16: Chapter 16 This is our new home

The sound of a whistle.

The Command Ship docked at the shore, and Fujian led the four Destroyers down the gangway.

"This is our current base," Fujian added. "It's a bit crude, so please bear with it for now."

They naturally didn't mind; after all, when a certain sleepy rabbit first arrived at the port, it was a ghost town, nothing like the bustling activity on the docks now.

As for what Li Ming was doing?

...He was wobbling off the ship. Having stayed on board for so long, he really wasn't used to the steady ground yet.

Leaning against a bollard on the dock for a good while, Li Ming finally caught his breath.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he noticed everyone watching him, so he forced a smile and waved.

Seeing their unanimous expressions of concern, Li Ming immediately straightened his back and beckoned everyone toward the core combat ship.

As the intelligence hub, the core combat ship's massive hull contained plenty of empty space and uninhabited rooms; the ship had always felt too lonely with only Li Ming and Fujian on board.

Six people were still quite few, but at least the Destroyers could add some vitality to the ship.

After an exchange of glances with Fujian, he understood her meaning (actually, Li Ming didn't understand at all, but Fujian understood him). Fujian turned to tell the four Destroyers to go assign rooms, seeing if they wanted to share or have their own. Meanwhile, Li Ming went to the Bridge to charge his tablet and adjust the production line to temporarily start manufacturing new household bedding and some electronic devices.

These gadgets didn't cost much, but they required temporarily occupying the production line and pausing current work for tens of minutes to a few hours for cooling and adjustment.

Maybe I should produce more to save having to do this again next time I'm out of stock? Li Ming thought.

With that thought, Li Ming changed the production line from single items to a whole batch.

Slumping in the command seat, Li Ming once again began to ponder the issue of combat effectiveness.

His own lack of theoretical and practical experience was an insurmountable hurdle; God only knew how much time or even how heavy a price it would take to overcome it.

Judging by Fujian's behavior, he clearly lacked time. And even if they, as Ship Girls, were willing, Li Ming didn't want them to be the price for his growth.

This left Li Ming with few options.

One was to expand armament production as quickly as possible and then use quantity to build up combat power.

Another was to accelerate technological progress, using more advanced equipment to enhance combat effectiveness.

Or the most direct way: hand over his command. But Fujian had flatly blocked that path, sternly rejecting it. She believed a Commander should do a Commander's job, and that delegating tasks to others was White Party behavior, and surely no one would like a figurehead.

Everything else was fine; the only thing that stung Li Ming was the phrase "no one would like a figurehead."

A figurehead? Li Ming gave a bitter laugh. Up until a few months ago, I was just an ordinary underage citizen.

He wasn't mentally prepared, disaster was imminent, and some things simply had to be done...

Right or wrong, Li Ming couldn't tell. He could only follow Fujian's instructions, trying his best to satisfy her and make himself appear more mature.

Click.

"Hmm?" Snapping out of his tangled thoughts, Li Ming turned toward the Bridge door.

He saw it was the pink-haired girl.

"Javelin? Is something wrong?"

Li Ming stood up and tentatively invited her in.

"Commander!" Javelin jogged in and grabbed Li Ming's left arm. "Why is the Commander here all by himself?"

"Well, I'm handling a few things," Li Ming replied. "And you? Why did you come here?"

"To find the Commander, of course!" Javelin puffed out her cheeks. "Honestly, Commander, you left us behind again and snuck off to who-knows-where."

"Uh... sorry..."

"I don't accept that! You must promise not to leave us behind ever again, Commander!"

"...Alright, I promise." Though he was still quite naive, Li Ming found himself unable to refuse their demands... or were they requests?

Suddenly feeling his sincerity was a bit lacking, Li Ming added, "Never again, I promise."

Perhaps it was a lie; Li Ming himself wasn't sure if he could actually keep it.

I must, Li Ming told himself, even though he had no confidence.

Seeing that Javelin accepted it, Li Ming finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Commander, Commander, can you give me a hug? ...I mean, like the way you hugged Laffey!"

"Alright." Li Ming reached out, wrapped his arms around Javelin's waist, and lifted her up, letting her hang around his neck as he waited for her next instruction.

To his surprise, she didn't do anything else, just buried her head in his chest as if listening to his heartbeat.

Is she afraid? Li Ming wondered.

Laffey and Lanshan had already expressed themselves in their own ways. Now it was Javelin, and finally Lanshan...

After a while.

"Do you feel better?" Li Ming asked.

"Mhm—" Javelin was regaining her energy, and her mood seemed much better now. "Commander, you've gotten fat. Have you been eating a lot lately?"

"Uh..." Li Ming gave a wry smile. His current physique was the result of several months of training; he couldn't be considered fat anymore—at most, he was sturdy. Yes, sturdy.

Getting down from Li Ming's arms, Javelin was a bit shy, but time spent being intimate with her Commander was rare.

"Commander!"

"Hmm?"

"Tell me about it—where have you been these past few months...?"

"Uh, that's a long story." Li Ming thought for a moment. "How about I tell you all after dinner tonight?"

"Okay~"

...

Lanshan sat down, looking at the disc in her hand and the newly set-up DVD player, then looked up at the somewhat noisy room.

This was her room, but since the Commander was here too, it seemed normal for them to be rowdy.

Miss Fujian didn't seem to have come; she didn't know what she was up to.

Lanshan put the game disc into the freshly wiped cabinet while looking at the Commander, who seemed to have something to say.

"Um... ahem." Li Ming coughed lightly. "Before dinner, Doubling Lin asked me what I've been doing these past few months. I don't think I should keep it from you. It all started from the beginning."

No matter what the Commander had gone through or what secrets he held, Lanshan thought silently, only the place where the Commander was could be called home.

...

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