Elder brother's garrison

Page 292

Xiaobai sat down next to Akagi and Bismarck.

"The atmosphere around me feels different now," Xiaobai said.

“Yes, after all, we’re almost at the international border.” Bismarck held the newspaper, looking at it carefully.

“Country area…” Xiaobai sat down on the sleeper berth and stretched vigorously. “My mother told me that a long, long time ago, the connections between countries were not as deep as they are now. Back then, it took a lot of effort to go to other countries.”

"Is that so?" Bismarck raised her head and looked at Little White.

"Yeah, it seems like you needed permission from the guards back then. If you didn't get permission, it would be considered illegal immigration," Xiaobai said.

What Xiaobai is talking about now is something from a very, very long time ago, before humans had ship girls, and it was the rule of this world.

"Xiaobai is talking about human society before the emergence of ship girls, right?" Akagi asked.

"Mm." Xiaobai nodded.

Without ship girls, there is no Abyss Sea.

The era before the deep sea was an era in which human beings lived without worries.

Bismarck became curious about this. She put down her newspaper and looked at Little White with curiosity: "Did your mother tell you these things?"

“Yes, some history books mention it too,” Xiaobai said, looking at Bismarck.

Bismarck seemed to have no knowledge of this subject. Although his expression remained calm, Xiaobai could still see a look of confusion in his eyes.

That makes sense, though. As a ship girl, Bismarck was only taught common sense about human society when she stepped out of the construction facility, not its history.

“Human beings are divided into modern and sub-modern, and there is also the concept of ancient times,” Xiaobai explained to Bismarck. “As for ancient times, there was no unified definition a long time ago, but now people tend to refer to the period before human academic level and people’s consciousness reached the sub-modern level as ancient times.”

"...That means people back then didn't have trains or computers," Xiaobai explained, seeing that Bismarck still seemed a little confused.

"Understood." Bismarck nodded.

"Then the next modern period refers to the time after ancient times until the emergence of deep-sea amphibious ships," Xiaobai said. "That was a period of rapid development in human technology; trains and computers appeared during this time."

Bismarck continued to nod.

"Then, it's the modern era," Xiaobai said. "The current timeline is from the time when ship girls appeared until now."

"The ship girls appeared later than the abyssal ships, right?" Bismarck interrupted. "So what's the period between the appearance of the abyssal ships and the appearance of the ship girls called?"

“Bismarck noticed that too,” Xiaobai chuckled. “This period is called the discontinuity.”

"Date discontinuity?"

"The power of the Abyssal Fleet is something that ship girls can't contend with, so didn't humanity almost get wiped out back then?" Xiaobai said.

That was a long, long time ago. Back in Yuxiu, Xiaobai was a history teacher, so when she talked about the extermination of the tribe, it was just like reading from a textbook, and she didn't feel anything special.

"The near-modern civilization was almost completely wiped out by the destruction of the deep-sea amphibious ships, which is why that period is called the 'discontinuity'," Xiaobai said. "Because after that, the development of human technological civilization was almost completely reversed back to the late ancient period."

"Later, thankfully, you ship girls finally appeared, and with their help, humanity was finally able to find a place to live on Earth again," Xiaobai said. "However, the time gap was too long, and the submodern civilization was almost completely annihilated. Modern humans spent a great deal of effort to slowly develop their civilization back to a submodern level within a few hundred years, relying on some surviving data. However, the civilization that has developed back is slightly different from before. For example, in terms of viewing crossing national borders, modern people do not value it as much as submodern people do."

“Oh.” Bismarck nodded.

“…I’m done talking,” Xiaobai said.

"Finished?" Bismarck seemed a little unsatisfied.

Xiao Bai nodded awkwardly.

Bismarck picked up the newspaper and sat back down in his previous seat: "Hmm, quite interesting."

Compared to Bismarck, who knew nothing about it, Akagi had lived in human society for so long and had long heard about the history of human development, so her behavior was much more appropriate.

