Elder brother's garrison

Page 1723

Hearing the shouts behind them, the tourists on the dock were startled and their eyes widened.

"Come on, give me one!"

"I want it! Six thousand!! I want it too!!"

"..."

The tourists immediately stopped looking at the four girls who had walked past and ran wildly towards the scalper, crowding together like twisted ropes.

……

The woman in the cloak stopped in the shadows of the lamplight and looked towards the crowd in the distance.

The night was as noisy as fire, with crowds making a ruckus, a scene rarely seen on the high seas.

The sea breeze blew, and the cloak was slightly lifted by the wind, revealing a cold face as white as snow and a pair of clear blue eyes.

"what happened?"

The three people walking ahead, including Xiaobai, stopped and turned to look at Shenhai Kaga.

"..."

Kaga Fukami lowered his head, raised his hand, and looked at his wrist.

On the fair wrist of Shenhai Kaga, a silver bracelet was currently fastened.

The design is beautiful and the patterns are exquisite.

"Will I be able to carry this without being discovered?"

Kaga Shinkai looked worried and asked the three people in front of him, Xiaobai, for confirmation.

"Yes, don't worry, this is a high-tech product from our naval base, absolutely guaranteed in quality." Xiaobai said to Shenhai Kaga with a smile, "Look, you've already come here with us, and no one has discovered your identity, have you?"

Chapter 2363 Deep Sea Akagi

"what are they doing?"

"They are looking for you and Deep Sea Akagi."

"I?"

"Yes."

What's in it for finding me?

"He will probably enjoy wealth and honor."

"Wealth and honor?"

"Human society is very complex..."

The girls' words drifted in the breeze as four figures left the dock amidst the midnight commotion.

The darkness swallowed the figures of the four girls.

The bustling docks were filled with a lively atmosphere, and everything remained the same.

……

When Xiaobai and his group returned to the hotel, it was already close to midnight. In the hotel lobby, the staff had already laid out bedding in the single work area behind the front desk and were preparing to turn off the lights and rest.

Upon seeing Xiaobai and his companions, the shop assistant withdrew his hand from the light-off button, stood up, and bowed politely to Xiaobai.

"Welcome back, guest... oh?"

The shop assistants quickly noticed that there was a stranger next to Xiaobai.

"This is a friend we met today. She doesn't have anywhere to stay right now, so she's staying here with us for the night," Xiaobai explained to the clerk. "...I hope this doesn't violate any rules?"

"Our shop doesn't have that many rules and regulations, customers are free to do as they please." The shop assistant shook his head.

"That's good." Xiaobai nodded gratefully upon hearing this.

The shop assistant stood respectfully by the counter, watching Xiaobai and his group walk up the stairs.

The shop assistant's curious gaze fell upon the Deep Sea Kaga at the very back.

From the shop assistant's perspective, the extra unfamiliar woman was wearing a heavy cloak. She didn't look up to meet anyone's gaze or speak; she simply followed Xiaobai quietly. She was very thick-skinned and exuded a strange and mysterious aura.

Years of work experience made the shop assistants instinctively feel that the new woman who appeared next to Xiaobai was no ordinary person.

But the clerk quickly stopped thinking. He looked away and shook his head self-deprecatingly—investigating customers' secrets wasn't something a qualified innkeeper should do, especially since these customers had shown Yu Gan a debt of gratitude. All he needed to do was trust and respect them; he shouldn't speculate or have unfounded assumptions.

Thinking of this, the clerk stretched, crawled back into the blankets behind the counter, and turned off the lights in the lobby.

……

Back in their hotel room, Xiaobai and the other two breathed a sigh of relief as they looked at the familiar surroundings.

The time spent in the hotel over the past few days has given Xiaobai and his group a sense of belonging to this small room that they don't know they'll always have.

"Phew...back."

York and Baltimore looked much lighter as soon as they walked in, as if a heavy burden had been lifted off their shoulders.

“Miss Kaga Akagi, you can take off your cloak here,” Shiro said with a smile to Akagi Akagi behind him.

"Ah."

Deep Sea Akagi nodded slightly. She raised her hand, unbuttoned the collar, and took off the cloak that was taller than a person.

The cloak was removed.

Inside the deep-sea Kaga, dressed in a strikingly revealing outfit, she curiously surveyed the exquisite room with her sapphire blue eyes.

“This place is not safe.” Kaga’s gaze swept across the room as he said to Shiro, “It looks very fragile and shouldn’t be able to withstand artillery fire and bombs.”

