Chapter 992: Dozing

I walked to Guanghui's door, intending to knock, but unexpectedly found the door not closed.

After a moment's hesitation, Qin Ge pushed the door open and entered. He found Guanghui leaning in the chair, eyes slightly closed, hands crossed on the lower abdomen, seeming to sleep soundly.

On the table beside her was a half‑finished cup of coffee. This struck Qin Ge as odd, since Guanghui usually preferred tea; coffee was too bitter for her, and she wasn't used to it—why was she drinking coffee today?

However, seeing her like that, Qin Ge felt reluctant to disturb her. But sleeping sitting in a chair was still uncomfortable, so he planned to move Guanghui a bit.

At the very least, holding her on the bed would be more comfortable to sleep.

But when he placed his hand on Guanghui's shoulder, she slowly woke up. She immediately noticed Qin Ge bending over, and felt a bit embarrassed in her surprise.

"Huh? Commander, are you done with work… Sorry, I fell asleep sitting here and didn't notice you coming."

Seeing Guanghui a little flustered, Qin Ge shook his head. "It's fine. If you're tired, just rest—I'll hold you onto the bed so you can rest better."

Saying that, Qin Ge prepared to embrace her and lift her up.

Guanghui hurriedly stopped him, saying, "After all that waiting for you to come, going back to sleep now would be pointless."

"It's fine. Actually I wasn't sleepy at first, because most of the Royal forces have gone out to fight, and those left in the fortress basically have things to do. The people who returned with me are leaving tomorrow, so I've been alone in my room."

"Perhaps it was just boredom, so I gradually got sleepy. But to wait for the commander, I still prepared a cup of coffee to drink and perk up."

"I never expected that after just a few sips I would fall asleep involuntarily." Guanghui explained hastily.

Qin Ge asked amusedly, "You really don't need to rest?"

"Really, I'm not the slightest bit tired right now." Guanghui said quickly.

"Right, commander, please sit here for now. I'll go make you a cup of black tea—you must be tired after a day's work; a cup of tea will relieve fatigue. And have you eaten?" Guanghui said, standing up and preparing to make tea herself.

Although as a Royal aircraft carrier lady she'd normally rarely do such things, perhaps because of her long career as a free shipgirl, Guanghui lacks the delicacy typical of Royal shipgirls.

"Not yet—I came over as soon as my work finished. No problem; I'll call the cafeteria later and have them send food over." Qin Ge said.

Actually this isn't Qin Ge being special; his usual workload is large, and when he's in the command hall he's so focused he rarely feels hungry.

Therefore, Qin Ge only eats dinner during his daily rest, but by then the cafeteria is already closed, so to let him eat, having a private kitchen seems necessary.

"By the way, Guanghui, have you eaten? If not, I'll have them make more."

"I've already eaten, but if I'm keeping the commander company I could still have a little more. I don't need staple food, though—if the cafeteria has snacks at this time, bringing some would be perfect for tea."

"All right." Qin Ge smiled and agreed. Being together felt very relaxed, with no other reservations. Thus Guanghui's usual elegance in front of others seemed to retreat a little, revealing a more down‑to‑earth feeling.

Taking out his communicator, Qin Ge quickly contacted the shipgirl in charge of the cafeteria, stated his request briefly, and then left it at that.

The cafeteria now basically runs on a model where shipgirls and the little monsters cooperate; since most of Qin Ge Fleet's ships are main force, the cafeteria is currently managed by the Donghuang and Sakura Empire factions.

They are also excellent cooks drawn from each faction's shipgirls, handling the fortress's catering. So from any angle, the fact that this battle has reached its current state is the result of joint cooperation across all sides.

Lowering his communicator, Qin Ge looked at Guanghui brewing tea not far away and said, "When I just arrived I saw Ajax; she was going to ask Yujin about the Enforcer Executor. So you haven't encountered any related Executors lately, have you?"

Guanghui nodded. "Well, in theory Siren bases or important sea‑area nodes should have an Executor present, but oddly, after entering the B‑sea region, the Executors we've met are all strong, yet they're all from other Arbiters, and we've hardly seen an Enforcer Executor."

"Therefore Ajax suspects that the fortress in this sea area might not be the predicted Enforcer, or perhaps a completely new Arbiter has descended into this world."

Qin Ge realized, "Oh, that's how it is—now I understand."

"Shouldn't the commander have known this already? Don't the daily combat reports mention such information?" Guanghui wondered.

Qin Ge shook his head. "The combat report summaries are basically very brief; with so many battles happening daily in this sea area, they usually only list losses and gains."

"Hong Kong's faction usually claims to have defeated a small, medium, or even large Siren fleet at sea. Among them are a few Siren‑elite Executor units and a few Arbiter Executor units."

"But exactly what kind of Executor unit or Arbiter unit they are isn't specified in detail—after all, compiling such data would be a huge workload."

"So while the front lines know many details, the rear command only grasps the overall picture. That's why I now rarely issue direct orders to the front; instead I leave it to each squad's flagship to make its own decisions."

"Of course, the overall policy must still follow our pre‑planned deployment, otherwise the whole situation would fall into chaos."

"Ah, I see." Guanghui, realizing, brought the freshly brewed black tea over to the table, placed a cup beside Qin Ge's hand, and smiled, saying, "Well then, commander, try my hand‑brewed black tea—let's chat about other things during our break."

"Hehe, then let's talk about other things. I've been thinking about battlefield matters all this time, and my mind's gotten tense." Qin Ge laughed.

"Hehe, don't worry—Guanghui will help you relax."