Today's tutelary fort remains peaceful.

Dozens of gold nuggets of varying sizes were scattered on the table. Leipzig grinned foolishly for a moment before throwing himself down on the desk, burying his face in the pile of gold nuggets and breathing in ecstasy, "Gold...so much gold...hiss, so happy..."

When Lexington brought Xue Cheng and others into the office, what they saw was the nymphomaniac Leipzig with her upper body leaning on the desk and a pile of gold in her arms.

"Leipzig, your hobbies are still so weird." Lexington sighed, looking unbearable to watch.

"Eh?" Leipzig looked up blankly. When she saw the crowd following Lexington into the room, she was stunned: "Admiral? Reputation? Omi... Why are you all here?"

"Didn't I greet you this morning?" Lexington came to the desk, picked up a piece of gold, and weighed it. He caught a glimpse of an empty box next to it and quipped, "Did you take the initiative to come and see the warehouse just to facilitate this kind of thing?"

Leipzig's gaze followed the movement of the gold in Lexington's hand, and he said absentmindedly, "What's the problem? I won't break anything. The war reserve warehouse isn't like the Vesta's daily supply warehouse, where you can eat canned snacks as much as you want. Isn't it good for me to take over this hard job that no one wants to do?"

Seeing Leipzig's nervous expression, Lexington smiled and put the gold nuggets back. He watched Leipzig quickly gather the gold nuggets into his arms and shook his head helplessly. "Okay, it's okay for you to play with the gold nugget box, but remember to put it back after you're done. This is equipment."

"Equip this thing to reduce your luck a bit." Leipzig curled his lips. "I don't know what use this thing has other than being used by the admiral to persecute Taiho, Shinano, Hood, and the others."

Xue Cheng asked, "If I could exchange all your equipment for a gold box, would you be willing?"

"Really?" Leipzig's eyes almost lit up. Looking at her radiant appearance, it was as if he had received a shot of cardiac stimulant in an instant.

This guy is hopeless. Xue Cheng looked at the head maid with a wry smile. You have to know that he has never treated his own ship girl badly. Even those who have never been on an expedition are equipped with the best equipment the naval base can produce. In this world, Leipzig's equipment is enough to make any light cruiser girl jealous.

103. War Preparation Warehouse

"It's not my turn to attack anyway, so it's a waste to keep all that equipment on me," Leipzig said confidently. "Trading something I absolutely don't need for a treasure I love is a sure-win deal, right?"

"Don't even think about it." Lexington directly rejected Xue Cheng's proposal. Seeing Leipzig's expression instantly wither and become unhappy, he explained, "I'm not trying to be difficult with you. If I really gave you the box of gold bars, would you still have the heart to manage the warehouse? I'm afraid the first thing you do when you wake up every day is roll around with gold, right?"

"That's not true." Leipzig's eyes flickered, but even Omi, who had the simplest and most straightforward character, would not choose to believe her.

"Then I ask for a salary increase." Leipzig also knew that as a worker, it would be impossible for him to easily eat the carrot dangling in front of him, so he put forward a more practical request.

"If you promise not to slack off at work, I can raise your salary by 20 percent," Lexington said with a smile. "I've heard that Leipzig often hangs out at izakayas, bars, and maid cafes during work hours. Wisconsin has even threatened to deduct your pay several times."

Seeing Leipzig's expression change instantly, Xue Cheng said, "Actually, there aren't that many rules in the garrison. You don't have to stay here in your free time. No one will mind you if you wander around. But if you want a raise, this isn't right."

Leipzig's expression kept changing as she weighed the pros and cons of slacking off at work against a pay raise. Finally, she sighed and said sullenly, "Alright, if you don't want a raise, just say so. I won't mention it. What's the matter with the Admiral and Lexington?"

Before Lexington could say anything, Yamato rushed over, slamming the table and yelling, "Bring out the best guns in your warehouse!"

Leipzig was frightened by the ferocious Yamato and quickly leaned back, but she immediately remembered that not only Lexington and Reputation were there, but also Montana, Omi, Battleship No. 65, and .

Leipzig, who believed he had an absolute advantage in terms of military strength, suddenly became tough. He slammed the gold bars in his hand on the table and shouted, "No! Without Lexington... cough, without the admiral's order, no one can touch the things in the war reserve warehouse!"

Yamato raised his eyebrows. How dare a mere light cruiser shout in front of him?

Before she could unleash the might of a deep-sea flagship, she saw the fierce Leipzig tearfully rubbing the dent in the table made by the gold nugget. "My table... is ruined. It's a public facility, and I have to pay for its repair and replacement myself..."

