Elder brother's garrison

Page 2556

Xiao Bai's fingers gently touched and rubbed the sharp edges of the shards.

"The fragment is completely cool now, but the wounds on it are still very fresh, so it must have fallen off not long ago," Xiaobai said, turning back to Iowa on the land-based ship's equipment.

"It seems the ship girls who went missing here were engaged in a fierce battle with the Abyssal Fleet here." Iowa nodded, holding onto the edge of the land-based ship rigging, and said to Xiaobai on the water, "Can the Admiral find the ship girls here?"

“Strange, I just checked the waters here using the Admiral’s Network.” Xiaobai looked thoughtfully at the fragment in his hand, “But let alone ship girls, there’s not even any reaction from the Abyssal Fleet here right now.”

"...Does the Admiral mean that this is currently an uninhabited sea area?"

"Yeah, it's really strange." Xiaobai casually put the ship equipment fragment to his mouth and chewed it like a cookie. "Mmm... crunch... The deep-sea atmosphere in this area is still very strong, crunch... But for some reason, there isn't a single deep-sea amphibious ship here... crunch... The whole area has become empty."

"Has it been checked underwater as well?"

"I checked, but there's nothing there." Xiaobai swallowed the ship equipment fragment in her mouth, wiped her mouth, and stepped back to Iowa's side using the land-based ship equipment. "There's no indication of a ship girl's presence underwater."

"Strange... Could it be that the missing ship girls defeated the Abyssal forces here and left?"

Iowa looked at the debris floating on the water and murmured softly.

“That’s an optimistic guess, but unfortunately, I think it’s impossible.” Xiaobai shook his head. “It’s not that I’m looking down on others, but at least judging from the number and types of ship equipment fragments floating on the water just now, those missing ship girls… a total of six, their ship equipment should all be heavily damaged by now.”

"That's trouble now."

"Indeed, this is troublesome."

Xiao Bai nodded gently, a complex expression in her eyes.

The good news is... the missing ship girls did indeed come to this third dangerous sea area, which coincides with Xiaobai's previous guess.

The bad news is that something has happened in this third dangerous area. Not only have the ship girls who should have been there disappeared, but even the deep-sea amphibious ships that should have been stationed there have vanished...

This is very, very bad news.

This is bad news, at least for newbies.

Because if she doesn't know where the ship girls went, she won't know how to rescue them.

Xiao Bai steered the land-based ship equipment, circling back and forth on the surface of the dangerous waters, trying to find some clues.

On the still, mirror-like surface of the inky water, ripples spread outwards as Xiaobai and his companion passed by. Occasionally, the sound of the land-based warships cutting through the water and speeding along echoed across the quiet, windless area.

After several laps, Xiaobai had explored the entire body of water, but she and Iowa still hadn't found anything.

Apart from the occasional scattered fragments of ship equipment belonging to the ship girls, there is practically nothing else on the water's surface.

After circling several times, the land-based ship finally stopped at the exit of the dangerous sea area.

Looking at the dark sea before him, so tranquil it was almost completely visible, and the thick black smoke that could blot out the sky, Xiao Bai couldn't help but sigh.

So... did the Abyssal Fleet take the missing ship girls, who were no longer capable of fighting, away from this area after defeating them?

Given the current situation, it seems that this is the only possible explanation.

However, this is completely inconsistent with the habits of deep-sea amphibious ships.

Normally, after defeating a ship girl, a deep-sea amphibious ship would pull the ship girl to the bottom of the sea on the spot. It is extremely rare for them to drag the ship girl's body away from the current sea area. Moreover, even if they did, it would not be necessary for all the deep-sea amphibious ships in the entire sea area to be mobilized.

Then again.

This area is dangerous because it has been regarded as a den by some vicious deep-sea vessels.

So if they defeat the ship girls, they will only drag them to their lair. This place is supposed to be where they hide their spoils. Where else can they put the ship girls' bodies if not here?

it's wired.

That's really strange...

Xiaobai couldn't understand it any better. She scratched her cheek and pondered for a long time.

Seeing Xiaobai's troubled expression, Iohua remained silent, simply gazing at the water around her.

Iowa stared blankly at the ship's rigging fragments floating on the water.

As Iowa watched, she suddenly seemed to remember something and her eyes opened slightly.

"Admiral." Iowa turned her head and looked at Shiro, who was deep in thought, and suddenly spoke up, "Do you think... is it possible that those missing ship girls were rescued by people outside the rescue team?"

"Huh? They were rescued?"

"Ah."

"They haven't returned to shore yet, have they?" Xiaobai looked at Iowa and asked curiously, "Besides, such an unpopular sea area, admirals would try to avoid it when they go on expeditions, right... Would anyone usually come here specifically?"

