Azur Lane Under the Stars

Page 527

Tiancheng and Zhenhai exchanged a subtle glance.

“This is my companion, Binjiang, who is also a member of the program ship,” Brest introduced.

"Yo, nice to meet you." Binjiang waved and greeted her casually. "Your tea-making skills are really good, very authentic. Are there any ship girls from the Eastern Empire here?"

Only then did everyone present have time to carefully examine the woman in front of them, who appeared very poised and at ease.

Her long brown hair was slightly messy, simply tied into a ponytail with a single strand. Her delicate face had a hint of languor, but her amber eyes were full of energy.

It's quite contradictory, yet it's strangely harmonious in her.

She wore a black bodysuit over a white garment that resembled both a cheongsam and a training outfit, and a cape that looked like that of the Northern Union.

Her legs, encased in patterned, gilded over-the-knee stockings, appeared remarkably strong.

Overall, she is a girl who appears as free-spirited and unrestrained as a chivalrous knight-errant.

"Binjiang? The ship girl from Donghuang?" Ren Shuo asked.

"Hmm, right, judging from your appearance and name, Brother Ren Shuo, you're also from Donghuang?"

"Yes, I am... I almost forgot to introduce you, Belfast, you should have met her before."

Ren Shuo explained that Belfast also gave an impeccable curtsy.

"This is Amagi, and this is Zhenhai, a ship girl from the same Eastern Empire."

"Hey, Zhenhai? That's really rare. This is the first time I've ever seen Zhenhai. Although Donghuang's ship girls are rare, I've seen them once or twice before," Binjiang said in surprise.

She now understood why the dignified and elegant ship girl in front of her had made her feel a sense of closeness after she entered.

Seeing Zhenhai giving him a friendly smile, Binjiang also showed interest: "How about we grab a couple of drinks after this is over?"

Since we're both ship girls from the northeastern region of Donghuang, let's talk things out over drinks.

"Binjiang..."

Seeing his companion fall into a strangely high mood, Brest rubbed his temples with a headache.

If I had known there were ship girls from the Eastern Empire here, I would have brought the rest of the group.

Binjiang said cheerfully, "You're the boss who came out this time, so you're in charge. I won't say anything."

After saying that, he shut his mouth.

Brest apologized, "I'm sorry, Commander Ren Shuo, you must have found this amusing..."

"It's alright, it's alright. I like her straightforward personality." Ren Shuo also tried to smooth things over.

"Oh, so you mean you like me? Well, my first impression of you was pretty good too."

The Eastern Emperor is not ugly, has Eastern Emperor ship girls under his command, and seems to be quite powerful. In addition, Binjiang only goes to work in this area and has no sense of belonging, so it's no wonder that Binjiang said that directly.

“Binjiang!” Brest glared at Binjiang.

Binjiang didn't care at all: "What's the big deal? I was just saying."

"Hmph... Fine, I can't control you, Commander Ren Shuo. I'll get straight to the point: you guys don't belong to this world, do you?"

Brest stared intently at Ren Shuo, but his tone was very firm. He had originally planned to ask slowly and indirectly, but Binjiang kept undermining him, so he had no patience for it.

"How do you know?" Ren Shuo asked with a hint of amusement.

"Although communication between different regions of this world is not very easy, information can still be exchanged. A port as powerful as yours should not remain unknown in this world forever. That's one point."

"Secondly, the spatial barriers of this world are extremely fragile. Although most people and ship girls cannot feel them, we, the research ship girls who are at full level, can feel them. This world is already riddled with holes."

"So, before you arrived, creatures from other worlds had visited, including those from the human world, those piloting mechs and monsters, and even virtual characters. So, we can accept it."

"In addition, some of the ship girls under your command have been gathering information about this world during this period, as if they are unaware of the situation in this world, so I dare to make a guess."

Brest slowly began to explain his analysis and speculations.

"You certainly have keen insight. So, Miss Brest, what are your plans?"

Amagi took over the conversation and said.

"Don't worry about that. We just want to know if you will have any unpredictable impact on the world. As long as you're not thinking about destroying the world, we would very much welcome your arrival," Brest said.

After gathering intelligence over the past few days, Brest realized that the other party didn't care at all about his intelligence gathering, because the more he gathered, the more chills he felt down his spine...

What this commander revealed is enough to completely rebuild this world, isn't it?

If someone were to consider going against the world, the world would pack its bags and run away overnight.

That's why I'm being so open and honest this time.

When your "opponent" is so much stronger than you that you can easily crush them, then just start to give up, since you can't beat them anyway.

The hard power is there. This isn't e-sports, where you can overthrow the superior. This is war. Unless you're willing to throw your lives into the water, it's like asking South Korea to actively consider challenging the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

The declaration of war was made in the morning, and nucleic acid tests can be done by noon. Maybe in the afternoon, we can even find some chefs to start the banquet.

"Oh, really? Your port area is really strong. Shall we have a drill?" Binjiang's eyes lit up.

Facing this guy who was clearly a martial arts fanatic, Ren Shuo smiled awkwardly and said, "Next time, next time for sure."

That's a real shame.

Binjiang shrugged; she wasn't the type to force things.

"By the way, you just said that you can sense that this world is riddled with holes?"

Amagi grasped something.

"Yes, this is a unique skill of us research ship girls. We don't know the principle behind it or where it comes from."

