When Lin Lan saw the petite mecha girl's blue, electronically generated eyes, he immediately guessed a possibility.
Previously, when Lieyun entrusted him with its final request, it had also scanned him from head to toe with its blue electronic gaze.
"I'm afraid that at that moment, Lieyun used some method to fabricate an identity for me and uploaded it to the military database of the Overlord Mecha network, so I could smoothly take its captain away..."
Recalling the details of Lieyun's actions, Lin Lan felt his deduction was probably accurate.
After all, the military database of the Orlan Federation had long been completely destroyed after the Siren Disaster and the Zhuhai Commercial Guild's betrayal.
How could he, Lin Lan, still hold such a high-level identity in a database that no longer existed?
Now, the only question was whether this girl was truly "Sui Qiong" or if she was Lieyun's captain, "Qiong Ying."
After organizing his thoughts, Lin Lan cautiously stepped forward, intending to test whether the girl's words were true and that she wouldn't attack him.
His bold move immediately put the Iron Blood shipgirls on high alert. Even Roon and Blücher took a step forward, intending to stop him.
At such close range, they weren't confident they could protect the commander from an attack by this mysterious girl.
However, the petite and adorable white-haired mecha girl did not resist Lin Lan's approach at all.
She simply allowed him to gently pat her small head, even narrowing her eyes in apparent contentment.
Seeing this, Prinz Eugen, who was ready to activate her Unbreakable Shield through her shipborne dragon, finally let out a sigh of relief.
As expected of their commander—daring to risk his life to flirt with a girl. He was truly impossible to deal with.
Now that he was up close, Lin Lan noticed that beneath the girl's fair skin, there were numerous small scars.
Her metallic armor also bore many dents and slash marks.
Clearly, this Overlord Mecha girl had been through quite a few battles before encountering them.
"Come over, everyone. She really doesn't mean any harm."
After patting her head, Lin Lan attempted to take the girl's hand.
When he confirmed that she only tilted her head in confusion and didn't resist, he finally relaxed and beckoned to the Iron Blood shipgirls.
Soon, the cute Overlord Mecha girl was surrounded by the shipgirls, being closely examined like a delicate doll.
Feeling uncomfortable being encircled by so many shipgirls, the mecha girl timidly moved closer to Lin Lan.
Lin Lan simply smiled and wrapped an arm around the white-haired girl, who barely reached his chest, comforting her like a child.
Upon witnessing this scene, all the Iron Blood shipgirls felt a chill in their hearts.
"Oh no... Are we getting another rival for the commander?"
Sensing the sudden tension among them, Lin Lan quickly cleared his throat and said:
"We should focus on finding the node and leaving the Mirror Sea. The smell of corpses around here is unbearable."
With that, Lin Lan turned to the Overlord Mecha girl and, in a gentle tone, asked:
"Sui Qiong, have you seen any other Overlord Mechas like yourself around here?"
"Reporting to the commander: among the Overlord Mechas deployed to this location, only Sui Qiong remains combat-capable."
Hearing her response, Lin Lan sighed.
So, this mecha girl really wasn't Qiong Ying, the captain Lieyun had been looking for.
And if what she said was true, that she was the only Overlord Mecha left in this area, then Qiongying's fate was likely grim.
"Have you seen any... military forces resembling marine creatures nearby?"
Lin Lan tried to describe the Sirens' appearance, but Sui Qiong seemed unable to comprehend his description and simply shook her head.
"That's strange. This place doesn't look like it has a Mirror Sea node at all. Could it be that the Purifier tricked me just to mess with me?"
After ordering the Iron Blood shipgirls to search the area, they, too, found no sign of a Mirror Sea node.
Recalling the Purifier's smug grin, Lin Lan couldn't help but curse:
"That bastard! It even knows how to lie now!"
"Commander, should we have her fly up and scout the city from above?"
Prinz Eugen, noticing Sui Qiong's blue mechanical wings, suggested thoughtfully.
Lin Lan immediately realized this was a great idea. He had regretted not bringing a carrier shipgirl to deploy reconnaissance aircraft.
But now, they had Sui Qiong, who could fly.
So he turned to the petite girl clinging to his hand and asked:
"Sui Qiong, could I ask you to fly up and check for any unusual structures in the area?"
Hearing his request, Sui Qiong gave a small nod and gently withdrew her hand from his grasp.
"High-altitude reconnaissance mission confirmed. Commander, please retreat to a safe distance."
As soon as she spoke, Lin Lan quickly stepped back with the shipgirls, moving several dozen meters away.
Then, Sui Qiong's wings emitted a brief preheat glow before a powerful jet of air propelled her into the sky.
The massive energy blade she had previously summoned also ascended with her.
Watching Sui Qiong shrink into a tiny black dot in the sky, Prinz Eugen approached Lin Lan and teased with a smirk:
"My, my, commander. I must say, your charm is quite something. You've only known this girl for a few minutes, and she's already so obedient to you."
Sensing the hint of jealousy in Eugen's tone, Lin Lan let out an awkward chuckle.
"Actually, it was the previous Overlord Mecha that fabricated an identity for me. Do you really think I have some kind of harem protagonist aura that makes me irresistible?"
"That's not entirely impossible, commander. You are quite charming, after all."
Eugen smiled, but then suddenly leaned in close. Her usual playful demeanor faded, replaced by a serious expression as she whispered:
"But, commander... have you noticed something strange?"
"We shipgirls exist because of the technology derived from Wisdom Cubes. But how could the Orlan Federation possibly have the ability to turn Overlord Mechas into girls?"
Lin Lan's eyes widened in realization.
How had he overlooked such a crucial detail?
The birth of shipgirls was simple in theory—just consume a Wisdom Cube in the game, and they would join the base.
But the reality was far more complex.
Whether it was the Big World Archive's occasional mentions of humanity's decades-long research into Wisdom Cubes in the shipgirls' origin world...
Or the fact that, after coming to this world, he had never encountered a single real shipgirl outside of chess-piece variants.
It all proved one thing—shipgirls could not be created in this alternate world without genuine Wisdom Cubes.
And if shipgirls couldn't be created, then Overlord Mechas turning into mecha girls would have been even more impossible.
Even during Orlan's golden age, no such thing had ever existed.
So then—how exactly had Sui Qiong come into existence?
What was her true origin?
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