Shipgirls and Salted Fish Commander, Port Survival Guide

"Hehe, go ahead and shout, see if anyone pays attention to you. Thanks to some unscrupulous bastard, there are hardly any people left in the entire port area. Don't worry, I'll be gentle, it won't hurt much." Hu Teng's smile remained unchanged as he tucked a strand of hair behind his ear, revealing his black and white hair. He took one or two steps closer to Jing Su.

"..." At this moment, a thousand thoughts flashed through Jing Su's mind. She had thought about resisting, but considering that if the girl in front of her was really a ship girl, then any resistance would be futile. Just now, when she dragged her towards this room, the strength was already beyond Jing Su's ability to resist. As for running away, it seemed somewhat feasible, but in this unfamiliar place, she certainly couldn't run very far. If she were caught, her fate might be even worse. It was better to let her vent her anger.

Judging from her remarks and her reaction during our meeting, these girls are indeed under considerable pressure.

"Kacha~"

Another crisp mechanical meshing sound.

"No, no, this is still no good! This thing is too scary, run!"

Hu Teng's actions had already terrified Jing Su with just one shot, and two shots were already his limit. Judging from Hu Teng's posture, it seemed he wanted to continue. This was absolutely unacceptable. Even if he was caught and faced even more severe punishment, Jing Su accepted it and ran away!

As Hu Teng turned around, Jing Su seized the opportunity and dashed out of the room as fast as she could.

"Whoo~"

To Jing Su's surprise, no sooner had he left than Hu Teng collapsed to the ground, supporting himself with his hands, panting, his eyes glistening with tears.

"Heh~ It really is, that's great, you're really back." Although his identity had been confirmed by the tremor in his soul, Jing Su's words and actions, as well as some things that happened during the search for Jing Su, still made Hu Teng want to do the most thorough confirmation. Now, the truth is out, and the genetic information comparison is successful.

Hu Teng just made two holes in Jing Su's body to collect samples. Jing Su didn't leave behind many gene samples before she disappeared, but fortunately the comparison was successful.

"Phew~" After letting out a long breath, Hu Teng composed herself. She was a determined warrior by nature, and she would not have lost her composure if it were not for Jing Su.

"Ding ding ding~"

After regaining his composure, Hu Teng immediately opened his communication device and dialed a number.

A moment later, the call connected, and a gentle voice came through, "Use this number. What happened? Hu Teng, hmm? Were you crying?"

"No, I just lost control of my emotions a bit." Looking at the tall and proud figure in the holographic projection, Hu Teng smiled.

"Oh, there aren't many things that can make you lose control of your emotions like this. But I guess it can't be anything bad. Can you share it with me?" She knew Hu Teng's personality; he was calm and composed, as the commander would say, unfazed even if Mount Tai collapsed before him. For someone like her to be so excited, especially for something good, to the point of using the most confidential communication methods to notify her, she couldn't imagine what kind of good thing could be worth such a reaction. No, actually, there was something she could do, but would it really be as she suspected? She didn't dare to think about it, not even dare to entertain the thought. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment; if she didn't think about it, she wouldn't be disappointed or frustrated.

"He's back!" Hu Teng's voice trembled. He thought he had calmed down, but the words revealed his excitement.

"Who? Who's back? Wait, who is it!"

"Clang!" A chair fell to the ground, and the holographic projection suddenly slammed its hand on the table, stood up, and stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

“Yes, Frederick the Great, Göttingen, the commander, he’s back.” Hutten showed the comparison results to Frederick the Great.

Frederick the Great rested his hands on the table, his gaze sweeping back and forth across the report. He took a deep breath and said in a trembling voice, "Are you sure it's him? Have we met? Could it be that some other force stole information from the port and fabricated this report?"

Similar instances of falsifying information have occurred countless times in the past when the port area partners were searching for Jing Su. Frederick the Great was afraid, and he feared that this time would be no different.

After the ship girls discovered that Jing Su had really disappeared, the entire port area was in an uproar. They searched everywhere, in the sky, in the sea, and even dug holes to search, until they had searched the entire port area but there was still no news. An atmosphere of despair spread throughout the port area.

