Elder brother's garrison

Page 2325

Facing the gazes of the crowd, Admiral Gu Ming shook his head slightly.

“I have no grudge against her,” Admiral Gu Ming said. “But her strength is not enough to keep her at that level for long. She will be knocked down sooner or later. Since that’s the case, I might as well give her the points. So I just accelerated the process.”

"I see. Admiral Gu Ming has great foresight."

"So the reason for this challenge... is the same?"

"I see." The other admirals nodded in agreement.

Everyone turned their attention to Nia in the distance, observing her closely for a while.

Everyone's gaze lingered on Nia's fair cheeks and the obvious dark circles under her eyes.

"Admiral Nia has looked quite haggard these past few days. It seems that receiving Admiral Gu Ming's challenge message yesterday really kept her tossing and turning all night."

"I'm afraid Admiral Gu Ming is going to become Admiral Nia's inner demon."

"Don't just look at Admiral Nia, look at her ship girls too. I remember yesterday when Admiral Nia was doing the exercise, she was leading a different group of ship girls. The group she's leading today looks exceptionally haggard, and they all have extremely dejected expressions," one admiral said, as if he had noticed something.

“I often follow Admiral Nia’s exercises. She used the second team yesterday, but she’s using the main force today,” an admiral said. “These main force ship girls were previously defeated by Admiral Gu Ming. Now that they are going to fight Admiral Gu Ming again, they probably already know they will lose.”

"Hey……"

Everyone looked at Nia and the ship girls behind her and sighed with emotion.

What a pity... She's such a hardworking girl, how did Gu Ming end up targeting her?

Even if Gu Ming doesn't target him, someone else will...

After their initial reaction, everyone present realized that they seemed to have developed some inappropriate feelings for Admiral Nia, so they immediately turned their attention to Gu Ming and gave somewhat awkward smiles.

Gu Ming stood still, listening to the sounds around her, and the corners of her lips relaxed slightly.

Gu Ming took a step and walked towards Nia's direction.

Everyone quickly made way for Gu Ming.

The preparation area of ​​the training ground is off-limits to anyone other than the contestants, so only Gu Ming was able to walk into the open space where Nia was and stop in front of her.

Nia was still inspecting Cleveland's ship equipment when she suddenly heard footsteps stop in front of her. Nia instinctively looked up.

Nia saw a tall female admiral standing in front of her, looking down at her.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds.

“…Admiral Gu…Admiral Gu Ming?” Nia swallowed nervously. “What’s wrong?”

"Let me see." Gu Ming looked at Nia quietly, her gaze unfocused, as if trying to see through Nia's body. "Are you ready?"

"Ah...it'll be a little while...please wait a moment..."

"Hmm." Gu Ming nodded, glancing at the ship girls of Nia's family. "You haven't come to the exercises these past few days, I thought you had given up."

“Ah…” Nia turned her head to the side.

"Your ship girls are quite strong, and you are quite strong too," Gu Ming continued to Nia. "You are young, beautiful, and have great potential. Your ship girls are also excellent... Given time, it wouldn't be surprising if you grew to the level of a top ten admiral. But unfortunately, you lack the strength right now and cannot compete for a top ten position. The opportunity to compete for a top ten position may only come once every ten years or so. Once you miss it, you have to wait a very, very long time. What you lack is not anything else, but just the right timing."

"..." Nia listened to Gu Ming's words without saying a word.

“These exercises weren’t meant to target you. Since someone is going to take you down, why can’t it be me?” Gu Ming explained to Nia. “I hope you can understand. If you want to blame me, I won’t say anything.”

"..." Nia remained silent, her head bowed.

“So, give up,” Gu Ming said. “I hope you can surrender in this exercise. I fought against your ship girls six times in a row before, which has already damaged their confidence. If the exercise continues today, they may be left with some indelible scars.”

At this point, Gu Ming raised her slender white finger and pointed to the ship girls next to Nia.

“Their faces are already very dejected, and I can't see any confidence in them that they can win. Then again, it's only been three or four days since our last exercise, and I don't think they can make any significant progress in these three or four days,” Gu Ming continued. “So for your own good, and for the good of your ship girls, I think surrendering is the option that will result in the least loss for you.”

"I see, that's why you came to talk to me..." Nia murmured softly. She looked up and smiled at Gu Ming. "Thank you for your concern, Admiral Gu Ming."

"..." Admiral Gu Ming stared at Nia's face.

“But…” Nia changed her tone again, then took a deep breath and looked at Gu Ming seriously, saying, “I’m not going to give up! I still want to compete for a place in the top ten admirals!”

