For a year, Jiang Jiang had been gathering intelligence about this world, especially concerning Ship Girls. Jiang Jiang discovered a detail that had been overlooked by the people of this world.
When Ship Girls fight, they use a type of weapon that is born with them—Ship Equipment. However, this doesn't mean that Ship Girls cannot use human equipment and weapons, such as wireless headsets.
But because of the emergence of Ship Girls, their power was too great, and both humans and Ship Girls in this world focused all their attention on Ship Girls, almost ignoring human technology after the Cold War, leading to technological stagnation.
Even though Ship Girls could also use normal weapons, due to people's oversight, the frequency of normal weapons appearing in Ship Girl battles was extremely low.
But Jiang Jiang was not limited by this; a technological level far exceeding this world's brought more powerful and advanced weapons.
Thus, there was a loophole that only Jiang Jiang could exploit: since Ship Girls could use more than just Ship Equipment, then let him manually enhance the Ship Girls!
Wichita saw a figure rapidly approaching. This feeling... was it a Royal Navy Light Cruiser? She finally arrived. Wichita showed a brilliant smile.
More than ten minutes later, Sirius arrived in front of Wichita. Seeing the examiner for this checkpoint, Sirius couldn't help but feel a shock in her heart. From Wichita, Sirius felt immense pressure.
"You are... Royal Navy's Sirius? Where is your Commander?" Looking at Sirius alone, Wichita was puzzled.
However, she didn't pay too much attention to the tactical goggles Sirius was wearing. In previous years, many new Commanders, due to their Ship Girls' low training levels, racked their brains to improve combat effectiveness. It was just a pair of goggles, Wichita hadn't taken it to heart.
"My Master is waiting in the back. This is our proof of passing the first stage." Sirius took out the camera Jiang Jiang had given her from her Ship Equipment space and threw it to Wichita.
Wichita caught it with one hand. Although Wichita really wanted to start fighting immediately, she still checked it carefully. Well, it was definitely not because she had been repeatedly reminded and signed various pledges before coming out.
"Hmm, confirmed. Then, we'll start in five minutes. Is your Commander still going to hide behind his Ship Girl? He seems to be a coward." Wichita finished confirming, frowned, and said to Sirius.
In her heart, she felt some aversion towards the hiding Jiang Jiang: he actually let his Ship Girl come alone while he cowered in the back. Couldn't he just fight fair and square?
If Jiang Jiang heard Wichita's inner thoughts, he would probably complain: "Going head-to-head with a Heavy Cruiser that has the strongest firepower? Have my brains been dismantled by the Purifier sisters?"
"What if there's an accidental injury? Tsk tsk tsk, this way of dying is as absurd as Emperor Liu being arrested by city management for selling straw sandals, leading to the collapse of the Han restoration midway."
"Please take back your words! My excellent Master is not to be insulted by you! Otherwise..." Hearing Wichita's disdain for Jiang Jiang, Sirius immediately raised her cannon at Wichita. The dark muzzle and resolute voice gave people a feeling of being ready to fight to the death at any moment.
"Oh?" The moment Sirius raised her cannon, Wichita's eyes narrowed, and her aura instantly erupted, like the eye of a typhoon, sweeping up a fierce storm.
The terrifying pressure did not shake Sirius. The situation between the two sides suddenly became tense, forming a stalemate. At this moment, a voice came from Sirius's earpiece, and Sirius nodded repeatedly.
"Yes, yes, Master." Sirius put away her cannon, and Wichita also relaxed her expression. The imminent stalemate eased.
"My Master wants me to tell you that a soldier can speak of honor, even a great general can speak of honor, but a Commander cannot. To show one's bravery and risk being decapitated, this is foolishness..." Sirius repeated word for word.
"So that's how it is? I'm sorry, it's my..."
"But the most important thing is, five minutes is almost up, run quickly, run as far as you can... Oh, is this line not needed?" Sirius paused mid-sentence and asked the person on the other end of the earpiece.