“Yes, that’s how it is in the normal sense.” Iowa nodded and said to Xiaobai, “This is a notoriously low-cost sea area. Ship girls who go here will face harsh and dangerous battles, long routes, and high-cost trial and error. Even if they defeat the enemies here, the spoils they get are far less than what they can get by fishing at nearby fishing spots. They even have to pay several times the resources for fishing. The cost of repairing large capital ships is also not small. If it is a ship girl team, they should not come here unless there is a special mission. And speaking of the most fundamental issue, the most important thing is that if someone really rescued them, they should be on the shore now, not missing.”

"So, Iowa, why do you think someone rescued them?" Xiaobai asked curiously as she listened to Iowa's analysis.

"Admiral, what if the person who rescued those ship girls... isn't a ship girl?" Iowa smiled.

"Huh?" Xiaobai was taken aback. "Not a ship girl?"

"What if the people who rescued those ship girls weren't ship girls, but... Abyssal Fleet members?" Iowa held up a finger and asked with a smile, "Wouldn't everything make sense then?"

"The deep sea rescued the ship girl...?" Xiaobai murmured Iowa's words, and she pondered for a while, pinching her chin. "The probability of this is even smaller than the previous one... but if there really is such a deep-sea rescue team, then everything makes a lot more sense."

Xiao Bai lowered his hand and looked around at the deep-sea atmosphere.

Xiao Bai's eyes lit up slightly.

"The Abyssal Fleet capable of rescuing the ship girls from this sea area... and the fact that there weren't any obvious signs of battle during the rescue means that the Abyssal Fleet's strength is at least at the level of an Abyssal Commander." Xiaobai muttered to herself, stretching out her hand and gently stroking the air as if touching glass. "An Abyssal Commander just appeared in Chapter 8 not long ago, and now another one has appeared... But putting aside the question of the Abyssal Commander's motives for now, if we take this appearance as the premise of the event, then many doubts are indeed resolved. Next... based on the principle that the Abyssal Commander has a high degree of absorption of Abyssal aura, as long as we slightly sense the concentration of Abyssal aura in this sea area, and the direction in which the concentration of Abyssal aura changes, we can determine the direction in which the Abyssal Commander left."

Xiao Bai waved his hand a few times, then turned his head to look in a certain direction.

"The change in the concentration of deep-sea aura... it's over there!"

Chapter 3588 So it was you?!

There is a saying that goes well.

Since we're already here, we might as well give it a shot.

It was clear that if Xiaobai and Iowa continued to stay in this third dangerous area, they would not find anything more.

Since that's the case... Iowa just threw out an absurd, yet subtly reasonable, conjecture, so Xiaobai has no choice but to bite the bullet and go along with it.

As a result, by going along with it, Xiaobai actually discovered some clues that he hadn't noticed before.

In this third dangerous sea area, the flow of the black mist formed from the deep-sea aura was indeed disturbed to some extent. For example, the concentration of the deep-sea aura in a certain location was slightly higher than that on the other side, as if the deep-sea aura had once followed some entity to the edge of the dangerous sea area.

The difference in the concentration of deep-sea aura is actually far less obvious than it sounds.

Even someone with Xiaobai's level of mental strength only discovered the directional difference in concentration after carefully sensing it.

So... this is the only valuable clue that Xiaobai found in this area of ​​the sea after Iowa reminded him.

"That's it!"

Xiao Bai quickly returned to the land-based ship equipment, activated it, and sped towards the high-concentration deep-sea aura as if sailing a small boat.

With its power at full throttle, the land-based ship broke through the black waters, surged past the edge of the dangerous sea fog, and arrived at the outer sea.

The deep-sea amphibious ships lurking all around were startled by the sudden appearance of the land-based ship equipment that broke through the fog. They poked their heads out from under the water, watching blankly as the ice-blue land-based ship equipment whooshed past them.

After leaving that dangerous sea area, Xiaobai continued to sense the changes in the concentration of deep-sea aura around him.

To her great surprise, she did indeed vaguely sense a faint, almost completely dissipated deep-sea aura, which was moving along a trajectory towards the depths of the sea.

The deep-sea aura that appeared was extremely faint, like a wisp of smoke drifting away in the wind. Even Xiaobai could only vaguely detect it with great effort. Xiaobai even had a feeling that if he had arrived a few minutes later, the deep-sea aura might have completely dissipated.

"Iowa, your guess seems to be correct after all," Xiaobai said to Iowa in surprise. "So there really are deep-sea beings in this world that will actively rescue ship girls!"

"Can the Admiral find them?" Iowa asked.

"Hmm... the traces are very faint, but fortunately this is a very remote body of water, and we arrived in time, so the flow of deep-sea energy hasn't been disturbed too much... we should be able to follow the route." Xiaobai said, her eyes gleaming with interest. "I'd like to see what the Deep-Sea Dean, who actively rescues ship girls, looks like..."

Iohua listened to Xiaobai's words from the side. Seeing Xiaobai's energetic expression, she couldn't help but smile.

The land-based ship sailed smoothly into the depths of the sea, and soon the two arrived at the final boss of the 8-2 area.

