Elder brother's garrison

Page 2814

Lightning flashed and thunder roared across the sky. Before the deep-sea amphibious ships on the sea could even charge forward, their formation was ripped open by bombs dropped by Ticonderoga's carrier-based aircraft.

Chapter 3977 Result

"Hey... didn't you notice? The captain was fighting extra hard today..."

On the sea filled with the howls of the deep-sea amphibious ships, the light cruiser girls of the Royal Guard were busy harassing the enemy and escorting the capital ships. In their spare time, they curiously watched Ticonderoga unleash its full firepower amidst layers of smoke, and the hundreds of flames constantly leaping behind Ticonderoga, as well as the rocket-like carrier-based aircraft that shot into the sky in clusters at Ticonderoga's command. They couldn't help but talk to each other with strange expressions.

"Indeed...it felt like the captain was putting in extra effort today, especially when he was directing the carrier-based aircraft..."

"Like he's been injected with chicken blood."

"Judging by appearances, the captain is at least 20% stronger than yesterday!"

"So, after becoming a private ship girl, her mindset is different from that of a guild ship girl..."

The ship girls chatted quietly for a short while before quickly separating.

Although the deep-sea ships on the third level were much stronger than those on the previous two levels, they were quickly defeated thanks to the close cooperation of the seventh patrol squad.

Within the seventh patrol squad, only one light cruiser ship girl accidentally took a hit from a heavy cruiser due to her positioning, resulting in minor damage to her ship equipment.

The battle on the third floor ended, and a blue dialogue box appeared out of thin air.

Ticonderoga was slightly out of breath, but she looked at her teammates with great enthusiasm. After exchanging glances with them, everyone nodded in agreement, and finally pressed the option to immediately proceed to the fourth floor.

The Black Tower had already been open for a morning on the second day.

Of the five newly opened levels in the Black Tower, most admirals stopped at the third and fourth levels. A small number of slightly stronger individuals completed the challenge of the fourth level and successfully reached the fifth level, but so far... no admirals have successfully cleared the fifth level.

The first reward for clearing the third level is a confetti cannon.

The fourth level is not a special level and there is no first-clear reward.

Based on the strange noise last night, the first-clear reward for the fifth floor is the final reward for today's Black Tower. Although it is still unclear what the so-called "missile technology unlock" means, if possible, Ticonderoga would like to be the ship girl who helps Xiaobai get the first-clear reward for the fifth floor.

Upon reaching the fourth level, just as the Ticonderoga were getting ready, a blue dialogue box flashed by, and a large amount of deep-sea energy appeared on the distant sea surface.

However, this time the situation is a little different from before.

After a large amount of deep-sea energy appeared, the deep-sea ships did not rush to the surface. Instead, they sank to the seabed, slowly gathered together, and eventually formed a solid mass.

"Submarine enemy!"

Behind Ticonderoga, her teammates shouted.

The enemies on the fourth level are not regular deep-sea amphibious ships, but submarines!

For most of the luxurious fleets that have reached this level, which consist of battleships and aircraft carriers, this is undoubtedly a despairing situation. After all, battleships and aircraft carriers have no resistance to underwater enemies. No matter how much firepower they have, they can only watch helplessly as those submarine enemies swim right up to their feet and launch countless and extremely deadly torpedoes at them.

Fortunately... this problem is no challenge for the Seventh Patrol Squad.

The 7th Patrol Squad consists of Ticonderoga, a main carrier, three light cruisers, and two other ship girls.

Anti-submarine warfare might be a headache for luxury fleets, but for the Seventh Patrol Squad, this level is practically free.

After all, submarines are as fragile as eggs without shells when faced with light cruisers; they would explode at the slightest touch.

"Fish frying! Fish frying!"

"Single Horizontal Array, activate!"

"Little fish, don't run away! If I catch you, I'll...hehehehe..."

"In the submarine deck, the three of us sisters are absolutely invincible!"

"We've caught up with you! Where can you run now!"

In an instant, the ship girls, including Königsberg, rolled up their sleeves, excitedly pulled out the depth charge launchers from their ship equipment, turned on their anti-submarine radars, and headed straight for the deep-sea amphibious ships underwater.

Three blue figures were particularly active on the sea surface. They kept dropping depth charges underwater like scattering candy. A series of muffled rumbling sounds came from underwater, and fragments of the submarine's hull, which had been blown to pieces, kept floating upwards.

Ticonderoga took a rare break, standing on the safe surface of the water, watching her teammates darting about.

Time passed quickly.

After a thrilling anti-submarine battle, Ticonderoga hadn't even seen a single enemy submarine emerge before a blue dialog box appeared before her eyes, signifying a successful challenge.

"Captain! We're done here!"

Along with the blue dialogue box, the Königsberg sisters appeared in the distance, shouting and waving their arms, their faces showing a satisfied expression of revenge.

Ticonderoga looked away from the blue chat box, glanced at her teammates, and couldn't help but smile.

……

Outside the Black Tower.

