Elder brother's garrison

In thick fog.

Nanxing pursed her lips slightly and smiled at Xiaobai.

Chapter 3276 Shouldn't we hold off on dismantling it yet?

The smiling destroyers chattered around Nanxing for a while, and then they pressed themselves against Akagi's body, their little hands touching and kissing her smooth, white waist and belly.

"Mwah! Deep Sea Akagi smells so good!"

"Sister Akagi from the Deep Sea, soak a little longer, and our pool will smell even better!"

"Sister Akagi from the Deep Sea, it's been a long time!"

"luv't!"

"Hehehe, goodbye, Akagi-neechan from the Deep Sea, Admiral, and the new ship girl!"

The destroyers didn't linger around Xiaobai and her two companions for long. After a few hugs and cuddles, they waved goodbye to them with great enthusiasm, then, amidst laughter, they sped away on their tiny white feet, quickly disappearing into the thick water vapor around them.

Akagi smiled and waved in the direction the destroyers had disappeared.

No sooner had the destroyers left than another series of footsteps sounded behind Xiaobai and his companions.

Xiaobai and his two companions turned to look and saw a ship girl with a high white bun, wearing a bath towel, and with eyes as red as jewels, running anxiously towards them. When she passed by Xiaobai and his companions, her red eyes met theirs, and she was stunned for a moment.

"Hey! Isn't that the Admiral?!"

"Isn't this Sister Hua Q?" Xiao Bai greeted the ship girl in front of him.

"Admiral—it's been almost a year, why are you still using such a weird name?!" Upon hearing Xiaobai's words, the ship girl's cute face immediately fell. She stomped her foot at Xiaobai and quickly corrected herself, "Chaser! I am Chaser!"

"Haha... the previous way of calling me was just easier to pronounce..." Xiaobai said with a wry smile.

"I've had the worst luck of my life..." The pursuer sighed, rubbing her forehead in frustration. But she quickly remembered she had important business to attend to, so she tugged at the towel around her neck and asked Xiaobai, "Oh! By the way, Admiral, did you see the Fireflies just now?"

"Fireflies?" Little White thought for a moment. "What's wrong with her?"

Firefly is a destroyer ship girl from the newbie naval base. She was one of the destroyers who greeted Shiro earlier.

"Ugh! Those destroyers! We came here to shower together," the pursuer said, pouting. "I told them not to run around in the bathhouse, and they vanished in the time it took me to squeeze out some shampoo!"

"Ah... I see." Xiaobai nodded in understanding, pointing in the direction the destroyers had left. "They went over there."

"Thank you so much, Admiral!" Seeing the direction Xiaobai pointed out, the pursuer immediately started running in that direction. She had only taken two steps when she suddenly stopped, turned back to Xiaobai, and said defiantly, "Admiral! Next time, call me by my name!"

After saying that, the pursuers disappeared into the mist.

After a while, a lively commotion arose in the distance, with destroyers and their pursuers scattering and fighting.

"Wow, so energetic!" Deep Sea Akagi exclaimed to Shiro.

“Yes.” Xiaobai nodded.

Nanxing, standing to the side, gazed with interest at the end of the mist, then looked down at Xiaobai and asked, "Who was that just now...?"

"The pursuers," Xiaobai explained.

“Not her name…” Nanxing shook her head and continued to ask, “Is she a ship girl or an Abyssal?”

“It’s a ship girl…” Xiaobai smiled upon hearing this. “The Chaser’s skin and appearance do resemble the Deep Sea a little bit, but she is a pure and genuine ship girl.”

“…I see.” Nanxing nodded.

Xiaobai and his two companions slowly approached the edge of the bath. The Roman-style bath was quite large, at least a hundred square meters. Standing on the edge, they glanced inside and could see the red and green ship girls soaking in the steaming water, chatting in twos and threes, a scene of leisurely contentment.

Near the pool are small seats for washing your body, equipped with shower heads and various cleaning tools.

—Although I have said this many times before, I still have to reiterate it now that things have come to this.

—Actually, ship girls don't need to take a bath in most cases.

After all, with the power of the ship equipment constantly in operation, as long as the power of the ship equipment is activated, the ship girl's body will always remain clean and fresh, free from dust, and her skin will not produce dead skin or other metabolic waste.

If it's just for cleaning your body, operating the ship's equipment is a quicker method than taking a shower.

Just because a ship girl doesn't need to bathe or clean herself physically doesn't mean she doesn't need to.

