Shipgirls and Salted Fish Commander, Port Survival Guide

"Ahem, although the process seems a bit complicated, I should be considered back." His mind, which had been momentarily stunned by being tightly hugged by three little girls, slumped over, and he said subconsciously.

"Waaaaah, it really is the Commander! That's wonderful! The Commander is back. I knew the Commander hadn't abandoned us."

As if by prior arrangement, the three little ones burst into tears at the same time.

Startled, Jing Su quickly comforted him.

. . .

Not far away, on a pavilion.

"Yes, the commander is back. Identity verification? Absolutely not. You'll see why once you meet him."

"What's the situation? The commander seems to have suffered a hidden injury, and also, the commander seems to not remember us."

It's not amnesia; he still has some memory of us. Rather than amnesia, it's more like memory erasure. Something erased the memories of the Commander's time with us and implanted another set of memories. Anyway, it's good that he's back.

"Can I reintegrate? I think there's absolutely no question about it."

Looking at the man playing happily with the three little girls in the surveillance footage, the speaker smiled with satisfaction.

Chapter Nine. And the others?

Happy times always pass quickly. By the time Yixian ran over to tell everyone it was time to eat, Jingsu had already become quite familiar with the three little girls.

Calling her a loli wouldn't be quite accurate. Anshan has clearly been modified. Judging from her appearance, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her a young girl. Before the modification, Anshan was an absolute little loli with a chubby face and a timid little expression, which made people feel affection for her. After the modification, her character design is much more heroic, and you can tell at a glance that she is a valiant and resilient rose.

At the dinner table, Jing Su met Chang Chun. Her snow-white hair was covered under a thick felt hat, and her big eyes, rosy cheeks, and cunning gaze revealed her mischievous and clever nature.

"Commander, Commander, are you feeling better? When Changchun found you, you were lying on the ground. I was so worried about you." Upon seeing Jing Su, Changchun's eyes curved into crescents. She skipped and hopped to Jing Su's side, grabbed Jing Su's hand, and shook it back and forth. Her clear and melodious voice melted Jing Su's heart.

"I'm much better. By the way, Changchun, where did you go this afternoon? I haven't seen you for so long." Jing Su asked casually.

"In the afternoon? Changchun is testing the new ship equipment, so she won't be able to stay with the Commander. But with Sister Yixian taking care of the Commander, it doesn't matter whether Changchun is there or not. There's nothing Sister Yixian can't handle, hehe." Changchun thought for a moment and replied.

'New ship equipment?' Jing Su caught a key word. There is indeed the concept of ship equipment in the game, but judging from the chibi character illustrations, no matter what ship equipment is equipped, it doesn't make any difference to the chibi character. She wondered if the ship girls in this world were the same.

"Alright, alright, stop playing and come eat." Before Jing Su could ask any further questions, a gentle voice rang out; it was Yi Xian urging everyone to prepare for dinner.

Yixian prepared a very lavish dinner, featuring everything from birds in the sky to animals on the ground and fish in the sea, a feast for Jingsu's eyes.

"Changchun, you can't eat yet, the commander hasn't taken his seat." Hearing that it was time to eat, Changchun transformed into a white lightning bolt, rushing to the dining table. Looking at the dazzling array of delicacies, his mouth watered, and he reached out to grab a chicken leg to eat. But before he could finish, Yixian called him back.

"Ah, Sister Yixian." Changchun's little hand froze in mid-air, her voice filled with grievance.

"It's alright, it's alright, I don't care about these things." Seeing Changchun's aggrieved expression, Jing Su quickly waved her hand.

"That won't do. Commander, you are the head of the family. It was fine when you weren't here, but now that you're back, the rules must be established. Changchun, you're not a child anymore. You can't act like you did before, you know? Disrespectful behavior will be laughed at by outsiders." Yixian smiled, but her tone left no room for argument.

"Sister, sister, what's wrong with Sister Yixian today? She's so fierce. She's never been like this before." Ning Hai and Ping Hai whispered to each other from the other side of the dining table.

"Yes, Sister Haitian said that Sister Yixian's behavior seems to be called jealousy."

"Vinegar!? What vinegar? Are we having dumplings for dinner tonight? I still prefer steamed buns to dumplings."

All you ever think about is eating steamed buns!

"But steamed buns are so delicious!"

