Elder brother's garrison

Page 1645

"Hey! Little girl! You've come!" Sukhbaatar greeted Xiaobai with a smile, biting into a piece of squid. "You mean this? It's just a little entertainment. You see, we're in charge of logistics, and now everyone in the valley has gone to fight, so we have nothing to do and have to find something to do ourselves."

“I did try to persuade Sukhbaatar,” Odin said, squatting on a bench and spreading his hands at the little white creature.

"It's alright, it's alright." The goddess of the hearth held up a can of beer, her baby face flushed red with alcohol. "Another one! I'll drink this first!"

"You, you're not going to dock our pay, are you?" The deep-sea supply ship looked at Xiaobai with a nervous expression.

Seeing the different expressions on the four destroyers' faces, Xiaobai was a little surprised for a moment, but he just smiled.

How could Xiaobai possibly blame these four supply ships?

"Why is Admiral Haoding here too?" Xiaobai asked with a smile.

Before Admiral Haoding could reply, Sukhbaatar, while chewing on a piece of squid, laughed loudly and said, "You mean this guy? Hehehehehe!!! I saw that he and his ship girl were all alone in the valley, which looked pitiful, so I invited them to our supply ship party!"

"I'm sorry, Admiral Lu Lin, but I can't refuse your kind invitation..." The aircraft carrier ship girl next to Admiral Hao Ding stood up and bowed to Xiao Bai.

"It's alright." Xiaobai waved his hand and looked at Admiral Haoding.

Admiral Haoding was completely absorbed in munching on the steel squid strips in his mouth, utterly unaware of Xiaobai and Lexington's arrival.

Xiao Bai had the privilege of experiencing the hardness of Sukhbaatar's grilled squid strips firsthand. Even with teeth like Xiao Bai's, who could eat deep-sea cores like biscuits, it was incredibly difficult to bite into them. Not to mention an ordinary person like Admiral Haoding, who would probably have to gnaw on them for ten years without even leaving a tooth mark.

"----tasty!"

Just as Xiaobai was thinking, Admiral Haoding, who was munching on squid strips, blurted out another sentence.

Even though the squid strips in his mouth were as hard as diamonds, Admiral Haoding could still confidently shout out the word "delicious," which is quite a remarkable talent.

"Admiral, Admiral!" The aircraft carrier girl beside him quickly tugged at Admiral Haoding's arm and whispered a reminder, "Admiral Lu Lin is here!"

"Huh? What! Admiral Lu Lin!" Reminded by the ship girl beside him, Admiral Hao Ding put down the squid strips in his hand, quickly looked up, and looked at Xiao Bai with surprise.

The moment he saw Xiaobai, a bright smile spread across Admiral Haoding's dark face.

"Admiral Lu Lin, you're back! Ah! And Lexington too!"

"Admiral Haoding, it's been a long time." Lexington bowed slightly to Admiral Haoding.

"Yes, I'm back." Xiaobai smiled at Admiral Haoding and then said, "And, Admiral Haoding, the walkthrough for Chapter 8 is now complete."

"What! It's already finished?!" Admiral Haoding shouted in surprise, jumping up from the bench with excitement on his dark face. "I knew it! Entrusting this to the rookie naval commanders was the right decision!"

"...Admiral Haoding should have already found out from the ship girls, right?"

"I did know, but hearing this news from Admiral Lu Lin was the most impactful of all!" Admiral Hao Ding clenched his fists, tears streaming down his face. "I also learned about the general situation of this final battle from my ship girls. Ten Abyssal strongholds, and more than a dozen Abyssal commanders attacking them simultaneously—what a despair-inducing lineup! But at the same time, it's incredibly exciting! Even I, sitting behind the scenes, felt my blood boiling when I saw the rookie naval bases liberating the Abyssal strongholds one by one!"

"Well... it is indeed quite exciting."

"By the way, what about those two ship girls who went missing from our naval base..."

"Oh, we've already snatched them back from Dean Shenhai, don't worry," Xiaobai answered quickly.

"Admiral Lu Lin!!! You are our naval commander's benefactor!!!" Admiral Hao Ding's eyes were filled with tears. "No! You were already our benefactor long before today! Your kindness to our naval commander has reached a point where we can never repay it!"

"That's exactly the reaction I expected..." Xiaobai smiled, then waved her hand and said, "It's okay, we're colleagues after all, it's only right that we help each other out."

"Ah... I can finally breathe a sigh of relief." Admiral Haoding let out a long sigh of relief. He scratched his head and sighed sincerely, "Admiral Lu Lin, you have completed the mission of the eighth chapter, which means that my mission here is also over. The heavy burden on my shoulders can finally be lifted."

