Elder brother's garrison

Page 1066

"Fantasy...what, what fantasy..."

Lu Yun closed his eyes and sighed softly.

"You've been an admiral for over a decade. Perhaps you were once an excellent admiral, but so much time has passed. You're no longer young, and your decisions are no longer correct, yet you still dream of being someone superior." Lu Yun pointed at the young admiral. "What you just saw was the memory of an ordinary civilian during that disaster. What I did was simply to let you relive what he experienced during that disaster."

"What...other people's memories...?" The young admiral looked at Lu Yun in disbelief. "How could you do something like this...?"

“Memory is an important element of the Admiral Network, isn’t it?” Lu Yun shrugged. “Theoretically, this is not something that cannot be done.”

"What I just experienced..." The young admiral was somewhat dazed.

Snapped!

Suddenly, Lu Yun stretched out his hands and slapped the young admiral hard on the shoulders.

The sudden touch made the young admiral flinch.

"Do you know why your ship girls came looking for me?" Lu Yun stared intently at the young admiral.

"...for...why?"

“Because I’m just a minor admiral who happened to be passing by, not a member of the military police, not from the governor’s mansion, not some high-ranking figure! I have no right to arrest you or put you in jail!” Lu Yun approached the young admiral inch by inch. “Now that you’ve woken up from your fantasy, think carefully, use your brain!”

"Thinking...thinking about what?"

"Do you even know anything about this village?"

As Lu Yun spoke, his gaze was intense.

Looking into Lu Yun's eyes, the young admiral stood there dumbfounded.

For some reason, my head started spinning on its own, as if lubricant had been injected into it, and my thoughts began to rewind second by second, hour by hour, day by day.

Like in a fairy tale, the castle, situated by the beautiful sea, has shed its disguise like broken glass, transforming into a dark and imposing garrison.

"Admiral, regarding tomorrow's deep-sea cleanup, here is a survey report on the ecological conditions around the operational coastline."

The ship girl delivered a form to the admiral.

"Oh, let me see—hmm, it's fine."

The admiral looked down at the form, nodded, tossed it onto the side of the table, and continued working at his desk.

"Admiral..."

"what's up?"

"According to our investigation, there is a small village some distance from the coast..."

"Well, I see it."

"Should we... before the war begins...?"

"unnecessary."

"Why……"

"Isn't that place far from the sea?"

"It is indeed very far, but what if there are deep-sea amphibious ships..."

“Sigh…you really don’t understand unless you’re in my position.” The admiral sighed. “Putting aside the fact that it’s very safe there, getting the residents of a village to take refuge is a very troublesome thing in itself. It not only costs a lot of money, time and manpower, but also requires us to make arrangements with several institutions in the city. Even so, the residents will not be grateful for our actions. We’re going through so much trouble just for a small village where there is almost no chance of any oversight. It’s really unnecessary.”

"But Admiral, that is, after all..."

"Even if a small oversight occurs, as long as the compensation is paid properly, it won't be a problem." The admiral interrupted the ship girl and raised his head. "Think about it, is it better to spend a lot of money and time to evacuate people within a radius of tens or even hundreds of miles before each battle, or to pay a compensation for minor incidents that happen ten, dozens, or even hundreds of times without a single mistake?"

"...Admiral, this..." The ship girl looked at the admiral in astonishment.

"I say yes, and that's it; there's no need for discussion."

The admiral smiled, put down the document, and stood up.

Under the astonished gazes of the ship girls, the admiral walked up to them and gently patted one of them on the shoulder.

"After all, those... are different from me and from you."

"They are just ordinary residents."

"You just need to stay by my side and keep smiling at me."

After saying this.

Reflected deep within the young admiral's pupils.

It was the secretary ship's astonished, bewildered, and incredulous gaze.

What an interesting expression, looking a bit worried and troubled.

……

"You remember now?" Lu Yun asked, looking into the young admiral's eyes.

“I…” the young admiral began, speechless.

"In your sixteen years as admiral, amidst countless praises and flattery, you've gradually become accustomed to your superior status, slowly separating yourself from ordinary people. This only became apparent recently when you started using new tactics," Lu Yun spoke up for the young admiral. "You ignored the demands of your ship girls, adorning them in your fantasies as mere vases that only smile at you. You used tactics that were extremely dangerous for the coastal residents, yet you refused to share any of the risks with them, measuring human lives by the value of money!"

