Today's tutelary fort remains peaceful.

4. Deep Sea Girl and Giant Beast

Walking out of the room, Xue Cheng still looked a little uncomfortable. It was the first time in his life that he changed clothes in front of the opposite sex. Although he was wearing shorts properly, this novel experience still made him, a bachelor since birth, not used to it.

On the contrary, Chongqing kept a nonchalant expression throughout the whole process, and even teased Xue Cheng with a smile about his mediocre figure and lack of muscles.

'It's a British ship after all. Even after the renovation and change of nationality, it's still too bold...' Xue Cheng muttered to himself, looking around with a stunned expression. It was not until he went out that he realized that the scenery he had just seen from the window was just the tip of the iceberg.

This garrison covers a large area. Walking out of the independent two-story villa behind him and going down the winding steps not far away, there is a small observation deck. Xue Cheng stopped and walked to the observation deck to look into the distance. Most of the buildings in the garrison came into view.

The first thing that catches the eye is the various buildings. It can be seen that although the ship girls in the naval base are gathered under the command of the same admiral, they still retain their own habits and have clear barriers between each other.

The ancient-style buildings over there clearly belong to the Chinese fleet girls. On the other side, with their large, sloping tent-like spires, they're likely home to Soviet fleet girls. In the middle, the artistically shaped building with the clock tower has a touch of British architecture.

On the small path that runs through these buildings, people can be vaguely seen walking. It is already past breakfast time, and the garrison that has been silent all night is gradually waking up. Although it is a bit far away, the noisy sounds can still be heard.

After going down the long stairs, there is a spacious square. The huge screen is playing the MV of the song. Two girls are holding electronic piano and bass, playing intense rock music. Some girls are walking in the square, while others are immersed in the music and dancing to the beat. When they see Xue Cheng and Chongqing passing by, several girls wave to them enthusiastically.

"Those two guys are arbitrarily occupying public resources again..." Chongqing looked at the big screen in the square from afar, his face a little grim, and he muttered with gritted teeth, "Sure enough, Ying Rui and Zhao He should be allowed to use the suona..."

"Suona..." Xue Cheng curled the corners of his mouth. Having read an official comic that had long been discontinued, he had already guessed the identities of the two rock girls on the big screen. He also understood why Chongqing had such a disgusted expression.

Of course, in Xue Cheng's opinion, even if a powerful weapon like the suona was used, Chongqing's words were quite merciful. After all, a certain Falling Cherry Divine Axe wanted to use an axe directly...

After walking around the square and passing through a dense cluster of buildings, Xue Cheng and Chongqing soon arrived at the seaside embankment. Xue Cheng used his hands to make a canopy and gazed into the distance for a while. Suddenly, he asked Chongqing beside him curiously, "Why is our garrison office on the seaside?"

"If not, how can the admiral personally command the battle at the front lines if the deep-sea shipgirls attack?" Chongqing looked at Xue Cheng in surprise and said, "Why can the admiral hide in a safe place alone while the shipgirls have to fight for their lives at the front?"

This sentence choked Xue Cheng speechless. Chongqing turned his head and looked at the railing beside the embankment. There, a flaxen-haired girl was standing with her back to the two of them. She was holding a piece of bread and feeding the seagulls. But for some reason, although there were many seagulls circling above the girl's head, few dared to swoop down and eat the bread in her hand.

"Don't worry." After a moment's silence, Chongqing glanced at Xue Cheng and said calmly, "The office building is quite far from the shore defenses. If there's any danger, we'll have time to evacuate. We won't let the admiral get hurt."

"I'm not worried about that." Xue Cheng wiped the sweat from his forehead. As the sun rose higher, the weather began to heat up. "The strength of those deep-sea ship girls is not enough to scare me."

"...Indeed." Chongqing was stunned for a moment, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth involuntarily. The current naval base is no longer what it used to be when it was weak. With more and more ship girls joining, the once powerful deep-sea flagship is no longer threatening in their eyes, but more like a comedian.

"Come to think of it, the Admiral seems quite interested in deep-sea flagships?" Chongqing pointed his finger at his chin and tilted his head towards Xue Cheng. "How about we wait until the next deep-sea attack and ask everyone to catch one and raise it?"

