Revisit Azur Lane

"What does it matter? As long as the Commander likes it, it's fine to let it grow longer. In fact, it would give it an artistic feel!"

Cleveland smiled and waved a finger in the air: "Personal hobbies are also an important part of life."

"I agree! She truly lives up to her role as the boss!"

Montpellier changed his tune almost instantly: "As long as the commander's hat can hold all that hair, it's fine."

"Thank you."

Zhou He's lips twitched; he really hoped Montpellier wouldn't be so realistic.

However, he did indeed feel the kindness of his ship girls.

Chapter 102 Mobilization

As night fell, Tosa's discovery yielded results, and the port area welcomed its second rainfall.

However, Zhou He himself quite likes to stay indoors on rainy days and fall asleep while listening to the sound of rain. With the fatigue accumulated during the day, he closes his eyes and falls into a dream.

"Goo."

When Zhou He woke up, the rain outside had stopped. He rubbed his temples, sat up, and looked out the gloomy window, his head throbbing inexplicably.

I had another dream last night, but I don't remember it very clearly. In short, it wasn't a good dream.

"With this weather, if it doesn't rain, we should be able to schedule a mission, right? Or should we wait until tomorrow?"

Zhou He was very familiar with headaches. Before he transmigrated, he would get headaches every few days when he went to bed early and woke up at noon. Sometimes he would even have tinnitus. So he only needed a few minutes to get over this little trouble. He got up and went into the bathroom to wash up. When he came out, he didn't forget to pinch the clothes he had washed and dried yesterday. As expected, they were damp.

Do I like rainy days or hate rainy days?

Carrying inexplicable worries about life, Zhou He changed into the military uniform that Hermione had prepared in his wardrobe, put on his hat, and left his room. He instinctively went downstairs to the first floor and saw the group of people gathered in the hall, who were as energetic as ever, despite the weather. He then remembered that there were quite a few people in the port area now. If they were to launch an attack, they would have to properly arrange the teams.

"commander?"

Hermione appeared beside Zhou He like a fairy, gazing at him as he seemed lost in thought. She pursed her lips and asked with a hint of concern, "Are you feeling unwell?"

"Huh? No."

Zhou He snapped out of his reverie and glanced sideways, a warmth spreading through his heart. He smiled and replied, "I was just thinking about today's plans."

"Really?"

Hermione was skeptical. She had been following Zhou He for so long, and today Zhou He was clearly out of sorts, reacting slowly. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "Excuse me," and placed the back of her hand on Zhou He's forehead. She was quite surprised to find that Zhou He did not have a fever.

"Right, I'm sorry to have worried you, Hermione, but I'm quite strong, and I'm very confident in that."

Zhou He obediently lowered his head, gathered his scattered thoughts, regained his composure, and persuaded Hermione.

He really wanted to say that he was out of sorts for a few days every month, but he figured his ship girl wouldn't be able to pick up on that joke, and it would just seem a bit tasteless. So he didn't try to be funny. After greeting the other people passing by, he left the command building and walked on the road with a layer of water vapor, looking at the scenery of his own port area, which seemed to be shrouded in mist and was blurry. A wind blew across his face, and the temperature dropped even lower.

"Hermione, do you think today is a suitable day for Shoukaku and the others to launch an attack?"

As they walked toward the restaurant, Zhou He suddenly asked the maid beside him a question.

Hude had previously advised him that when dealing with others on serious matters, he should speak firmly and forcefully to demonstrate his reliability and authority as a leader. However, he sometimes couldn't be forceful. It shouldn't be a problem to talk to the people around him about it, right?

"If it's a long-distance voyage, this kind of weather is indeed unsuitable, but for short distances, when it's only a few nautical miles from the port, it's not a problem."

Hermione's answer was so quick that Zhou He hadn't even thought of what to say next, but hearing her reply, he didn't need to think much more. He simply hummed in agreement, having already given his answer.

It was only a two-minute walk. Zhou He walked into the restaurant, felt the temperature difference between inside and outside, sat down at the table and casually ordered a few breakfast items. Hermione bowed and left. Zhou He rested his chin on his hand and looked out the window. The system interface unfolded before his eyes, and he browsed through his current 24 ship girls.

The largest faction is Sakura Empire. Even after removing Akashi, a non-combat member, there are still six members, enough to form a squad on their own. However, with three carriers at home, there are two carriers here. To ensure the rationality of the battle, he has to separate one person.

The remaining members are White Eagle and Ironblood, five each. Ironblood also has formidable firepower, while White Eagle has the most front-line fighters. The rest are Royal Northern Alliance and Jean Bart.

