As they gradually approached the location of the cargo ship wreck that Feng Tao had mentioned, the number of mass-produced Sirens also began to increase.
These mass-produced Sirens, unlike humanoid Arbiters, would not retreat or lay low when things looked unfavorable.
Instead, they would attack mindlessly as soon as an enemy entered their range.
Under Lin Lan's orders, Z23, Mainz, and the others didn't fire directly but used torpedoes to covertly destroy the mass-produced Sirens that posed a threat to the Pawn shipgirls.
Sure enough, this tactic did not arouse suspicion from Lu Yangshu or Qi Yue.
After all, judging by appearance alone, it was hard to distinguish their torpedoes from those of the Pawn shipgirls.
As a result, during this brief and uneventful skirmish with a small number of mass-produced Siren warships, the Pawn shipgirls avoided taking any serious damage.
Lin Lan and his team proceeded forward smoothly.
Due to the cargo ship attack, all routes from Dong Dalu to Lanjiang City had been suspended, and they encountered no civilian long-range vessels along the way.
"Looking at the map, we should be arriving at the cargo ship's wreck site soon."
Around 2 p.m., Lu Yangshu pulled out his tablet and said to Lin Lan and Qi Yue, the tablet displaying a map of the surrounding sea.
"What happens if we go back without finding anything?"
Lin Lan looked out at the empty sea around them and asked curiously.
They had entered deep-sea territory.
The cargo ship's signal had disappeared the night before, and since then, none of the shipgirls under Feng Tao's escort had returned.
Having previously experienced a Siren attack aboard a passenger ship, Lin Lan understood very well what this likely meant.
Now that they had only just arrived, there was a high probability they would find nothing.
"Even if we discover nothing, the rewards we're entitled to won't be withheld. We just need to clear out the remaining Sirens in the area and ensure safe passage for future traffic."
It was Qi Yue who answered Lin Lan, her gaze calm as she looked out over the vast, endless ocean.
This was exactly why, despite the high salaries, the Tian'ou Conglomerate struggled every year to recruit enough crew members.
Because once an accident happened in Siren-controlled waters, survival was nearly impossible.
Even with submersible escape pods, the odds of evading Siren pursuit were slim to none.
After hearing Qi Yue's words, Lin Lan let out a silent sigh.
He had originally thought that the two accompanying commanders would have submarine shipgirls tasked with diving to salvage the wreckage.
But clearly, he had overestimated the capabilities of the pseudo-Wisdom Cube.
It looked like he'd have to wait until these two were gone before letting the Wolfpack dive and search, to see if any of Feng Tao's sunken Pawn shipgirls could still be located.
The reason he didn't act now was twofold.
First, clearing the current mass-produced Sirens didn't require the Wolfpack's involvement, and the two commanders still didn't know that U-81 and the others were submarine shipgirls.
Second, he didn't want to keep making up stories to explain the existence of submarine shipgirls.
After all, it wasn't exactly believable to claim that shipgirls had been so affected by Siren power that their ship type had changed entirely.
They remained in this wide expanse of sea under the clear sky for over two hours.
Other than sinking a few mass-produced Siren cruisers, they found nothing—just as expected.
"All right, let's head back. We've... done all we could."
As the sun began to dip westward in the sky, Lu Yangshu was the first to speak, his tone heavy.
Qi Yue and Lin Lan both nodded slightly in agreement.
Over the past two hours, they had basically finished searching the area around the location Feng Tao had provided.
Unfortunately, neither the cargo ship nor the shipgirls were ever coming back.
"Lin, you'll need to get used to this sort of thing. Your port is close to this route, so rescue missions like this might become a regular task for you in the future."
Seeing his junior looking downcast over not finding any survivors, Lu Yangshu walked over to Lin Lan to offer some encouragement.
"I know. Thank you, senior, for the encouragement. I just... can't quite accept it yet..."
While Lin Lan wasn't exactly overwhelmed with grief, neither was the sadness he showed on his face entirely fake.
After receiving Lu Yangshu's encouragement, Lin Lan pulled himself together, and like a young man brimming with resolve, clenched his fists and said through gritted teeth:
"One day, I'll take back the seas, and let Orlan's flag fly freely across the waves."
His words not only took Lu Yangshu by surprise, but even Qi Yue looked at him twice in astonishment.
"Good lad. Don't you forget what you just said."
Lu Yangshu gave Lin Lan a hard slap on the shoulder, a look of appreciation in his eyes.
Just as they were giving the retreat order to their respective shipgirls and preparing to return...
Suddenly, Lin Lan felt an intense sense of danger surge up from within.
"Commander! Enemy attack! Underwater!"
A cry of alarm rang out from one of the shipgirls, and Lin Lan and the others saw seven or eight thick, dark green tentacles suddenly emerge from the sea around their yacht!
The movement from the appearance of the tentacles triggered a massive wave, and in an instant, it struck the small yacht beneath them, making it teeter on the verge of capsizing!
Almost the moment those algae-covered dark green tentacles surfaced, all the Pawn shipgirls simultaneously opened fire.
"Boom boom boom!"
Small-caliber shells and torpedoes all struck the tentacles directly, but they failed to inflict any visible damage.
The tentacles thrashed wildly, a terrifying sight to behold.