A certain ambiance is very important.

In fact, according to research by the Admiral Headquarters, when ship girls' lifestyles become closer to those of humans, their sense of closeness to humans and belonging to the human faction will significantly increase, and the incidence of mental illnesses among ship girls will also significantly decrease. Furthermore, when ship girls' lives are close enough to human patterns and this continues for a sufficiently long time, their sortie efficiency will increase by at least 30%.

Therefore, providing ship girls with a pleasant lifestyle and ensuring their physical and mental well-being is also one of the admirals' duties.

Having prepared for their bath, the three chose a corner of the tub, untied their towels, and entered the steaming water. Feeling the comforting sensation of their bodies being enveloped by the warm water, they slowly sat down.

"call--"

As their bodies from the neck down were completely submerged in hot water, Xiaobai and the other two exclaimed in unison almost simultaneously.

"This feels so good," Akagi Fukami said with a smile. "It feels like even my soul has been purified."

"Ah...yes, yes," Xiaobai responded, leaning gently against the bathtub wall behind her.

Soaking in the repair pool feels similar to soaking in a hot spring, which most of the ship girls at the naval base enjoy.

Actually, Xiaobai hadn't felt particularly comfortable with this kind of leisure activity before, but perhaps because he had soaked in the water for too long while repairing the ship's equipment, he had unconsciously developed a sense of nostalgia for this warm liquid environment, as if it were his hometown.

Thinking of this, Xiaobai turned to look at Nanxing.

Nanxing quietly enjoyed the feeling of soaking in the repair pool. She was quite tall, so the water in the pool could reach Xiaobai's neck, but from Nanxing's perspective, it could only barely reach Xiaobai's shoulders. From Xiaobai's angle, half of the impressive view of Nanxing's chest was still floating on the surface of the water.

Nanxing sensed Xiaobai's gaze and turned her head towards Xiaobai.

"What's wrong?" Nanxing asked.

"Ah...no..." Xiaobai blushed, lowered her head, blinked, thought for a while, and then curiously examined Nanxing's profile. "Sister Nanxing..."

"...?"

"Just now... you told my destroyer that you're a new ship girl..." Xiaobai asked cautiously, "Was that a joke you made to be considerate of the destroyers?"

“…” Nanxing silently looked at Xiaobai and tilted her head.

"Ah...it was just a joke." Xiaobai smiled, somewhat relieved, yet strangely empty as she looked away. "If Sister Nanxing became the new ship girl, things would be in big trouble..."

Xiaobai thought that Nanxing had noticed the admiral's mark on his body, which was why she said that to the destroyer.

This really terrified Xiaobai.

Thinking of this, Xiao Bai's hands underwater couldn't help but entwine together, his fingers fiddling with each other up and down.

However... the fact that his admiral's mark was still inside Nanxing's body was also a troublesome matter...

Nanxing has only recently become a ship girl, and she may not have noticed the situation inside her body yet. However, the admiral's mark is something that Shiro left in Nanxing's body. As Nanxing becomes a ship girl longer, she will notice it sooner or later.

Xiao Bai wasn't worried that Nan Xing would be angry with her because of this...

After all, Nanxing has always trusted me a lot. As long as I explain the origin and details of this admiral's mark to her, she won't blame me.

But Xiaobai was a little worried that after Nanxing discovered the Admiral's mark, she might not be able to get along with him as freely and unrestrainedly as before.

As everyone knows, once the Admiral's Mark is formed, unless the Admiral himself dies, the Admiral's Mark inside the ship girl's body can never be dispelled.

This rule is certainly not absolute; for example, the only exception happened to Xiaobai.

That means Xiaobai's admiral mark can unconditionally remove other people's admiral marks.

Even so... Xiaobai didn't know how to remove the admiral mark he had implanted in the ship girl's body. In other words, if he wanted the admiral mark in Nanxing's body to disappear, Xiaobai would have to die at least once.

That's as if Xiaobai has nine lives.

Therefore... if we want to remove the Admiral's mark from Nanxing's body, we can only choose the second method.

That means... Nanxing is no longer a ship girl.

The admiral's mark is something that can only remain in the ship girl's body. As long as Nanxing removes the ship equipment, and her body changes from a ship girl back to a human, the admiral's mark in her body will naturally disappear and vanish with the wind.

Originally, Nanxing obtaining this ship outfit was a delaying tactic by Xiaobai, a way to get her out of seclusion and face everyone.

