Revisit Azur Lane

"subtle."

Zhou He really wanted to complain. How could he make such a high-class royal tea look like a village gathering of old people?

He watched as Yuudachi and Zuikaku were still figuring out how to arrange the six chairs. The four sharp corners of the square table left them at a loss. Suddenly, Tosa drew his sword, startling Zhou He, who quickly stopped him. But then a brilliant idea flashed through his mind. He put the platter back on the cart and pushed it aside. He turned back to the table and measured with his fingers, then took out his pen and drew a few dotted lines on it. He turned back to Tosa and said, "Cut according to the dotted lines."

"You... move aside."

Tosa hesitated for a moment, then raised an eyebrow and used his scabbard to push Zhou He aside. He then drew his gleaming samurai sword and began to work on the table, transforming the originally thin square table into an irregular, angular round table.

"As expected of you."

Zhou He first clapped his hands, then gave Tosa a thumbs up, which made Tosa grind his teeth. After putting away his sword, he stood up straight and looked at him with a slightly dark gaze: "My sword is not for this kind of thing. I hope your attack plan will satisfy me."

"Ahem, yes."

Zhou He knew that his impulsive actions had displeased Tosa, so he quickly reassured him and made promises.

"Hum hum."

Seeing this scene, Ruihe squinted and made a strange sound. Zhou He turned around and looked at her subtle smile. He remembered how she had helped him measure his length before. After thinking for a moment, he smiled, pulled over a chair, went around behind Ruihe, pinched her shoulders, and helped her to her seat.

"Um, Commander, what's wrong?"

Yuudachi was asleep at the time and didn't know about the little story between Zhou He and Ruihe. After finding a seat, she became very curious about the interaction between the two.

"It's a trivial matter, not worth mentioning."

Zuikaku opened his eyes, smiled, and snapped his fingers.

"Really? You're smiling so happily."

Yuudachi clearly didn't believe it, and instead looked up at Zhou He with sparkling eyes, looking quite adorable. However, since Zuikaku himself hadn't said anything, Zhou He naturally wouldn't say anything that made a comparison. He smiled, patted Yuudachi's head, and turned around to put the tea and snacks back on the table.

During this time, Hood and Hermione arrived one after the other and took their seats.

"Commander, you two seemed to be having a good chat just now."

Hood, now in a more relaxed posture, sat down at one side of the table, picked up the black tea Hermione had just poured, and casually mentioned it, but her eyes swept over the angular corner of the table, roughly understanding the reason.

"Just chatting. I forgot to ask you, Hood, may I bring up the topic of strikes at the tea party?"

Zhou He had already gotten used to Hermione's service. After thanking Hermione with the tea, he turned to ask Hood. Although he was the head of the port area, Hood was the one who initiated this tea party, so even if it was just symbolic, he still had to ask Hood's opinion.

Hu De smiled and nodded: "Of course, speak freely."

In reality, there weren't many topics to chat about in the port area right now, and the other members of the tea party didn't seem to want to bring up any topics either. Zuikaku and Yuudachi were already cutting the cake, and Tosa was asking Hermione for a cup of roasted milk tea and eating cookies.

"Ah."

Zhou He blew on the tea in his cup to make his tone sound less serious: "It's about the Siren carrier fleet in the west. Today, Ruihe discovered a strange phenomenon."

He recounted what Zuikaku had discovered, and waited a while to hear what Hood had to say. However, Hood showed no interest in offering his opinion, so he continued, "We don't know much about this phenomenon, but it is an opportunity. The fact that the Siren fleet won't leave that area means that Zuikaku will definitely achieve results as long as it launches an air raid."

Upon hearing this, Tosa, Zuikaku, and Hood all looked at him, making Zhou He a little nervous. After a moment of preparation, he said, "Therefore, I hope that you will all go to the west tomorrow morning to take the initiative to attack that Siren fleet and completely sink its aircraft carrier in the first round of combat."

"Well, I have no objection, but there are quite a few sirens in that area. Wouldn't it be too risky for us to do this with our manpower?"