“But in order not to make this already chaotic world even more chaotic, we didn’t circulate it,” Brest said.

Binjiang, however, said nonchalantly, "Anyway, we're all going to die. We'll die sooner or later, so why worry about it?"

Zhenhai carefully chose his words: "Miss Binjiang really is...unconventional."

"Haha, we should live in the moment. Isn't it tiring to worry about this and that all the time?" Binjiang said.

"So, we've been searching for the reason, and every time someone from another world comes here, we ask if there's any way..."

Brest looked worried; his delicate features combined with his heartbreaking expression made him seem pitiful.

"Regarding that... we can ask around for you, because we have researchers and research ship girls here... but we may not be able to get an accurate answer."

Amagi said.

I've already mined so many strategic resources from your area, so I'm just helping you gather some information... isn't that a way of giving back?

"Thank you in advance."

Brest's face lit up with joy; one of the purposes of his trip had been half accomplished.

Chapter 575: How did it get so metaphysical?!

In the following time, Brest and Binjiang had a very friendly exchange and consultation with Ren Shuo and others, and the final result was that everyone was happy.

"Then I await your good news, Commander Ren Shuo." Brest stood up to take his leave.

Ren Shuo also stood up: "Let me see you off."

Brest and Binjiang expressed their gratitude.

After seeing the guests off, Ren Shuo returned to the sofa and slumped down, saying, "Really, I don't want to deal with this kind of business."

"Because it's tiring, I can relate," Zhenhai said with a smile.

"But what do you think of these two girls?" Ren Shuo asked.

Amagi thought to himself, "Brest isn't easy to fool... he clearly seems naive."

"On the contrary, I'm confident I can lure Binjiang to our port area..." Zhenhai said with utmost confidence.

Ren Shuo stared at the two men in astonishment, then hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "Am I talking about... luring people to our port? I'm talking about the information exchange."

"What the commander is talking about? I thought..." Amagi and Zhenhai were a little embarrassed.

"However, they didn't lie, but they still held back some things from us, though I could tell they were insignificant."

Tiancheng said, and Zhenhai nodded in agreement: "Indeed, that's understandable. After all, we can't expect people to be completely open with us as soon as we meet. Even if they've said so much, it's probably because of the information they've gathered these past few days that they think we're not bad people."

Ren Shuo said, "I'll leave the handover to you. Although I need to be there, you can handle the negotiations. My expertise isn't relevant to this."

"Commander, what's your specialty?" Zhenhai joked. "Is it playing with kids, or slacking off with the big ship girls?"

Ren Shuo pondered for a moment, then said seriously, "My expertise is bone reading and psychological counseling... and I also have a part-time PhD in piston kinematics."

Amagi chuckled, speechless: "My lord, you really are..."

"Ahem, let's get back to the main topic," Zhenhai asked, "Regarding these two research ship girls... Commander, are you going to delegate authority to them?"

"Tell me what you want to do first?" Ren Shuo became wary.

The precedent of delegating authority to Marco Polo is still fresh in our minds, so let's talk about that first.

Zhenhai laughed: "I think there are a few too few Donghuang ship girls in our port area. What do you think?"

Amagi also remarked, "Speaking of which, there are quite a few ship girls in the Free Iris faction..."

Although Belfast did not speak, a hint of interest could be seen in her eyes.

"...I haven't even thought about salvaging the ship yet, why are you guys already thinking about salvaging it?"

Ren Shuo was both amused and exasperated.

"Didn't the Observer say that this world will be destroyed sooner or later, and these ship girls will be built in other worlds sooner or later? So why don't we just skip the intermediate steps and go straight home?"

Amagi argued vehemently.

"Do as you please, but don't go too far," Ren Shuo said.

Zhenhai gave Ren Shuo a reassuring look: "Don't worry, we know what we're doing."

"I hope so..." Ren Shuo said.

"By the way, should we ask the observers if we can tell them some news about this world?"

Ren Shuo asked.

Ren Shuo actually had answers to the conversation and questions between Tiancheng and Brest, but he just wanted to maximize the benefits he could gain from those answers.

Amagi said, "I did ask the observers, and they told us that it doesn't matter if we think the local ship girls are suitable."

"That's good..." Ren Shuo was relieved.

"Actually, I'm quite curious as to why they can sense the shattering of this world," Zhenhai said curiously. "Why can't I sense it?"

Amagi nodded: "Me too, but I heard from Haku that she can probably sense this world..."

"What does that feel like?" Ren Shuo asked quickly.

Tiancheng explained, "The child said it was a rather mystical feeling, like facing an elderly person who is very old and you feel like you can't breathe properly."

“I see… Let’s wait until this afternoon. The Builders are coming to our place this afternoon,” Ren Shuo said.

The discussion came to a temporary end, and Ren Shuo felt his mouth was a little dry, so he subconsciously pursed his lips.

At this moment, Belfast thoughtfully handed over a glass of water: "Master, please have some."

"Glug, glug..."

Ren Shuo finished the water in a few gulps and then said, "Thank you."

“This is what Belfast should do.”

Belfast smiled and placed two more glasses of water in front of Tiancheng and Zhenhai.

"Where are Hao and the others? Haven't they come back yet?"

Ren Shuo asked.

“Miss Hao should be out buying ingredients for lunch,” Belfast said.

"What would you like to eat for lunch, my lord?" Tiancheng asked.

"Just make something simple, I'm not really hungry," Ren Shuo replied.