Elder brother's garrison

Page 2786

“…Um…After spending so much time in the Admiral’s Guild, I…” Chao Yamato nodded and explained to Xiaobai.

"Wow, you're quite popular." Xiaobai patted Chao Yamato on the shoulder and said with a smile.

"..." Super Yamato.

Chapter 3927 Black Tower

Actually, Xiaobai didn't know that the reason why Chao Yahe was so well-known among the ship girls of the Admiral's Guild was not because of Chao Yahe's personal charm.

On the contrary, the guild ship girls remember Super Yamato, but Super Yamato itself has nothing to do with her.

The reason for this is simply because Chaoda and Shiro are the "ship girls" who appear most often and are usually the closest to Shiro during Chapter 8.

In the eyes of the ship girls in the Admiral's Guild, Super Yamato is Shiro's "most beloved" and "most cherished" marriage ship.

As the saying goes, "love me, love my dog"...

The ship girls in the Admiral's Guild pay close attention to Shiro's whereabouts, so there's no reason why Super Yamato, who often spends time with Shiro, wouldn't be remembered by them as well.

Of course, Xiaobai is completely unaware of these intricate social dynamics and complexities.

"Admiral, let's get down to business," Chao Dahe said to Xiaobai with some embarrassment.

"Oh, right, this isn't the place for chatting." Xiaobai nodded, then smiled at the ship girls in front of her. "Anyway, I came here with Super Yamato because I saw your sea area survey report and came to check out this black tower. I heard that three ship girls went missing here, right?"

"I didn't expect the Black Tower to have attracted the guild leader here..." The ship girls were moved for a moment, and then nodded immediately. "Yes, the Seventh Squad, which first discovered this place, lost three ship girl comrades during their contact with the Black Tower."

"Where is the Seventh Squad?" Xiaobai asked.

"It's right at the very bottom of the Black Tower, inside the cordon!"

"Okay, what you were doing just now was..."

"We were appointed by the Admiral's Guild to guard outside the Black Tower. If any special circumstances arise here, we can help out," the ship girls said one after another.

"Thank you for your hard work. You can continue with your work as usual. Don't worry, I'll take care of things here. I'll go in and check with Super Yamato." Xiaobai said to the ship girls, then pointed inside the cordon. "Super Yamato, let's go."

Chao Da nodded, picked up Xiao Bai, and headed towards the cordon.

The patrolling ship girls stood still, watching Xiaobai and Chaodahe's departing figures with admiration. Their eyes were slightly red, and their lips couldn't help but pout.

"I never expected... that the president would actually come back..."

"Sigh... In Chapter 8, they said the guild leader only cared about acquiring ship girls but not about maintaining them, and that he would discard any ship girls he liked once he got tired of them, showing no responsibility whatsoever. But look... after three of our guild's ship girls went missing, the first person to appear with people was the guild leader..."

"How many of those admirals who spread rumors about the guild leader can treat the ship girls with the same sincerity that the guild leader shows..."

"This is the deep sea, it's so dangerous for humans to come here... The guild leader really values ​​us..."

"She just told us not to worry, that she's here for us, I'm so happy I could cry!"

"It's really hard to imagine how well the ship girls in the rookie naval base eat..."

"Waaah, President..."

The ship girls raised their hands, clasped them in front of their chests, and gazed at the direction of the warning line with expressions of emotion and admiration.

Xiaobai and Chaodahe had already crossed the warning line. During this time, she waved to the patrolling ship girls around her to indicate her arrival.

What intrigued Xiaobai was that when these ship girls saw him, they all seemed somewhat shaken, as if they were greatly encouraged.

Xiaobai wasn't quite sure why these ship girls were so encouraged, but she didn't have the mind to think about it at the moment. Xiaobai and Chao Yamato had already arrived at the base of the Black Tower.

Below the Black Tower, Xiaobai could still see several patrol teams of ship girls that had stopped patrolling but were deliberately keeping a distance from the Black Tower. One of the patrol teams was not at full strength; there were only three members left with somewhat gloomy expressions, furrowed brows, and worried faces.

