Azur Lane Under the Stars

Page 531

After feeding the two foxes, Ren Shuo strolled around the port area. The port area was still peaceful and harmonious. The children's loud reading voices drifted in the wind, and some ship girls in the performance area were also performing enthusiastically.

"Commander, how's life over there?"

Ren Shuo was enjoying the wrestling in Maryland and Washington when someone started chatting him up.

Well, how can you describe it as flirting with family? Anyway, Ren Shuo turned around and saw Xia Fei standing prettily to the side.

“Xiafei, come and sit down… Life over there is pretty good, at least it’s no different for me,” Ren Shuo said.

Then, she recounted the events of the past few days to Xiafei.

"Oh, is that so... does that mean the port area is going to have another baby?" Xiafei covered her mouth and asked.

"Probably, but it's still far from certain," Ren Shuo said modestly.

"Commander, you can definitely do it. Didn't the Commander trick us all into returning to the port?"

Xiafei smiled.

"How can this be called a lie... Ahem, speaking of which, how have you been adjusting to life in the port area lately?" Ren Shuo asked.

Xiafei nodded: "Yes, everyone is very friendly, it's just that Buqu seems to be being led astray by malice..."

The thought of that earnest little knight princess being led astray by evil and turning into a dried-up girl... made Ren Shuo speechless.

This is truly vicious! Is this virus so contagious? There's terror ahead and resilience behind, but something doesn't make sense. Why wasn't Triumph infected?

Perhaps it's because this is the last act of defiance by the Fantasy-class.

"Commander, Commander~ What are you thinking about?" Xiafei waved her hand in front of Ren Shuo's eyes.

Ren Shuo snapped out of his reverie: "Sorry, I was thinking about some things."

"The commander must be thinking about something important in the port area," Xiafei suddenly realized.

Ren Shuo felt a little guilty. "I'm sorry, Xiafei. I'm guilty. I was just thinking about some random, incoherent things..."

"By the way, Commander, it seems that Miss Veneto has told a lot of people that if they see you, they want you to go to their side."

Joffre thought for a moment: "It seems to be about Littorio."

"I know, really, what kind of trouble has that Littorio gotten himself into?"

Ren Shuo said helplessly.

"Then I won't bother you any longer, Commander. See you later." Xiafei stood up, waved, and left.

Ren Shuo sat there for a while longer, watching with satisfaction as Maryland was pinned to the ring by Washington with a cross grip and couldn't move. After North Carolina waved to indicate the end of the match, he left.

…………

"Commander, why isn't the commander here yet?"

In the dormitory of the Sardinian Empire, Veneto sat on the edge of the bed with his knees drawn up to his chest, muttering to himself.

"If you miss the Commander, why don't you just go find him directly? Honestly, you have no backbone whatsoever as a flagship."

Marco Polo closed the book with some impatience; the words on it were in large print: "How to Blitzkrieg Rule the World".

"But Southwest Wind and Northwest Wind have already gone to that world. If we go there too, the Sardinian Empire ship girls in the port will soon be gone."

Veneto stared blankly at the scene.

"Does the port area need you or what? Look at you, now that you're in the port area, is there any job that can't do without you or is it that they need you for defense? Now all you do in the port area is make silly sculptures and drink tea every day, right? Instead of wasting your time like this, why don't you find something meaningful to do?" Marco Polo's eyes flickered.

She's trying to trick Veneto into going to that world, so with the Duke of Abruzzi's secretary ship working there and Littorio not in the port area... wouldn't the Sardinian Empire be able to call the shots themselves?!

The empire is easy to fool! The others are nothing to fear.

Marco Polo felt a surge of excitement at this thought; this was the first step in his conquest of the world!

"Really?" Veneto seemed somewhat tempted, subconsciously stroking his vow ring.

"Of course it's true. I'm your subordinate, why would I lie to you?"

Marco Polo tried his best to put on a genuine smile.

He said that, but what he really thought was, "Once you're gone, I'll show you what it means to defy your superiors and usurp the throne."

“Then I…” Veneto felt like he had been fooled so easily.

“Veneto! And Marco Polo, you’re here too.”

Ren Shuo walked in, saw the two people talking, and greeted them with a smile.

"Commander, you're back!"

Veneto couldn't contain his joy and walked straight to Ren Shuo's side.

Marco Polo clicked his tongue. "Damn it! Why did you come back at this time? My grand plan was about to succeed, and your return has caused my downfall."

"You don't seem happy that I'm back," Ren Shuo joked.

Marco Polo curled his lip: "No, it's your imagination..."

Ren Shuo didn't investigate further, since it was obvious from the looks of it that he had failed to fool the honest man, Veneto.

And then I felt a bit annoyed here.

"I ran into Xiafei when I came back. She said, 'You were looking for me?'" Ren Shuo asked, sitting casually on the sofa.

"Oh, right, Commander, that kid Littorio is out again."

Veneto was somewhat troubled.

"So what if I'm going out? It's no big deal."

Littorio is a ship girl who can't stay idle, so it's not surprising that she went out.

“But it seems she got into a fight with someone once…” Veneto said.

Ren Shuo's face darkened: "Which port area?"

After thinking about it, I realized something was wrong, because there were no ports nearby. The closest one was Alice's port, and she knew that we had this problem child, Littorio.

"Could it be the Maritime Safety Administration?" Ren Shuo asked.

"No, it's supposedly from some kind of drama troupe."

Veneto said.

Ren Shuo was puzzled: "Drama troupe? How did these two completely unrelated groups run into each other?"