At this point, someone first suggested that the commander might have been swept away by the waves during a beach trip and was now trying to find us.

Although this assumption has many flaws—for example, if he really was swept away, given Jing Su's human body, after such a long time, he could very well have…

But the entire port area clung to them like a last straw. They were the strongest warriors in the world, unafraid of swords and shadows. But if the flag in their hearts was gone, they would lose the motivation to continue fighting.

Although the hope was slim, it was better than true despair. Coupled with other factors, the ship girls were driven to search in other places.

The port is built on a giant island in the ocean. The surrounding waters have been searched, but the mainland areas with people are still missing. We must rely on the maritime bureau to find them. Otherwise, if the girls search on their own, it will be like finding a needle in a haystack, no matter how long it takes.

With the help of the Maritime Bureau, and the fact that the ship girls made no attempt to conceal their presence, the other factions learned that the Dawn Port, which had been dominating the battlefield, was supposedly owned by someone (the Maritime Bureau had known about the protagonist's existence all along, but had deliberately kept it a secret). Now, however, this owner seemed to have disappeared, and all sorts of thoughts began to emerge.

'If it's possible to have a master, why can't it be oneself?'

A large number of people or forces with ulterior motives emerged, announcing that they had news. At first, the ship girls who received the news would excitedly go to check it out, but without exception, it was all fake. They would either ask the ship girls to do something with additional conditions, or even impersonate the commander. If it weren't for the fact that the person who went to investigate the authenticity of the news was the relatively kind-hearted Lexington, who knows what might have happened if a few hot-tempered ship girls had gone over.

After the imposter appeared, a significant number of ship girls expressed strong doubts about whether Jing Su was still on the mainland and wanted to exert their efforts in other directions. However, there were also ship girls who wanted to continue to persevere. The endless arguments and continuous false information ultimately led to the division of the port.

It's unclear which faction first expressed its desire to search according to its own ideas, but after the first one appeared, the second and third quickly followed. Each faction, led by its own leader, collectively left and became independent entities.

However, although the various factions have left each other, it does not mean that the port has split up. When introducing themselves outside, everyone still acknowledges that they are part of the Dawn Port. When they meet on the battlefield, they will help each other. It's just that their daily interactions have indeed decreased a lot.

As the port area is everyone's home, after the various factions left, the leaders agreed that each faction would take turns to be responsible for the maintenance and repair of the port area, while some personnel would remain in the port to guard the last spiritual sustenance. After that, the port area was closed, and no one except the faction on duty was allowed to enter the port area.

The current duty ship is not Ironblood, but Hu Teng served as the secretary ship before Jing Su disappeared, so she can freely enter and leave the port area.

"There's no mistake. I've met him, and that soul-stirring feeling... I can't mistake him no matter what. Besides, to ensure the information is accurate, I took two samples from different parts of my body, and the results matched." Hutten was well aware of Frederick the Great's worries. Too much expectation and disappointment had numbed him, and now that real intelligence had finally appeared, he dared not believe it.

"He really did take a sample!? You've already met him? Where is the commander now?" Upon receiving an affirmative answer, Frederick clenched his fists.

"The commander is in the port area right now. I spotted him on the ring road, but something seems off about him," Hu Teng said, organizing his thoughts.

"Something's not right? What happened? How is he? Is he alright?"

"Don't worry, the commander is in good health. It's just that he seems to have lost his memory of us."

"He's lost his memories of us? What does that mean? Has the commander lost his memory?"

"It can't be called amnesia. When I first met him, he seemed not to recognize me at all. He had acted so rudely before, but now he acted like a stranger. But he didn't seem completely unaware of the existence of the port area. He knew about my ship equipment, the capabilities I'm currently developing, and the change of leadership in our Ironblood faction." Hu Teng recounted his previous experiences briefly, like a secretary giving a work report.

"Such a strange thing? Ulrich, could you tell me if anything else happened when we met?" Frederick the Great waved his baton, flipped over a chair on the ground, picked himself up, sat down, clasped his hands together, rested his chin on them, and said in a deep voice.

