After more than an hour, Lin Lan finally saw his old classmate at the entrance of the café.
Luo Tao, who walked into the café, was wearing a black jacket and leading three destroyer girls, with a sad expression on his face.
Just as Lin Lan was about to greet his old classmate, Zeppelin beside him suddenly grabbed his hand.
"You don't mean to say that the person next to him is a ship girl, right?"
Lin Lan turned his head and looked at Zeppelin in confusion, not understanding what she meant.
"Isn't that a royal...?"
"No, those three little chibis are different from us."
Lin Lan's words were interrupted by Zeppelin, causing a shock to ripple through his heart.
"How is that possible? They all emerged from the Wisdom Cubes issued to us by the Academy. How can they be different?"
Lin Lan looked at Zeppelin, and unease began to rise in his chest.
Zeppelin was about to explain when Luo Tao spotted Lin Lan and waved at him.
Lin Lan had to set this matter aside for now.
"Old Luo, I haven't seen you in a long time! Why have you lost so much weight?"
He stood up and hugged Luo Tao, feeling pained to see how much weight his classmate had lost since their time at the academy.
"It's nothing serious; I just haven't had a good rest lately. But you, why did you come to Yalang City? Are these three your ship girls?"
The two separated, and Luo Tao managed to mask the sadness on his face with a faint smile.
When he saw Zeppelin, Agir, and Mainz, who had also stood up with Lin Lan, he gasped.
Even though these three ship girls were not wearing their uniforms, he could sense the incredible power they possessed.
At the Naval Academy in Orlan, he had learned that a ship girls age and appearance were tied to the type of ship they represented.
For example, destroyer ship girls typically appeared as little chibis, while light cruiser and light voyage ship girls looked like junior and senior high school girls.
Only battleships and aircraft carriers appeared as mature women.
"That's right; they're all my ship girls," Lin Lan replied.
He understood Luo Tao's surprise well. After introducing each other's ship girls, Luo Tao and the three little chibis took their seats.
When he introduced Agir to Luo Tao, he mistakenly referred to her as a Heavy Cruiser since the classification of Large Cruiser did not exist in Orlan.
This caused Agir to glare at him disapprovingly with her golden eyes.
Fortunately, the iron-blooded girls were very composed in public, and Agir refrained from correcting him in front of outsiders.
Lin Lan asked the waiter to bring the menu for Luo Tao and the others. Although his old classmate had a smile on his face at their reunion, it was clear he lacked enthusiasm.
After watching Luo Tao and the others finish ordering coffee, Lin Lan decided to cut to the chase.
He knew his old classmate was likely panicking, so he wanted to provide some reassurance.
"Old Luo, let's talk about the details of that bastard's banquet tonight."
…
The clock was quickly approaching nightfall.
Tonight, the Battleaxe Military Industry Building in Yalang City was buzzing with activity.
Ming Muhan, the general agent of the Battleaxe military industry in Yalang City, was hosting a grand banquet, inviting numerous business and political elites to attend.
This tall Battleaxe military industrial building was located near a military base, so no one was worried about the safety of the event.
A majestic steel mecha and Battleaxe soldiers armed with guns blocked off the streets around the entrance.
Only luxurious vehicles arriving from the street, with their high-class passengers dressed to the nines, were allowed to enter the building. All irrelevant individuals in the vicinity had been dispersed.
At the entrance of the building, Li Banan, dressed in the white suit of the port commander, stood with several ship girls, staring at his mobile phone with his single eye.
"Looks like that guy is tired of life," Li Banan murmured, his mechanical prosthetic eye flashing a dark red.
His ship girls remained silent, simply standing by his side.
At that moment, inside the luxury building, a thin middle-aged man in a white suit and one-sided round-framed glasses, accompanied by several upper-class individuals in elegant dresses, approached Li Banan with graceful steps.
The golden axe brooch pinned to his chest signified his identity.
He was Ming Muhan, the general agent of Battleaxe Military Industry in Yalang City, and the ruler of the city.
"Master Li, why the long face? Is there anything I can help you with?" Ming Muhan inquired in a gentle voice, squinting at Li Banan.
"Hmph, just a disobedient bug—nothing more," Li Banan replied, snorting as he glanced at Ming Muhan and the group of social elites behind him.
These individuals were all loyal supporters of the Battleaxe military industry.
Ming Muhan had been operating in Yalang City for twenty years, and these people were his most devoted subordinates.
Li Banan had to admit that this elegant middle-aged man was skilled in winning people's hearts.
He had met Ming Muhan seven or eight years ago, at the end of the Siren disaster.
At that time, Yalang City was besieged by the Sirens' army, and it was he and his ship girls who saved the city at the cost of their lives.
In that war, his ship girls had been wiped out, and he had been mortally wounded, losing one of his eyes to a siren's cannonball fragment.
Now, his mechanical prosthetic eye had been crafted with Ming Muhan's help.
He had deserved to be rewarded and promoted by the Admiralty for his contributions, but all he received was a commendation and a handful of Wisdom Cubes.
His sacrificial ship girls were treated like expendable tools by the Admiralty.
If they died in battle, they could simply be recreated with a Wisdom Cube.
Alone, he had sat for three days in the ruins of the harbor devastated by the Sirens, surrounded by the pile of Wisdom Cubes.
It was Ming Muhan who had come personally to drag him back to Yalang City.
Since then, Li Banan and Ming Muhan had grown increasingly close, and Ming Muhan had come to regard him as a confidant, sharing the city's glory and wealth with him.
After creating new ship girls, Li Banan no longer spoke to them.
Since the Admiralty treated these shipwrecks as tools, he decided to do the same.
For him, these ship girls, who rarely spoke and followed orders without question, were no longer partners but resources—means to further his connection with the Battleaxe military industry.
With Ming Muhan's assistance, his port area regained its combat effectiveness, but he had completely betrayed the Admiralty.
He sent the ship girls in his possession to the Battleaxe military industry for any purpose, even if it meant dismantling experiments.
He didn't care.
His heart had already died in the original war, along with the ship girls who had grown up with him and fought by his side.
"Master Li," Ming Muhan's soft voice pulled Li Banan from his reverie.
"Today marks the twentieth anniversary of my arrival in Yalang City. It's a joyous night; you needn't worry about that bedbug. I have everything arranged."
The middle-aged general agent adjusted his glasses and smiled elegantly.
"Come with me; let's not keep everyone waiting. Tonight, let's enjoy ourselves."
Hearing Ming Muhan's words, the corners of Li Banan's mouth curled slightly.
"Since Mr. Ming has taken care of everything, then I shall gladly follow your lead. Please, lead the way."
With Li Banan and his four ship girls in tow, the group entered the building's elevator.
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