Elder brother's garrison

Xiao Bai glanced at Jean Bart beside him.

What a coincidence... these people actually ended up together today.

By the pond, Montana was leaning against a rock, sitting cross-legged on the steps with a smile on his face.

In front of Montana, the two ship girls, Project 24 and Jinan, were standing close together. Project 24 was sitting on a chair by the pond. She expressionlessly stretched out her hand and offered it to Jinan. Jinan held Project 24's hand and leaned forward, almost pressing her entire face into Project 24's palm, staring intently at it.

"Jinan? Montana... and Project 24?"

Little White made a sound, calling out softly.

Not far away, the three ship girls by the pond all turned their heads towards Xiaobai.

Upon seeing Xiaobai's group, the ship girls all put down what they were doing and greeted Xiaobai.

"Admiral, you're back! And Super Yamato too, it's been a long time."

Montana greeted Xiaobai, then gracefully rose from the steps, jumped to the ground, and with a warm smile, strode towards Xiaobai.

Behind Montana, Project 24 slowly stood up from her chair and walked over with Jinan.

"Admiral!" Jinan raised his little hand and waved to Xiaobai.

"Good afternoon, Jinan." Xiaobai smiled at Jinan, then looked at Montana and Project 24, two young women in various ways. "It's really rare to see you two together."

"Is the Admiral talking about me?" Montana pointed to himself and asked with a smile.

"Yeah, you don't usually stay at the naval base much. Didn't any other ship girls from other naval bases ask you to go out today?"

“Haha, yes, there are.” Montana nodded upon hearing this, and said with a smile, “But the sisters inside the naval base still have a higher priority.”

"Inside the garrison headquarters?" Xiaobai was taken aback.

“Yes.” Montana pointed to Jinan next to him. “Jinan contacted me this morning. She asked me to help her contact Project 24. Since it was an invitation from a sister in the same naval base, I will definitely help.”

"So that's how you two ended up together." Xiaobai understood. She looked at Project 24 and Jinan, and asked curiously, "So, Jinan, what do you want with Project 24? I saw you holding her hand and it looked like you were studying her palm?"

"Waaah..." As soon as Xiaobai asked the question, Jinan's face immediately fell. "Comrade Admiral, that's a good question, a good question indeed."

"what's wrong?"

"I was just studying the shipboard equipment of Project 24," Jinan pouted, looking at her two small hands, and said sullenly, "I was trying to find some clues about missile shipboard equipment modification from Project 24..."

“…Ah.” Xiao Bai’s eyes flickered as he listened to Jinan’s words, then he understood.

Speaking of which, Jinan's special ability is to find ship girls with the potential for missile-equipped ship modifications and then trigger them...

"So that's how it is... Did you guys watch it for a long time?" Xiaobai smiled at Jinan and then asked.

“They’ve been watching since this morning,” Montana explained with a smile. “The whole day, the little girl from Jinan has been holding 24 Project’s hand and watching non-stop without saying a word. If 24 Project wasn’t the patient type who lets herself be, she probably wouldn’t have lasted this long.”

"I've been watching since daytime..." Xiaobai muttered to herself, then looked towards Jinan and said, "What's going on?"

"Ugh... Admiral, my contribution to this naval base is far too insignificant..." Jinan clutched her chest, a look of unfulfilled ambition on her face. She spoke to Xiaobai, her voice filled with distress and anxiety. "As a fellow event-limited special ship girl, Montana has already provided you with so much help, Admiral, while I've still accomplished nothing. It's so agonizing..."

"How could you think that…?" Xiaobai chuckled softly as she looked at Jinan's worried expression. She reached out and gently ruffled Jinan's hair, comforting her, "Let's not even talk about how it doesn't matter if we don't achieve anything, but your contributions are real. How can that be compared to achieving nothing? You've clearly helped me a lot. Without your help, how could we have successfully defeated Montana and made her a member of our naval base?"