"The reason you did these things is because you were already corrupted by your high position and the sense of superiority you gained from the Admiral Network. You considered yourself superior and lost your humanity." Lu Yun released the young Admiral, letting him fall back to the ground with a thud. "That's why I came to find you."

The young admiral fell face-first to the ground with a thud, splattering black ash everywhere.

The young admiral collapsed to the ground, looking at Lu Yun in a daze.

"Why...why didn't my ship girl just tell me directly...?"

"Of course they said it, countless times. But you, living in your own fantasy, ignored it all and ordered them to be nothing more than a smiling vase."

"..."

"After all, you can't wake someone who's pretending to be asleep."

Lu Yun said to the young admiral, "So I chose to give you a nightmare—how about it? All those things you just experienced, the shells that really rang in your ears, the flames you were surrounded by, and the pain of parting from your friends, are just the feelings of so-called ordinary civilians that you treat as a little compensation and measure in money."

The young admiral clutched his chest, his mouth agape, unable to utter a sound for a moment.

"How does it feel to go from being a superior being back to being human after having a nightmare?" Lu Yun's deep voice echoed in the young admiral's ears.

I've already woken up from that dream.

But everything the young admiral had experienced—the excruciating pain that seemed to crush his body, the intense sorrow and indignation, and all the intense emotions of hatred and humiliation—remained within him, constantly tearing at his heart.

The young admiral stared blankly at the street, tears streaming down his face.

He lowered his head, trembling, and pressed his forehead against the black ash on the ground, slowly sobbing uncontrollably.

"...I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm really sorry!!"

The young admiral wailed, as if venting his deepest sorrow, crying with all his might.

Filled with intense regret.

-

"...And then what?"

Xiao Bai opened his eyes and looked at Teacher Jinghua, who was sitting hunched over on the stool.

"And then... there were just some broken stalls."

Teacher Jinghua grinned at Xiaobai, revealing an expression that was hard to tell whether to laugh or cry.

"Because that fool's ship girl, although she was completely disappointed in her admiral, still had more than ten years of friendship left, and still had a last shred of hope for that fool. So she only found a small town garrison admiral who had acted out of a sense of justice. So in the end, that fool did not receive direct punishment. He simply gave up his position as admiral, and ridiculously, he came to a small coastal village unscathed, shutting down his past and the admiral network in his mind, becoming an ordinary person, and quietly living out the rest of his life."

"what……"

"Furthermore, the strong emotions that the rookie naval commander instilled in that fool's heart through some miraculous means have never faded over the years." Jinghua's teacher patted his chest. "Even now... that heart-wrenching despair and bewilderment are still crystal clear whenever I recall them."

Xiao Bai lowered his head with a conflicted expression.

"Little girl, don't make that face." Teacher Jinghua looked at Xiaobai and grinned at her. "Actually, this isn't a bad thing. This feeling of other people's emotions has filled the void of my lost humanity and become part of my heart."

"Oh..." Xiaobai nodded, thought for a while, "Then... Grandpa, what happened to your ship girls later?"

"Them... ." Jinghua's teacher looked up. "Perhaps they were too disappointed in me. When I resigned from my position as admiral, most of my ship girls, including my secretary ship, chose to dismantle their ship equipment and join human society. Only those ship girls who were on expeditions for many years and had almost no contact with me retained their ship girl status because our relationship was not deep and their injuries were not severe."

"……I see."

"It really is a story of retribution, isn't it? The admiral who linked civilians with pensions in his early years... has now become a civilian seen as money by others after retirement." Kyouka-sensei slapped her thigh, shaking her head with a wry smile. "Truly... a great retribution..."

"..." Looking at Teacher Jinghua's appearance, Xiaobai felt that she had a lot to say, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Thank you for listening to my story." Teacher Jinghua finally smiled at Xiaobai.

"Ah... um."

