Elder brother's garrison

Page 32

"You guys are probably no longer able to fight, right?" Bismarck, standing next to Xiaobai, asked directly on Xiaobai's behalf.

“…Yes.” After a moment of silence, Jinqu said with a hint of sadness.

Bismarck sighed.

The Enterprise's loss of combat capability means that the passenger ship has lost the protection of the ship girls.

No one would be foolish enough to sail carelessly in the vast ocean where there is a chance of encountering the deep sea.

In this situation, the worst outcome would be that the passenger ship would either return to port or remain in place while the security company sends a new ship girl to provide handover services.

—All economic losses incurred during this period will be borne by the security company.

"If we just stand on the sea and run with the passenger ship like before, we can barely hold on..." Enterprise's shoulders hunched over, like a good girl who had been treated inhumanely.

After all, a ship girl who has lost the protection of her ship equipment is just an ordinary girl.

"Do you want my two ship girls to secretly protect this passenger ship?" Xiaobai asked.

“I…I’m sorry, I know this is too much…” Xiaobai spoke slowly, making Enterprise unable to guess whether Xiaobai was angry or sympathetic because of its abrupt request. However, as if it had thought of something, Enterprise gritted its teeth and lowered its head, “Whether it’s working like a slave or anything else, I will repay you.”

Enterprise is sweet-looking and has a stunning figure, so she often receives a lot of attention and affection from humans in her daily life. Even her own companions jokingly say that if she ever quits being a ship girl and shouts in the street asking for a sugar daddy, quite a few wealthy people would come up to her.

Although Enterprise never imagined she would do something so despicable, life is unpredictable, and everything that happened made this light cruiser ship girl lose her composure.

"...As for repaying them, I'm a girl too." Xiaobai looked at the Enterprise and smiled wryly.

"But... before I answer you, may I ask a question?" Changing the subject, Little White looked at the Enterprise as if remembering something and asked, "What's the situation with your crewmates right now?"

Enterprise's body trembled.

His entire demeanor began to waver.

Little White waited quietly for Enterprise's reply.

“She…she…” Enterprise’s eyes reddened noticeably. “She still can’t get out of bed…”

"...Can't you get out of bed?" Little White turned to look at Bismarck.

Bismarck nodded, revealing a very serious expression.

Ship girls are protected by ship equipment. In most cases, enemy damage is absorbed by the ship equipment. Even if the ship equipment is severely damaged, it will form a mysterious defensive force field to protect the ship girl inside.

Logically speaking, the human part of the ship girl should not be harmed.

Just like the Enterprise, even though its ship equipment is on the verge of collapse, the people on board are still as lively and energetic as if nothing happened.

There is only one situation in which the human part of a ship girl will be damaged.

That is, the severely damaged ship equipment has not been repaired for a long time, which has reduced the strength of the defensive force field, causing some of the damage to be transferred to the main body.

"Heavily damaged Attack?" Bismarck stared coldly at the Enterprise. "Didn't you remind your comrades to carry out ship repairs?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Bismarck's words seemed to pierce through Enterprise's last psychological defense. She collapsed to the ground, large tears welling up in her eyes. Enterprise covered her eyes and sobbed softly.

With the Enterprise performing like this, even Bismarck couldn't continue to make things difficult for it.

"...How badly are you injured?" Bismarck asked, looking at the Enterprise slumped on the ground.

"...He has several broken bones and can't move anymore." When asked about his companion's condition, Enterprise slowly stopped crying and answered in a trembling voice.

Bismarck looked at Little White, about to ask something, when Little White looked at Bismarck and nodded.

"sure."

“…I understand.” Bismarck knelt down, reached into her ship's equipment space and searched for a while before pulling out two green quick-repair devices and placing them in Enterprise’s arms.

"Coming here to ask for our help after your companion is so badly injured must mean you have some unavoidable difficulties," Xiaobai said. "Can you tell us?"

Although Enterprise is a civilian ship girl and has never used advanced technology, it still has at least the ability to be identified.

She recognized the two metal basins in her hands.

She knew it was a wondrous device that could turn the mundane into the magical.

I've reached 10 words... I need an excuse to vent about the backlog of chapters.

Chapter 42: Having a bucket means you can do whatever you want.

Ship equipment is an extremely complex system. Once damaged, it must be soaked in a repair pool for slow repair. Manual methods are insufficient to handle the hundreds of millions of parts in the ship equipment.

The reason why the repair pool can restore ship equipment is that the ship equipment itself has a certain degree of resilience. When immersed in the repair fluid in the active repair pool, it can actively absorb the nanoscale mechanical parts that have melted in the repair fluid to repair itself.

—There is a kind of thing that uses this principle, which, instead of letting the ship equipment actively absorb mechanical parts, maximizes the activity of the mechanical parts and actively repairs the ship equipment, achieving the effect of restoring the ship girl's ship equipment extremely quickly.

