Elder brother's garrison

"Now your transformation is complete, and you are free to move around."

"Does the Admiral mean we can go back?" Alaska asked.

"Yes."

"Hmm...can we come here again in the future?" Alaska asked again.

“This isn’t a restricted area, of course you can come.” Xiaobai looked at the conversion factory and said to the Guam sisters in front of her, “Come and visit when you have time, everyone will be happy.”

“We’ll come visit when we have time!” Guam and Alaska nodded in agreement.

"Ah."

“Oh right, speaking of which.” Alaska suddenly seemed to remember something and added to Shiro, “If the Admiral encounters any difficulties at sea and needs our new ship equipment, please remember not to be polite and just ask us directly. Although Guam and I have been operating in the naval base for a long time, we still really want to make some contributions to the naval base in terms of ship girls.”

“Although we feel that with the current strength of the naval base, we shouldn’t encounter any situations that can be described as difficult…” Guam said from the side.

"It doesn't matter, just take me and Guam out for a stroll once in a while." Alaska smiled and made a peace sign at Whitey, then placed the sign horizontally next to her fair cheek and said playfully, "Anyway, we're cute now, right? Taking us out for a tan won't embarrass the Admiral."

"How did it escalate to the point of being embarrassing..." Xiaobai smiled helplessly, but after a moment she nodded seriously, her gaze gentle and trusting. "Well, if you arrange the schedule for the later concerts, I can take you to play in Chapter 8 when you have time—well, the remaining modified ship girls are also there, so I can make a team for you."

"That's exactly what we were waiting for the admiral to say!"

Alaska immediately stretched out her palm towards Little White.

Xiaobai looked at Alaska's bright smile, then at the hand she offered, and reached out to shake her hand.

Alaska was indeed skilled at playing stringed instruments. Her hands were snow-white, soft, slender, and long, with each finger incredibly nimble. As soon as Xiaobai grasped her hand, he felt her fingers tickling his palm like warm little snakes. With a few quick movements, Xiaobai's hand was forced to make a pinky promise with Alaska.

"It's a promise, Admiral. You have to take me and Guam out for fun sometime."

Alaska laughed and pulled Little White's little finger with her little finger, shaking it up and down before finally letting go.

Alaska took Guam's arm, said goodbye to Shiro and the other ship girls in the factory, and left a message saying she would come back to visit everyone tomorrow. The two then jogged away from the factory and disappeared into the sunlight outside the door.

Xiaobai looked down at her palms, feeling the lingering itchiness, and inexplicably felt a little flutter in her heart.

Alaska is such a sunny and enthusiastic ship girl.

But her enthusiasm... it's really easy for people to misunderstand...

Fortunately, Xiaobai isn't the type to overthink things.

Xiao Bai coughed and put his hands behind his back.

"Alaska is such a cheerful person," Xiaobai said to Changchun, who was sitting on the sofa.

"Yes, everyone at the naval base says that Alaska is very easy to get along with," Changchun nodded and echoed with a smile.

Xiaobai nodded, waved to the ship girls in the factory, and walked alone towards the modification workshop.

Outside the renovation workshop, Yubari had been waiting for Shiro with his arms crossed for a long time.

As soon as Xiaobai approached, before she could even call out Yubari's name, Yubari grabbed Xiaobai's wrist and eagerly pulled her into the modification workshop.

"Admiral, come in!"

Shiro stumbled as Yubari pulled him into the renovation workshop room, and then the door slammed shut behind them.

Not far away, the ship girls sitting in the factory's rest area all turned to look at the modification workshop.

"Huh? Speaking of which, why did Dr. Yubari suddenly want to drag the Admiral into the modification workshop?"

"I do not know."

"Hmm, during the previous exercise, Dr. Yubari seemed to be whispering to the Admiral the whole time. I didn't go up to eavesdrop, but I think I heard Dr. Yubari say something about being alone, compensation, and mental strength."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know..."

"Could it be that Dr. Yubari wants the Admiral to replenish his mental energy?"

The ship girls chatted amongst themselves, casually speculating about what was happening inside the modification workshop.

But as they chatted, they noticed that Changchun, who was sitting on the sofa, remained silent.

Everyone looked over and saw Changchun holding a cup of hot tea, her face flushed, her red lips parted slightly, and her hand holding the teacup trembling slightly.

Chapter 3878 The Next Modified Ship Girl

"Hmm? Sister Changchun, why are you suddenly blushing?"

Jinan noticed the changes in Changchun and looked at Changchun curiously, asking her questions.