“Littorio took the Empire out to see a play that day, and then he said something about the play’s rehearsal not being very good, so he complained.” Veneto felt a little embarrassed.

Ren Shuo found it hilarious: "Littorio has really grown up... Didn't you teach her a lesson enough last time? Give her a good beating."

"So, she went again today?" Ren Shuo thought it was really great that Littorio was a ship girl.

If someone with this personality and behavior were a human, Ren Shuo probably wouldn't even need to collect her body.

You went and wrecked their place, and then kept doing it? They probably would have beaten you up a long time ago if they knew you weren't a ship girl and couldn't beat you.

"But that's where the problem lies, Commander..."

Veneto's expression was somewhat strange: "Now it seems like Littorio has become some kind of consultant for their drama troupe."

"It's said that when this theater troupe tours here, they always invite Littorio to be their consultant."

Marco Polo said sullenly.

"Littorio has this skill... Wait, a theater company, a tour... I think I vaguely remember that."

Ren Shuo closed his eyes and pondered deeply, then suddenly opened them: "I remember now."

"It seems there is a drama troupe that is touring around here. The sponsor is St. Louis's company, and the security is handled by the Maritime Bureau."

"I remember it clearly. Because that drama troupe was all ship girls, the people from the Maritime Bureau complained that ship girls didn't need escorts. But since they offered so much, Pennsylvania readily agreed."

"A drama troupe made up entirely of ship girls?" Veneto suddenly became interested.

“If that’s the case, they probably would have already taken action, and then Littorio would have reasoned with them,” Marco Polo said.

“I’m planning to have St. Louis look into it later. If we end up beating them up, we’ll be in the wrong and should apologize a little.” Veneto wasn’t unreasonable.

Moreover, it's the older sister who has to clean up the mess her younger sister makes.

“Commander, are you free tomorrow? Come with me to their place,” Veneto said.

“Okay.” Ren Shuo thought for a moment. He would stay in the port area for the next two days, spend some time with the girls there, and then go to that other world to take a look and raise the favorability of those research ship girls.

“Commander, I want to go see that world, but Duke Abruzzi won’t let me.”

Marco Polo saw that Ren Shuo was going to stay in the port area for a few days, so he volunteered to go and see that world.

As the saying goes, "the emperor is far away, the commander is not here," and neither are the flagships of the Sardinian Empire nor the secretary ship...

Once you get to that world, won't it be a world of boundless freedom and limitless possibilities? Your plan to conquer the world will soon be put into practice.

"Frederick the Great, Bismarck, Belfast, they're all over there. Are you sure you want to go?" Ren Shuo asked with a half-smile.

"Forget it, it's more comfortable at home."

Marco Polo chickened out. If he went there himself, he'd probably be watched closely by these guys before he could even cause any trouble.

"Alright, I'll come find you tomorrow morning," Ren Shuo said.

"Okay, Commander."

…………

"I was wondering why you didn't come to my side. Turns out you were conscripted."

Inside the office, Ren Shuo leisurely sipped tea, with Hermione attending to him, a stark contrast to George V, who was buried in a pile of documents.

He had been wondering why Belfast and Hood had come to his side, and whether they were no longer doing their work as the secretary ship in the port. It turned out they had brought King George V over.

No wonder George V, who was always worried about Howe, didn't come with Howe but instead sent the monarch.

"You have the nerve to say that? It's all your fault! You went on a trip to a parallel world and took Hood and Belfast with you. Belfast left first, and as a result, Hood hasn't done a single job these past few days! He gave it all to me!" King George V was somewhat exasperated.

“First of all, I didn’t go on a trip, I went to gather supplies and minerals. Secondly… who did I take with me? It was those two who came looking for me, okay?” Ren Shuo said.

"Furthermore, there's no reason for you to blame me. How can you blame me, the commander, for slacking off like this Hood?"

King George V grumbled and mumbled, expressing his silent protest.

"Alright, alright, stop being so fussy. Here, I bought this especially for you; it's a local specialty from that world."

Ren Shuo took out a bag and began to coax George V.

King George V's eyes lit up, but he still pretended to be reluctant: "Since you've apologized so sincerely..."

After saying that, he couldn't wait to take the snack and open it.

Inside are snacks that look like little twisted dough sticks.

King George V popped two cookies into his mouth, then, after savoring them, remarked, "They don't taste as good as the cookies Hau made..."

“Isn’t that obvious? One is sold outside, and the other is made at home. How can they be the same?” Ren Shuo said.

"Commander, you should eat too." King George V picked up a small twisted dough stick with his fingers and brought it to Ren Shuo's mouth.

Ren Shuo looked at him with suspicion: "What's wrong with you...?"

Here's a joke: King George V would share delicious food with his commander.

"Commander, what are you saying? Does that mean I can't share food with you?" King George V felt a little guilty for some reason.

Ren Shuo noticed her guilty conscience and then asked, "Tell me honestly, is it really that bad?"

"...Hmm, it tastes a bit like plastic."

So you've eaten plastic?

"..."

…………

"commander!"

After finishing dinner, Ren Shuo strolled alone in the garden. The night was already a bit chilly in this kind of weather. Although it was still very hot during the day, it was the seaside after all, so it was perfectly fine to wear short sleeves during the day and a jacket at night.

Ren Shuo looked at Bremerton and Baltimore, whose bellies were showing, and asked with concern, "Why aren't you dressed properly? What if you catch a cold?"

Well, although my exposed lower abdomen and belly button feel a little shaky.

"Hehehe, Commander, don't you like our outfits? Anyway, there are no outsiders in the port."