Elder brother's garrison

Page 24

"It's okay." Xiaobai picked up a slice of senbei from the table, took a bite, and said, "Hmm... the Admiral Network... I'm really looking forward to it."

"Admiral, you don't need to worry about it," Bai Xue said.

"Well, no need to think about it so much." Xiaobai squinted and glanced at the distant sea. "Speaking of which, Baixue, do you know what kind of transformation Changchun underwent?"

"I think it's called a missile destroyer," Bai Xue replied.

"Hmm." Xiaobai paused for a moment before slowly saying, "Historically, missile destroyers were multi-purpose surface attack warships that primarily used ship-to-ship missiles to strike maritime targets, while also performing tasks such as air defense, anti-submarine warfare, and escort. They generally had a displacement of 3000 to 10000 tons. Their main combat mission was to escort large fleets and transport convoys. Other weapons included naval guns, anti-aircraft guns, anti-submarine depth charges, and torpedoes."

"Torpedoes?" Bai Xue asked doubtfully. "But didn't Changchun lose its torpedo capability?"

"Because they're ship girls," Xiaobai replied. "There are still some differences between ship girls and real ships. The ship equipment of ship girls is thousands of times smaller than that of real ships, so it can't accommodate too many special features."

"Oh……"

"Actually, that's not what I meant," Xiaobai said, pointing at Baixue. "If you had to give up either the destroyer gun or the torpedo, which would Baixue choose?"

"...a fortress, perhaps."

That's exactly what I mean.

Bai Xue blinked, looking somewhat confused.

First Snow and Deep Snow were also drawn over by Xiaobai's words.

"Could the Admiral explain this?"

“What I mean is this…” Xiaobai said, “The characteristics of the missile destroyer that Changchun acquired are powerful enough to override her torpedo attack capabilities.”

"When it comes to missile destroyers, the first thing that comes to mind is missiles."

"Its range surpasses that of artillery fire, and its accuracy is currently the highest among all ship girl attack methods. As for its power..."

Xiao Bai hadn't finished speaking.

"boom"

A violent explosion rang out.

Behind Xiaobai, the calm sea surface suddenly churned, and a small mushroom cloud, like summer fireworks, spewed flames and drifted into the sky.

"In terms of power... it's almost enough to threaten a battleship." Xiaobai picked up his teacup and took a sip. "If that's the case, then missile attacks are a kind of advanced technology."

The snowflakes in front of Xiaobai, both the first and deep snowflakes, stared wide-eyed at the firelight rising from the sea behind Xiaobai.

Chapter 29 Flying Torpedo

Changchun's refit has brought her close to a capital ship in terms of destructive power. With the same training level, hitting Fubuki from a distance is not a difficult task.

The fact that the Fubuki-class destroyer was hit by a missile from Changchun meant the end of the exercise.

When Changchun carried Chuixue back to shore, Chuixue was already unconscious and seeing stars. Her two iconic big eyes had been blasted into the shape of mosquito coils by the missile.

"Sister! Ahhhhhh!" Fubuki's three younger sisters surrounded her as if Fubuki had been sunk in battle, shaking her shoulders in grief.

"My sister can't die!"

"My sister is going to conquer the world!"

"Sister, ahhhhhh—"

Although Fubuki regained some consciousness from being constantly shaken, she still hadn't fully recovered from her semi-conscious state.

"Ah... fish... torpedo..."

"A torpedo flying in the sky... ah..."

Dizzy and confused, Fubuki suddenly spat out a small splash of water.

...Of course, exercises like these won't actually hurt the ship girls, but it's common for them to get knocked out and feel dizzy.

Seeing Fubuki's utterly destroyed state, Changchun, the victor, felt a little embarrassed.

Changchun scratched his cheek with his fingertip and sat down next to Chuixue.

"Um... I'm sorry..."

Fubuki's hazy eyes drifted to Changchun, and she instantly became clear-headed.

