Elder brother's garrison

"Wisconsin, can I have your hand?" Xiaobai asked.

"Hmm? Sure." Wisconsin paused for a moment, then nodded and reached out to shake hands with Xiaobai.

The fierce winds intensified to their extreme in that instant, the waves surged, and the sea roared.

The thunderous waves surged into the sky, crashing towards me with a dull, silent roar.

Ok?

etc--

Why has the surrounding environment suddenly become so harsh?

Wisconsin was stunned for a moment, and the next second, a colossal wave, with its overwhelming force, crashed down on his body. Wisconsin felt as if he were a small, flat boat, which was instantly capsized by the giant wave and completely submerged.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Ah!" Wisconsin gasped, took a step back with a tremor, and came to her senses.

The surrounding sea was still the same as before I came into contact with Xiaobai, with neither towering waves nor howling hurricanes. The serene Xiaobai was still standing in front of me, her white hair fluttering in the wind like a windmill.

Wisconsin felt a subtle warmth rising in her body. She looked down and found that her hand was still clasped with Xiaobai's.

"...As expected of Wisconsin..." Xiaobai smiled at Wisconsin before letting go of her hand. "The Constellation, Yixian, and Royal Oak combined didn't use as much as they did this time..."

"Huh? What happened?" Wisconsin looked at Xiaobai with some curiosity.

"Wisconsin, what was your original skill level?"

"...I haven't practiced much, so it's probably not very high." Wisconsin seemed a bit listless about this question. A flash of white light appeared, and a turret shimmering with colorful light appeared behind her. She subconsciously manipulated her ship equipment. "I haven't been out of the construction device for long, and I hate this feeling of my ship equipment not obeying my commands. I've been so upset these past few weeks that I haven't bothered to improve my training level, so it's probably only around level 30—huh?"

As they were talking, Wisconsin suddenly paused.

Ok?

Wait a minute, that's not right.

Wisconsin carefully savored the tactile feedback from her ship's equipment.

My ship equipment used to be heavy and sluggish, but this time it suddenly feels... like it's become incredibly smooth and silky to handle... like my arms and wrists have grown onto my body, and they're exceptionally obedient...

Wow.

This feeling is like someone who has always had terrible internet speed and a latency of over 100ms suddenly experiencing a super-fast fiber optic connection, with a single-digit latency that's incredibly satisfying.

God!

This is the feeling you get when you're at full level!

Wisconsin looked at Xiaobai in surprise: "This...this is..."

"Wouldn't that be fairer?" Xiaobai said to Wisconsin with a smile.

"Was it... was it you, Admiral, who did it?" Wisconsin looked at Xiaobai in disbelief.

"Ah."

"Wow!!!" Wisconsin was incredibly moved and bent down to hug Little White tightly, rubbing her face against Little White's cool, soft cheeks. "Thank you! As expected, you're still on my side!"

"Ah...no, this is secret..."

"Thank you, Admiral! I thought you were bullying me with Missouri. I was so heartbroken, and I was really going to cry for you. But I didn't expect that you still care about me. Wisconsin is so happy!!" Wisconsin released the pressure that had been building up in her voice with great emotion as she leaned against Shiro's face.

"..." Little White, holding Wisconsin, who was snuggling in his arms, suddenly found it a little hard to explain.

Xiaobai could only apologize to Missouri with a look, feeling apologetic.

Missouri didn't care about such trivial matters; she actually looked quite happy watching Wisconsin and Little White hug each other.

“Wisconsin,” Missouri suddenly called out to Wisconsin.

Wisconsin paused, lifting her head from Xiaobai's arms: "What?"

“Since this is a rare exercise, how about we make a small bet?” Missouri asked.

"...The bet?" Wisconsin looked at Missouri's foxy smiling face and thought for a while.

What kind of crazy idea is that stinky Missouri up to now?

At this moment, Wisconsin's training level has been boosted to the maximum by Xiaobai. She is at the strongest moment of her life. With strong confidence, she does not think she will lose.