With its high cost and outstanding performance, it is one of the Navy's most prized technologies.

Rapid repair device.

Only with the protection of this thing can military ship girls have incredibly terrifying endurance, allowing them to stand up again after one fierce battle after another, constantly gaining experience and growing, thus becoming an existence that civilian ship girls can only look up to.

Clutching the two heavy metal basins in his hands, Enterprise, his face still streaked with tears, slumped to the ground, trembling as if grasping at a straw, bending over with his forehead pressed against the ground.

"thanks, thanks……"

Enterprise knew the value of the two rapid repair devices in its pocket.

Such items do exist on the black market, but they are extremely expensive, and the Enterprise's savings simply cannot afford them.

Ship girls aren't exactly wealthy. Aside from their pretty faces, their professional skills are often inferior to those of ordinary, well-educated humans. While ship girl jobs may seem incredibly difficult to the average person, they're the only things ship girls can do, a fact the operators are well aware of. Therefore, while ship girls earn more than most, they're still far from being wealthy enough to buy things on the black market.

Looking at it this way, military ship girls are really great.

Xiao Bai helped Jin Qu up from the ground.

"...Things are clearer now." Xiaobai murmured softly, "The rapid repair device only repairs the ship's equipment. The injuries your companion sustained are irreversible. If it's just a fracture, it shouldn't be a big problem if it's treated properly. There should be doctors on board, right?"

Seeing that the Enterprise's emotions had gradually stabilized, Xiaobai added, "If the ship's equipment is repaired, you will also have the ability to continue protecting this ship, right?"

As Enterprise looked at the girl in front of him, for some reason, he suddenly felt a lump in his throat and tears welled up in his eyes.

Oh, angels.

The reason this young admiral can handle these two ship girls is, as expected, because she's an angel.

The hand holding the rapid repair device tightened involuntarily.

“Thank you… thank you for your help…” Enterprise said.

"I didn't do anything. Saratoga saved you last night, and Bismarck repaired your barrel." Little White gave an awkward smile.

"Go back and help your companions." Little White didn't give Enterprise a chance to speak, and gently pushed Enterprise's waist.

A small gesture can help Enterprise regain its confidence more effectively than a thousand words of encouragement.

Enterprise was stunned for a moment, then quickly wiped away its tears, nodded firmly, and jogged away from the guest room.

"...Aren't you going to ask her about her?" Bismarck, who was standing next to him, turned to ask Shiro after the Enterprise had disappeared from sight.

"Huh? What is it?" Xiaobai looked at him with curiosity.

"The reason for the great breakthrough attack."

"Oh... well, I already know," Xiaobai replied with a smile.

“…?” Bismarck tilted her head slightly, expressing her question.

"She was so excited after getting the quick repair device, she must have been longing for the opportunity to repair her ship equipment for a long time," Xiaobai said. "Didn't Bismarck say before that these ship girls almost never have a chance to fight? Most of the escort missions are just for psychological comfort. Anyway, the most that can happen on escort missions is to clear out deep-sea destroyers, so having ship equipment at full health isn't that important, right? — Beep, I think a lot of people think that way."

“No one would risk their life, not even ship girls. If they can repair their ship equipment but don’t, it must be because the repair costs are huge, and at least the ship girls have to pay for a portion of it.” Xiaobai tapped her chin with her finger and pondered. “In that case, the ambitious Miss who can’t afford to repair her ship equipment is probably taking her almost incapacitated companions on missions because she wants to earn money quickly. After all, if the mission fails, she won’t get her share, and might even have her salary deducted. That’s the reason she wants to continue working after her companions are injured.”

“…” Bismarck quietly looked at the pensive Little White.

"Huh? What's wrong? Is there something on my face?" Xiaobai asked, somewhat puzzled.

“…No,” Bismarck replied.

"Oh..." Xiaobai put down her hand. "But in that case, the security company's protection of the ship girls is inadequate. Remember to report it when you go back."

“Little White is really amazing,” Bismarck said.

"Eh? Me?"

"To be able to see things that ship girls can't see, and to handle these things well, is the greatest responsibility of an admiral, and it's a lifelong job," Bismarck said.

"Is that so..." Xiaobai lowered her head, softly repeating Bismarck's words about being able to see what ship girls can't. After a while, she looked up at Bismarck and smiled, "Yes, thank you!"

Bismarck's words unexpectedly gave Xiaobai a lot of encouragement.

Perhaps I really can do a good job as an admiral.

With a subtle sense of excitement, Xiaobai and his two companions tidied up their gear and continued their vacation.

The rapid repair device was indeed amazing. At noon, while sunbathing on the deck, the people on the ship could see that one of the ship girls who fought with the deep sea last night had reappeared in the waters not far from the passenger ship, protecting its safety.