"Pinghai, Ninghai, it's impolite to whisper in secrets!"

"Yes!!"

In this situation, what could Jing Su say? She obediently took her seat, and seeing the girls looking at her expectantly, as well as Yi Xian's gentle and sweet smile, Jing Su said, "Yi Xian, could you serve me a bowl of porridge? Let's eat. Changchun, Anshan, Ninghai, and Pinghai, you too, eat up. There's so much delicious food, don't waste any."

"Long live the Commander!"

Changchun was the first to act, followed closely by Ninghai. Pinghai stared blankly at the increasing number of buns in his bowl, grinning foolishly. Only Anshan looked at the food on the table, at a loss for what to do.

"What's wrong, Anshan? Don't you like it?" Jing Su noticed Anshan's unusual behavior and asked.

"I... I don't know which one tastes good. Commander, could you help me choose?" Anshan asked timidly.

"Is that so? If you want me to recommend something, this looks good. Hmm, it's a bit far, let me get it for you!" Jing Su thought for a moment. The dishes placed in front of her on the table were all her favorites. She wondered how Yi Xian knew her tastes.

"Cunning! Anshan is so cunning! Commander, I want some too, can you give some to others too?" Changchun muttered and shouted when he saw Jing Su's actions.

"Haha, you should finish the food in your own bowl first." Jing Su laughed. The food Changchun had piled up for her was almost as high as her chin, and there was no room for her to reach it even if she wanted to.

"Hehe, that's easy. Watch me, I'll show the Commander how to eat a bowl of rice in three bites!"

"This is what home feels like~" Yi Xian tucked her hair behind her ear and looked at Jing Su with a smile.

"Home, huh?" Jing Su was touched. He hadn't heard the word in a while. After graduating from university, his work location kept changing due to his major. He had to travel around with projects and hadn't been home to visit anyone for a long time.

"Commander, are you alright? Don't be sad, okay? Changchun won't be naughty." A timid voice came from behind.

Jing Su looked up and saw Chang Chun looking at her with teary eyes. The other girls also stopped what they were doing. Seeing this, Jing Su felt as if she had been electrocuted, and her whole body trembled. She said, "It's nothing. I'm just thinking about some things from the past, and it's making me a little emotional. You guys eat and drink as you please. I'm fine."

“But Commander, you look very sad,” Anshan murmured.

"Are you sad? I'm alright, I was just thinking about some things. If I made you uncomfortable, you can hug me~" Jing Su was interrupted by Yi Xian before she could finish speaking.

"Commander, we're all family. It's too formal to say such things. Changchun and Anshan, you guys are really something. The commander is thinking about something, so don't disturb him. Let's eat, or it'll get cold."

"Oh~" he drawled out.

"Okay, okay, I'll join too. To put it simply, I'm upset. There's so much delicious food, and I don't know what to eat first. If we don't finish it all, it will be a waste of Yixian's hard work in preparing it. Changchun and Anshan, can you recommend some good places to eat?" Seeing this scene, Jing Su knew that if she didn't do something, the others wouldn't be able to enjoy their meal.

"Is that so? You should have said so earlier, Commander. Here, have some, it's delicious, my favorite. Sister Yixian never makes it." Upon hearing this, Changchun's sorrow turned to joy. She immediately grabbed a plate of chicken wings and ran to Jing Su, handing her the fragrant chicken leg. However, she showed reluctance on her face, which showed that she really loved it.

"Commander, this is delicious." Anshan followed closely behind, presenting a jelly-like food.

"Me too..."

In no time, Jing Su was surrounded by all sorts of food, leaving her speechless. She quickly exclaimed, "That's enough, that's enough! I can't eat this much. Just give me a little bit of each. My stomach will feel uncomfortable if I eat too much. I'll just have some porridge and some meat. Haha, you guys, I'm really happy to have you all with me." Jing Su laughed it off.

"Changchun, Anshan, Ninghai, Pinghai, stop causing trouble. What do you want to eat? I'll make it for you later. Go back to your seats now." Yi Xian called out hastily, seemingly recalling her conversation with Jing Su at the front lines.

"Speaking of which, where are the others? If the port area is divided by faction, then this should be the Eastern Empire's base, so why are there so few people here?" As she looked around, Jing Su suddenly noticed a problem.

From Chapter Ten onwards, please rely on us more.