"...Your Commander..." The apology and respect for Jiang Jiang that had just appeared on Wichita's face instantly vanished. For a moment, she didn't know what expression to make.
"Okay, yes, my Master wants to ask if the previous time should be reset?" Looking at Sirius expressionlessly uttering such vastly contrasting words, even Wichita at this moment felt a complex emotion, like a mouthful of old complaints stuck in her throat, unable to be spat out.
"...You may." Wichita waved her hand, letting Sirius leave. Watching Sirius's rapidly speeding figure, Wichita couldn't help but become curious about the Master Sirius spoke of. What kind of eccentric person was he?
Wichita shook her head and focused her attention on the upcoming test. No matter what, she could finally stretch her muscles. A hearty battle was what she wanted. With a wanton smile, Wichita's interrupted fighting spirit reignited.
Five minutes later, Wichita set off on time. Without needing to observe closely, Wichita spotted Sirius, who was almost completely unconcealed. Her evaluation of the opposing Commander dropped another notch, but at the same time, she became wary.
Wichita indeed had the potential of a general. Facing Jiang Jiang's unusual command, evaluation was evaluation, but Wichita did not underestimate him.
In a remote sea area not far from Sirius's location, Jiang Jiang secretly popped his head out. The condition for passing this time was to endure under the examiner for half an hour.
This passing condition could be said to be very difficult. With Wichita's firepower, even if she held back in the assessment, Sirius and Dido couldn't withstand many shots.
"Dido, have you arrived?"
"Yes... Master, Dido has arrived at the destination."
"Alright, proceed as planned."
All three simultaneously turned on their tactical goggles, and a new world immediately came into view.
The Omni-Tactical Goggles were a technology Jiang Jiang developed to address the shortcomings of Sirius and Dido. They were the culmination of dozens of detection technologies, including infrared detection, ultra-long-range vision, shared vision, and electromagnetic field locking, almost encompassing all the functions and advantages of all detectors in this world.
Most importantly, they possessed a shooting correction function: by connecting to an intelligent brain, the intelligent brain used the equipment on the tactical goggles to perform large-scale calculations, lock onto targets, and then... in layman's terms, it was a real-life auto-aiming goggle.
Since a direct shootout couldn't be won, then "use technology," Jiang Jiang declared, "Although I can't hold out, it doesn't stop me from directly eliminating the examiner! That's also passing!"
Wichita, who was charging towards Sirius, suddenly heard a cannon shot. Sirius had fired. Shells whistled towards Wichita.
Facing the incoming barrage, Wichita merely crouched down, then stomped hard, dodging all the shells with a lateral movement. Then, she raised her hand and fired a shot back.
"Bang!" Water splashed dozens of meters high on the sea surface. The scorching heat and impact could be felt even through the goggles.
"Sirius! Are you okay?" Jiang Jiang, through the shared vision of the tactical goggles, witnessed Sirius being hit and immediately became anxious.
"Cough cough, I'm fine, Master, it's just moderate damage." As the smoke cleared, Sirius's slightly disheveled appearance was revealed.
"Moderate damage and you're fine?! Start moving immediately! The goggles should have collected enough data by now. From now on, she won't be able to hit you with a single shot!" Jiang Jiang commanded anxiously. Although he had given Sirius the equipment with the highest durability bonus, seeing Sirius get hit, Jiang Jiang instantly felt some regret.
"No need to worry, Master, everything is within the plan. This is already the smallest price to pay. After all..." Sirius looked at the subtitles in front of her, reassuring Jiang Jiang with full confidence.
"Ballistic trajectory analyzing... Correcting..."
Wichita felt a little disappointed when she saw Sirius get hit. Just one more shot, and the assessment would be over. This was too boring... Wichita thought to herself.
At this moment, Sirius began to accelerate at full speed. Oh? Trying to avoid shelling by moving at high speed? It's a correct approach, but unfortunately, correct doesn't mean useful.
While moving, it wasn't just Wichita whose hit rate was lowered, but also Sirius's.
