How do I start a romantic relationship with a ship girl?

Page 48

If Xu Huan were still with Elizabeth at this moment, he would definitely feel that he had heard this description somewhere before...

Isn't this just a baby octopus? The way it behaves is exactly the same.

A little while later, the atmosphere seemed to grow even colder, as if it had been coated with a thin layer of ink.

Elizabeth gradually began to regret her stubbornness, but as soon as the words left her mouth, her pride prevented her from admitting or bowing her head directly, so she could only keep dragging it out. Although her face showed an indifferent expression, her slightly trembling arms revealed the girl's inner state at this moment.

She doesn't look like a battleship ship girl with the firepower to easily destroy a mass-produced Siren fleet; she really looks like a weak little girl.

"...We must remain vigilant, yes, we must remain vigilant."

The girl curled up in her seat, as if suddenly remembering that she wasn't so weak after all. So she began to mobilize her mental energy and summoned her ship equipment, pointing the dark cannons directly at the seabed.

If there's any noise she can't understand, she's determined to let the enemy experience the power of a battleship's main guns.

Thinking this way, Elizabeth's heart calmed down a lot, and her slightly trembling arms gradually became more stable.

Ample firepower is indeed the best way to cure phobias.

On the other side, after entering the testing tower, Xu Huan quickly arrived in front of the instrument—a small vertical tower emitting a dim blue light, covered with various sophisticated instruments, with different colored status indicator lights flashing continuously, shining on the dim wall.

It's somewhat like the mind controller in an old game.

The mind testing device in front of him was also designed by Brie, so after Xu Huan briefly studied it and realized that he couldn't understand its structure, he gave up the idea of ​​trying to fully understand it and began to perform simple maintenance according to the steps provided in the maintenance manual in the port area.

The maintenance process is omitted, but in short, Xu Huan completed all the steps in about twenty minutes.

After confirming that there were no major problems, Xu Huan was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something.

This thing... should we try using our own watch to help analyze it?

After all, he had done this quite a few times when he was on missions before.

One purpose of the analysis is to help a novice like myself understand the use and function of the instrument. Another purpose is that if the analysis yields useful data or new technologies that I have never seen before, I can provide them to the Human Union Research Center to help my race improve its technology.

But in a sense, this behavior is no different from stealing technology.

However, since I've now severed ties with the Human Alliance, the second function is temporarily impossible. All I can do now is to better understand the instrument in front of me...

Furthermore, given the special relationship between the commander and the ship girl, can this kind of thing be called stealing?

I'll explain it to Kimbri when I get back, and if he has any objections, I'll just be a little more restrained next time.

Unable to resist his curiosity, Xu Huan activated the watch's analysis function.

Time passed second by second, and the young man, looking at the information provided by his watch, gradually began to understand the structure and functions of the instrument in front of him.

However... there seems to be a problem?

Looking at the data from one of the instruments, Xu Huan frowned. Just as he was about to take action, he heard light footsteps outside the testing tower.

Hearing someone approaching, Xu Huan instinctively activated his armor, covering his body and simultaneously activating the optical camouflage function.

In less than half a second, the young man vanished into thin air.

The footsteps drew closer, and it was Elizabeth, who had been waiting outside, getting a little scared.

Although she herself had never been on a mission, she had heard the ship girls in the port talk about the maintenance process in her spare time. Even at the slowest pace, it was no more than thirty minutes.

But now, almost an hour has passed since Xu Huan came in, and during this time, Xu Huan has not made a sound.

This caused the girl, who had just calmed down a little, to start having wild thoughts again.

He hasn't come back for so long, could he have been killed by that legendary ghost?

Elizabeth cautiously observed her dark surroundings and walked towards the direction from which a faint blue light emanated from inside the detection tower.

"We need to increase the budget for the detection tower after we get back to port. At the very least, we need to get them to install all the lights..." the girl muttered as she walked slowly, the guns of the ship's rig behind her constantly aimed at the position in front of her.

After spending this time alone, nothing could give her a stronger sense of security than her own main gun.

"Xu Huan—I've come looking for you! Where are you?!"

In the darkness, Xu Huan, who had activated the optical camouflage and night vision functions, looked at the girl who was walking somewhat clumsily in the dim light and sighed helplessly.

As a ship girl, in this situation, not to mention activating her own ship-mounted radar, she wouldn't even use her own night vision equipment?

Elizabeth's fighting spirit has definitely been put to sleep...

He slowly approached Elizabeth and then gently patted her on the shoulder.

"ah----!!!!!!"

Chapter Sixty-Six: The Infiltrated Royal Family?

The girl let out a startled cry, and the ship's cannons immediately turned towards the position where Xu Huan was standing.

But when they saw that there was no one in front of them, their initial shock immediately turned into a sense of bewilderment.

Elizabeth immediately thought of the terrifying ghost story that had been lingering in her mind, and her heart skipped a beat. The black muzzle of the cannon flashed with light.