Jing Su's disappearance plunged the port area into chaos. Subsequently, due to a combination of factors, including internal conflicts, resource crises, and interference from external forces, some factions finally could not bear it any longer and, led by their leaders, left, thus beginning the disintegration of the port area.

This was the first version Jing Su heard, but during her conversation with Yi Xian, she discovered that there seemed to be another hidden story.

The port area is indeed embroiled in huge contradictions, and conflicts between the various factions do exist. At the height of the conflict, a battle almost broke out within the port area.

Later, the faction leader realized that things couldn't continue like this. Someone said: They used to be like sisters, but now they are fighting each other. If the commander returns and sees them like this, he will be disappointed and sad. At that time, the commander may really not come back.

This wasn't the best explanation, but it did temporarily calm the powder keg that was about to explode, and all the key figures gathered to discuss the follow-up matters in the port area.

The discussion lasted for three days, and the final conclusion was that since the remaining resources in the port were no longer sufficient to support all the ship girls staying in the port, it would be better to leave the port and develop independently by faction, each responsible for their own profits and losses. At that time, whether they wanted to continue searching or stay in the port, no one else was allowed to interfere.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the faction agreed to meet regularly to share information about Jing Su. They could choose not to speak, but if they said nothing, they shouldn't blame others for holding back. So, regardless of the value of the information, they could still obtain some intelligence at each meeting.

As for matters concerning their own development, they did not mention them. This lack of mention was quite thorough. Even someone like Yi Xian, who was in charge of a faction, did not know where the other factions' bases were located, except for Donghuang. Some of them were so well hidden that even what they were doing was unknown.

After listening to Yi Xian's story, Jing Su fell into deep thought. He originally thought that the Hong Kong region had fallen apart, but now it seems that leaving to develop independently was actually the best choice for the Hong Kong region under the circumstances at that time.

There are inherent conflicts between the various factions. If there were no external interference, the Free Iris and the Vichy Church would fight each other on their own. And it is a consensus between the two factions to confront the Royal Family. To some extent, the Free Iris and the Church are essentially the same faction, but they have separated due to various circumstances.

When the commander was still around, the ship girls were a united force, but with Jing Su gone, no one could calm the dissent within the port. Staying together would only turn them into a terrifying powder keg, and the ship girls could only scatter like stars in the sky.

However, despite the disbandment, the ship girls still maintain the designation of Dawn Port in their external publicity, only their titles have changed to something like "Dawn Port xx Faction". For example, the title of the Eastern Huang faction to which Yixian belongs is: Dawn Port - Eastern Huang Faction.

This move was not only a continuation of the antagonism between the camps, but also a helpless choice under the circumstances of the disintegration at that time.

The most direct factor contributing to the surge in conflict in the port area at that time was the impending depletion of resources. For both the search and defense factions, the resource problem had to be solved before taking any further action. Without resources, the ship girls couldn't even deploy their ship equipment, let alone fight the Sirens.

Since it is unknown how Jing Su obtained resources, for ship girls, obtaining resources requires the help of the Maritime Bureau, which is related to the division of labor between the two parties at that time.

Humanity was actually quite powerless in the face of the Sirens' invasion. It's not that human warships couldn't sink Sirens' warships, but rather that, given the Sirens' fighting style, humanity simply couldn't outlast them.

For a normal country, having a few dozen warships is enough to be considered a medium-sized maritime military power. Before the Sirens invaded, a few hundred main warships were enough to dominate a region. After the Sirens invaded, a few hundred warships? That was just the normal number of Sirens warships in a single battle.

The Sirens seemed endless; their terrifying numbers were their greatest advantage over humanity. Coupled with their advanced armor and terrifying firepower, the Maritime Bureau suffered repeated defeats under the Sirens' offensive.

In the largest known battle to date, the Sirens deployed nearly 3,000 capital warships in three waves, not even counting suicide ships that were essentially free kills.

When the Sirens swarm reaches a certain size, they can even deploy a peculiar force field. Within the field's coverage area, the Sirens' artillery fire has an extremely high hit rate; there have been instances where their naval guns have even detonated human missiles. In short, when the Sirens swarm reaches a certain size, they essentially possess missile interception capabilities.