For Wichita, hitting a moving target was indeed more difficult, but with her extensive combat experience, Wichita would quickly adapt.
Three minutes, three minutes would be enough to completely deal with you, Wichita sentenced Sirius to death in her heart. As for being hit by Sirius, Wichita hadn't even considered it, after all, the training level gap was too large.
Moreover, the 'top-heavy' nature of the Dido-class light cruisers, and the issue of their observations being easily interfered with, were well-known.
"It's over!" Wichita raised her gun turret, aimed, and fired.
But at this moment, Sirius showed no panic, because the text on her screen finally changed to "Analysis complete, correction finished." The firing trajectory of Wichita's gun turret was marked in thick red lines in her scope, while Sirius's own was green.
Looking at the lines before her, drawn as if by the hand of God, Sirius's admiration for Jiang Jiang reached new heights. Truly... my omnipotent Master—Sirius, made even more beautiful by you!
"My proud Master, please lend me strength!"
"Let's decide it with this one strike!"
"Bang! Bang!" The sound of both sides' artillery firing rang out simultaneously, creating one large and one small splash. "Whoosh! Whoosh!" Two figures burst out of the water curtain; the bright red figure was disheveled, her clothes in disarray, looking very much in a sorry state.
"This, this, this! How is this possible?!" Wichita looked utterly bewildered, and with the ash on her face, she momentarily appeared somewhat adorable.
In that last exchange of fire, Sirius's shells had landed squarely on her, while none of her own shells had hit. This strong contrast was beyond Wichita's expectation. Could it be... luck?
"Damn it, have I been infected by Atlanta and Vincennes recently?" Wichita regrouped and started a new round of firing.
However, what Wichita didn't know was... "Beep! Artillery warning! Please turn left seventeen degrees, decelerate for three seconds, then turn right ninety degrees, full speed ahead..." Sirius followed each instruction precisely.
In the next three minutes, guided by the intelligent brain's analysis, Sirius seemed to have activated a 'physics-based precognition cheat,' dodging Wichita's artillery fire again and again, forcing Wichita to become a master of 'drawing outlines.'
"Damn it, damn it, what's wrong with this Sirius!" At this point, Wichita, who had always been full of fighting spirit, finally reached her breaking point.
Is it because of that scope? But I've never heard of any scope that could achieve such a feat.
Although Wichita's mindset was somewhat shattered, her combat rationality was still intact, and her keen combat intuition made her vaguely sense that something was amiss.
If Jiang Jiang knew her thoughts at this moment, he would also be full of praise: As expected of a Ship Girl with the potential of a general, truly living up to her reputation.
At this moment, Wichita's pupils contracted. Sirius turned around, raised her hand, and "Bang bang bang!" Wichita was enveloped in artillery fire.
"Whoosh!" Wichita rushed out, continuing to pursue Sirius, but she looked even more disheveled.
"It's happening again, that kind of shelling that feels like everything is seen through. It's truly outrageous!" Wichita wiped the ash from her face and said indignantly.
"In that case, then..." Wichita suddenly accelerated, charging towards Sirius recklessly.
As long as she got close enough to Sirius for close-range combat, even an intelligent brain wouldn't be able to help Sirius dodge the artillery, because even if the software kept up, the hardware couldn't, and there was nothing that could be done about that.
"Master, Wichita is charging up." Sirius moved slightly, aligning her gun turret's firing trajectory with the correction lines in her scope, and with a wave of her hand, another shell struck Wichita, but Wichita was already ignoring it.
"Ah, as expected." Jiang Jiang sighed, looking at the synchronized view transmitted by Sirius. She was still too weak; otherwise, with an almost 100% hit rate, how could she still be chased and only able to flee? If the torpedoes could hit, that would be great.
Because torpedoes were too slow, even if aimed, Wichita could dodge their trajectory before they arrived. So Jiang Jiang did not let Sirius make any more futile attempts.