"Nothing else happened. The surveillance cameras at the location where the commander appeared were destroyed by the people of Donghuang. The monitoring room has no way of knowing what happened before the commander appeared. However, I went to investigate after detecting unknown energy fluctuations. When I arrived at the coordinates, I saw the commander leaning against the railing, enjoying the scenery."

"Unknown energy fluctuations, Ulrich, are you saying that the Commander isn't missing, but rather taken to another world?"

“That’s possible. We’ve been searching for so long in the sea and on the mainland. If the commander is still in this world, it’s impossible that we wouldn’t have found any information at all,” Hu Teng agreed.

"If he was kidnapped, which force would be responsible? The Sirens? Why would they do that? And why release the commander? Wouldn't keeping him pose a greater threat to us?" Frederick the Great began analyzing from a mortal perspective. "Regardless of all that, is the commander truly alright? Has he been examined? Where is he now? Could he have disappeared again?"

"The commander seems to be in good health. He was lively and energetic when we first met. As for disappearing again, that won't happen. This time, no matter where he goes, I will find him." Hu Teng smiled as he looked at the constantly flashing red dot on the screen.

"By the way, Your Majesty, I would like to apply for additional funding to conduct research on cross-space signal transmission detection." Suddenly, as if remembering something, Hutten put forward his proposal to Frederick.

"You did it after all. But this proposal is indeed worthwhile. I'm not able to go back right now, so please take good care of the commander for me." Hearing Hutten's proposal, Frederick could roughly guess what she had done, but he still replied with a smile.

"I would have done it without you reminding me," Hu Teng replied, straightening up, and then the call ended.

After a moment of silence, Hutten stared intently at the red dot on the screen. The dot had now stopped at a specific location and hadn't moved for a while. "Is it hungry? No rush, I'll go prepare something else." Hutten smiled and left the room. Just as Frederick the Great had said, if the Commander had indeed been taken to another dimension, then a thorough physical examination was now necessary.

Chapter Four: Analysis of Its Own Situation

On the roadside, Jing Su faced the sea, but had no time to appreciate the sound of the crashing waves.

"Time travel, huh? This kind of thing actually happened to me, it's really..."

After a long while, Jing Su picked up a stone from the roadside and threw it towards the sea with all her might, as if she wanted to throw away the knots in her heart, but it was all in vain.

With a long sigh, Jing Su composed himself, leaned against the railing, and gazed into the distance. Whether he liked it or not, he had transmigrated, and all he could do was say, "Since I'm here, I might as well make the best of it."

However, before that, there are two things Jing Su needs to figure out.

The first thing to figure out is whether he traveled directly into the game or into a parallel world, with the port ship girls and sirens traveling together. If he traveled into the game, then which timeline is he currently on?

This matter is extremely important, as it directly relates to whether Jing Su can live a happy life afterward.

As we all know, there are actually two parallel timelines in the game. One is the main storyline, the major events of each faction, and the storyline in the open world. The other is the port area timeline, which is the timeline of the happy life of each ship girl after arriving on the island and playing around with the commander. This is usually seen in various small events where you give away items, as well as skin voice backgrounds, etc.

If this is part of the storyline, then we're in trouble. It's impossible to enjoy happiness in this timeline, and whether we'll even live to see the next day's sunrise is uncertain.

In short, the background of the game Azur Lane is that humans and ship girls unite to fight against the Sirens. However, in the storyline, due to the overwhelming superiority of the Sirens in terms of strength, and the desire of some to gain greater power, disagreements arise among the ship girls regarding the battle plan against the Sirens.

As the disagreements gradually widened, the ship girls eventually split into two factions: one maintained the original designation, which is the faction where the player-controlled commander belongs—Azur Lane, which is also the name of the game; the other was the Crimson Axis.

