Elder brother's garrison

"Pachina, little sister," Glorious called softly to Little White.

"Well, I'm here."

"You will be the flagship from now on," Glorious said.

“…Huh?” Xiaobai pointed to himself.

Glory smiled bitterly: "From here, only you have the potential to lead us out."

After saying this, Glorious looked around at the ship girls.

None of the surrounding ship girls had any objections to Shiro being chosen as the flagship.

After all, judging from the experiment and conversation just now, Xiaobai was the clearest-witted and quickest ship girl to realize the problem among them. Even if her sense of direction was disturbed, the degree was definitely less than that of the ship girls who could no longer distinguish east from west.

Looking at the hopeful eyes of the ship girls around her, Xiaobai sighed silently in her heart.

Actually, Xiaobai didn't tell all the ship girls everything.

The thing interfering with these ship girls' sense of direction and sensitivity should be the Deep Sea Dean here.

That was her goal in coming here.

At the same time, Xiaobai also understood why Ergou sent his ship girls down to search for a long time but still couldn't find the Abyssal Dean, and why the split of Abyssal Taihou had been in the first node for so long but only found Abyssal Bismarck and Abyssal Tirpitz.

So this Deep Sea Dean has the ability to influence the ship girls' judgment.

Since it can lure the White Ship Girls over when it wants to attack them, it can naturally also lure away other ship girls who want to approach it when it is weak.

As for the method, Xiaobai thinks it's most likely related to Dean Shenhai's mental strength.

The Dean of the Deep Sea possesses immense mental strength, far surpassing that of admirals with a typical admiral network, and naturally, this strength also surpasses that of ship girls. While the Dean of the Deep Sea cannot suppress or attack ship girls mentally, it is theoretically possible, given his overwhelming mental power, to manipulate the perception of ship girls who have virtually no mental resistance.

However, Xiaobai thinks that it is not common for Deepsea Deans to have this kind of operation. After all, if all Deepsea Deans could do this, then Deepsea Yamato would not have been so easily captured and brought back to the Naval Base by her own brother.

Thinking about this, Xiaobai understood why all the ship girls were affected except for Xiaobai.

—As for mental strength, no matter how powerful a mere Deep Sea Dean is, he can't possibly defeat Xiaobai. Trying to influence Xiaobai's judgment with mental interference is just a pipe dream.

"Please wait a moment, I have a question." At this moment, York, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up.

"York, you say it." Glory saw that Little White was staring blankly with his head down and hadn't said anything, so he nodded to York.

"Deep Sea Institute... cough, that thing can interfere with our perception of the environment, right?" York asked.

"Yes." Glorious nodded.

“…Since our perception of the environment has become so dulled…doesn’t that mean,” York said, looking up at Glory, “that our conclusion that the thing was far away from us based on that sound…was also wrong?”

As soon as the glorious words were spoken, the pupils of all the ship girls in the audience shrank.

In an instant, a chilling aura crept up their spines, like a coiled snake, and crawled up their necks.

"boom!!!"

Then, a huge explosion rang out behind York.

The black seawater was pumped into the sky, dispersing the deep-sea fog.

The ship girls stared wide-eyed at York's back.

A gigantic, crimson mechanical whale, as tall as a building, burst from the seabed with an intense pressure, briefly floating in mid-air due to inertia.

Wow, it's huge!

The dark shadow, obscuring the sun, slowly expanded in the ship girl's eyes.

then.

The mechanical whale in mid-air opened its mouth, its dark maw opening to a width the size of a building, aiming at the location of the ship girls, and swooped down with overwhelming force.

"boom!!!!!"

Chapter 768 Being handsome can't last more than three seconds.

Like a predator that has locked onto its prey and pounces with all its might, the enormous mechanical whale rose from the seabed into the sky and crashed down toward the ship girls.

With the roar of the ocean, the once smooth and calm sea surface suddenly split into pieces, and the seawater surged into waves tens of meters high. As it flew into the sky, it gradually lost power and was dragged back down by the deep sea fog in mid-air.

"Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap————"

The sudden downpour returned to the sea, crashing against the water and splashing up tiny droplets that struck the mechanical whale's body with a crisp sound.

A large whirlpool appeared on the sea surface.

