I really don't have money for the ship girls.

I really don't have any money for Kantai Collection (author: Sauerkraut Bobo Chicken)

My name is Yingtian, the "Tian" in "Calling to Heaven, but receiving no response."

Orphaned, no car, no house, unfinished studies, and burdened with debt.

My biggest wish is to pay off my student loans, work until I'm forty to repay society for its support, and then go to the countryside to farm.

"So, I really don't have the money to spend on in-game purchases. I was also recently framed and lost my part-time job. Your company really made a mistake in choosing us." Ying Tian said earnestly to the blonde beauty in front of him who called herself the Prince of Wales.

"Perhaps this is better?" The Prince of Wales brushed his brilliant blond hair behind his ear, having formed his own judgment after his encounter with Ying Tian.

Then, all sorts of women appeared around Ying Tian, ​​maintaining trust, building an economic foundation, working in shifts, and immigrating as a ship girl... Ying Tian's online image gradually changed from a marginalized youth to a victim of cyberbullying, a mixed-race blonde older sister, a young and promising career woman, a bilingual VTuber, and a big spender... They are all Ying Tian, ​​yet not just Ying Tian.

This is a modern farming story where a commander and ship girls help each other.

Volume 1: My Garrison

Chapter 1: I Really Don't Have Money to Spend on In-App Purchases

In early April, Binjiang City is still experiencing a mix of warm and cold weather, but by midday, the sun is shining brightly and warmly on the ground.

It's 11:30 now, half an hour before the end of the second class at Binjiang University, so there aren't many people in the cafeteria yet. Ying Tian is in line at the noodle stall, and he hesitates for a moment when it's almost his turn.

Today is Monday, which is supposed to be a time to replenish protein for the week, but I've been busy with various things lately and forgot to go to the supermarket to buy discounted eggs for 50 cents each. The hard-boiled eggs at the stall are selling for a dollar each. To add them or not to add them, that is the question.

In the end, Ying Tian decided not to add any more. After all, he had just lost one of his three part-time jobs, and his scholarship and grant might also be in trouble. It was better to be frugal for now. The 3.5 yuan pickled mustard greens and shredded pork noodles at the second canteen were already a very generous subsidized price.

Holding her tray, Ying Tian used a traditional technique passed down in the orphanage to scramble a large egg into the free soup. Then she walked to the far corner of the dining hall, where a woman was sitting and waiting for her.

A beautiful woman wearing a baseball cap sat at the table with her hands clasped together. A few strands of golden hair peeked out from the brim of the cap. Her refined face and delicate features possessed both Eastern delicacy and Western glamour, making it difficult to determine her ethnicity. A large red coat completely concealed her beautiful figure. The seemingly understated attire only drew attention because of her striking appearance. Several people were already secretly watching her, while her red eyes remained fixed on Ying Tian, ​​making no attempt to conceal her gaze.

This woman is the Prince of Wales.

It's not the Prince of Wales, who has been a crown prince for seventy years and recently became the legitimate heir to the British throne, but rather the second ship of the King George V-class battleships, HMS Prince of Wales.

That's right, she calls herself a ship girl.

Ying Tian had only heard of some game companies using low-cost methods such as birthday calls and sending snacks to enhance players' sense of belonging and thus increase user stickiness. But she never expected this company to be so ruthless, actually hiring a blonde beauty to force players to spend money on the spot. Now, anime mobile games have become so greedy. Is a single purchase of 648 yuan enough for her to earn a day's wages?

However, Ying Tian thought again that if a beauty of this caliber were to appear so realistically, and he were to encounter a pure-hearted otaku or a spendthrift, he would probably spend ten or twenty orders.

After all, although this kind of thing is outrageous, considering that she is actually the ship girl Princess of Wales, her identity as an employee of the mobile game company suddenly seems very reasonable.

Unfortunately, you've chosen the wrong target. I'm a student, and I don't even spend any money on this. You didn't do any internal data research before coming here, so you're destined to fail to meet your KPIs.

Thinking this, Ying Tian sat down opposite "Prince of Wales" and said, "I have another part-time job to do right away. Do you mind if I listen while I eat?"

