Elder brother's garrison

Page 2009

Xiao Bai looked at Anshan and Changchun, who were safe and sound, and then slowly put down the military knife in his hand.

"It was just a false alarm," Xiaobai sighed. "That was really scary..."

"Huh? Comrade, what brings you here?" Anshan took a moment to look up and curiously looked at Xiaobai.

"Isn't this something that Changchun pulled me over to..." Xiaobai smiled and shrugged at Anshan, then asked, "Anshan, so you didn't get eaten by the research and construction machine?"

"Oh... no way." Anshan sighed helplessly as if recalling some unbearable memory when he mentioned this place. "I was sleeping soundly in the middle of the night when some scientific research construction machine inexplicably appeared here, pulled me out of bed, and then threw me into its stomach."

"Are you alright?"

"If you're talking about health, then I'm really fine." Anshan got angry as soon as she mentioned this, and said to Xiaobai in a huff, "But my psychological trauma has been deeply etched on my mind!"

"..." Xiaobai smiled bitterly.

Since Anshan can still complain about this matter with such energy... then it should mean that she doesn't have any major problems.

Xiao Bai's gaze swept over the bathtub at the foot of Anshan Mountain, and he thought for a while.

"So, Anshan, after you were spat out by the research and construction machine, you went to the repair pool to repair your ship's equipment all by yourself?"

"Yes," Anshan replied with a sigh, rubbing his shoulders.

"Sister Anshan, why didn't you tell me before you left?" Upon hearing this, Changchun quickly looked up, grabbed Anshan's arm, and asked her.

"How dare you ask that... When I was swallowed by the research and construction machine, you were sleeping soundly next to me!" Anshan angrily reached out and pinched Changchun's cheeks, pulling them apart. "When I was vomited out, it was late at night, and you were still in bed calling for the Admiral, sleeping like a little lazy pig! Did you expect me to climb into bed naked and shake you awake first?"

"Ugh—Sister Anshan—" Changchun tilted her head back, her delicate face instantly pinched into a small round pancake by Anshan. "Ugh—I'm so sorry—it's so good that you're alright, Sister—"

Upon hearing this, Anshan finally loosened his grip on Changchun's face.

Xiao Bai chuckled to himself, then looked down at the military knife in his hand.

The blade of the military knife was still humming slightly, as if urging Xiaobai to use it quickly with great enthusiasm.

Xiao Bai pressed down on his saber and looked at the research and construction machine.

Since Anshan is safe and sound, it means that the research and construction aircraft has not undergone any functional changes; it has simply been moved from the 8-1 sea area to its dormitory in Changchun.

So, I misunderstood the research and construction machine just now.

Thinking of this, Xiaobai's gaze toward the research and construction machine finally softened.

“You…” Xiaobai opened his mouth to the scientific research and construction machine.

"Creak—creak—creak—" Before Xiaobai could finish speaking, the research and construction machine frantically swung its body and retreated towards the wall.

Xiaobai paused for a moment, then subconsciously raised the hand holding the military knife.

The research and construction machine seemed quite afraid of the Deep Sea Killer's blade.

"Don't be afraid. Since you haven't harmed Anshan, I have no reason to use this knife to cut you." Xiaobai explained to the scientific research and construction machine, raising his other hand and waving it lightly.

As Xiaobai moved her finger, a blue flame appeared in the air, and a crystal beast head emerged from the blue flame, opening its mouth wide towards Xiaobai.

Xiao Bai raised his military knife and plunged the constantly ringing blade into the throat of the crystal beast head.

The crystal beast head coughed twice, spitting out a ball of blue flame. Then, it spun 360 degrees while holding the hilt of a military knife in its mouth, and disappeared.

"Look!" Little White smiled at the research and construction machine, showing off its empty hands.

"Creak—" The research and construction machine bent its body slightly, and after a while, it finally collapsed completely.

The research and construction machine, which had slumped over, fell silent for a moment before resuming its creaking and groaning sounds, emitting a series of mechanical friction noises that sounded like mournful cries. To even match this strange mournful sound, it extended several mechanical tentacles from its cabin, nimbly reaching into the bathtub at the foot of Anshan Mountain, pulling out a white handkerchief, and wiping the glass on the monitor.

"Make way, make way—"

Just then, Nia's voice rang out from outside the door.

Soon, Nia and Luo Lian parted from the crowd and entered Changchun's dormitory one after the other.

"Xiao Bai, I just heard someone say that something bad seems to have happened here... Huh??"

