Elder brother's garrison

Xiaobai silently gazed at the ship girls around her.

"Admiral! Admiral...du..." Changchun called out from behind, but she only managed to utter one word before instinctively shrinking back, lowering her voice, and moving closer to Xiaobai, "Admiral...why did you just leave like that..."

"I'm just coming in to take a look," Xiaobai said to Changchun, then looked around and said, "There are a lot of ship girls here, and they all seem to be doing well. They're orderly and polite, which also proves that the Pure White Wings Mercenary Group is managed quite well..."

"But, Admiral, didn't you previously give Miss Lin the authority to manage the repair pool?" Changchun asked in a low voice. "Where is Miss Lin now?"

"Who knows... I've been thinking about that too." Xiaobai muttered, her gaze sweeping across the courtyard. "I remember recommending Lin Yueyue to be the admiral in Muyu. Maybe after she becomes the admiral, she won't be able to manage the repair pool here anymore... So it's possible that some mercenary groups have volunteered to help maintain order... But anyway, if we want to get to the bottom of things, we should wait until the repair pool closes for the day. Strange... Come to think of it, if the authority over the repair pool has been transferred to someone else, then someone should have notified the newbie naval base when the repair pool needs replenishment and routine maintenance... But why hasn't there been any activity yet... The Obsidian Mercenary Group hasn't sent me any similar messages either... It's like they've vanished from the face of the earth."

"Admiral, does the repair pool have a closing time...?"

"The ship girls will eventually get off work, right?" Xiaobai smiled upon hearing this. She raised her chin and gestured to the black-clad ship girl at the door, who was handing out queue tickets to the next civilian ship girl who arrived. "That lady seems quite approachable. We've already taken up too much of her time. We'll ask her after she gets off work."

"Oh..." Changchun nodded in understanding.

Xiaobai's regular queue ticket number was over 200, and they really queued in the courtyard for a long time.

During this time, ship girls came and went. The entrance to the clinic of the goddess of the hearth was like the entrance to a women's bathhouse. Ship girls who looked refreshed and were wet would come out with bathtubs and smiles on their faces, as if the sun was shining on them.

Xiaobai has been observing this process throughout.

Although things seemed a bit different from what I had imagined, in any case, the Vesta's repair pool appeared to be functioning normally and playing a role in protecting civilian ship girls.

From this perspective alone, it's a good thing.

This is also the main reason why Xiaobai was able to wait until after get off work to inquire about the matter.

While Xiaobai was waiting for the ship girls to get off work, she would always cast her gaze at the ship girls around the courtyard who had a white handkerchief wrapped around their bodies. As she observed, Xiaobai suddenly noticed that, apart from the one who stood guard at the gate, the other ship girls with white handkerchiefs all seemed a little nervous. As time went by and it got darker, they would occasionally turn their gazes toward the gate and look toward the end of the road.

It's like... something will appear right on time.

The black-clad ship girl standing at the door remained indifferent. When a new ship girl arrived, she would help diagnose injuries and distribute queue tickets. When no ship girl arrived, she would stand motionless, like a cold sculpture.

Occasionally, ship girls who are visiting for the first time will ask her who built the repair pool.

Whenever such a problem arises, the black-clad ship girl, who resembles a sculpture, always explains in detail the origin of the repair pool, from the practices of the Pure White Wings mercenary group to the admiral who has the compassion for all living beings and the mercy for all people.

Whenever they hear this story, the civilian ship girls who come here for the first time are always moved to tears. They put their hands together as if in prayer and sigh to the black-clad ship girls.

"That admiral is such a wonderful person!"

"I'll never have to worry about my friends dying at sea again!"

"Building the repair pool must have cost a lot... He actually made such a sacrifice for us civilian ship girls, and didn't even ask us for a penny... Waaah..."

"If only my sister, who sank thirteen years ago, had met this admiral sooner..."

For military ship girls, a ship equipment repair pool is actually a perfectly normal basic building.

daily.

reasonable.

It can be easily touched at any time.

But for civilian ship girls, this is an expensive, rare, and magical existence, like life insurance.

Xiaobai didn't know much about the civilian ship girls, only that they had a hard time and it wasn't easy for them. But when she saw the civilian ship girls covering their mouths and crying with emotion every time they heard about the origin of the repair pool, she realized that she might have underestimated the significance of a free repair pool to civilian ship girls.

A strange mix of a sense of accomplishment and shame was echoing within Xiaobai.

Xiaobai's sense of accomplishment comes from seeing that her repair pool has indeed played a significant role, and this achievement is due to her own instructions.

However, Xiaobai's sense of shame stemmed from the fact that she knew she hadn't actually been driven by such great compassion when she created this free repair pool. While she did sympathize with the plight and lives of civilian ship girls, her primary motivation was to get Vestal to willingly follow her.

In other words... Xiaobai is doing this for profit.

But these civilian ship girls kept saying that they were kind-hearted, compassionate, and selfless, as if Xiaobai was a saint without desires or a god descended from heaven, which made Xiaobai blush a little.

"Admiral, look, even though the civilian ship girls don't know who you are, they are all very grateful to you!" Changchun quietly tugged at Xiaobai's sleeve and said to Xiaobai, his face full of pride.