"do not mind."

The simple words came from the Prince of Wales' thin lips, his voice calm and pleasant. This was one of the reasons why Ying Tian was not impatient. You can't hit a smiling face, and everyone has a hard time making a living.

"Then tell me, I'll cooperate with your work."

The Prince of Wales looked at the man before her, tall and thin, with an unkempt appearance, which was indeed somewhat different from the commander she had imagined. However, that did not matter. She took a light breath and said, "There are countless parallel universes in this world. Theoretically, these worlds should not be connected to each other. However, there are always unexpected events in the universe, and the unexpected event comes from you."

As he spoke, the Prince of Wales paused, wanting to see Ying Tian's reaction, but Ying Tian did not react at all. He was picking at his noodles, thinking that the shredded chicken seemed a bit fishy today, probably leftovers from the cafeteria last night.

"I'm listening."

“Hmm.” Not receiving the expected response, the Prince of Wales didn't mind and continued, “In our world, decades ago, a group of deep-sea monsters brought destruction and despair. We called them Sirens, and my companions and I were their weapons, ship girls who were our own ships. Yes, just like the game you played. This is one of the countless coincidences in the multiverse. The only difference is that your existence caused a disturbance in the multiverse, so everything you did in the game, with you as the coordinate, affected our world. As our commander, you brought us resources and more companions, and also led us to suppress the Sirens for a time. However, later, due to your laziness, the Sirens returned, and our naval base was brought to the brink of collapse.”

“Three months ago, our port technicians retrieved materials capable of distorting spacetime from the wreckage of the Sirens. After a series of efforts, we finally managed to bring me to this world through the spacetime coordinates you left behind, allowing me to meet you. Our request is simple: cooperate with us to complete the spacetime experiment and take on your previous responsibilities. If you have a sense of honor, I think you won't refuse after you learn the truth.”

That's it, I'm done.

After delivering these words expressionlessly, the Prince of Wales crossed his arms and looked at Ying Tian amidst the noise of the dining hall, seemingly wanting his answer.

Ying Tian took a big slurp of noodles with pickled mustard greens. Even while eating, he listened to the Prince of Wales's words the whole time. He just wanted to say that it was hard for him to say such a cringeworthy line without laughing. He was very capable. Everyone earns money with difficulty.

"Yes, your Mandarin is very good, you don't have any accent at all, that's impressive."

"Thank you, and then?"

"Then..." Ying Tian took a breath and said, "To be honest, I think the plot you mentioned is pretty good. It's much better than your current weird Riddler storyline, where players have almost no sense of participation. With this plot, there's still some sense of presence. Even for games that sell character art, good writing can make the characters more three-dimensional and make it easier to sell the art. I suggest you do something like a major cataclysm or a parallel world reboot. You have to give players some sense of participation."

The Prince of Wales raised an eyebrow and said, "So you don't believe me?"

"I believe you, but that's all I can do," Ying Tian said sincerely. "I really don't understand your purpose in going to the school to find customers. Besides, if you can find me, who used to be a player in your game, you should naturally be able to get my recharge list. It's really not worth wasting your time on a free-to-play player like me, and I don't have..."

"Yingtian, I've finally found you. I guessed you were eating noodles here."

A melodious female voice interrupted Ying Hui's words. The pretty woman, still wearing a white sweater, sat down next to Ying Hui and then noticed the Prince of Wales sitting opposite him. She covered her mouth and said, "Sorry, I didn't see you talking... So beautiful... Are you an exchange student from the International College or a professor from the School of Foreign Languages?"

"No, she's a game player..."

"I am a friend of Yingtian."

The Prince of Wales interrupted Ying Tian, ​​which puzzled her. However, thinking that she must have worked for nothing today if she met someone as poor as herself, she suddenly felt a sense of sympathy for Ying Tian and casually covered for her, saying, "Senior Sister Rui Die, you know that I am an orphan, so some kind people from society often come to inquire about my situation. This is her."

Rui Die blinked and said, "They seem to be international friends."

"Everyone has a responsibility to do public good."

