Elder brother's garrison

Page 1964

"Hehehe..."

"Hey? Big sister, why are you suddenly not talking?" Roma looked at Veneto's expression and finally began to realize that something was wrong.

“It’s alright.” Veneto raised his chin and gave Rome a hearty smile. “Since you’re so energetic today, I can’t let you leave.”

"what?"

"Rome, you haven't finished your training for today yet."

"Uh...but didn't you say training was suspended—"

"The training program has just started again."

"How...how could this be—"

"Don't worry, Roma, I'll take extra responsibility today. I'll squeeze every last drop of energy, physical strength, willpower, and mental strength out of you. I guarantee that after training today, you won't be able to lift a single finger... No, that's not enough. You won't have the strength to do anything except breathe."

Veneto pressed Roma's shoulder with his palm, his five slender fingers digging deep into Roma's collarbone, pressing Roma down as if he were a chick.

"Huh?? Big sister, wait, wait a minute... Didn't you always say that training should be balanced between tension and relaxation..." Seeing Veneto's murderous threat, Roma realized that something was wrong.

"Don't worry, it's fine to do this once in a while." Veneto's eyes gleamed. "You should have confidence in my training level. You're my sister, and I'll keep you alive no matter what."

"No...no! Boss, wait, wait a minute! At least let me eat something first—just a bite to eat!"

"Hehehe, Rome, you should just give up. Even if you eat now, you'll throw it all up later."

"Wh-what————"

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, a panicked Roma was dragged step by step into the training ground by Veneto, leaving a trail of Roma's fingerprints on the ground.

Before long, the training ground was filled with terrifying sounds, as if it were an ancient battlefield where a thousand-year-old battle had taken place.

Boom boom boom boom——

Bang bang bang bang bang——

……

Nia's family, living in Rome and the Empire, stood side by side. Listening to the sounds around them and seeing the drag marks on the ground, they couldn't help but tremble.

"Will Rome, the home of Admiral Lu Lin, be alright?"

"It shouldn't be...it shouldn't be..."

The two bewildered ship girls swallowed hard and looked towards the training ground not far away.

On the training ground, shells flew everywhere.

Rome's disheveled green figure weaved and danced amidst a hail of cannonballs.

When facing Rome, Veneto seemed to have completely unleashed her full power. Compared to her previous exercises with Veneto of the Nia family, or even the exercises with Littorio when she had just verbally declared that she would "go all out," her cannonballs were many times more powerful. Each meteor-like shell that fell from the sky left a long trail of flame, almost every shot aimed at vital points, pushing people to the brink of death. Even standing on the sea, one could clearly feel a suffocating sense of pressure from the trajectory of these shells.

But when Veneto and Littorio of the Danvania family were just practicing with Veneto, they faced this level of artillery fire. Let alone ten minutes, they would probably be blown to bits in one go.

The Veneto-class ship girls of Nia's family were terrified.

"This... there won't be any danger to his life, will there?" Nia's Veneto looked at the grand scene on the training field, swallowed hard, and asked nervously.

“Roma from Admiral Lu Lin’s family said before that she usually faces this level of intense training when she’s in the naval base, so safety is probably not a concern…” Littorio seemed to recall some unpleasant memory, hugging his arm with a complicated expression, “But I never expected… I thought she was going all out when she practiced with me, but it turns out that Sister Veneto from Admiral Lu Lin’s side was holding back when she fought me before…”

"Looks like you lost badly?" Veneto asked Littorio.

"You lost worse than me."

Why are you reopening old wounds?

"Hmm." Littorio lowered his arm and sighed, "The ship girls at the rookie naval base are really amazing..."

“That’s true…” Veneto from Nia’s family nodded in agreement upon hearing this.

Some differences are so vast that you can't really feel them unless you experience them firsthand.

The difference in strength between ship girls from new naval bases and those from other naval bases is truly like the difference between two completely different species...

In the spectator stands, Xiaobai, with a smile on her face, cupped her cheeks and watched the ship girls below speak in silence.

The conversation between the ship girls was overheard by Shiro and Nia, who were in the spectator stands.

“Xiaobai, your ship girls are really unbelievably powerful…” Nia, who was standing to the side, was also full of admiration for the conversation between Littorio and Veneto. She turned to Xiaobai and said, “I’ve also put a lot of effort into training Veneto, giving her almost all the resources I could, but she’s still like a little child in front of your Veneto. Xiaobai, how exactly do you raise ship girls?”

"Well... actually, I didn't specifically train it..." Xiaobai listened to Nia's words, put down her hand, and smiled shyly at Nia.

"Huh? Are you a liberal, Xiaobai?"

"more or less."

"But if we don't care about anything, will the ship girls really become that powerful?" Nia thought for a while and asked, puzzled.

"Of course not." Xiaobai smiled, thought for a moment, and said to Nia, "The reason why my ship girls are so powerful is probably because an atmosphere was formed a long time ago."

"Atmosphere?"

"Yes."

"Uh..." Nia pondered in confusion, unable to come up with a solution for a long time.

"Being around a group of capable people will make you capable over time. In a sense, that's the power of atmosphere," Xiaobai said to Nia with a smile. "After all, with capable people around, your shortcomings will be quickly identified and corrected. This not only saves time spent exploring alone, but also increases experience in communication and combat. Everyone helps each other improve, and each ship girl is a teacher to the others. Everyone hones and improves each other. The older ones mentor the new ones, and the new ones mentor the newer ones. Gradually, a good atmosphere is formed in the naval base, creating a positive cycle that will automatically continue even if left unattended."

"Is that so...?"

"Yes."

"Regarding resources..."

"It's definitely the best. For example, the number of rapid repair devices we use for training every day at our naval base is this many, and the equipment allocated to each ship girl is also..."