"Most human resting places aren't designed to withstand artillery fire. This is just a private space for us to rest," Xiaobai explained, leading Shenhai Kaga to the center of the room. She neatly laid out several cushions on the floor and patted them down. "The bed in this room can only sleep three people at most. Tonight, Ms. Shenhai Kaga, you'll have to make do on the floor by yourself. Is that alright?"

"Ah."

Kaga from the Deep Sea obediently knelt on Shiro's cushion, her legs pressed tightly together, her whole body as still as a statue.

As expected of the hundreds-of-years-old Dean of the Deep Sea, he is even more understanding than those in the naval base.

York and Baltimore looked at Kaga Fukami and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

"Miss Fukami Kaga, would you like some fruit?" Baltimore took an orange from the fruit bowl on the bedside table and handed it to the motionless Fukami Kaga.

"Fruit?" Deep Sea Kaga asked, puzzled.

“This is edible.” Baltimore placed the orange in Deepsea Kaga’s hand and smiled kindly. “It’s sweet and sour, and it’s delicious.”

"Mmm." Kaga Fukami nodded, opened his mouth, and stuffed the whole unpeeled orange into his mouth.

To Baltimore's astonishment, Kaga Fukami's mouth swelled up to the size of a hamster's. She frowned, chewed, and swallowed the orange in her mouth.

"It's a bit bitter."

"It's definitely going to be bitter, oh dear, you have to peel it..."

"Peeling?"

“Peeling is… let me show you.” Baltimore’s motherly nature kicked in immediately. She quickly took out another orange, sat down next to Deepsea Kaga, and taught her how to peel the orange, then tear off the flesh piece by piece to eat.

Kaga Fukami leaned slightly towards Baltimore, intently watching her lesson.

Upon reaching the shore, Kaga from the deep sea did not show any resistance to human society. Instead, she acted like a humble apprentice, trying her best to learn the common sense of human society.

Xiaobai watched Shenhai Kaga and Baltimore from the side, a smile appearing on her face, and gently sat down on a chair nearby.

Xiao Bai fell into deep thought.

It's about time to organize the intelligence we just gathered.

That was when they were still on the surface of the sea. Deep-sea Kaga used the human language she had just learned to tell her group of information, albeit haltingly.

That's the story of Akagi from the Deep Sea and Kaga from the Deep Sea.

—The twin Deans, Akagi and Kaga, are indeed among the oldest Abyssal Deans in the world, in terms of their formation time. For hundreds of years after they developed self-awareness, they never launched a single invasion of the land. They spent most of their time residing in the deepest parts of the abyss, completely detached from other Deans and not cultivating their own abyssal battleship fleet. They were like reclusive hermits, living quietly in secluded corners, only approaching human cities on a whim to observe human development.

If nothing happens, Deepsea Kaga and Deepsea Akagi will probably never have any contact with human cities in their lifetime.

But accidents often happen at times like these.

—The so-called accident was that Akagi was injured during one of her expeditions.

Logically speaking, the Deep Sea Deans who live deep in the ocean possess a continuous supply of deep-sea energy. Even with injuries severe enough to be fatal, as long as they are still alive, the rich deep-sea energy will slowly repair their wounds and help them recover. Moreover, Deep Sea Akagi and Deep Sea Kaga are rare twin deans. When Deep Sea Akagi was injured, Deep Sea Kaga could completely protect her from the interference of other Deep Sea Deans, allowing her to recuperate in peace until she fully recovered.

In fact, this is not the first time that someone has been injured while living deep in the ocean for hundreds of years.

To be honest, neither Kaga nor Akagi took the situation too seriously at first. They thought it was just a common injury and that they could recover by resting on the surface of the sea for a while, as usual.

But this time, as time went on, things took an unexpected turn.

The wounds suffered by Akagi in the deep sea are extremely unusual.

It was an injury that could not heal itself at all, relying solely on the restorative effects of deep-sea energy.

Since suffering that injury, every sunrise and sunset, no matter how much deep-sea energy she used to heal her wounds, her aura would become much weaker than the day before. Gradually, Akagi's combat power weakened, her spirit became more and more listless, and the deep-sea energy on her body became thinner and thinner. Her originally powerful deep-sea ship equipment also slowly disintegrated with the passage of time, gradually turning into fine red sand.

It wasn't until then that Akagi and Kaga realized the seriousness of the situation.

They both realized something.

That is, it is not "wound", but "withering".

The decay lasted for about a hundred days and nights.

