Revisit Azur Lane

Chapter Fifty-Four: Sisters Who Passed By

Five members of the black chess piece side (Iron Blood) have entered a highly awakened state, gaining memories related to themselves and their faction.

The five men were Admiral Hipper, Deutschland, Tirpitz, Count Zeppelin, and Z46.

Four of them had something in common: they were often with Tirpitz.

"They came over aggressively."

Count Zeppelin did not participate in the battle, but reconnaissance planes kept circling overhead, wary of a sneak attack. She saw Bismarck and Z23 approaching, and also sensed that the number of others besides Bismarck seemed to have increased, but she did not pay attention to it. She gently stroked her cheek with one hand and said in a low voice, "I never thought I would see her again. Who wrote this lame fate?"

"Hmph, are you scared? Because of that unknown Bismarck."

The German man beside him raised his chin, gritted his teeth, and revealed a contemptuous expression: "You also know our situation. This Bismarck is not the Bismarck we know."

The statements of the two mentioned above are not worth considering. Z46 looked up at Tirpitz and said, "If she is the real Bismarck, then we are fakes and will be disposed of."

"..."

Tirpitz gazed calmly into the distance. From her memories, she vaguely knew that she had a 'great' older sister. Even though she had never met her, and felt as if she had been abandoned, she could sense the pressure and responsibility that 'Bismarck' carried. But that did not mean she would let the other side do as she pleased.

"Don't say such scary things! Bismarck isn't that kind of person!"

Hipper was starting to panic at the sight of the group. In fact, she was quite scared too – the fact that they had been created by the Sirens was almost equivalent to a considerable degree of cooperation between the Ironblood leadership and the Sirens. Bismarck, who used to be proud of them, was seeing them being manipulated by the Sirens like this, and she couldn't guess how Bismarck would deal with them.

Gritting her teeth, Hipper said with a sense of desperation, "If it's her order to punish me, I'll accept it."

"Don't say such things."

Tirpitz glanced at her: "Now that this endless experiment has ended, the next step is to leave this place. Even if we are treated as expendable pawns, I will take you back."

"go back?"

Hipper and the others looked over. Tirpitz, who was being watched, adjusted his hat and said in a steady and magnetic voice, "Our destiny must be in our own hands, whether we return to the Ironblood or find our own home."

After saying a few words, she started walking towards the direction Bismarck was approaching, and the rest of the group exchanged glances and followed.

Two-way travel is the shortest distance in the world. Before long, the two groups of Ironblood members met. Bismarck and Tirpitz looked at each other from a distance, and the atmosphere was a little heavy. Z23 and Hipper wanted to break the uncomfortable silence, but hesitated and did not dare to speak.

Suddenly, a bulge appeared on the water between the two, and a figure emerged from underwater. A blue-haired girl sitting on a red shark armor reached out to both of them and shouted, "Big sister, Tirpitz, we're all family, don't fight!"

"..."

The scene was rather awkward. Bismarck pursed her lips, unsure of what to say. But there was another problem: apart from Tirpitz and Hipper, she didn't know who anyone else was. Zhou He had just given her instructions to introduce them, and she was processing the introductory terms he had provided.

Of the three, Count Zeppelin's introduction was particularly special. His identity as an Ironblood aircraft carrier also made her quite concerned. In her memory, it seemed that this one had never been able to finish his work. She never expected that he would be standing in front of her now.

"Zeppelin, Z46, Deutsche, Hipper and Tirpitz."

Finally, Bismarck, as the older sister, spoke first, her gaze sweeping over the people in front of her, her voice as usual: "I already know about your situation. You are all remarkable for being able to regain your will. My comrades and I acknowledge your existence."

After a brief pause, she turned her gaze and said, "We will be closing this testing ground soon. Do you choose to leave or stay here?"

"Of course, I want to leave this awful place! Every single day I'm being pressured to fight..."

Before Tirpitz could speak, Deutschland responded rather irritably—because of her words, Bismarck's gaze shifted to her. Ship girls have superb eyesight, and Deutschland immediately noticed Bismarck's calm gaze, which didn't show much emotion. She felt a strong sense of pressure for no reason, and forcing herself to finish her sentence, she suppressed the urge to back down: "It's so annoying every day!"

"We choose to leave; this is the only option."

Tirpitz picked up where the German left off, resting the chess piece on her shoulder and holding it close to her chest: "Leaving here doesn't mean I'll join you; that's the basic principle."

"!"

Her words caused exclamation marks to appear above Z23 and U556's heads, but before they could speak, Bismarck nodded in response: "Of course, it's up to you whether you stay or leave, but before that, calm down and wait quietly, can you do that?"

Bismarck was targeting Deutschland and Zeppelin. She had just heard Deutschland's overstepping of his authority, and it was hard to imagine that this was the discipline a Ironblood ship girl should have. Since she was following Tirpitz, she should be a leader. How could she lead the battle and gain the trust and reliance of her subordinates with such emotional behavior?

What's even more terrifying is that this Deutsche's personality is quite similar to what Zhou He described. This means that even if Deutsche wasn't from the Siren test site, but from the Ironblood headquarters, she would still have this kind of personality—what exactly happened to Ironblood after she left?

Forget it, she's no longer the flagship of the Ironblood faction, so this isn't something she should worry about.

"no problem."

Tirpitz answered on behalf of the others, and Bismarck nodded and turned around: "Follow me."

"Ah~"

U556 made a cute sound, not understanding why the reunion of the Bismarck and Tirpitz sisters across lifetimes felt like a routine report, so cold!

On the other side, Hood and Hermione faced King George V, the pursuers, and the three men, Chosper.

Compared to the routine reports from Ironblood, the atmosphere here was much more relaxed. After exchanging pleasantries and acknowledging their identities as ship girls, Hood carefully inquired about the reasons behind their awakening.