"No, no..." Changchun's shoulders trembled. She immediately put down her teacup, then cupped her face in her hands. "I...I'm not blushing..."

"No way, your face is so red it's practically dripping with water," Jinan continued.

"Uh... don't ask..."

Changchun's eyebrows furrowed pitifully, and she let out a weak, melodious voice in shame.

……

Inside the modification workshop, Shiro and Yubari had returned to the main room where the modified ship equipment was stored.

The hall and rooms were brightly lit with white lights.

Under the lights, a metallic luster shimmered in the air, and on rows of black metal platforms stood four missile ship-mounted systems of different colors and shapes.

These four missile ships stood quietly on their metal frames, silently and continuously exuding a mysterious aura of high technology.

"Speaking of which, Yubari, don't you need to call Guam and Alaska over?" Shiro followed Yubari to the ship equipment. She first glanced at the ship equipment in front of her, and then asked Yubari curiously.

"Huh? Why did you call me over?" Yubari asked curiously as soon as he took off his white coat.

"Don't you need to ask Guam and Alaska about the ship equipment modification?"

“No need. Don’t forget who designed their ship equipment. I know more about their ship equipment than they do.” Yubari said to Shiro as a matter of course. “Just show me the data after the actual combat to confirm that it is correct. Now they should go home and get some sleep to make up for the energy lost in modifying the ship equipment.”

"I see……"

"Moreover, Admiral, you heard that too, right?" Yubari said to Shiro, "What Guam and Alaska said on their way back."

"Hmm... I heard that." Xiaobai nodded. Although the ship girls had talked a lot along the way, she still knew which sentence Yubari was referring to. "The ship equipment skills of Guam and Alaska were discovered when the ship equipment was being serviced."

“Yes, that’s it.” Yubari nodded excitedly, rubbing her hands together as she looked at the ship’s equipment in front of her. “Admiral, do you know? The awakening of a ship girl’s skills is an extremely obvious phenomenon for the ship girl herself. It’s like suddenly discovering that she has grown an extra hand or a pair of wings… Under normal circumstances, it’s impossible for a ship girl not to know that her skills have awakened.”

"Um……"

"So, based on this statement alone, we can conclude that Guam and Alaska's skills didn't arise from their own changes, but were definitely awakened due to external influences." Yubari pointed at Shiro and said excitedly, "And the most common external influence on Guam and Alaska right now is Admiral's mental strength!"

"So this matter is indeed related to my mental strength..." Xiaobai felt surprised, but also felt that it wasn't so surprising.

"To be precise, it's because your mental energy, Admiral, integrated into the rune strings on the ship's equipment, causing those rune strings to operate more deeply, bringing the ship's equipment to a better state and having a positive impact on the ship girls." Yubari muttered a few simple words while stroking her chin, then raised her hand and patted a ship's equipment beside her. "In short, since your mental energy can help ship girls quickly pass through the ship's equipment fusion period and also help them awaken ship's equipment skills, then we have no reason not to use your mental energy, Admiral!"

After saying that, Yubari waved excitedly at Shiro.

"Admiral, come here, come over here."

"Uh..." Shiro scratched his cheek and walked forward to Yubari. "I'm here."

Yubari immediately reached out and grabbed Shiro's wrist, then pressed Shiro's wrist against the ship's rigging in front of her.

"Admiral, hurry, hurry and use your mental power to fill this ship's equipment!" Yubari said urgently.

"..." Xiaobai looked helplessly at Yubari's impatient appearance and reminded her, "Yubari... have you forgotten that we tried it once before... at least the ship equipment needs to enter the fusion period before my mental power can be infused in."

"Oh, right..." Yubari belatedly realized, tapping her forehead with her finger, "A lot happened before, I've forgotten..."

Yubari released Shiro's hand and then took out a screwdriver from her ship's equipment space.

"Admiral, please wait here for a moment. Anyway, this batch of ship equipment is in the final stages of modification. I'll finish it for you right away!"

"Huh? They used a screwdriver for the modification???"

Shiro looked at the prop in Yubari's hand in surprise.

"Admiral, what nonsense are you talking about? How could you use such low-level tools for ship equipment modification?" Yubari looked at Shiro with a helpless expression.

“But this is…” Xiaobai pointed at the screwdriver, speechless for a moment.

"This isn't a modification tool, Admiral, just keep an eye on it." Yubari smiled at Shiro.

After Yubari finished speaking, he immediately pushed the missile ship equipment in front of him, along with its metal frame, onto the open ground in the hall.