"Admiral? When did I become useful?" Jinan looked up in confusion.

"Without you triggering the modification of the missile ship's equipment, and without your help in locating it, Jean Bart and Missouri wouldn't be able to..."

"Jean Barthes?" Jinan blinked, looking at Xiaobai with curiosity.

"..." Xiaobai opened her mouth, met Jinan's gaze for a moment, and then, as if realizing something, turned her head to look at Jean Bart beside her, "Oh...right...I knew it...no wonder you said you weren't of any use...it turns out you've forgotten about her..."

Chapter 3760 The Most Terrifying Special Ship Girl

Seeing Jinan's bewildered reaction, Xiaobai finally realized why she had thought that way before.

...Jinan certainly helped Xiaobai.

And the help she gave was incredibly crucial and indispensable.

As a research ship girl among special ship girls, it was Jinan who used her innate special ability to successfully initiate the missile ship equipment modification of Jean Bart, and enabled the novice naval base to successfully possess the world's second missile battleship.

It was thanks to the firepower of this two-person fleet composed of missile battleships that the newbie naval base was able to achieve ultra-long-range strikes across the map, and in doing so, defeated Montana, which was then considered invincible on the sea, and brought it into the naval base.

In terms of the division of credit afterward, Jinan deserves at least half the credit for this battle.

But later...

Xiaobai saw it on the way here. After the modification, Jean Bart's transparent body was strengthened. As a result, the ship girls who received Xiaobai's mental power and were temporarily immune to Jean Bart's body were able to remember her for about forty days, but this was reduced to twenty days. Jinan probably slowly forgot about Jean Bart in these few days.

Jean Bart's transparent body has a bit of a "causal" element to it.

When others forget Jean Bart, it's not just that they can't recall the name, but that any events or achievements related to him are automatically ignored or blurred. For example, after Jinan forgets Jean Bart, she naturally forgets that she once initiated missile upgrades for Jean Bart and led the missile ship girls to conquer Montana.

Thinking of this, Xiaobai couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Admiral, why are you suddenly smiling like that?" Jinan looked at Xiaobai who had suddenly started laughing with an innocent expression.

"It's nothing... Come on, Jinan, give me your hand." Xiaobai reached out his hand to Jinan.

"Hmm?" Jinan blinked. She didn't understand Xiaobai's motives, but she still obediently reached out and handed it to Xiaobai.

Xiaobai held Jinan's soft, warm little hand, gently covering Jinan's palm with both of her own. Then, a surge of spiritual energy flowed through Jinan's body.

Jinan sensed Xiaobai's spiritual power, and she subconsciously shrank her shoulders.

"Hey, Admiral... what's wrong with you...?"

Jinan was about to ask Xiaobai why she was transferring her spiritual power, but the next second, she suddenly felt a blur before her eyes. Xiaobai in her vision began to ripple like the surface of a lake. After a slight dizziness, her vision returned to clear.

Jinan felt her mind suddenly clear up a bit, and the flowers of memory kept blooming in her mind, with fragments of daily life flashing back.

Xiao Bai smiled and released Jinan's hand.

Jinan instinctively covered her head, staring blankly at Xiaobai. Suddenly, her gaze shifted to the side and she saw Jean Bart standing next to Xiaobai, smiling broadly and holding the back of his head.

"..."

The surroundings were quiet.

After a while.

"Wow!" Jinan suddenly exclaimed, her mouth wide open, pointing at Jean Bart, "Sister Jean Bart! I remember now!"

"Hello!" Jean Bart replied enthusiastically.

"Jean-what?" Montana raised an eyebrow, looking in the direction Jinan pointed. Her gaze swept towards Jean-Barre, but it seemed her eyes didn't find Jean-Barre himself, instead landing on something further away. "Hmm? Is there someone over there?"

Project 24 silently observed Xiaobai and Jinan's reactions. Her gaze swept over Xiaobai and Jinan before she raised her head and spoke to Montana, offering a reminder.