"Dido, go!" Finally, Dido, who had been waiting for a long time, joined the battle. Jiang Jiang, who habitually kept a trump card, couldn't help but be glad for his caution. Otherwise, he might not have been able to pass this second stage.
If Wichita, who was now fighting with her back against the wall, were to hear Jiang Jiang's thoughts, she would probably wish to send her regards to Jiang Jiang's face with her main guns.
One must know that Wichita considered herself a veteran, having retired from the front line because an old friend needed help. Yet, in a test for a new Commander, she was not only forced to use her full strength but, more importantly, she still lost! This made Wichita feel like she had lived in vain.
"For the Master's glory!" Dido rapidly approached Sirius, and Sirius also charged towards Dido. The sea chase continued.
Wichita looked at the approaching Sirius. "Bang!" She took another hit, but at this distance, it was enough! Wichita raised her gun turret, aiming at Sirius, who was right in front of her.
"Fin..."
"Bang!" A cannon fired, smoke billowed, and a Ship Girl emerged; it was Sirius. She quickly put distance between them.
"Cough cough! What was that?!" As the smoke cleared, Wichita was already tottering. That last shot wasn't hers; instead, she had been staggered by it, and her firing was interrupted.
Wichita looked towards where the artillery fire came from, a somewhat familiar figure, a Royal Maid! Seeing the black scope the Maid was wearing, Wichita immediately blurted out.
"A second one!?" Looking at Dido, who held a greatsword, Wichita shook her head and said with a wry smile, "It seems I've been played, haven't I? To have two ultra-rare Royal Maids, and to have hidden them until now, truly a formidable Commander!"
"However, I won't just surrender like this. Come on! Let's decide this!" Wichita raised her gun turret and laughed heartily... Sirius and Dido played a 'Seaside Ode to Joy' with their artillery, after which Wichita fell without suspense.
Wichita lay on the sea, exhausted, watching Sirius and Dido disappear into the distance. "Sigh, the result is... a thorough defeat! It's just that I didn't even get to see the face of that marvelous Commander in the end, truly..." After lying there for a long time, Wichita's communicator suddenly rang. Wichita slowly took it out and connected, saying impatiently, "Who is it?"
"It's me, Wichita. Why does your voice sound strange?"
"Oh, it's you, Hood. I'm just a bit annoyed, that's all."
"Heh heh, you must be bored, right? Don't worry, we've found an interesting Commander here. He should be with you soon, so keep a close eye on him."
"...Not now, I just got heavily damaged." Wichita frowned and said slowly.
"What?!" Hood was startled by Wichita's words.
"You were heavily damaged? How is that possible? Was there some accident? Could it be Se..." Hood knew Wichita's strength. On the front line, Wichita's superb combat power and leadership were quite famous.
"No! It was... it was a new Commander who heavily damaged me!" Wichita interrupted, her voice filled with shame.
"..." Hood was too shocked to speak at this point, not even teasing Wichita for her rare fit of pique.
"...What exactly happened?"
"It's like this..."
Afterwards, Wichita explained the entire situation in detail, while Hood mostly listened quietly, only asking for some specifics.
"...In short, that's what happened. It's a pity I didn't even get to see the Commander's face." Wichita ended her words with a hint of curiosity and regret, but Hood remained silent for a long time.
Hood looked at the others in the conference room and slowly said, "Everyone, it's him, isn't it?" The other Ship Girls, hearing Hood's words, also snapped out of their shock.
"Sirius and Dido, it's definitely him." A Dragon Empery Ship Girl with a cyan single ponytail and dragon horns replied; it was Anshan.
"Mm." Hood recalled Wichita's words: the miraculous hit rate, the unexpected ambush, and not revealing himself until the very end. What kind of monster was this Jiang Jiang? From this information, this little guy was truly a cunning, cautious, and mysterious rabbit.
"Things are becoming uncertain now," Hood murmured to herself.
Meanwhile, Jiang Jiang was happily heading to the final sea area to find his long-awaited "treasure."