Nia and Luo Lian stood at the gate, both stunned.

To Nia and Luo Lian, the scene in Changchun's dormitory was utterly perplexing. At the very front of the room, near the door, Changchun and Anshan were embracing tightly, looking as if they'd been reunited after a long separation. Not far from them, Xiaobai stood in the center of the dormitory, facing the wall. Leaning against the wide wall was a massive research and construction machine that nearly filled the entire room. This machine was sprawled on the floor in a rather human-like posture, wiping its screen with a white handkerchief, accompanied by occasional whirring mechanical grinding sounds.

hiss……

Even Nia wasn't quite sure what had happened in the room; only a sense of amazement lingered in her mind.

Behind Nia, Luo Lian pinched her chin, looking thoughtfully at the scene in the dormitory.

"Xiao Bai, did you abandon the research and construction machine after starting it?" Luo Lian asked Xiao Bai tentatively after a long while.

"How could that be—"

"That's true, I was just joking." Luo Lian smiled at Xiao Bai. "But this scene is still a bit too bizarre. Anyway, Xiao Bai, could you explain it a little?"

"It's possible..." Xiao Bai looked around and gave Luo Lian a wry smile.

……

Xiao Bai briefly explained what had happened to Luo Lian and Nia.

Luo Lian and Nia were close friends who shared many secrets with Xiao Bai, so when Xiao Bai explained the cause and effect of what had just happened to them, he didn't need to hide any of his secrets.

After hearing Xiaobai's explanation, Nia's eyes widened in surprise.

"Wow... so this research and construction machine just came here by itself?"

"Yeah...what else?"

"Haha... I thought it was you, Xiaobai, who came up with a plan to secretly move the research and construction machine over here..."

"How could that be... the research and construction machine is fixed to the sea." Xiaobai smiled wryly as she listened to Nia's words. She said to Nia and Luo Lian, "Even I never imagined that this construction machine could possibly move..."

While Nia and Xiaobai were talking, Luo Lian, rubbing her chin, came to the research and construction machine.

Luo Lian bent down, reached out and touched the outer shell of the research and construction machine, then found the technology lock on the machine and looked at it carefully for several moments.

"Hmm... I see." Luo Lian got up, seemingly understanding, and returned to Xiao Bai's side.

"Lianlian, did you find something?" Xiaobai asked.

"To be honest, there weren't any particularly useful discoveries." Luo Lian shook her head first, then pointed to the research construction machine and said, "However, it's worth mentioning that the research construction machine's technology lock progress has reached 69.91%."

"Wow, so fast?" Nia exclaimed in surprise.

"After all, we ate at Anshan twice..." Xiaobai said with a wry smile.

“Although we didn’t find anything useful, I do have a hypothesis,” Luo Lian said to Xiao Bai and Nia.

Chapter 2821 An Expected Visit

"Huh? What speculation?"

Upon hearing Luo Lian's words, Xiao Bai and Nia immediately perked up.

Luo Lian's speculation is completely different from that of ordinary people.

After all, Luo Lian's previous speculations, such as the special relationship between the scientific research construction machine and Anshan, and that the reward of the first lock could help open the next lock, have all been proven true in the face of facts. It has been proven that Luo Lian's ideas were not wrong, it's just that the time for them to come true has not yet arrived.

Luo Lian's speculation is very valuable!

"It's not really a big guess." Looking at Xiaobai and Nia, who were full of anticipation, Luo Lian thought for a while and said to Xiaobai, "I just thought of a possibility that might explain why it appeared here."

"What's possible?"

“This research and construction machine… has probably developed sentience.” Luo Lian turned to look at the research and construction machine and said.

"Intelligence...?" Xiaobai and Nia stared wide-eyed, following Luo Lian's gaze to the research and construction machine.

“Yes.” Luo Lian nodded. “This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this research and construction machine. The last time I saw it was at sea—and it felt completely different then. If last time it was just a machine that acted according to instructions, this time its actions clearly have a personality, and it feels more like a living person to me.”

"Generating sentience..." Xiaobai and Nia murmured Luo Lian's words, exchanging a glance. "Is a scientific research construction machine really that powerful?"

“Even in today’s scientific community, there are still a lot of unsolved mysteries surrounding ship girls,” Luo Lian said.

“I understand a little… but how did this research and construction machine develop intelligence?” Nia asked curiously.

