Elder brother's garrison

Within the ten-odd minutes that Xiaobai made his round trip, some of the villagers who had evacuated their homes like refugees returned. Most of them were young and strong men, and they were systematically searching through the houses for villagers who had not left in time.

These people naturally saw Xiaobai wandering around the village as if nothing had happened. At this moment, they didn't have the time to care about the fate of a little girl who had just been rescued by Linglan. So, after saying a few words to Xiaobai and telling her where to go, they left.

Following their directions, Xiaobai hurried towards a corner of the village, where he found a number of wounded people with bandages wrapped around their bodies and the village women surrounding them in an open space.

The villagers seemed to have adapted to the situation quite well. Even though the men, women, and children lying on the ground had serious injuries, the women surrounding them who were treating them did not panic. They used the right tools, such as hot water, gauze, scissors, needles, thread, and alcohol swabs, properly.

Xiao Bai looked around inside and finally spotted Lily of the Valley at the edge of the open space.

Lily of the Valley was sitting cross-legged next to an old man who was unconscious, with his waist simply wrapped with branches and gauze.

Linglan is the only person Xiaobai knows here, and Xiaobai can't find anyone else. In addition, Linglan has been very gentle and considerate to him before, so Xiaobai doesn't mind going back to Linglan's side.

"Sister Linglan?" Xiaobai slowly walked through the crowd and returned to Linglan's side. She gently asked Linglan tentatively.

Just like the men who had been searching for Xiaobai before, although they saw Xiaobai's appearance, they were all busy with their own tasks and no one said anything about Xiaobai's arrival.

"Ah, you're back." Linglan's shoulders twitched, then she turned around and saw Xiaobai, who was completely unharmed.

Compared to her previous energetic and spirited older sister demeanor, Linglan now seemed quite dejected. She nodded to Xiaobai, reached out and took Xiaobai's hand, pulling her to her side. "I told you to go with the others, how did you get separated?"

"Um...I'm sorry."

"It's alright, as long as you're not hurt." Linglan looked at Xiaobai with tears in her eyes.

Linglan's tears were not for Xiaobai; Xiaobai could sense that Linglan's mind was preoccupied with other things.

"Sister Linglan, who is this old man?" Xiaobai sat down next to Linglan and asked curiously, looking at the old man lying in front of her.

“My grandfather,” Linglan said, wiping her face, “is also the village chief of this village.”

"Oh..." Xiaobai looked the old man over.

Xiao Bai hadn't learned any medical knowledge, so of course he didn't know how serious the old man's injuries were. However, although the village chief was currently unconscious, his breathing was still steady and strong, and his chest was rising and falling regularly. Judging from this alone, his life should be fine for the short term.

"Then, Sister Linglan, are you considered the deputy village chief?" Xiaobai thought for a long time but didn't know what to say, so she could only blurt out this question.

Lily of the Valley looked at Xiaobai after hearing what he said.

"I guess so." Linglan thought for a moment and nodded to Xiaobai.

"...Is Grandpa Village Chief alright?"

"It's nothing, just a minor back injury. Plus, I took a shock and my body couldn't take it, so I fainted." As Linglan spoke, she reached out and hugged Xiaobai tightly, burying her face in Xiaobai's hair and taking a deep breath.

This behavior was both embarrassing and itchy, and Xiaobai really didn't like it. However, considering that this might be a way for Linglan to release psychological pressure, Xiaobai could only let her do whatever she wanted.

I still owe her a bowl of soup.

"Sister Lily of the Valley."

"Ok?"

"Have you heard of ship girls?" Xiaobai's eyes became a little confused.

"Ship girls? What are those?" Suzuran asked.

"..." Xiaobai closed her eyes as if resigned to her fate.

"Lu Lin?"

"It's alright, it's alright." Xiaobai pursed her lips, her voice trembling with helplessness.

"Lu Lin?" Linglan, who had been holding Xiaobai, felt a vague sense of loss in the little girl in her arms.

"Ship girls... are beautiful, gentle and considerate older and younger sisters, heroes who can send all the Abyssal Fleet ships back to the sea."

"Ah...I see." Linglan's gaze softened as she looked at Xiaobai.

Lily of the Valley took Xiaobai's words as a child's fantasy.

When Suzuran was a child, she had dreamed of the same thing, and in fact, everyone here had dreamed of the same thing when they were young.

They dream of all sorts of heroes who can save humanity from suffering.

Little White raised its head and looked up at the sky.

The sky was cloudless and the view stretched to the horizon. Just like Xiaobai's current mood.

—It was empty, like a shell.

After Xiaobai asked about the Suzuran ship girl, everything became clear, all the clues came together, and a single answer was given.