The two from the Northern Alliance cannot be considered part of the regular combat team. However, Jean Bart could be added to the White Eagles to supplement their firepower. Considering the current interpersonal relationships, perhaps Hutten could also be transferred to the White Eagles team. Hood would accompany Bismarck, and Shoukaku could be brought over to assist as a team. As an alternative, Javelin and Jarvis could be transferred to the Sakura Empire team centered around Zuikaku or Kaga.

"We have enough people to go out and attack, but the composition of the team is not very even."

Zhou He thought to himself and divided the members of the port area into four groups. The three groups mentioned above were the combat sequence, and the remaining four, including Kursk and Hermione, belonged to the guard group or the improvisation group.

'Should we build a large-scale project?'

The idea flashed through his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. At least not today, because he had run out of daily necessities to allocate. If he were to build a large-scale facility, he would have to move out of his new dormitory and then replenish the necessary supplies. After doing all that, his Home Coins would plummet to nearly zero.

Of course, the main reason is that he wasn't in a good state today, and the weather wasn't good either, so it wasn't a good day for a big construction project.

Lost in thought about these trivial and confusing things, he smelled the aroma of minced meat and spices. He instinctively peeked out and saw Hermione carrying his breakfast. He immediately sat up straight and waited for Hermione to place the breakfast in front of him.

"Thank you."

After thanking him as usual, Zhou He began to eat. As the warm food went down his throat, he felt warmer and his mind became more alert.

After a satisfying meal and a short rest, Zhou He got up and stretched a bit. He then took Hermione out for a walk and saw Bismarck standing on the dock in the distance, and other figures running in the bay. The bay was not close to the command post, but it wasn't far either. If they were to conduct firepower exercises, it would definitely be very noisy, which was a point of concern for Zhou He. He guessed that Bismarck was probably also struggling with this issue.

"Perhaps we could designate a training area a few miles beyond the bay, but there are more suitable training methods available now."

Taking a stroll, Zhou He went directly to the dock along the coast and found Bismarck, explaining today's 'practice project' to her.

By the time Zhou He took a break last night, no more mass-produced sirens had approached the outer areas, but there were still several hundred mass-produced sirens surrounding the port area. It was impossible to clear them all at once; they would have to be cleared in at least 3 to 5 batches.

The area in the South Third District has the identification marks of the human port area, which is Zhou He's primary target at present. However, there are many Siren Executors defending that area, making it unsuitable to deal with it at the moment.

His plan for this operation was to focus on the north, with the Sakura Empire attacking to the northeast, the Eagle Union attacking directly north, and Bismarck's team responsible for the northwest.

As a light carrier, Long Island's combat capabilities are far inferior to those of regular carriers. Therefore, it is best to be in a position where the air power of the other two teams can provide assistance. This is his personal understanding. After all, the three carriers do not need to leave the island's 'safe zone' at all. The real pressure is on the other members who are out in combat. It is best to ensure that the airspace above the three teams is under the control of their own people.

Therefore, although this operation is described as a group operation, it is actually a joint operation, where players can level up while increasing the coordination and synergy between different factions.

"understood."

Bismarck had discussed this matter with Zhou He yesterday, and after hearing his personnel deployment and attack arrangements, he did not raise any objections.

In a controlled battlefield, all she needed to do was to use the combat personnel assigned to her by Zhou He to achieve the best results. As for tactical planning, she would know what to do once she received intelligence on the battlefield.

"please."

Zhou He had a high opinion of Bismarck. In Azur Lane, there was a large number of ship girls whose character designs didn't seem like they would fight. Among them, Bismarck was like Jotaro, someone who could make him feel at ease no matter what.

Without any useless information exchange, after gaining Bismarck's approval, Zhou He turned around and went back to the command building, where he found Hood reading a book while wearing glasses for some reason, and Zuikaku lying on the sofa enjoying a Shoukaku lap pillow out of boredom.

"Tsk."

Subtly concealing his envy of Ruihe's actions, Zhou He also informed them of the deployment arrangements for the attack. The once quiet hall instantly became lively, with everyone rubbing their hands together, looking like they had long been annoyed with the Sirens outside and wanted to kill them.

As for Zhou He's personnel deployment, there was no opposition. Unexpectedly, everyone got together. Even Jean Bart, who was practically alone, met Hutten through introductions from both sides. As a result, the two battleships developed a subtle antagonistic attitude after hearing that they had been assigned to the same group.

Overall, under Zhou He's mobilization, everyone started to take action.

Chapter 103: From Combat to Monster Slaying

Zhou He highly approved of his ship girls' efficiency. Basically, within ten minutes of deciding to launch, all of them had left the port. Since this battle was close to the island, Zhou He couldn't see the situation within a 30-nautical-mile radius of his own port, so he simply laid down his command and handed over command to Bismarck, Zuikaku, and Cleveland.

Long Island was dragged directly from its room, and it looked extremely pitiful when it left port.

