Elder brother's garrison

Page 818

Xiaobai nodded, glancing at the ship girl out of the corner of her eye.

The assistant ship girl has a pretty and cute face with bright eyes. Two thin ponytails hang down her back. When she smiles, she gives people a sense of reserved and polite liveliness. She is neither tall nor short and looks young, but her white uniform outlines her curvaceous figure, which is quite full in every sense.

In short, she's a pretty cute and polite ship girl.

Hmm... a light cruiser? Or a heavy cruiser?

"...Um, speaking of which, why did they suddenly start crying?"

"Sisters...the pressure must be immense...right?" The assistant ship girl smiled somewhat awkwardly, looking at the innocent-looking Shiro, a hint of considerate helplessness appearing on her cute face.

"Is your job really that hard?"

"The sisters are all very hardworking."

"Ah, that's true, but Assistant, your condition seems quite stable." Xiaobai said to the assistant ship girl.

"Hehe, I can't let the captain down."

This twin-tailed assistant ship girl is the only one who didn't cry from entering the courtyard to leaving. While the other ship girls would be terrified when Shiro got close, this assistant ship girl could still smile and communicate with Shiro normally.

—In a sense, this assistant was a really good choice.

Sensing a hint of goodwill in Xiaobai's gaze, the assistant ship girl seemed to relax a bit.

After chatting with the assistant ship girl for a couple of minutes, Xiaobai felt much more at ease and withdrew her gaze.

Although she still didn't quite understand why Duan Shuiliu had invited her to her place, at least... the members of the military police didn't seem as scary as the rumors suggested.

Thinking of this, Xiaobai, walking down the street, subconsciously looked towards a small shop on the side of the street.

People were coming and going on the street.

Through the gaps in the crowd, you could see colorful heads peeking out from the shop entrance, cautiously peering in your direction.

At the very top is Bismarck with sharp eyes; below Bismarck are Akagi and Missouri; below that is Hood, nervously biting her fingernails; and below Hood is Veneto with a serious expression.

The gaps between the crowds lasted only a moment before being filled again by the surging flow of people.

Xiao Bai smiled wryly and looked away.

The fact that some worried ship girls were secretly following him was something Xiaobai had expected.

The temporary military police station was very close to the Admiral's Guild.

When Xiaobai returned to the entrance of the Admiral's Guild under Duan Shuiliu's guidance, the assistant ship girl also pointed out the direction of the base to Xiaobai at the right time.

Following the direction pointed out by the assistant ship girl, Xiaobai saw a small white building located not far from the Admiral's Guild.

In Chapter City, unless a governor commits a crime, members of the military police are generally not present. Many floors of this small white building were originally built by the local governor's guild to temporarily detain governors who have engaged in improper conduct in order to mediate some unfair disputes. In addition to those facilities, the bottom few floors also house many civilian staff who organize the city's governor files. This time, Duan Shuiliu came to participate in the event in the name of the military police, and the governor's guild vacated a few offices in this building for her to use, which would also make it more convenient for her to arrest people.

With mixed feelings, Xiao Bai followed Duan Shuiliu and his assistant ship girl into the gate of the small white building.

As soon as Xiaobai stepped into the building, instead of the lolicon admirals' sophistry like "it's only natural for me and my destroyer to be in love" that he had expected, a different kind of noise, like stepping into a vegetable market, suddenly overwhelmed him.

As soon as she entered, Xiaobai instinctively covered her ears because of the noise.

At a glance, rows of computers glowed with a blue light in their cubicles. Numerous human staff members, microphones in one hand and thick stacks of documents in the other, strained their necks and shouted into the microphones amidst the surrounding noise, veins bulging on their foreheads. The cacophony of human voices, machine noises, keyboard clatter, and various chaotic electronic sounds blended together, creating a terrifying, locust-like cacophony.

"Huh?? Who are these people...?" Xiaobai looked completely bewildered.

"Staff from the Admiral's Guild." Before the assistant ship girl could explain to Xiaobai, Duan Shuiliu unusually turned around and said, "Let's go upstairs."

Although the sound wasn't conveyed, Miss Duan Shuiliu's lip movements were very accurate.

"Oh, oh..." Xiaobai understood what Duan Shuiliu meant. She covered her ears and nodded, then turned around to look at her assistant ship girl.

The usually lively assistant ship girl also seemed to dislike this place; she covered her ears, lowered her head, and didn't seem very enthusiastic.

Xiao Bai followed Duan Shuiliu up the stairs.