Finally, after a hundred days and months, Akagi Deepsea, having tried almost every method, deeply realized the incurability of her injuries. She seemed to foresee her not-too-distant future: when the decay in her body reached its end, she would lose her status as the Dean of the Deepsea, her ship equipment, which she relied on for survival, would turn to dust and dissipate, and her power would vanish like bubbles in the wind. At that time, she would not even be able to simply be a deep-sea creature.

She... will soon regress into a human.

Even the sea beneath her, which had been her home for hundreds of years, would, at that inevitable moment, begin to reject her existence.

Deepsea Kaga and Deepsea Akagi didn't even have time to discuss the cause of the "Withering" before it was too late. As if unknowingly, the curse of Withering had made Deepsea Akagi's body composition closer and closer to that of a human. Unbeknownst to them, the deep-sea aura on this ocean was gradually becoming able to harm Deepsea Akagi's body, causing her unbearable pain.

That period was the most desperate time in the hundreds of years of the Kaga Sea.

Under such desperate circumstances, Deepsea Akagi and Deepsea Kaga finally came to a conclusion.

Since the curse of decay cannot be delayed or even cured, they have no choice but to accept reality, even if they are filled with despair.

Deep Sea Akagi... or rather, the human named Deep Sea Akagi, her constitution is no longer suitable for living on the sea. So now, only human cities in the world can accept her. At least there, the air is clean for Deep Sea Akagi and there will be no deep-sea aura that will harm her.

Akagi from the Deep Sea will eventually have to part ways with Kaga from the Deep Sea.

Chapter 2364 The Search

In order to avoid dying at sea, Akagi of the Deep Sea had no choice but to join a human city as a human.

Even though Akagi and Kaga, who have lived in the deep sea for hundreds of years, are familiar with humans’ attitudes toward deep-sea creatures, they know very well what they would be greeted by if they came to a human city as the head of the deep-sea dean. It would not be flowers and applause, but ship girls’ cannons and torpedoes.

Deepsea Akagi and Deepsea Kaga have no intention of fighting against humans, at least not at this juncture. In order to safely and secretly send Deepsea Akagi to a human city, Deepsea Akagi and Deepsea Kaga took refuge in a storm, chose a relatively remote sea city without a naval base, and slowly approached the city.

This city is Peicheng.

finally.

On a dark and stormy night, under the cover of a tempest, Deepsea Kaga secretly brought Deepsea Akagi ashore.

At that time, Akagi had suffered the ravages of decay. Her ship equipment was almost completely weathered away, and there was no trace of deep-sea energy left in her body. Only a weak trace of spiritual power stubbornly remained. Compared to Kaga, who was still in her deep-sea dean state, Akagi could completely ignore the ship girls' search even if she did nothing.

After bringing Akagi ashore, Kaga manipulated the storm to leave Pei City. Kaga knew she was different from Akagi; she also held the title of Dean of the Deep Sea, and every move she made exuded a strong deep-sea aura, which would attract the attention of ship girls and lead to unnecessary pursuit and battles.

It's time for Kaga from the Deep Sea to leave.

But Kaga from the Deep Sea was reluctant to leave.

In order to get as close as possible to Akagi, Kaga risked keeping his body hidden in the storm, drifting on the sea with the current, only returning to the vicinity of Pei City every long interval to observe the city from afar for a short while before leaving again, repeating the cycle.

Kaga Akagi longed to know how Akagi Akagi was doing in the human city, and to what extent her decay had progressed. She really wanted to go ashore again to find Akagi Akagi, but since her last landing, Peicheng seemed to have become wary. Now, the entire island was surrounded by people looking for her, and ships searching for her were densely packed on the sea. Gradually, she no longer even had the space to glance at Peicheng from a distance.

then.

At this critical moment.

Kaga Shinkai clearly felt that the last stubborn trace of spiritual power that Akagi Shinkai had stubbornly retained in his body had finally dissipated.

Deepsea Kaga and Deepsea Akagi were originally companions who evolved into Deepsea Deans together. Their relationship was like that of family, partners, and sisters. Hundreds of years of companionship had long since created a mysterious connection between them. However, at this moment, this faint, mysterious connection was severed as Deepsea Akagi's spiritual power dissipated.

This means that... the deep-sea city on land has truly become human.

Kaga from the Deep Sea can no longer rely on some mysterious connection to find Akagi from the Deep Sea.

Upon learning this news, Kaga was heartbroken, but even more so by the intense worry that followed. She knew that she and Akagi were now forever separated; the difference in their social status had become the greatest chasm in the world. She should return to the depths of the ocean to continue being the Deep Sea Director, and Akagi should stay here to begin her new life as a human. But Kaga desperately wanted to see Akagi one last time before leaving.