Nia's words seemed to make her eyes shine.

Gu Ming stared blankly at Nia, her brows furrowing for a moment, a complex anxiety flashing across her face.

"That's all."

Gu Ming turned her head and didn't linger.

After Admiral Gu Ming left, the referee's whistle blew.

The ship girls from both sides are ready to enter.

Upon hearing the whistle, Nia released Cleveland's ship rigging.

The ship girls of Nia's family pressed their hands to their chests, feeling the pounding of their hearts. With grim faces, they all walked onto the water.

Admiral Gu Ming's ship girls have been waiting on the water for a long time.

Today's opponent in the exercise with Nia's ship girls happens to be the same lineup that Nia's ship girls lost to Gu Ming last time.

Seeing the same lineup and familiar faces, the ship girls of Nia's family took a deep breath, their expressions becoming even more wary.

"Hey, special ship girl."

In Admiral Gu Ming's fleet of ship girls, the ship girls waved and greeted Roma from Nia's family.

Rome ignored her, closed her eyes, and quietly followed the group.

"Something seems off about you guys today. Are you sure you want to do the exercise?" The ship girls from Admiral Gu Ming's ship girl fleet looked at the group and said, "You seem to have absolutely no confidence in fighting today. Are you still traumatized by the last battle?"

Nia's ship girls still ignored them, simply summoning their ship equipment and quietly watching Gu Ming's ship girls.

The ship girls from Gu Ming's family looked at each other, sighed, and shrugged.

"Fine, fine... Since that's how it is, don't blame us for being ruthless. This time, we'll end the battle even faster."

Upon hearing about ending the battle even faster, the ship girls of Nia's family seemed to have realized something, and their expressions all tensed up.

Seeing this, the ship girls from Gu Ming's family thought that the ship girls from Nia's family were afraid of them, and a smug look immediately appeared on their faces.

The exercise is about to begin, and the ship girls from both sides are in position.

On the beach, a crowd gathered to watch as the referee raised his whistle, signaling the start of the battle.

"Go down!"

On the sea, Gu Ming's ship girls launched a rapid attack, with fierce artillery fire rushing towards Nia's ship girls with lightning speed.

The last time they exercised with the Nia family, it followed the same procedure. The fierce initial barrage often caught the Nia family's ship girls off guard, thus laying the foundation for victory.

Today will probably be the same.

With these thoughts in mind, the ship girls from Gu Ming's family rapidly approached in formation.

But... just as the ship girls from Gu Ming's family approached, the scene before them stunned them.

After the smoke cleared, there was no sign of anyone.

The ship girls from Gu Ming's family instinctively searched their surroundings and saw that not far away, the ship girls from Nia's family were safely and unharmed, and their formation was not even disturbed.

The ship girls looked at each other.

The ship girls of Nia's family looked bewildered and confused.

It's like saying...that's all?

Chapter 3258 Three Days Are Enough for a Complete Transformation

"Huh? You're asking why I didn't go to the 8-3 sea area to watch Nia's exercise this time?"

Inside the temporary naval base, beside the shimmering water of the training field, Luo Lian, holding a notebook she was halfway through writing in, turned to look at the ship girls to one side.

At the edge of the training field, the ship girls of Nia's family had just finished a round of training and were taking a break.

The ship girl couldn't wait to come to Luo Lian's side as soon as she took a break and asked her about the things that concerned her.

"Yes, I heard from the other seniors at the naval base that Admiral Nia's exercise this time is particularly important, and even Admiral Lu Lin secretly went along!" The ship girl next to Luo Lian nodded hurriedly, clenching her fists and raising them to her shoulders, shaking them back and forth in front of Luo Lian. "Admiral, Admiral Nia is a good friend of yours and Admiral Lu Lin's, right? Since that's the case, shouldn't we go and see her, and cheer her on or something!"

"You've thought of everything." Luo Lian looked at the ship girl without changing her expression. She closed her notebook and said to the ship girl, "However, I'm very busy these two days, so I'll have to forget about watching the exercise."

Luo Lian rejected the ship girl's offer.

"Sigh—but, but that's Admiral Nia's important exercise..." Upon hearing this, the ship girl immediately became dejected. She pouted, looking very concerned. "Aren't the Admiral and Admiral Nia friends...?"

"I simply don't have a desire to witness anything that has already been resolved," Luo Lian replied.

"Eh?"

Luo Lian's answer startled the dejected ship girl slightly. She looked up and gazed at Luo Lian with curiosity.