The whirlpool was spinning at an extremely high speed toward the center, and with terrifying force, it was constantly sucking up the surrounding seawater amidst the deafening roar of the rapidly churning water.

At the center of the vortex, the mechanical whale's body is slowly rising.

The enormous mechanical whale sank back to the bottom of the water after its previous attack. This time, it slowly rose to the surface, filling the gaps in the whirlpool with its body and revealing half of its body above the water.

"Chichichi"

With a whooshing sound like a dam being opened, air emanated from the blowhole above the mechanical whale's body, and a powerful fountain shot into the sky from the enormous black hole, making the intensity of the downpour seem to increase even further.

During the attack, the mechanical whale swallowed the entire area where the ship girl had been, like a giant fishing net, expelling the seawater and leaving behind the enemies and passing fish and shrimp.

The downpour ended quickly.

However, the mechanical whale did not leave. Its huge head slowly moved in one direction, churning the surface of the sea that had just calmed down, as if it were watching with some non-existent eyes.

In the distance, in the direction the mechanical whale was watching, a group of ship girls were rapidly shrinking, as if they would sink into the horizon in the next second and disappear without a trace.

Xiao Bai, who was being hugged by Glorious, could hear Glorious's rapid breathing in her ear.

She was panting heavily, flustered and frightened, unlike the calm and composed person she had previously shown to Xiaobai.

York explained that since everyone's sensitivity to the environment had been reduced, it meant that their judgment of the enemy's distance was also wrong, which surprised the ship girls.

This is something they didn't notice.

However, as the former flagship, Glorious did not let down Veneto, who had once highly praised her. Just as York finished speaking, Glorious, while shocked along with the ship girls, did not forget to issue orders.

--run.

Glory did everything in his power, using his fastest reaction speed to pick up Little White, who was still listening to York's words but whose reaction was obviously several beats slower, and quickly gave the order for everyone to sprint away from the spot.

At that very moment, the mechanical whale behind York burst out of the sea, charging towards them with an overwhelming force capable of destroying the heavens and the earth.

Fortunately, York reacted quickly, fortunately, Glorious issued the order early, and fortunately, all the ship girls in the team had developed a quick physical response to Glorious's instructions, knowing to move first and then understand.

Under these circumstances, they narrowly escaped the deadly zone by being pounced on by the mechanical whale, thus avoiding being swallowed by the deep-sea vessel.

Xiao Bai stared blankly at the sea rushing past below.

Compared to the active-duty ship girls like Glorious, Shiro's reaction was indeed a beat slower again. If Glorious hadn't realized early on that she didn't feel any sense of crisis and pulled her away in advance, she might have been swallowed up by that mechanical whale in that instant.

Yes, the Deepsea Abomination Ship will not attack Little White on its own initiative, but if Little White stands within the attack range of the Deepsea Abomination Ship, there is no reason why Little White will not be hit. Although it is unlikely to be injured, it will inevitably get covered in a fishy smell.

"Um, thank you, Glory Sister." Little White thought to herself as she thanked Glory, who was still carrying her forward.

She was genuinely grateful for the honor.

Glory's expression was somewhat unpleasant. After hearing Xiaobai's words of thanks, she looked down at Xiaobai.

Xiao Bai could see the deep guilt that Guang Rong felt towards him in Guang Rong's eyes.

In Koei's view, she clearly intended to protect this new ship girl by teaming up with her and going on expeditions with her. However, she ended up leading her into such a dangerous sea area, into a deadly situation where reinforcements couldn't get in, they couldn't get out, and there was a mechanical whale that they obviously couldn't defeat watching them from behind.

If you get ambushed and severely damaged outside, you might get lucky and be noticed by a passing ship girl, who will rescue you and take you back to shore.

But what about here?

Even if the ship's equipment is severely damaged, all that's left is to count down the days in fear, feeling death approaching inch by inch with its scythe, and imagining the enemy shattering the ship's equipment and crushing the body.

Glory really did its best.

But Glory couldn't help but feel sorrow again.

Why is she so unlucky?

In the first chapter, she just wanted to go on an expedition with her companions, but they were surrounded by the deep-sea fleet and almost lost their lives. It also caused her long-time comrades to lose their confidence as ship girls.

