Revisit Azur Lane

"?"

Under Zhou He's slightly admiring gaze, Count Spee looked up with some curiosity: "Any orders?"

"currently there is not."

Zhou He withdrew his gaze, quietly sipped his tea, and looked towards the gate. Sunlight scattered on the road and grass, allowing him to see far into the distance. He could vaguely see several figures moving on the bay, but he didn't know who they were.

However, he soon learned that one of them was Yuudachi. She ran swiftly from the bay to the shore and approached the command post. Under Zhou He's gaze, she seemed to have been given a sprint buff. She took a leap from a distance across the gate and flew into the hall, landing safely with her arms outstretched.

"awesome."

Zhou He put down his teacup, clapped, and cheered, making Yuudachi scratch his head sheepishly and chuckle. Then, he stared intently at Zhou He and said, "Commander, just now, Sister Zuikaku and the others sent out reconnaissance planes to patrol, and they found quite a few Sirens approaching our side. I wonder what they're up to."

"is it?"

Zhou He observed the map outside in the morning but did not find this phenomenon. He shifted his gaze to each area on the attack map and found that there was indeed such a tendency. However, the number of Sirens was extremely small, and they were all mass-produced. The two most threatening Siren fleets, the Executors of the South Third District and the Executors of the West Fourth District, did not make any moves.

"Instead of the idea that the Sirens are moving closer to us, it's more likely that Zuikaku and Shoukaku want to use the Sirens for practice, right?"

After reading it, Zhou He blinked.

Yesterday, the testers and purifiers were wiped out, so it's normal for the Sirens to retaliate. However, the Executor fleet didn't move, indicating that these mass-produced units weren't being directed to converge, but rather were wandering aimlessly. They happened to drift towards the side where the Sirens were fewer, creating the phenomenon of them all converging on the port area.

"Is that so! How cunning!"

Yuudachi suddenly realized what was happening and angrily expressed her frustration. No wonder Zuikaku instructed her to come and report to Zhou He instead of everyone coming together. She had been fooled again!

"Haha, after all, they are aircraft carriers, with a particularly long range for reconnaissance and strike capabilities."

Zhou He waved to Xili, and when she got close, she pinched Xili's puffed-up cheek. The cheek was too smooth to pinch, so she used her second hand to cup Xili's face. She squinted and said in a very smug tone, "Let them handle it. It's quite troublesome if these idle sirens gather together without being dealt with."

"Sigh—then let's gather them together and go together."

Sensing that Zhou He was happy, Xi Li stopped being angry and started rubbing her cheeks against Zhou He's slightly rough hands, talking nonsense in a coquettish manner.

Of course, Zhou He rejected this proposal.

Separate sirens are easy to deal with, but when they come together, it's a small problem. Multiple small problems added together become a big problem, and he's not arrogant enough to do that.

"You won't have a satisfying time with such a small number of Sirens, even if you go."

Reaching out to ruffle Yuudachi's hair, Zhou He stood up with a smile: "We'll inevitably have to fight the Sirens in the future, so there's no need to rush. Let's go and do something more important."

The dock has been visible for a few days now, but it hasn't been connected to the road yet. Since the weather is still nice, I'll spend some Homestead Coins to connect it here, so I won't be unable to go there when it's windy or rainy later.

"Good~"

Yuudachi enjoys fighting, but she prefers being with Zhou He. When Zhou He called out to her, she wagged her tail and followed him out of the command post.

"Ah."

As he walked out of the command center, Zhou He surveyed the distance and remarked, "This is a huge project."

Chapter Eighty: An Ordinary Half-Day

After entrusting the task of cleaning up the area near the Sirens to the sisters Zuikaku and Shoukaku, Zhou He began purchasing cement roads in bulk.

It was a bit tricky to extend the road from the command center entrance to the dock platform. With the command center as the center, the dock platform was located in the lower right corner of the map. A straight road at an angle was not suitable for the subsequent road arrangement, so a right-angle turn was needed. With Yuudachi's cooperation, 15 Home Coins were spent precisely to purchase a 150-meter-long road, which seamlessly connected the command center and the stairs leading up to the dock platform.

"I feel like we could lay some paving here too... We'll see if there's demand."

Standing at the bottom of the steps leading to the platform, Zhou He looked around at the grass and sand. He felt that covering the entire area with roads would look better, but then he thought of the design of the Siren base. The area near the sea was completely covered with concrete. It provided a sense of security, but it lacked a sense of life.

His requirements for modernization are not actually high; he prefers to preserve the original ecological environment as much as possible.

"The commander is like a magician!"