"Okay." Xue Cheng's eyes lit up, and he rubbed his hands together and said, "I've been fed up with seeing those deep-sea flagships showing off their might. If they dare to come again, I'll capture them and teach them a lesson!"

"You wish!" Chongqing's face turned serious, and he said seriously, "If it was a shipgirl from the naval base, it would be fine. After all, you are the admiral. As long as you don't force anyone to marry, it's just a matter of your words. But deep-sea flagships are different. They have no rationality. Even if they are severely damaged and all their equipment is paralyzed, the threat they pose to ordinary humans is still immeasurable. No one will allow it. You'd better give up!"

Xue Cheng was just joking, but after being lectured by Chongqing in such a righteous manner, he immediately laughed awkwardly and said, "Don't be nervous, I'm just saying..."

"It better be this way!"

Just as Xue Cheng was joking with Chongqing, something strange was happening in the deep sea far away from the garrison.

A girl wearing a tight black leather outfit that exposed a large area of ​​pale skin stood on the sea. She snuggled up to a huge, strange sea beast with three naval guns and golden lines all over its body. She looked around silently, with a pair of light golden eyes filled with a bit of baby-like confusion and curiosity.

After a moment, the confusion in the girl's eyes slowly faded away, revealing a ferocious light. She raised her head, a crazy grin appeared at the corners of her mouth, and she let out a scream that sounded faintly like a call. The invisible sound waves spread to the surrounding sea.

The girl waited for a while, and seeing no response, she seemed to be planning to leave, but at this moment, a ball of black gas suddenly surged out of her body without warning, submerging her figure.

The girl screamed and fell onto the sea surface. She did not sink to the bottom of the sea, but floated on the sea surface, struggling and rolling constantly. The surging black air seemed to be covering her body, causing her great pain. The sea beast that was snuggling with her also let out a terrible roar and struggled hard. For a moment, the calm sea surface was stirred up by huge waves several meters high by this person and the beast.

"what!"

"Roar!"

After two painful roars, the girl collapsed on the sea as if exhausted, and the black air covering her body quickly dissipated. At the same time, the sea beast beside her raised its head high, and a red light full of cruelty suddenly flashed in its huge eyes. Then, without warning, it raised its huge tail and slapped the girl's back hard.

"Bang!" With a huge roar, the girl was hit by the sea beast's tail and thrown out. Like a stone skipping on the water, she rolled on the sea for dozens of meters before she stopped after running out of kinetic energy.

The girl, who was hurt repeatedly, became enraged. She pressed her palms on the sea and slowly stood up. A hint of emotion flashed in her golden pupils. She let out a low growl, stepped hard on the waves, and rushed towards the giant beast.

Before she could get close, the sea monster in the distance suddenly opened its mouth wide and aimed at the girl, revealing a huge cannon barrel in its mouth, and spewed out a ball of blazing fire with a loud bang.

"Boom!" A cannonball shot out from the sea monster's wide-open mouth and hit the girl hard. The smoke and flames from the explosion instantly engulfed the girl's figure.

Before the smoke and dust had cleared, the next second, the girl actually walked out on the waves. Except for the fact that her leather jacket was severely damaged and her pale skin had some traces of smoke and fire, and her sailing speed was much slower, judging from her appearance, she did not suffer any serious damage.

"Ah!" The girl screamed angrily towards the sky and was about to rush forward again.

Seeing that the girl was fine, the sea beast roared, and the huge muzzle on its side, which looked like a fish fin, slowly turned and aimed at the girl.

A moment later, a huge roar sounded again.

5. Xue Cheng's bad taste

A black shadow suddenly flashed through the air and swooped down with a gust of wind, interrupting the conversation between the two. Xue Cheng subconsciously stretched out his hands to block his head to prepare for the impact, but the imagined pain did not come. He only felt a gust of wind blowing in his face, and then his arms tightened and sank.

Xue Cheng opened his eyes and looked at his arm, and found a big bird that was more than one meter long when standing upright standing on his arm, with its head raised high, and a pair of sharp eyes staring at Xue Cheng. At this time, Xue Cheng's gaze also moved over, and the man and the bird looked at each other silently.