Fortunately, after research, the Maritime Safety Administration discovered that the Sirens were not without weaknesses, namely their command system. Through the study of the Sirens' wreckage, it was learned that these Sirens were purely intelligent warships. No intelligent life was found inside them, but a number of signal receivers and transmitters were found.

Through investigation and research, it was found that every time the Sirens launched a large-scale attack, they would be equipped with a command ship to take command. Under the command of the command ship, the Sirens advanced and retreated in a measured manner, fearless of death, and would do their best to execute any strange orders as long as they were beneficial to the battle.

The battle between humans and the Sirens is equivalent to fighting a supercomputer. The enemy has unlimited resources and warships, and the commands issued are all calculated, real-time optimal commands for the battlefield. How can you fight like that? You can't outmaneuver them with resources, and you can't even break through their shields in terms of combat power. It's simply impossible to win.

Until the appearance of ship girls, it seems that ship girls were born to counter the Sirens' combat mode. The fully intelligent Sirens warships are indeed powerful, but this also means that they are extremely dependent on the command ship. Once the command ship is destroyed, the remaining Sirens warships become sitting ducks, at the mercy of their enemies. Even if the Sirens later develop an automatic defense mode that allows warships to continue fighting after losing contact with the command ship, they are still much easier to deal with than before. Without coordination, the force field disappears, and at this time, the human side's missiles can come in handy.

Therefore, the current battle pattern between humans and Sirens is to first find out the location of the command ship, then have the ship girls carry out a decapitation strike, and after the decapitation strike is successful, to take the next step based on the situation.

It's not that human warships can't carry out decapitation strikes, but after doing the math, it's clear that it's simply impossible. If humans were to use their own warships for decapitation strikes, they would be dragged down by the Sirens in terms of cost.

Admittedly, when humanity is facing a life-or-death crisis, once the production line is up, warships are launched in droves. However, the sheer size of the Sirens means that in every battle, humanity not only loses a large number of warships, but more importantly, it loses a massive number of professional personnel. Compared to the army, the navy is indeed more difficult to train. On the front lines of the war, the Maritime Administration soon found itself in a situation where it had more ships than people.

Therefore, the most economical and practical way to fight at present is to use ship girls as the spearhead to decapitate the command ship, and then have the Maritime Bureau finish off the enemy. If the Sirens are large in scale, the ship girls can also participate in the finishing blow.

Cooperating with the Maritime Safety Administration is the most convenient and fastest way for ship girls to obtain resources in the short term. However, after learning about the situation in Dawn Port, the Maritime Safety Administration put forward many additional conditions, such as including the ship girls in the Maritime Safety Administration's fleet and subjecting them to their jurisdiction.

The ship girls naturally could not accept these conditions, and the two sides continued to argue until the eventual collapse occurred.

Why was separating the ship girls into factions the best option at the time? Because only in this way could the ship girls negotiate with the Maritime Bureau.

For the Maritime Safety Administration, a unified and united Dawn Port District is far too powerful. Although the ship girls are stratified in strength, the combat power of the top ship girls is enough to shock the eyes of the Maritime Safety Administration commanders.

Someone once risked their life to go to the front lines and record Enterprise's battle scenes. The situation was truly one-man army; nearly a thousand enemy warships were wiped out by Enterprise alone. (Content from the anime)

Although it was the Sirens fleet that was successfully decapitated, it was enough to terrify the Maritime Bureau.

Since the video circulated, the Maritime Bureau's attitude towards the ship girls has become quite complicated. On the one hand, it needs the ship girls to help resist the Sirens, but on the other hand, it is worried that this terrifying force will backfire on itself.

So when news of the internal strife in Dawnport came, the happiest people were not the Sirens, but the Maritime Bureau. After confirming that the internal conflicts between the various factions in Dawnport were sharp, the Maritime Bureau loosened its grip on resources and no longer imposed a lot of additional conditions as before.

Clearly, from the perspective of the Maritime Safety Administration, the newly split Chenxi Port Area has weakened to the point where it can be brought under its control, so its attitude has naturally improved a lot.

Although the Maritime Bureau remains conservative in its attitude toward key resources, it allows ship girls to accept commissions to earn resources, and in each battle, it will also provide corresponding resources based on the results.

"So, you've relied on these things to get through this long?" After listening to Yi Xian's story, Jing Su was deeply moved and somewhat lost in thought.