Xiao Bai immediately recognized that this team, now down to only three members, must be the "Seventh Patrol Squad," responsible for writing marine survey reports to submit to the Admiral's Guild.

Xiaobai gestured to Chaoda and the three ship girls who were leading her closer to the Seventh Squad.

Among the ship girls in the seventh squad, the most noticeable one is a young ship girl with the Admiral's Guild armband hanging on her shoulder, wearing a black uniform, and sporting a dashing long golden ponytail.

Perhaps because the three were preoccupied with heavy thoughts, they did not notice Xiaobai approaching after Xiaobai and Chaoda came closer. Xiaobai gestured for Chaoda, who was about to speak, to be quiet for a moment, and then she took a closer look at the "captain" of the seventh patrol team.

This captain... is much younger than Xiaobai imagined.

Well... while judging a ship girl's maturity by her appearance is certainly not a reliable way, Xiaobai still couldn't help but be surprised by the captain's youthful appearance.

This is a young ship girl with slanted eyes. Her beautiful face has two large, bright yellow eyes with wide pupils and slightly upturned corners. At the same time, her attire is very dignified, which gives her a sharp and determined aura even without any expression.

However, at this moment, the ship girl's face looked rather gloomy. She lowered her head, her brows furrowed, and it was unclear what she was thinking.

Xiaobai glanced at the other two ship girls' conditions, then nodded and spoke softly.

"You must be the ship girls of the Seventh Patrol Squad."

"Who?" Before the two ship girl members could react, the leading yellow-haired girl with a single ponytail quickly looked up and cautiously looked ahead. However, when she saw Shiro and Super Yamato in front of her, her wariness and resistance suddenly froze as if a pause button had been pressed, and then turned into a look of astonishment, "...Uh? You are...President Lu Lin?"

It seems that the ship girls of the Seventh Squad, like everyone else, were also incredibly shocked by Shiro's sudden arrival.

—This is the deep sea.

"Are you the captain?" Xiaobai nodded gently.

“…I am.” The ship girl nodded subconsciously.

"Well, I haven't been the president of the Admiral's Guild for very long, so I don't know everyone..." Xiaobai said, looking at the ship girl in front of her, "But you must be Ticonderoga, right?"

"You recognize me?" The female ship girl named Ticonderoga widened her eyes.

“I’ve read your marine survey report; it’s very detailed,” Xiaobai said. “That’s exactly why I came here.”

"Ah..." Ticonderoga belatedly realized what was happening. She looked at her teammates with a blank expression. After hearing Xiaobai's words, her teammates also raised their heads, their eyes flashing with hope. Ticonderoga took in these expressions, then swallowed hard and looked at Xiaobai. "Guild Leader... you... shouldn't have come here. There's a very strong abyssal aura here. Even if you are a human with the Admiral Network, the abyssal aura here is a slow-acting poison for you. For your health, you should leave here immediately."

“That’s funny. You’re the first person to say that to me since I got here.” Little White smiled at Ticonderoga. “But it’s alright, I can hold on for a while. Let’s talk about this Black Tower and your three missing teammates.”

"..." Ticonderoga opened her mouth, but her words trailed off in mid-air. She silently closed her mouth, looked at Shiro with a complicated gaze, and slowly nodded, "...Yes, President."

“I’ve heard most of what’s going on about the Black Tower from your investigation report. Besides that, have you encountered anything else here?” Xiaobai asked Ticonderoga.

"Reporting to the guild master, since our team member went missing, we have deliberately kept our distance from the Black Tower and haven't approached it again. Later, the people from the Admiral's Guild came and sealed it off, and it hasn't undergone any other changes since then," Ticonderoga replied immediately.

"Your team members... have all been contacted, right?"

“Yes…there is no trace of him.” Ticonderoga said, his brow furrowing and his expression turning grim.

"Which three are they?"

“It’s…” Ticonderoga blurted out, but she quickly shook her head and continued, “It’s three light cruisers, all wearing blue uniforms. Chairman.”

How long have they been missing?

"It's been about ten hours since then."

"..." After listening to Ticonderoga's words, Xiaobai nodded slightly. Then she looked at the two ship girl members who were full of hope for her, as well as Ticonderoga with a complicated expression, and then smiled slightly, "Anyway... take me to the place where they disappeared first, and tell me about the process of their disappearance, and it would be best if you could tell me the details."

