Wang Yu left the supply ship. As soon as his feet touched the ground of the port, he saw over a dozen figures waiting quietly there.
The leading Ship Girls, tall and with long black hair, wore a sky-blue military uniform.
Wang Yu thought about it but couldn't identify this Ship Girls. Without distinct features, it was truly hard to differentiate.
He walked forward with Glorious and York and directly said, “I am Commander Wang Yu, a newly promoted major in Azure Lane. I have come to take over the port area as per Headquarters’ orders.”
After speaking, he saluted the Ship Girls opposite him.
Commander Wang Yu was dressed in formal attire at this time, and he had been trained in etiquette during this period, so his movements appeared natural and fluid.
The Ship Girls opposite returned his salute, “Azure Lane Headquarters, Xianggua Island Branch, Commander and Flagship of the Xianhua Island Fleet, Pennsylvania, is here by order to handle the handover of Xianhua Island. Please present your Headquarters' certification documents and letter of appointment.”
Commander Wang Yu reached out and took the letter of appointment and Headquarters’ handover documents from Glorious.
Pennsylvania took the documents from Commander Wang Yu’s hand, examined them carefully, and after confirming their authenticity, returned them to Commander Wang Yu.
Commander Wang Yu's arrival time was largely consistent with the previously planned time, and he had entered the port via a Headquarters’ supply ship. Pennsylvania could essentially confirm Commander Wang Yu's identity was correct. Requesting Headquarters’ certification was merely a precaution and a procedural requirement.
Since Commander Wang Yu’s identity was confirmed, Pennsylvania’s attitude towards Commander Wang Yu instantly became much friendlier. She laughed heartily and said to Commander Wang Yu, “The port area’s construction team left yesterday. The entire port area has now been fully repaired, but…” She glanced at Glorious and York behind Commander Wang Yu, “I truly didn’t expect that the Commander assigned by Headquarters to take over Flower Port would only have two Ship Girls. To be honest, when I first received the message from Headquarters, I thought they had made a mistake. Many Commanders tried to apply for Flower Port and failed. I didn’t expect you to succeed…”
She cautiously leaned forward and, like a thief, whispered into Commander Wang Yu's ear, “What’s your relationship with the Commander? Are you the Commander’s relative?”
Slandering a superior behind their back, being stationed here for so many years, they really didn’t send the wrong person…
Commander Wang Yu didn't know how to respond for a moment and gave an awkward laugh. Pennsylvania had clearly just said it casually, without any deliberate intention to target him.
Soon, she spoke again, “Alright, since you’ve arrived at the port area, I’ll take you to see the situation here first. Having been stationed for all these years, I’m very familiar with the port area’s conditions. After this, my handover task will be complete.”
Seeing Commander Wang Yu nod, she turned to the other Ship Girls and said, “You all wait here. I’ll take Commander Wang Yu to go over the port area’s situation.”
Then, she waved cheerfully at Commander Wang Yu, “Follow me.”
“Most of the port area’s daily living buildings are self-explanatory; you’ll surely understand them. But there are still several important port buildings I need to show you. They can be said to be the core of the port area, and these facilities have only just been transported and installed recently.”
Commander Wang Yu quickly followed with Glorious and York. Having a guide would save a lot of time and effort, so he was naturally eager.
“This is the port area’s harbor. Typically, fleet supplies and shipyard repairs are completed here. Of course, there are also mass-production unit construction facilities inside. Their main function is to house the mass-production units that are manufactured. Naturally, there’s another such harbor on the other side of the island, but it’s not used much; it serves as a backup harbor and an escape route.”
Commander Wang Yu looked at the empty port area harbor. The entire harbor consisted of two parts: the harbor pier and the dry dock.
The harbor pier occupied most of the coastline. Beyond that, the dry dock showed clear signs of artificial excavation. Seawater flowed into the island’s interior through a huge, artificially dug wide channel, separated by the dry dock’s massive gate. The gate was half-open at this time, and Commander Wang Yu could see the empty dry dock inside through the half-open gate.
The dry dock was very deep, its end not visible at a glance. And in the not-too-distant sea, the supply fleet was slowly leaving the port in the opposite direction.
Commander Wang Yu withdrew his gaze and continued to follow Pennsylvania’s footsteps, crossing large stretches of beach to arrive at a place that resembled a defensive position.
“This is a coastal defense gun array, some old-era relics. Although they’ve been modified and their shelling power enhanced, they do have some lethality against Siren. Unfortunately, they cannot receive the Commander’s ability bonuses.”
“Moreover, the accuracy of their shelling is too low, basically unable to pose a threat to high-level Siren. However, if it’s just to deal with some mass-production units, their effect is still considerable. But if only a small number of mass-production units attack, it’s better to save them to give the Ship Girls some combat experience. And if a large fleet of mass-production units led by a Siren main fleet has already reached the offshore waters of your port area, your port area is probably already lost. You should be thinking about how to evacuate, not using coastal defense guns to bombard the Siren.”
“Overall, this thing isn’t very useful; it’s just for show.”
Coastal defense guns still play a significant role in making up for our insufficient firepower. They are not as useless as Pennsylvania suggested. Honestly, these are the true divine artifacts for newcomers, the capital for defending a new port area.
If by some stroke of luck they hit a critical enemy, they could even turn the tide of battle. Of course, such opportunities are extremely rare.
It’s just that as a Ship Girls, Pennsylvania’s indifference to coastal defense guns is quite normal.
And it's indeed true that coastal defense guns can pose a significant threat to warships hundreds of meters away. But trying to use them to hit human-sized Ship Girls moving at high speed on the sea is basically a pipe dream. The sharp weapons that could make battleships fear in the old era are now unable to keep up with the more powerful magic warfare.
On the road, everyone found a small car to ride in, also to accommodate Commander Wang Yu.
Soon, the shadows of real buildings appeared in their vision.
“This is the port area’s reception zone. It’s typically used to receive guests of the port area, and of course, it also includes some underground storage areas and temporary shelters for refugees. However, because Flower Port is on an island, its underground shelter scale is not too large. The real underground shelter is located beneath Xianhua City.”
Pennsylvania pointed in a direction to Commander Wang Yu, and he realized that was probably the land he had passed through earlier. It could be said that this was the outermost area of the entire port area.
“I won’t take you inside to see; you can just explore it yourself later.” Without even the thought of going inside, the group merely observed from the outside, then bypassed the reception area and entered further into the port area.