Although it was said that one of the ship girls had suffered some serious injuries and was temporarily unable to move, the passengers didn't care much. In the minds of ordinary people, as long as there are ship girls who can patrol and protect them, they don't care about the number of ship girls or their combat strength.

“Ignorance is bliss…” Saratoga leaned on the railing, striking various strange poses, with half of her body sticking out, prompting a nearby waiter to shout, “Miss, please be careful!”

Xiaobai, standing next to Saratoga, also gave a wry smile.

Suddenly, as if sensing something, Xiaobai looked towards the ship girl in the sea not far away.

The red-haired ship girl bowed deeply to the passenger ship.

Chapter 43 Landing on the Island

The rest of the days on the passenger ship were peaceful.

The chances of a passenger ship encountering the deep sea are already very small. Even with the presence of large Wi-Fi networks like Saratoga and Bismarck, which are prone to attracting deep-sea attacks, it only increases the already low probability of a deep-sea attack to 1%.

Finally, Xiaobai and his group arrived at their destination, Corola Island.

Corola Island is an artificial island. To be precise, it's more like a city built on the sea than an island.

In their pursuit of thrills, city dwellers once reclaimed land from the sea, eventually building an entertainment facility for wealthy people with money to burn. Driven by money, the facility expanded rapidly, undergoing several expansions in just over a decade, attracting many residents and merchants, and ultimately becoming a large floating city.

Due to its expanding area and economic contributions, the city has gradually become known to a considerable number of people and has become a famous tourist attraction. Now, it is protected by a dedicated naval base.

The passenger ship entered the port, and Xiaobai and his group disembarked.

On the passenger ship, the Enterprise was waving goodbye to Little White.

The passenger ship will not stay in port for more than 24 hours, and most of the people on board will not stay on the island for less than 24 hours. Therefore, the passenger ship will leave directly after briefly resupplying some passengers on the island who are preparing to return to the city.

During occasional free time on the ship, Enterprise would visit Xiaobai and the others. Enterprise had also expressed its willingness to pay for the two quick-repair buckets in installments with its own salary countless times, but Xiaobai always refused.

Although the situation with the Enterprise isn't entirely clear, the deep-sea attack in the middle of the mission was basically aimed at Bismarck and Saratoga. The Enterprise was just an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire. While Xiaobai (the character) can't be called overly compassionate, he at least has a basic sense of responsibility. He was responsible for the monsters he attracted. Therefore, he absolutely cannot accept the Enterprise's money.

Enterprise was naturally unaware of the reasons behind this. In her view, she was simply lucky to receive the selfless help of an angelic girl (and two ship girls). She was not to say that she would be treated like a slave, but she was at least grateful and would never forget it.

"Is the complaint document ready?" Bismarck turned to the little white ship beside her and asked, watching the Enterprise wave to Little White from afar.

"Hmm." Xiaobai waved to the Enterprise, then pulled an envelope from his bag and handed it to Bismarck. "Is this a problem regarding the oversight in handling the insurance for the hired ship girls?"

“That’s enough.” Bismarck accepted the envelope.

Such a whistleblower letter carries more weight when written by the admiral, and is more likely to receive attention from the relevant departments.

Xiao Bai then pulled out a white envelope and took out a yellow invitation.

This is the invitation to the banquet hosted by the Admiral of Colorado Island.

The invitation included the specific location of the banquet, as well as some other details.

"As for the meeting place... ah, it's in the castle." Xiaobai looked at the map on the invitation and found that the meeting place was actually in the most conspicuous castle in the middle of the island.

Are all the admirals this rich?

This question couldn't help but arise in Xiaobai's mind.

“The admiral who is hosting the banquet is the admiral of this island. Working in such an economic center, the naval base will receive many high-paying commissions, so occasionally renting a castle of this size shouldn’t be a big burden,” Bismarck said.

"Oh, I see..." Xiaobai looked at the invitation in her hand.

To show sincerity, the invitation was handwritten, with neat and tidy handwriting, but it was notably unsigned.

...Who is it?

Saratoga, standing beside him, tiptoed, gazing at the distant street.

The streets were bustling with people, lined with all sorts of shops selling toys and souvenirs, snacks and treats, and trendy and inexpensive scarves and headwear—a considerable temptation for the naturally lively Saratoga.

"Oh, sorry. Let's hurry and find a hotel to stay in." Little White noticed that Saratoga was trying her best to restrain herself. "The banquet is in the evening, but we have a whole morning to play."

Saratoga turned his head, his two sparkling eyes fixed on Little White.

Life at the naval base is quite boring; most of the time, you're just sitting at home with nothing much to do. This is actually quite a challenge for Saratoga, which is why she came to this banquet trip despite her reluctance to be with Cyborg.