"You're quite capable." Fubuki gave a thumbs-up, a smile of satisfaction on her face like that of an elder. "What a beautiful torpedo, even though it flies..."

"...That was a missile."

"Wow"

"Waaaaah, my sister spat out water! Ahhhhh!"

"Quick, quick, Chuxue, lay your sister down flat. She's drowning, drain the water quickly!"

Fubuki was laid flat on the ground by her sisters. As the snowflakes rhythmically pressed against her chest, tiny water droplets gushed out of Fubuki's mouth like a fountain.

A tiny rainbow seemed to float across the snowflakes' face through the water droplets.

Xiao Bai watched the merrily destroyers from the side and took a sip of tea.

...So even ship girls can drown?

At this moment, as if sensing something, Xiaobai raised its head and looked up at the sky.

A plane was circling high in the sky.

Xiao Bai thought about it for a moment, and then felt relieved.

Ship girls are all very sensitive to their five senses. The noise from Changchun and Fubuki's exercise was indeed quite loud. It seems that Lexington must have sent out a reconnaissance plane to check the situation.

Thinking of this, Xiao Baiteng waved to the reconnaissance plane in the sky as a greeting.

A short while later, the reconnaissance plane flew back to the naval base.

After watching the plane disappear, Xiaobai turned her gaze to the snow on the ground.

Fubuki recovered remarkably quickly; this minor nearsightedness was as familiar to her as tripping and falling while walking.

After the snow drainage work was finished, Fubuki coughed a few times on the ground and then returned to full strength.

It has to be said that destroyers, with their constant energy, are truly enviable ship girls.

They seem to have inexhaustible energy.

After Fubuki recovered, a large group of people marched back to the battle base.

After the exercise, it seemed that the friendship between Fubuki and Changchun had deepened a bit, and they sat down next to Xiaobai and kept talking.

Xiaobai was originally hoping to wait for the sixth-wheel drive destroyer that Fubuki had mentioned to come to the warehouse, but unfortunately, as the morning was almost over, the sixth-wheel drive destroyer still hadn't arrived.

Xiao Bai could only leave the warehouse with a slight sense of regret.

Xiao Bai returned to the admiral's office.

Lexington is tidying up the table.

The mountain of documents that had been piled on the table before Lexington left had been neatly organized by him.

"I'm back," Xiaobai said.

"Yes, welcome back." Lexington smiled and put down the documents in her hand.

"Um... I saw Changchun."

"Oh, is it Kokang? Yes, I just saw it." Lexington maintained her gentle smile. "Well... and then?"

"what?"

"The first thing a ship girl should do upon returning to the naval base is report to the admiral's office, right?" Lexington trotted into Shiro's room, her face still beaming with that same smile.

However, at this moment, Xiaobai inexplicably felt a chill.

"Ah...that..."

“If you don’t report it, you shouldn’t just conduct exercises directly with other destroyers…” Lexington said slowly with a smile. “Well… although you’re the admiral, Xiaobai, it’s fine with your permission, but we should at least follow the rules on paper. Besides, Xiaobai has already returned, but Xiaochangchun hasn’t come back with you yet. Xiaobai, don’t you think there’s something a little bit off about that?”

Lexington's smile was always so perfect that it was impossible to tell whether she was angry or happy.

"Eh... Eh, eh..." This was the first time Xiaobai had felt the pressure from Lexington so directly, and he was momentarily at a loss. "Ah, I'm sorry... Please don't be angry..."

Xiao Bai lowered his head and deeply reflected on his sins.

"Pfft." However, at this moment, Lexington, who was opposite Xiaobai, burst out laughing as if he had broken into a groan.

"I can't take it anymore, I can't keep up the act." Lexington covered her mouth and giggled. "I was just scaring Little White, I'm not angry at all."

“The naval base is like home, there aren’t so many formalities. Just let them know afterward,” Lexington explained with a smile. “But I was a little sad that Changchun didn’t come to report right away.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Lexington touched his face, and a sorrowful expression involuntarily appeared on his face.

