Chapter 7

(Second update ~ Thank you, Lazy Yinglong, for the tip! This time, it's on the recommendation list, so two updates a day! Please support and promote it more, everyone! I'm deeply grateful to all the readers!)

7. Everything on the Sea is the Enemy

What was called the command room sounded grand, but in reality, it was just a large room that was relatively clean and less moldy.

The command center of this abandoned base had long collapsed. Facing the pile of decayed, insect-infested, and fungus-covered rooms, the admiral decided to use the 110's 46cm guns to blast the entire room clean, out of sight, out of mind.

However, this rash action left few structurally intact places in the entire abandoned base's Building No. 1. Everywhere was marked with signs like "Danger" and "Beware of Collapse." Naturally, the second floor where the command center was located was no exception. After navigating through countless piles of rubble and construction waste, the command room, which was barely intact, finally came into view.

And as mentioned earlier, it was just a room that had been cleaned up a bit. Opening the door, the furnishings inside were the kind that would make other admirals feel a lump in their throats.

There were no proper sea maps, no sand tables or markers, and no telegraph machines or other historical-looking machines. The entire room consisted of a table, a blackboard, a tin-patched iron plate, a few chairs, and an old desk. Due to the repairs, there were no windows, and the slightly briny sea breeze refreshed the entire room.

Was this place so poor that it had to sell its pants?

The last one to arrive at the command center, 111, pulled the unlocked door shut and thought to herself.

There weren't even the most basic wall hangings or warning signs. How poor could this place be? Would anyone starve to death? In fact, the admiral not starving to death was a miracle in itself. How could anyone survive in such a poor place?

But the strangest thing wasn't the poverty.

It was the water basin on the table, which was supposed to replace the sand table. The symbols placed inside it made 111 feel very strange.

Only the central area representing the base was green, a tiny dot. Around it was a roughly thumb-sized blank sea. Beyond that, everything was divided into grid points with black lines, giving it a pixel art-like style that felt somewhat eerie.

What was this? Obsessive-compulsive division? To better determine one's position?

Before 111 could ponder the water basin for long, the admiral stood in front of the blackboard and clapped his hands.

"Alright, everyone is already familiar, but since we have a new arrival, I'll start from the beginning."

The admiral lightly coughed and began drawing shapes on the blackboard with chalk. A crude coordinate system quickly appeared on the blackboard, with the small island representing the abandoned base at the center. The other four quadrants were labeled as 1, 2, 3, and 4.

"Since our base is different from others, the sea areas are planned according to my method. We use the small island as the origin of a Cartesian coordinate system, with the east, south, west, and north as reference points, and a 500-kilometer radius as the first sea area. The four quadrants are 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, and 1-4. Since we have no reference points, we can only do it this way."

The admiral explained to 111, who looked bewildered.

The abandoned base, far from the human core area, was naturally different from the defense zones.

Ordinary bases had relatively simple areas because the deep-sea fleet didn't like to approach land, so training often took place in calm seas with more surrounding land.

But the abandoned base was different.

There was no place around the isolated island that could be called peaceful. Although there were fewer deep-sea ships near the island, that was only relatively speaking. The deep-sea fleet roaming the seas was still a number that would make ordinary admirals despair.

This was the core area of the deep-sea fleet, the border of hell. The deep-sea fleet in this area wasn't just a few ships, but a small, undivided fleet.

It was the true deep-sea fleet.

"In 1-1, we will face a deep-sea fleet of about 300 ships. The fleet is led by six deep-sea battleships and twelve deep-sea carriers with blue flames, forming the core of the gatekeeping fleet. The other ships are mostly golden deep-sea battleships and deep-sea aviation torpedo battleships. There are no reports of destroyers or cruisers."

"Wait, wait?! 300 ships?!"

Looking at the symbols the admiral marked on the blackboard, 111 asked in disbelief, "Admiral, you mean there are 300 deep-sea battleships and carriers in a beginner's 1-1 sea area?!"

"It could be more, not less."

The response came from Enterprise, who was sitting in a chair. This little hero, who had soloed 1-1, looked out the window with a bored expression and a sneer.

"Ah, the first time I went, it took about three days and two nights. I cleared 173 golden battleships, 87 aviation battleships, 14 battleships, and 21 deep-sea carriers. When I go to clear them at other times, the numbers vary, but it's roughly this amount."

"… You cleared 300 deep-sea ships by yourself in three days and two nights?"

"What's so surprising about it?"

Shaking her golden twin-tails, Enterprise said with a puzzled look.

"It's not like I'm the only one who can do it. Others can too, right? In fact, it would be a problem if you couldn't solo a deep-sea fleet with a malfunctioning brain."

Enterprise shrugged, looking natural. The other shipgirls nodded, seemingly in full agreement with her statement. Faced with this shock from the imaginary fleet, 111 felt her mind start to fragment.

By herself? Solo? 300 deep-sea ships? Everyone can?

"Actually, we prototype ships have no problem dealing with those puppets. They only follow a fixed pattern, and after a few times, you get used to the rhythm (grinding experience). The key is the amount of damage. And there's one more benefit of being the imaginary fleet in this sea area: you don't have to worry about shooting accuracy or friendly fire."

110 patted her sister's shoulder, who was in a state of cognitive dissonance, and said with a smile.

"You saw that water basin, right? The floating grids don't represent the grid, but the enemy-controlled zones. The small sea area around that tiny dot is our first zone. In other words, every ship you see on the sea is the enemy."

"Everything on the sea is the enemy?"

"Exactly, everything on the sea is the enemy."

"…"

Looking at the tiny island and the thumb-sized sea on the water basin, 111 felt a chill run down her spine.