Elder brother's garrison

Page 390

“Thank you for giving me life, my lord,” North Carolina said.

Then, with a "bang," white smoke filled the air, and the adult version of North Carolina instantly transformed back into a little girl, falling into Little White's arms. She looked at Little White with a puzzled expression, seemingly unaware of what she had just done.

"Ah...it seems that although the energy is sufficient, the root of malnutrition has been left behind." Sukhbaatar shrugged with a regretful look. "Even if the energy is sufficient, it will often revert to energy-saving mode, North Carolina."

Nestled in Xiaobai's arms, North Carolina and Xiaobai looked at Sukhbaatar and tilted their heads in unison.

Then Xiaobai realized that Sukhbaatar probably already knew about this situation, which was why he didn't interfere in what had just happened.

Xiaobai chuckled and stretched out her hands, which were bandaged like a rice dumpling, to hug North Carolina in her arms.

For Xiaobai, this night was truly thrilling.

After resting for a while, the focus of Xiaobai, Sukhbaatar, and the others' discussion gradually shifted to how to deal with the Deepsea Yamato, which had degenerated into a deep-sea amphibious ship.

The scene suddenly became quite intense, with everyone expressing their opinions passionately. Finally, on Xiaobai's advice, while Deepsea Yamato was still suffering from the side effects of degeneration, namely severe dizziness, they carried Deepsea Yamato to the sea overnight and rushed towards the surface, then threw Deepsea Yamato directly into the ocean.

Watching Yamato's body slowly being submerged by layer upon layer of black, resentful deep-sea water, and finally disappear from sight, Shiro sighed softly and felt relieved.

The encounter between the protagonist and the deep-sea Yamato ended abruptly and without any clear conclusion.

After finally being promoted to Dean of the Abyssal Fleet, Yamato was drained of its life force by a random intruder, Shiro, before it could even properly demonstrate its abilities. It was then reduced to its original form, a Deepsea Abyssal Fleet, and thrown back into the sea, where it was about to begin a new round of battles with the Deepsea Abyssal Fleets.

Fortunately, even if the Deep Sea Yamato, which has been upgraded to the Deep Sea Dean, degenerates into a Deep Sea Amphibious Ship, its combat power is still higher than that of an ordinary Deep Sea Amphibious Ship. Under normal circumstances, it is only a matter of time before an existence with such a unique advantage turns back into the Deep Sea Dean.

When Xiaobai decides to go back, she should apologize to Yamato-neechan properly or offer some compensation for her lost wages.

After dealing with all of this, Xiaobai and her friends headed back to the human city.

On the way back, Missouri saw that Xiaobai's hands and feet were wrapped in thick bandages and insisted on carrying Xiaobai on her back. Xiaobai understood Missouri's behavior and politely declined several times, but in the end, she couldn't persuade her and had to let Missouri carry her back to the human city.

After a day and a night, Xiaobai returned to the human city.

Lily, who rarely sits at the factory gate even in the early hours of the morning, was surprised to see Little White being carried on Missouri's back. Seeing the tightly wrapped gauze on Little White's limbs, she panicked.

"Lu Lin?!" Linglan stood up from the steps at the factory entrance. She ran to Xiaobai's side, looked at Xiaobai's face, and asked in a panic, "Your hand..."

"Sister Linglan, I'm back!" Xiaobai said to Linglan with a smile.

“You…” Linglan didn’t know why, but when she saw Xiaobai’s smile, her expression fell, and tears kept flowing from her eyes. She reached out and carefully lifted one of Xiaobai’s arms, looking at the bandage with heartache. “How could this happen?”

"It's okay, it doesn't hurt," Xiaobai shook her head and said to Linglan.

"What exactly did you go about?"

"Uh...you helped the human city solve the problem of the deep-sea amphibious ships that threatened human safety?" Xiaobai said to Linglan, with an embarrassed smile on his face. "I'm really sorry for keeping it from you before, Linglan-neechan."

Linglan paused for a moment before lowering her head, tears welling in her eyes, looking at the white gauze, and gently nodding.

Linglan didn't say anything more, but whispered a few words to Missouri, asking her to take Xiaobai back to the workshop.

Xiao Bai was settled on the bed by Linglan, who took out what looked like tea and snacks that had been prepared in advance. Xiao Bai's hands were currently in a sealed state like the Black Flame Dragon in a chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) state, so he couldn't pick up anything. Linglan then sat down next to Xiao Bai, picked up the snacks, and fed them to Xiao Bai with a concerned expression.