If this shot were fired, aside from the potential damage to the instruments on the entire detection tower, Elizabeth herself would likely suffer some injury from the explosion at such close range.

'I knew this would happen...'

Fortunately, Xu Huan had anticipated this situation. With a gentle wave of his hand, the cannons that had been flashing brightly immediately went out as if they had been suppressed. Then, the girl's entire ship equipment dissipated into specks of light and disappeared into the air.

"Don't you even think before you fire?" The young man removed the optical camouflage from his armor, took a step forward out of the darkness, and said with a hint of helplessness, "Trying to fire at such close range to the wall, are you out of your mind?"

"Huh...?! It's you! Why did you hide and scare me?!"

When Elizabeth saw that the legendary ghost was actually Xu Huan, she first subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, and then immediately questioned him with some shame and anger.

"What do you mean hiding? I'm standing right here, you just didn't see me..."

Xu Huantian shamelessly told a lie without any expression.

He did initially intend to tease Elizabeth, so he had Belfast tell some scary stories the day before. However, after a short period of contact, he discovered that Elizabeth was not the arrogant girl who was completely uncommunicative, so he gave up the idea of ​​teasing her.

As for what I said just now... it wasn't so much teasing as it was a real lesson for the girl.

"Don't you know you have night vision equipment? Or shipboard radar? Or are you more used to walking in the dark?"

"This—uh...."

The ship girl was speechless for a moment.

Because she was so well protected within the port area, she genuinely hadn't remembered that she possessed these abilities...

However, Elizabeth quickly found a counterattack point: "It's because you've been up there for too long... and haven't sent a single message, otherwise I wouldn't have come up to find you..."

"By the way... speaking of which, I have a question I'd like to ask you. Come with me..."

Xu Huan didn't want to argue or take things too seriously. Recalling the results his watch had just detected, he spoke up.

"Oh? I didn't expect you to have things you don't understand... Hmph, just ask me whatever you want, and I will humbly guide you!"

The girl smiled, revealing two small tiger teeth, and followed Xu Huan to the instrument with a rather smug look. However, when she saw Xu Huan's position constantly moving closer to the instrument, the girl suddenly lost her confidence.

If you were to ask about the instrument in front of her... she herself really didn't know much.

As the flagship of a faction, they generally don't research these things too much...

But Elizabeth couldn't take back the bold words she had just uttered, so she had no choice but to force herself to remain calm and follow Xu Huan to the side of the instrument.

"This thing..."

Xu Huan squatted down and, based on the functional components he had just analyzed from the watch, found two small signal transmitters fixed on top of the instrument, resembling USB flash drives.

"If I'm not mistaken, these are small signal transmitters. The detection results are sent to the port area through these devices at regular intervals..."

“Yes…yes, of course, is there a problem?” Elizabeth immediately nodded in agreement.

“My question is… why are there two? According to the guidelines in the reference book that Bri gave me, each detection instrument should only be equipped with one signal transmitter…” Xu Huan turned his head to look at the somewhat confused Elizabeth and placed the two transmitters on the ground.

"So, there's another place in our port area that receives and analyzes signals? You should know that, right?"

"Another place that receives and analyzes signals..."

Elizabeth frowned, thought carefully for a long time, and then answered with great certainty: "Definitely not! Although I don't usually concern myself with these matters, if a new command center is to be established, it must have my approval and signature to be valid."

"I haven't reached the point where I can't remember what documents I signed or what I promised..."

"Okay, so that means..."

Seeing Elizabeth's certainty, Xu Huan looked at the two signal transmitters on the ground and his eyes twitched: "There are unknown forces and factions that have been collecting intelligence on the Royal Mind Detector? And it seems like they've been doing this for quite some time."

The signal transmitter is usually located inside the detection instrument, and it is difficult to notice it under normal inspection and maintenance procedures. It was only today, when Xu Huan suddenly noticed that such a thing had been installed on the instrument.

"An unknown force... has been stealing the royal family's intelligence?"

When Elizabeth put the two words together, the image of the Ironblood ship girls immediately came to mind.

"I know...this must have been done by the Ironblood gang!!"

Xu Huan put away the newly inserted signal transmitter, preparing to take it back to Royal Port for testing. Hearing this, he was somewhat surprised: "Uh... are you so sure it's Ironblood?"

He was initially worried that the Sirens were behind it, but he didn't expect Elizabeth to identify her target so quickly.

The girl crossed her arms in frustration: "Definitely! That tomboy Bismarck didn't give me a friendly look when we went to sign the armistice agreement last time. Sure enough, she was secretly plotting something behind my back!! Come on, let's go back to the port. I'm going to demand an explanation from them!!!"

"Wait a minute... before heading back to the port, we should also take a trip to other sea areas..."

The young man felt a headache coming on at the thought that the royal family's inner workings might have been thoroughly infiltrated.

"By the way, send a message to every ship girl currently on patrol duty, telling them to check the nearest detection tower... I suspect they're all plugged in right now..."