"Well, it's because His Highness King George V is so annoying."

The pursuer pondered for a moment, then spoke with a smile, causing King George V beside him to widen his eyes: "Aren't you all too slow? Why would we send the Sirens' fleet to fight the Ironbloods? It just doesn't make sense!"

"Hmm...that's roughly the feeling."

The pursuer winked at Hood, who understood immediately. Unlike the intellectual types, King George V, a ship girl with strong senses, was more likely to notice the strange things around her.

In other words, are pieces with sufficient rationality and strong senses more likely to awaken?

On Tirpitz's side, Hood took Bismarck's personality and abilities into account. Putting aside combat ability, Bismarck's greatest strength was his ability to maintain the stability of his thinking and to maximize his leadership ability no matter what happened.

It was absolutely the right thing for the royal descendants to let Bismarck follow in her footsteps and fall into battle.

"Please come with me, I will introduce you to your new colleagues."

Hood invited the three Royals to the meeting point, and they readily agreed. After all, Hood himself was practically the Royals themselves, so there was no problem with following Hood.

……

"Suddenly there are so many people!"

When the three groups gathered together, the total number of Zhou He's 12 ship girls plus the eight transformed chess pieces reached 20. Just the sight of this group of ship girls together was incredibly reassuring, and they could easily overwhelm any ordinary Siren fleet.

"This is our current commander-in-chief."

Using the video function, Zhou He was introduced to the Royal Family and the Ironbloods by Sister Hu De. During the process, Hu De was intimidated by Deutsche and others with their expressions, but it was useless. Hu De only had eyes for Bismarck, and the other Ironbloods were just chickens and dogs in her eyes, not worth mentioning.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all. You should all be aware of the situation, so I won't go into details. I will now open a portal to send you away from the testing ground. Please don't fall behind."

On the other end of the video call, Zhou He's expression was very tense. Before the battle started, he never thought that he would be able to pull out eight combatants from the test field. Even if these people were unwilling to stay in his port, he could use their combat power to expand the surrounding area, wipe out the Sirens, and expand his territory.

Incidentally, he just checked the tasks. Task 1 is already completed, Task 4 has reached 90% completion, and Task 3 should be completed after he closes the test site.

This expedition was incredibly successful! We made a fortune!

Feeling delighted, Zhou He disconnected the video call, followed the steps to find the coordinates of his ship girls' location, and then activated the portal. A huge blue circle reappeared at the entrance of the control room. Zhou He turned around and looked at the group of ship girls on the other side of the circle, a genuine smile on his face, and waved to them.

"Commander~"

With a leap, Yuudachi flew through the portal into the control room. She nudged Zhou He with her toes, tilting her head back to reveal an adorable smile that was impossible not to pat on the head. Zhou He's heart melted. He bent down and ruffled Yuudachi's hair, saying, "Yuudachi, you've worked hard today too~"

"Hehe~"

Yuudachi squinted, its tail swaying naturally from side to side.

"How childish."

Zuikaku originally wanted to discuss the issue of 'Shōkaku drop rate' with Zhou He, but Yūdachi beat her to it. After entering the room, she could only shake her head with one hand on her hip. Then she turned her head to look outside the teleportation portal and suddenly realized that none of the eight people in the test field had come over. She even looked a little confused.

"what happened?"

She waved in that direction, but received no response. The others who entered also sensed something was amiss. Bismarck and Hood, who hadn't yet entered, listened to the situation on the other side of the portal and looked at the expressions of the people around them. They spoke almost simultaneously: "Is what you're seeing different from what we're seeing?"

"..."

"Yes."

Tirpitz's eyes wavered for a moment, but quickly regained their composure: "What I see is completely different from here, a beautiful sea."

"Me too."

King George V agreed, and looked at Hood with an apologetic expression: "It seems we have no way to repay your kindness in rescuing us."

"Really... Although it was only a short time together, I'm very happy, and I hope you can all find a good home."

Hood pursed his lips and smiled at King George V: "I hope we can meet again in the future."

"Most definitely!"

King George V chuckled and waved to Zhou He, who was out of sight but certainly present: "Your Highness, Commander, with whom I have just made my first meeting, I entrust my lady, Ms. Hood, to your care."

"please."

The pursuers and Quejie also bowed to the front, only to see Zhou He emerge from the void with a complicated expression on his face: "More than that, I hope you can help me take care of her."

"commander?"

Hu De raised an eyebrow slightly: "Is there anything about me that bothers you?"

"not yet."

Zhou He was on the verge of a mental breakdown and didn't care what he was saying anymore: "But the future is uncertain."

"..."

Ms. Hu raised her hand and pushed Zhou He back, then turned to look at King George V and the others: "I am very sorry that you saw something strange. Set off and go find your future."

"Hahaha."

King George V smiled happily, and the two people beside him also smiled, understanding that Hood had found an interesting and reliable commander. They had nothing more to worry about. After saying goodbye again, they stepped into another world that Zhou He and the others were completely unaware of.

"what should we do?"

Hipper saw it; the royal trio appeared on the sea she had seen, not leaving, but standing there, seemingly waiting for them to join them.

"Foolish question."

Count Zeppelin responded, his gaze sharp as he looked at Bismarck: "It's a pity, it seems I'm not qualified to go to the world you exist in. If you ever meet another version of myself, please tell her for me, 'Don't let these soft things blind you.'"

"Speak," she said, stepping into the portal first. Z46 and Hipper politely bid farewell to Bismarck and followed. Deutsche seemed to want to take the opportunity to say something harsh, but he held back, snorted coldly, and walked to the other side, leaving only Tirpitz and Bismarck facing off. The atmosphere was so heavy that even onlookers felt a stomachache.