"Ah... to be precise, it hasn't completely fallen yet," Xiaobai said.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Admiral Haoding looked up.

"Once the news of successfully completing Chapter 8 reaches headquarters, they'll probably send some marine surveyors to investigate various aspects of the Chapter 8 area, such as determining the concentration of deep-sea aura and testing the ship girls' leveling efficiency," Xiaobai said. "Then there will be construction teams for Chapter 8, and we'll likely receive many people or organizations that come after hearing about it."

"Hmm, that makes a lot of sense." Admiral Haoding nodded. "Admiral Lu Lin, don't you want to do these reception duties?"

"Well, actually, I'm not very good at this," Xiaobai said shyly. "So, could you ask Admiral Haoding to help me with some of the responsibilities?"

"Help with the reception..." Admiral Haoding pondered, "Hmm... I don't have any problem with this level of reception."

"Then I'll leave it to Admiral Haoding?"

“Leave it to me.” Admiral Haoding nodded, but quickly raised his hand again. “However, Admiral Lu Lin, you still need to handle the reception of the first group of visitors yourself.”

"The first batch?"

"Yes, the first batch," Admiral Haoding said earnestly.

Is there any explanation for the first batch?

"There's really no explanation," Admiral Haoding chuckled. "The first group of people to arrive here should be the staff from the Admiral's headquarters responsible for this land reclamation mission. They're in charge of recording the land reclamation process, confirming mission objectives, and distributing mission rewards. Admiral Lu Lin, you are, after all, the main force in conquering the eighth chapter of the sea area. At a time like this, you should at least show up and let the visitors know who the real heroes of this land reclamation mission are, right? I'm waiting to see what kind of shocked expression they'll have when they record that your garrison defeated more than a dozen Deep Sea Deans in one day!"

At this point, Admiral Haoding couldn't help but let out another hearty laugh.

"Oh, so you need to find them to claim your mission reward, right? I understand." Xiaobai nodded.

"Mission rewards... that makes sense." Admiral Haoding nodded, paused for a moment, then suddenly looked up and asked, "Oh, by the way, speaking of rewards, Admiral Lu Lin, did you collect all the Deep Sea Dean metal from those dozen or so Deep Sea Deans that the newbie naval base defeated on the sea in Chapter 8 today?"

Xiao Bai raised an eyebrow.

Finally, we're getting to the point!

“I was planning to tell Admiral Haoding about this.” Xiaobai nodded with a smile, then turned his head to look at Lexington and said softly, “Lexington.”

“Yes, sir.” Lexington nodded, then gently reached into her ship's equipment space.

then.

Under the watchful eye of Admiral Haoding.

Lexington slowly pulled out fourteen pieces of multicolored, dazzling deep-sea metal from her ship's equipment space.

The dozen or so pieces of deep-sea metal, once taken out of Lexington's ship-mounted space, seemed to become the center of the world, slowly absorbing the thin deep-sea aura around them.

It is nighttime.

However, the dozen or so pieces of deep-sea metal emitted a faint glow of various colors.

"Admiral Haoding, please take a look." Lexington held the deep-sea metal in both hands and placed it on the empty bench.

"This is... this time's Deepsea Dean Metal?" Admiral Haoding stared wide-eyed at the Deepsea Metal before him. He couldn't help but squat down, approach the bench, and examine each piece of Deepsea Dean Metal from top to bottom. "The purity of this batch of Deepsea Dean Metal is truly high. It's incomparable to any Deepsea Dean Metal I've seen before, let alone the batch of inferior Deepsea Dean Metal that flooded Chapter Six a while ago. Hiss—is this the purity of the Deepsea Dean Metal from Chapter Eight...? Just looking at this Deepsea Metal, I can almost feel the formidable combat power of a dozen powerful Deepsea Deans."

There was not a trace of doubt in Admiral Haoding's eyes, only deep trust.

"You can pick it up and touch it," Xiaobai suggested.

"Oh, okay, okay." Admiral Haoding quickly grabbed a blue deep-sea dean metal.

Admiral Hao Ding examined the deep-sea academy metal in his hand, which resembled a gemstone, while his other hand kept stroking his chin, a hint of appreciation showing in his eyes.

Chapter 2232 The Admiral's Glory

Deepsea Dean Metal is extremely rare for ordinary admirals, and it can even be said to be a precious material that one may never see in a lifetime. However, as one of the world's top ten admirals, Admiral Haoding's knowledge and insight are on a completely different level from those of ordinary admirals. Although he cannot be said to be very experienced in this area, he at least has the ability to distinguish between genuine and fake Deepsea Dean Metal.