After a moment of silence, Xue Cheng opened his mouth, his lips moving slightly, as if he was afraid of irritating the big bird on his arm, and made a soft sound: "Chongqing, can you please drive this bird away?"

It's not that Xue Cheng was too timid, but the one-meter-long bird in front of him had already entered the ranks of birds of prey. He could feel the power of the other party just from the pair of sharp claws that were tightly grasping his arm. If the bird had not deliberately retracted its claws, the sharp claws would have pierced deeply into his muscles.

In order to avoid being attacked, Xue Cheng had to ask Chongqing for help.

Chongqing blinked and tried to speak when the bald eagle suddenly flapped its wings, cackled twice, and then opened its mouth, releasing a deep, deep male voice: "Hey, isn't that the bastard admiral? You're such a rare visitor! I barely see you for a few days. How come you have time to come to the garrison today?"

"..." Xue Cheng's eyes widened. What did he see? A talking bird! And it was obvious that this bird wasn't just repeating what humans taught it like a parrot, but had its own independent thoughts! If he could catch it, he would be rich!

Even though he was thinking this, Xue Cheng quickly remembered. The talking bird looked like... well, an eagle? He seemed to remember seeing one like that following the aircraft carrier Essex in the game. Its name seemed to be...

"McCampbell?" Xue Cheng called tentatively.

"It's Bell McCann!" The other party flapped its wings in dissatisfaction, stirring up gusts of wind. Its eyes, which should have been emotionless, revealed a humane contempt when it looked at Xue Cheng: "Hey, bastard admiral, it's not been too long since you returned to the garrison, so you have forgotten your identity? You can't even remember the name of the great and invincible Bell McCann. I'm going to punish you! Make you go shopping with Essex! You are not allowed to stop until Essex is satisfied!"

"Is this a punishment?" Chongqing sneered, his arms folded. "Why not just wrap your dumplings with ribbons and send them to this guy's room?"

Bald Eagle Bell McCann tilted his head and looked towards Chongqing, his sharp eagle eyes filled with contempt. "Oh, it's the Dawn Goddess. Why aren't you following behind Yixian like a little tail today?"

"I'm Chongqing now!" Chongqing gritted his teeth and said, "Also, if you dare to call me a follower again, I'll turn you into a beggar's chicken."

"Alright, come on if you can." Bell McCann flapped his wings, looking fearless. "But don't blame me for not warning you. My attributes are affected by the carrier-based aircraft on board the Essex. You are on land now. If we really fight, you may not be able to defeat me."

Xue Cheng blinked, then he remembered that since the ways to obtain Hornets increased in the later stages of the game, 25% of the aircraft carriers in the naval base were equipped with - bombers. The Dumpling-class, which was deeply loved by Xue Cheng, was naturally no exception. If it was true as Bell McCann said, its strength was boosted by Essex's carrier-based aircraft, then on land, Chongqing might not be its opponent.

After all, what Chongqing has to face is an Eagle carrier-based aircraft with high air defense, high bombing and extremely high intelligence, and it has lost most of its mobility on land. It will be difficult for it to face Bell McCann with only the E-country Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft machine gun on it.

Seeing Chongqing's rage and Bell McCann feeling fearless, Xue Cheng was worried that they would really fight, so he quickly reached out to hold Bell McCann down. Bell McCann glanced at Xue Cheng. He had been chattering and making all kinds of verbal threats to Chongqing, but now he shut up honestly. It can be seen that although he seemed to have a lot of opinions about Xue Cheng, he would still take Xue Cheng's status as admiral into consideration at critical moments.

Of course, it could also be that he loves Xue Cheng so much that he is wary of him for Essex's sake.

Seeing that the conflict was about to subside, Xue Cheng breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at the bald eagle that was held obediently in his hands, and suddenly a wonderful idea came to his mind.

The real bald eagle has a cry that is completely inconsistent with its heroic appearance, so in order to fit its appearance in film and television works, a "voice actor" is often selected for it.

When Essex was implemented, based on this story, there was a rumor among players that "Bell McCann's rough male voice is actually a fake voice, and the real Bell McCann is a female eagle who just likes to speak in a rough voice." However, this rumor has not been officially recognized, so it is only circulated among players as a secondary setting.