Rui Die glanced at the Prince of Wales, admiring her beauty and heroic spirit once again, and exclaimed, "Thank you for your attention to our country's public welfare undertakings, and your Chinese is so good, Auntie."

Aunt?

The Prince of Wales, who had been wearing a polite smile, suddenly twitched at the last word, gripped the corner of the table with his hand, and almost broke the plastic tabletop off.

Rui Die realized her slip of the tongue and quickly said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just that in my impression, people who are involved in public welfare are all older people. Plus, you have a dignified and heroic air about you, so I thought I was a child... Anyway, I misspoke. Actually, you are very young and beautiful."

"It's alright, you can talk to each other first if you have something to say."

The Prince of Wales waved her hand, not in a hurry for the man in front of her to accept what she was saying. She simply crossed her arms and turned to the other side, seemingly not wanting to interrupt their conversation. Actually, there was a reflective wall there, and as Wales looked at her young and beautiful face reflected in it, she suddenly understood—I'm sorry, Hood. I advised you not to care about the nickname "Auntie" before. I was shallow. It really hurts and is hateful.

Rui Die thought about the purpose of her trip and said to Ying Tian, ​​"I already sent you a WeChat message, why aren't you replying?"

Ying Tian had just finished drinking all the soup in his bowl when he said somewhat helplessly, "Senior, it's not that I'm ignoring you, it's just that I don't know how to reply."

"Just stating a position."

"How can I express my opinion? Fu Ya already knows that her bank card was used for shopping by her mother, and it has nothing to do with me. Why should I apologize? Shouldn't she be the one apologizing?"

Rui Die was embarrassed, but as the vice president of the student council who came to mediate, she still said, "Girls are shy, so let's give her a way out."

“I will not apologize.” Ying Tian refused outright. “Fu Ya has suffered no loss whatsoever in this whole affair. Before the matter was even fully investigated, she posted about me on the school’s confession wall and on Weibo, causing me to lose my library part-time job and have my scholarship application rejected. Now that the truth is out, shouldn’t she be the one apologizing to me? It’s unreasonable for me to apologize to her instead, senior.”

“It’s really unreasonable.” Rui Die said, her eyes darting around, embarrassed to look Ying Tian in the eye. “The school still hopes to make this a small matter and let it go. The impact isn’t too big yet. You can apologize for things like your work attitude not being good enough. Your part-time job and scholarship can be restored.”

I will not apologize.

"that……"

Ying Tian stood up, interrupting Rui Die, and said, "Senior, you're a good person, but this is my attitude. I just don't care about those voices talking behind my back because of Fu Ya. It's not that I didn't hear them. Just consider it my insignificant bit of persistence. I have a part-time job this afternoon, so I'll be going now."

With that, Ying Tian picked up his tray and left his seat.

Rui Die scratched her high ponytail tied behind her head in annoyance and sighed. She had already gone against her conscience by coming to comfort Ying Tian, ​​and now she was even more at a loss for what to say.

The Prince of Wales followed Ying Tian without making a sound. Her beautiful eyes were bright and discerning, especially in situations like this, which revealed people's true feelings. It seemed that the timing of her arrival was quite ingenious.

Chapter Two: This is what they call adding misfortune upon misfortune.

Ying Tian was annoyed, but not by Rui Die.

Rui Die, a third-year student at Binjiang University, is the vice president of the student union, the most beautiful girl in the foreign language department, and has a good appearance, a wealthy family background, and a gentle personality. Most importantly, she is an absolutely good person.

Rui Die was as warm as spring to everyone she met, fully demonstrating her excellent family upbringing. If she were a boy, she would probably be called a "central heating system" (meaning overly accommodating and controlling), but since she was a woman, she was an absolute goddess. Every year, she was the one who took charge of recruiting new members for the student council. Countless freshmen were lured into the student council by her gentle greetings, and Ying Tian was one of them.

Especially after learning that Ying Tian was an orphan who grew up in an orphanage and got into Binjiang University through his own efforts, perhaps Rui Die's maternal instincts were awakened, and she took even better care of Ying Tian.