Xue Cheng looked at Leipzig's desperate expression, as if the sky was falling, and once again realized the extent of Leipzig's greed for money. He said helplessly: "Well, the table is yours anyway. As long as you don't think it affects your use, you can use it. I won't deduct your money."

"Really?" The tears in Leipzig's eyes miraculously disappeared in an instant, and his whole expression brightened. He wanted to jump over the table and rush to Xue Cheng to give him a big hug.

"Okay, take us to the warehouse first." Lexington poked her forehead, watched Leipzig take out a bunch of keys from the drawer, and then took the lead to walk out.

"U.S. triple-barreled 16-inch gun, firepower +24, accuracy +2, long range." In the warehouse, Leipzig carefully removed a box from a packed container and opened it, revealing a model of a naval gun. He showed it to Yamato, "What do you think?"

"It's just okay." Yamato curled his lips, clearly not very interested. "Is there anything better?"

"Yes." Leipzig closed the box and put it back. After searching for a while, he took out another box: "F Country Quadruple 380mm Cannon, Firepower +25, Hit Accuracy +1, Very Long Range."

Yamato was uninterested: "Is there anything better?"

"Dislike the low firepower?" Leipzig thought for a moment and pulled out another box. "How about this? E-country twin 20-inch main guns, firepower +29, hit -5, evasion -5, and super long range."

"Hey! Money-grubber, are you kidding me? Can you hit anyone with this?"

"I think we can pair it with this G-country twin 406mm cannon to improve the accuracy."

"I don't want it with such low firepower!"

Leaving Leipzig behind to select a suitable main gun for Yamato, Xue Cheng walked slowly around the warehouse holding Mikazuki. He found that this warehouse, which looked large from the outside, was extremely narrow when he walked in. The distance between the shelves was only enough for one person to pass through, and the passages in some places were even blocked tightly by piles of boxes.

"If we don't want to recruit those deep-sea ship girls, we should really expand the warehouse." Xue Cheng said to Lexington beside him.

"The expansion should have been completed a long time ago. Who made the admiral refuse to sign the expansion plan?" Lexington complained.

Xue Cheng laughed dryly. When he was playing the game, expanding the equipment warehouse required real money. He felt that even if the equipment warehouse reached its capacity limit, he would still be able to obtain equipment normally, so he simply left it there. After all, only the development equipment would be affected.

Moreover, in the later stages of the game, the probability and ways to obtain rare ships increased, and the cost-effectiveness of developing equipment was very low, almost becoming a decoration, so Xue Cheng became even more lazy to pay attention to it.

"Do you want to pick some equipment to change into for your reputation?" Xue Cheng looked at the girl who had been following him. He found that he always subconsciously ignored this girl who only had eyes for him, and he felt a little guilty.

Renown shook his head: "Master, have you forgotten? The equipment you have is already good enough. There is nothing useful to me in the war reserve warehouse."

Xue Cheng scratched his hair and then remembered what he had done.

Strictly speaking, Xue Cheng is not a qualified player. He will not delve into the matching of equipment like many people, such as adjusting the gun sequence by matching the main guns, or choosing suitable main guns for each ship girl according to her characteristics. As long as it suits his taste, even if the ship girl is not strong enough, she will get the opportunity to play and get equipment with excellent attributes.

This is the reputation of the maid. Although Xue Cheng rarely took her to attack activities in the later period, Xue Cheng never touched the main guns with excellent attributes on her, even though the equipment attributes were more suitable for the newly joined ship girl.

Xue Cheng was just thinking back when he suddenly heard Leipzig yelling from the other side: "Hey! Yamato! Don't move! That cannon is only equipped by St. George. Even if you were given it, it would be impossible... You, you, you! What are you doing?!"

104. Erosion

"Huh? What happened?" Hearing Leipzig's exclamation, Xue Cheng was about to run over when he was stopped by the head maid with a serious expression. Shengwang and Lexington looked at each other, stood in front of Xue Cheng, and walked over carefully.

In the narrow aisle of shelves, Leipzig looked at Yamato warily. The deep-sea girl now had a frown on her face, her eyes fixed on the model-like naval gun in her palm. Strands of purple-black gas emerged from between her fingers and adhered to the surface of the naval gun. The originally silver-bright gun barrel quickly lost its luster and became dim under the erosion of the gas.

Xue Cheng hid behind the head maid and Lexington, watching the strange scene, and asked in a low voice: "What is she doing?"

"It's erosion." The head maid sensed a familiar aura. The mad and violent aura that once lingered on Yamato reappeared. Although it wasn't as strong as before, it still chilled her heart. "Some say that shipgirls are spirits, the embodiment of people's longing for the warships that once existed. And deep-sea shipgirls are undoubtedly the embodiment of the negative emotions those warships carry: pain, despair, madness, resentment..."