The fourteen pieces of Deep-Sea Deity Metal that Lexington retrieved from the ship's equipment space were genuine and of the highest quality.

"Admiral Haoding, how is it?" Xiaobai asked Admiral Haoding.

"Truly beautiful!" Admiral Haoding gripped the Deep Sea Academy metal in his hand, and with a touch of emotion, placed it back on the bench. "Although Deep Sea Abominations are violent and chaotic life forms, when their life evolution reaches its extreme, the minerals produced in their bodies can be so magnificent, which is truly an eye-opener."

Xiao Bai smiled slightly after hearing what Admiral Haoding said.

"Admiral Haoding, please pick a few pieces."

"Ok?"

"You also have a share among these fourteen pieces of Deep Sea Dean's Metal," Xiaobai said with a smile.

"Do I have a share too?"

"After all, these are spoils of the final battle." Xiaobai spread out one hand and explained with a smile, "Haoding Garrison also contributed to this final battle, so naturally they have the right to share in the spoils, don't they?"

"Uh... over there with Brother Namu..."

"The Mu family fleet said on the first day they arrived at Chapter Eight that they didn't need any reward. They came here simply to help us." As Xiaobai said this, he pointed to the deep-sea metal on the bench with a smile on his face. "Admiral Haoding, hurry up and pick a few pieces. These are your deserved spoils of war."

"A deserved spoil of war..."

Admiral Haoding murmured aloud, a rare occurrence, as he looked down at the dozen or so pieces of Deep Sea Dean metal on the bench.

The dozen or so pieces of deep-sea metal on the bench, piled up like pebbles on a riverbank, quietly emitted multicolored light in the darkness.

Admiral Haoding squatted down in front of the bench, gazing longingly at the Deep Sea Dean's metal for a while before letting out a long sigh and standing up.

"Admiral Lu Lin." Admiral Hao Ding looked at Xiao Bai.

"I'm here," Xiaobai replied.

"Admiral Lu Lin, you should know what Deep Sea Dean Metal... especially Deep Sea Dean Metal of this purity, represents in human society, right?" Admiral Hao Ding suddenly asked.

"Ah... um. It should be worth a lot of money, right?" Xiaobai replied.

"That's right. Rare materials like Deepsea Deity Metal, if of high enough purity, can easily fetch a fortune at a major auction that one could never spend in a lifetime," Admiral Haoding said earnestly to Xiaobai. "And I'm talking about just one piece, just one piece, which is equivalent to possessing endless wealth. In addition, Deepsea Deity Metal also has extremely high scientific research value. If you were to submit a piece of Deepsea Deity Metal to the Ship Equipment Research Center, you would probably receive the unanimous respect of researchers worldwide. In today's society, once you gain the collective respect of scholars around the world, it's equivalent to having endless connections. Even if you do nothing, wealth, fame, partners, and social status will all come in droves. Furthermore, Deepsea Deity Metal is currently the purest known energy source. The energy contained in a small piece of Deepsea Deity Metal could even be easily converted into a massive amount of electricity to power a city for over a hundred years..."

Admiral Haoding patiently explained the status of Deep Sea Dean Metal to Xiaobai.

Xiao Bai listened to Admiral Hao Ding's words in a daze.

"Admiral Lu Lin, after hearing what I just said, take another look at the Deep Sea Dean's metal in front of you." After saying that, Admiral Hao Ding asked Xiao Bai, "What do you see?"

"Hmm..." Xiaobai frowned, looking at the fourteen pieces of Deep Sea Dean's Metal on the bench, lost in thought, "...money, status, energy..."

“That’s right.” Admiral Haoding nodded deeply and said sincerely, “But it’s far from over.”

"What else?"

“In human society, Deepsea Dean Metal is the rarest treasure, and it can be everything.” Admiral Haoding stretched out his palm to Xiaobai and then slowly clenched it. “But in our world, besides what I’ve already mentioned, Deepsea Dean Metal also represents something else: glory.”

"glory?"

"That's something only our Admiral can understand." Admiral Haoding revealed a hearty smile. "A piece of Deepsea Dean's Metal represents the glory of a naval base, under the Admiral's leadership, sailing out from the most treacherous seas to fight against the most powerful enemies. It represents the countless ship girls who, with the Admiral's unwavering loyalty, overcame numerous difficulties, transforming years of belief and experience into strength! This is the medal our Admiral is most proud of, proof of the extreme unity and cohesion of a naval base!"

