Revisit Azur Lane

Zhou He was quite surprised. No wonder he could call himself a strong competitor of Amagi. He really had some skills. Such a passionate declaration and slogan must be very popular within Sakura Empire.

"Anything is fine with this kind of thing. Look, Tosa is getting impatient. If she gets angry, neither of us will be in good shape."

Kaga could easily see that Zhou He didn't want to lose face, but today, Zhou He was definitely going to lose face, as she said.

"Alright, Tosa, hold on tight, or you'll hit me."

Seeing that he couldn't avoid it, Zhou He braced himself and walked up to Tosa. Under her gaze, he squatted down and touched the cold, carved scabbard. He chose a comfortable position to hold it and tried to move it. He then clearly felt the vibration and his heart skipped a beat. Could it be that Tosa would go easy on him?

So he exerted all his strength, but in the end he still couldn't shake Tosa's hand. Finally, he stood up with a stiff face and turned to look at the distant sun.

"puff."

Kaga couldn't help but laugh out loud, while Tosa calmly tucked her sword into her waistband. She never held back when she did something; if she was going to do it, she would go all out.

However, Zhou He's recent performance has been quite good, much better than when she first arrived.

Chapter Ninety Preparation

After being taught a lesson in physics by Tosa, Zhou He reflected that his 'hot spring invitation' could not directly reflect the quality of his relationship with the ship girls. In subsequent careful consideration, he suddenly began to wonder why he cared about the ship girls' affection for him.

Could it be that you haven't even mastered the basics of management, yet you're already expecting to have intimate, restricted interactions with your own ship girls?

'Putting aside whether it's even possible to put them on, even if it were, I should still keep my distance from such things.'

Standing at the edge of the grass wall maze, Zhou He was constantly on guard. He knew that as a teenager, he would sometimes lose control when faced with many beautiful girls. However, the game Azur Lane was not a matter of whether he could control himself or not. As the commander, if he was too ambiguous in his relationship with any of his own ship girls, resulting in multiple ship girls having overwhelming affection for him, he might be completely taken advantage of, or even die young.

With his eyes closed, he recalled the numerous ship girls from various factions with 'restricted' figures. Each of them possessed unique skills and was an insurmountable obstacle for him.

"Being too impetuous is no good, and being too narcissistic is also a big problem. It seems that I still need to work on my mindset."

Zhou He cannot reflect on himself three times a day, nor can he fully control the details of his life, but he can choose his general direction. For example, at this stage, he believes that "developing the port area" is more important than "getting close to his own ship girls," so the former has a higher priority than the latter.

"..."

"Has he always been like this?"

Kaga wanted to see what Zhou He would do after being 'bullied' by Tosa, but all he saw was him standing there in a daze. He turned to Tosa and asked, and the latter glanced at him and said, "This happens occasionally. Most of the time he is thinking about serious things. A small part, like now, is probably thinking about some nonsense."

"Hey~"

Kaga put one hand on his hip and looked at Zhou He again: "You can even tell this difference?"

"Who knows? Even the smartest person can get stuck on a single point."

Tosa didn't dwell on the topic and turned to take a walk in the courtyard. She knew that Zhou He usually made certain judgments after deep thought, but with the 'hot spring invitation' coming up today, she couldn't imagine how this could lead to anything serious.

Kaga followed, disagreeing with Tosa's statement: "You're wrong. Truly intelligent people don't waste time on things like getting stuck on a rut; they usually find another solution."

For example, that silhouette she could never catch up with.

"You mean Amagi?"

When Tosa and Kaga walked together, they didn't actually talk about many things. Most of their conversations were about outsiders, such as Zhou He, who always said bizarre things, and Amagi, whom Kaga admired from the bottom of her heart.

When Tosa first heard about Amagi's deeds, she thought this person she had never met must be very intelligent. However, Kaga kept talking and talking without mentioning any shortcomings or mistakes Amagi made, which made her feel a bit mysterious. Even Bismarck would show abnormal behavior when facing her sister ship Tirpitz. How could there be someone like Amagi, whom Kaga described as having perfect strategy, commanding the fleet in a way that made everyone admire her, living in harmony with her neighbors, being close to her sisters, and doing a perfect job in both life and career?

So when she hears about Amagi's deeds, she treats it as if she's listening to a character in a story. As for how powerful and capable Amagi really is, she'll have to wait until he joins the port district and she sees it for herself.