“They should thank the Goddess of the Stove; she is the true Bodhisattva.” Xiaobai shook her head. She grabbed Changchun’s wrist and gently held it between her fingers. “Changchun… I am not as kind and compassionate as the Goddess of the Stove. This repair pool is just a bargaining chip for me to get the Goddess of the Stove to come with me.”

Changchun held Xiaobai's hand and looked closely at Xiaobai's lowered eyebrows.

"Admiral, doing good deeds is about actions, not intentions," Changchun smiled slightly, pulling Xiaobai along as she said, "Whatever your motives, doing a good deed is doing a good deed!"

"...Changchun, you are so kind." Xiaobai looked at Changchun and said with emotion.

Chapter 3418 The Red-Clad Mercenary

Just as Xiaobai was comforted by Changchun's words and her sense of shame eased slightly, she suddenly felt the ship girls around her start to buzz and commotion.

In an instant, the originally lively and peaceful atmosphere, which resembled a bonfire party, cooled down as if some abrupt and cold element had been introduced.

The soft rustling of footsteps echoed, and the ship girls in line covered their mouths, whispering reminders to each other, as they looked towards the distance outside the courtyard gate.

"Oh...they're here..."

"Shh..."

"They're here, it's them..."

"As expected, it happened today too..."

"..."

The soft, intermittent reminders, accompanied by a sense of unfamiliarity and distance, rose and fell.

Xiaobai and Changchun's chat was interrupted. Xiaobai looked around in confusion and found that the ship girls in the courtyard all looked very bad. The ship girls who had white handkerchiefs wrapped around their arms earlier had all come to the courtyard gate, looking as if they were facing a great enemy.

Xiao Bai withdrew his gaze and exchanged a glance with Chao Dahe and Changchun beside him.

"Admiral, could this be...?" Changchun subconsciously grabbed Xiaobai's arm and asked in a low voice.

"Hmm...it seems this is what that auntie was talking about, that's not peaceful..." Xiaobai nodded, she murmured softly, her gaze lingering meaningfully as she peered out of the courtyard and looked towards the street in the distance.

In Xiaobai's line of sight, a group of fiery red figures began to appear on the street in the distance.

Xiao Bai stared intently.

The fiery red figures in the distance were a large group of ship girls wearing the same style of coats. There were quite a few of them, more than a dozen at a glance, and their clothes were all embroidered with lifelike flame patterns. Combined with their neat formation and walking posture, when the group approached this place together, it was like a wildfire spreading all the way.

Xiaobai could sense that the ship girls around her were beginning to hold their breath, and most of them were intentionally or unintentionally moving away from the courtyard gate.

Suddenly, a lot of empty space appeared on the ground near the courtyard gate.

The ship girls of the Pure White Wings mercenary group stood guard at the entrance of the courtyard. The black butterfly ship girl who had just chatted with Xiaobai remained motionless from beginning to end, standing at the entrance, while the others stood obediently on either side of her, implicitly showing that she was the leader.

wow-

In the distance, the ship girls, who looked like burning flames, arrived at the entrance of the Vestal Clinic.

The fiery formation parted, and a heavily made-up woman with a bright expression and flamboyant figure stepped out. With one hand on her hip, she approached the black butterfly-like ship girl, raised her thin eyebrows, and surveyed the surrounding environment.

To Xiaobai's surprise... the woman who walked out from the fiery ship girl group was not a ship girl, but a human.

Judging from her appearance, the woman was probably around twenty-six or twenty-seven years old. She wore a tight-fitting red dress, and her figure was extremely well-maintained, with a full and shapely figure. Several perfectly placed pieces of jewelry hung on her delicate, snow-white arms, which accentuated her refined and wealthy demeanor.

But body shape is body shape, and appearance is appearance.

Even though this fiery woman has an excellent figure, her looks are only at the level of an ordinary human woman. Even though she uses her superb makeup skills to enhance her skin's suppleness and appearance to the level of a minor internet celebrity, her face still looks ordinary and pale compared to the naturally beautiful ship girls around her.

A fiery woman stood before the black-clad ship girls, raising an eyebrow and taking in all the ship girls in the courtyard.

The ship girls in the courtyard, including Xiaobai herself, could all feel as if they had been stared at by someone with a strange gaze that was hard to explain.

Xiao Bai was curious when she noticed that the woman glanced at her a couple of times for a moment.

"……"noob.

Then, a hint of disgust and disdain subtly surfaced in the woman's gaze as she looked at Xiaobai.

"???"noob.

Xiaobai was confused.

what?

Wait a minute... wasn't the way this older sister was looking at me a little unfriendly?

What did I do to make her dislike me?

While Xiaobai was still confused, the fiery woman finally finished examining the ship girls in the courtyard and turned her gaze to the ship girl in black.

"Oh, so many people today too." The woman said provocatively to the black-clad ship girl, her red lips curling up and her eyes sharp. "Hancock, your mercenary group is doing quite well."

"This isn't business." The black butterfly-like ship girl looked at the woman coldly, her gaze the same as she showed to everyone else, but those around her could clearly sense a more distant and coldness towards the woman. "If you're not here to use the repair pool, then leave."