"What's the stake?" Wisconsin released Little White and straightened up to ask Missouri.

Missouri held up one finger and smiled at Wisconsin: "If Missouri loses, Missouri will serve you tea and water for everything I just did, apologize, and shout three times to the Admiral that Missouri is a vixen and a philandering cat. How about that?"

"...Wow, that's ruthless." Wisconsin looked at Missouri with a smile on her face, somewhat shocked.

Missouri withdrew her finger and smiled at Wisconsin: "If Missouri wins, you will live with Missouri like the other sisters in the naval base. Although Missouri won't force you to call Missouri 'older sister,' you are not allowed to be rude to Missouri from now on. How about it?"

“…So simple?”

"Ah."

"...Why would you propose such a disadvantageous condition?"

“Since Missouri is in no position to lose, the conditions for defeat are flexible. Consider this a concession from Missouri.” Missouri smiled at Wisconsin.

As soon as Missouri finished speaking, a big tic-tac-toe sign appeared on Wisconsin's forehead.

"Hehehehehe—" Wisconsin's eyes blazed with fury, she gritted her teeth and raised her head at Missouri, "Fine, I agree!"

It seems that Wisconsin has been thoroughly roused by Missouri.

Under Xiaobai's watchful gaze, Missouri and Wisconsin both stepped onto the sea. After traveling a distance into the dark sea, the two ship girls gazed at each other from afar.

Seeing the ship girls arrive at the exercise area, Xiaobai also started walking and returned to Ella and Yuge's side along the same route.

When Xiaobai returned to Ella's side, Yuge pulled out a flare gun.

After Xiaobai explained that he didn't know how to fire a gun and had no experience, Yuge raised the signal gun high and pulled the trigger towards the sky.

The sharp, loud gunshots instantly drowned out the howling sea breeze, like seagulls flapping their wings and gliding towards the sea.

On the sea, the Missouri and Wisconsin simultaneously began assembling their ships.

White light flashes.

Two tall, pure white steel structures, like totems, slowly rose into the night.

"boom!"

"boom!"

The sound of the main guns firing rang out almost simultaneously.

On the distant sea, two tongues of fire intertwined and met in mid-air.

Crash.

Rumble.

A series of muffled explosions echoed across the sea.

Missouri and Wisconsin were locked in a fierce battle, with each side engaging in a chase. Occasionally, orange-red sparks would ignite in the dark night, and artillery shells, spitting out tongues of fire, would fly through the air with wild and unrestrained trajectories, their intense heat and size resembling a brush dipped in orange ink, vigorously splashing across black rice paper.

"Rumble————"

On the beach, Xiaobai looked at the sea surface, which was sparkling with fire, with some surprise.

Simply having high training levels isn't enough for ship girls.

Just like those ship girls who came to the Shiro Naval Base to apply for the exercise before, they were also at max level, but under the bombardment of the heavy cruiser squadron led by Washington, they did not perform like ship girls at max level at all. They were defeated and routed under the pursuit of Washington and her team.

Training level is, after all, just the foundation, not the whole picture.

Although Xiaobai didn't know exactly how battles between ship girls were, she knew that Missouri was definitely not the type to hold back in a fair fight.

In Wisconsin, she relied solely on the increased training level provided by Xiaobai, without even having an adaptation period, and managed to achieve a stalemate with Missouri at the start of the battle...

This is amazing.

Chapter 957 The Secrets of the City

The scene of battle on the other side of the sea was also seen by Yu Ge and Ella, who were beside Xiao Bai.

After firing the signal flare, Yu Ge had been watching the sea intently. When he saw the sea ablaze with fire, and that Wisconsin hadn't been defeated by the bombardment immediately, Yu Ge's eyes widened in surprise.

"what……"

The sound of surprise and incomprehension came from Miss Yuge's mouth.

"Sister Yuge? What's wrong?"

Xiao Bai turned her head and asked the shocked Miss Yu Ge.

Yu Ge lowered his arm, turned his head to look at Xiao Bai, and the surprise on his face had not yet completely faded.

