Revisit Azur Lane

"Comrade Commander, you sailed here alone in the middle of the night with the headlights on. You really underestimated the dangers lurking in the sea."

Kirov watched as Zhou He bent down and embraced Yuudachi tightly. She approved of his passionate feelings, but she still had to say what she had to say. She reached out and tapped the ceiling of the speedboat, making a crisp sound: "This kind of thing can't protect your safety."

"Hmm~ After all, it's just for traveling, so I specifically adjusted the speed, which is why I can run so fast."

Upon hearing this, Zhou He gently patted Yuudachi's back and slowly released his hand, but Yuudachi did not let go and remained pressed against his chest, forcing him to communicate with Kirov in a very subtle manner.

"It seems the commander is quite eager for that so-called Siren base."

Kirov pointed at Yuudachi, then at himself and the two people outside: "However, with the combat capabilities of the four of us, even if the military base suffers huge losses, it will probably be difficult to take it down."

"Don't worry, I've called for more reinforcements."

Zhou He smiled and glanced at Xuefeng, who was heading straight for the Siren base. He then said to Kirov, "I've already set up the movement route. We'll circle around to Xuefeng's side and take advantage of the night to completely wipe out this Siren base. It has the equipment that our port area desperately needs at this stage, and we must take it without any surprises!"

"understood."

Kirov reached out and shook hands with Zhou He across Yuudachi, his eyes resolute and a faint smile on his lips: "I will carry out your will until dawn."

"Ah."

Her words struck Zhou He as odd, as if she were saying she'd be there for him tonight, or perhaps she was talking about a grander, more distant ideal. After careful consideration, he replied earnestly, "I will remember this promise."

"what!"

Kirov's eyes gleamed. After releasing his grip, he turned and stepped out of the speedboat, facing Kursk with a fist raised: "This is the beginning of our career, and a turning point in history. We will change the world!"

"..."

Kursk turned her head to the side. Kirov was ten or even nine times more difficult to deal with than Tosa. Tosa was at least somewhat cold-hearted, but Kirov was like a ball of fire, making her feel uncomfortable all over.

She truly admired Zhou He; he could handle people of all personalities.

Jean Bart couldn't help but move a little further away. She liked to use her fists to get things done, but she wasn't as extreme as Kirov.

In short, after taking the oath, Kirov jumped into the sea and followed Kursk. The latter wanted to escape, but he couldn't. His metal tail swayed left and right on the water, showing his anxiety.

Under the dim night sky, Zhou He and his group entered the South Fifth District, then turned sideways, and finally arrived at the sideways movement of the straight-moving Xuefeng.

Yuudachi jumped into the water and caught up with Yukikaze, whose entire body was glowing: "What's wrong with you?"

"do not know."

Yukikaze knew, of course, that this was because she was in a hurry. The space around her body was being drawn into a state of resonance, just like when she shattered the world wall and opened the passage many times before.

But she couldn't say she was in a hurry, so she slowed down and moved closer to Zhou He's speedboat. Looking at him peeking out, she raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why are you guys behind me?"

"Of course I came to see you, Yukikaze."

Zhou He was also puzzled as to why Xuefeng was glowing all over, but since she was so beautiful, it was no problem. He smiled and gave her a thumbs up: "You've taken over this port area so coolly, I'll treat you to a late-night snack."

"I'm not as easy to fool as some gluttonous fellow."

Xuefeng chuckled—Zhou He thought for a moment: “I’ll give you a massage when we get back.”

"!?"

Xuefeng's eyes widened suddenly, but he only hummed softly, "I'll think about it."

The light emanating from her grew even brighter, so much so that Zhou He felt it was dazzling and couldn't help but close his eyes, wondering if Xue Feng would glow when she was emotionally agitated.

What an amazing property this is!

"I'm going to clear the way, you guys follow."

Xuefeng also noticed the anomaly, suppressed the tremor in his heart, not wanting Zhou He to see through his true thoughts, and drove the wolf to the front - after his mood gradually calmed down, the light around him was not so bright.

Chapter 201 Full Functionality Unlocked

The battle-damaged Siren base, with Yukikaze leading the charge, was not exactly swept away, but it was at least completely unimpeded. The coastal defense artillery and airfield, which Zhou He was most worried about, remained silent and showed no reaction whatsoever.

From the moment Zhou He approached until he landed, not a single stray bullet flew over him. Kirov, who came ashore with him, was amazed and exclaimed to Zhou He that she had never seen such a fierce general as Yukikaze. Yuudachi, who always liked to compete with Yukikaze, gave her face this time and did not argue about who was stronger. Instead, she cautiously followed beside Zhou He and vigilantly observed the surrounding situation.

The group landed in a very daring location, directly from the funnel-shaped harbor built by the Sirens. This funnel was filled with the smell of gunpowder and engine oil. Even with the constant washing of seawater, debris still floated on the surface everywhere. Broken pieces and half-submerged warships were scattered all over the place, and some were even burning on the surface. And that was only because of the low visibility at night; they could only see a small part of it.

