Elder brother's garrison

Page 449

Despite her young and short appearance, Akashi's age is incredibly advanced. Although there is no accurate evidence, Akashi's age is likely already a shocking three digits.

Akashi tiptoed and slowly placed the box in his hands onto the top shelf of the lacquered box.

After finishing this task, Akashi put down the brush in her hand and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Take a break—after I finish painting all of these... I can go back..." Akashi said with a relaxed smile as she wiped her sweat.

"Snap." And then, at that very moment, the door behind Akashi opened.

"Admiral Akashi, are you in there?" Shiro's innocent voice came from outside the door. "The door wasn't locked, so I just opened it... Ah, it's so dark."

As soon as Xiaobai entered the room, he felt that it was pitch black all around and that there was a rather pungent smell of paint in the air, so he couldn't help but cover his nose.

Xiao Bai reached out his other hand and touched the wall, turning on the light switch.

With a whirring sound, the incandescent light came on, and the scene inside the room instantly became clear to Xiaobai's eyes.

It was a very large room, more like a small auditorium than a room.

The room was filled with square boxes, half of which were colorful and the other half were golden.

Akashi was standing in front of a box whose paint was still wet, holding a small brush stained with gold paint, looking at Shiro with a terrified expression.

"Ah, Admiral Akashi, you're here." Shiro smiled as he looked at Akashi, who was standing in the center of the auditorium.

"Ah...ah..." Akashi stared at Shiro in surprise, her little mouth trembling.

"Commander? Is Admiral Akashi inside?" Just as Shiro and Akashi were looking at each other, Hood's voice came from outside the door. A moment later, Hood, Bismarck, and a group of ship girls squeezed in through the door behind Shiro.

"So Admiral Akashi was here all along."

"Admiral Akashi, what are you doing here?"

"Ugh, it smells really strong."

The ship girls entered the room and came to Shiro's side.

"You guys... how did you get here... meow..." Akashi asked blankly.

"About this... well, a lot of things have happened..." After listening to Akashi's words, Shiro smiled subtly and nodded. "In short, that's why I came to find you."

"What about the garrison headquarters..."

"It's alright, Saratoga and the Enterprise are there, so I'll know immediately if anything happens."

"Oh..." Akashi looked at Shiro and nodded somewhat confusedly, "Then what do you want from me?"

"Yes, that's right. I encountered it at the naval base before..."

"Little White." Bismarck, standing behind Little White, reminded him.

"Huh? Bismarck, what's wrong?"

"Behind Akashi."

"Behind you." Xiaobai was taken aback, then looked behind Mingshi with some confusion.

Behind Akashi were the large boxes stacked up that Shiro had seen earlier, some colorful and some gold.

"that is?"

"Equipment box," Hood explained to Shiro after seeing the box behind Akashi.

"Equipment box?" Xiaobai was taken aback, then looked at Hood curiously.

"The equipment box is like a lottery. It puts different levels of equipment in the box and sells it wholesale to admirals who can't afford high-level equipment at below-average prices, letting them try their luck and turn a small investment into a big one," Hu De explained to Xiao Bai.

"Oh, it's a lottery ticket." Xiaobai was taken aback for a moment, then nodded.

Akashi and Shiro looked at each other, then subconsciously put the small brushes behind their backs, revealing subtle expressions.

"Then what's with all this paint?"

"Equipment boxes also come in different types, just like scratch cards, some cost five yuan and some cost fifteen yuan."

"Oh..." Shiro looked thoughtfully at the gold-painted equipment boxes behind Akashi, "Then, these gold-painted equipment boxes..."

“Yes, it’s illegal,” Hood said to Xiaobai with a smile.

In an instant, all the ship girls and Shiro present looked toward Akashi in the middle of the room.

"Eek!!" Akashi was startled by the gazes of the ship girls, and the small brush in her hand fell to the ground with a thud.

“Caught red-handed.” South Dakota said, stroking his chin and looking seriously at the small brush on the ground.

"Eeeeeee!!" South Dakota's voice wasn't concealed, and Akashi heard it clearly. Akashi immediately waved her little hand, waving it repeatedly at Shiro, "Big big big big boss, no!"

“This is fraud, you know. You’ll get arrested and thrown in jail,” Washington said to Akashi.

“Eek eek eek eek eek!” Akashi, standing in the middle of the room, looked at Washington and felt a chill run down his spine.