However, this relationship is actually very complicated. It is highly likely that when Huang Ji was writing the script in the early stages, he did not anticipate the subsequent developments. As a result, the early script was almost based on real-world naval warfare history. This led to the Red Axis faction and the Azur Lane faction being almost absolutely opposed and hostile in the early stages of the story. People from both sides would fight each other when they met, which can be seen from the chapter titles in the early stages of the game.

However, due to Azur Lane's own outrageous planning in the early stages, the game's revenue was not good when it was first launched. What brought Azur Lane back to life was a real-life prototype from a certain Red Axis faction. Therefore, it was not reasonable to continue with the original storyline, so a major change was made. The solution was also quite simple and crude: bring the Sirens, the observers behind the scenes, to the forefront and make them the common enemy of both sides. This is how the joint fight against the Sirens between Azur Lane and the Red Axis, which was both hostile and cooperative, was gradually established.

The biggest impact of this storyline on Jing Su is that he has absolutely no command skills. He is just an ordinary person who grew up in a peaceful era. His understanding of war is limited to the hype from various marketing accounts and the interpretations in some movies and TV dramas. If you really put him on the battlefield to command, he would be shot in the back by his own people within two days.

The saying "an incompetent general can lead to the death of a thousand soldiers" is no joke. For matters of life and death concerning all mankind, Jing Su felt it was best to let the capable take the lead. At most, he could only be a brick, moving it wherever needed, which was the limit of what he could do.

Moreover, and more importantly, if the storyline were to unfold as it is, a significant number of ship girls would have no connection whatsoever with the commander, or rather, the character the player is playing; in fact, they would not know each other.

After all, the commander's design was based on other popular games on the market at the time, namely the commander of a certain unit under a certain major power. So if you just deduce based on the identity, the commander might not even recognize all the ship girls in his own faction - Azur Lane.

The main character development of Huangji is from the perspective of the faction, which is to create a series of episodes and try to make the plot of each faction interconnected. However, because the commander's affiliation is set in the early stage of the plot and is set too rigidly, it is impossible to change. As a result, it is okay in the plot of his own faction, where the commander can at least appear. But in the big events of other factions, the commander cannot even be a camera if he wants to.

A more intuitive example is Unzen's landing in the Sakura Empire. Unzen wasn't a ship girl from the start. Before acquiring ship equipment and becoming a ship girl, she was a great sage in the Sakura Empire faction, staying in the Divine Kingdom to fight against the Black Dragon.

If we go back twenty years from this event, it's uncertain whether the commanders the players are playing would even have been born, let alone commanding fleets.

In terms of the plot, how did the Commander come into contact with Yunxian? At that time, the Vichy Church and the Free Iris put on a big event, and the Commander was invited to attend. He passed by the Sakura Empire's base and had a brief encounter with Yunxian, who was then the High Priestess. Yunxian fell in love with the Commander at first sight. Finally, at the last moment of fighting the Black Dragon, her mindset changed, and she broke the cycle and defeated the Black Dragon.

In general, in terms of the storyline, Jing Su doesn't recognize all the ship girls internally, or more accurately, the ship girls themselves don't recognize him. Externally, he has to command the battle against the Sirens, but he's a newcomer and doesn't know anything about commanding. Even the commander character, whose presence in the game is intentionally weakened by Huang Ji, is portrayed as having outstanding command abilities, being calm and collected, and having an incredibly high mental cube compatibility, making him likable to the ship girls who are cube experts.

However, these things are implicit settings in the game, and now that Jing Su has transmigrated, it's obviously impossible for things to be exactly the same as in the game.

If we follow the port area route, it's much happier and more fulfilling. Although Huang Ji didn't explicitly explain what happened between the main storyline and the port area route, overall, the port area route is much more lighthearted and enjoyable.

From various small activities and voice lines, it can be roughly inferred that although the port area is still fighting against the Sirens, the internal differences among the ship girls seem to have been bridged. The various factions have united and are having fun in one place. The commanders played by the players no longer need to personally go to the front line to command the battle, but instead retreat to the background, managing affairs while getting close to various ship girls.

The port area seems to be very cheerful, but there are also troubles. The problem lies in the management. Each of the ship girls is a natural warrior, galloping across the battlefield and maneuvering with great skill, but they seem to lack management skills.