"What the hell is that thing?!"
Lu Yangshu was thrown to the ground by the violent wave, tumbling dizzily and clutching the nearby stair railing for dear life.
It took him a while to steady himself before he could shout in shock.
Qi Yue was in even worse shape. Caught completely off guard, she lost her balance under the sudden impact and slid toward the edge of the yacht.
Fortunately, a strong arm grabbed her by the arm just in time, keeping her from being tossed into the sea due to the yacht's sudden tilt.
Looking up, Qi Yue saw her junior—Lin Lan—gripping a fixed dining table with one hand while catching her with the other.
Fortunately, the wave hadn't completely overturned the yacht. After tilting dangerously, it quickly regained its balance.
"Leviathan…"
Lin Lan paid no attention to the grateful look in Qi Yue's eyes.
After letting go of her, he stared at the massive sea tentacles around them, which resembled the limbs of a demon, and softly uttered the name.
Back when he was transferred from the Ironblood Fortress to Lihu County, he had already encountered this sea monster—one that should only appear in the deep trenches of the Theocracy.
After letting Leviathan escape that time, he had searched for information about the creature online whenever he had internet access.
After all, anything that defied common sense was bound to have something abnormal behind it.
He had long suspected that this creature, which should never have appeared in the Orlan Sea, was almost certainly connected to the Sirens.
It was just that he hadn't heard any more reports of Leviathan sightings in recent times, which led him to gradually dismiss that encounter as a fluke.
But now, it was clear—the cause of many maritime accidents had probably been attributed to the Sirens, when in truth, Leviathan had never even left the Orlan Sea!
"Boom boom boom…"
The attacks from the mass-produced pawn shipgirls were like tickles to Leviathan, completely ineffective.
Having already witnessed what happened when pawns faced Leviathan, Lin Lan had no expectation of them being able to repel it.
He rushed to the edge of the yacht and shouted loudly toward the water below, where three members of the Wolfpack and Weser had already dived in:
"Don't hold back—attack the tentacles with everything you've got! Force that monster's body to the surface!"
Seeing the three cute little chibis, each riding a shark-shaped rig, give him an "OK" hand sign underwater, Lin Lan finally turned back.
Qi Yue and Lu Yangshu, both disheveled, were just now struggling to stand.
Their faces pale, they stared at the terrifying, writhing sea tentacles around them, stunned into silence.
"Just now… thank you."
Seeing Lin Lan walk back, Qi Yue, pale-faced, expressed her gratitude.
"Don't thank me yet. Get the yacht out of the tentacles' attack range—we're still not out of danger."
In the face of such a crisis, Lin Lan could no longer keep up his act.
Sweeping aside his previous speaking style, he spoke with concise decisiveness, then turned to Lu Yangshu:
"Senior Lu, get your shipgirls out of the tentacle range. My shipgirls are better at close combat and more agile. Just have your shipgirls provide cover from the rear."
He dared to say this because, while issuing orders to the Wolfpack, he had already assessed the situation.
Including Miss Nimi, the three Z-class destroyer chibis were all able to perfectly dodge the tentacles' sweeps and slams—and with apparent ease.
The same couldn't be said for the other pawn shipgirls, who lacked that level of mobility and reflexes.
Within seconds, two of them had already been seriously injured by Leviathan's tentacles.
"But…"
Lu Yangshu hesitated, clearly wanting to object, but Lin Lan immediately cut him off:
"No 'buts.' If you don't want your shipgirls to get hurt, just do what I said. That goes for you too, Senior Qi Yue."
The decisive aura radiating from Lin Lan at that moment was entirely different from before. It inexplicably put both of them at ease.
After exchanging glances, Lu Yangshu and Qi Yue chose to trust Lin Lan and quickly ran to the first level of the yacht to take their positions.
After all, both of them were experienced port commanders who had seen their fair share of battles with the Sirens.
In a crisis like this, they were naturally better at keeping calm than the average person.
"Damn it… If only the main fleet were here, we could've captured this Leviathan on the spot and brought it back as a live specimen."
Seeing the two leave, Lin Lan walked back to the edge of the slowly turning yacht, thinking to himself.
The pawn shipgirls were already retreating in an orderly fashion. The three Z-class chibis were each handling two to three tentacles with zero pressure.
Those enormous, ugly, dark green tentacles struck with monstrous force each time they slammed down.
But under the effective restraint of the silver-haired Z-class flagship Z1, the expressionless and devious Z2, and Miss Nimi in her little blue cap, the tentacles' movements looked clumsy and sluggish.
It was important to note that the Wolfpack had a buff for coordinated strikes, and the Z-class destroyers had their own as well.
The stylish and confident silver-haired chibi Z1, as the leader of the Z-class destroyers, had a unique team-enhancing skill: Z-type Vanguard.
As long as she was present, she could greatly boost the shelling and mobility attributes of nearby Z-class destroyers.
And most Ironblood Z-class destroyers already had armor-piercing mastery skills by default.
With Z1's buffs, their agility and firepower reached impressive levels—especially for destroyer-class shipgirls.
This made the entire sea battlefield into a perfect stage for the three Z-class chibis.
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50 advanced chapters on p@t re on (.) com/SenatusTheta
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