"Based on the current situation, there is at least one hidden target within the visible range around the Admiral."

"A hidden target? Who is it?" Montana looked at Xiaobai earnestly.

"Detection failed; the target's stealth level is extremely high," Project 24 said coldly, devoid of any emotion.

“It’s Jean Bart.” Xiaobai smiled at the two ship girls, and then, just as she had done with Richelieu and Jinan, she transferred her spiritual power to Montana and Project 24 by shaking hands.

Like Jinan, Montana and Project 24 were also in a daze for a while after receiving Xiaobai's spiritual power. After they adjusted to their bodies, they finally found Jean Bart standing next to Xiaobai.

At this moment, the memories of Jean Bart that had been temporarily obscured in the minds of the ship girls present slowly began to resurface.

"How do you feel now?" Xiaobai withdrew her hands from the two ship girls and asked with a smile.

“Oh dear… this is really messed up.” Montana rubbed her forehead, raised her eyebrows and stared intently at Jean Bart for a moment, then smiled brightly. “This feeling is really strange. Until the admiral transferred his mental energy to me, I had completely forgotten who Jean Bart was… even when Jinan was calling Jean Bart’s name just now, I could only vaguely hear it… it’s like someone has blocked my head with something.”

"The database is damaged... it is being repaired..." Project 24 said, his eyes fixed on Jean Bart.

"This is my fault. I forgot to replenish your spiritual energy, which weakened the spiritual energy remaining in your bodies and made it impossible for you to continue to be immune to Jean Bart's constitution," Xiaobai apologized to Project 24 and Montana.

“Ha, it seems I’ll have to get used to this kind of situation more often.” Montana laughed at Jean Bart.

Xiaobai smiled as she looked at Montana, then turned her gaze to Jinan below.

“Jinan, now you remember about Jean Bart, right?” Xiaobai asked Jinan.

"Eh...hehe..." Jinan smiled a little shyly at Xiaobai, scratched the back of her head, and grinned, "I remember everything now, I can rest assured...So I was actually useful to the Admiral after all!"

Xiao Bai smiled and reached out to ruffle Jinan's fluffy pink fox-ear hair.

"Yeah, you're amazing. None of the special ship girls are easy to deal with," Xiaobai said sincerely.

"Hmm..." Jinan muttered, "But Admiral..."

"what's wrong?"

"I do remember now, but shouldn't we find some more ship girls to modify?" Jinan said awkwardly to Xiaobai. "When I forgot about Sister Baal before, I felt like I had accomplished nothing, that I was useless, and that I was so disappointed. I thought about how amazing the special ship girls who came with me were... and yet I was the only one left eating for free in the naval base..."

"How could that be? Don't underestimate yourself," Xiaobai said.

“Sigh… But Admiral, look… Jean Bart, who arrived first, has such a powerful special ability that she can gather so much information for you. Montana, as a salvage ship girl, has such high combat power that it’s unprecedented. Even the new submarine sisters who arrived recently have abilities far beyond those of ordinary ship girls!” Jinan said, somewhat helplessly, placing one hand on her chest as she spoke to Xiaobai. “But Admiral, look at me. My ability, to put it nicely, is to trigger the modification of missile ship girls, which sounds like something that can enhance the combat power of an entire naval base. But so far, I’ve only triggered it with Jean Bart… If I accidentally forget about Jean Bart again, I’ll be back to that feeling of having accomplished nothing and being completely devastated… Sigh…”

As Jinan spoke, she lowered her small head, and the pair of fox ears made of fluffy hair on her head drooped down as if they were real ears.

"I've never thought you were less capable than Montana and the others."

Xiao Bai looked at Jinan and said seriously.

Xiao Bai's words were truly from the bottom of his heart.

Admittedly, all four special ship girls possess outstanding abilities in their respective fields, and some of them have indeed shone brightly and attracted the attention of most people due to their abilities. However, I have never felt that any one of them is far more capable than the others.