The emergence of Abyssal Ships—or more accurately, Abyssal Resentment—has always been a puzzle that humanity has been trying to solve. Abyssal Resentment has no physical form, resembling a black mist that continuously spawns Abyssal Ships in the ocean. Abyssal Ships are indestructible; human weapons cannot harm their rigging. Only the ship girls' rigging, with its weapons made of special metals, can damage the bodies of Abyssal Ships.

"Speaking of which, we have to admire who the talented person was who built the world's first ship girl," Akagi said.

Xiaobai nodded.

"Didn't you have the first ship girl in your naval base?" Just then, Yamato's voice came from the upper bunk of Shiro.

Yamato was also listening to what Shiro and Bismarck were saying earlier.

Yamato from the Deep Sea stuck his head down and looked at Shiro and Bismarck below, saying, "That guy in the naval base named Su... Su something."

"Sukbator?"

"Yes, that's the guy who goes to the dock to fish all the time, even though you can't catch anything there."

"Ah..." Xiaobai smiled, "Lady Su is not a ship girl in the world, but it's probably true that she claims to be the oldest ship girl in the world."

"Is there a difference?" Yamato Akagi looked at Shiro with a puzzled expression.

Before Xiaobai could speak, Bismarck calmly said, "Just because she lived a long time doesn't mean she was born early."

Yamato stuck out its tongue at Bismarck and then pulled its head back in.

Just then, the train approached the next station.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Cape Caesar is a peaceful city.

It's a peaceful and serene place where everyone lives harmoniously, without conflict or quarrels—a perfect place.

With a loud crash, the sound of the earthenware pot shattering on the street echoed throughout the entire street.

All the residents stayed home, enjoying their peaceful morning.

"Fuck you! Open the door! Get out here!" A series of clear, crisp male calls, like orioles heralding the dawn, greeted a dozen or so well-dressed young men in their prime, who stood amiably at the gate of a house, calling out in such a gentle voice.

The youthful energy added a touch of youthful vigor to the city.

"You son of a bitch, you dare to do it but not admit it? If you have the guts, come out here, I'll kill you all!" The boy in the lead was holding a cute watermelon knife and kept stabbing it at the door in front of him.

"Get out! Get out! Get out!" The men's orderly and rhythmic shouts were deafening.

inside the door.

A little girl with white hair was crouching on the ground, shivering and covering her head.

"Get out! Get out! Get out!" The youths shouted repeatedly at the people inside, brandishing their watermelon knives.

Just then, a gentle female voice kindly stopped them.

"What the hell are you doing?!" A pleasant, rough female voice instantly drowned out the voices of the group of young men.

The young people all turned around.

A white-haired woman in a leather jacket was carrying a vegetable bag in one hand and a gleaming axe in the other, her blue eyes glaring angrily at them.

"You're Washington?" The young man in the lead frowned and scrutinized the woman several times. "You're the one who broke my second-in-command's leg yesterday?"

The woman named Washington ignored the eager young men in front of her who were ready to chop people up, walked to the door, and stretched out her fingers to touch the wooden door with the marks left by the leader's watermelon knife.

"Who poked it?" Washington asked the young man who was leading the group.

Washington was a very beautiful man, and even if he stared at you fiercely, you wouldn't feel any fear.

"I did it," the young man said, puffing out his chest.

Then, he was met with a kick from Washington. The young man's body was instantly kicked to the back of the crowd like a tattered kite.

"You idiot! You've scared the kids, don't you know that?!"

I've caught another cold, and I'm still stuck in bed, so I'm desperately trying to write today's update. I'm not feeling well, so please bear with me.

Chapter 369 Brother, who should we chop up today?

The men standing behind reached out and caught the man who had been kicked away by Washington.

Several people were shaken so badly by the immense force emanating from the man that they lost their footing and staggered back several steps before regaining their balance.

The man kicked away by Washington passed out quite quickly, his watermelon knife flying out of his hand and clattering into a crack in the stone floor.

That kick was enough to show Washington's skill in kicking people.

Those who directly or indirectly felt the force emanating from the man who had been kicked away all felt a shiver run through them.

That's incredibly strong!

They couldn't help but look at the gleaming axe that Washington carried on his shoulder.

With that much strength, if he were to wield that axe and chop it down from his shoulder, he could probably cut himself in two.