Why did Xiaobai, who was clearly in the temporary sea area, end up in such a strange place after waking up? Why is this place so backward? Why do the deep-sea ships here come ashore? Why isn't there even a decent naval base here? Why is there nothing here? Why don't the people here even know what a ship girl is?

When all the "whys" are put together, they form an answer, even if the answer is utterly absurd, even if the answer is impossible to come by, it is still the only answer.

Xiao Bai is now very likely no longer in her original world.

—To be precise, she is no longer in her own era, but has traveled forward several hundred years to an era in which ship girls have never appeared.

Xiao Bai covered his eyes with his hands, feeling as if his future had suddenly become dark.

—This is a gap in time!

It was an era when ship girls had not yet been built by humans, when humans had no means or ability to resist the Abyssal Fleet, and the Abyssal Fleet did whatever it wanted. Humans could only tremble under the iron hooves of the deep sea and wait for their demise!

More importantly, none of my mom, dad, classmates, friends, and ship girls are here!

Xiaobai really wanted to cry this time.

She wasn't an independent person. If she could, Xiaobai was the kind of person who would stay at home forever as long as her parents didn't kick her out and no one else married her. She would even choose to work in her hometown. She wasn't very ambitious.

The challenge of becoming an admiral was already immense for Xiaobai, but fortunately, the Lexington, Hood, and Bismarck families in the naval base continued to provide him with the warmth of a family, allowing him to gradually adapt to life as an admiral.

Although I am genuinely grateful that I survived the friendly interaction with the will of the deep sea, what the heck is this sudden time travel back hundreds of years?

In conclusion, Xiaobai really wants to go home.

"Lu Lin." Linglan was unaware of the turmoil in Xiaobai's mind; all she knew was that the little girl in her arms had started trembling earlier.

Lu Lin was indeed the only girl who survived after her tribe was destroyed by the deep sea. She must have closed herself off before because of the great shock, which is why she talked so much nonsense. It was only during this deep-sea attack that she finally faced reality.

Oh, how pitiful.

Compared to her own clan being wiped out, Linglan suddenly felt that it was a bit too dramatic for her to be so disheartened by the fact that her grandfather had only suffered minor injuries.

"Sister Linglan... what's wrong?"

"...I will do my best."

"what?"

"I will definitely protect you."

"...Thank you." Xiaobai was genuinely grateful.

Although she really wants to go home right now, she still has to consider some practical issues.

—How a modern person survives a generational gap is a big question. After all, people need to solve problems such as food, drink, shelter, and other necessities to live. Without help, Xiaobai wouldn't even be able to brush his teeth.

It's so kind of me that Sister Linglan is willing to help me unconditionally.

"Lu Lin, where did you originally live?"

"...I have no home anymore," Xiaobai said sadly.

"..." Linglan nodded, her pity for Xiaobai deepening even further.

Chapter 455 Teacher Xiaobai is back in work

As Suzuran had said before, because Shiro's experience (in Suzuran's opinion) was several times worse than what she had suffered, and because Shiro was still young and needed someone to take care of her, Suzuran quickly cheered up after chatting with Shiro.

Whether she genuinely perked up or was just forcing herself to, at least Miss Lily of the Valley Village Chief wouldn't be slacking off next to the village chief like she was before.

After giving a few instructions to the others, Linglan left Xiaobai and energetically organized everyone's activities around her.

Sometimes a leader's role is significant. More often than not, a leader's decisions may not change anything, but their presence can provide reassurance to everyone. Suzuran was such a leader; when she stepped forward to direct everyone's actions, the village, which had been in a state of decline, instantly regained its vitality.

The treatment of the wounded was completed shortly afterward. Not long after, Linglan returned with the men who had gone out to search and rescue. After counting the number of people and confirming that no one had been left behind, the villagers who were still able to stand up hugged each other to celebrate that they had survived the new round of deep-sea attacks.

Watching the way of life of these people from a bygone era, Xiaobai couldn't help but admire how they managed to survive until the appearance of ship girls.

The bombing by the deep-sea ship was brief, but it still destroyed the neatly arranged log cabins beyond recognition, rendering them uninhabitable. Linglan and the villagers didn't complain much. After a simple division of labor, they began to dismantle all the nearly burned log cabins, taking out everything usable and gathering the unusable items together. Then, many people left the village to collect new timber.

The villagers trusted Linglan's commands completely; they did whatever she said without any of the reluctance they had shown when Xiaobai arrived.

"Lu Lin." Linglan took a moment to return to Xiaobai's side.

"Is there anything I can do?" Xiaobai asked Linglan.

"Ah, you have to work..." Linglan looked at Xiaobai with some surprise, then looked at Xiaobai's delicate hands, slender arms and legs, and finally just smiled and reached out to pat her head, "No need, just wait a few more years."

"I'm very strong..."