"Washington, don't scare Admiral Akashi," Shiro said, turning to Washington.

"Oh, sorry."

After apologizing in Washington, Xiaobai looked at Akashi and walked towards him, saying, "Admiral Akashi, don't be afraid. I won't report you."

Xiaobai didn't pursue Akashi's thoughts. After all, Akashi was one of their own. If Akashi did something wrong, Xiaobai would indeed urge her to correct it, but she wouldn't report her. After all, there were still many ship girls in her naval base. What would happen to those ship girls if the admiral was arrested and put in the dark room?

"Big, big boss, no!" When Akashi saw Shiro walking towards her, she quickly ran to Shiro's side, grabbed Shiro's arm with her two little hands, and started begging for mercy.

"I'm not a big shot."

"Let me explain, let me explain!"

"Huh? What explanation?" Xiaobai was taken aback, looking at Akashi in front of her and asking curiously.

"I..." Akashi looked into Shiro's eyes, thought for a long, long time, before finally making up her mind. Then she shouted to Shiro, "I, I'm not human, I'm a ship girl! I made all this equipment. It's true it's second-hand, but there was absolutely no fraud!"

Akashi still revealed this extremely important secret.

After saying that, Akashi closed his eyes in fear.

For many people, the fact that they, as an admiral, are actually ship girls is quite a terrifying thing. At best, they will be shocked and gasp in surprise; at worst, they may even faint.

Several seconds passed, and Shiro in front of Akashi still didn't react.

Akashi opened her eyes with some confusion and looked at Shiro.

Little White was quietly looking at me, blinked twice, and said, "Well, and then?"

"Aren't you surprised that I'm a ship girl, boss?"

"I already knew that," Xiaobai nodded.

Akashi looked at Shiro's calm face, then gasped in surprise.

Chapter 592 Xiaobai had another bold idea

Akashi stared with her mouth agape at Shiro, who was smiling in front of her, and for a moment felt as if every gear in her head had stopped turning.

The big shot in front of me already knew I was a ship girl?

No, this can't be taken lightly! Akashi felt that her disguise was flawless.

"Big brother, when did you find out?" Akashi murmured to Shiro.

Xiao Bai smiled gently.

Although it was somewhat abrupt, she wasn't the first person to discover that Admiral Akashi's true form was a ship girl.

The three sisters of King George V, who were with Admiral Akashi, discovered this long ago.

As for how they knew Admiral Akashi's true form, it can only be said that they spent a lot of time together and naturally came to the fore.

Ultimately, ship girls are different from humans. Even though Akashi, like Sukhbaatar, possesses the characteristic that other ship girls cannot sense her ship girl aura, this cannot change her essence.

Even if she hides it completely, she is still a ship girl with great power, a flawless appearance, and inexhaustible energy. In daily life, these points always show some feedback. For example, after three years together, Admiral Akashi's appearance has not changed at all, she has never been sick, there are no small wounds on her skin, her spirit is as good as ever, and sometimes her physical reactions are particularly quick, and she can pick things up very easily.

As the days went by, the three sisters of George V naturally came to understand Admiral Akashi's true nature.

Out of absolute trust in their admiral, and also because they knew that Hood and Bismarck would soon figure it out as well, the three sisters told Xiaobai and the other ship girls about their deductions about Akashi on the night Xiaobai arrived in Linning City and met up with Prince of Wales and the others, and begged Xiaobai not to report Admiral Akashi.

Xiaobai was very surprised when he first learned about this, since strictly speaking, ship girls are not allowed to become admirals.

However, after accepting the facts, Xiaobai quickly agreed to King George V and his entourage's request.

The reason why ship girls cannot become admirals is not because they are incapable of becoming admirals, but because of many adult reasons.

However, Shiro isn't an adult. In her view, Admiral Akashi is excellent enough as an admiral, able to provide her ship girls with a stable life, and the ship girls are happy to follow her, so that's enough. It's more than enough.

Besides, there are many things that are not allowed. Compared to Akashi, who only became an admiral as a ship girl, Shiro herself has committed many serious offenses, such as harboring the Abyssal Dean, deceiving superiors, forming an Abyssal maid group, forcibly taking ship girls from other naval bases, wearing Abyssal ship equipment, being intimate with the Abyssal Dean, and even having an Abyssal daughter. If it were to be reported, it would be hard to say who would report whom.