"...How come Wisconsin's training level is so high..." Miss Yuge murmured.

"Uh……"

“I’ve seen the data analysis the staff did on Wisconsin’s ship equipment capabilities. In the data, Wisconsin’s shooting and reaction speed when maneuvering her ship equipment to dodge were very, very slow… In a battle against a top-level ship girl, Wisconsin wouldn’t be able to last more than a few seconds with that kind of reaction speed…” Miss Yuge looked at Xiaobai with great confusion, “But… the current Wisconsin is actually…”

Faced with Yu Ge's puzzled expression, Xiao Bai silently turned her head away.

hehe~

Xiaobai said that he knew nothing about it.

Perhaps she was always very hardworking and diligent, and that she was secretly putting in effort behind everyone's back.

Ok.

That's it.

about.

"Oh, by the way, Sister Yuge, Sister Yuge." Xiaobai reached out and tugged at Yuge's sleeve, changing the subject, "Speaking of which, she was guarding the gate at Wisconsin before, right?"

Yu Ge didn't seem to be a woman who liked to dwell on problems. After Xiao Bai asked the question, Miss Yu Ge quickly put her doubts aside for the time being and nodded to Xiao Bai: "Yes, that's right."

"Wisconsin...isn't she a really, really powerful ship girl? Why isn't she fighting on the surface, but instead guarding the gate?"

"Ah, this," Miss Yuge gave a helpless smile, "it's a bit complicated to explain..."

"what's wrong?"

"Actually, there are quite a few reasons. The first one is that," Miss Fisher Song pointed to the sea where a fierce battle was taking place, "In fact, Wisconsin did fight for us."

"Huh?! You've fought before!"

“Yes.” Yu Ge nodded. “After leaving the construction facility, Wisconsin was on the battlefield.”

"and then?"

"I wasn't the president back then, so I don't know exactly what happened..." Yuge smiled helplessly. "But I heard from others that Wisconsin was having a hard time keeping up with the other ship girl units at that time."

"Huh? Difficult?"

"Hmm. Wisconsin has a very high level of combat talent. It seems that among ship girls, she is one of the..." Yuge paused for a moment, thinking, "a genius that comes along only once in a century? That's how it is. So she has a very sensitive combat instinct from birth, almost comparable to a seasoned ship girl."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"...In a sense, it is indeed a good thing." Miss Yuge gave a wry smile, "But at that time, the ship equipment level of Wisconsin was only level one."

"Uh."

"It's like knowing exactly what to do and being able to react instantly, but the ship's equipment is incredibly sluggish, always a beat behind. This stark difference makes Wisconsin's combat experience extremely poor, and it often causes problems during battles. So, out of necessity, we had to temporarily suspend Wisconsin's opportunities to go to the battlefield," Miss Yuge said with a worried expression. "...Wisconsin is very competitive, so even though she was refused entry to the battlefield again, she didn't want to be kept on the sidelines. So, she found a job as a greeter, just like before, to serve as the face of this place, and she's been doing it reluctantly until admirals from all over the world come here."

"...Ah, I see..." Xiaobai nodded in sudden realization.

While I'm not entirely sure if this analogy is accurate, according to what Miss Yuge said, wasn't the situation in Wisconsin essentially like Tirpitz playing a multiplayer game with triple-digit latency...?

In that situation, even someone as easygoing as Tirpitz would probably feel like smashing his controller and keyboard... let alone the more serious Wisconsin.

"Wisconsin has it tough..." Xiaobai muttered to himself.

“That’s right,” Miss Fisherman agreed. “So I thought the battle between Wisconsin and your ship girls would end instantly… but I didn’t expect Wisconsin not only to hold on, but even… to fight back and forth…”

“…Hmm.” Xiaobai looked at the sea in the distance.

Xiao Bai genuinely had no idea that Wisconsin had such a concept as combat geniuses.

--Huh?

Speaking of which, Missouri just said that boosting Wisconsin's training level wouldn't do any harm at all...

So, does that mean Missouri discovered it a long time ago?