Lily of the Valley's reaction was surprisingly calm and normal, which reassured Xiaobai a lot amidst her subtle disappointment.

The next day, upon learning that Xiaobai had completed the mission, Muji excitedly ran into the factory. Upon seeing Xiaobai, he tried to jump up and hug her leg, shouting things like "Big boss, you're awesome!", "Big boss, take me with you!", "Big boss, you're amazing!", "Big boss, you're the best!", but was immediately kicked away by Linglan, who was standing by.

The fact that the city lord of the previous generation was worse than a dog is aptly illustrated.

After that, Xiaobai, like a retired senior official, enjoyed a rare period of peace and quiet.

Muji knew that 99% of Xiaobai's injuries were due to the tasks he had assigned her, so there was a series of compensations. Every day, large amounts of food, snacks, tea, and happiness coins, which symbolized money, were delivered to Xiaobai's location.

Born in modern times and having enjoyed the riches and glory of modern life, Xiaobai had no interest in such things, so she didn't need them. She didn't consume much of them on a daily basis either. But then she thought that it would be nice to leave these things to Linglan, so she accepted them with a smile.

Of course, Xiaobai's vacation does not mean that human cities are on vacation, nor does it mean that deep-sea ships are on vacation.

During this period, for some unknown reason, as the research progress of human city ship girl technology accelerated, it was as if the opportunity had been seized, and more and more deep-sea amphibious ships came from afar to attack human cities.

However, these deep-sea amphibious ships are not as powerful as the Deep Sea Yamato. Missouri and North Carolina, which can occasionally transform into an adult like Ultraman, are enough to handle these problems.

Missouri, in particular, worked incredibly hard during Xiaobai's vacation. Xiaobai had to plead with Sukhbaatar to keep a close eye on Missouri every time, hoping that Sukhbaatar could pull her back when she got carried away before she could feel at ease.

Suzuran is also working with the same fervor as Missouri on the construction device. Since Shiro returned, Shiro has hardly ever seen Suzuran sleep. Every day, Shiro sees Suzuran hunched over the workshop table, studying the mysterious script. Especially in the last few days, Suzuran has even run out of the workshop, carrying blueprints, and directly directing operations on the assembly line.

"These runes are a kind of writing, possessing totem-like power."

"Besides serving as an instruction manual, these words also possess the power to condense legends. Ordinary steel and resources enter them, burn, evaporate, and merge with the flames of history, ultimately transforming into life—that is the ship girl..."

"Therefore, we must learn to replicate these characters. If we don't understand these characters, we absolutely cannot write them. For now, I will take the lead..."

Every day, Xiaobai could see Linglan, wearing a white coat, standing in front of the assembly line at the workshop entrance, directing the workers while constantly sketching and painting on the parts with various tools.

The girl named Linglan, who was just a village girl from a backward village when she met Xiaobai, now commands the obedience of all the staff in the high-tech city. It's truly remarkable.

Time passed slowly like this.

A month later, Xiaobai secretly removed the gauze herself.

Beneath the bandages, Xiaobai's snow-white skin was smooth and delicate, without any scars.

at the same time.

Inside the factory, amidst the workers' wailing—a mixture of crying and laughter—the first replica construction device, designed specifically for human cities, rolled off the assembly line.

I'm defending my thesis today, so I need to take a day off.

After nearly three or four months of work, my graduation project is finally ready for defense. There's a lot to prepare, and I'm feeling quite overwhelmed, so I won't be updating today.

Sorry, I'm taking a day off.

Purple potato pudding purple potato pudding purple potato pudding purple potato pudding purple potato pudding purple potato pudding purple potato pudding purple potato pudding purple potato pudding purple potato pudding purple potato pudding purple potato pudding

Chapter 510 Farewell to the Lily of the Valley

A series of footsteps echoed outside the workshop. Finally, a loud bang like a bomb exploded at the door, and then, with barely suppressed joy, Linglan pushed open the workshop door and shouted as she looked into the workshop and saw Xiaobai sitting on the bed unwrapping her bandages.

"Lu—Lin!!!"

"Eek! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have taken it off so early! I'm so sorry!" Xiaobai thought that Linglan had discovered that he had secretly taken off the bandage, so he quickly covered his head with a wad of the bandage and apologized to Linglan.