Under Xiaobai's watchful gaze, Yubari walked to the empty wall of the hall, took out a screwdriver, pointed the tip at the wall, and pressed the screwdriver handle several times with his fingers. Then, as if receiving some command, the flat metal wall in front of him visibly split, unfolded, and deformed with a creaking sound, revealing the array inside—the wall had suddenly transformed into a super-sized modification platform containing a large number of metal parts, various precision instruments, and electronic design drawings that were magnified several times over.

Yubari gently pushed the ship's equipment, along with its metal frame, onto the platform. With a click, the groove on the platform and the metal frame connected tightly.

Operating the modification platform to raise the ship's equipment, Yubari picked up the screwdriver in his hand, smiled at Shiro, and twisted it once.

"Admiral, do you understand now? This is a remote control."

“…I see.” Xiaobai looked at the remote control, unsure of what to say for a moment.

Yubari put down the screwdriver and remote control, and began to operate the various tools and parts on the modification platform to carry out the final modification and inspection of the ship equipment in front of him.

Sparks flew.

Several enormous and sophisticated mechanical arms, holding incredibly fine tools, moved incessantly across the ship's rigging in front of them.

The instruments on the modification platform then displayed a large number of images and data. Yubari stared at the data on the instruments while operating the robotic arm with hundreds of buttons. His expression was relaxed, but he was also meticulously carrying out the final modifications.

What Yubari said before was indeed correct... The most difficult part of the modification of this batch of ship equipment has been completed, and they had already entered their respective final stages.

Under Shiro's watchful eye, Yubari was busy making final modifications to the ship's equipment. After about ten minutes, Yubari stopped the robotic arm and began the cooling process. After cooling, she carefully tested the ship's equipment several times with testing instruments.

The missile ship unfolded its weapons right in front of Xiaobai, aimed, and then slowly retracted.

Finally, Yubari walked forward with satisfaction, took the ship equipment and metal frame back from the platform, and pushed them back to Shiro.

"Admiral, the ship's equipment is now fully modified."

"Uh...so fast?" Xiaobai pointed at the ship's equipment and asked subconsciously.

"Yeah, what, don't you believe in my abilities?" Yubari asked with a smile.

"No, not at all..." Xiaobai quickly shook her head.

Shiro really trusted Yubari's skills in ship equipment modification... Since Yubari said there was no problem, then there really was no problem.

Xiao Bai walked up to the ship's equipment and gently stroked it.

Soon, as the stroking motion began, Xiaobai raised an eyebrow.

The ship equipment in front of her had undergone Yubari's final modifications. Although its general appearance was no different from before, judging from the feedback that Shiro was getting when she touched it, she could clearly feel that the ship equipment in front of her was completely different from before.

The previous ship equipment, although complete and precise, felt like touching a cold, unresponsive piece of steel.

At this moment, although the ship's rigging still felt cold and hard to the touch, Xiaobai could clearly feel that the runes inside the rigging were slowly activating, the life force was flowing inside the rigging, and the spiritual energy was rising and falling in waves, just like the heartbeat of a newborn baby.

This is... the breath of life.

Shiro looked at Yubari.

Yubari also smiled and looked at Shiro.

"How about it? It feels completely different, right?" Yubari said.

"Hmm..." Xiaobai nodded, "Did the ship equipment directly enter the ship equipment fusion period the moment the modification was completed?"

“Yes, after all, even though the ship equipment is separated from the body, it is still connected to the ship girl’s body.” Yubari glanced at the ship equipment and said, “At the moment when the ship equipment completes its final modification, not only will the ship girl’s body awaken soon after, but the ship equipment itself will also be eager to return to the ship girl’s body. It is a kind of harmonious spiritual resonance.”

"Should I infuse this ship's equipment with my spiritual power?" Xiaobai asked, seeking confirmation.

"Just inject it!" Yubari gave a thumbs up.

"The instruments that were damaged before..."

"So what if they're broken? They're just data collection instruments anyway, they won't affect the modification. Let's get on with it first!"

"Um……"

Xiaobai thought for a moment, then nodded and turned her attention to the ship's equipment in front of her.

The runes inside the ship's equipment were operating at an exceptionally slow speed; they were extremely lacking in "fuel" and seemed to be craving Xiaobai's mental energy.

As soon as Xiaobai released his spiritual power, the runes began to absorb it as if it were a drought, like sweet rain.

wow...

An invisible fluctuation of spiritual energy reverberated between Xiaobai and the missile ship equipment in front of him.

A few minutes later, Xiaobai slowly lowered her hand.

"Admiral, are you done? Do you have enough mental energy...?"