Montana is very strong, right?

It is really strong.

Incredibly strong, ridiculously strong, unprecedentedly strong.

But Montana's strength only lies with herself.

While her individual strength is indeed enough to elevate a destitute naval base to the second-best level in the world, ultimately it's just her individual ability. Once she leaves Montana, the naval base that sheltered her will remain exactly the same.

As for Jinan's capabilities...

Jinan's ability, which she calls the "Power of Transformation," is an extremely rare skill among ship girls that can permanently buff an entire naval base. Although she has only triggered Jean Bart's missile modification so far, this is only because she has been in the newbie naval base for a while and hasn't had the chance to trigger the skill a second time. As long as she stays in the newbie naval base long enough, she will soon discover the missile ship equipment talents of a second, third, fourth... and even more ship girls.

Just like Jinan's own capabilities, "change" takes time, but the right thing will always happen.

Maybe in five or ten years, even new naval bases will be able to assemble large fleets of dozens, or even more, missile battleships.

At that time, it would be like a little white man sitting at home while missiles from a rookie naval base could fly all over the world. Just thinking about it is exaggerated.

At that point, the position of the newbie naval base as the world's best should be unshakeable...

Xiao Bai reached out and rubbed Jinan's head, gazing at Jinan with tenderness in his eyes.

From this perspective... Jinan's abilities, though slow to develop, might actually be the most "terrifying" of the four special ship girls...

Chapter 3761 It's a promise

Xiaobai rubbed Jinan's head, her gaze sweeping over Montana, Project 24, the super-large, and Jean Bart, lost in thought.

Ok……

Having said that…

Jinan definitely needs to trigger her skills a few more times to boost her confidence...

Otherwise, as she said, her only "achievement" so far is transforming Jean Bart. If she still remembers this, that's fine. But if she accidentally forgets about Jean Bart at some point in time, she will return to the frustration of having accomplished nothing.

According to Jinan, that's not a comfortable thing.

In that case, Jinan could indeed try to find some ship girls and trigger missile upgrades a few more times.

Xiao Bai withdrew his hand from Jinan's head and smiled at her.

"Jinan, during this period, have you encountered any opportunities to trigger the missile shipboard upgrade while you are at the temporary garrison?"

"No..." Upon hearing Xiaobai's words, Jinan became even more disappointed. "Actually, I've already looked at all the ship girls at the temporary naval base during this time... and I haven't met any ship girls that I feel anything for yet..."

"Sigh, there's nothing we can do about it. After all, even ship girls capable of missile modifications aren't always in a state where they can trigger modifications." Xiaobai nodded in agreement with Jinan's words and patted Jinan's shoulder. "It's okay, take your time. You've only been with our naval base for a short time. You'll meet her sooner or later."

"Hmm... I did sense the missile ship modification on the admiral before... but unfortunately, it hasn't happened since." Jinan pouted and said.

"Last time..." Xiaobai looked up and thought for a moment, then smiled at Jinan and said, "Oh...right, how about this, after I come back from my trip, I'll take you back to the garrison headquarters, okay?"

"Huh? A naval base? Is it a newbie naval base?"

“Yes, our naval base.” Xiaobai said to Jinan, “There are far more ship girls at our naval base than at the temporary naval base… When you want to find a ship girl with missile modification qualifications, just go and look anywhere. With so many, you’re bound to find one.”

"Wow! Really!" Upon hearing Xiaobai's words, Jinan immediately perked up. She clasped her hands together, her face full of anticipation. "Then! When will you come back to pick me up, Admiral!"

"Well..." Xiaobai tilted her head, "The latest?"

"Yay! I'm going back to pack my things now! Remember to pick me up when you get back, Admiral!!" Jinan nodded excitedly upon hearing Xiaobai's words. She gave Xiaobai a big hug, then waved happily and ran towards the ship girl dormitory building. "I'm going to say hello to Changchun, Anshan, and 1913! Remember to come, Admiral—"