Zuikaku licked the cream off her lips. She was confident in herself, but she also remembered the defeat of the Fifth Carrier Division when they were outnumbered. Now that Shoukaku was not by her side, she couldn't make any bold claims about winning anything too risky.

"It is indeed risky, but in my opinion, as long as we sink the enemy's aircraft carrier, we will definitely win in the end."

Zhou He had also considered it. This was a great adventure, but also a great opportunity. He could kill enemies and obtain ship girls, so he was bound to take the path of using war to sustain war. Moreover, in his view, with the system's ability to repair and replenish ammunition at any time, they were bound to win in guerrilla warfare.

However, this was merely his personal opinion. After declaring his determination to win, he stated his viewpoint: "The reason I targeted the enemy's carrier fleet first was actually..."

"Is the concern that the carrier fleet might suddenly retaliate while they are clearing out the nearby Sirens?"

Hu De naturally picked up the conversation, and after taking a sip of his black tea, he put down his cup and looked at Zhou He: "We can all understand the commander's thoughts. Since we are going to war, we should first eliminate the individuals that pose a greater threat to our side. Since you have decided to take the initiative, what you should do is not explain the reasons for the attack, but directly come up with a more reasonable attack plan, such as the number of Sirens, the fleet distribution, the time difference for mutual support, the pre-battle layout, the evacuation route, and the targets of subsequent attacks, etc."

"..."

The brief silence did not mean Zhou He was speechless, but rather reflected his unspoken emotions about Hu De skipping over the explanation and directly agreeing to his attack order, as well as a renewed understanding of the meaning of his position and post.

A moment later, he smoothly finished serving tea and water, his expression changing from stiff to natural, and said frankly, "I plan to inform you of the specific arrangements for these matters before the battle tomorrow, since the Sirens are always roaming around."

"That's good."

Hu De hummed in agreement and said no more. Zhou He had the ability to learn and withstand pressure, but he was still a newcomer who had only been a commander for less than two months. Saying too much would only make him unable to digest it.

Meanwhile, Zuikaku, who had wanted to hear Zhou He say more, glanced at Tosa and noticed that he kept eating cookies and donuts without stopping. Was she the only one worried about being outnumbered? Wouldn't that make her look like a coward?

"Why are you looking at me? Enemies are just whetstones to me. Would you complain about having too many whetstones?"

Tosa glanced at her briefly, guessed what she was thinking, and asked her indifferently.

"As expected of Kaga-senpai's sister ship."

Zuikaku looked at Tosa and suddenly smiled with relief: "They're all so arrogant."

"Really? That girl is my sister in name only. I can't stand it if she's too embarrassing."

This remark piqued Tosa's interest, and she wanted to see just how much Kaga resembled her. Before that, she turned her head to look at Zhou He, who seemed to be thinking about something: "Commander, do you also think that I look a lot like Kaga?"

"It's very similar."

Zhou He answered subconsciously, then exclaimed "Ah!" and held up his finger with a smile: "But if it's Kaga in battleship form, it's completely unlike your personality, which is very interesting."

"Ok?"

"Battleship?"

Zuikaku and Tosa glanced at each other simultaneously. Zuikaku was quite puzzled: "Commander, what are you talking about? Kaga-senpai had an active period as a battleship?"

"The history you know doesn't exist, but I know the history of Kaga's active role with battleships."

Zhou He smiled. Azur Lane doesn't follow a historical route. After the two of them mentioned it, he also began to wonder what kind of memories they would have if they built ships that didn't exist in history but existed in the game's storyline.

"real or fake?"

Zuikaku was genuinely surprised: "So, according to you, Commander, our port will have two Kaga-senpai in the future?"

"Yes, there might be three Akagi."

Zhou He said, suppressing a laugh.

"Huh!?"

Zuikaku counted on his fingers: "Three Akagi-senpai?"

One of them was enough to give them a hard time, and there are three of them? That's terrifying.

"This is so strange, Commander, you're not lying to me, are you?"

