Elder brother's garrison

Page 1010

The moment Xiaobai and Pompeii walked by, the ship girl, Tianchai, raised her head as if on alarm, looking at Xiaobai with a suspicious expression.

Pompeii's shoulders twitched, and his face showed some panic.

"Huh? I've never seen you before, you are—oh!!"

A flash of white light flashed.

Before the ship girl could finish her lines, Xiaobai, who was walking in front, suddenly turned around, grabbed the ship girl's shoulder with one hand, and swiftly punched the ship girl in the stomach with the other.

There was a muffled thud.

Before the ship girl could finish speaking, her head lolled to the side, and she fainted with a hiccup.

"Sigh... I underestimated the bonds between this mercenary group."

Xiaobai held the stunned ship girl, Tian Shiba, and sighed.

Xiaobai skillfully helped the unconscious ship girl, who was adding firewood, to the campfire. Under Pompeii's watchful eye, she posed the ship girl in a Thinker's pose. Then, with a sigh, she silently walked back to Pompeii's side and patted him on the shoulder.

It means something like saying.

"See, is everything alright?"

“…You.” Pompeii was surprised.

"It's okay. Although we were discovered, at least in terms of the outcome, no one who was awake noticed that we had infiltrated." Xiaobai gave Pompeii a thumbs up.

"No... but how did you manage that punch..."

"That's a minor issue. Maybe that ship girl was really hungry and was knocked unconscious by my punch."

"……Well."

"Anyway, our goal is the tent, so let's go inside first." Xiaobai pointed to the tent that was already in front of them.

Pompeii remained silent.

Although Xiaobai and Pompeii were just discovered by the ship girl Tianchai.

Fortunately, the ship girl who added firewood didn't shout immediately, and because of her previous experience with infiltration, Xiaobai was even more swift this time, so that even though ship girls were coming and going in the open area, no one noticed Xiaobai and Pompeii.

Xiaobai and Pompeii arrived safely at the tent where the commander was.

The so-called commander's tent... is different from the surrounding small tents. It should actually be more like a small yurt, covering an area at least the size of a small house. Inside, there should be places for people to sleep, rest, or do paperwork.

Xiaobai and Pompeii lifted the tent flap and went inside.

The commander's tent was indeed very large.

When Xiaobai and Pompeii walked in, their first impression was that it was quite spacious. The large tent was furnished with tables and chairs, a simple single bed, thick files on the table, and a clean fruit plate.

Behind a table facing Xiaobai, a man with white bandages wrapped around his head was leaning against the table, scribbling something in a notebook.

It was the group leader this morning.

"I'm not hungry right now, you can all leave." After Xiaobai and the others came in, the leader didn't look up, but simply raised his hand and waved towards the door.

It seems the team leader is using Xiaobai as a reminder to eat.

"Ahem." Xiaobai coughed lightly. "We're not here to deliver food, Commander."

"Stop it."

"There was no commotion."

"What else could it be but a food delivery person?"

"The water meter reader."

Xiao Bai said righteously.

P.S.: Speaking of which...

The magnificent Pompeii is actually my favorite ship in Kantai Collection (seriously).

Chapter 1316 Who is the bad guy?

The regimental commander, who had been hunched over the table, finally raised his head.

"Checking the water meter? What does that mean... Ouch!!"

The commander looked up at Xiaobai and Pompeii, intending to ask what the newcomer meant by his words, but when he looked up and saw Xiaobai and Pompeii's faces again, he immediately stopped talking and gasped.

The images of Xiaobai and Pompeii caught the leader's eye, like a stone thrown into a calm lake, instantly stirring up memories from that morning amidst the ripples of the lake of memories.

pat!

The group leader jumped up from the table like a startled bird, causing the neatly arranged tables and chairs to crash to the ground with a clatter, scattering documents and items all over a small patch of floor.

"You, you guys!!" The commander retreated to the edge of the tent, leaning against it, staring in astonishment at Little White and Pompeii. "You are..."