"Admiral... what did you just say?"

"what?"

"You just said... you know the results of Admiral Nia's exercise?" The ship girl asked quickly, as if she had discovered something important.

Luo Lian watched the ship girl suddenly become excited and nodded.

"What's wrong? Is it weird?"

"This... I remember hearing from other seniors that this exercise was a revenge battle between Admiral Nia and an admiral who was ranked in the top ten. It seems that the outcome of this exercise is directly related to whether Admiral Nia can become the next top ten admiral..." The ship girl stared with wide eyes, raised her hands, and kept asking Luo Lian, "Since you say that this exercise has already been decided... does that mean that Admiral Lu Lin has secretly helped Admiral Nia threaten that person and taken care of everything for her? Is Admiral Nia just going to go through the motions and put on a show?!"

"You've only been born a short time, where did you hear so much about everything?" Luo Lian sighed to the ship girl. "Your training is still too little."

"Haha..." The ship girl scratched her head sheepishly and stuck out her tongue at Luo Lian, "So... what I just said was right, wasn't it..."

“That’s definitely wrong.” Luo Lian shook her head and said seriously, “Although Xiao Bai often disregards the rules and acts on her own feelings, that’s only in situations that concern her. For example, in situations where others are interacting with each other, Xiao Bai still has some bottom line when she does things… For example, this time, she had many ways to help Nia, so she wouldn’t do anything that would be unbecoming in this kind of event.”

"Well... Admiral, you just said the exercise had already yielded results..." the ship girl muttered from the side, "Were you just trying to fool me?"

“Some things, you know the outcome without even looking,” Luo Lian said softly, rubbing her shoulders. “Nia will win, that’s a sure thing.”

"But, but... the ship girls of the Nia family were being bullied by the opposing ship girls before..." the ship girl hurriedly said.

As the saying goes, "A scholar should be viewed with new eyes after three days of separation."

Luo Lian paused for a moment after saying this.

A gentle breeze swept across the training ground, caressing Luo Lian's cheeks and causing the stray hairs by her ears to flutter in the wind.

Luo Lian turned her head to look at the ship girls on the water.

Under the sunlight, the ship girls on the training field are sweating profusely, creating wave after wave of sweat.

“The ship girls of the Nia family… especially Veneto and the others, actually don’t have a numerical gap between them and top-tier ship girls,” Luo Lian said. “The conditions for becoming a top-tier ship girl—basic max level training, rich combat experience, top-notch combat talent, and top-grade ship equipment—are all things that the Nia family’s ship girls already possess. The reason they suffer repeated defeats at the hands of truly top-tier ship girls is not because of a lack of strength, but because their bodies have become accustomed to low-level battles in long-term combat and have not yet adapted to the intense battles of truly high-level ship girls.”

Luo Lian stared at the ship girls sweating on the training field and spoke slowly.

"Xiaobai told me about her experiences over the past three days."

"In the past three days, Xiaobai has not actually taught Nia's ship girls any skills."

"What she did was actually very simple. She simply imprinted the truly brutal and intense combat process in the hearts of the Nia family's ship girls in the most primitive and effective way."

"Now, they can be considered as people who have seen hell."

Luo Lian turned her head and looked back at the ship girl who had asked her the question.

"So... I'm asking you, would someone who's returned from hell care about a few street thugs?"

The ship girl stared wide-eyed, looking somewhat confused and surprised.

……

Boom boom boom boom…

Sea area 8-3, Exercise range 36.

On the water's surface, sparks flew as cannonballs blasted into the water, creating towering splashes.

Admiral Gu Ming's fleet of ship girls relentlessly unleashed a barrage of fire, launching wave after wave of relentless bombardment against Nia's ship girls. Their shells crisscrossed and swirled in mid-air, forming a dense bombardment net, while bombs dropped by carrier-based aircraft sealed off all blind spots.

However... after wave of bombardment, the smoke on the sea dissipated, and the ship girls of Nia's family seemed to be playing dodgeball, easily dodging all of Admiral Gu Ming's attacks with their movements.

Shells, torpedoes, bombs—all sorts of attacks rained down on the air, exploding into bursts of sparks behind Nia's ship girls.

After dodging the attacks from Admiral Gu Ming's ship girls, the Nia family's ship girls even frowned frequently, showing a confused and helpless expression.

That expression conveyed complex emotions.

However, the ship girls from Gu Ming's family seemed to be able to sense the thoughts that Nia's ship girls wanted to express through these expressions, just like real people.

...So you dodged it?