"Ah, Lu Lin, you took off the bandages?" Linglan was slightly taken aback when she saw Xiaobai lying on the bed in such a frightened state. Then her eyes scanned Xiaobai's feet and hands for a while.

Xiao Bai's hands and feet had fair and delicate skin, and her nails were pink, neat, and beautiful, sparkling like crystal.

Just as Xiaobai had hoped, not a single scar remained.

"It recovered so quickly, that's wonderful!" Linglan's eyes narrowed, and she jumped onto the bed in a flash. She picked up Xiaobai's hand and examined it carefully, even smelling it several times.

"Ah... that's pretty fast." Xiaobai looked at Linglan cautiously, and only after confirming that there was no annoyance in Linglan's eyes for taking off the bandages ahead of time did she sigh slightly.

"Ah, I almost forgot about the important matter." Linglan held Xiaobai's hand for a while before finally remembering the important matter. She shook her head, shaking off some distracting thoughts, and turned to look at Xiaobai's face. "Lu Lin, the replication of the construction device has been successful."

"Did it work?" Xiaobai was taken aback when she heard Linglan's words, but soon a smile slowly crept onto her face.

"Okay!" Linglan nodded happily, then took Xiaobai's hand and pulled her out of the workshop.

Xiao Bai put on the shoes she hadn't worn for over a month and slowly followed Ling Lan out of the workshop.

As soon as he stepped out of the workshop, a series of applause and cheers rang out from all around. Xiaobai looked up and found that the factory was now filled with many, many workers, more than he had ever seen on any other day.

Even Muji, whom I hadn't seen for a while, was there. Standing next to him was an older middle-aged man who bore a striking resemblance to Muji. He must be the former city lord, Mu Zhe.

"Ship Girl!" Kiji and his father stood together and saw Suzuran and Shiro walk out amidst cheers. Kiji quickly raised his arm to greet Shiro, his face full of excited smiles. "Ship Girl, come here!"

"Lord Muji, it's been a long time." Xiaobai walked up to Muji with a smile.

"Miss Ship Girl, look!" Kijiro deeply understood the importance of Shiro to the human city. When he spoke to Shiro, his expression was particularly humble. He bent down slightly, then pointed to the front of him. His voice was filled with a mixture of trembling and joy, making everyone's blood boil. "This is the first ship girl construction device in our human city!"

Xiaobai looked in the direction Muji pointed, and finally smiled slightly at what was in front of him.

What lay before Muji was the so-called construction device for a human city, shaped like a chestnut, exactly the modern construction device that Shiro remembered. Absolutely identical.

Although there are slight differences in color, shape, and layout compared to the original construction device brought back from the deep sea, Xiaobai still feels that the one in front of him looks more familiar.

"This inspiration and the finished product came from you, Miss Ship Girl. Even your admiral provided us with tremendous help during the research. You also contributed greatly to protecting our city during this period. Now, we humans finally have the power and technology to resist the Abyssal Fleet. This is a huge step for us humans. It is a huge step to reclaim our homeland, enjoy freedom, and develop. I am truly grateful!" Muji bowed deeply to Xiaobai and expressed his heartfelt thanks.

"That's wonderful." Since things had already gone this far, being modest would be pretentious, so Xiaobai didn't try to avoid Muji's generous greeting, nor did she say anything to decline. She simply sighed softly and quietly enjoyed Muji's gratitude.

“Miss Ship Girl, you are the benefactor of our human city, and you are also the first ship girl to stand up and protect our human city. Although you do not want to become the city lord, we really have nothing left to give you.” Muji straightened his back and said to Xiaobai with a slight apology. Finally, he exchanged a brief glance with his father, Muzhe, behind him. “Therefore, I would like to give Miss Ship Girl the title of honorary city lord. I hope you will not mind.”

Xiaobai was taken aback. Then she watched as Muji pulled out a medal that looked like it had been prepared in advance from his clothes, held it in front of her, and stared blankly for a while.

"The honorary city lord is..."

"Simply put, it's an idol!" Linglan behind Xiaobai explained, and finally grabbed the medal from Muji's hand and put it on Xiaobai's clothes. "You don't have to take any responsibility, you can slack off every day, and you can enjoy the treatment of a city lord. You will always have the support of the residents... What else is that but an idol?"

