Chapter 567: Fleet Returns

Cough, what are you all staring at me for? How did a briefing turn into an interrogation, and the target became me?

It's already been a day since the oath ceremony, and Li Chenming and the others finally made it back to the harbor before the year's end.

Originally, because an abnormal situation had appeared in the harbor waters, Qin Ge planned to summon them back, but after discovering a Siren base, he delayed their return.

Only today did they manage to return smoothly.

Naturally, the first thing upon returning was to give Qin Ge, the Grand Fleet commander, a detailed report, but before the briefing they heard many shocking things, so the briefing turned entirely into an interrogation.

"Commander, really—performing the oath ceremony with a shipgirl and not waiting for us to return, just doing it secretly like that. You know that for a commander it's equivalent to a wedding ceremony." Wang Yueqin complained to Qin Ge.

Qin Ge coughed and said, "These are trivial matters; what we should really focus on now is whether our Grand Fleet's overall strength has improved."

"Commander, don't try to change the subject." Zhang Shaocheng said, "By the way, although Guanghui is fine, isn't the first shipgirl one usually swears an oath with normally the one they summoned themselves?"

"Indeed." Yun Zi also nodded in agreement.

Qin Ge rolled his eyes and said, "No. First, most commanders' first oath shipgirl is usually the one they summoned themselves, because most commanders haven't received the approval of free shipgirls, so their fleets have no free shipgirls able to join."

"Second, even if they obtained free shipgirls' approval and had free shipgirls join the fleet, such commanders are generally older, and their fleet's strength has reached a certain level."

"And commanders who want to meet these standards basically already have a marriage ship, so there's no need to further cultivate the trust or affection of free shipgirls to a certain degree before swearing the oath."

"Because only after a shipgirl enters the fleet will she interact with the commander as a fleet shipgirl, which is another very testing process, hence that saying."

"My fleet, however, has no such saying; although Guanghui joined a bit later, she entered my fleet in my first year at the Commander Academy, and it's already been over two years."

"By that reckoning she's practically an old timer, so what's wrong with my choosing her?"

After Qin Ge finished speaking, the several people present exchanged glances.

"Well, I can't refute that." Chen Bo Jun said.

"I suddenly feel persuaded by the commander." Guan Xue rolled her eyes and said.

"Alright, then let me report on our situation this sortie; I happen to have organized it." Seeing that no one else was speaking, Li Chenming said to Qin Ge.

"The vice commander is at it again." Wang Yueqin spread her hands and said.

"Heh, after all the vice commander is just doing his job, but I'm really curious about what's up with that Siren base that appeared in our waters earlier, and I see the commander's shipgirl is now stationed in our base's research area." Wu Hao said to Qin Ge.

Qin Ge smiled and said, "Truly, you're well‑informed—while everyone else was focused on waiting for my oath, you already knew there were people in the base's research area."

"So commander, is all this really true?" Zhang Shaocheng asked Qin Ge in surprise.

Qin Ge nodded and said, "That's right. During the time you were away, our base experienced a major battle. No, I can't say our base—it was my fleet that went through a major battle."

The waters around us suddenly saw a main force fleet that only appears in level‑four seas; at first I thought it was a Siren tide, so I sent Helena and the others to scout, hoping to call you back as well.

After all, if it were a Siren tide, the greatest danger wouldn't be our harbor's nearby waters but the level‑four sea where you were previously stationed. However, at this point we received confirmation that a Siren base had appeared in the waters near us.

Furthermore, that base housed a Siren mass‑produced warship we had never seen before; only during the battle did we learn that this type of Siren mass‑produced warship belongs to the Siren fleet of level‑six seas.

"Level‑six seas!"

Everyone present looked at Qin Ge in shock; they had just returned from level‑four seas, which they know very well, while level‑six seas are more than one tier above level‑four.

For those Siren mass‑produced warships, facing an opponent one tier higher is already extremely difficult for a commander, let alone two tiers higher.

"Yes, and it's also a mirror sea, possessing a Siren high‑level humanoid command unit constructor. That battle was rather troublesome, but fortunately we won, so we didn't notify you, letting you return according to the original schedule." Qin Ge replied.

"Ah, that's how it is." Several people suddenly understood.

"But we've never heard of such a constructor before." Wu Hao said to Qin Ge.

"Normal—these aren't things we can come into contact with; otherwise they'd be awakened shipgirls or the vanguard fleets of the front line." Li Chenming said with a smile.

"What a pity, though—if we had been there we could have joined that battle." Zhang Shaocheng said.

"Heh, there will be plenty of opportunities later, after all we're still young and have many more battles awaiting us."

"But before that, what's more important is raising our own fleet's strength—how did your level‑four sea special training turn out?" Qin Ge looked at Li Chenming and said.

"With a few of the commander's shipgirls as team leaders, our organized training went very smoothly; this time we each also had one or two fully practiced shipgirls appear."

"We also gained a relatively abundant amount of supplies and various component materials, and finally understood why the commander is usually rolling in wealth." Li Chenming said to Qin Ge.

Qin Ge chuckled and said, "As long as the fleet is strong enough, you can move unhindered through high‑level erosion seas and harvest large quantities of materials and supplies."

"So you think those front‑line commanders are rich for a reason—when they usually build shipgirls, each time it's dozens or even hundreds of launches."

"That's because they dare to fight, they dare to struggle, and they have strength. If you want to become like them, you must train harder and boost your own strength, so you can have more possibilities."

"Understood, commander." Everyone said in unison.

"Then when is our next special training?" Li Chenming asked.

"This time after coming back we definitely need to rest a while; after the year ends we'll go out to train, all the way until mid‑next year, by which time we'll have to leave Dragon‑Moon Island."