276: 27th Leoli Kuznetsova (Outbound Form)

"Sorry to bother you again today, Pamir."

"Not at all, it's no bother!"

Since the Russian Orthodox Christmas falls right after the New Year, most of the shops in Murmansk were closed. With no other choice, Li Ming had to ask Pamir for help.

"Hello, Pamir... sister!"

"Mhm! Little Snai is very cute today too!" Pamir stepped forward and patted Snai's head. "So, for today... is Commander Li Ming going to get Snai some clothes at least?"

"She can't just float around in that same dress forever, can she?" Li Ming sighed helplessly. "...If I really have to say, I also need to make a trip to the grocery market. I haven't been out for a few days, and we're running low on food at home. With Christmas Eve coming up, I have to make them something nice, right?"

"That's true." Pamir nodded in understanding, then took Snai's hand. "Alright, Snai, let's go!"

Over the past few days, Ushakov had taken Snai out a few times to play with the children of the Northern Fleet, which also helped Snai get familiar with them.

While playing with them, Snai learned the language much faster than she did at home.

Kuznetsov highly approved of this and gave her permission, letting Snai go out whenever she wanted.

Li Ming had just recovered from a fever, so he hadn't gone out with Ushakov and Snai these past two days. Today was the first time he had gone out again.

Following Pamir to the Northern Fleet's outer warehouse, and after obtaining Peter's permission, Pamir opened the door and walked in with Snai and Li Ming.

"*Cough, cough*... There's quite a bit of dust." Pamir choked slightly on the stirred-up dust before turning on the lights. "This is where we store the clothes left behind by the sailors, as well as clothes that everyone in the Northern Fleet bought in bulk but never wore. Take a look and see if there's anything you like~"

"Come on, Snai, go for it!"

Li Ming waved his hand, and with a cheerful cry, Snai floated off to start exploring the warehouse.

Li Ming followed behind her to start picking things out.

—Honestly, if Ushakov hadn't gone to take care of the paperwork, Li Ming wouldn't have been the one dealing with Snai's clothing issues.

Li Ming considered his own fashion sense to be absolutely hopeless; it had never been good to begin with.

He couldn't exactly ask Kuznetsov to do it, could he? It was better for her to stay at home and rest quietly.

(Kuznetsov had previously expressed strong protests about this, but she was overruled by Li Ming and Ushakov.)

Seeing that Snai was completely engrossed in exploring her new surroundings, Li Ming had no choice but to bite the bullet and start rummaging through the girls' clothes.

After looking around, Li Ming still didn't know how women were supposed to dress, so he had to go with his own instincts.

He walked over to the section with the sailors' old clothes.

"What's this..."

Li Ming picked up a beret, twirled it on his finger twice, and decisively picked out a dark blue one.

He just needed to remove the red star on it later.

Next was the clothes...

How about a sailor shirt? A sailor shirt would be nice. After a lot of effort, Li Ming found a smaller one in a pile of clothes, then went to look for training gear.

"Pamir... Pamir, could you help me out?"

"What is it, Commander Li Ming?"

"Could you help me pick out what kind of skirt or pants Snai should wear?"

"No problem, Commander Li Ming... What have you picked out so far?"

Pamir studied his choices, then slapped her forehead and ran over to the girls' clothing section to pick out a few things.

In the end, when Snai was dragged back by Li Ming, she saw a full set of clothes neatly folded on a chair, having no idea what the two of them were planning.

"Come on, Snai, how about we change your clothes?"

"Clothes...?"

Snai was led into a corner by Pamir, looking bewildered. Pamir pulled up a tarpaulin, then poked her head out to warn Li Ming, "No peeking, Commander Li Ming!"

"Huh?" Li Ming sighed, but he dutifully retreated to a safe distance.

From behind the tarpaulin, Snai's laughter and Pamir's voice could be heard from time to time. About ten minutes later, Pamir pulled the tarpaulin aside.

First was the dark blue beret, which looked very spirited against her snow-white long hair. She wore an open light-gray tracksuit jacket over the sailor shirt, paired with a light-gray skirt. On her feet were pure white knight boots, and there was a gray leg garter on her right thigh.

"Wow." Li Ming let out an exclamation, though it was hard to tell what kind of emotion it held.

"Ta-da! Commander Li Ming, how does it look?"

"My assessment is that it's very good, but it still feels like something is missing."

Snai put her feet on the ground, got used to the feeling of walking, and then trotted into Li Ming's arms.

"Oof, my little ancestor, take it easy..."

Li Ming helplessly picked her up. He had to admit, this outfit was really quite good.

Tilting his head to think, Li Ming suddenly realized what was missing.

He took a pair of brown aviator goggles from the old gear and placed them on the beret, then gave Snai a medium-sized brown shoulder bag to carry on her back.

Li Ming set Snai down and clapped his hands. "Perfect."

"Indeed, that's just about perfect." Pamir gave a thumbs up. "I've packed the rest of the clothes in a bag for you. Remember to wash them!"

Li Ming waved his hand. "No problem."

The group walked out. Li Ming and Snai said goodbye to Pamir and turned to head home.

"I wonder how Wu Sha is doing with the paperwork on her own." Li Ming sighed.

Snai walked through the snow, stepping on it and feeling the novel sensation under her feet.

Li Ming took the scarf from his own neck and wrapped it around Snai's, then pulled his own neck into his collar.

Watching her trot through the snow, Li Ming couldn't help but smile. It reminded him of A6, that girl who, like Ayanami, was a bit of a stoic.

A6 and Snai would probably get along very well, right? And Alert, too—all three of them were very cute.

I wonder how things are over there...

Oh wait, with ten times the time flow, it's only been a little over two days in Oronia. The probability of something happening over there is infinitely close to zero, right?

"Li Ming! Snai!"

"Wu Sha? Did you finish?"

Ushakov trotted over from the other side of the intersection. "Of course. Otherwise, do you think I would have come back like this?"

"...That's true." Li Ming acknowledged.

"Here, this is Snai's identification." Ushakov handed the documents to Li Ming.

Li Ming took them, glanced at them, and then froze in place.

Snalette Reoli Kuznetsova.

"Ushakov..."

"Hmm?"

"Are you f*cking kidding me?!"

...

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