In order not to repeat the same mistakes, I worked hard to improve myself. However, just when I thought that I might be a little more reliable than before and that I could definitely lead my companions out of the predicament in the first chapter, I once again entered an even more desperate situation.

This time, it wasn't just a few dozen weak Abyssal Fleet ships; it was a terrifying deep-sea monster. It was a monster far beyond the capabilities of these ship girls to contend with…

If fate really exists, I really want to go up there and smash that piece of junk on the ground, and stomp on it a few times.

“Sister Patina, I…”

Just as Glorious was about to apologize to the ship girl in his arms, Shiro reached out and covered Glorious's mouth.

"Sister Glory is amazing," Xiaobai said.

Glory shook her head. She wanted to argue, but Xiaobai's hand covering her mouth prevented her from speaking.

Little White peeked out from Glorious's body and looked towards the back of the line.

Behind the column were several ship girls, their faces pale, yet still desperately fleeing for their lives. Behind them, on the other side of the sea, in the endless deep-sea fog, a faint red halo followed closely like a car taillight.

Xiao Bai released her hand from Guang Rong's mouth.

“If the other flagships in Chapter Two were in your position, they couldn’t possibly do any better than you, Glorious Sister.” Little White smiled at Glorious. “Put me down.”

Glory expressed both admiration and shame for Xiaobai's ability to maintain such composure even now, but she still shook her head; "The one behind will catch up."

"We can't escape. Ship girls get tired, hungry, and need to rest. Since we can't leave here for the time being, we'll be caught up sooner or later if this continues."

"Can……"

"Put me down."

"..."

"Glorious sister, you are much better than when Veneto and Roma saved you. Even Veneto herself wouldn't hesitate to praise you for this level of growth."

When Glorious heard the name Veneto come out of her mouth, her eyes widened instantly. She looked at Little White, who was smiling at her in her arms, in disbelief, her mouth agape, but she couldn't utter a word.

Although most of the ship girls in the naval base knew about Glorious's ordeal, Glorious and her companions never told the other ship girls the names of the ship girls who rescued them. When the other ship girls asked her, Glorious simply said that they were powerful ship girls who were passing by.

This was Luo Yin's order. Luo Yin had said that Admiral Lu Lin was no ordinary person; any news about her and her ship girls that could be forgotten should be forgotten, and anything that couldn't be forgotten should be kept buried deep inside.

"Why would you..." Glorious asked the little white creature in his arms, lost in thought.

"Put me down."

Xiao Bai's words were clearer and louder than her previous soft, timid voice, like a child who had been speaking in a low voice finally speaking normally.

For some reason, Glory slowed down and her feet gradually came to a stop.

As Glorious slowed down and eventually came to a stop, the ship girls behind her also stopped one by one.

"Glorious Sister..."

The ship girls looked at Glorious with concern, thinking that she was struggling under the pressure and was about to give up on herself.

Little White jumped out of Glory's arms, landed on the water, and then walked towards the back of the group.

Xiaobai left Glory and approached York at the back of the line. When York hesitated to speak, Xiaobai gave him a friendly smile and then left York's side, walking further back.

The ship girls stared blankly as Xiaobai slowly walked to the back of the group. When they realized what she was going to do, they thought she had gone crazy. They quickly reached out to pull her back.

"Let her go." Glory called out to his teammate with a complicated expression, and after a long pause, added, "Don't interfere with her."

"Glory, are you crazy?!" the ship girls shouted at Glory.

Glory's gaze was conflicted, her heart pounding, yet she still clung to her own ideas.

Koei Tecmo had no idea who this black-haired ship girl was.

I didn't know before, and I know even less now.

But after Xiaobai uttered the name Veneto, Glory understood.

—A ship girl who can name that adult ship girl is definitely not an ordinary ship girl.

In Glorious's heart, every ship girl associated with the name "Veneto" seems to be imbued with a legendary aura.

Glory stared blankly at Xiaobai's receding figure.

perhaps……

Just then, Xiaobai's departing figure suddenly swayed from side to side. Then, as if she had tripped over something, she fell onto the sea with a thud, right before the eyes of the ship girls, and fell silent for a moment.

"……"glory.

"..." Ship girls.