Amidst the swirling black mist, the ship girl teams of Chapter 8 were still busy registering and queuing to challenge the Black Tower.

The patrol team, responsible for recording the challenge order and handling resource storage procedures, busily moved through the ranks of ship girls.

"Unregistered ship girls, please do not start the Black Tower Challenge! Please step back beyond the warning line! The Admiral's Guild is very grateful for the cooperation of all ship girl teams!"

"Please come here to register your ship girl!"

"If any of the ship girls who have finished their challenges need help transporting supplies, they can come to me—"

The voices of the patrol ship girls rose and fell.

The two patrol ship girls, who were so busy they were dizzy, quickly slipped out of the crowd and found a hovercraft to rest on for a while during their shift break.

"Oh dear... I really need to report this to my superiors when we get back and ask them to send more people over..." A patrol ship girl wiped her clean jawline, sticking out her red tongue as she said, "So many people, who can handle this..."

"Sigh, I heard the Admiral's Guild has already asked headquarters for more people. A new batch of ship girls will be reporting for duty soon." Another ship girl wearing a hat, leaning on her soft hovercraft, sighed and said, "Just hang in there, hang in there. When the next batch of ship girls reports for duty, we'll be seniors too."

"Huh? They're already asking headquarters for people so quickly? Are our guild's ship girls suffering such severe losses?"

"What are you talking about?" Another ship girl raised her hand and slapped her forehead. "The reason we need people is because the team from the 7th Patrol Squad has been reassigned, and now there's a gap in their ranks."

"Oh...no wonder."

"Hmm... Rumor has it that the guild asked headquarters for more people this time, and also held a manager in charge of allocating ship girls accountable. He's not a low-ranking one."

"Huh? You mean the one from Ticonderoga...?"

"That's right, it's the one who made things difficult for Ticonderoga. I have a sister in the Admiral Headquarters, she's from the batch of ship girls after us, and she told me yesterday that a department responsible for assigning positions to ship girls was directly investigated. More than a dozen people in the department, from junior staff to leaders, were all investigated thoroughly."

"Wow……"

"At first, the leadership tried to put up a stubborn resistance, insisting that they had connections in the governor's headquarters and that they would make phone calls to their backers..."

"And then? And then?" The ship girl in charge of listening clasped her hands together expectantly.

"And then... the call went through. But the person on the other end kept insisting that they didn't know the person making the call. And then..."

"Oh, I understand!" The ship girl in charge of listening nodded excitedly. "What happened in the end?"

"In the end... there's actually quite a bit of room for manipulation when assigning positions to ship girls. Strictly speaking, it wouldn't really do anything to anyone. However, during this investigation, the leader in that position and his cronies were found to have a lax work style and multiple violations of discipline. So, in the end, they were dealt with severely. Those who could be dismissed were dismissed, those who could be demoted were demoted, and those who could be arrested were arrested and dealt with. As for the person who was behind the scenes, they weren't let off the hook either, and they were dealt with as well."

Wow...it's only been a day...

"Yes, this matter has caused quite a stir at the Admiral's Headquarters. My sisters told me they have never seen such a rapid process from arrest to sentencing."

"Our guild leader really has connections everywhere..." the ship girl in charge of listening exclaimed. "I always thought our guild leader was just good at fighting, but I didn't expect her to have such a wide network of connections..."

"Are you kidding? Every one of the top ten admirals has connections with our guild leader right now," the gossip-loving ship girl proudly declared. "And the admiral headquarters is even more telling. Several governors are openly aligned with our guild leader, and even those who aren't so obviously biased rarely oppose her. I heard that the position of president of the Eighth Chapter Admiral Guild was recommended to her by a big shot at the admiral headquarters! These are all big names in the admiral circle. Our guild leader can invite people with just a word—people that ordinary admirals might only meet a few times in their entire lives! And putting all that aside, aren't all the top 100 admirals in the world rankings in the Eighth Chapter our guild members? These connections are incredibly complex; a single move can have far-reaching consequences. Combined, they're enough to shake the entire circle!"

"Great! Great!" The ship girl in charge of listening immediately clapped her hands. "If that's the case, then our guild leader has really avenged Ticonderoga!"

"Yeah... Ticonderoga must be ecstatic right now. Our guild leader is like a godsend to her..." The gossipy ship girl cupped her face, saying with a touch of infatuation, "If I were Ticonderoga, I'd probably be begging the guild leader to let me become her ship girl the very next day—"

"Ticonderoga isn't in such a hurry."

"Hahaha, too!"

The two ship girls exchanged a happy glance.

At the same time, beneath the Black Tower, after a surge of mental energy, a group of ragged ship girls appeared out of thin air.

With almost half of its ship's armor torn, Ticonderoga, whose fair skin was exposed beneath the fabric, gasped for breath, raised an oil-stained arm to wipe her cheek, and glanced back at her crew.

Behind Ticonderoga, the five ship girls either collapsed or crawled, all looking exhausted and miserable, as if they only had one breath left.