"It's alright. Admiral Akashi is very considerate of the naval base, so there's no problem," Shiro said to Akashi in front of him.

Akashi stared blankly at Shiro, her gaze passing through Shiro to the ship girls behind her.

Behind Xiaobai, Hood, Bismarck, and the others all had obedient expressions, saying, "I'll listen to my admiral."

"Big, big boss!" Akashi rushed into Shiro's arms, her face covered in gold paint, and rubbed against Shiro's clothes vigorously. "Big boss, waaaaah!"

Akashi was so touched, incredibly touched, extremely touched.

Shiro reached out and patted Akashi's head.

"Admiral Akashi, but I still have a small question I'd like to ask you."

“Sure, sure, ask me anything, boss.” Akashi’s little face lifted up from Shiro’s arms in a flash.

"How did you become an admiral?" Xiaobai asked.

“Uh…” Akashi was taken aback, and then Shiroshi’s expression turned awkward.

"Oh, is it something that's inconvenient to say? That's okay, I'm just curious, it's fine if you don't say."

"No, there's nothing inconvenient to say." Admiral Akashi smiled subtly. "Well... the naval base was a gift from a friend..."

"???" Xiaobai was genuinely surprised this time. She looked at Mingshi with a look of astonishment in her eyes, "You got it?"

"Ah, it's not the kind of gift you're thinking of, boss." Akashi looked at Shiro's expression and quickly realized that Shiro probably misunderstood. She quickly raised her small hand and said to Shiro, "A friend of mine gave me a spot to start building a naval base."

"Oh... I see." Shiro looked at Akashi. "Which friend is it?"

"...Well, I'm very sorry, but even a big shot like you can't say this." Akashi looked apologetic.

Xiao Bai nodded, seemingly lost in thought.

The person who can grant a ship girl the qualification to build a naval base must be very capable. Even someone like Mu Yu, who holds the position of governor, probably couldn't do something like granting a ship girl the qualification to build a naval base.

—Huh? Thinking about it, since Akashi knows such an important person, even if I report him, it probably won't do any good.

Shiro looked at Akashi in his arms, who was also looking at Shiro with her eyes open.

Who knows, Akashi might actually be a rather remarkable ship girl.

Shiro let go of his hand, and Akashi also stepped down from Shiro's arms.

Akashi seemed a little lost about what to say to Shiro because of what had just happened, but after looking back at the equipment box behind her, she finally remembered the topic from before.

"The equipment in these equipment boxes was all made by me using the power of the ship girls, so it's different from what's sold outside; it's a limited edition!" Akashi explained to Shiro, pointing to the gold-painted equipment boxes behind her. "That's why the price is a little higher!"

"Ah, did Admiral Akashi make the equipment inside himself?"

“Yes!” Akashi nodded quickly.

This wasn't a lie to the newbies. As a work ship, Akashi's ability, or so-called "skill," is to repair damaged ship equipment. With her deep utilization of this ability, Akashi can also manufacture equipment used by ship girls.

Of course, crafting equipment requires materials, which are quite expensive, and there's a certain probability involved. If you're lucky, you can craft high-level gold or even colored equipment, while if you're unlucky, you might end up with basic equipment.

However, no matter what, the equipment that Akashi made was slightly better than the equipment sold on the market. That's why Akashi chose to sell equipment boxes. She put all the equipment she made at once, regardless of its quality, into boxes and sold them at a uniform price like lucky bags.

While Akashi's equipment boxes are indeed painted and priced significantly higher than other equipment boxes on the market, they do contain some truly excellent equipment with exceptional attributes and effects. As a result, Akashi's equipment boxes are quite popular among a small segment of admiral players.

"I am a work ship. I can repair ship girls' equipment and also manufacture ship girls' equipment," Akashi said, pointing to herself and introducing herself to Shiro.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Shiro clapped at Akashi.

"I sometimes make clothes for ship girls too, and sometimes they sell better than equipment boxes," Akashi said with a smile, scratching her head.

"Selling these things must earn you a lot of merit points."

"Yeah, we could sell quite a lot, but it's all been spent."

"You've spent it all?" Xiaobai was taken aback.

“It was all used for construction.” Akashi said with a weary expression. “The construction pool is a bottomless demon.”

Looking at Akashi's weathered expression, Shiro couldn't help but feel a sense of resonance.