The ship girls at the back of the group, who had been frightened by the entire rookie naval unit, all showed expressions of relief after returning to the temporary military police station. After Shiro and the others went upstairs, they rushed to the first-floor lounge to rest.

Once Xiaobai entered the second floor, the surroundings became much quieter.

The layout on the second floor of the white building is similar to that on the first floor, but the staff here are much quieter. Most of them just sit leisurely in their respective positions, clicking the mouse occasionally and organizing documents without making a sound.

"Those on the first floor are the staff responsible for the daily operation of the city. They have a lot of things to do. The people on the second floor are only responsible for managing some documents," Duan Shuiliu said, turning to Xiaobai.

"Oh... I see... There seem to be quite a few humans here." Xiaobai glanced around at the staff and noticed that there were quite a few male staff members.

"Humans are still better at business skills." Duan Shuiliu pointed to the conference room at the end of the corridor. "My office is over there."

"Ah, a private cubicle."

"It's quite big."

"Hahaha..." Xiaobai chuckled.

The office that the Admiral's Guild lent to Duan Shuiliu was a meeting room on the second floor that had never been used.

The meeting room was indeed large, but also messy. Most of the tables and chairs were covered with thick folders. Only the chair closest to the door was empty, with several stacks of folders spread out on the table next to it.

It seems that Duan Shuiliu worked here before he was looking for Xiaobai.

"Wait a moment, let me tidy up."

Duan Shuiliu looked at the empty seat in the conference room for Xiaobai. As she spoke, she walked to the table and reached out to close the spread-out documents.

In the top folder, Xiaobai saw the five big characters "Newbie Town Guard Base".

"Well, I'll go get two glasses of water first! There seems to be a water dispenser in the hallway."

At this moment, the assistant ship girl also gave everyone a bright smile, then turned around and floated away from the room.

Xiaobai watched as her assistant ship girl's slender figure disappeared outside the door, then looked at Duan Shuiliu.

Duan Shuiliu was picking up folders of documents from the second chair. Each time she picked up a folder, she would glance at the name on it and neatly stack it on the other side to make room for Xiaobai.

The meeting room fell silent as Duan Shuiliu moved.

"...cough cough..."

Xiaobai wasn't used to being around unfamiliar people, yet she maintained an eerie silence. She hesitated for a moment, then tried to find a topic to talk about.

"Ah! Miss Duan Shuiliu's assistant ship girl at the naval base is very polite and sensible!"

Xiaobai tried praising the assistant ship girl.

To Xiaobai's surprise, after hearing this, Duan Shuiliu shifted his gaze from the folder to Xiaobai and shook his head in Xiaobai's sight.

Duan Shuiliu opened his mouth.

"...She is not my ship girl."

Chapter 1084 Gloom and Sunshine

"Huh?" Xiaobai was taken aback, somewhat confused. "Wh...what?"

"She's my assistant, but not my ship girl," Duan Shuiliu said to Xiaobai matter-of-factly, putting the folder in his hand aside.

"Eh? But Miss Duan Shuiliu, you..."

"No need to be so formal, just call me by my name."

"..." Xiaobai's words caught in her throat. She scratched her cheek, swallowed nervously, and then nodded. "Um... Duan Shui... Duan... Sister Duan?"

Although Duan Shuiliu asked Xiaobai to call her by her name, Xiaobai felt inexplicably pressured whenever she thought about how the woman in front of her knew her brother and was a generation older than her. She felt very uncomfortable about calling her by her name.

Duan Shuiliu's expression remained calm.

She didn't seem to have any objection to Xiaobai calling her Sister Duan.

"...Um, Sister Duan?"

"it is good."

"...Ahem..." Xiaobai coughed lightly twice, "Sister Duan, what's going on when you said that ship girl wasn't yours?"

“The military police are not a violent organization and do not require combat capabilities in most cases, so my ship girls do not need to work here,” Duan Shuiliu explained.

"Hey? Sister Duan, aren't you bringing your ship girls to the military police station?"

“Admiral and military police are two professions. Although I hold both professions at the same time, I feel that these two professions should not interfere with each other.”

"...Uh, so those ship girls in white who were following Sister Duan before..."

"neither."

"..." Xiaobai scratched his head, looking puzzled. "But, uh... then, where did those ship girls come from?"

Duan Shuiliu didn't answer Xiaobai's question immediately. He lowered his head and pondered for a while.