"This fifth level is way too difficult... It's like fighting the Dean of the Deep Sea..." Ticonderoga's team complained, trembling as they struggled to their feet from the sea. "But... but..."

The ship girls rolled over, facing the sky with blissful expressions.

"fortunately……"

"I cleared the game!"

Chapter 3978 Huge Reward

"Finally—I beat the game!"

Behind Ticonderoga, five teammates, dressed in tattered clothes, covered in oil, and in a disheveled state, huddled together without a care for their appearance. They slowly slumped onto the water's surface, tilted their heads back, and let out a joyful cheer towards the sky.

As Ticonderoga's teammates behind him shouted in relief, a strong mental energy fluctuation instantly reverberated in the sky around the Black Tower.

Immediately afterwards, five large black shipping containers appeared above everyone's heads.

The huge black containers hovered briefly in mid-air for a few seconds before slowly being pulled down by gravity and falling towards the sea.

With several loud bangs, clear water splashed several meters high from the surface of the water.

The Black Tower is a very mysterious building. Some of its operating principles are still unknown, and it also has some mysterious and accurate "rules"—for example, the challenges inside the Black Tower can be undertaken by multiple ship girl teams at the same time. Currently, the Black Tower can handle up to dozens of challenges simultaneously. Even if all ship girl teams that enter the Black Tower touch it at the same time, they will not meet each other when they enter. The Black Tower seems to be able to clearly distinguish the ship girl teams. It will put ship girl teams belonging to the same team together to accept challenges, while ship girl teams from different teams will be completely separated.

When ship girls who do not belong to the same team challenge each other inside the Black Tower, it's as if they are in a parallel and independent space, never to meet again.

That's why, when Ticonderoga and his party left the Black Tower, they didn't initially attract much attention from the people around them.

At this moment, the Black Tower was bustling with ship girls coming and going. Whether they were ship girls who had finished their challenges and were dejected because they hadn't achieved satisfactory results, or ship girls who were full of fighting spirit and eager to challenge the Black Tower, the environment around the Black Tower was exceptionally lively.

Ticonderoga and his group were not conspicuous against the backdrop of the ship girls.

But... it wasn't until Ticonderoga and the others received their rewards that the five huge black containers fell from the sky and into the water with a deafening roar. Only then did the onlookers, who noticed that their rewards were somewhat different, finally realize that something was wrong.

"Huh? Aren't there a lot of containers over there...?"

"Five!"

"Ah! Five containers! Five large containers!"

"They have five different rewards!!!"

"Based on previous experience, you get a large container every time you clear a floor in the Black Tower... So, does that mean that five large containers have appeared at once...?"

"Someone has cleared the fifth floor!!"

"The first ship girl team to clear the fifth floor of the Black Tower has appeared!!!"

"Who is it? Whose ship girl is it? Is it a rookie naval base?!"

"Wait a minute, the newbie naval base didn't send out any troops today. Could it be Nia's naval base?"

"Let me have a good rest, let me have a good rest!"

Exclamations of surprise echoed throughout the Black Tower in an instant.

The ship girl crowd surrounding the Black Tower instantly erupted in excitement. A large number of eyes, filled with admiration, surprise, and congratulations, were cast towards Ticonderoga and his group. The crowd surged forward, seemingly about to engulf Ticonderoga and his companions in the next second.

Fortunately, at this critical moment, the Admiral's Guild's patrol team quickly assembled and stepped forward, setting up a cordon to keep back the ship girls who were trying to surround them.

"Please keep order, do not crowd, and do not trample!"

"Everyone, please step back three steps and move outside the cordon! Thank you very much for your cooperation with the Admiral's Guild!"

"Please understand that maintaining order is for a better environment!"

With the help of the patrol ship girls, even though the surrounding ship girls were itching to join in, they could only retreat outside the cordon and look at Ticonderoga and his group with burning eyes.

After the patrol members had brought the situation under control, they breathed a sigh of relief. Then, the patrol leader stepped out from the group and came to Ticonderoga.

Upon seeing Ticonderoga, dressed in tattered clothes with only black fabric barely clinging to his slender limbs, his exposed fair skin stained with the black marks of gunpowder, the patrol captain's expression became somewhat peculiar.

"We meet again?" the patrol captain greeted.

"Yes." Ticonderoga nodded with a smile.

"I thought the ship girls who cleared the fifth floor of the Black Tower today were either from the newbie naval base or from the Nia naval base..." the patrol captain joked to Ticonderoga, then said, "I didn't expect it to be a colleague. Not bad, congratulations."

“There’s not much difference. I’m also going on this expedition in place of the Admiral,” Ticonderoga said.

"Admiral? Oh...right, you're in the Royal Guard now, right?" The patrol captain was a beat slow to react. She smiled helplessly. "After becoming a Royal Guard member, you can indeed call the Chairman Admiral. You've changed your address quite quickly."

"..." Ticonderoga.

"Do you need us to help you tally up the rewards?" The patrol ship girl pointed to the five huge containers next to her.