“…” Nia remained silent.

With the world's best teaching staff and top-notch hardware, it's no wonder the ship girls in the rookie naval base are so strong...

Nia was incredibly envious.

"Nia, if you don't mind, our naval base can help you train ship girls," Xiaobai said with a smile, seeing Nia's envious expression.

"Huh? Is that okay?!" Nia looked at Xiaobai as soon as she heard what Xiaobai said.

“Sure,” Xiaobai nodded. “But most admirals wouldn’t want their ship girls to stay in someone else’s naval base for too long… I wonder what you would say, Nia…”

"I don't mind, I don't mind!" Nia quickly shook her head, then clenched her fist and said very seriously.

"Aren't you worried that I'll take the opportunity to steal your ship girls away?" Xiaobai joked.

“How could that be? You’re a newbie.” Nia shook her head without even thinking.

Nia was absolutely not worried about her ship girl being kidnapped by Shiro.

Even now, if you just go out and see your four Veneto sisters running around trying to get close to Xiaobai every day, Nia has never worried about such a thing happening—or rather, even if Xiaobai really did steal Nia's ship girls away, as long as the ship girls themselves are willing, Nia will not object in any way.

After all... Nia really understands what it feels like to fall in love with Xiaobai.

Nia had experienced that urge to abandon everything and rush forward without regard for her own safety more than once.

So if, by any chance, one of Nia's ship girls falls for Shiro, then Nia will absolutely not stop them from going after Shiro.

After all... with the ship girls paving the way, it will probably be much easier for me, the commander, to follow along later.

Thinking about it this way, perhaps it's actually a good thing for the ship girls to follow Shiro.

Thinking of this, Nia's expression became even more sincere.

"I am absolutely, absolutely not worried about such a thing happening!" Nia said to Xiaobai very seriously.

"Nia... thank you for your trust." Xiaobai didn't know what Nia had just been thinking, but she was indeed touched by Nia's sincerity. Touched, she grasped Nia's wrist and said, "Don't worry, Nia, I would never do anything to betray you!"

Chapter 2750, Second Set of Scientific Research Test Questions

"noob!"

"Nia!"

Under the watchful eyes of all the ship girls, Xiaobai and Nia, who had vastly different thoughts, finally reached a consensus and embraced tightly.

Boom——

A massive explosion occurred on the training ground.

Rome was launched into the air by a cannonball, then splashed back onto the water.

Xiaobai and Nia slowly separated.

"Oh, right, Nia." Little White looked at Nia's face and suddenly remembered something. She said to Nia, "Speaking of which, when I brought my Veneto and the others back to Chapter Eight, it was your Veneto who met us first, right? She seemed to say she wanted to see me about something..."

“Oh, yes, yes.” Nia nodded quickly upon hearing this. “I asked Veneto to go find Little White for you.”

"Huh? Nia, what do you want to see me about?" Little White tilted her head.

"Oh dear... Xiaobai, I almost forgot about it..." Nia rubbed her forehead, a regretful expression on her face. "I was planning to tell you about this in the reception room, but I was so busy greeting Rome and the Empire that I didn't get a chance to bring it up before our Veneto representatives came here for their exercise..."

"So what is it?" Xiaobai asked, puzzled.

“It’s Luo Lian. Luo Lian asked me to find you,” Nia said, putting her hand down.

"Hey, Lianlian?"

“Hmm.” Nia nodded and said to Xiaobai, “Luo Lian told me that she solved the second set of scientific research questions this morning.”

"Huh?!" Xiaobai's mouth dropped open. "It's already untied??"

"Yes."

"Didn't Lianlian say it would take at least another half month...?"

“Luo Lian has always been very conservative in her assessment of herself…” Nia nodded with a sigh.

"Wow, that won't do! We have to go check it out right away!"

As Xiaobai finished speaking, she quickly took Nia's hand and pulled her away from the spectator stands.

As Xiaobai and Nia jumped off the spectator stands, they happened to see Nia's family members, Veneto and Littorio, walking towards them.

"Eh? Commander? And Admiral Lu Lin, are you leaving?"

"Yes, Veneto and Littorio, I'll leave things here to you." Xiaobai pointed to the training ground behind her and instructed the ship girls in front of her, "You don't have to keep an eye on things here. If you get bored, you can take your sisters back to the dormitory to rest."

"Huh? Don't we need to wait for them to finish?"

“Training sessions in Veneto and Rome usually last all day.”

"A whole day?!"

"Yes, we'll be going now!"

"Ah? Oh..."

Veneto and Littorio of Nia's family blinked as they watched Little White and Nia leave the training ground hand in hand.

Just now.

With a loud bang.

Another violent explosion occurred at the training ground.

Rome on the water was once again blasted into the sky by cannonballs.

……

After leaving the training ground, the deafening roar was blocked by soundproofing measures, gradually fading away into the distance.

"Nia, why are you only telling me now that you've solved such a big problem in the research exam..." Xiaobai said helplessly to Nia as she walked away.

"I'm sorry..." Nia quickly raised her other hand, which wasn't being held by Xiaobai, and made a gesture of apology by putting her hands together in the air.

Where is Lianlian now?

"She went to rest after finishing the research test; she should be in her dormitory."

Is Lianlian sleeping?

"It should be... because I noticed she was very tired these past few days, so before I came, I asked a few ship girls to take care of her in the dormitory."

"Oh..." Xiaobai breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, and smiled at Nia, "Nia... well done."

"Mm." Nia smiled at Little White.

Xiaobai and Nia returned to their dormitory.

When Xiaobai and Nia returned to the dormitory entrance, the door was wide open. It was exceptionally quiet inside and outside the door, and the gentle breeze felt particularly peaceful and comfortable on their skin.