"Am I not?"

Kaga asked in surprise, which really surprised Tosa. His older sister was indeed quite capable, but when it came to scheming, she was still too naive. She was probably only slightly better than Zuikaku, and could be considered a little fool.

However, Kaga's experience wasn't bad for her. With someone like him setting a bad example, she could save herself a lot of trouble.

"Say a few good words to the commander, and you might have a chance to be the flagship when you go on a sortie."

Tosa gave an irrelevant answer, but Kaga's spirits lifted and he frowned: "I don't know enough about the Sirens yet, and the position of flagship is not suitable for me right now."

"..."

Tosa admitted that she had underestimated Kaga. As the leader of the new generation of battleships with heavy guns, Kaga did have some merits, though not many.

The manor's courtyard was very large, and the two of them disappeared without a trace as they walked. Zhou He stood alone by the path with the grass wall, feeling the wind blowing, and his thoughts shifted from whether or not they could do intimate things to 'what his own island actually looks like'.

So far, he has only gone out once on a patrol boat, and after returning home, he hasn't even taken a stroll around the island, so he is still unfamiliar with the other areas of his own island.

Of course, this was no challenge for him at all. He quickly switched to the dock, opened the system interface, found Miss Long Island's portrait, and activated the video function.

This morning, Long Island did not participate in the surprise inspection by Ruihe and others, did not listen to Hu De's story, and did not come to visit this Iron-Blooded Mansion. As a result, when Zhou He turned on the video, the first thing he saw was a literary-style girl wearing orange pajamas lying on the bed reading a book.

"It's a pity there are no potato chips or cola."

Seeing how relaxed the other party was, Zhou He started to wonder if he should fry some potato chips for Changdao and send them over.

"Yes."

Long Island agreed with Zhou He's statement, then suddenly looked up in surprise and saw Zhou He against a backdrop of blue sky and white clouds. Her eyes widened: "Commander! You said there's no network in the port? How can you use this without a network!?"

"Is this the key point?"

Zhou He couldn't help but complain, then coughed lightly and pointed his finger in the air: "Long Island, you shouldn't be busy right now, right? I need you to draw a topographical map of this island for me. In return, I'll fry some fries for you."

"Or... why is the Commander suddenly interested in this? I checked it carefully yesterday, and there are no strange ruins or signs of life on the island."

Long Island wanted to refuse, but since she didn't know how to fry French fries, she closed the storybook, propped herself up, and sat up. While talking, she went to the desk, found some paper and pen, and drew a very simple picture. She then held it up and spread it out in front of Zhou He.

"Is that so? There are some places that can't be completely determined from the air."

Zhou He looked at the simple drawing that Long Island had spread out in front of his chest, then looked up and touched his forehead: "Your drawing skills are a bit abstract, so the quality of the reward might be lower."

"Sigh~ Commander, isn't this just exploiting our labor force?"

Long Island spoke in a drawn-out, lazy tone, slapping the papers together with his hands, "Isn't this about right?"

"..."

Zhou He guessed that Changdao's drawing skills were not good, so he could only make do with what he saw. The port area was located on the south side of the island, a good place surrounded by mountains on three sides. In addition, crossing the high mountains to the north, one could see the intertwined forests in the center of the island. To the northwest, the terrain was higher, with a coastal cliff area formed by piled rocks. To the northeast was a large area of ​​gently sloping plains connected to the sea. This was the map that Changdao had drawn, without any more details.

"French fries!"

Long Island observed Zhou He's expression and noticed that after looking at the map, he earnestly demanded his reward.

"Don't worry, I'll send it over to you in a bit."

Zhou He had a general understanding of the island, and he planned to ask Ruihe about the specific details later.

However, our island is actually quite large.

Chapter Ninety-One Camping Reservation

"Details of the island's topography?"

After accompanying Shoukaku on a tour of the Ironblood mansion, Zuikaku, before leaving, assured Shoukaku that she would ask the Commander to get her one next time and sought Zhou He's approval. However, Zhou He immediately questioned her about the island's situation, leaving Zuikaku somewhat bewildered: "Apart from the port area, it's just ordinary terrain."

"Hmm~"

Zhou He pursed his lips. He knew that the terrain in the port area was probably one in a million. After thinking for a moment, he explained in more detail: "Actually, I was thinking of going to see other places on this island. Such a big island must have different scenery, which may be useful for future building development."