She held her head in her hands, unable to believe or imagine the sight of the three Akagi appearing together.

"Hmph, who knows~"

Zhou He smiled and picked up his teacup, but did not give a definite answer.

Unable to discern the truth, Zuikaku hesitated for a moment before cautiously asking, "Then, how many will Sister Shoukaku have?"

"One."

Zhou He was quite certain of this.

"Yeah."

Ruihe breathed a sigh of relief; she was really afraid that Zhou He would say there were four Xianghe.

"How many Yuudachi does the Commander have?"

Yuudachi, who was sitting next to him, ate most of her cake, burped, and curiously chimed in. Zhou He smiled, stepped forward, and ruffled her hair: "Of course it's just you, Yuudachi."

"Uh-huh."

Yuudachi smiled happily.

Chapter Thirty-Five: A Powerful Strike!

With Zhou He's joking remarks, the tea party ended in a relaxed atmosphere, and all the cookies, cakes, and other snacks were eaten, making it a very successful event.

"Commander, are we really okay with leaving that guy alone?"

After finishing his tidying up, Zhou He went out for some fresh air and ran into Tosa, who was lying in wait. Tosa stood by the door, his tone as indifferent as ever, and his words were even very impolite.

However, Zhou He could still understand. He looked at the distant bay and the setting sun and shrugged: "Don't worry, I'll contact Kursk separately. If you're bored, maybe you can go and chat with her?"

"I'm not used to communicating with people who will disappear in the blink of an eye."

Tosa clicked his tongue, said nothing more, and turned to leave. Zhou He scratched his head and walked back and forth on the paved T-shaped road, thinking about the road arrangements ahead. Their port area might be connected by road in the future, but that would be a very distant future, and there was no need to consider it now.

"Let's proceed step by step according to the plan."

As Zhou He thought this, he stretched and yawned facing the sea, wondering what this port area would become in the future.

It was nearly five o'clock when the tea party ended. After resting for a while, it got completely dark. Zhou He and Hermione discussed it and reduced the amount of food, having a simple dinner.

"It's still a bit chilly tonight."

After seeing everyone else off to rest, Zhou He sat down at the back door of the command post and looked up at the rising moon. When he was a child, he had heard people say that "if the moon is very bright at night, then the sun will shine the next day." Before he transmigrated, he had no interest in looking at the sun and moon, but here he paid attention and there was indeed a connection, but it wasn't always a sunny day; sometimes it would be a cloudy day.

He just hoped that the day wouldn't be a gloomy one, as it would dampen his enthusiasm, since he planned to make the move tomorrow.

"I never expected to adapt to life here so well. Is it a natural talent?"

Listening to the crickets chirping in the distance from the grassland, Zhou He propped his chin up with one hand and let his thoughts wander. Soon after, he came to a surprising conclusion: being lured here by the system to be a commander seemed to be no different from going far away to find a job.

"No no no."

He quickly dismissed the idea. How could being a laborer working like a beast of burden compare to being a commander and handling logistics for ship girls? They were worlds apart.

After waiting for about half an hour, Zhou He got a little thirsty from the wind and got up to go to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water. As soon as he entered, he saw Kursk holding a meal and leaning against the kitchen window, looking out by the moonlight. You could only say that people with good temperament look good no matter what they do. Even cold food made Kursk feel like he was eating something high-class.

But this was all so quiet… Zhou He’s eyelids twitched. He suppressed the subtle feeling in his heart, reached out and turned on the light, and walked to the automatic water dispenser to fill it with water: “Kursk, you didn’t go out after all.”

"Ah."

Kursk responded calmly, turning his gaze to Zhou He: "What were the results of today's attack?"

"You saw it? I was just about to talk to you about this."

Zhou He took a sip of water to moisten his throat, paused for two seconds, and then said, "Today I had Ruihe scout the west and discovered the whereabouts of the Siren aircraft carrier, as well as some other discoveries... So tomorrow I want you to launch an attack and take care of that Siren aircraft carrier."