Chapter 1

In the early morning at the base, the day was just beginning, and the early-rising Bismarck was rigorously doing her morning exercises. Wearing a simple tank top and shorts, her cat-ear-shaped hair was neatly groomed, smooth and sleek. Although the cat ears always seemed to diminish her authority, she still cherished her short hair very much.

While exercising, she walked absent-mindedly with a blank expression.

Shengwang's obsession with cooking had become a fixation. A while ago, she had secretly replaced Yixian's dishes with her own, resulting in food poisoning for everyone in the base. They hadn't gone on any missions for three whole days. Now, just thinking about it made her feel like she was about to return to hell...

Before meeting Shengwang, she had never known that shipgirls could suffer from food poisoning.

A few days ago, Akagi had once again built a ship when no one was paying attention. Despite having built hundreds of times without ever getting a commander, she still refused to admit that she was a shipgirl with bad luck. In the end, she built nothing...

I could do better...

Bismarck subtly pursed her lips, stopped to wipe her sweat, and walked towards the mess hall. It was a simple wooden structure that could accommodate about twenty people, which was enough for the base with only five shipgirls.

There was no choice; the base was too poor. Every time the resources allocated from the governor's office had a little surplus, those shipgirls who were crazy about getting a commander would use them to build ships.

Hmph, a bunch of shipgirls with bad luck.

Especially that foodie.

If I were to build a ship...

I would definitely build a commander in a few hundred tries!

Bismarck ignored the possibility that she herself might be a shipgirl with bad luck, thinking to herself.

"Bismarck, you're up early again today?" Yixian handed her breakfast and smiled. She was the only one in the kitchen; Shengwang had already eaten and was busy cleaning, while Firefly and Akagi were still asleep.

"Good morning, it's a habit."

Taking the breakfast Yixian had prepared—two fried steel bars and a cup of hot oil milk—Bismarck greeted her and found a place to sit, slowly enjoying her breakfast.

"Crunch!"

Bismarck took a bite of the steel bar, her delicate eyebrows furrowed, "Sesame flavor."

Another bite, and the taste had changed, "Bitter melon flavor."

Bismarck didn't like bitter flavors, but she still swallowed the steel bar in her mouth.

This wasn't the time to be picky. A few days ago, there were four steel bars, but after Akagi's building, there were only two left for breakfast. Although it wasn't enough to fill her up, she could barely make it to the end of the month.

As long as nothing goes wrong in between...

"Damn, Akagi is building again!"

"Cough!"

Firefly's terrified voice startled Bismarck, causing her to choke on the hot oil milk.

Looking at the fried steel bars on her plate, she sadly thought that there would probably only be one steel bar left tomorrow...

And it would be bitter melon flavored...

**********

Akagi placed 999 of each resource—oil, ammunition, steel, and aluminum—into the shipbuilding machine and patted her hands in satisfaction. Using her savings from a year and the base's resources, this time she would definitely build a commander. She would show those shipgirls who laughed at her for not having a commander who the real shipgirl with bad luck was!

Wearing a shrine maiden outfit that she only wore during ceremonies, Akagi solemnly performed a strange dance in front of the shipbuilding machine, which had three incense sticks burning in front of it. After the dance, she lay down and rolled twice in front of it, then smiled in satisfaction. She had sprinkled blessed incense ash in every corner of the shipbuilding room and pasted various yellow talismans on the machine.

At first glance, it looked like a haunted house that had been sealed.

As a shipgirl who deeply believed in mysticism, Akagi checked the time; it was one minute to seven. It was said that a shipgirl had once built a commander at seven in the morning. Just as she was about to get up, a figure suddenly appeared at the door of the shipbuilding room and pounced on her, causing Akagi to stumble.

Firefly clung tightly to Akagi's waist and shouted in terror, "Akagi, don't! If you build again, the base will only have dirt to eat, Firefly doesn't want to eat dirt!"

"Firefly, let go! The time is almost here! This time I will definitely build a commander!"

"You've said that many times... Why don't you admit that you're a shipgirl with bad luck?"

"Shut up! What's the difference between a shipgirl without a commander and a salted fish? It was all a mistake before, I am definitely a shipgirl with good luck!" Akagi, with red eyes, reached for the build button, but Firefly, driven by the fear of eating dirt, burst with strength. Akagi sadly found that her hand was just a tiny bit away from the button.

"Ahhh, let go, the time is really here!!"

Akagi struggled to press the button, while Firefly clung to her waist. The scene was at a stalemate.

"Damn it," noticing Shengwang, Bismarck, and Yixian rushing over, Akagi panicked, "Let go, you idiot!"

Shengwang, seeing the button not yet pressed, breathed a sigh of relief. It was still in time. At this moment, Firefly blinked and, for some reason, suddenly let go. Akagi, caught off guard, crashed into the build button, and a few drops of nose blood fell into the shipbuilding machine.

"Commander from another world, descend!" Akagi wiped her nose and shouted excitedly.

The shipbuilding machine made a loud noise, and a number appeared on the screen in front of the other shipgirls who had just arrived: [Build Time: 5:12:00].

The longer the build time, the longer the channel to another world would remain open, and the higher the chance of a commander appearing. Over five hours was already a sign of good luck.

However, to a shipgirl with bad luck, this was just a delayed death sentence.

Shengwang glared at Firefly, who had clearly let go at the critical moment.

This accomplice!

Firefly, meeting Shengwang's gaze, turned her face away guiltily.

"It's over, everything is over." The shipgirls, thinking of their future miserable lives, stood there, swaying.

"No, it's not over!" Akagi took out a can of quick build and quickly handed it to the little fairies next to the shipbuilding machine. The fairies rushed over and poured the quick build onto the machine.

"Ching!" The shipbuilding machine made a light sound, and the build time instantly became zero. A large amount of white mist poured out of the machine, and the five shipgirls stared at it tensely, not blinking.

For a moment, there was complete silence.

As the white mist dissipated, a tall, handsome young man walked out of the machine and said gently, "Hello, my name is Zhou Tai."

**********

Zhou Tai's ancestors were chefs in the imperial kitchen, and he had learned cooking from his grandfather since he was young. At 25, he was already an internationally renowned chef. After returning from studying abroad, he was about to become the head chef at his family's restaurant in a few days.

Taking a few days off, Zhou Tai decided to treat himself.

After buying the ingredients and returning home, he put the things down and noticed a few red spots on the kitchen counter.

"Hmm? Blood?" Zhou Tai was puzzled. As a chef, he was extremely particular about hygiene and always cleaned the counter thoroughly after use. Where did this blood come from?

He wanted to find a cloth to clean the blood, but as he was about to wipe it away, the crimson blood seemed to have a strange allure, and he reached out to touch the blood droplets as if in a trance.

The moment he touched the blood, a black vortex appeared, growing larger. Before Zhou Tai could even say "Damn," he was sucked into it.

The black vortex was a passage.

As Zhou Tai walked through the passage, he felt a mysterious sensation.

When he stepped out of the shipbuilding machine, he suddenly knew where he was and why he was here.

It was as if the world was welcoming him, the commander from another world.

For some reason, he felt no fear at all about being in another world.

Hello, my name is Zhou Tai.

I am a chef.

And I am a commander.