Elder brother's garrison

Page 559

Under Glorious leadership, the ship girls slowly made their way back.

A few minutes passed, then ten minutes, then half an hour.

The ship girls who wanted to return felt as if the surrounding fog was like layer upon layer of walls, turning the vast sea into a maze. They wandered around on the sea, but couldn't find their way back.

Even with their sense of direction, the ship girls were having trouble distinguishing east from west and north from south.

Finally, sensing something was wrong, Glorious stopped in her tracks, and the ship girls behind her also stopped, their faces turning pale.

Glory felt one of her arms trembling. She reached out her other hand to press down on that trembling arm, and as she pressed, both of her arms began to tremble.

Glory took a breath and turned around.

"I'm sorry, it looks like we're lost." Glorious looked at the ship girls behind him, especially Shiro, with a guilty expression. "...I can't find my way back."

The ship girls didn't show any greater shock at Glorious's words; it seemed that they had gradually realized this during their journey.

Getting lost isn't just the responsibility of the ship girl who led the way. In fact, none of the ship girls present realized that they were also partly to blame for getting lost, so they didn't blame Glory, who was the flagship.

Besides, it's pointless to blame them now.

The ship girls were silent for a moment, then looked at the surrounding sea.

The sea remained unchanged, stretching to the horizon, with a swirling black mist filling the surroundings, resembling a cold forest at night.

"What... what's going on..." one of the ship girls murmured.

"...It's so cold." One of the ship girls hissed softly, clutched her clothes, and paced back and forth.

Glory also showed a somewhat defeated expression.

"Roar!!" But at that moment, a furious roar, like that of a monster, suddenly came from the other side of the sea.

In an instant, even the slowly crawling deep-sea fog seemed to be spurred on by the roar.

The voice was filled with the frustration and anger of a hunter who had waited a long time but whose prey had not yet walked into the trap.

The source of the sound seemed to be very far away, spreading through layers of deep sea mist, like a megaphone covered by a hood, losing some of its realism but gaining a chill.

This sudden shout acted as a catalyst, completely unleashing the fear in the ship girls' hearts. In an instant, the ship girls were so frightened that they quickly hugged each other.

What is that sound??

Even the glorious shoulder trembled in fright at the sound, and her face quickly turned pale.

"Don't panic, the sound is still very, very far away from us," Glory said in a low voice to his companion.

The panicked ship girls heard Glorious's voice. They judged the distance of the voice and slowly calmed down, nodding to her.

Glory thought for a moment, then looked at Little White: "Little Sister Patina."

Xiaobai was still standing there, deep in thought. She listened to the distant howl and seemed somewhat puzzled by the reactions of the surrounding ship girls.

"I'm here."

Glory beckoned to Little White: "Come here."

Xiaobai glanced at York beside him, then walked up to Glory.

Glory put her arm around Shiro's shoulder, signaling the other ship girls to form a circle around Shiro.

“Patchina, you were the first to realize we were on the wrong path, right?” Glory asked.

"Ah."

"When did you find out?"

"...When Glory Sister started to turn?" Xiaobai asked tentatively.

Upon hearing Xiaobai's words, Glorious and the surrounding ship girls all froze.

"Patchina, are you talking about what happened before we got lost?"

"hold head high."

"But...we didn't turn," the ship girls replied to Xiaobai. "We've been traveling in a straight line the whole time!"

This is also what puzzled the ship girls, since when Shiro first discovered they were lost, he asked them why they kept turning corners.

However, from the perspective of these ship girls, they were simply following their previous direction, taking the shortest straight line between two points towards the center of the node.

"Uh..." Xiaobai thought for a moment, "...ladies."

"Ok?"

"Excuse me, which direction is east?"

"Yes." The ship girls pointed eastward in unison.

On the dark surface of the water.

There was a group of ship girls sitting around Xiaobai.

After Xiaobai asked the question.

They extended their hands.

Then, amidst their astonished gazes...

Completely different.

It pointed in all directions.

Chapter 767 Predators and Prey

Ship girls have an excellent sense of direction, so much so that some people think they have a compass in their brains, almost without exception.

After all, they are ships in a sense, and when they go out to march and fight, a clear and excellent sense of direction is an essential skill.

After all, if this thing isn't good, a squad of ship girls might not be able to find their way home after a battle, and might even wander into another naval base.

Even the companies in the naval base that get lost all the time have an exceptionally clear sense of direction, knowing which way is north, south, east, and west.

After all, as mentioned before, the reason why she is directionally challenged is not because she has a poor sense of direction, but because no matter which way she goes, she eventually reaches her destination, which is why she has gradually become accustomed to getting lost.

That's why these ship girls are completely bewildered by the current situation.

The ship girls looked around and saw that none of their companions were pointing in the same direction as them, and remained silent for a long time.

"I knew it!" Xiaobai exclaimed.

Luo Yin's ship girls have lost their sense of direction at some point.

Xiaobai looked at the ship girls pointing in all directions like flowers blooming before her, and then looked down at her own hands.