"it is good!"

Ticonderoga immediately stepped forward.

Little White, riding his super-sized Yamato, approached the Black Tower with Ticonderoga.

Through Ticonderoga's own account, Xiaobai learned that the three missing ship girls disappeared the instant they touched the outer shell of the Black Tower in different ways.

The first person wanted to go up and test the sturdiness of the Black Tower. She knocked on it, and then her figure vanished from everyone's sight in an instant.

When the first ship girl disappeared, the second ship girl was stunned for a moment, and then immediately stepped forward, wanting to use her ship equipment to destroy the outer shell of the black tower. But the moment her shell touched the black tower, she also disappeared.

The third ship girl was the sister of the second ship girl. She was in a panic and immediately went up to check the outer shell of the black tower. Then, the moment her fingertips touched the black tower, she disappeared along with the first two.

Originally, the fourth and fifth ship girls also wanted to go up to find someone, but as things developed to this point, Ticonderoga, as the captain, immediately realized that this might be the consequence of touching the outer shell of the Black Tower. She hurriedly stopped the remaining teammates, thus preventing them from arbitrarily touching the outer shell of the Black Tower.

As they were talking, Xiaobai, along with Ticonderoga and her two remaining teammates, arrived at the outer perimeter of the Black Tower.

At this moment, the outer shell of the Black Tower was within arm's reach.

Xiao Bai observed the eerie metallic texture on the black tower's outer shell, as well as the mysterious specks of light that faintly appeared on the tower's surface.

"Hmm...that's true." Xiaobai nodded, as if she had discovered something, and said softly.

"President, do you have any ideas?" Ticonderoga asked nervously.

“It’s true that they disappeared because they came into contact with the outer shell of the Black Tower,” Xiaobai said to Ticonderoga. “The Black Tower is covered with a special mental field, and I noticed that there are some runic characters operating inside the Black Tower. It’s probably because your team members disappeared… after touching the mental field, a series of reactions triggered the strange effect of the runic characters hidden under the tower.”

"...Guild Master, what you're saying is too profound. What rune script, what mental force field... I don't understand..." Ticonderoga was somewhat bewildered.

“In plain terms…” Xiaobai lowered his hand and smiled at Ticonderoga, “Your team members didn’t die. They just triggered some kind of mechanism and were teleported somewhere by a trap formed by runic characters.”

"So that's it?"

"That's pretty much it."

"How did you know, President?!"

"Well... I guess it's because I've seen and experienced a lot." Xiaobai thought for a while and nodded to himself.

"Ah..." Ticonderoga's eyes immediately lit up with hope. She bit her lip and pleaded, "Then...then, President, can you find the three missing team members? They are my comrades, and they are very important to me!"

Chapter 3928 Pleading

When Xiaobai mentioned that there was still a glimmer of hope for the three missing teammates, Ticonderoga felt a chill run down his spine.

Ticonderoga immediately raised her eyes, looking at Little White in shock. Her expression quickly changed, and she immediately became pained.

Her expression at that moment was both sorrowful and resolute, as if she had made a difficult decision regardless of everything.

"President Lu Lin, if what you say is true... that the three missing team members are not in mortal danger at the moment, I beg you, I beg you to save them!"

Ticonderoga gritted his teeth, meeting Whitey's gaze with a pleading look as if he had grasped at the last straw.

“I understand. As a patrol squad of the Admiral's Guild, maintaining the sea and protecting the city are our highest priority tasks. We have long been aware that we have entrusted our lives to this sea…”

Logically, we shouldn't have any complaints no matter what the situation, but... President Lu Lin, please help us. If possible, before exploring this mysterious black tower, could you... could you launch a rescue operation for the three missing ship girls...? They are my team members, innocent victims who were dragged into the black tower because of my inattention and dereliction of duty. I am willing to take full responsibility for this, even if it means being imprisoned..."

As Ticonderoga finished speaking, she bowed deeply to Little White, her voice already carrying a hint of pleading.