"Ah, it seems the commander still recognizes us? That's great." Xiaobai clasped her hands together and smiled at the commander.

"I..." The commander's lips trembled, and he almost blurted out a curse as he looked at Xiaobai's smiling face, but he held back. He swallowed hard with a look of surprise and then stared tremblingly at Pompeii next to Xiaobai, "You... how did you get here?"

Let's set aside the existence of Xiaobai for now.

At least the commander had a deep and unforgettable memory of this great Miss Pompeii.

"How did we get here? Of course, we walked." Xiaobai tugged at his clothes and said to the leader.

"Come over here?" The commander paused for a few seconds, then glanced at the clothes on Xiaobai and Pompeii at Xiaobai's prompting.

Xiaobai and Pompeii were wearing the uniforms of mercenary group members.

The group leader said that she was a man who had been in the underworld for many years, and she was not so naive as to think that these two grandmothers had come to her place to try to join the group. Moreover, the clothes of the two people in front of her were different sizes and did not fit well, so they were probably stolen from somewhere.

"Did you infiltrate here?" The captain frowned, his brows hidden in the gauze, and asked Xiaobai and Pompeii.

"That's right, the clothes were borrowed from the members you left by the roadside. But don't worry, those two members are safe now. Our principle is not to harm ship girls." Xiaobai smiled at the leader.

"..." The commander stared at Xiaobai and Pompeii. He pondered silently for a while, then breathed a sigh of relief, slowly walked back to his position, picked up the chair that had fallen to the ground, and slowly sat down on it.

Surprisingly, he was very honest.

And surprisingly, they didn't call out to the ship girls outside the tent.

"You accepted it pretty quickly."

Pompeii was somewhat surprised to see the commander's actions suddenly become much calmer.

“I know your ship girls’ strength and speed very well. If you wanted to do anything to me, the short time we’ve been talking is enough for me to die hundreds of times over.” The captain sighed, rubbing his forehead with a resigned expression. “Calling for ship girls won’t be fast enough. Since you’re willing to chat with me, at least that proves you don’t intend to hurt me, right?”

Under the watchful eyes of Little White and Pompeii.

The leader righted the table again, glanced down, sighed rather dejectedly, and reluctantly raised his hands to Xiaobai.

"So what do you want? Money? Or something else?"

"...You really know how to read the situation." Pompeii said in surprise.

"Otherwise, I still want to live." The commander raised his hands, looking helpless.

Xiao Bai looked at the commander, who had a large bandage on his head and a resigned expression on his face.

He's a smart person.

Xiao Bai had just briefly used the Admiral Network to sense the commander's body.

This leader has no spiritual power in his body, which means he is a very ordinary human being.

That makes sense, since they're not official admirals and therefore don't have the qualifications to activate the admiral network.

Admirals who haven't activated the Admiral Network can't secretly summon ship girls, which puts newbies at ease.

"If you need money, I don't have much, but I'll try my best to satisfy you. If it's about business, I understand, and I'll leave here with the group immediately." The group leader raised his hands and asked Xiaobai.

"I have a feeling that you see us as bad guys, Captain..." Xiaobai smiled after hearing what the captain said.

"You guys broke into my house... otherwise, what would I have thought?"

"It might be a bit late to say hello now, but we're really not bad people." Xiaobai stepped forward, took out her wallet, pulled out a business card, and handed it to the guild leader. "Let me introduce myself briefly. Hello, guild leader, my name is Lu Lin, and I'm the admiral of the rookie naval base."

The team leader stared blankly at the business card that Xiaobai handed him.

The business card Xiaobai handed over had the words "Newbie Town Guard" boldly written in gold lettering. The font was elegant and flowing, and the card was embroidered with gorgeous openwork patterns around the edges. At first glance, the card looked more like an exquisite work of art than a business card.

The name card of the newbie garrison is obviously several levels higher in prestige than the ordinary name card of the mercenary group.

The mercenary leader blankly accepted Xiaobai's business card.

"You... are the admiral?" the commander asked, bewildered.