This is a trace left by the council. Their control over the damaged area was very sophisticated. The near-shore protection areas, such as the port, suffered a semi-devastating blow, but there was not much damage inside the island. The island where Zhou He landed had an overall terrain that was low on the outside and high in the middle. Standing in the port and looking into the depths, you could see many functional buildings that were lit up at night, such as the coastal defense positions on both sides of the port, which were slightly higher and the fires had not yet been extinguished.

Further in from the coastal defense line, it's unclear whether the Sirens will need the living and industrial areas. It encircles the entire island and is located in the middle layer of the base. Above that is the core military base made of black material. From the map, you can see that there are airfield platforms on both sides of the base. Further in are the mountains, and the base is located halfway up the mountain, not at the very top.

"This Siren base is well-built, but it is too confident. The core building complex is exposed and no air-raid shelters have been built."

Kirov explored forward, talking as he went. After walking for a while, he realized that Zhou He hadn't followed. He turned around and saw Zhou He still standing at the spot where they had just landed, his chin resting on his hand, his brows furrowed, as if he were looking at something, but his overall reaction was more like he was in a daze.

"commander?"

She turned back, glancing left and right. Yuudachi stood silently beside Zhou He, Kursk was inspecting nearby warehouses, some intact and some in ruins, and in the distance was Yukikaze, who had finished clearing out the Sirens but hadn't landed yet, her body still glowing: "Are you waiting for Yukikaze?"

"Hmm? I guess so. Kirov, you go up and check the situation first, I'll be there shortly."

Zhou He snapped out of his daze after being called and nodded to Kirov.

It wasn't that he suddenly stopped being in a hurry, but rather that he had something more important to do—just as he stepped into this base, he heard a series of wind chimes ringing in his ears, like a severe case of tinnitus that occurs after overexertion. This caused him to feel dizzy after getting off the ship, forcing him to stop and check the system.

This was quite surprising; the system interface UI had been updated. The usual six options remained the same, but two more options had been added:

The first new feature is called "Anchor Points," which is quite impressive. When you click on it, there are two function options: the first is called "Collected Anchor Points," and the second is called "Random Exploration." After clicking on the question mark in the upper right corner, he understood what it meant—in layman's terms, he can explore and randomly anchor to a large world similar to his current location, or rather, a large testing ground for the Sirens.

Once the system is anchored, he can send fleets to explore, and the explored worlds will be recorded for future access.

It's a really cool feature, but it didn't say what the reward would be, so Zhou He gave up after searching for a long time.

Then there's the second new feature called "Medals." Clicking on it leads to a medal collection room similar to the one in the game, containing various medals with patterns and faction symbols, such as 'Cumulative Number of Ship Girls Collected,' 'Cumulative Number of Squad Victories,' 'Cumulative Number of Ship Girls Dropped,' 'Cumulative Number of Home Coins Consumed,' and 'Cumulative Number of Married Ships,' totaling seventeen medal tables.

At first glance, this feature seems like an achievement feature, but when Zhou He scrolled to the back of the medal list, he realized something was wrong: in addition to the total number of marriage ships accumulated, there were also individual marriage ship count achievements for each faction. For example, he currently had a total number of marriage ships (1), Sakura Empire's marriage ships (1/2), and later there were Eagle Union's marriage ship count (0), Ironblood's marriage ship count (0), and so on, all faction medals.

"You're going to kill me!"

For some reason, when Zhou He saw these medals, he couldn't help but smile, even though he was internally complaining. He just felt really happy.

So I casually clicked on the three badges that were lit up: "10 ship girls dropped in total", "1 research ship in total", and "1 marriage ship in total". I got three badges in total. Each badge had a line of small text below it: "Physical (mental) enhancement", and an option to wear it.

"Oh?"

A glint flashed in Zhou He's eyes. He put it on three times. The effect on his mind was not very noticeable; his vision suddenly became clearer. However, he could feel his muscles contracting and relaxing at a very strange frequency, as if his body was exercising on its own. It felt great. But after a few breaths, this abnormality disappeared, leaving only his improved body. Zhou He felt an urge to clench his fist and punch forward a couple of times.

'Good, good, so that's where it was hidden.'

If there hadn't been other people present, Zhou He would have let out a celebratory shriek. He thought to himself, how could a commander of Azur Lane not have a strong body? Turns out, the function wasn't activated.

It seems that conquering this Siren base is the final test planned for him by the system. Even the world travel function has been activated, so all the functions must be fully activated by now, right?

Satisfied with his haul, Zhou He closed the system interface. Suddenly, he heard an unusual sound coming from the sea behind him. He turned around and saw Xuefeng approaching on a wolf.

"The sirens in the vicinity have all been wiped out."

