Today's tutelary fort remains peaceful.

"So, you dug a tunnel under the bed?" Xue Cheng followed Ticonderoga's lead, but right after he finished, he slapped his forehead hard. "No, you almost got me in. This is the second floor! Besides, what's wrong with being an agent? Can an agent just go into someone else's house?"

Reputation also had a stern face and said unhappily, "When did you come in? Why didn't I notice it? Did Yubari give you some strange new invention?"

Ticonderoga touched his nose and said, "It's just... when you left this morning, I sneaked in and hid here, and then I never left again."

Xue Cheng and Sheng Wang sat in silence. It had been nearly twelve hours since they left that morning. Had Ticonderoga been hiding for so long? What was her purpose?

Xue Cheng first locked Ticonderoga's target on himself, but he felt it was unlikely. After all, this was not the first time she had secretly followed him. If she wanted to take action, she would have many opportunities. Why would she need to use such a nearly self-abuse method to achieve her goal?

"What are you doing here?" asked Reputation.

"It's just what happened last night." Ticonderoga looked at Xue Cheng, biting his lip, his face full of resentment. "I was too careless yesterday and underestimated you, so you found me so easily. I also have my own persistence. I was defeated by you in the field I am best at, so of course I want to get it back, that's why..."

Yesterday? Did anything happen yesterday? I don't recall seeing Ticonderoga and Reputation meet. Xue Cheng blinked in confusion, trying to recall yesterday's events. Instead, Reputation's expression seemed to indicate a revelation.

One hundred and twenty-one, graduated from junior high school?

It made sense that Ticonderoga was not satisfied with what happened last night. After all, this middle school girl who claimed to be a secret agent was not only easily discovered when she sneaked into the house, but was also easily knocked down by herself when she was expelling her. This had severely hit her self-confidence.

However, if she wanted to avenge what happened last night, shouldn't she choose herself as her target? Ticonderoga was well aware that after Xue Cheng moved in, the bedroom that originally belonged to Mingwang had been temporarily transferred to Xue Cheng.

So, what was Ticonderoga's purpose in choosing to hide under the bed in this bedroom even though he knew this?

And there is...

Mingyun's gaze fell on Ticonderoga's right hand, and the other party seemed to have noticed her gaze and hid his hand behind his back without making a sound.

"Give it to me." Reputation held out his hand to Ticonderoga.

"What?" Ticonderoga looked confused, but she had to admit that she did have some potential as an agent in terms of acting.

"Do you want me to do it myself?" Reputation raised his eyebrows and just as he raised his arm, Ticonderoga, who had suffered from Reputation before, immediately offered the things hidden behind him with both hands.

It was a small cell phone with a cute pink protective case. Reputation lit up the screen and handed the phone to Ticonderoga. The girl hesitated for a moment and put her finger on the fingerprint unlocking position.

Soon, Shengyu found what she was looking for on her phone. She looked at the picture on the screen and her voice trembled a little: "Master..."

Xue Cheng also stared blankly at the screen on his phone and almost vomited blood. Although the background of the screen was a little dim and the clarity of the video was not very high, he could still easily recognize the two people in it. They were himself and Shengwang.

"Ticonderoga!" Xue Cheng gritted his teeth as he snatched the phone away, deleted the video, and then looked at her fiercely: "Have you thought about how you're going to die?"

"Admiral..." Ticonderoga laughed dryly and took two steps back. She blinked hard, her long eyelashes fluttering, and said with a pitiful look, "You won't have the heart to hurt your most adorable Gaga, will you?"

"Stop playing pitiful here, I won't fall for it!" Xue Cheng curled his lips and asked the head maid, "Shengyu, how do you think we should punish her?"

"I don't think we can let it go so easily." Reputation ignored Ticonderoga's pleading look.

The elegant head maid was certainly not a mean person, but Ticonderoga's behavior had already damaged her image. If she had not noticed Ticonderoga's hand reaching out from the mirror just now, she would probably have filmed what happened next.