"Use it, of course we'll use it!"

The fiery woman scoffed at the sound, turned around and waved her hand. The ship girls behind her stepped forward, bowing their heads and summoning their ship equipment.

The ship equipment flashed with light, and the next moment, one after another, smoking ship equipment appeared in front of everyone.

"These injuries can be repaired at the repair pool, right?" The fiery woman crossed her arms smugly and spoke to the black-clad ship girl.

"..." The black-clad ship girl's expression visibly grew colder.

The next moment, the other companions of the black-clad ship girl, each wrapped in a white handkerchief, spoke up indignantly.

"Don't go too far!" The other ship girls of the Pure White Wings were so angry that their faces turned red. They gritted their teeth, pointed at the woman in red, and shouted, "You've been coming here for twenty or thirty days in a row, with the same people every day, the same ship equipment every day, and the same minor injuries every day. And you always choose to come so late at night. When you come, we have to stay up until midnight before we have time to receive the other ship girls. Is this how you take up public resources?!"

The ship girls of Pure White Wings rebuked him here, then looked angrily at the ship girls displaying their ship equipment.

"And you too! That's enough! We're all civilian ship girls, and you're acting as accomplices! Don't you even know how you got these injuries?! Do you have any sense of public morality at all?!"

Faced with the rebukes from the ship girls, the fiery red ship girls lowered their heads with fluctuating expressions, but did not back down.

"Alright, save your breath." The woman in red crossed her arms, a smirk playing on her lips, her chin slightly raised as she looked at the ship girls, who were on the verge of exasperation. "What? Now you have to pick your time to get injured? Are our injuries fake? Or is it that your Pure White Wings Mercenary Group is so powerful and wealthy that you're not satisfied with ordinary management... and are starting to screen users for your ethereal Admiral?"

Upon hearing this, the ship girls of Pure White Wings gritted their teeth and began to loudly condemn the woman as despicable.

But the woman seemed to enjoy it. She didn't mind being insulted at all and stared straight at the black-clad ship girl.

The black-clad ship girl stared at her coldly, her pale yellow eyes fixed on the woman's smug expression.

After a while, the black-clad ship girl slowly spoke.

"...The repair pool is open to all civilian ship girls, and anyone is eligible to use it."

"Heh, you know what's good for you." The woman snorted, pushed aside the black-clad ship girl with one hand, and gestured for the ship girls behind her to enter the courtyard.

The red-clad ship girls strode into the courtyard.

The woman stood outside with her arms crossed, like a proud rooster, smugly staring at the black-clad ship girl.

"Hancock, I love seeing that look on your face when you can't stand me but have to go along with me." The woman said to the black-clad ship girl, her eyes narrowing. "And I'm telling you, and all of you, I'm not just coming today, I came yesterday, I came the day before yesterday, I'll come tomorrow, I'll come the day after tomorrow, I'll keep coming, and I'm bringing even more people with me. I'm going to occupy the place from night to morning, and from morning to night, just to see how you can't do anything about us."

At this point, the woman's gaze suddenly turned cold. She stared at Hancock's indifferent face for a few seconds.

Hancock remained unmoved by the woman's provocation.

"A clay figure without any temper." The woman withdrew her gaze in disgust. "In the end, it's just a dog that can't bite."

The woman seemed to have no intention of saying another word to Hancock. She shoved him aside and walked into the yard.

"Why are there so many people in this courtyard! They're crowding me, you know!"

As soon as the woman entered the courtyard, she frowned and shouted with a very unpleasant expression.

As the woman finished speaking, the red-clad ship girls spread out, taking over almost the entire courtyard.

The remaining ship girls were squeezed together, and a group of people looked at the red-clad ship girls and the smug woman standing in the center of the field with particularly aggrieved and helpless expressions.

"We...we should leave first...we're just living in a small, run-down place anyway...we can come back tomorrow morning..."

"Hmm... let's go..."

"..."

The ship girls in the courtyard whispered among themselves, and then many of them left the courtyard with their heads down and their belongings in their arms.

Some of the ship girls who left the courtyard left quickly, while others apologized to the ship girls in black at the door. Soon, with the departure of a large number of ship girls, most of the remaining ship girls in the Vestal Clinic had followed the woman in red.

The woman in red glanced at the remaining ship girls, her expression displeased.

"Why are there still so many people? Looks like I'll have to bring more people tomorrow." The woman in red casually picked at her fingernails and muttered loudly to herself.

"You bunch of bastards!" the ship girls of Pure White Wings shouted, pointing at the woman in red.

"Come on, this is really interesting. Tell me how I messed up." The woman in red looked smugly at the ship girls of Pure White Wings. "Our mercenary group was injured and came here to repair our ship equipment. Isn't this exactly what your admiral wanted? Besides that, were our injuries faked? Did we not queue up? Did we fight? Did you think... our Blazing Fire Mercenary Group is not qualified to use the repair pool?"

Upon hearing this, the ship girls of Pure White Wings gritted their teeth.

The woman in red smugly withdrew her gaze, her eyes drifting to the surrounding area.

then.