"Haha..." Xiaobai laughed knowingly.

Since that's the case, Xiaobai had no right to refuse. She nodded to Muji and accepted the medal.

The people around immediately cheered.

Xiao Bai smiled amidst the cheering crowd.

Finally, she let out a barely perceptible sigh, and her eyes overflowed with sadness, like a full moon.

—The construction device has been built. With the city's abundant resources, it will not be a problem to build a large number of ship girls for humanity in a short period of time. After that, humanity will sound the horn of counterattack against the deep sea, reaffirm its leadership over the land, and slowly drive the deep-sea ships back to the deep sea.

Looking at the smiles on the faces of the people around him, feeling their joy and triumphant laughter, Xiao Bai also lowered his head with a helpless smile.

However, that has nothing to do with Xiaobai anymore.

Her mission is complete; it's time for her to go home.

Amidst the cheering crowd, which seemed to be boiling over and ready to tear the roof off at any moment, Xiaobai's figure appeared forlorn and lonely.

News of the construction device quickly spread throughout the city. Just as Kiji had hoped, all the long-awaited residents, upon learning of the device's existence and that many beautiful and powerful ship girls would soon become warriors to protect them, help them reclaim their land, and fight against the deep sea, erupted in a city-wide cacophony of gongs and drums, their jubilant joy echoing like a thunderstorm.

It wasn't until nightfall, when the villagers, having exhausted all their energy, finally remembered that humans also need to sleep, that they returned home, drifted off to sleep with anticipation for the future, and settled into quietude.

The human cities tonight are quieter than they have been for dozens of days, or even decades. Even the starry sky seems to be cooperating, as the night is darker than usual.

The factory gate was pushed open.

Xiao Bai walked out of the gate, looked back at the factory where he had spent several months, and then slowly pushed the gate shut.

"Lu Lin." Then, Linglan's voice rang out from outside the factory.

"Eek!" Little White was startled and quickly turned his head to look at the open space.

The moonlight gradually shifted, revealing a smiling blonde girl.

"Ah, Sister Linglan?" Xiaobai looked at Linglan in surprise, who seemed to have been standing in the open space for a long time. Then, she swallowed hard and greeted Linglan like a child caught doing something wrong. "What are you doing out so late?"

"..." Linglan walked up to Xiaobai, but instead of answering Xiaobai's question, she looked at Xiaobai and then reached out to straighten Xiaobai's collar.

"If I hadn't met you, I would probably still be a village girl who knows nothing, only able to huddle together with her family, trembling with fear," Linglan said with a sigh.

"..." Xiaobai remained silent.

“Thank you, Lu Lin,” Linglan said.

"Don't mention it, we're friends, aren't we?" Xiaobai smiled at Linglan.

"...Will you still remember me?" Linglan asked as she straightened Xiaobai's collar and brushed off the dust.

"...I will remember, I will always remember, I have a good memory."

"Ah, is that so... Hmm, that's good." Lily of the Valley lowered her head and smiled as she looked at Shiro's face.

"Sister Linglan?"

"Have humans in the future reclaimed their land? Can they sleep peacefully on safe land with their families, play on the beach, and live carefree lives? Can children receive an education, can ship girls be treated well, and can the deep-sea creatures stay obediently in the sea?" Suzuran asked Shiro gently.

Xiao Bai was startled, then looked at Lily of the Valley.

She had never told Suzuran that she came from the future, but Suzuran actually asked her this question, which startled Shiro.

"Sister Linglan, how did you know...?"

“My grandfather saw it all along.” Linglan paused in adjusting Xiaobai’s collar, then said softly, “She said you would leave sooner or later, that you are a hero from the future who helps the people here. And I am just a passerby who helps you.”

"...Sister Linglan, your village is now..."

“There’s no one left, right?” Linglan nodded. “My grandfather will leave with the villagers after we go, so as not to implicate you.”

Xiaobai was shocked.

"It's okay, I'll survive. My grandpa's really amazing." Linglan pursed her lips for a moment, then lowered her head. "...You're leaving, aren't you?"

Xiaobai started to panic.

Linglan withdrew her hand and quietly studied Xiaobai for a while, as if she wanted to imprint Xiaobai's face in her heart.

“…Mm.” Xiaobai nodded.

"Have a safe journey," Linglan said to Xiaobai, giving her a final, gentle hug before closing her eyes.