In an instant, everyone held their breath, looking cautiously at Washington and exchanging bewildered glances.

The leader was kicked unconscious, and with no one to give orders, they were all at a loss for what to do.

Anyway, I don't dare to go up there. Looking at that strength and that axe, I guess whoever goes first will be the first to suffer.

In this line of work, it's all about who's tougher. Washington's move has completely terrified these little brats.

"You sons of bitches, do you even know you have kids at home? What are you all doing here?!" Washington, carrying an axe, pointed at the people in front of him. "If your kids go astray and keep saying 'buzzing the mud' like you guys, how are you going to take responsibility?!"

"I'll poke your numb door! I'll poke your numb door!"

"Is door repair free?"

"Is there no law?! How dare you bully a weak woman like me?!"

Facing a vastly superior number of people, Washington showed no sign of weakness; on the contrary, he seemed quite emboldened, straightening his back and pointing at the people in front of him, loudly criticizing them.

Although everyone present had some opinions about Washington's portrayal of women as weak, the situation was rather awkward, and everyone chose to do something else.

"What the hell is she so cowardly about, just one person? Go ahead and chop her up!" Some people still couldn't stand Washington's words. In addition, after the leader was kicked unconscious, everyone was waiting for a leader. Now that someone was finally willing to speak, everyone picked up their watermelon knives and swung them at Washington.

Then, something shocking happened.

Washington then picked up the gleaming axe in his hand, and instead of chopping, he used the flat of the axe to smash it hard into the head of the first person who charged at him.

Just like in a baseball game, the person was slammed back into the crowd.

"I already told you!" Washington seemed genuinely angry this time, her blue eyes radiating a quiet fury. "Don't you dare use such foul language! There are children in the house, don't you know that?!"

Then Washington charged into the crowd with an axe in hand.

In an instant, with Washington's practiced movements, the crowd was thrown into chaos, and one by one, the thugs, dazed and confused, fell at Washington's feet.

In the blink of an eye, half of the men who had been so aggressively brandishing watermelon knives were knocked unconscious. The remaining half, each holding their knives cautiously, stared at Washington with expressions as if they had seen a ghost.

Seeing that the group had finally quieted down, Washington gave a soft hum and slung the axe back over his shoulder.

The battle just now... well, maybe it should be called a battle. Although everyone on the other side seemed intent on killing Washington, he didn't cut a single one of them. He maintained a very good sense of proportion, only knocking them unconscious without taking any lives.

"What are you looking at! Keep looking, you son of a bitch!" Washington yelled at the remaining people, "Get out of here!"

As if they had received an imperial edict, the group quickly helped their fallen teammate to his feet and slunk away.

Washington put down his axe only after the group of thugs disappeared at the street corner.

The neighbors opened their windows and peeked out, watching with lingering fear in the direction the thugs had disappeared.

Washington turned and knocked on the yard gate.

“North Carolina? Are you there?” Washington asked into the room.

There was a brief silence in the courtyard before a little girl's trembling voice answered, "It's nothing..."

Washington nodded: "Then open the door, I'm back from grocery shopping."

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed in the courtyard, followed by the scraping sound of a door latch being pulled open.

The wooden door, which had been stabbed several times, was slowly opened from the inside.

A little girl with long, white hair like wings looked at Washington with concern: "Washington, are you alright?"

"How could I be in trouble? No way." Washington shrugged. "They're obviously a bunch of greenhorns who've just learned how to scare people, they don't have any real skills... Sigh, never mind."

Washington walked into the yard, and the little girl named North Carolina quickly closed the yard gate.

Cape Caesar is a quaint town with few high-rise buildings. The residents are friendly and self-reliant, and life is peaceful and harmonious, making it a suitable place for retirement.

Washington carried the grocery bag toward the house in the yard, casually tossing the axe he was holding onto a tree stump.

The axe was indeed extremely sharp; it didn't require much force, but rather relied on a little acceleration and gravity to cut deeply into the tree stump.

That makes sense, since it's part of the ship's equipment.

“We’re having pasta today,” Washington said.

“Mm.” North Carolina nodded as she caught up with Washington and followed her into the house.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.