To further solidify Nanxing's position as admiral, the removal of her ship equipment... was naturally part of the plan devised by Xiaobai and Nanxing, so it didn't affect anything.

“…Sister Nanxing.” Thinking of this, Xiaobai spoke to Nanxing.

"Hmm?" Nanxing looked at Xiaobai.

"Sister Nanxing... speaking of which, when are you planning to remove your ship outfit?" Xiaobai asked.

“…” Nanxing looked at Xiaobai, her gaze slightly stunned.

"Sister Nanxing?" Xiaobai reminded her when Nanxing didn't respond.

“…Ah.” Nanxing snapped back to reality. She looked at Xiaobai, who was concerned about her, and subconsciously rubbed her shoulders. She glanced away and thought for a moment, “The ship equipment…”

Nanxing's gaze lingered between her chest and Xiaobai's face for a moment.

"Can we... not dismantle it yet?" Nanxing asked softly.

Chapter 3277 An Innocent Woman

Nanxing looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't.

"Huh? Sister Nanxing, don't you want to dismantle the ship's equipment anymore?" Xiaobai asked, her eyes wide with confusion.

"Hmm...this seems...okay enough." Nanxing replied, looking at Xiaobai for clarification, "...Is it not okay?"

Nanxing's gaze was pitiful, pure as a fawn's.

"Okay, okay... of course it's okay..."

Xiao Bai quickly looked away, then submerged her entire chin in the water and started blowing bubbles.

Xiao Bai's expression was incredibly interesting for a moment.

really……

So things really have developed to this point...

Previously, when Xiaobai saw Nanxing's eagerness after obtaining the ship equipment, she felt that Nanxing seemed to have stopped caring about becoming a ship girl from a certain point in time. Now, Xiaobai took the opportunity to ask her, and Nanxing indeed chose to give the answer that it was better not to dismantle the ship equipment.

Nanxing's decision not to dismantle her ship equipment and continue operating as a ship girl is definitely a good thing for Xiaobai.

But this also means that the Admiral's mark inside Nanxing's body will probably stay with Nanxing for life, until the day Xiaobai dies.

This is simply...

Whenever Xiaobai thought of this, her face would turn rosy, and she couldn't help but hug her head.

Nanxing, who was standing to the side, watched Xiaobai's actions. Her gaze suddenly turned sad, and she asked a question.

"I'm sorry... Did I cause you any trouble?"

"Huh?" Xiaobai quickly looked up. She looked at Nanxing, who was so close to her, and shook her head. "No, no, I don't think it's troublesome for Sister Nanxing at all. It's a great thing for me that you don't dismantle the ship equipment!"

"……real?"

"Yeah, because I also have ship equipment..." Xiaobai said with a wry smile, "That way, Nanxing and I also have a feeling of sharing secrets."

"..." Nanxing didn't speak. She just stared at Xiaobai, nodded thoughtfully, and then slowly immersed her body further into the water.

The ship girl bath was bustling with activity.

Every now and then, ship girls wearing bath towels would walk around.

Occasionally, a few ship girls would pass by Xiaobai and her two companions. Seeing Xiaobai taking a bath there, they would even untie their towels and immerse themselves in the repair pool, chatting and laughing with Xiaobai and her companions for a while.

After a while, the pursuer finally returned to the repair pool with a large group of destroyers. The ship girls standing nearby saw the pursuer's exhausted appearance and couldn't help but say to her several times that it was hard for Sister Flower Q to take care of the child.

Such words naturally angered the pursuers, who repeatedly reiterated that they had abandoned that dark history of their old name.

The restoration pool was filled with a cheerful atmosphere for a moment.

In this cheerful atmosphere, Xiao Bai seemed less worried about the Admiral's mark inside Nan Xing's body.

More than half an hour passed by in the blink of an eye.

Bath time over.

Xiao Bai and his two companions left the bathhouse and returned to the changing room.

Inside the dressing room, Nanxing stared thoughtfully at Akagi Shinkai, who was putting on her pants. Her gaze lingered on Akagi Shinkai's smooth, fair skin.

“Deep Sea Red City,” Nanxing asked.

"Hmm? Miss Nanxing, what's wrong?" Akagi Fukami stopped what she was doing.

"What brand of perfume do you usually wear?" Nanxing asked curiously. "Why does the scent still smell so strong after you've taken a shower?"

"Ah... this is something you were born with."