"She was merely created by your brother, yet she has to sell her body, not only fight for him but also become his wife. In the end, she even lost her beloved sister. She worked so hard to manage the naval base for him, and now even the destroyers of the naval base are bullying her. They don't even report for duty when they return to the naval base. I simply can't continue my job..."

Little White looked at Lexington and involuntarily shrank his neck.

"Was that... also a joke?"

Xiao Bai asked cautiously.

"Pfft." Lexington burst out laughing again.

The sister-in-law and the younger sister-in-law looked at each other and laughed.

Lexington had always given Xiaobai a kind of elder-like kindness, like someone a generation older, which made people feel a little restrained. But now Lexington seemed to have let go of some heavy burden, giving people a wonderfully lively feeling.

Xiao Bai felt much closer to Lexington.

Chapter 30 Congratulations to the player for unlocking a new dungeon!

After a morning spent playing with the destroyers, the afternoon was filled with familiar, tedious paperwork. After spending some time dealing with these things, Xiaobai sat down and started reading the book that Lexington had prepared for him.

This feeling of focusing on studying after playing around made Xiaobai feel as grounded as if he were still studying in high school.

Just before dinner, Changchun finally arrived at the admiral's office, only to be given a good scolding by Lexington in a soft and gentle voice.

Xiao Bai naturally chose to ignore Chang Chun's pleading eyes, and like Shengwang, became a decoration in the admiral's room.

Finally, as the sun began to sink into the sea with a reddish tinge, Xiaobai's first day as admiral passed by peacefully.

According to Lexington, thanks to Xiaobai's help, she hadn't left work this early in a long time.

Xiaobai was naturally very happy about this.

This means that as long as Xiaobai does the same things as today, he can play a significant role.

The admiral's job, though somewhat tedious, doesn't seem too difficult.

For students, this kind of routine of going between three points is the easiest to adapt to.

—Then, half a month passed.

Just when Shiro thought he might spend his life between occasionally visiting destroyers and doing clerical work, a letter was pushed through the gates of the naval base.

“This is…” Inside the admiral’s room, Xiaobai looked at the envelope in front of him, frowned, and looked at Lexington.

“Well… Xiaobai, you should open it and see for yourself,” Lexington said. “There are special symbols on it that the admirals use to communicate, usually for transmitting important matters.”

"Is this... a big event? Is it the active season in the deep sea?" Xiaobai thought for a moment and asked.

Deep-sea creatures experience periodic bursts of growth, a phenomenon generally referred to as deep-sea activity. Powerful deep-sea vessels emerge from the seabed at will and invade the land.

It was a serious disaster.

That's what the textbook says.

However, after working for half a month, Xiaobai discovered that the actual situation was slightly different from what was described in the textbook. The combat power of the world's naval bases nowadays could easily send this level of activity back to the bottom of the sea. The deep-sea activities described in the textbook as serious disasters are actually more like welfare activities between admirals to fight deep-sea battles, divide fragments, and collect ship girls.

“Those kinds of important events aren’t communicated between admirals. Besides, it’s not the Abyss’s active season right now,” Lexington remarked. “Letters with this kind of marking are more likely to be about large, leisurely events, like balls or something.”

"Oh..." Xiaobai nodded thoughtfully and opened the envelope. "Is this kind of thing common?"

“Your brother doesn’t have any friends, so he rarely receives these kinds of invitations.”

Xiao Bai's hand froze, and he gave a wry smile.

"Ah... after all, he's my brother..." After muttering to herself in a way that was neither praise nor complaint, Xiaobai slowly pulled out the letter inside.

A long string of words was neatly written on the letter paper with a fountain pen.

It really was a banquet.

Lexington stood quietly, waiting for Xiaobai's reply.

"It says here that there's a banquet on... Colorado Island in three days." Little White put down the letter and said to Lexington, "It's been half a year since we last saw each other, how about we get together?"