Now that he has traveled to the world of Kancolle and seen it with his own eyes, and now has Bellmack in his hands, Xue Cheng is eager to verify whether this rumor is true.

He did what he thought. After all, the opponent was just an eagle, so there was no psychological burden. Xue Cheng held Bell McCann's wings with one hand like catching a chicken, and with the other hand he kept groping around its body, while at the same time parting its feathers and carefully examining it...

"Ahhhhhh!!!" A sharp and piercing cry resounded through the sky. Xue Cheng was startled by the sudden cry and his hands stopped moving immediately. The hand that was holding Bell McCann's wings also loosened a little, and the frantically struggling bald eagle broke free.

The first thing Bell McCann did after regaining his freedom was to flap his wings and fly into the air. He looked at Xue Cheng with a pair of vicious eyes and uttered a delicate girl's voice: "You, you, you... you pervert! Pervert! You already have so many marriage ships, but you... you even didn't let me go? I'm going to tell Jiaozi! I'm going to tell Essex! Just wait!"

Throwing down threats in frustration, Bell McCann flapped his wings and flew away, soon disappearing from sight. Xue Cheng stared blankly at the direction Bell McCann had disappeared in. After a while, he looked towards Chongqing, his face flushed, and asked slowly, "This... Bell McCann is actually a female?"

Chongqing took two steps back, looking at Xue Cheng as if he were looking at some garbage: "Of course the creatures that accompany the ship girls are female. In fact, it's not just Bell, even Bismarck's black cat Oscar, Hood's ginger fish cake, Kent's big tiger, they are all female."

"So that's how it is..." Although Chongqing looked at him as if he were trash, there was no embarrassment on Xue Cheng's face. Instead, he felt relieved that his doubts of many years had finally been answered.

Of course, being looked at like that by a beautiful girl was somewhat uncomfortable, especially since she was his nominal wife. Xue Cheng thought about it and was about to make an excuse when the girl who was feeding seagulls at the embankment railing in the distance suddenly came over. She put the remaining half of the bread in her hand into a plastic bag, tilted her head to look at Xue Cheng, and asked, "Admiral, what happened to Teacher Bell just now? Why did you make such a loud noise?"

Xue Cheng looked at the girl in front of him. She had long flaxen hair and wore a white headband on her head, decorated with blue feather hair accessories on the side. Her pretty face was a little cold, and she still had no expression even when facing him, the admiral.

Long flaxen hair, blue feather hair accessories, a cold expression, especially since the other party called the bald eagle "Teacher Bell", it was obvious that the girl in front of her was the Essex-class ship No. 8, Lexington, known as the Blue Ghost.

After all, apart from Essex, even Essex's sisters have some complaints about Bell McCann, the noisy and talkative eagle. CV-16 is one of the few people in the Essex class who has a little respect for it.

Unlike the first ship of the Lexington class, Lexington, although the girl inherited the name of Lexington as a younger generation, her personality is obviously very different from that of a gentle and lovely perfect wife. Adhering to the usual cold and aloof setting of the Essex class, even though the man standing in front of her is her nominal husband, the blue ghost's expression does not fluctuate at all.

Of course, Xue Cheng didn't think he was anything special. If someone in the garrison was rude to him, it wouldn't be a big deal. He looked at CV-16's slightly probing eyes with an unnatural expression. What he had just done... didn't seem to be a glorious thing.

Taking a deep breath, Xue Cheng smiled and said calmly, "Nothing, we just chatted for a while."

"Is that so?" CV-16 looked at Xue Cheng in confusion. If they'd just chatted for a few minutes, why would Teacher Bell react so strongly? And why was he even insisting on complaining to Big Sister? But since the Admiral said so, she could just assume it was true. There was no need to lie to the Admiral.

6. Concerns about the Blue Ghost

"That's right!" To prevent the other party from asking further questions, Xue Cheng took the initiative to ask: "Speaking of which, CV-16, what are you doing here?"

CV-16 held up the plastic bag in her hand and showed Xue Cheng the pieces of bread inside. "I was feeding the seagulls just now, but Mr. Bell always likes to scare the seagulls that fly over, so it took a long time to feed them all the bread."