By then, if this video were to be circulated and linked to some underground industries in the garrison, even the reputation would be so high that he would break out in a cold sweat.

"That's what I thought." Xue Cheng stroked his chin and pondered, "But... do you have any good ideas for punishing her? And even though the videos on her phone have been deleted, who knows if Ticonderoga hasn't set up a backup, or perhaps a way to restore them? We can't possibly smash her phone, so what should we do?"

"Leave it to me." Reputation smiled slightly. She looked at the trembling Ticonderoga and said gently, "As long as the master authorizes me, Reputation is confident that she will be taught a lesson and will not dare to harbor any thoughts of revenge."

"Alright! I'll give you the right to punish Ticonderoga at will." Xue Cheng slammed his fist into his palm. He believed in the head maid's ability. "When does it start?"

"It's now."

"Wait, wait!" Ticonderoga panicked. "Punishment or something, Admiral, you won't do that, right?"

Reputation had a blank expression on his face and slowly walked towards her.

"Wait, stop! Don't come over here! If you come over again, I will not be polite!" Ticonderoga screamed. Seeing that Shengwang was getting closer and closer and ignoring his warning, Ticonderoga suddenly gritted his teeth, pushed hard with his feet, bypassed Shengwang and pounced on Xue Cheng.

"Bang!" A dull sound was heard. Shengwang turned around and swung a beautiful hand knife, accurately cutting the side of Ticonderoga's neck. The sound sounded vaguely familiar to Xue Cheng.

He looked at the girl who had fallen unconscious on the carpet and asked, "What is Shengming going to do?"

Reputation smiled but did not answer Xue Cheng's question. She grabbed Ticonderoga and dragged her out slowly, leaving only one sentence: "Master, please go to bed early. The next thing will be left to Reputation."

"Sister?" Counterattack, awakened by Ticonderoga's loud noise, walked out of another room. She rubbed her eyes and looked at Reputation dragging a girl in a tights out of the bedroom. She asked curiously, "What happened?"

"It's okay, go back to sleep. It's getting late." After comforting his sister, Mingwang continued to drag Ticonderoga downstairs.

That night, neither Reputation nor Ticonderoga came back. Lying on the bed, although Xue Cheng felt a little regretful, he still fell asleep honestly.

The next day, after washing up and changing into clean clothes, Xue Cheng came to the living room on the first floor. He saw a girl in a black and white maid outfit with her back to him, wiping a vase with a rag in her hand.

"Counterattack? Good morning." Xue Cheng walked over and greeted casually.

"..." The girl did not respond, but turned around silently and looked at him with eyes filled with endless resentment.

"Anti-Ticonderoga?! Why is it you?"

Xue Cheng rubbed his eyes. The girl in front of him was Ticonderoga who had disappeared for a night.

Xue Cheng looked her up and down. She showed no signs of injury, but she had dark circles under her eyes and looked like she hadn't slept well.

"Master? Did you call me just now?" At this moment, the kitchen door opened, and the cute little maid stuck her head out and asked.

"Good morning, Counterattack." Xue Cheng greeted him with a smile, then said, "It's okay, you can continue with your work."

"Oh." Counterattack blinked and obediently went back to work. Seeing this, Xue Cheng looked at Ticonderoga with a smile and asked, "What? Did you finally graduate from your chuunibyou? From an unrealistic agent to a hardworking domestic maid?"

"Admiral..." Ticonderoga was not angry. Tears glistened in his eyes as he looked at Xue Cheng. He sobbed and said, "Last night... she... she actually..."

"What? What happened last night?" Xue Cheng was confused.

At this moment, Shengming came out of the kitchen with food. She looked at Ticonderoga, who suddenly shut his mouth with a look of horror, and smiled slightly: "Nothing, breakfast is ready, everyone, get ready to eat."

122. Beizhai, rushing to finish his manuscript

"Yes..." Under Xue Cheng's strange gaze, Ticonderoga responded obediently, then put down the rag, washed his hands honestly, and helped Fanbing bring the prepared food to the table.