"Yes, you don't know the cost of firewood and rice until you're in charge. Now I understand why you only sent two fleets out before, Commander. I thought, we have so many powerful sisters, wouldn't we get more results if we all went out together? But after I started maintaining a faction, I realized that there are too many things to deal with, too many troubles to solve, and the resource gap is always huge. The sisters don't understand. Many times, I have to make some decisions against my will. I really have no choice. And this is just one faction. Commander, you have to maintain a port area. I don't even want to think about the troubles involved."

Commander, thank you for sheltering us from the storms of life all these years. Please continue to rely on us in the future. We have grown up and are now very reliable.

After saying that, Yi Xian walked behind Jing Su, wrapped her arms around Jing Su's neck, rested her head on Jing Su's face, breathed softly, and spoke gently.

Chapter Eleven: Let the Port Area Be Filled with Laughter Again

Amid the Maritime Bureau's contradictory stance of both suppression and appeasement, the various factions weathered the initial chaos and moved in the direction they believed they could find a commander.

"Sakura Empire chooses to deepen its cooperation with the Maritime Bureau, Eagle Union fights on the front lines, Northern Alliance hides in the north, Ironblood conducts unknown experiments in the depths of the ocean, and Royal Navy and Vichy Iris are always arguing..."

"Is it really that chaotic?" With just a few words, Yi Xian described the general situation of the port area's faction, which was indeed quite chaotic and scattered.

Even though Yi Xian was the person in charge of the faction, she only knew the general situation of the others at the last meeting. She really didn't know the specifics. After all, they had cut off contact with some of them and kept their identities hidden. For example, Yi Xian said that she didn't even know where the Northern Alliance was now.

"What's the situation with Donghuang now? There can't be only a few people left in the port area." Seeing that she couldn't get any more information, Jing Su turned to ask about Donghuang's situation, mainly asking where the others had gone. Although, due to some unspeakable reasons, Donghuang's fleet ranked low in the port area in terms of both the number of ship girls and overall strength, it shouldn't be so bad that there were only a handful of people left.

"Anyone else? They're testing the new ship equipment," Yi Xian replied.

"New ship equipment? What ship equipment? By the way, how does the ship equipment appear on you?" Hearing this, Jing Su got excited. In the game, ship equipment and character animations are not compatible. No matter what ship equipment you put on the ship girls, there will be no change in the characters. Even if you take off all the ship equipment and leave the ship girls naked, they will still fire their cannons and launch their planes when it's time, and there will be no effect on the animation.

"Ship equipment? What kind of reaction mode? Does it mean that different ship equipment will cause changes? Normally, there won't be any major changes. After different ship equipment is deployed, it only affects attributes such as shelling and loading. The external performance remains the same. As for what ship equipment is being researched, Commander, you can ask Changchun and Anshan for more information. The new ship equipment is being developed around them."

"Missiles? Are they already guided-missile destroyers?" New ship equipment, and related to Changchun and Anshan, the only thing Jing Su could think of was a guided-missile destroyer.

"Commander, have you lost your memory or not? I clearly didn't tell anyone about Changchun and Anshan's situation. Commander, those two are our Donghuang's secret weapon. Please keep it a secret." Yi Xian smiled bitterly. She originally wanted to surprise Jing Su with the missile, but now, instead of a surprise, she was shocked and even frightened herself.

"Well, since you're asking, then no problem. So, the explosion I heard at the beach earlier was Changchun and the others testing missiles?" Jing Su nodded, then recalled the explosion he heard when he first transmigrated here. At the time, he thought there was a war going on nearby.

"An explosion at the beach? That shouldn't be the case. Today was just a shipboard equipment test, not a launch test. After all, equipment with such a high level of secrecy wouldn't be tested with people from other factions present. Commander, could you describe the sound you heard?" Hearing Jing Su's words, Yi Xian frowned, clearly somewhat surprised.

"It's like 'boom~ boom boom~'" Jing Su roughly described the sound, gesturing with her hands as she did so.

"Is the direction of this shelling frequency and sound coming from the vicinity of the railing?"

"Mm." Jing Su nodded.

"That could be a Siren invasion, and the sisters are probably dealing with the invading enemies."

"Enemy invasion? The cannon fire is so close, are the Sirens attacking?" Jing Su was somewhat frightened. What did it mean for enemy activity to occur near his base camp?