Yuudachi had witnessed Zhou He's construction work many times, and each time she would praise him. Her cute expression with a hint of amazement made Zhou He feel like he had done something extraordinary. No matter how many times she saw or heard it, she could still enjoy a sense of accomplishment.

Licking his lips, Zhou He smiled and waved his hand, following Xi Li up the steps about a meter high to the dock platform. Although it was called a platform, its scale was actually comparable to that of a village or even a small town, and it was quite spacious.

"Yuudachi, will you walk with me a little longer?"

Zhou He glanced at the deserted dock area, took two steps forward, turned around and invited Xi Li. As soon as he finished speaking, Xi Li rushed up and hugged his left hand, a smile blooming on her face, her answer self-evident.

Zhou He smiled and ruffled her hair with his right hand, leading Xi Li into the dock area with its many crossroads.

He wasn't planning on doing anything special; it's just that Akashi said the production workshop here could be put into operation at any time. He hadn't looked at it carefully before, but now that he has some free time, he comes over for a stroll.

Within this complex, there are some less obvious divisions. The industrial buildings are located towards the inside, at the foot of the mountain, while the side facing the command post consists of individual buildings, warehouses, and open spaces, somewhat dividing the area into work and living areas.

Although the residential area doesn't seem to have much charm either.

Without much effort, Zhou He arrived at a closed production workshop. He reached out and pulled the lever to open the door. What came into his view was heavy industrial equipment that was completely different from the assembly line he was used to. Various cranes and fixed robotic arms were placed on the platform. Even though Zhou He didn't know anything about military production, he felt it was super cool at first glance. He even went up and touched the robotic arm that wasn't running. The cool touch made him feel comfortable.

There are three such large production workshops in the entire industrial park, which are directly connected to the warehouses, allowing vehicles to transport materials directly from inside.

"That's really exaggerated. No wonder there aren't many countries that truly master the production of advanced weapons."

After touring the site, Zhou He was somewhat astonished. Putting aside the technology of these large production equipment that were several meters high, just imagining the amount of resources that would be consumed once the equipment was officially put into operation would be astronomical. Few countries could operate it regularly.

Yuudachi didn't know much about these things either, nor was she interested in them. She just accompanied Zhou He to look around. After leaving and closing the gate, she forgot what she had seen. However, on the way back, she saw the big trees in the green area and pointed them out to Zhou He with great interest, saying things like, "That's a good place to swing."

"Yes."

For Yuudachi, it might have been just a simple mention, but for Zhou He, it was a real wake-up call. He had been thinking about construction while fighting the Sirens lately and had forgotten about such an important thing: the beach recreation area for his ship girls to relax on the seaside had to be arranged, and the amusement park for the destroyers to play and have fun couldn't be neglected either!

These two places not only allow the ship girls to relax, but also allow him to obtain a large amount of ship girl energy, killing two birds with one stone!

As the idea came to mind, Zhou He subconsciously began to observe the open spaces and buildings in the residential area near the dock. He would first open a house for his ship girl to live in from the selection box given by the exploration of the Mirror Sea. Next time he explored the Mirror Sea, he could directly choose to deploy a large amusement park as a reward.

He didn't like sending his ship girls on sorties, but the system's rewards were just too tempting. Compared to accumulating home coins every day, the customizable furniture box was much more convenient.

We'll just have to make do with the siren near the port area and let him farm a few more furniture boxes.

That's what he said, but he didn't know when they would find the next mirror-like sea, so he wasn't in a hurry to make grand promises to Yuudachi. Instead, he scratched his head and said, "I remember there are ropes over there at the warehouse. Let's go and cut a section off the tree trunks piled up next to the command post and tie a swing to it."

"Really? Yeah!"

Yuudachi's eyes lit up instantly: "Can you tie two of them together? That way, I can swing with the Commander!"

"Of course, tying up ten is no problem."

Zhou He laughed and led Xi Li away from the dock area. Instead of taking the newly paved road, they walked in a straight line, trampling the grass back to the command post. They then went into the warehouse and found a rope about 4 to 5 centimeters thick.

Zhou He held a rope, while Xi Li held a relatively delicate saw. The sight of the two attracted the attention of Z23, who was reading a book. Feeling curious, Z23 followed them out through the back door and watched as Zhou He and Xi Li pulled a tree trunk from the tied trunk, set it up, and began to work with the saw.

"What is this doing?"

Z23 observed for a moment, and only after watching the two men pry off a small section of tree trunk did he ask, "Are you trying to make your own floating target?"

"..."