"Shengyu, what did you do to her?" Xue Cheng couldn't believe his eyes.

This was not the first time he had seen Ticonderoga. Although the two sides were still not very familiar with each other, he knew that the girl's nature was not so obedient. How could she wake up one day wearing a maid outfit and obediently follow Reputation and Counterattack?

Excluding the possibility that he had accidentally traveled to a parallel world, the only thing left was the lesson of the head maid.

"Nothing." Reputation shook his head slightly, as if unwilling to say more on this issue. "Just to be on the safe side, I made some corrections to Ticonderoga. Master, don't worry about it."

The more Shengwang talked about this, the more curious Xue Cheng became. Finally, under his repeated questioning, Shengwang said helplessly, "Some things are better if fewer people know about them. Otherwise, they will be useless. Master, you don't want Conderoga to spread the news about what happened last night, right?"

Xue Cheng shook his head. He certainly didn't want to become the material for scripts and custom articles, although without his knowledge, he might have already played the leading role many times.

By the way, should I ask Tirpitz and Taiho for some royalties? If I'm not mistaken, they must have used my image extensively in their works. Shouldn't I get a share of the profits from their works?

Just as Xue Cheng was eating breakfast and thinking about how to make a fortune from Dafeng and Tirpitz.

In a small, windowless room in the garrison, a girl wearing only an oversized men's shirt, with messy hair and lifeless eyes, sat in front of a computer, operating drawing software.

"It's such a pain to finish the manuscript..." Tirpitz complained in a low voice with gritted teeth.

"Since you know the pain, why not finish the manuscript sooner?" The girl with short silver hair crossed her arms, moved a chair and sat at the only door leading to the outside world in the room. She held a pointer in her hand and tapped her palm lightly, responding unhappily.

Tirpitz scratched his messy hair, slowly turned around and stared at her, saying seriously, "So, you don't understand at all, Zeppelin. Those who can complete their work before the deadline are all very terrifying people. They can be so cruel to themselves. It's hard to imagine what kind of people they would become in society."

Graf Zeppelin, the first ship of the Graf Zeppelin-class aircraft carrier, was designed with some reference to the Akagi-class. It has cruiser-level artillery warfare capabilities, but this also affects its carrying capacity and aviation facilities.

In history, the Count Zeppelin was not completed and was later forced to sink. Although it was salvaged, it sank again. It experienced three sinkings in its life, which was a tragic event.

The Graf Zeppelin in the game did not have strong attributes before the transformation, and was once called the weakest aircraft carrier. After the transformation, it became an armored aircraft carrier, and its attributes were also enhanced. With the combination of skills, it finally had the opportunity to play.

"..." Count Zeppelin was speechless: "So you're just going to slack off like this, wasting everyone's time, and then using this lame excuse to excuse yourself?"

"This is not an excuse. This is the pain that only the creator can understand. I..." Before Tirpitz finished his words, he suddenly wrinkled his nose and sneezed without warning.

"Hey, Tirpitz, are you okay?" Count Zeppelin, not bothering to complain, asked with concern, "Did you catch a cold? If not, you should get some rest. It's okay if you can't finish the manuscript. It wouldn't be the first time you've delayed us all."

"It's okay." Tirpitz rubbed his nose and said nonchalantly, "I'm not human, how could I catch a cold? I guess my sister is nagging me again. Speaking of which, I haven't been home all night. Zeppelin, are you sure my sister won't find me here?"

Zeppelin spread his hands. "What's the point of asking this? Do you think Bismarck wouldn't have noticed you've been gone for so long? Instead of worrying about being found by her, you should think more about how to explain it to her when you get back—after you finish the manuscript, of course."

"Damn it!" Tirpitz was speechless. He bit his lip and continued to operate the drawing software.

Time passed little by little, and Count Zeppelin still sat patiently at the door, neither dozing off nor playing with his mobile phone. Tirpitz tried to find an opportunity to escape several times, but failed every time, so he had to continue working honestly.

