158: Chapter 158 Big Surprise

"Ugh..."

Z23 felt a bit of a headache.

As expected, she had been kept back last night; Gang Yishawa had spent the entire evening trying to get the Commander to drink.

By the end, the Commander couldn't drink anymore, so she had to step in and help him block the drinks.

But as a result, she had ended up drinking quite a bit herself...

She didn't remember what happened after that.

Now she felt groggy, as if something was binding her, but it was warm and very comfortable...

Bound?

Z23 snapped her eyes open and struggled for a moment, only to realize she was being held by someone.

She was in bed right now, so there was no danger...

Her Commander was holding her tightly, leaving her with no chance to move at all.

"Ugh-mm..." Z23's face instantly turned beet red. What on earth happened last night?!

"Ugh..." Li Ming let go of her and stretched. "Good morning, Z23..."

"Uh... morning?" Z23's cheeks were flushed. "Commander, why..."

"Ah, is it not good?" Li Ming smiled. "Z23's sleeping face is very cute."

"Cute?! I-I-I..."

Wait!

Last night, the Commander was supposed to have passed out from drinking!

"Commander! Weren't you drunk?"

"Actually, I was drinking fruit juice... Gaaahhhh!"

Z23 gave Li Ming's waist a 180-degree pinch. Now the whole house knew the two of them were awake.

——————

"Alright, alright, don't be mad anymore—"

"I'm not mad..."

"Hehe, hug!"

"W-wah? Put me down already!"

Z23 was quite easy to coax; in fact, as long as you took a little initiative, she could forgive you.

This was your dearest honor student.

Of course, Li Ming hadn't forgotten today's plan.

Give our busiest Miss Z23 a wonderful day!

Gang Yishawa watched them finish breakfast with a beaming smile and then saw them out the door.

Today's destination was an amusement park. Although a bit cliché, it was undeniably effective.

However, when Z23 followed Li Ming to the entrance of the amusement park, she thought he just simply wanted to come out and play, and was still feeling touched that her Commander had finally let loose—

"Z23, is there anything you want to play?"

"Eh?... What do you want to play, Commander?"

"You're the protagonist today, so you decide!"

"Eh?"

—It was then she realized she had been set up by the Commander. She had thought the Commander wouldn't remember these days.

Li Ming indeed couldn't remember everything, but...

Had Z23 had any rest in the past six months? Not at all.

Having an eternally quiet, capable helpmate was great, and as a Commander, having new Ship Girls was also great.

But one must not forget who has been silently helping solve problems all along.

Her heart was definitely more delicate than one could imagine.

By handing the choice over to her, Li Ming saw her look lost and flustered for the first time.

Like him, she wasn't the kind of child with a very strong sense of self-direction, but her honor student aura masked this.

Anshan, hidden in a corner, gave Li Ming a hand signal—this amusement park was a property of the Ship Girl Bureau, so the staff were all Ship Girls and were quite open-minded.

She had already made arrangements in advance; the staff in the park would all be helping them.

"Then... then let's go over there!"

Li Ming looked where she was pointing. "Target practice? Sure."

Under the proprietress's smile, Li Ming successfully... didn't hit a single shot.

After all, he wore glasses, and with normal sights, he couldn't shoot like someone with normal vision anyway, let alone the fact that he was deliberately holding back.

Seeing Li Ming's struggling appearance, Z23 picked up the paintball gun and precisely hit all the targets.

"Wow! Awesome!"

Li Ming praised Z23 in the most normal tone possible. But without a doubt, Z23 hadn't picked up on the anomaly yet and successfully got the prize she wanted.

Well, at least it was a good start.

After getting Z23's spirits up, the rest was much easier.

The roller coaster, the single-log bridge, the mechanical swing.

Although these weren't very thrilling for a Ship Girl, Li Ming's presence by her side undoubtedly acted as an emotional amplifier for Z23.

No other reason than, although Li Ming had become stronger, the fear of certain things didn't just disappear.

For example, on the mechanical swing, Li Ming's face was pale.

Clearly, on a ship in a storm, Li Ming could still rush out to tie the mooring lines, but on a mechanical swing with a much smaller range of motion, perhaps due to muscle memory, Li Ming's eyes were tightly shut and his teeth clenched, feeling no pleasure at all.

"Don't go shaking our Commander to death," the famous onlooker Anshan commented on this.

Of course, aside from that, Li Ming's performance was quite normal.

After all, with Logic's guidance, he knew what to do and when. Although the easily satisfied Z23 noticed a few clues, she didn't expose everyone's intentions, instead immersing herself in her private world with the Commander.

"Eh, is this a claw machine?"

Z23 looked at the machine, where a girl with golden twin-tails was working hard to catch a doll.

Anshan, in the corner, frowned; this Ship Girl was not simple.

Just as she was planning to move and provide some intimidation, Kano suddenly pressed down on her shoulder from behind.

She turned around, only to see Kano's smile, which looked worse than crying.

"That... that's my boss..."

"Isn't your boss Verres..." Anshan was stunned for a moment, then quickly stood firm. "The Director of the General Bureau?"

Kano nodded, her smile becoming increasingly mournful.

"Then it's fine." Anshan's serious expression softened. Generally, when someone of this status appeared in person, the probability of an accident was actually low. Since Kano had identified her, it was certain that Kano had already leaked the information to her.

Then Anshan swept Kano off her feet.

"The death penalty is spared, but the living punishment is inescapable."

Anshan raised her fist.

"Gua!..."

Thud.

The surrounding noise covered the commotion here.

Kano lay in the sunken ground with a large bump on her head, her face a mask of 'TAT' as she silently protested Anshan's violent behavior.

"If anything goes wrong, you can explain it to everyone yourself." After saying that, Anshan continued to observe the outside.

"Wow! Commander Li Ming, it really is you! I'm Aussie from the General Bureau~ I've heard of you!"

The twin-tailed girl lunged forward, grabbing Li Ming's right hand and holding it in front of her, her eyes sparkling with stars.

"Your inventions are so amazing! I heard you had a new invention, so I rushed over to take over your handover task!"

"Uh... not at all, I just..."

"So, so, can I have an autograph? Please~"

"Ah?..."

Z23's gaze was already getting a bit strange.

Li Ming broke into a cold sweat. What was with this girl?