“Hmm… According to the timeline,” Luo Lian adjusted her glasses with her index finger, thought for a moment, and slowly said, “Although the research and construction machine has always been at sea, its own movements have not been restricted. Although the ship girls cannot move it, it can still act at will as long as it has its own thoughts. And once a living being has thoughts, movement is an essential behavior—so I speculate that the research and construction machine developed intelligence around yesterday.”

"yesterday?"

"Think about what unusual things happened to the research and construction machine yesterday," Luo Lian said to Xiao Bai.

"Yesterday? Let me think... um... nothing special seems to have happened, just feeding the ship girls... ah!" Thinking of this, Xiaobai suddenly said to Luo Lian, "Anshan!"

"Admiral, did you call me?" Anshan dragged Changchun to Xiaobai's side.

"No, what I mean is..." Xiaobai shook her head with a wry smile at Anshan, then looked up at Luo Lian and said, "If there's anything special that happened to the research and construction machine, it seems to be that it ate Anshan yesterday. Anshan isn't an ordinary ship girl; she's a favorite food of research and construction machines!"

“I see, that makes sense now.” Luo Lian nodded and said to Xiao Bai, “It seems that Anshan’s greatest purpose is to awaken the intelligence of the research and construction machine by serving as its food.”

"Hey!" Anshan glared at Luo Lian as he dried his hair.

"I'm sorry," Luo Lian said to Anshan, "but judging from the results, you are indeed the best food."

"What do we do now?" Nia asked Luo Lian worriedly. "After this research and construction machine came here, there's nothing left in the 8-1 sea area... Won't that cause a lot of trouble...?"

"That's probably true." Luo Lian nodded, her gaze exceptionally sincere. "If people outside knew that the research and construction machine was here, there would probably be a riot-level uproar."

"Wow……"

“But, but this has nothing to do with us... It came here on its own,” Nia explained from the side.

“When it appeared here, there was no way to explain it anymore.” Luo Lian sighed. “But the only good news is that this research and construction machine seems to have a high level of infiltration. At least in this respect, we don’t have to worry about it being discovered.”

"Huh? How did you know that?"

"Just think about it and you'll understand." Luo Lian shook her head. "To be able to leave the sea under the watchful eyes of so many people, sneak into our naval base, bypass the patrolling ship girls of our temporary naval base, and accurately infiltrate the dormitories in Anshan and Changchun without making a sound, this level of infiltration skill is simply dreamlike."

"That's amazing."

"Then, then you'd better hide it well..."

……

More and more ship girls gathered at the entrance of Changchun's dormitory. In order to reduce some unnecessary trouble, Nia went out of the dormitory, calmed down and dispersed the surrounding ship girl crowd, and spread the order to keep this morning's incident a complete secret.

Inside the dormitory, Xiaobai and Luolian snuggled together on the bed.

Luo Lian was holding Xiao Bai's phone and browsing the Admiral Forum.

Luo Lian's own admiral forum account only had access up to the second chapter, so she couldn't see the content related to the eighth chapter using her own account. She could only browse it by borrowing Xiao Bai's admiral account.

"As expected." Luo Lian flipped through Xiao Bai's phone and said to Xiao Bai, "After the research construction machine disappeared over there in 8-1, the admirals there were in a complete mess. Now the admiral forum is full of posts asking about the location of the research construction machine. At a glance, there are even a lot of unrelated conspiracy theories... Oh, the admiral guild also posted that they will get involved in this matter and try to give the admirals an explanation as soon as possible."

As Luo Lian spoke, she adjusted her phone to a different angle and handed it to Xiao Bai.

Xiao Bai looked over.

At a glance, the entire forum was flooded with posts related to research and construction machines.

"Damn it! The research and construction machine has disappeared!"

"Damn it, give me my money back! I've poured half a month's worth of resources into this! And now you've just vanished from my research and construction machine?!"

"Research and construction vehicle mysteriously disappears—"

"An explanation! The Admiral's Guild! We demand an explanation!"

"I threw up, guys."

"I can give up on getting a special ship girl, but I can't accept being rejected in this way!!"

"..."

"..."

The sentiment is exciting.

Dazzling.

Xiao Bai looked at his phone screen and gave a wry smile.

Ugh……

It seems the admirals are genuinely angry.

numb.

I never imagined that research and construction machines would hold such a significant place in the hearts of the admirals...

Thinking of this, Xiaobai looked at the corner of the wall in front of him.

Inside the corner, the research and construction machine that had "vanished" was crouching there, with several mechanical tentacles wandering in the air, stealthily crawling towards Anshan not far away.