It's not that there aren't any management talents within the ship girls. The factions in the storyline develop independently and grow stronger, which shows that at least their leaders are capable in government affairs. However, it seems that after arriving on the island, these girls all enter a "laissez-faire" mode. Take the official Azur Lane manga as an example. The background of this manga is that the commander's secretary ship, Queen Elizabeth, lazily leaves all the affairs to the commander to handle, eventually making the commander sick from exhaustion. Then, Queen Elizabeth leads Warspite to handle various port affairs, and there are a few things that happen in the process.

“If it’s the port area line, oh my!” Thinking about his own administrative abilities, Jing Su felt a chill run down his spine. He realized that he didn’t seem to know how to handle port area affairs very well. The largest event that Jing Su had ever organized was a stage play during his university years, with a scale of forty people and three months of preparation time.

From the script to the venue, to the rehearsals, and then to the props, it took Jing Su almost a week just to figure out these processes. When it came time to start preparing, she found that she didn't even know where to find the people. For three months, Jing Su was busy day and night, overwhelmed and exhausted, and her hairline receded a lot before she could barely get the stage play done.

This sudden assignment put him in charge of a port area with over 600 people, a place where there had been sharp internal conflicts, where they had clashed on the battlefield, and where the group possessed considerable combat power. If he wasn't careful and things got out of hand, and a conflict broke out, the aftershocks of the battle alone could send him flying into the sky, shoulder to shoulder with the sun.

"Sigh, there's no point in thinking about this now. It's still uncertain whether the ship girls will accept me." With her mind filled with thoughts, Jing Su covered her forehead with both hands, rubbed her temples vigorously, and sighed.

Based on previous conversations with Hutten, it's more likely that the current timeline of the port area is the port area timeline. After all, in the storyline, Hutten is a staunch supporter of Frederick the Great, basically following him wherever he is. In the story, Frederick the Great left Hutten in the original world while leading the high seas fleet to other worlds.

Frederick the Great did this partly to exchange leadership of the Ironblood for Bismarck, and partly to support Black Enterprise. Of course, as the story unfolds, Frederick the Great himself became bait, suffering serious injuries in the battle against the Sirens.

Hutten was deeply hurt by Frederick the Great's decision not to take him with him, and even clashed with Bismarck later in the story. Although he eventually accepted Bismarck's rule over the Iron Blood, it felt more like Hutten would listen to Frederick the Great more than Bismarck when he appeared.

Regardless of the situation, Hutten, as the absolute main force of the Ironblood faction, will most likely not have any interaction with the Commander in the storyline. The two are in different regions. At most, Hutten knows that there is a Commander in Azur Lane who is highly regarded by Frederick the Great. Unless the Commander played by the player has supernatural abilities, he can only know that there is a battleship named Hutten in the Ironblood faction, and that he is very powerful.

Therefore, since Hutten is willing to call himself Commander, it's more likely that he's from the Port Area route. However, we can't be completely sure. After all, during a confrontation with the Ironblood faction in the story, Frederick the Great, who was then acting as the Ironblood leader, extended an invitation to the Commander played by the player. The player could even choose to accept. Of course, in the game, no matter what the player chooses, it won't affect the final ending. But who knows what will happen after time travel?

Who knows, in this timeline, Jing Su might have accepted the invitation and then been abducted by Tie Xue.

Putting aside the timeline issue, there is another question that Jingsu District needs to determine—how it traveled through time.

Or to be more precise, that's how I came to be in this world.

As we all know, there are roughly two types of time travel: body travel and soul travel. As the name suggests, body travel means that the whole body is packed up and transported to another world along with the clothes. The advantage of this type of time travel is that the body is your own. Basically, you are a complete body when you travel there and do not need extra time to develop into an adult. The disadvantage is that the body is basically fixed and the space for growth is limited. In addition, there may also be identity issues.