"You have successfully completed the task of protecting the small fishing village. Thank you very much, thank you so much." Teacher Jinghua said to Xiaobai, "The card that Jinghua gave you originally contained all the savings I had left for Jinghua. Apart from that, my family is penniless. I'm sorry that I can't give you anything more now."

"...It's alright, it's more than enough." Xiaobai was taken aback, then nodded quickly.

"Your naval base must be very busy... Don't waste your time on this old codger." Kyoka's teacher smiled at Shiro. "If you want to find Kyoka, you can find her in the middle of the village... I'm sorry I can't see you off any further."

"Um... well, grandpa... I... uh, goodbye..." Xiaobai looked at Jinghua's teacher with a conflicted expression, hesitated for a while, and finally sighed softly, waved to Jinghua's teacher, turned around, pushed open the door, and walked out.

"Ah, that's right!" Just then, Kyoka-sensei's voice, as if she had remembered something, suddenly came from inside the room.

"Hmm? Is there anything else, Grandpa?" Xiaobai turned to look at Jinghua's teacher.

"That newbie naval commander... because I left the community quite early back then, I don't know what happened to him afterward..." Jinghua's teacher looked at Xiaobai with a hopeful expression, "So I didn't know he had passed away at first, which caused you bad memories, I'm really sorry."

"it does not matter."

"And then there's..." Teacher Jinghua lowered her head and thought for a while, "That admiral must have been an excellent admiral, and he must have possessed a powerful naval base. Although I don't know his later experiences, nor do I know the extent to which his naval base developed, but... could you tell me whether he... truly maintained his beliefs as always? And did his naval base... ultimately become an excellent naval base?"

Teacher Jinghua sat in the room, looking at Xiaobai outside the door with hopeful eyes.

"..." Xiaobai blinked, his expression finally relaxing a lot. He gave Teacher Jinghua a happy smile, "Mm!"

"The rookie naval base is now the world's number one naval base!"

Chapter 1378 Seashells on the Beach

On the beach, Missouri and Pompeii Zara, who were cleaning up the items left behind by the Huai Ren mercenary group, saw Little White hopping and skipping towards them from a distance.

His fair face was flushed, and he seemed a little excited.

"Admiral, have you finished reporting the request to Kyoka's teacher?"

Missouri watched as the little white cat ran straight toward her, and curiously put down the tent that had been folded up halfway, asking him a question.

"Yes, although something rather strange happened in the middle, the report is now complete!"

Little White raised his hand toward Missouri.

"I see." Missouri smiled as she looked at Xiaobai's excited face. "Then, Admiral, please wait a little while. Missouri will finish packing these things right away."

"Okay!" Xiaobai nodded.

Missouri, clutching the object in her arms, walked towards the distance of the beach.

"What's wrong, Admiral Xiaobai? You look so excited?" After Missouri left, Pompeii and Zara also came over with curious expressions. She looked at Xiaobai's rosy cheeks and asked curiously.

Although Pompeii and Zara had experienced a lot of stress on the boat, their expressions had clearly improved a lot after a short time of working on the beach.

Little White looked at Pompeii.

Then he paused, stunned.

"Oh no!" Little White exclaimed in surprise, "Oh no!"

"Huh? What's wrong?" Pompeii was startled by Xiaobai's voice.

"I...I was so focused on my own request that I forgot to tell Mirror Flower's teacher about Pompeii and Zara's request!" Little White said apologetically to Pompeii. "Then should I go back..."

Seeing Xiaobai's flustered movements, Pompeii and Zara looked away and exchanged a knowing glance.

“…Pfft.” Pompeii and Zara chuckled.

“Admiral Xiaobai, no need.” Zara said to Xiaobai, “Actually, since the crisis in the sea has been resolved, it’s fine if we don’t go there to report the mission.”

"Huh? Really? What about your commission fee..."

“Our commission was never paid,” Zara and Pompeii said in unison.

"Huh?" Xiaobai was taken aback. "No reward?"

“No,” Pompeii said with a smile to Little White.

"To be honest, our reward is more like an act of repaying the kindness of being raised," Zara said slowly. As she spoke, she slightly raised her head and pursed her lips at Xiaobai. "Now that the mission is complete and we are free, whether or not we go to report that the mission is over is not really a very important matter."