162: Chapter 162 The Stalker

"What are you two doing?"

"Doing some translation," Li Ming replied, then squinted and glanced to the side.

Aussie was lying on the other side of the table, watching him.

Zhou Hong was translating literature bit by bit, occasionally asking him questions.

"What does this 'jiehu' mean?"

"Erm... if you see 'jiehu' in an article, it's usually a kind of... onomatopoeia? Like a sigh or something, it usually has no actual meaning."

"Oh, I see..."

Zhou Hong continued proofreading, then thought for a moment and looked up at Aussie again. "By the way, this young lady looks a bit unfamiliar. Is she also your Ship Girl?"

"What do you think?" Li Ming looked at him with dead-fish eyes.

"I think so," Zhou Hong said with a serious expression. "I met Miss Anshan once, and her casual manner is somewhat similar to this lady's."

"She isn't."

"Alright, I guessed wrong."

Aussie seemed unable to sit still any longer; she stood up and slipped into the inner hall.

Li Ming sighed. "I don't know what she's doing either... strictly speaking, she should be from the Ship Girl Bureau, but she's just pestering me, and I don't know why."

Zhou Hong gave a rare, human-like shrug. Ever since he got a Ship Girl, he seemed to have become much more lively.

"Maybe she's interested in you?"

"Is there anything about me that could pique someone's interest?" Li Ming facepalmed.

"That thing called an airplane..."

"You mean she's after my brain?" Li Ming was shocked.

"No, what are you thinking!" Zhou Hong was speechless and lost the mood to continue translating. "You're making it sound like those third-rate doomsday movies. My point is that there's plenty about you that's interesting. Look, you know the meanings of many terms we don't understand."

"Uh... I guess?"

Li Ming shook his head. "How are you and Jiu Hai doing?"

"Jiu Hai... she's doing well."

Zhou Hong smiled, his expression softening considerably. "But we still need to work on her training. I remember she's in the same training echelon as Anshan, right?"

"Uh, more or less? They're both in the Screen Cruiser Echelon."

"Could you ask her to look after Jiu Hai? I'm graduating soon, so I might not have enough time."

"Anshan..." Li Ming thought about her skill level. "That's a tall order. Her methods weren't learned through normal means."

That was 21st-century gun barrels and fire control, plus that autoloader. This really wasn't something that could be solved with diligent training.

"Alright then."

Zhou Hong didn't push it. Seeing that Li Ming had already stood up, he asked, "Leaving?"

"Yeah, I'm going over to the Rights Society. There seems to be an internal debate or something today, so I plan to check it out."

"No problem..." Zhou Hong hesitated. "Then I won't see you out... You might not know, but the relationship between our Summer History Society and them isn't very good."

"Why?"

"It's said that when the academy was first founded... over twenty years ago, the rules weren't so strict, and private duels were allowed. The Rights Society at the time attacked our club once, injuring more than a dozen people and burning all the old documents we had organized. Fortunately, we had backups back then, or the consequences would have been unthinkable."

Li Ming rubbed the corners of his eyes. "I see... What happened later?"

"The children that the entire Auronian compatriot community had worked so hard to send here were beaten like that, so the community organized several hundred people and bombed the Labor Union headquarters."

"Impressive."

Li Ming left the Summer History Society. It was hard for him to judge who was right or wrong in that matter.

He suddenly didn't want to participate in these two clubs anymore, especially not letting Alert get involved.

After thinking about it, he sighed. He still had to go through with this. Regardless, it wasn't time to make a final judgment yet; one shouldn't fully believe only one side of the story.

"Commander, the Federation's official network information has no record of these events, so I'm maintaining a skeptical attitude," Logic's voice came through the earpiece. "But regardless, I still lean toward continuing the investigation, because I didn't sense any hostility toward you from their members during the last two encounters."

Li Ming nodded. Just as he was about to say something, someone suddenly patted him on the back.

He shuddered. Usually, he would sense someone approaching, but this time he hadn't noticed at all.

He turned around and saw, "Aussie? What the hell are you doing?"

"Why didn't you call me when you left..." Aussie had her hands on her hips, looking dissatisfied.

"I have no reason to call you!" Li Ming said helplessly, sighing before continuing. "We're not related or anything. I don't know what's gotten into you that you have to follow me, and I don't even know why no one has kicked you out after you've been hanging around for two days... My point is, do whatever you want. Sigh."

Seeing her put on a pitiful expression, like a kitten about to be abandoned, Li Ming really didn't want to continue lashing out. "But the Rights Society doesn't allow Ship Girls to participate, so I can't take you into the venue... You should have heard everything I said to Old Zhou just now, right?"

Aussie nodded obediently.

"Then that's fine." Li Ming shook his head, stopped worrying about her, and continued walking on his own.

"Commander, who is she?"

Li Ming arrived at the entrance of the Rights Society and met up with Alert.

"Hehey!" Li Ming didn't answer her; instead, he simply went behind her and picked her up.

"Wah! Commander, what are you doing! Put me down!"

Alert struggled, but because she was so small, she couldn't even touch the ground with her toes.

"There's a strange big sister chasing me, help me drive her away!"

Li Ming turned around, pointing Alert toward Aussie.

A "?" popped up over Aussie's head.

"Put me down first!"

Only then did Li Ming put her down.

After turning back to glare at Li Ming with dissatisfaction, Alert extended her hand to Aussie. "Hello, I am the Type 1135.1 Frigate, Alert."

"Hello~ I'm Aussie!"

Aussie leaned down and shook her hand, smiling as she pulled out a small gift box she had prepared. "This is a meeting gift for you."

"Eh? This... this is too valuable, isn't it? I..."

"Oh, just take it, it's not that valuable." Aussie forced it into Alert's hands.

"This..."

"It's fine, Alert," Li Ming patted her head. "A gift isn't a bribe. At most, you can just give a return gift later."

"O-okay then..." Only then did Alert accept her box.

"Aren't you going to open it?" Aussie straightened up, looking at her with her hands behind her back.

Alert opened the box. Inside lay a new bow, somewhat similar to the one on Alert's hat brim, but it appeared much more exquisite.

"Thank you, I like it very much!"

"I'm glad you like it, heehee..."

Li Ming looked at them and shook his head.

He felt like something was off.

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