After an unknown amount of time, when even Count Zeppelin seemed to be unable to hold on any longer, Tirpitz finally shouted, "Done!"

"Is it finally finished?" Count Zeppelin pulled out her phone to check the time, noting it was already three in the afternoon. She walked over to inspect Tirpitz's work and nodded with satisfaction. "As expected of Mr. Bei Zhai, even with this rushed work, the quality is still so high. I'll accept it."

Tirpitz slumped in the chair, too lazy to correct the disrespectful address Count Zeppelin had made to her. She only felt a throbbing sensation near her temples, her whole body aching, her eyelids feeling heavy as if they were filled with lead, and she wished she could just fall to the ground and fall asleep.

"However, I must warn you," Count Zeppelin said, changing the subject. "The next batch of manuscripts is due in three days. You only have enough time to rest. If the manuscripts are still not delivered to me by the early morning of the third day, I will take compulsory measures, just like I did this time."

Tirpitz was on the verge of tears: "What? Only three days? How is it possible in such a short time! You are squeezing me! This is exploitation! I will report this to the Admiral and Lexington!"

"Very well, you're always welcome," Count Zeppelin said with a smile. She waved the pointer in her hand with a fearless expression: "Don't forget, we are only responsible for providing and sorting the orders, and then taking a small portion of your royalties as compensation. Even if we are discovered, we are just accomplices. But you are different. If the admiral knew that you were drawing in his book, guess what would happen?"

"So, so what?" Tirpitz was clearly feeling guilty, but he still managed to speak forcefully, "I'm the Admiral's wedding ship! A wedding ship! Even if I did something out of line, he wouldn't be willing to punish me! Otherwise... otherwise, I'll cry in front of him!"

"That depends on whether your tears are truly that effective." Count Zeppelin shrugged and said with a smile, "Alright, I'll take this electronic version. As for the remaining physical copies, you can deliver them to my door yourself. Don't worry, I've already made arrangements with the printing company. You'll just be responsible for picking up and delivering them."

"Why are there still people buying physical copies in this day and age?" Tirpitz stood up shakily, tears in his eyes.

123. Meow Meow Cafe

After a day of hard work, just after three o'clock in the afternoon, Xue Cheng locked the office door in the company of Lexington and Reputation and prepared to have afternoon tea.

After breakfast, Shengwang left Ticonderoga at home to continue cleaning, and then he and Xue Cheng went to the cafeteria, met up with Lexington, and went to the office to start work.

Of course, the so-called "work" was actually just reviewing documents under Lexington's explanation, which lasted only two hours in total. The rest of the time was spent resting and slacking off.

Wisconsin also came in the afternoon and wanted to conduct the training mentioned before, but when she saw Xue Cheng surrounded by Lexington and reputation, she consciously said goodbye and left. It can be seen that the purpose of her so-called training is not simple.

"For afternoon tea, I recommend the Meow Meow Cafe in Atlanta."

Lexington narrowed his eyes slightly as he adjusted to the strong light outside. He introduced the place to Xue Cheng with a smile, "Black tea, snacks, and cats—three joys combined together will give you the ultimate enjoyment."

"Cat?" Xue Cheng had no interest in black tea and snacks, but the last one was different.

As a cat lover, he once thought about raising a cat at home, but considering that his working hours might not allow him to take good care of the cat, he had to give up the idea.

"Then let's go to Meow Meow Cafe." Xue Cheng made the decision immediately.

The reputation next to her was about to speak but stopped herself. She originally wanted to invite Lexington and Xue Cheng to go to the British department to experience authentic British afternoon tea, but when she saw that Xue Cheng had made up his mind, she fell silent.

The three of them came to a store on the commercial street. Xue Cheng looked up at the cute sign covered with cat decorations, pushed open the door excitedly, and walked in accompanied by the sound of crisp bells.

It is afternoon tea time now. There are customers sitting in groups of three or four drinking tea in the store, and there are more than a dozen cats scattered around the store.