Soul transmigration, on the other hand, involves the body remaining in the original world or the body disappearing altogether, while the soul, carrying its memories, transmigrates to a body in another world. The advantage of this method is that there are basically no issues with identity, and with good luck, one can inherit the original owner's memories, identity, and status. The disadvantage is that there may be issues with identity recognition, and some extreme individuals may even say that this method carries the risk of betraying themselves.

This argument is based on the idea that while the soul and memories belong to oneself, the body belongs to someone else.

Although Jing Su wasn't that extreme, if possible, she would still prefer her body to be that of her original spouse.

"Judging from the clothing, this is what I was dressed like when I first transmigrated: a cell phone, a trench coat, and slippers with a missing piece. The clothes are fine. The scar on my hand is from when I was a child and got burned while playing with fire. The shape and size match up." Jing Su couldn't find the answer to the first question for the time being, so she began to examine the second question.

"My phone is dead, so I can use it as a mirror. The bangs sticking up... well, it's a piece of hair that was burned off when I was playing with fire as a kid. Ever since then, the hair in that spot has grown strangely. My initial assessment is that it's my own body."

"Hmm! No, this face looks different. It looks much younger. Is it because the phone screen is darker?" Jing Su muttered to herself.

The photo on Jing Su's work badge was from when she had just graduated from high school. She saw it every day, so she was naturally familiar with it. Compared to herself, who had been worn down by work for two or three years, she looked younger and more energetic in the photo on her phone screen. Most notably, her heavy dark eyelids were completely gone.

"Hiss, does this transmigration also improve physical fitness? Just the fact that I've become younger makes this transmigration worthwhile. Wait, if I really have become younger, how long have I been here? It seems like I still have time."

"No, I've run back and forth several times, oh no!"

Suddenly realizing something was wrong, Jing Su immediately turned around, intending to return to the office to find Hu Teng. But as the saying goes, what you fear most is what happens. Just as Jing Su turned her head, a violent feeling of weakness and discomfort came from her abdomen, and then her vision went black.

"Case solved, it really is my own body!"

This was Jing Su's last thought before she lost consciousness.

Chapter Five: Little Thoughts

When Jing Su opened her eyes again, she found herself lying in a spacious and soft bed. The room was decorated in an elegant and dignified style, with a strong sense of antiquity.

"Commander, you're awake~" Although Jing Su only turned her head slightly after waking up, this subtle movement alerted the others in the room. Before Jing Su could react from her dazed state, a gentle voice rang out.

Upon hearing the voice, Jing Su turned her head and looked over. Her eyes widened in surprise. What a beautiful woman! Her eyebrows and eyes were delicate and her voice and smile were gentle. She was a beauty that could topple kingdoms and cities, and she was stunning to the world.

"Commander, is there something on me?" Seeing Jing Su staring straight at her, the beauty smiled gently, her face flushed, and she lowered her eyes and asked softly.

"Ahem, it's nothing, I just couldn't help myself." Caught off guard, Jing Su blushed and quickly changed the subject, "You are... Yi Xian?"

"Yes, Commander, I am Yi Xian, from the First Fleet of the Eastern Empire Navy, the Yi Xian. Commander, it's been a long time~" Upon hearing this, Yi Xian slowly stood up. Her jet-black hair, adorned with a plum blossom hairpin, added to her elegance. Her proud figure was perfectly accentuated by her white cheongsam, and her long, beautiful legs in black stockings sparked endless imagination.

As expected, Jing Su was stunned again. Although he didn't know how much time had passed, this was indeed the first time he had seen such a beautiful woman up close. When he was with Hu Teng earlier, he was still in a daze.

"Pfft~ Commander, you look so cute~ If you like it, Yi Xian will let you admire me every day. Then don't leave, okay~" As she spoke, Yi Xian's voice trembled, her eyes reddened, and before she knew it, her eyes were filled with tears.

"...I'm sorry, I hurt you." Jing Su was silent, not knowing what to say for a moment, but he had to say something eventually. After holding it in for a long time, he finally blurted out several versions of himself. As soon as the words left his mouth, Jing Su wanted to slap himself. He felt like he had become a scumbag after saying those words, but embarrassingly, he didn't even know what he had done.