Upon hearing this, Zhou He glanced sideways, looked down at the tree trunk in his hand, and then looked at Z23 again. Was this a difference in thinking? He had never thought of using wood to make artillery targets. This was indeed a new project. He could tinker with it himself when he had time in the future, which could save a lot of expenses.

"No, the commander and I are planning to make a swing, you know, the kind you can tie to a tree and sit on and swing back and forth."

Zhou He remained silent, but Xi Li gave the answer first, gesturing a rough outline with his hands.

"what!"

Z23 then realized what had happened and felt a little hot in the face when she thought about what she had just said. After saying "Sorry to bother you," she quickly went back inside, which made Yuudachi tilt her head in surprise. Finally, with Zhou He smoothing things over, she continued sawing the tree and soon obtained two similar logs.

Then, Zhou He used a saw to cut the log in half into four pieces, which were not uniform; two large pieces and two small pieces were even cut off to the side.

"It's barely usable, but I really need to find a professional to help me."

Zhou He picked out the two better halves and examined them. If it were Tosa, he would definitely be able to divide them into two even and smooth halves without any mistakes, instead of rubbing them into sharp edges like this.

He could be tricked into coming to Tosa, but asking her to help chop wood would definitely lower his favorability rating by a few points.

"let's go."

As his thoughts raced, Zhou He ground grooves into the back of two relatively good pieces of wood for tying ropes. After spending some time cleaning up the crime scene, he led Yuudachi straight to the green area of ​​the dock—there were no tall trees near the command post, and there were small decorative trees near the restaurant, the kind that Yuudachi could pull out with one hand, which were obviously not suitable for tying a swing.

……

After finding a tree, climbing the tree, figuring out how to tie the rope, and trying it out on the tree, Zhou He and Xi Li received a swing for two.

It wasn't very sophisticated, but that didn't stop the two of them from having a great time.

Since graduating from elementary school, Zhou He had never properly swung on a swing. Today, he got into the mood to work with Xi Li to figure it out, which reminded him of his carefree childhood.

Anyway, no one will bother him here, so he can live a little more recklessly without any problems.

"Aha."

After playing for a while, the sky gradually darkened. Zhou He returned to the command post in a cheerful mood. Before he even got close to the door, he heard people talking inside. Peeking out, he found that the Cleveland sisters and Ruihe had returned and were discussing something around two small buckets on the ground.

"Welcome back, Cleveland. How was your fishing trip?"

Stepping into the hall, Zhou He greeted everyone and walked inside. He soon saw the contents of the buckets—various strange-looking sea fish of different sizes. However, what caught Zhou He's attention the most was the contents of another bucket: mussels and oysters, shellfish that he had previously asked Cleveland to collect.

"We're back."

As Ruihe spoke, she shrugged at Zhou He: "My sister and I sank quite a few Sirens, but we haven't found any new companions."

“When you’re unlucky, look at Yuudachi. You and others have already found several companions.”

Zhou He also noticed that the drop rate of combat ship girls seemed to have decreased. Could it be that the drop rate decreases as the number of ship girls in his port increases?

…His honest system probably wouldn't do such a subtle adjustment; it just shows that Ruihe's luck is really bad.

"Damn it, I really want to argue with you."

Zuikaku stared at Zhou He with her right hand clasped in front of her. Unfortunately, what Zhou He said was true. Moreover, the reason why Zuikaku was called "Lucky Crane" in her memory was ultimately due to Shoukaku's efforts. More than good luck, she believed that it was Shoukaku who had protected her very well.

"never mind."

After holding back for a while, Zuikaku decisively gave up on the topic she had brought up again only to be met with a rebuff. She pointed to the bucket on the ground and Cleveland next to it: "These are all ingredients that Cleveland and the others collected. It feels too pointless to let Manju handle them. Why don't you cook a meal yourself today, Commander?"

"That's no problem, but I can't guarantee that the taste will be as good as Manju's."

Zhou He would naturally like to be lazy if he could, but since his own ship girl had said so, it wouldn't be a big deal for him to put in a little effort and cook a meal himself.

"It's nothing, you've been a great help."

Cleveland felt like all his lines had been stolen, so he could only wait for Zuikaku to finish before smiling and saying, "I've observed the cooking process of the Manjuu. From a scientific point of view, it's quite remarkable, but the process is really tedious. It always feels meaningless to just throw the ingredients I've worked so hard to find into the machine and turn them into dishes. I can only trouble you, Commander."

"If you put it that way, then you are right."

Zhou He stared at Cleveland for a while, feeling that his father's human touch was truly off the charts. After a moment, he looked away, rolled up his sleeves, carried the two buckets of seafood into the kitchen, and called out, "Someone go and call Hermione over for me."

"I go!"