Chongqing interjected, "CV-16, you really do like animals."

Chongqing actually had a good impression of the CV-16. According to unreliable rumors heard by the admiral, China had once planned to introduce an Essex-class aircraft carrier, although this plan ultimately failed. At that time, the only Essex-class ship left was the CV-16, which was almost a child of the family.

Although Chongqing is not sure whether this rumor is true or not, CV-16 does have a strong interest in Chinese culture. In her spare time, she would drink tea with Chinese ship girls. Yixian even gave her a cheongsam as a gift. So although the two parties are in different factions, their relationship is surprisingly friendly.

CV-16 looked at Chongqing and nodded silently without saying much. Chongqing did not show any dissatisfaction. After all, they had known each other for a long time, and she was well aware of CV-16's taciturn nature and knew that she did not intend to ignore her.

"Are the Admiral and Chongqing taking a walk?" CV-16 asked the two of them.

Chongqing shook his head. "We're going to the office. By the way, is Lexington there? Oh, sorry, I meant CV-2, not you."

There were two shipgirls named Lexington in the same garrison. CV-16 had long been accustomed to the question of address, so she didn't dwell on it. She tilted her head and thought for a moment. Xue Cheng's heart pounded at the sight of her adorable expression of contemplation. After a moment, CV-16 came to her senses and said softly, "She should be here. I heard Lexington and Saratoga talking in the cafeteria this morning. They said they were sorting out yesterday's resource details. She should still be in the office now."

"Is that so?" Chongqing, satisfied with her answer, didn't want to bother CV-16 any longer while she was feeding the seagulls. She looked up at the clear blue sky and said with a smile, "In that case, let's go to the office first. While that chatty bird is away, you can continue feeding the seagulls."

CV-16 nodded. Although she was a little disrespectful to Mr. Bell, Mr. Bell did get a little annoyed when she was with the animals.

"Admiral." Just as Xue Cheng turned to leave, CV-16's voice rang out from behind him. Xue Cheng turned around and saw a hint of worry on the girl's cold and indifferent face. She asked softly, "Are you... okay?"

"Me? I'm fine." Xue Cheng was confused by CV-16's question. He lowered his head to look at the navy uniform he was wearing. The snow-white, straight uniform was spotless without a wrinkle. He touched the military cap on his head and it was not crooked.

"You yesterday..." CV-16 hesitated. She looked at Chongqing beside Xue Cheng, hesitated for a moment, and shook her head: "Nothing, I'm glad you're okay."

After bidding farewell to CV-16, Xue Cheng walked forward along the path. He could see the white-painted building in the distance. He looked back and saw that CV-16 was still standing by the embankment, holding a torn piece of bread in his hand. However, without Bell McCann's interference, the seagulls in the sky were obviously much bolder and were constantly swooping down from the sky to snatch the bread from the girl's hand.

"Or you should go back and feed the seagulls with CV-16." Seeing Xue Cheng looking back every few steps, Chongqing couldn't help but sigh. "You don't usually care about the affairs of the garrison anyway. Now that Lexington is here, except for a few tasks that require the admiral's review, everything else can be handed over to her without worry."

Xue Cheng smiled awkwardly and changed the subject: "You actually admire Lexington so much? I thought you would support Yixian more."

Chongqing could of course see that Xue Cheng was trying to change the subject, but CV-16 was also the admiral's wedding ship, so it was not surprising that the admiral was reluctant to part with her. However, it was a bit too low in EQ for him to show such an attitude towards another girl beside him. Fortunately, there was no yandere ship girl among the admiral's wedding ships, otherwise it would be dangerous.

Chongqing shook his head, feeling a bit jealous, and then calmed down and said, "To be honest, Sister Yixian is a good wife, there's no doubt about that. However, compared to others, she's still better at handling domestic affairs. As a good wife to the admiral, she's fine, but when it comes to foreign affairs and the management of the garrison, she's a bit inferior to Lexington, who has been sitting firmly in the position of secretary ship for many years."

"Besides, Lexington has been with the Admiral since his rookie days. Whether in terms of seniority or ability, no one else can compare to him."