"The shipgirl and the deep sea are actually two sides of the same coin, so they often share similarities, such as sharing the same ship name. Theoretically, the shipgirl's equipment can indeed be used by the deep sea, but there is a prerequisite. What she is doing now is probably using her own deep sea aura to corrode the main gun, transforming it into deep sea ship equipment that she can use."

"Deep-sea ship equipment?" Xue Cheng remembered what Ticonderoga once said, that the equipment of the sunken deep-sea ship girls could not be recycled because it was contaminated by the deep-sea breath. He immediately understood.

While they were talking, Yamato had already completed the erosion of the ship's armor. With a flip of his hand, the main gun, which was dim and seemed to be covered in a layer of black gauze, disappeared.

"How is it?" Xue Cheng walked over.

Yamato curled his lips and said, "The main gun has only 28mm firepower, so let's make do with it for now."

After a pause, Yamato nudged Xue Cheng with his arm. "Hey, are there any better ones? I'm a marriage ship after all, so you're not going to fool me with this junk, are you?"

"Who told you to be late?" Xue Cheng shrugged. "There are indeed some good things, but they're all taken. So make do with them for now. If there are good things in the future, I'll give them to you first. How about that?"

"Tsk." Yamato smacked her lips unhappily. Xue Cheng's promise was essentially an empty promise. She turned to look at Leipzig and asked, "Do you have a main gun with higher firepower? Limited-user ones are fine, too. I have my own way. As long as the stats aren't reduced too much, I'll be fine."

Leipzig hesitated, then held out a box. "How about this? One-week main battery, firepower +30, -2 hit points, -2 evasion points, long range, limited to Agincourt use."

Yamato made an estimate and reluctantly accepted it, then chose an early U.S. triple 16-inch gun (MK7) limited to the Iowa class, equipped with Type 91 armor-piercing shells, and finally completed the selection.

"Come on, jerk Admiral, show me the true power of your shipgirls in the harbor," Yamato declared confidently, now decked out in his new gear. Constantly harassed by Montana and looked down upon by Omi, the proud deep-sea flagship, Yamato, had reached the limit of her patience.

"Boom!" With a deafening roar, the targets floating on the sea were smashed to pieces. Yamato was surrounded by a faint purple-black aura. She stood on the sea and laughed crazily. With her neurotic laughter, the targets on the sea were constantly hit and smashed.

The port on the shore was crowded with people. Not only Omi, Montana, Battleship No. 65 and were there, but after hearing the news that Yamato was going to conduct an exercise, almost all the main battleships in the naval base had arrived.

"Is that guy just holding the line?" The blonde girl crossed her arms smartly, looking cocky. "He doesn't look that great either. He just knows how to fire randomly. He's nowhere near as good as the big sister... Um, what's that word? Calm and composed?"

"You can't say that." Veneto's outfit was very mature, with a suit and shirt, suspenders and black stockings, and a small mesh hat. Even though his height and appearance made him look a little younger than the other battleships, the powerful aura he exuded was not to be underestimated.

She held a cup of hand-ground coffee, fully deployed her ship's armor, and sat her petite body directly on the main gun turret, her legs hanging down and swinging leisurely. She said, "That girl isn't just firing randomly, she's getting used to the feel of her new equipment. Haven't you noticed? Her hit rate is getting better and better."

Richelieu on the side nodded silently. They had all arrived when Yamato started shooting. At that time, only two or three of Yamato's ten shells could hit the target, but now the number has risen to more than five.

"As expected of the deep-sea flagship," the Prince of Wales narrowed his eyes. The maid counterattacked, holding a parasol, casting a shadow over her head. The girl whispered, "Not only have we improved over the years, but Yamato's strength has also grown. Even though she's not equipped with her own ship's uniforms now, she's still much more powerful than when I first met her."

"Although I am unwilling to do so, that guy is definitely not someone I can deal with." The Duke of York pressed the hilt of the sword and bit his lip lightly.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but Yamato's fighting style seems different from before," Missouri said solemnly. "She possesses intelligence. Even when firing at fixed targets, she's practicing evasive maneuvers. It's completely different from her previous frantic firing."

Nelson closed one eye and took a deep breath. "Yes, fortunately this guy is not an enemy now, otherwise it would not be so easy to suppress her again."

"Sister, when can I go back?" Tirpitz yawned boredly while holding a comic book. "It's so boring! I still have so many comics I haven't had time to read yet."

"..." Feeling the strange looks coming from all around, Bismarck's forehead veins throbbed wildly, and he punched his sister on the head: "Idiot! Pay attention!"

