200: Chapter 200 Overcoat
"Hurry up and get out of bed, you idiot!"
Kicked off the bed by Anshan, Li Ming woke up in a daze.
"It's Saturday, Anshan, you..."
"What nonsense are you talking?" Anshan said, holding a spatula. "Did you forget you're supposed to go to Dunkerque's place today?"
"Oh right, Sister Dunkerque..."
Li Ming struggled to get up; he had stayed up a bit late playing games with the girls last night. He then rolled himself into the bathroom to wash up.
She lightly tapped A6, who was lying on the equipment, with the freshly cleaned spatula. "Stay there a bit longer, breakfast will be ready in a while."
Indeed, after Z23 left, Anshan ended up taking over the kitchen.
He hadn't noticed before, but her cooking skills were actually quite good. After one failed campaign to reclaim control of the kitchen, Li Ming chose to completely give up.
His cooking wasn't good enough, his combat power wasn't high enough, and his energy wasn't sufficient.
I'm a total scrub.
After a quick wash, Li Ming sat at the dining table like a corpse, waiting for Anshan to finish breakfast.
Breakfast was naturally nothing technical: toasted bread, fried eggs, warmed milk, and some cereal.
Anshan went to wake everyone up one by one. Kano, however, had gotten up early; she had already plugged the game console into the TV and was playing with a controller in hand.
"Logic, should we set up an Xbox later?" Li Ming's brain hadn't fully booted up yet; he was just chewing cereal and acting silly. "And the Steam platform and stuff..."
"It's not impossible, but we'd need strong backing. There's also censorship, and we'd need to build a large enough server separately..."
"I think it's doable..."
"Doable my foot. What you're earning now isn't even enough to cover the losses..."
"Alright..."
After finishing breakfast, Li Ming planned to go back to his room to change.
"Wait a minute... You should dress better to see Dunkerque..." Anshan stopped him as he was about to throw on the same clothes from yesterday and opened the wardrobe. "...Why do you have so few clothes? Grandpa shirts, grandpa shirts... Why are they all grandpa shirts..."
"Ahaha... Actually, I do have other clothes..."
"Then hurry up and take them out, hey!"
Li Ming went to get the clothes from the other side of the hanger.
"Wait a second, what's this? A military overcoat?... Well, it's not bad. Put it on first."
"Maybe you should step out first...?"
"What, afraid I'll see everything?" Anshan teased.
"How about I strip naked for you to watch?" Li Ming said irritably.
"That works too."
Li Ming reached for his pants, and the next second, he took a punch to the top of his head.
"Watch out, or I'll chop off your little brother."
"Would you really have the heart to?"
"You horny bug, do you really think I'm like you?"
"Yes, yes, I'm a bug."
Li Ming shook his head and turned to grab a grandpa shirt as an undershirt.
Only then did Anshan exit the room, leaving Li Ming alone to change.
"Anshan, you're..."
Naturally, everyone had heard the noise just now. Seeing everyone looking at her, Anshan suddenly put her arm around Kano's shoulder. "If Li Ming wanted to do that kind of thing with you, would you agree?"
"Eh? But I haven't..."
"See, you wouldn't agree."
"Maybe in the future it would be okay, but it seems a bit too early now..."
"Laffey is willing."
"?" Anshan was stunned for a moment. Although this girl was a veteran among veterans, Anshan still took out her phone, considering whether to call the Military Police.
With a click, Li Ming opened the door and came out.
Considering dirt resistance, Li Ming's overcoat wasn't white but dark gray. Today, he didn't look too casual; he had obediently buckled his belt and straightened his clothes.
The metallic buttons were different from the usual northern parade uniforms; they were located right in the center.
He wore a black tie over a white shirt, and the stand-up collar made Li Ming, whose eyes weren't very large, look a bit more spirited.
The slim-fit waist and shoulder lines, with the hem extending to mid-thigh, were paired with the same dark gray trousers and black leather shoes.
There were no markings on the shoulders, chest, or collar, but it was already intimidating enough. Although the peaked cap had all insignia removed, it retained its patterns.
Li Ming specifically swapped his sports glasses for silver-wired metal frames and even added a pair of clip-on sunglasses.
"Uh, is it okay?"
Well, as soon as he spoke, that sense of pressure turned into a sense of absurdity.
Anshan rubbed her temples. "This outfit... how did you come up with it?"
"Uh... Fujian helped me design it."
"Don't you feel like wearing this out will scare Dunkerque?"
"Hmm... maybe I should forget it? I'll just..."
"No, there's no need." Li Ming waved his hand. "You know what? This is the only thing you have that's presentable enough to go out in."
"My grandpa shirts disagree." Li Ming put his hands on his hips.
"Forget it, your fashion sense is hopeless! Take your sidearm and knife, and don't come back before ten tonight."
"Wow, I'm actually being kicked out of the house."
"Get out, get out, get out!"
With his small shoulder bag on and his Tang sword and sidearm tucked into his belt on either side, Li Ming was kicked out of the house.
"Anshan, this outfit is super cool, okay..." Kano finally spoke up; she had just secretly taken several photos. "This looks way better than our formal uniforms!"
"Then why don't you guys change yours?"
"Forget it, changing them would offend a bunch of people."
"Exactly. Alright, Laffey. I'll have to trouble you to watch the house today. I need to go to the Hurricane Chamber of Commerce today, so I'm leaving the house to you guys."
Anshan got up to change her clothes, leaving only Kano, Laffey, Alert, and A6 in the living room.
Laffey continued to doze off, but Kano exchanged looks with A6 and Alert. Without Anshan's pressure, they could play to their hearts' content today!
Suddenly, Kano's phone began to vibrate.
She took out her phone and saw it was a call from Axiom.
"Hello, Director Axiom?"
"Kano, did someone offend Commander Li Ming? Why did he go out dressed like that? The security Ship Girls at the gate say his... presence is very overwhelming today."
"Uh..." Kano blinked. "He should just be going out on a date today..."
"Huh? You mean he's going out on a date dressed like he's going to a firing squad? Are you kidding me?!"
"I'm not kidding, it's just a date... right?" Kano blinked innocently. "He doesn't seem to have many clothes; this was the only one that looked somewhat good..."
"...Fine, I need to call Stuart back immediately. Oh my god..."
Beep—
The call disconnected.
Kano showed a confused expression. For some reason, she suddenly felt that Li Ming would encounter something unfortunate on this date.
...
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