As Admiral Haoding finished speaking, he looked directly at Xiaobai.

"Admiral Lu Lin, these fourteen pieces of Deepsea Dean's Metal represent the glory of the rookie naval base. They are an inseparable whole. Although my naval base participated in this battle, I have no right to take any of these fourteen pieces of Deepsea Dean's Metal. As a comrade-in-arms, I am grateful for your idea of ​​sharing the Deepsea Metal with me, Admiral Lu Lin, but I also sincerely hope that you will retract your decision. These belong to you, and they should not be in my office, nor in any human auction house, but in the admiral's office of the rookie naval base, right behind your seat."

Admiral Haoding's finger finally stopped in front of Xiaobai's chest.

"Admiral Lu Lin, do you roughly understand what I mean?" Admiral Hao Ding pointed at Xiao Bai's chest and said seriously.

"Hmm." Xiaobai nodded, then asked, "But... Admiral Haoding, don't you want the Deep Sea Dean's Metal at all?"

"Hahahaha! If it weren't for our naval base shooting down the Deep Sea Dean's metal, it would just be a pretty piece of ore to me!" Admiral Hao Ding withdrew his hand, arms crossed confidently. "Even if this ore represents endless wealth, endless connections, or even endless merit points, it's still just an expensive and pretty piece of ore! Money is enough as long as it's sufficient! Friends are enough as long as they're sincere! As for merit points, they're just empty titles! My focus is always on what's right in front of me! Hahahaha!"

At this point, Admiral Haoding raised his dark neck and burst into laughter, displaying a rather heroic air.

"I see. I wasn't clear-headed enough." Xiao Bai laughed as he watched Admiral Haoding laugh. "Well, I won't ask Admiral Haoding to take away any of the Deep Sea Dean's metal anymore."

"However, I still appreciate your kindness, Admiral Lu Lin! Although it is the dead of winter and the weather is bitterly cold, my heart is very warm!" Admiral Hao Ding shouted.

"..." Xiao Bai smiled wryly, "Then, Admiral Haoding, I won't bother you any longer."

"Oh! Is Admiral Lu Lin going back to the shore for the ship girls' victory celebration party?"

"That's it."

"Hahahaha! It's lively, that's what makes it youthful! But Admiral Lu Lin, you'd better be careful, don't end up like me, staying on the shore for too long and getting the deep-sea energy into your body, hahahaha!!!" Admiral Haoding laughed heartily once again.

"Admiral, cheers!" The goddess of the hearth swayed as she stood up, raising her beer glass.

"Hehehe! You're really in high spirits, buddy! Bring me another strip of squid to go with your drink!" Sukhbaatar slapped his thigh and handed over an incredibly thick strip of squid.

"Mmm! Delicious!!! Absolutely delicious!!!"

The stove in front of the base was stirred repeatedly, and countless sparks flew up in an instant.

……

On the dimly lit path, the moonlight shone brightly in the sky.

Xiaobai and Lexington left the base and headed towards the shore.

On the narrow road, Xiaobai and Lexington walked one after the other. As Xiaobai walked, he tossed the colorful Deep Sea Dean metal in his hand back and forth.

"I never expected that Admiral Haoding would refuse Deepsea Dean Metal," Xiaobai said with a sigh, his hand still tossing the metal, which gleamed faintly in the moonlight. "This is quite a loss of face... But, the objective should be considered achieved, right?"

"Well, even if Admiral Haoding didn't accept the Deep Sea Dean's metal, he confirmed it with his own eyes and hands," Lexington said with a smile. "With the Mu family fleet as witnesses and Admiral Haoding's personal inspection, no one should doubt that the rookie naval base defeated more than a dozen Deep Sea Deans."

"That's good." As Xiaobai said this, he exerted a little force with the hand that had been tossing the Deep Sea Dean's Metal. The fourteen pieces of Deep Sea Dean's Metal fell towards Xiaobai's face. Xiaobai opened his mouth, and the fourteen pieces of Deep Sea Dean's Metal fell into his mouth one by one. Because of the large number, Xiaobai didn't even chew this time. He swallowed the first ten pieces of Deep Sea Dean's Metal down his throat and then put the remaining four in his mouth and chewed them with a crunching sound.

As Xiaobai chewed, a happy expression appeared on its face.

Lexington smiled as she watched Little White's retreating figure.

"Speaking of which, Xiao Bai, how did you manage to fool Admiral Hao Ding?"

"Hmm?" Xiaobai turned around, its mouth bulging like a hamster with a full stomach of food.