was too far away.

"Is that so? Tosa, which one do you think is more interesting? That's my ambition."

Zhou He hadn't expected to be able to talk to Tosa for so long. In the game, Tosa seemed to be a unique and aloof person who wouldn't bother with people he didn't know well. But after talking to him in real life, he found that Tosa wasn't actually that arrogant. As long as what you said and did was fine, Tosa wouldn't target you.

“Simply stating things is meaningless; only unwavering practical actions can convince people.”

Tosa narrowed his eyes slightly and rejected Zhou He's offer: "How much truth is in what you say will be revealed in time."

"..."

Zhou He wanted to retract his previous assessment; Tosa was indeed difficult to deal with.

However, he was telling the truth. In fact, he had no choice but to take that path, otherwise the port would be wiped out by the Sirens sooner or later. The experimental and arbitration agencies that appeared in the game's plot didn't seem very smart, because they were all failure scenarios deliberately designed by the game's developers.

Putting everything else aside, if he were to attract the attention of any of the experimenters from any experimental organization, it would be a fatal disaster for the port area.

"Let's cut down the trees first."

Zhou He finished thinking. He didn't like to imagine what the future might hold. He would finish today's tasks today and deal with tomorrow's tasks tomorrow. The more he thought, the more mistakes he would make. He just needed to do what he could.

After finishing their conversation, the two quickened their pace and arrived at the edge of the dense and tall forest that could be seen from afar.

After stopping, Tosa glanced at the hand saw he was holding, then at the axe in Zhou He's hand, and frowned slightly: "I don't mean to question the commander's judgment, but judging from the current situation, it seems that the tools we have prepared will not be able to obtain wood."

"...I was too hasty."

This was Zhou He's first time in the forest. He looked at the tall trees in front of him, the thinnest of which were nearly half a meter thick, and his eyes twitched slightly. Trees of this size would require a chainsaw to cut down; he might not be able to cut down a single tree even if he worked himself to death with an axe.

Tosa, who was watching from the side, suddenly asked, "What should we do? If we go back like this, the truth that the commander used the excuse of cutting down trees to make them believe that it was everyone's joint effort will become a misunderstanding that 'the commander asked me to cooperate by using that excuse to deceive their trust and to exploit their labor by doing extra work.'"

"I'm not so untrustworthy in their eyes."

Zhou He's eyelids twitched wildly. He had almost been completely confused by Tosa's long speech. He quickly reassured himself about his image in the eyes of Zuikaku and the others.

"Really? Then how do we bring back a tree to prove our innocence?"

Tosa continued his questioning without showing any emotion.

"..."

Zhou He silently walked forward, touched the slightly dry bark of the tree, took a few steps back, and said, "Tosa, you can bombard it with cannons."

"..."

Tosa remained silent after hearing this, and after a moment he spoke: "Land is not suitable for deploying ship equipment. Why don't we go in and take a look? There should be newly grown saplings near the water source."

"That makes sense, wait a moment."

A barely perceptible smile flashed in Zhou He's eyes. He opened the system interface, stared at Kursk's character portrait from inside the dock, and selected a video call.

A flash of light appeared, and Zhou He saw Kursk crouching on a tree, looking down at the herd of wild boars foraging below. Kursk noticed the video almost the instant it started playing, and with a powerful leap, he used the branches of many large trees to jump nimbly, finally landing steadily beside a stream more than a meter wide. Bathed in sunlight, he responded to Zhou He in the video projection: "What's the matter?"

"Is such that."

Zhou He, whose heart was pounding from being struck by his handsome appearance, briefly explained the situation. Kursk, on the other end, thought for a moment and said, "I understand. I'll come pick you up."

The video cut off, and Zhou Hechao Tosa gave a thumbs up: "Kursk said she knew where there were trees that could be cut down."

Although he had learned about Zhou He's 'privileges' from Zuikaku and the others, seeing it with his own eyes and hearing it made a completely different feeling. Tosa, who was surprised, simply nodded slightly: "That's good."

Chapter Twenty-Two: Simple Communication

The forest area on the island is quite large, and Zhou He doesn't recognize the different kinds of trees. In any case, they are all lush and leafy, and sunlight can only shine into the forest through the gaps in the leaves, making the temperature several degrees lower than in other places.

While waiting for Kursk, Zhou He walked around the edge of the forest and found that the forest was not as tangled as he had imagined. The trees were spaced far enough apart that many people could pass through together. There were more fallen leaves than weeds, and it was surprisingly clean and tidy. It was not the complex terrain and toxic weeds he had imagined.

"By the way, Tosa, our goal this time is not to cut down enough trees to build a wooden house, we only need... about 5 to 10 trees."

Returning to Tosa, who was also looking up at the trees, Zhou He explained the purpose of his visit: building a hot spring house that could accommodate more than ten ship girls taking a bath together would require a huge amount of materials, and he had only come to collect a few logs to roughly estimate how much wood was needed.

The main reason for building his own wooden house is to save on Homestead Coins. The cheapest wooden house sells for 100 coins in the store, and it would take him 20 days to save up. So he prefers to make things by hand, and only uses Homestead Coins for necessities and things that require technological intervention.

"understood."

Tosa responded casually; she could probably guess what was going on, since Zhou He had mentioned cutting down trees very casually before they came.

"Ah."

Hearing Tosa's response, Zhou He breathed a slight sigh of relief. Tosa's sudden question had almost made him break out in a cold sweat, but luckily he was quick-witted enough not to fall for Tosa's tricks. As expected of a fox, he could deceive people without batting an eye.

The two exchanged a few words, and the sound of crunching leaves underfoot echoed from the woods. Looking over, they could see the tall Kursk walking out. Today, he had changed his clothes, from the white coat he had worn to a brown long-sleeved hunting suit, with matching tight shorts that matched his long boots that covered his upper thighs.

The outfit was plain and even a bit out of place, but it looked very natural on Kursk. With the dagger and other items strapped to her leg, it even looked like she was walking a runway.

"follow me."