Xuefeng jumped ashore, and the white wolf scratched its feet for a moment before turning into specks of light and disappearing.

"Thank you for your hard work, let's go up."

Feeling confident that he was no longer the same as before, Zhou He smiled and beckoned to her, then patted Xi Li's hair and put his arm around her shoulder as they walked deeper into the Siren base.

Xuefeng glanced back at the port full of sunken ships, then quickly caught up and landed on Zhou Hexian's right: "I didn't do this. Besides the Agent approaching, has anyone else been here?"

"It's the Council's fleet; I've reached a small cooperation agreement with them."

Zhou He nodded. The council's warships were truly ferocious. Although the executors had been taken away by the agents, such a large number of mass-produced fleets were sunk in less than an hour, and the military forces on the two islands were also damaged.

If he had the chance, he really wanted to see what that super warship looked like.

"No wonder."

Yukikaze responded with an "oh," and said that the Council was a force created by many meta ship girls who gathered here in the early days, according to the information provided by the Purifier. Its combat strength was beyond doubt.

However, the meta ship girls she encountered along the way rarely formed cliques, let alone established a fixed organization within the testing grounds—she glanced at Zhou He, the situation in this world was really strange.

……

The takeover of the Siren base went exceptionally smoothly. If there was any trouble, it was that they witnessed a crushing defeat that turned them into numerous test subjects, and for some reason, the activation passwords for the electronic devices here were all set to Zhou He's voice authentication. Kirov, who had entered earlier, operated the system with great speed and efficiency, but it was not as effective as Zhou He entering and asking what was going on. The locked control panel was unlocked as soon as he entered.

"Commander, you really didn't come here beforehand? I wouldn't even question if you said this was your private base."

Kirov's abilities are impeccable. Even though the computer console and other devices are all in White Eagle script, she handles them incredibly well. Her skillful demeanor makes her seem like a spy who has infiltrated from somewhere. With Zhou He's constant voice unlocking, she quickly enters the base's core database and begins searching for what Zhou He wants.

"I don't know what's going on either, all I can say is that our temporary allies are really amazing."

Zhou He also found it absurd. He had only spoken a few words to Colorado, and they had actually altered the core password based on the sound of his words. No wonder Colorado was so confident that he would bring back his speedboat for future communication—he probably wanted to use the communication between him and the speedboat to directly locate his location.

That's a terrifying tactic. Next time he encounters people from other forces, he'll have to disguise not only his appearance but also his voice.

After all, the only ship girls he could trust and who would never harbor ill will towards him were those recognized by the system and assigned to the shipyard.

"Friendly forces? So we're not fighting alone after all."

Kirov was quite surprised, as this was information she had never heard of before. However, she quickly shifted her attention and pointed to the huge screen in front of them, which displayed the true appearance of the base island: the buildings on the island's surface and perimeter were semi-camouflage designs. The real core of the base was beneath their feet, inside the island: there was another management system that managed an independent mirror-like sea area.

Similar to Xuefeng's guess, this mirror-like sea area contains numerous warships and mass production workshops for executors, as well as space large enough to accommodate a huge fleet. However, it does not have a teleportation function, and the fleet and everything else must be built by themselves.

“Very good, the other island may also have a mirror-like sea, but let’s leave that for tomorrow to explore.”

Looking at the island's design plans, even though he couldn't understand the eagle script, Zhou He could tell that all the basic functions of the base were intact. He didn't need to mention that he was researching mass production plans and production bases anymore. He could just have Akashi Lingmin come over to adjust the parameters and design and take over the two production bases entirely.

Are we just going back like this?

Yukikaze wasn't very knowledgeable about these technical tasks. She looked at Zhou He, who was holding the drowsy Yuudachi in his arms, and pouted, "If no one is defending us, we might have to fight again tomorrow."

"It's alright. The military bases here have been completely destroyed, and the service recipients have been changed to the commanders. Even if the Sirens rush back overnight, it will take them a lot of time to use this place to produce a fleet."

Kirov nodded to her and explained very seriously.

"I got it."

Xuefeng glanced at Kirov, realizing she was truly at a loss with someone as earnest and sincere as him. She turned away, exhaling a somewhat dejected breath, and the shimmering light emanating from her body vanished.

She thought that her hard work would surely earn her Zhou He's praise and favor, but was it all just wishful thinking on her part?

"Hmm, Commander, how about I stay here tonight and guard this base?"

Kirov thought about it and realized that although it was a safe bet, he still had to be careful, in case the Sirens actually managed to take it back.

"There's no need for that. The base is important, but your safety is more important. Let's go back together. With Yukikaze here, even if the sirens come ten or twenty times, we'll be able to withstand it."

Zhou He shook his head in denial, squatted down and let the dazed Xi Li lean on his back, then helped her stand up: "Let's go, we'll come again tomorrow."

"it is good."

Kirov didn't hesitate. After locking the system interface, he followed Zhou He and left the base together.