Chapter 79: Exercise Begins

After registering their names at Anshan, Qin Ge took his shipgirls, Fushun and Taiyuan, to the planned area, and he carried a communication device on him.

This communication device can contact shipgirls over ten kilometers away, and it is one of the standard items for a commanding officer's command shipgirls.

"Then Qin Ge, commanding officer, I'll go first; after you discuss with your shipgirls, let them come out, and initially I'll handle you all alone." Fushun said to Qin Ge, then with a leap she jumped into the sea.

During the leap, her ship equipment appeared, landing lightly on the sea surface, then she accelerated and slid outward.

Watching Fushun swiftly glide far away, Qin Ge turned his head and said to his shipgirls, "This is your first exercise, so don't be overly tense; Fushun is a veteran of many battles, so losing to her isn't embarrassing."

But most importantly, even if you lose, lose gracefully. After you go out to sea, I won't give any commands this time; you will rely entirely on your training and judgment—give it a try.

"Yes, Commanding Officer! (Master!)"

The three nodded at Qin Ge, then all jumped into the water and glided toward the opposite side of Fushun.

Qin Ge stood on the shore with Taiyuan, looking at the water; Taiyuan beside him asked Qin Ge, "Qin Ge, Commanding Officer, why don't you give orders to your own shipgirls? If you did, they would surely cooperate better."

Qin Ge shook his head, "I just want to see what genuine combat between shipgirls is like. Since I've rarely come to the exercise field and never observed how exercises work, I want to let them act freely; once I understand, I'll devise my own tactics."

"I see, that's how it is." Taiyuan nodded in understanding.

"But Taiyuan, will the exercise rounds that Anshan gave them cause harm if they hit?" Qin Ge asked Taiyuan.

When registering the site earlier, Anshan gave each of the five people one exercise round, which doesn't take up a ship equipment slot. However, because Fushun had pulled him tightly, he didn't ask about the specific function of those exercise rounds at the time.

Exercise rounds merely replace live ammunition in ship equipment; the fired bullets cause no harm, but when someone is hit, their clothing shows various colors. Since each person's color is different, this is used to determine who hit whom. Taiyuan explained to Qin Ge.

Oh, so even in a one-on-one, you can directly tell who was hit first. And in a joint exercise, you can also clarify whose kill it is, right? Qin Ge nodded, saying to Taiyuan.

"Exactly." Taiyuan nodded.

After clarifying the specific function of the exercise rounds, Qin Ge glanced toward the sea ahead; because the people were relatively far away, he specially took a telescope from Anshan.

In the distance, four people were already in position. Since Fushun is just one person, she had no particular formation requirements.

However, what surprised Qin Ge was the positioning of Nengdai, Belfast, and Centaur. They were not arranged as Qin Ge imagined in a triangular formation, but rather in a staggered single-file line.

Nengdai stood at the front of the line because her proficiency was higher than Belfast's; Belfast stood in the middle; and as an aircraft carrier, Centaur took the rear.

At the start of combat, Fushun immediately led the charge against the three-person formation, rushing straight in. Having fought countless times, she was extremely familiar with how to break such a single-file line.

When Fushun began her charge, Centaur at the rear swiftly launched its carrier aircraft. However, facing the fierce Fushun, Centaur seemed a bit nervous and released all of its carrier aircraft at once.

Two fighters and two torpedo bombers shot forward at high speed toward Fushun's direction.

Under the cover of the carrier aircraft, Nengdai and Belfast also charged toward the oncoming Fushun.

Qin Ge then rubbed his forehead, shook his head, and continued looking at the sea surface.

Because the exercise distance was relatively short, Nengdai opened fire before the carrier aircraft even reached Fushun's altitude.

Black exercise rounds shot forward at high speed toward Anshan, and since they were armor-piercing shells with relatively heavy weight, their flight speed was very fast.

However, Fushun seemed not to notice the shells Nengdai fired, continuing straight ahead until the shell was about to hit her, at which point she shifted her body with an extremely fancy step to dodge the incoming shell.

The black shell struck the sea surface behind Fushun, kicking up layers of spray but causing her no harm at all.

This obviously exceeded Nengdai's expectations; she hadn't thought Fushun would dodge her shells in such a way.

However, by the time she reacted, it was already a bit late; once Fushun entered her effective range, she directly fired shells at the foremost Nengdai in the formation.

Two shells flashing with red light, like deadly fireworks, flew straight toward Nengdai's position. Nengdai, at that moment, fixed her gaze on those two red‑glowing shells, preparing to dodge them with her usual instinct.

Pfft—

With the sound of two shells hitting the water, Nengdai barely managed to avoid the two shells Fushun had fired. Though she breathed a sigh of relief after dodging them, she did not let down her guard, instead locking eyes with Fushun.

At that moment, Centaur's fighters had already flown above Fushun's head, and the torpedo bombers behind them had descended to the sea surface to launch a salvo of parallel torpedoes.

But just then, Fushun's anti‑aircraft guns opened fire rapidly, shooting down both of Centaur's fighters, while facing the swiftly approaching parallel torpedoes.

Fushun directly found the gap between the parallel torpedoes and sped through it, so Centaur's attack came to nothing against her.

However, when Fushun dodged Nengdai's second barrage, as she turned, four torpedoes dropped from the point of her turn straight into the water, carrying four dark waves and racing swiftly toward Nengdai, though Nengdai noticed nothing at all.

Thus, having done all that, Fushun turned and continued charging toward Nengdai. The ship equipment on both sides of her body fired again simultaneously, forcing Nengdai to dodge toward the position Fushun had preset.

At that very moment, the four surging torpedoes had already reached Nengdai's feet.

"Oh no…"