This includes, but is not limited to, personally taking him to departmental meetings, appointing him as an assistant in organizing activities, and suddenly showing him concern and care... Senior Sister Rui Die's actions in order to help him better integrate into the school touched Ying Tian, ​​but actually caused him more trouble. Compared to wasting time with the beautiful senior sister, Ying Tian would rather do a part-time job so that his college life, burdened with student loans, could be more relaxed.

Fu Ya is a new member of the student council. She is bright and lovely and can be considered a beauty in the department. Rui Die regards her as her successor, so she often takes Fu Ya and Ying Tian with her when doing things. Because Ying Tian is taciturn, his relationship with Fu Ya is actually just average. If Rui Die is not around, the two of them will hardly say a word to each other.

Being around pretty upperclassmen and underclassmen is a source of trouble for some people, and jealousy for others.

What happened next was quite simple.

Fu Ya went to the school library to read a book and left a bank card inside as a bookmark in the reading room. After finding the book on the shelf, she noticed that the amount on her bank card was incorrect and assumed that the staff who were organizing the books had discovered the card and used it fraudulently. She then secretly put the card back in the book.

The unfortunate staff member who organized the books was Ying Tian, ​​who worked part-time at the library.

Next, Fu Ya, being emotionally fragile and instigated by someone, posted Ying Tian's name on the school's confession wall and Weibo before the school and bank's investigation results came out, making almost the entire school think that he had stolen something. His orphan status was also misinterpreted, which confirmed his motive for stealing.

When the bank finally found out the truth—that the money in the card belonged to Fu Ya's mother who had previously linked it to her bank account, and that she had made the wrong online shopping choice that night, it had nothing to do with Ying Tian—few people were still paying attention to the matter.

Later, Ying Tian learned that Fu Ya did this not only because of her own wishes, but also because of the instigation of Zhang Ze, who was also a member of the student council. This playboy had long been unhappy with Ying Tian's "luck with women" and took this opportunity to comfort and instigate Fu Ya, and also took advantage of the situation to become her boyfriend.

All I can say is that clueless girls are annoying, and simps deserve to die a horrible death.

Ying Tian was somewhat annoyed by this matter, which was truly an undeserved disaster, but now there was another matter that was also troubling him.

"No, you heard it yourself. I'm an orphan and a student. I really don't have any money to spend on your games." Ying Hui looked helplessly at the Prince of Wales following behind him. This beautiful woman had followed him all the way from the school and was almost at the supermarket where he worked part-time. "It's no use for you to keep bothering me. You might as well find another place. Everyone has a hard time making money. Let's understand each other."

The Prince of Wales smiled and said, "It's alright, just consider it as me doing my job. Besides, I really am the Prince of Wales."

Ying Tian stopped somewhat helplessly, looked at the beautiful woman's fair and smiling face, and then walked on, saying, "You're quite pretty, speak good Chinese, and are a foreigner. You could teach English at any school better than... Oh right, the government optimized the entire education and training industry before."

Even a beautiful and privileged foreign friend like her has it tough. She can no longer make money teaching English while lying down, so she has to work twice as hard to make a living. She has to earn money from her sugar daddy and also squeeze every last drop out of poor students. Seriously, I'm devastated.

Ying Tian immediately realized that his little problem was nothing, and he should just continue living his life well.

"Thank you."

The Prince of Wales was somewhat puzzled as to what Ying Tian meant by saying thank you.

“I understand your job, but I also have my own job.” Seeing that she was still following him, Ying Hui thought for a moment and pointed to a storefront at the supermarket entrance. “If you’re willing, wait for me in that KFC. I’ll finish my part-time job at five o’clock. I can do research or help with filming, but spending money on in-game purchases is absolutely out of the question.”

The Prince of Wales nodded and smiled: "Okay, then I'll wait for you inside."

"If I can't see you, I'll assume you've given up."

"Don't worry, you'll see me then."

"A strange obsession..."