"For example, if there is a suitable place for the big house you want in Zuikaku, you may not necessarily choose to build it here. Perhaps there are more beautiful and suitable places to live on the inner island."

Originally, Zhou He thought that this island might not be able to accommodate hundreds of ship girls living together harmoniously. However, after testing, it was found that this place could block the Sirens' attacks. So even if there were frictions between the various factions, he had to place the main bases of each faction on this island.

Therefore, as the leader, he had to scout out all the places on the island that could be repaired before his own ship girls reached that level of numbers.

“That makes sense, but I think this place is already very good… I know, I know! But it’s such a big place, it’s impossible to tell you everything verbally.”

Zuikaku, who had joined the fleet as soon as it opened, had already seen the entire 'initial island' from the images fed back by the carrier-based aircraft. However, she instinctively felt that Zhou He might be in trouble and tried to get away with it by being cute. But Zhou He grabbed her shoulder with one hand, and his kind smile and eyes made her a little scared. She quickly raised her hands in surrender.

"She blushed when our eyes met when we first met, where did that adorable commander go..."

She tilted her head and muttered softly. Zhou He heard it, but he held it in. Xiang He also heard it and covered his mouth with his sleeve, trying to hide his smile, but the smile in his eyes could not be concealed. His gentle gaze, like water, watched the two people talking.

"Well, Zuikaku, you're right. It's definitely impossible to do it verbally, and I don't think you're capable of drawing a map either. How about this?"

Zhou He naturally still remembers the dark history of his heart pounding so hard his brain was overloaded when Ruihe suddenly pulled him closer. But the past is the past, and the present is the present. He has grown up to the point where he can bathe with Yuudachi with a clear mind and sleep peacefully in the same bed. The era of trying to impress him with good looks and perks is over!

Starting with Yuudachi was definitely the best answer! He's fearless now!

“You and I, along with other people who might be interested, will go camping outside the port area.”

Zhou He, who was secretly clenching his fist with pride, remained outwardly calm, then turned his gaze and smiled as he announced his plan: "Let's go and enjoy the beautiful autumn scenery on the island before winter arrives."

"Ok?"

Ruihe fell into a deep thought upon hearing this. It seemed like a troublesome matter, but coming from Zhou He's mouth, it suddenly became interesting.

She turned her head to look at Shoukaku: "Shoukaku-nee, I've been convinced by the Commander."

"What a coincidence~ Me too, Commander, please let me join you."

Xianghe lowered his sleeves, revealing a gentle smile, and bowed slightly to Zhou He as he made his request.

Just as Bismarck and Hood hoped to lead the Ironblood and Royal factions to reconcile and create a new future, she also wanted to create her own beautiful memories with Zuikaku.

Although she had only met him a few times and known him for a few days, she already had a very good impression of Commander Zhou He, which was incredible.

"welcome."

Zhou He responded politely, glancing sideways at the bustling crowd emerging from the Ironblood Mansion's gate, and beckoned to Ruihe: "A mansion of this caliber isn't something you can easily acquire, but Ruihe, as a senior figure in Kaiyuan, giving you a little special treatment isn't out of the question~"

"...Commander, just say what you want to say directly. I'm a little scared by your beating around the bush."

Ruihe's eyelids twitched, and she subconsciously reached out to protect Xianghe behind her. Usually, when Zhou He said something like this, she would be assigned some strange tasks, and this time would probably be no different.

"When you talk to other people about camping, don't mention that I was the one who started it."

Zhou He wasn't about to embarrass Ruihe in front of Xianghe. He just thought that if he initiated and spread the camping idea, the participants' autonomy would be reduced. If Ruihe, the mediator, spoke up, the situation would be completely different.

"what?"

Zuikaku wasn't stupid, but she wasn't smart enough to be on the same wavelength as Zhou He either. However, after Zhou He finished speaking, he smiled and went to greet the destroyers who were leaving, leaving Zuikaku scratching her head in place. It was Shoukaku who figured it out first and whispered a few words in her ear, which made Zuikaku suddenly realize what was going on. She couldn't help but mutter, "The Commander is getting more and more roundabout in his actions."

"That's what makes the commander's job so tough."

Shoukaku felt a little amazed. She learned from Zuikaku that before coming to the port, Zhou He was just an ordinary person who didn't have a good life. But in her eyes, whether it was when they first met or now, Zhou He, as the commander, was so outstanding that he was almost impeccable.