At first, Xiaobai thought that the deep-sea creature that rescued the ship girl might be the final boss of this sea area. However, when she arrived at the final boss area of ​​the 8-2 sea area, she discovered that the faint trace of the deep-sea aura had actually passed through the final boss area and extended into a deeper place.

Xiao Bai completely ignored the boss at the end of the level who was baring its teeth at her and had no sense of propriety. Afraid that the aura of the deep sea would dissipate, she quickly maneuvered her land-based ship to rush across the sea area at the end of the level.

However, when passing the final boss, the 510 secondary guns on Xiaobai's land-based ship automatically started. With a few deafening roars, the final boss and its escort fleet were blasted into a sea of ​​metal fragments by Xiaobai.

……

Once they crossed the 8-2 barrier, the area where Xiaobai and his companion were located could no longer be considered the 8-2 barrier.

Strictly speaking, this area no longer belongs to any of the four sea areas in Chapter 8 as defined by the Admiral's Guild. This sea area is more like a transit zone connecting 8-1.8-2.8-3.8-4. It is a sea area with relatively faint deep-sea atmosphere, very few deep-sea creatures, and little strategic value.

When Montana fought his way from the 8-4 area to the 8-2 area, he passed through this place.

After setting off and arriving at the transit area, Xiaobai clearly felt that the already thin wisp of deep-sea aura in the air was on the verge of disappearing.

Just now.

A gentle breeze was blowing.

The sea fog then became turbulent.

That trace... finally disappeared before Xiaobai's eyes.

Xiao Bai paused slightly on the land-based ship equipment, blinked, and looked around.

Although the deep-sea aura they were tracking had disappeared, they had found the general area.

This must be the place where that mysterious Deep Sea Academy once frequented...

Using the Admiral Network here, finding a reclusive Deep Sea Dean shouldn't be difficult.

Thinking of this, Xiaobai took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

Xiao Bai's current mental power operation level is much better than when she was a complete novice. Now she can use her mental power to perform some operations that she couldn't do before... However, if it is to conduct a large-scale, high-precision, carpet-bombing frenzied search in a large area of ​​the sea, her current control level is still a little lacking.

For professional matters, it's best to leave them to the professionals.

Coincidentally, Xiaobai knew a friend whose level of expertise in the field of mental power was considered that of a master.

"Deep Sea Will... Please..."

Xiao Bai murmured softly as she slowly sank her consciousness into her spiritual world.

As Xiaobai's consciousness sank, the consciousness of the Deep Sea Will rose up like a well, taking over Xiaobai's body.

In the real world, Iowa, who was looking at the scenery around her, suddenly paused. As if sensing something, she turned her head and looked at Xiaobai.

From Iowa's perspective, Xiaobai is facing away from her, looking out at the sea. The sea breeze is blowing her flowing white hair, obscuring her face.

However... an exceptionally strong sense of coldness was emanating from Xiaobai's back.

Iowa suddenly felt a strange mix of nostalgia and unfamiliarity with this little white thing.

The next moment, a massive surge of spiritual energy, like a flood, burst forth violently from Xiao Bai's body!

Buzz————

The invisible spiritual force transformed into waves at this moment, pushing out in all directions like a tidal wave.

As Iowa was still reminiscing about the past, suddenly, the massive mental energy surging out from Xiaobai's body, even if it was just a slight aftershock, left her limbs weak and her legs trembling. She staggered back several steps before managing to steady herself by grabbing the edge of the land-based ship's equipment.

Iowa, barely able to support herself on the land-based ship's equipment, looked up, her bright eyes fixed on Xiaobai's back.

About ten seconds passed.

The avalanche-like surge of mental energy gradually subsided, and a large amount of mental energy was gathered back from all around the sea, pouring into Xiaobai's body one after another.

Xiaobai stood still, keeping her eyes closed.

After a while, Xiaobai slowly opened its eyes and looked at the slightly rippling sea in front of it.

"...Admiral?" A tentative question came from behind Xiaobai.

Xiao Bai turned around and looked behind her.

Iowa was kneeling on the edge of the land-based ship equipment, her hands tightly gripping a protruding point on the equipment, looking at herself with some concern.

"Call me?" Xiaobai smiled at Iahua.

“Ah… it’s the Admiral…” Iowa looked at Xiaobai’s smile, she slowly exhaled and a relieved smile appeared on her face, “The way the Admiral used the Admiral Network just now was too wild, I thought you were a different person.”

"...After the search, I have found Dean Deep Sea." Xiaobai said to Iowa with a smile. She did not answer the question from before, but simply reached out her hand to Iowa.

Iowa released her grip on the protruding part of the land-based ship equipment and placed her hand on Little White.

Xiao Bai pulled Io Hua to her feet, then activated the land-based ship equipment and headed in one direction.

"Has the Admiral located the person who rescued the ship girls through the Admiral Network?" Iowa returned to Shiro's side and asked in a low voice.