Ying Tian muttered something under his breath. Although he found the beautiful woman in front of him incomprehensible, he had a kind of empathetic appreciation for persistent people. So he simply waved goodbye to the Prince of Wales and walked into the supermarket. This was one of his three part-time jobs, mainly responsible for guiding customers to use the self-checkout machines, and sometimes also doing cashier work or helping unload goods.

After watching Ying Tian's retreating figure disappear into the supermarket, the Prince of Wales strode with his long, straight legs into the fast-food restaurant that Ying Tian had pointed out. He found a seat in a corner and noticed that many customers and employees were watching him, but no one seemed to be shooing him away. So, the Prince of Wales crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and pretended to doze off.

What she said to Yingtian was true, of course. The only discrepancy was that the garrison was not in dire straits. It was just that, faced with the Sirens' attack and the stagnation of its own strength, coupled with the disunity caused by the lack of a commander, it was indeed becoming increasingly powerless.

Therefore, when Strasser and Akashi discovered the spacetime-distorting material on the remains of the Sirens Arbiter, and obtained Commander Yingtian's spacetime coordinates, those traveling through time had a guiding light, preventing them from getting lost in endless parallel worlds. This is why the Naval Base made the collective decision to send the Prince of Wales to this world at great risk, for the sake of the Naval Base's future.

Listening to the noisy commotion inside the fast food restaurant, the Prince of Wales tapped his arm lightly with his slender white fingers, multitasking as he tried to decipher the conversations of the customers. Although he was unfamiliar with the place and had limited sources of information, he could still glean a lot of useful information from the clues and conversations with strangers.

There were no beggars, there were professional community cleaners and security patrols, the conversations were mostly about life and entertainment, there were excellent universities, and the residents' lives were very regular... From these scattered details, the Prince of Wales believed that this was a generally peaceful and prosperous world. At least in this region, there was no war, no Sirens, and those terrible monsters and ship girls like himself were really just a game in this parallel world.

If it is confirmed that Commander Yingtian can still influence his world by manipulating spacetime to obtain resources, oil, spare parts, Mind Cubes, etc., then this place will be an excellent logistics base and resource supply station.

However, the Prince of Wales was not in a hurry to draw a conclusion.

She came to this world for an even more important reason: to determine whether Ying Tian was qualified to continue as their commander.

As the sole bridge connecting the two worlds, the commander must possess excellent character, personality, and abilities.

It's not that there aren't ship girls in the naval base who blindly trust the commander; in fact, quite a few of them do. There are also many people in the naval base's decision-making level who hold this view. However, everyone is generally rational. The Prince of Wales's biggest purpose for this trip is not only to examine this world, but also to examine the commander.

In her initial contact with the commander, the Prince of Wales had a good impression of Ying Tian. At this moment, she was glad that she had gone against the advice of others and had not sent Yi Xian, Guanghui, Frederick the Great and others over.

Even with a favorability rating of only around 90, I unconsciously defended Ying Tian during our interactions, finding it difficult to remain completely rational. It's hard to imagine that ship girls who harbor feelings for the commander could make a rational judgment.

After all, that's what ship girls are like—idealistic beings who value emotions and the soul.

"Hi, miss, I don't have enough money in my WeChat account to order via mobile. Could you please transfer some money to me? I'll pay you in cash."

"I don't have a cell phone."

"Uh... okay, sorry to bother you."

After rejecting several people who tried to strike up a conversation or add him on WeChat, the Prince of Wales remained cold and unresponsive to everyone, displaying an aloof and icy demeanor.

It's not even 2 o'clock yet, and there are still more than three hours until the time I agreed to meet Yingtian.

The Prince of Wales considered whether to continue waiting for him here, or to use this time to go out and explore the world some more; either option seemed viable.

Another thing is that the Prince of Wales felt that he was a little hungry...

Just as the Prince of Wales was smelling the familiar aroma of fries from KFC and reminiscing about Daiying, she was somewhat surprised to find Yingtian walking in, even though it was only a little past two o'clock.

Ying Tian also spotted the Prince of Wales in the corner. After all, a beauty like her would stand out even in understated attire. He walked over, smiled helplessly, and said, "You're still here."

“I told you, you’ll see me.”