Judging from her appearance, demeanor, and eyes, Ticonderoga is a young woman who exudes a clear sense of resilience and sharpness.

She's the kind of person who's quite rebellious; if her boss does anything unfair, she'll be the first to jump out and slap the unscrupulous boss twice.

Considering that she is also one of the captains of the patrol squad of the Admiral's Guild in Chapter 8, her ship girl strength and battlefield experience should be at the level of the top ten naval bases in the world.

She is clearly a ship girl with a very strong sense of self-respect.

For her to set aside her pride and humbly beg for help from others, even if the person she was begging was the high and mighty guild leader, must have been a first for a ship girl like her.

Xiaobai looked behind Ticonderoga.

really.

Just as Ticonderoga bowed deeply to Shiro, pleadingly uttering these humble words of entreaty, before she could finish speaking, the two surviving ship girl crew members following behind her widened their eyes. They quickly covered their mouths, revealing a look of astonishment as if they had seen something nonexistent. Then, large tears streamed uncontrollably from their reddened eyes, and the two of them sobbed softly.

Upon seeing this, Xiaobai immediately looked away and reached out to gently pat Ticonderoga's shoulder.

“Ticonderoga, that’s enough.” Little White spoke up, gently interrupting Ticonderoga. “I have fully received what you wanted to convey.”

"...President..."

Ticonderoga raised his head, gazing at Little White with a sorrowful yet complex expression.

Little White smiled slightly at Ticonderoga.

"First of all," Xiaobai said, holding up a finger to Ticonderoga, "you just said that the three team members went missing because of your negligence?"

“Yes, if I had anticipated the Black Tower’s strangeness earlier, or realized its untouchable nature sooner… at least, at least fewer team members would have gone missing,” Ticonderoga said, regret evident in his eyes.

"Things happened very suddenly. You did a great job stopping the last two team members from being sucked into the Black Tower in time." Xiaobai shook her head, gesturing for Ticonderoga to look into her eyes, and then said to Ticonderoga word by word, "In my opinion, you are very competent. Your actions, your sense of responsibility, and your ability to respond have not disappointed me. You are a proud patrol captain in our Eighth Chapter Admiral Guild. Please don't underestimate yourself."

"President..."

"Secondly," Xiaobai said, not giving Ticonderoga any room to speak, and continued by raising her second finger, "As the Admiral's Guild's security patrol team, you should indeed have the awareness to protect the city at all costs, that's undeniable. But that doesn't mean your lives are less valuable than other ship girls. At least from the Admiral's Guild's perspective, this black tower is indeed mysterious. Its appearance was sudden, it's unclear whether it's friend or foe, everything is uncertain, and there are many things worth being wary of and investigating, but... its existence is far less important than your lives."

"Finally," Xiaobai held up his third finger to Ticonderoga, making an OK sign, and laughed, "didn't I say from the beginning that this is why I came?"

"You...you came here to rescue the missing ship girl crew members?!" As soon as Xiaobai finished speaking, Ticonderoga and the two ship girls couldn't believe it.

"Hmm... to be honest, I was also interested in this black tower." Xiaobai thought for a moment, looking at the black tower that was so close at hand, and said, "But... rescuing people was also part of the reason... otherwise, I probably wouldn't have rushed over during the day..."

"Thank you, Chairman!" Ticonderoga immediately stepped forward.

"Let's talk about it after we rescue them."

"Yes...yes! Guild Master, how should we organize the rescue team?" Ticonderoga hurriedly asked, "Guild Master, do you know where the three team members who touched the Black Tower's restrictions have gone?"

“I don’t know.” Xiaobai shook her head, pinching her chin and focusing her attention on the outer shell of the black tower in front of her. She murmured softly, “To be honest, although I sensed a strong aura of runic energy operating on the black tower, those runes were all hidden inside, concealed by this strange layer of black metal—and then again, even if I could see the runes, the runes that could support the operation of such a large black tower and have such unique effects would have incredibly complex rune strings. With my level of understanding, I probably wouldn’t be able to understand them at all…”

"Then...then..." Ticonderoga became a little nervous upon hearing Xiaobai's words.

“But it’s alright.” Little White smiled at Ticonderoga. “There’s another way.”