“Yes.” Xiaobai nodded.

"Hiss... But..." The captain looked up and stared at Xiaobai's face for a while. He was about to ask if she wasn't a ship girl, but he quickly thought of something and then realized something.

This white-haired admiral, despite possessing an appearance nearly identical to that of a ship girl, seems to have never actually made a move; it's always the ship girls beside her who take action.

She was originally human?

The team leader looked down, somewhat bewildered, at the business card in his hand.

"So, you were an admiral..." The commander breathed a sigh of relief, placed the business card in his hand flat on the table, and showed a look of relief on his face.

If it's an admiral.

Then everything should be fine.

The admirals are all law-abiding citizens; of course, they would never commit murder or robbery.

For a moment, a sense of relief, as if he had escaped death, lingered in the commander's heart.

Xiao Bai silently observed the leader's expression.

The Admiral's circle is relatively isolated from the rest of the world. Outsiders have no chance to know what happens inside the Admiral's circle. Because of this, it is unlikely that this mercenary group leader, who has always lived in human society, would know what the words "Newbie Town Hall" mean.

—Never mind, for mercenary groups like this, any garrison is better than them anyway.

Furthermore, Xiaobai did not boast to ordinary people that he was the world's number one admiral.

"Then, Admiral, may I ask what brings you all this way to my camp? It can't be to apologize for what happened this morning, can it?" the commander said.

"Hmph." Pompeii turned his head away, giving me an expression that said, "You want me to apologize? Go eat a peach."

"I revealed my identity as the admiral for two reasons. First, I hope you can calm down a bit, Commander, and not be too afraid. Second, I hope you can cooperate with us from now on," Xiaobai said, stepping back to Pompeii's side.

"Cooperation?" The battalion commander touched the bandage on his head. "What cooperation?"

"Could you please explain how your mercenary group ended up here?" Xiaobai asked the leader.

"Huh? What do you mean?" The leader was taken aback again, looking at Xiaobai with a strange expression.

“I’ve seen the business card you sent me. Your mercenary group’s base and main operating area should be quite far from here, right?” Xiaobai said to the group leader. “This small village is both ordinary and remote. Logically speaking, even from a profit perspective, a mercenary group as large as yours shouldn’t pass through here, right?”

"..." The captain touched the bandage on his head, listening silently to Xiaobai's words without replying.

"Commander, in short, could you explain it a little?" Xiaobai asked.

"...Admiral, you're prying into industry secrets, aren't you?" The captain remained silent for a long time before speaking to Xiaobai.

"Industry secrets... Ah, that's true. After all, for your mercenary group, knowing about dangers at sea is like making a fortune. But... this matter is really a bit strange to me. If you could tell me, Captain, it would be a huge help." Xiao Bai said, "Didn't you just raise your hand and say you would fully cooperate with us?"

"..." The commander remained silent, looking down at his hands. "Admiral, this is a closely guarded secret. I'm afraid I really can't tell you."

"Only this point, please try to make concessions." Xiaobai shook his head.

"Is this matter so interesting to you, Admiral? Is it worth it for you to condescend to infiltrate my camp and personally question me?"

"It's not that there are uninteresting problems... it's that there are very important problems."

"Can I ask why?"

"...Because...how should I put it..." Xiaobai hesitated, trying to find a gentle way to convey the importance of the matter without angering the person in front of her, "...because...you really are quite suspicious..."

As soon as Xiaobai finished speaking...

The regimental commander's face darkened.

There was a loud crash.

The commander stood up again, his face contorted with anger as he stared at Xiaobai and Pompeii.

"You... doubt me?"

The battalion commander pursed his lips, his face instantly contorted with bulging veins and turning bright red. He clenched his fists, breathing heavily, and paced back and forth in front of his table.

"You...you suspect me...you suspect me..." The leader's gaze gradually shifted downwards, staring at his feet. He paced back and forth, muttering under his breath for a while before finally standing still, raising his head, and looking at Xiaobai again. "You...you think I'm a bad person?!"