68: Chapter 68 Quiet Days

"Build... a... sand... castle..."

Li Ming sat on the beach holding a shovel, trying hard to figure out how this sandcastle should be built.

A6 sat beside him and watched; as it turned out, he didn't know how to build a sandcastle.

After fussing for a while, Li Ming finally gave up on the sandcastle and looked over at A6.

Well, A6 didn't know how either. After all, she... she had dug a trench five meters long and two meters wide with the small entrenching tool specially made for her.

During the time they were receiving information, discussing, preparing, and setting out, Li Ming hadn't been idle either. He prioritized completing the construction and development of a certain area.

All the equipment and gear recently produced by the two Industrial Zones and the qinglong ship production area were invested here, so much so that before the embassy delegation arrived, the development speed of this place exceeded the combined development of the first Industrial Zone over the past few months.

That's how it is when you have money. But the investment was worth it, after all...

Oil, a ready-made oil field.

Li Ming hadn't originally expected to find an oil field until he struck oil while conducting deep geological surveys in preparation for inland construction.

With this safety net, Li Ming wouldn't have to rely on Molecular Assemblers to produce fuel in this area, allowing him to free up about two small assemblers for other tasks.

Molecular Assemblers were powerful but not omnipotent, and they were expensive, so every piece of equipment had to be used where it was most needed.

A large Radar Station was built on the mountain, the oil field was established, the airport expansion was finished, and two new 50,000-ton dry docks along with over a dozen 10,000-ton small dry docks were completed in the bay. Now, considering the bay might not be large enough, they had even chosen to artificially expand its scale.

A6 stood beside Li Ming, watching him slump under the parasol, clearly having given up on the idea of building a sandcastle.

He looked at her. "That trench you dug isn't a sandcastle either..."

"Response: Field fortifications provide greater security compared to miniature decorative castles," A6 answered.

Li Ming was speechless; she was right.

He scrambled up and folded the parasol. "It's getting late; we should probably head back."

"Yes, Commander."

She picked up the picnic basket and put the leftover snacks inside.

Puffed food... not very healthy, but the Commander seemed to like it?

She couldn't understand what practical purpose this food served...

Thinking this, she picked up the cola nearby and took a sip.

An inexplicable sense of refreshment made it hard for her to stop.

Following behind Li Ming, A6 glanced at the Radar Station and communication platform working in the distance.

When she revealed that she was completely ignorant of the common script used in the port area and lacked basic knowledge despite her strength, it was her Commander who had been taking care of her during this time...

If that could be called taking care of her, considering he was trying to use a "First Grade Chinese Textbook" to explain to her why the Hanyu Pinyin 'a, e, i, o, u' were pronounced that way...

She had crashed for an entire night that day; the information entropy of the Chinese language made her feel a bit suffocated.

As for mathematics, she made rapid progress. After all, her hairclip also functioned as an external computer, and she remembered almost all the necessary formulas, making Li Ming's math textbooks from elementary to high school completely useless.

But now A6 regretted it... it should be regret, right? She felt she shouldn't have revealed so early that she knew all the formulas, because the subsequent lessons had all turned into Chinese...

The only good news was that since the Science Chicks had determined her maintenance-to-free-action ratio was 2:1, she was completely free during her 8 hours of daily free time, unrestrained by anyone (unless there was an emergency or she went out).

Out of the remaining sixteen hours, twelve were for her to arrange freely, and only four were for study time.

It had to be said that the schedule the Commander arranged was so loose that A6 once again confirmed she couldn't use her understanding of common sense to comprehend his time-wasting plan.

However, she hadn't wasted her free time, because after Fujian took all the Ship Girls out to welcome the guests, she was the Commander's last line of defense.

At the same time, Li Ming didn't like going out much himself, so the two of them basically spent this time together... playing games.

But Li Ming had to study too, so when Fujian was around, she was basically alone or with Ayanami.

Just like that, the Commander still made time every day to require her to study. A6 thought to herself that Li Ming's behavior was hard to understand; it was a serious burden for him and not within his necessary scope of responsibility.

Also, most importantly...

When he relaxed, his back was never straight.

He always seemed to want to sleep, yet he was very energetic in front of everyone.

A6 narrowed her eyes, still choosing to remain silent, and then quietly followed behind him as they walked back.

The siren of the returning scout fleet broke the silence of the seashore. A fleet docked in the fully constructed outer harbor, guided into their berths by tugboats.

On the distant runway, two P-51Ks used for patrolling were preparing to take off, replacing the returning P-51Ds.

The only relatively quiet place was probably the port inside the bay. The admiral class wasn't there, nor was anyone else; only the Yellow Chickens were working quietly. The only one who actually spoke was Li Ming, while A6 usually just agreed.

Li Ming seemed to be constantly trying to get her to speak more often, but A6 didn't quite understand the intention behind it.

She had arrived relatively late and believed she couldn't understand the underlying reasons for his Logic. Even after living with him for nearly two months, she still couldn't grasp the Logic behind his habits and could only adapt passively.

"A6, I plan to give you a dictation test today."

Li Ming interrupted A6's thoughts. "It's just testing those basic pronunciations and spellings. It shouldn't be too hard, right?"

"Response... I need about 30 minutes to re-memorize." After thinking for a moment, she requested some time to review.

"Of course," Li Ming agreed. "What do you want to eat tonight?"

"Response: Rejecting spicy food."

"I don't eat spicy food either," Li Ming replied. "You're right not to learn to eat spicy food like Hu Jian, though it might just be that I'm simply not used to it."

Did A6 seem to be in a better mood?

No living being would turn down delicious food, not even Leopard 2A6-girl.

Li Ming put his hands in his pockets. "Then you go review first, and I'll start cooking... I don't know if they'll be back today, but I'll leave a portion for them just in case..."

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