Just as Bismarck was feeling ashamed of his silly sister's remarks, a lively voice rang out, attracting everyone's attention.

"Lucky! The admiral has captured us, a great success!" Behind the crowd, King Kong pounced on Xue Cheng's back, wrapped his arms around his neck, and hung on him, letting out a crisp laugh.

This guy... was actually still thinking about being intimate with the Admiral at this time? The girls' faces suddenly darkened.

105. Destroyer Requests Attack

"Eh? King Kong?" Xue Cheng was talking to Shengwang beside him when he was suddenly attacked. He quickly stuffed Sanriku into the hands of the head maid and supported King Kong's thigh to prevent himself from losing balance and falling.

"Aren't you being hunted? Why do you suddenly appear here?" Xue Cheng couldn't help but feel secretly frightened when he noticed the unusually cold gazes from all around him, even though he knew that the emotions were not directed at him.

"Because the Admiral is here." King Kong buried his face in the back of Xue Cheng's neck and said mischievously: "And even if someone wants to arrest me, the Admiral will protect me, right?"

"He won't." Before Xue Cheng could say anything, a slightly childish girl's voice rang out. Veneto put away his ship suit, slowly walked over, raised his hand and snapped his fingers: "Rome, the Empire, it's up to you."

"Yes!" When they were outside, Empire, who looked like a sister to Lexington, still gave her sister face. She changed her usual lazy style and became decisive. She and the green-haired girl Roma surrounded King Kong on the left and right, and then pulled her down from behind Xue Cheng.

"O, no! Admiral, save me!" King Kong struggled desperately and tried to ask Xue Cheng for help. However, Xue Cheng, who was stared at by Veneto with cold eyes, did not dare to move a finger, let alone plead for King Kong.

"Really? King Kong loves to act up. It's fine if the Admiral doesn't care, but why is he still going crazy with her?" Veneto folded her arms in front of her. Although there was only an endless plain and Xue Cheng could only look down on her, her momentum was no less than that of the older sisters. "Is this what the Admiral said? Cheer up?"

"..." Xue Cheng watched King Kong screaming as he was dragged away by Rome and the Empire, and laughed dryly.

With white hair, red eyes, mature clothes and a strong aura, it was obvious that the person standing in front of him was Veneto, who was jokingly called the battleship destroyer.

The first Veneto-class battleship destroyer, Vittorio Veneto, has a speed of 31 knots. She is incapable of reconnaissance and anti-submarine operations. She once didn't even know how to launch a torpedo. Thanks to Xue Cheng borrowing some special equipment, she successfully learned it and avoided becoming a destroyer.

As a destroyer, Veneto did not delve into the job of a frigate, but instead became obsessed with the least cost-effective bombardment for a destroyer. This gave Xue Cheng a headache more than once. Although she could threaten deep-sea battleships and even deep-sea flagships by using her bombardment to the extreme, Veneto, who had abandoned her job, was obviously unqualified.

"Hmm, speaking of which, where did I put the Flying White? I should have asked Leipzig at the war reserve warehouse earlier." Xue Cheng stroked his chin in thought.

"..." Veneto narrowed her eyes dangerously. She sensed a strong malice on the admiral's face, just like the countless times he had played a trick on her before. A series of unbearable scenes flashed through her mind, and Veneto slowly clenched her fists.

The icy murderous aura startled Xue Cheng. He lowered his head and saw the little girl looking at him fiercely. In her slightly opened mouth, her sharp little fangs seemed to flash with cold light.

Xue Cheng shuddered and quickly put on a gentle smile. He squatted down, pressed Veneto's shoulders, and said in the same tone he used to coax his younger siblings at home, "Okay, brother... ahem, the admiral said he would cheer up, and he will definitely do what he said. If you don't believe me, Veneto will supervise me, how about that?"

Veneto's brows twitched. The admiral's behavior reminded her of how adults treated children in TV dramas, and the words that flashed in the other party's words also made her crazy. However, when she glanced at Reputation and Lexington on the side, Veneto finally suppressed her anger and held her shoulders.

"The gunfire has stopped. Yamato should have adapted to the parameters of the new equipment. Let's go over and take a look."

"Okay, let's go." Xue Cheng naturally took Veneto's hand and walked towards the pier together.

Facing the gazes of the ship girls, Veneto and Xue Cheng stood by the dock. The girl's fair face turned red at this time - not because of shyness, but because of anger, because she suddenly realized that with her height, standing with Xue Cheng, even holding hands, there was no ambiguity between lovers. Instead, it was like an older brother with a younger sister, so much so that some ship girls with rich imagination were already covering their mouths and laughing.