"Well, everyone's already set off. Is there anything we can do here?"

After personally seeing off all the attackers, Zhou He enjoyed the cool breeze for a while, then turned his head to ask Hermione, who had been left behind.

Previously, he could at least see the battle situation, but today he can't even see it anymore. He can only honestly act as a remote power bank to replenish ammunition and repair battle damage.

"..."

Hermione hesitated slightly. Usually, when the others were attacking, Zhou He would find a quiet place to rest and wait for the battle to end. Today, the fact that he wasn't resting made her a little disoriented.

However, failing to provide a satisfactory answer to her master would be a dereliction of duty for a maid. She briefly observed the surrounding situation, clapped her hands together, and smiled: "By the way, according to my observation, everyone, especially the destroyers, is currently moving towards the dock. Perhaps the commander could take this opportunity to make some arrangements there."

"After all, that place is more suitable for playing than this one."

Zhou He had anticipated this, and the renovation of the dockside residential area was indeed in the works: "Let's go take a look."

He plans to build a playground on the vacant lot behind the residential area. These things are quite expensive in the Home Mall, so he needs to check it out and see if there is enough vacant land.

"Yes~"

Hermione smiled faintly and followed Zhou He onto the dock.

……

While Zhou He was conducting his on-site investigation, the three teams that left the bay circled around to the north of the island as planned.

Yesterday, Zuikaku and his group encountered the Sirens in the northwest, resulting in a significant increase in the number of Sirens in this area. However, today, the number of ship girls participating in the battle from the Zhou He family far exceeds the usual number, with a total of twenty ship girls appearing simultaneously. Nearly half of them are battleships, aircraft carriers, and other capital ships. Considering the increase in their stats, their firepower is more than sufficient.

After Shuanghe and the three from Changdao launched their carrier-based aircraft to obtain intelligence on the surrounding Sirens, the group left the island's safe zone and encountered the Sirens. The opening of three battlefields instantly reversed the gloomy atmosphere at sea caused by the rain. The battle stretched for more than ten miles, and the flames burning on the Sirens' wreckage and the intertwined formations of aircraft in the sky illuminated this sea area.

The rapid expansion of the battlefield caused mass-produced Sirens from other parts of the island to move towards the northern battlefield. However, because the island itself possessed cognitive modification capabilities, a large number of black and red warships moved around the island. From a high altitude, this area appeared to form a huge black and red 'vortex'.

"It's no use! The Sirens have too many aircraft carriers, we can't possibly win, we're going to lose air superiority!"

Long Island, who was forcibly pulled into employment, started yelling and screaming less than an hour after the start of the war; anyone who didn't know better would think that shells had hit her in the face.

However, Zuikaku and Shoukaku beside her also looked slightly pale, with sweat dripping from their foreheads. When the battle first started, the Sirens didn't react in time. The three of them took care of several nearby Siren carriers first, and then more and more Siren carriers from further away began to provide support. Their numbers kept increasing, and these Sirens seemed to have friendly fire identification, so there was almost no friendly fire. In the struggle between them, their squadron was besieged by the Sirens' ever-increasing number of aircraft, and the air battle line could no longer be maintained.

"Z23, Spee, withdraw."

The three carriers were within the safe zone of the island, while the others, including the Bismarck and other capital ships, had left the safe zone and were engaging in combat with their opponents. Upon feeling the pressure from the air and receiving a notification from Shokaku, the Bismarck decisively issued a retreat order. Hood also contacted Cleveland and Zuikaku simultaneously, informing them of the retreat proposal and the steps to be taken.

With the rear row providing cover for the front row and the front row assisting in air defense, thanks to Zhou He's timely remote repairs, everyone returned to the safe zone without incident and landed on the northwestern slope coastline they had visited just yesterday.

"There are just too many Sirens! This is outrageous!"

The further they charged forward, the more intense the attacks became. The destroyers responsible for drawing fire were so exhausted that they collapsed onto the beach and grass. Yuudachi even rolled around on the grass.

"..."

Bismarck remained standing, gazing at the direction where black smoke was rising in the distance. The battle had not lasted long, but under the surprise attack, they had sunk at least twenty of the Sirens' capital ships, and damaged countless destroyers and other types of ships.

However, the density of the sirens did not decrease but increased, like a wall forged from a torrent of steel, trapping them firmly inside.

"It seems that those experimental-level sirens, unable to pinpoint our exact location, are trying to blockade this area with sheer numbers."

Hood brushed the strands of hair, damp with sweat and clinging to his cheeks, behind his ear and came to Bismarck's side.

She believes that this is the current situation, or rather, anyone could only come to this conclusion—the mass-produced sirens gathered in this area of ​​over a hundred nautical miles probably number in the staggering four figures.

That's outrageously extravagant!

"A simple and effective method."