"Okay, thank you, but no need, we'll handle it." Linglan still declined Xiaobai's suggestion. "Everyone has their own strengths, Lu Lin. When you're truly capable of handling things, we won't leave you idle."

"..." Xiaobai lowered his head.

She really is incredibly strong. To be honest, there shouldn't be any human in this world stronger than Xiaobai. But unfortunately, Xiaobai's face and physique are just too unconvincing, and Linglan simply doesn't believe her. Xiaobai can't just summon her ship equipment to show Linglan, can she? That would scare her to death.

"Lu Lin, we don't support people who eat for free. Even you will have to work sooner or later, it's just not time for that yet." Linglan seemed to be referring to this matter when she came over.

"Oh..." Xiaobai thought for a moment, looking at the large village behind Linglan that had been burned beyond recognition, "Sister Linglan, how often do the Deep Sea Fleet attack the village?"

This question touched the hearts of many people, and everyone who heard the conversation, including Suzuran, showed a deep sense of frustration.

"I don't know, it depends on their mood." Lily of the Valley shook her head helplessly. "The longest we ever spent peacefully was two years, and the shortest was before we even had time to repair the house."

Xiaobai could hear the helplessness in Lily of the Valley's words.

For humans, who were once at the top of the food chain and always acted with impunity, to make such a compromise under the dazzling light of the deep sea shows just how much injustice and helplessness they have suffered.

Aren't you moving out?

“Where can we move to… This is the only habitable place around here; other places are much more dangerous.” Linglan sighed. “Unless we can get help from villages further inland, we can’t move. Otherwise, the cost of traveling back and forth alone will be enough to bankrupt us.”

Xiao Bai almost blurted out, "I'll help you."

However, after thinking about it, Xiaobai swallowed those words.

"Let's not talk about these things anymore. Our only task now is to survive," Linglan said to Xiaobai. "No matter how humiliating, sorrowful, or even barely clinging to life we ​​are, we only have one task: to survive and pass on our legacy."

Linglan spoke quite casually, almost as if she were reciting a memorized text. It was clear that this wasn't the first time she had said this, but Xiaobai could still hear a deep sense of heaviness in Linglan's lighthearted words.

If it weren't for this spirit of sacrificing everything for survival, modern times might never have arrived.

"Then I'll go to the middle of the village with the others first. Lu Lin, you stay here and I'll come back after I've taken care of things." Linglan said, taking her hand back from Xiaobai's head, giving the unconscious village chief a deep look, and finally leaving with the people who had been waiting for a while.

The people around him also started to get busy with their own things, and no one tried to talk to Xiaobai.

Xiao Bai stood alone for a while before finally sitting down silently on the ground, hugging his knees, and lowering his head to contemplate life.

Xiaobai has no intention of staying here forever; she wants to go home.

Although she didn't know why she traveled through time and ended up in a fragmented era, Xiaobai was neither an archaeologist nor a scientific researcher, and had no interest in fragmented eras. Her identity was simply that of a daughter, an admiral, and a friend. A daughter has to go home and return to her parents' side to be their little darling, and an admiral will eventually return to the ship girl's side. A friend is only a friend when you are with your friends.

Although Sister Linglan was very kind to her, and even though it was only their first meeting, she still treated her like a younger sister, Xiaobai knew that she didn't belong here after all.

"In short... I need to figure out why I came here first..." Xiaobai murmured.

"Big sister, what are you saying?" Just as Xiaobai was still muttering to herself, she suddenly heard a child calling her from the side.

Xiao Bai suddenly raised his head and looked around in surprise.

There stood four or five little boys and girls of different sizes standing around him, each holding a rough book and looking at him curiously.

These little boys and girls varied in age, but judging from their appearance, the oldest was probably no older than sixth grade, which was the age of Xiaobai in her time. Standing in front of Xiaobai, who appeared to be a junior high school student but was actually a high school student, she should indeed be called "big sister."

"Uh... hello everyone." Xiaobai nodded to the children in front of her.

"Hello, big sister." The oldest child in the group was a girl with big, bright, and intelligent eyes. "Our parents have all gone to work. Can we go with you, big sister?"

"Oh... I see." Xiaobai paused for a moment, then nodded. "Are we playing a game? Sure."

"It's not about playing games." To Xiaobai's surprise, the children shook their heads after hearing his words and instead held up their books. "We want to study!"

Xiao Bai was dumbfounded.

—Look at the children of today, how much they love to learn!

Xiao Bai was truly moved and ashamed this time. In her memory, even Xiao Bai herself was definitely not the type of person who liked studying when she was in elementary school. She loved watching TV.

"How do you study?" Xiaobai asked, moved.

"The village chief taught it. Mom said the village chief was injured today and is sleeping, so he can't teach it," the children said to Xiaobai.

What do they teach?