Because they have lost their sense of direction, they may not be aware that they are not going in a straight line but instead going in circles.

The ship girls lowered their hands dejectedly.

After Xiaobai's test, they realized that they had lost their sense of direction.

This is a big deal, quite serious.

It could be the kind of situation where you might not be able to go home.

"Patchina...do you know where east is?" A ship girl who didn't seem very brave asked Shiro cautiously.

There was a hint of fear and trembling in the voice, as well as some hope, as if all their hopes were pinned on Xiaobai.

"If it's to the east... here?" Xiaobai pointed in a direction.

The ship girls looked at the direction Xiaobai pointed out and all showed expressions of surprise.

"Ah... but I don't know if my sense of direction has disappeared... maybe I'm wrong too." Xiaobai quickly said to the ship girls in front of her.

What Xiaobai said wasn't wrong. A sense of direction is a mysterious thing; it can't be seen or touched. Without an accurate reference, Xiaobai wouldn't know if he had lost it or if the east he was pointing to was actually east.

Upon hearing Shiro's explanation, the ship girls couldn't help but show expressions of disappointment.

“Pachina’s intuition is probably right.” Just then, Glorious patted Shiro on the shoulder. “Pachina is the only ship girl among us who can tell that we’re going in circles, which proves that her sense of direction hasn’t disappeared.”

The ship girls' disappointed eyes lit up once again.

Xiao Bai smiled somewhat awkwardly.

Xiaobai had a general idea of ​​what Glory was saying, but even if Xiaobai's sense of direction hadn't disappeared, she still had a hard time figuring out which way was east.

After all, she's not a ship girl; she's just a natural human. Although a lot of parts have been added recently, resulting in better performance, her racial innate skills remain unchanged.

On the high seas or in vast, similar deserts, human sense of direction is the most unreliable thing.

“Pachina, don’t feel pressured. Although we don’t know if the direction you’ve chosen is correct, we know for sure that the direction we’ve chosen is wrong,” Glory said to Little White.

Since Glory has said all that, Xiaobai has nothing more to say.

"Why have we lost our sense of direction?" Just then, one of the ship girls asked, somewhat puzzled.

The ship girls looked at each other, all somewhat worried.

"Will our lost sense of direction ever return?" the ship girls asked.

“We’ll be back,” Xiaobai said quickly. “Just like a compass can malfunction, I think your sense of direction has just been interfered with.”

"Interference?" The ship girls looked at Xiaobai in confusion.

"Ah."

Why would Patina think that way?

"Um, didn't Sister Glory ask you before when the surroundings started to become like this?" Xiaobai asked.

The ship girls nodded in agreement.

At that time, most of these ship girls gave answers similar to, "I felt like the surroundings were noisy just now, but when I noticed, the surroundings had changed to this."

"But I asked you this after it had been quiet for quite a while."

……

The scene became quiet again.

The ship girls stared at Xiaobai with their mouths agape, pondering her words.

"...Patchina, do you mean that not only have we lost our sense of direction, but we've also lost our sensitivity to changes in our surroundings?"

"Mm." Xiaobai nodded.

The ship girls all lowered their heads, pondering Xiaobai's words.

Indeed, it's impossible for the surroundings to be noisy one second and then completely empty the next. After all, there are so many ship girls around, not a flock of pigeons, they can't just disappear like that.

If that's the case, then the problem can only be with myself.

Just like their keen sense of direction, these ship girls' sensitivity to their surroundings was also impaired. Even though the environment had undergone drastic changes, they still felt as if it were the same as before.

Fortunately, although their ability to perceive changes in their surroundings has become much duller, they can quickly return to normal as long as they cheer up.

Just like when Xiaobai previously suggested that everyone observe their surroundings, the ship girls eventually noticed the changes.

Thinking about this, the ship girls realized how important it was and couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines.

—How are one's sense of direction and observation skills interfered with?

The ship girls aren't stupid; when they think about this, they can naturally recall the roar they just heard deep in the sea.

—It really was a trap.

The only thing that could have interfered with the ship girls' judgment was the "thing" that made that roar. It was that thing that led them unknowingly into this strange sea area, like a pack of prey offering their heads, completely unaware of their predicament. Under the interference of that "thing," they sank deeper and deeper into this trap-like sea.

No ship girl asked what that "thing" was.

They tacitly remained silent on this obvious issue.

The fact that we haven't encountered any deep-sea amphibious ships after sailing on this sea for so long speaks volumes.

This is called the calm before the storm, or the resupply before a major battle.

They knew why the first node had become a leveling hotspot, and they also knew the reason for the deep-sea cluster. As Luo Yin's ship girls and as glorious companions, it was impossible for them not to know.

Some of the ship girls, whose faces had turned pale, began to tremble slightly with their hands.

"Why... why didn't you get any interference, Patina?" the ship girls asked.

"...I don't even know if I was being interfered with or not," Xiaobai said quite honestly to the ship girls in front of her.

The ship girls remained silent.

All the questions that needed to be asked have been asked, and the ship girls have all received the answers they wanted.