Crossing the azure as a black dragon

"Although I am interested in foxes, it doesn't mean I am interested in fox spirits."

Black Flying Dragon stepped forward and sat opposite Akagi, arms crossed, and spoke without any mercy.

Before Akagi could speak, Black Flying Dragon spoke again: "You can say whatever you want directly, there's no need to beat around the bush."

"Hmph, it seems you obtained some interesting technologies when you were taken away by the Sirens. Give me the most valuable ones."

Seeing Black Flying Dragon's arrogant demeanor, Akagi didn't bother with formalities anymore. He simply waved his right sleeve, sat up straight, and spoke.

"The most valuable technology is fine, but I can't just give it away for free."

Black Dragon's expression remained unchanged. The only technology she knew in that space was the process for creating the beast-type Sirens that Eugen wanted. Actually, giving it to Akagi for free wouldn't be a big deal, but this guy had been going against her since they met, so giving it to him for free was really annoying.

"Then what do you think I should offer in exchange?"

Akagi leaned forward slightly, her narrow eyes fixed on the black dragon, and licked her lips as she asked softly.

"Stop, you're making me feel really scared."

Black Flying Dragon leaned back slightly, then gritted his teeth, reached out and pushed Akagi's head back.

"The Sirens' development and application of the Rubik's Cube's energy far surpasses the current progress of human research. If you obtain the Sirens' technology, it means that the technology on the human side is no longer important to you."

Akagi reached out and slapped the black dragon's claws away, then rested his hands on his chest and raised his chin as he spoke.

That's true.

Black Dragon stopped and responded, then reached into his pocket, took out a notebook, and pulled out a pen to begin writing down the production process and precautions for the beast-shaped siren.

It wasn't that she was arrogant; she had already grasped the basic content of the USB drives that Mio had given her next door. This basic knowledge alone far surpassed humanity's research on Rubik's Cube energy in this era. In addition, she carried weapons and equipment made with the Sirens' top-level technology, so whether the humans here were researching ship equipment or not was no longer relevant to her.

"In that case, I'll tell you something interesting."

Akagi narrowed his eyes slightly, and a smile reappeared on his lips.

"What news?"

Black Dragon glanced at her.

"The disappearance of Shinano is not unprecedented; this is just one of many."

Akagi held up one finger and said.

"Hmm? You mean Shinano deliberately made himself disappear?"

Black Flying Dragon paused in his writing, stood up, and looked at Akagi.

"Of course, someone like Shinano has been gone for so long, do you really think that others wouldn't notice if we didn't tell them?"

Seeing that Black Dragon had become interested, Akagi asked in return with a smile.

"That's true."

Black Flying Dragon nodded. Shinano's disappearance under those circumstances would make connections for anyone with a discerning eye, but no other people or forces took any action, which shows that Shinano's disappearance was not surprising at all.

“Unlike us, who focus on enhancing destructive power through space, Shinano studies time. In addition, she is naturally very sensitive to time, so I guess this person can arbitrarily change her past or even the future.”

Akagi composed himself, and said with a serious expression, as if his face had changed.

"You mean, Shinano interfered with the past or future, causing himself to disappear during this period, and then reappeared after the effects of the interference ended?"

Even Black Flying Dragon himself couldn't quite believe what he was saying.

Can time really be fine-tuned like this? That's blatant cheating.

"That's roughly it, but this time her disappearance lasted longer than usual, so I don't know what she changed."

Akagi highly approves of Black Flying Dragon's understanding.

If it weren't for the Black Flying Dragon relentlessly following Tiancheng, she even felt that she and the Black Flying Dragon would have become very good friends.

"It takes up time, so I'll have to ask her for advice next time she appears."

Hei Feilong was relieved to learn that Shinano was coming back. It just so happened that she had encountered a bottleneck in the field of space, so it would be great to study time with Shinano.

"I've already paid the reward. Now it's up to you whether what you give me will satisfy me. If not... hmph."

The conversation ended there, and Akagi grinned, revealing his clean teeth.

"Ah."

Black Flying Dragon looked down at her notebook and continued to write from memory. Akagi's words had cleared up her doubts about Shinano, and the reward was indeed sufficient.

And so, Black Dragon lay on the table writing down parameters, Akagi looked up at the sky, and passing ship girls couldn't help but glance at her. Even Kaga, who arrived later, didn't dare to approach easily in the face of this strange situation. In the end, she sat down at a table with Eugen, who also felt strange, and they started to talk.

Chapter Four: The Eve of Returning Home

"Here you go, you should like these things."

After writing down the parameters, Black Flying Dragon closed the laptop and pushed it towards Akagi, who looked relaxed, feeling inexplicably annoyed.

Upon hearing this, Chi Cheng glanced sideways at Hei Feilong, picked up the notebook, looked at it, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes. He closed the notebook, put it in his sleeve, stood up, and looked down at Hei Feilong from his superior position: "If there is an opportunity, see you again at the Northern Alliance."

"I hope we won't meet again for the reasons I imagine."

Black Flying Dragon tapped his fingers on the table, without looking at Akagi.