"Uh, well, if it's inconvenient for Sister Duan to answer... you don't have to say anything." Xiao Bai thought this involved some kind of confidentiality agreement, so she quickly raised her hand and waved it at Duan Shuiliu. "We can just get down to business..."

"It's nothing." Duan Shuiliu shook his head. "This matter... was supposed to be discussed together with the important matters anyway."

"???" Xiaobai was stunned.

"The daily operations of the military police are to maintain the image and conduct of the admirals, protect the basic rights and interests of the ship girls, and investigate and arrest admirals who have been reported for violations." After thinking for a while, Duan Shuiliu slowly began to explain to Xiaobai, "So we..."

"You're a righteous messenger who upholds peace, right?" Xiaobai smiled at Duan Shuiliu.

"..." Duan Shuiliu was silent for a while, "More or less."

Duan Shuiliu bent down, picked up the last few folders of documents on the chair, and put them aside.

"Although many admirals are summoned to the military police for investigation because of their dealings with destroyers, they are usually released after the truth is found out. Most admirals also possess noble virtues, but... over time, you will always encounter bad admirals who are doing other things."

"Bad admiral...?" Xiao Bai muttered along with Duan Shuiliu.

"Ah."

Duan Shuiliu suddenly stopped speaking, her gaze lingering on Xiaobai's innocent face for a moment before she lowered her head thoughtfully, her brows furrowing as if she were considering the best words to use that Xiaobai would find acceptable.

"For example, using ship girls to commit evil deeds, swindling money, or... intentionally harming and enslaving ship girls."

"..." Xiaobai's expression changed.

"After those truly bad admirals were punished and received their due sanctions, their ship girls were temporarily protected by the military police. Most of the ship girls who experienced those things lost their trust in the admirals, so some chose to dismantle their ship equipment and become human, while the rest had nowhere to go and stayed to work in the military police," Duan Shuiliu said to Xiaobai.

“…Ah…” Xiaobai was stunned. “This…”

“They are all ship girls who unfortunately had bad admirals in the past,” Duan Shuiliu said.

"...Was it Sister Duan who saved them?"

"Mm." Duan Shuiliu nodded.

"...Is that assistant ship girl also one?" Xiaobai nodded blankly.

"About a few years ago, her former admiral presented her with a wedding ring, which she politely declined. Later, she suffered retaliation from the admiral. After being sent on several missions beyond her capabilities, she returned to the naval base with her ship equipment severely damaged and was secretly imprisoned by the admiral." Duan Shuiliu frowned, a faint hint of disgust flashing across his calm face. "Fortunately, she was quick-witted enough. When her ship equipment's power disappeared, she sensed something was off about the admiral's gaze. Using her petite stature, she hid in a corner of the room and engaged the target, buying us precious time to arrive on the scene. Later, when I received reports from other ship girls and rushed to the scene to find her, although she had been beaten and was somewhat mentally unstable, fortunately, she hadn't been subjected to anything more egregious."

"..." Xiaobai blinked, somewhat bewildered. "What happened to her admiral afterward?"

"His admiral status was revoked, the naval base was disbanded, and he was imprisoned in a place where he would never see any ship girls again," Duan Shuiliu said.

“…Oh.” Xiaobai lowered her head.

"The reason I wanted to chat with you this time is also related to her," Duan Shuiliu said to Xiaobai after a moment of silence.

"Huh? What is it?" Xiaobai looked up.

“A commission,” Duan Shuiliu said.

"A commission?" Xiaobai looked puzzled.

“...Help me.” Duan Shuiliu was silent for a while.

"Ah, no, I didn't mean I didn't know what the request meant..." Xiaobai quickly waved her hand at Duan Shuiliu. After thinking for a moment, she said with a slightly embarrassed expression, "Um... in short, what kind of favor is it?"

"About her," Duan Shuiliu nodded, "to put it simply, I hope you can help her with her treatment."

"Treatment...? Was that assistant injured before?"

"A ship girl's body won't be injured as long as her ship equipment is repaired." Duan Shuiliu shook his head at this point. "However, because of what happened before, she now suffers from a very serious mental illness."

"...May I ask...what kind of mental illness is it?"

“I’m afraid of men,” Duan Shuiliu said.

"..." Xiaobai blinked, "Uh... I'm afraid of men..."

"Mm." Duan Shuiliu nodded.

"...Uh, does it really affect my life?"

"...It has a significant impact." Duan Shuiliu thought for a moment, "She's the vice-captain now, and the admiral always encounters men when carrying out missions..."