Chapter 595: What the Heck Is Going On?

The wind howled, dark clouds covered the sky, thunder rumbled, and large raindrops fell from the air onto the turbulent sea surface.

Yet under these terrible conditions, the sea surface was filled with booming gunfire; in the vast sky, besides the deafening thunder, there was also the sound of aircraft engines slicing through.

The battle between the fleet's shipgirls and the Purifiers continued; at this moment, the Purifiers had already made contact with the vanguard fleet.

Unlike the previous long-range bombardment, a more intense close-quarters combat began to unfold.

Crossing torpedoes, continuously firing secondary guns, and support attacks from the rear battleships made the sea area where the vanguard shipgirls were located become the center of the storm.

Yet even under the encircling attack of so many shipgirls, the Purifiers showed no panic at all; their attack rhythm proceeded very smoothly, and while engaging the vanguard shipgirls, they accurately dodged the shells fired one after another from the rear battleships.

Nevertheless, many shells still hit her, but they were blocked by the shield surrounding her.

In this situation, the vanguard shipgirls' condition was actually not good either. Besides a few awakened shipgirls, only the heavy cruisers could barely hold their own against the Purifiers; the light cruisers and destroyers at this moment were quite ineffective in attacking the Purifiers.

Moreover, under the Purifiers' relentless attacks, shipgirls were occasionally hit by lasers, leaving a scorched mark on their ship equipment.

Hearing the constant reports from the shipgirls over the communicator about their status after being hit, Qin Ge felt very anxious; despite being extremely anxious, he could do nothing at the moment.

In close-quarters bayonet combat, there was no tactic to speak of; it relied entirely on usual training and accumulated experience.

Furthermore, it was relatively fortunate that, even though the situation had become stalemated, only moderately damaged shipgirls had appeared in the Qin Ge Fleet; heavily damaged and silent ones had not yet appeared, which let Qin Ge breathe a sigh of relief.

Shifting his gaze to Ou Gen Qin Wang, at this moment she fired a shot at the Purifiers before her; seeing the armor-piercing shell accurately hit the Purifiers only to be blocked by their shield, she couldn't help but utter a 'tsk'.

"Purifiers, what are you doing here this time!" Ou Gen Qin Wang, seeing that for the moment neither side could gain the upper hand, said to the Purifiers, trying to divert their attention.

"Hehe, of course I came to play with you!" The Purifiers, indeed attracted by Ou Gen Qin Wang's question, replied to her. However, their subordinates showed no relaxation, flexibly dodging shells and occasionally firing a laser that hit a nearby shipgirl.

Ou Gen Qin Wang furrowed her brows, "You call this kind of battle playing?"

"Yeah, staying at the outpost is really boring; the Observer has decreed that I temporarily can't go cause trouble for other factions, so the only ones I can really go all-out against right now are your fleet, which is why I came to find you!" The Purifiers said matter-of-factly.

"Oh? Then you didn't bring a mission this time, like destroying our base or killing our commander?" Ou Gen Qin Wang said, rolling her eyes.

Dodging a battleship shell at will, looking at Ou Gen Qin Wang lunging at herself, the Purifiers grinned and said, "Why would I destroy your base? Why would I kill your commander? You are treasures in the eyes of the Observer and Testers; if I took you out, wouldn't they have me killed?"

"Besides, I currently have no mission bearing on me; I can go wherever I want and do whatever I please."

Ou Gen Qin Wang, suddenly realizing, then fired a shell at the Purifiers before her, creating distance between them.

And immediately she said over the communicator, "Commander, I've discovered something interesting; don't doubt it, immediately issue the order to cease fire."

Qin Ge, who was observing the distant scene from the command ship, suddenly heard Ou Gen Qin Wang's communication like that; he involuntarily walked up to the communicator, picked it up, and said to Ou Gen Qin Wang, "Ou Gen, do you know what you're saying right now?"

Ou Gen Qin Wang, engaged in melee with the Purifiers on the sea surface, replied, "I understand, Commander; I will take responsibility for my words."

Upon hearing Ou Gen Qin Wang's reply, Qin Ge instantly switched the channel to the public frequency, "Everyone, pay attention; immediately cease all attacks, focus on defense, and await orders in place."

Qin Ge's voice instantly spread to the ears of all shipgirls in this sea area; upon receiving the message, they all froze for a moment, some unable to believe that this was Qin Ge's order.

But everyone understood that their communicators were functioning normally and consistently, so this order must absolutely have come from their own commander; yet why would he issue such an order at this moment?

Perhaps besides Ou Gen Qin Wang, who was battling the Purifiers, understanding it, no one else knew.

However, on the battlefield, the commander's order is the supreme order; all shipgirls, after being stunned for a moment, quickly ceased fire. Yet they did not lower their defenses, still keeping their gun muzzles, torpedo tubes, and carrier aircraft aimed at the Purifiers.

And this abrupt cessation of attack left the Purifiers, who were enjoying the fight, stunned for a moment; she also stopped fighting and loudly said to those around, "Why aren't you attacking? I am a Siren; hurry up and fight me—if you defeat me, you can annihilate me!"

Seeing the Purifiers' reaction, a few shipgirls near her suddenly understood Qin Ge's order. However, their defensive stance was not released, to guard against a sudden Purifier attack.

At this moment, Ou Gen Qin Wang stepped forward and said to the Purifiers, also over the communicator, "So since you have no mission, coming over is just to pick a fight with us; we don't have that much leisure time to spar with you."

"Eh, you guys aren't always forming fleets to mass-produce and attack those mass-produced types in the sea area? Why not fight me now? Weren't you just fighting well a moment ago?" The Purifiers hurriedly said.

"It's meaningless; winning gives no benefit, and losing won't get you killed by us—this kind of battle is just like a drill, and we no longer do such things." Ou Gen Qin Wang said, biting her finger.

Moreover, after saying that, she directly turned around and gave a glance to the nearby shipgirls, "Fall in, fall in; what's the point of continuing this boring battle?"

Belfast and the others instantly understood Ou Gen Qin Wang's meaning; they lowered their guard and began to turn, following Ou Gen Qin Wang as they retreated rearward.

"Eh? Don't do that—come fight, come battle; you're shipgirls, I'm a Siren, hurry up and annihilate me!" The Purifiers hurriedly gave chase, yet had no intention to attack.

And Qin Ge, who had been listening to all this, was speechless; thus this time they had regarded it as a major crisis enemy incursion. Actually, it was merely that the Purifiers felt bored and came to pick a fight with them?

"What the heck is going on?" Qin Ge looked at the Purifiers in the distance chasing after his shipgirls relentlessly, and involuntarily shook his head...