This fox always tries to gain the upper hand first, no matter what she does. If you really look up, you might not be able to resist saying something to her.

Akagi chuckled twice and stepped away from the rest table.

After the temporary transaction was completed, Black Flying Dragon stood up and walked into the shrine, turning his back to Akagi, who was walking down the lower level.

The white ropes on both sides of the torii gate have been removed, and the front yard of the shrine has returned to its usual tranquility. Sunlight is scattered on the ground by the tall trees, forming irregular patterns. In summer, this place would be a cool and shady retreat.

After passing through the front yard, Black Dragon turned several corners along the side road, and a circular open-air area surrounded by wooden planks came into view.

The wooden plank is about three meters long and is surrounded by gravel. There is a flower bed buried in it at intervals, so it doesn't look too monotonous.

"My sword should theoretically be considered ship equipment, right? I wonder if it can be repaired."

He muttered something to himself, then walked to the wooden gate not far away and pushed it open to enter.

Upon entering the gate, the first thing you see is a hot spring pool directly in front of you, about the size of a basketball court. The pool is surrounded by stones and the ground around it is also paved, making it look very clean. Even just standing at the entrance, you can see the steam rising from the pool.

"Oh, what a coincidence."

Black Flying Dragon stepped forward and looked around, and saw a silver-haired woman sitting by the hot spring with a shower area washing her hair.

Unlike the hot spring on the first floor, you need to wash off the dirt before you can soak in the bath. So there is a special washing area with a shower and mirror.

"?"

Upon hearing Black Dragon's voice, Enterprise opened its eyes, turned around, and then reached out to turn on the showerhead to rinse the foam from its hair.

If you have long hair, washing it takes a lot of effort, but it's different if two people work together.

Of course, Hei Feilong didn't think his relationship with the company was that good, so after saying hello, he took a basin from the wooden shelf next to the entrance, walked to the side, took off his clothes, and found a spot to start washing himself.

After a flurry of activity, he finally wrapped himself in a bath towel and sat down in the nearby hot spring pool.

"call."

Submerged in the water, the comfortable temperature made Black Flying Dragon squint its eyes.

When carrying out missions at sea, if you're lucky enough to land on an island with a lake, you can take a bath. If not, you'll just have to wait for the next rest day. So soaking in hot springs is a special treat for ship girls.

After a long while, Black Flying Dragon looked at the company not far away.

Unlike her, who was unconventional, the company remained calm even while soaking in the hot spring, sitting in the pool with her eyes closed the whole time.

Seemingly sensing Black Dragon's gaze, Enterprise opened its eyes and looked over, a puzzled expression on its face.

Hei Feilong stood up and moved closer to the company, then thought for a moment and said, "Things here are almost finished. I wonder when everyone plans to go back?"

She's been living here for quite a while now and is starting to miss her home in Donghuang.

"tomorrow."

The man looked away, down at the hot spring water, scooped up a handful of water, and watched quietly as it slowly drained from his palm.

"group: 543659389 Hmm, nothing has happened in Donghuang recently, right?"

Black Flying Dragon's eyes flickered slightly, and he asked again.

Tiancheng warned us to be wary of the traitors from Donghuang, and he was quite blunt about it.

Something must have happened, it's just not very obvious yet.

"There are no problems in the port area, but some rather unusual groups of people and armed forces have appeared, seemingly trying to compete with us to see who is more suitable to protect the ocean."

The company glanced at Black Flying Dragon and said bluntly.

"Oh? They've finally appeared? Are they mecha warriors, or some particularly powerful warship?"

Black Dragon was overjoyed upon hearing this. She had previously felt that fighting the Sirens alone was too tiring, but now she finally had help.

"What appeared were automated patrol vessels, unmanned miniature warships, and a number of people who could adapt to the ship's equipment."

The company shook its head, its tone quite indifferent.

"what…"

Black Dragon was immediately disappointed. She had thought she would see Gundam fighting deep-sea monsters. With their technology lagging far behind the Sirens, why were they putting on some unmanned vehicles? Were they trying to fight the Sirens or just cause them trouble?

The group of people who can adapt to ship equipment is even more outrageous. Ship girls can control ship equipment because their concept is similar to that of warships. Their consciousness and physical qualities far exceed those of ordinary humans, and they can survive for half a month without food or water.

If it were a normal human being, running a hundred or eighty nautical miles a day would probably exhaust them, let alone fighting.

"Their ship equipment is a bit different from ours; it's external auxiliary armor, which might be somewhat similar to the mecha warriors you mentioned."

The company added another sentence.

"Oh? Well, this invention is not bad. It can effectively improve efficiency in logistics."

Black Dragon splashed water outwards with her hands. She didn't think much of letting humans clash with the Sirens, since the resource input ratios for the two sides were different. The mass-produced type consisted of iron plates and energy, while the external armor required more resources.

"Ah."

The company remained silent. After so much effort, Donghuang had produced these research results that were almost just filler, which disappointed everyone in the port area.

What they found most challenging was a proposal in addition to the two mentioned above: the construction of auxiliary gun emplacements on various islands in the ocean to support and guard against the wandering Sirens, with these emplacements under the control of a separate department.