After breakfast, Cleveland led the Knights of the Sea to patrol the waters, deploying their riggings for escort duty.
Independence and Intrepid also launched their carrier-based aircraft for reconnaissance.
Because they weren't following the regular sea routes, the surrounding waters were completely empty—no merchant or passenger ships in sight.
"Since Saratoga ordered you all to return to headquarters, does that mean comrades from other military bases are also heading back during this period?"
Lin Lan sat on the sofa in the cabin, gently stroking the sleeping Laffey's small head while flipping through the comics and magazines that Columbia and Denver had left for him on the table.
He casually asked South Dakota, who was sitting beside him.
"Of course. Once everyone's back, we can return to the old port with the Commander."
South Dakota was flawlessly carrying out the task Saratoga had assigned to her, keeping a constant eye on Lin Lan.
"Originally, Enterprise and the others planned to head to the Western Continent to assist you on behalf of the Eagle Union, but they were blocked halfway by the Arbiter Organization and were forced to turn back."
"What did you say? Enterprise and the others encountered the Arbiter Organization? Which one?"
Lin Lan immediately grew alert upon hearing that name.
Helena META had previously mentioned it too—the Arbiter Organization had expelled all of his META shipgirls from this world.
Although both were Sirens, the Arbiter and the Test Units were different branches—the Arbiters were specialized for combat, and their overwhelming power had been demonstrated in the game's monthly hard operations.
"It was Strength VIII. But don't worry, Commander. According to Enterprise, Strength VIII didn't show much hostility toward them. In fact, she even destroyed a Tester."
What South Dakota said caused Lin Lan to fall into thought.
Arbiter: Strength VIII. He certainly remembered that black-skinned, silver-haired Arbiter.
As a heavy cruiser class, she not only possessed terrifying main gun firepower, but also had a dreadful ability to control gravity.
More importantly, in the game, the true power of the Arbiter Organization had yet to be fully revealed.
"Why would the Arbiter Organization attack the Testers…"
South Dakota wasn't the type of shipgirl to joke around, and Lin Lan couldn't wrap his head around why the two major Siren branches would be infighting.
And why were they preventing Eagle Union shipgirls from heading to the Western Continent?
He simply couldn't figure out the Arbiter Organization's motives in this world—he lacked too much intel.
The only thing he could be certain of was what Helena META had told him—the Arbiter Organization held a strong obsession with META shipgirls, and would attack immediately upon detection.
Previously, the META shipgirls from his port had scattered across the world to search for him, which gave the Arbiters a chance to take them out one by one.
If he wanted to protect the META shipgirls in the future, he would inevitably have to battle the Arbiter Organization.
"Well, for now, the infighting within the Sirens is actually good news for us. First, we need to make sure all factions return to the port.
Only then will we have the strength to confront the Arbiters."
After thinking it over for a while, Lin Lan came to a conclusion.
Although the Arbiters hadn't fully displayed their strength in the game, he had already broken through the limitation of needing four full fleets to challenge them.
When it came down to a real battle, he could use swarm tactics. The Arbiter Organization might not actually be a match for his port.
So the top priority was still to get all the factions back together.
The majority of the day passed peacefully.
The Siren fleet assault Lin Lan had imagined never appeared. Instead, Cleveland and the others sank a number of idle Siren Type I mass-production ships along the way.
While passing through the route, they even rescued two long-range passenger ships that had been surrounded by Siren Enforcer Type I units.
Lin Lan approved of this kind of rescue operation—not at all because both passenger ships bore the Tian'ou Group logo.
However, upon seeing those two ships, Lin Lan was reminded that once he reached the artificial island in New Ocean, he needed to get a phone.
He still had to use his hidden identity as a board member of the Tian'ou Group to stir up some trouble for the Tianou Conglomerate in the Eastern Continent.
He was much more familiar with the Eastern Continent than the West—after all, he had spent his first year after transmigrating at the Maple Leaf Naval Academy in the Eastern Continent.
As the sun slowly dipped below the horizon, Lin Lan couldn't help but recall the past year he spent in the Eastern Continent.
New Ocean City wasn't far from the academy's city, Red Maple.
It was already the end of the year, and Lin Lan calculated that if he stayed in the Eastern Continent until next year's term started, he might even be able to attend the academy's graduation ceremony.
After dining with the others on the dinner Independence had prepared, night had completely cloaked the sea outside the ship.
Just as Lin Lan breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the day would pass without incident, a deafening explosion rang out from outside the cabin.
Which meant, of course, things would not go as he hoped.
"That was a main battery bombardment?!"
Lin Lan jumped up from the sofa. Intrepid's voice quickly followed from outside:
"Detected a large number of Siren Type III mass-production ships and Enforcer fleets to our rear port quarter! And… What is that? A Compiler!"
Hearing what Intrepid had discovered via aircraft reconnaissance, Lin Lan clenched his fists.
A Siren Type III fleet with a Compiler among them—this kind of fleet scale had only ever been seen in Yunhai City.
They'd never attacked Orlan this directly before.
If they weren't after him, who were they after?
Clearly, the Observer wouldn't let him go so easily.
"Everyone! Join me in fighting for the moon and the Commander! Laffey, stay here with South Dakota and protect the Commander!"
With Benson's declaration of battle, the four little chibis of the Benson-class left the cabin and deployed their riggings.
Lin Lan also led South Dakota and Laffey to the edge of the mass-production destroyer.
Under the starlit sky, he could even see the firelight from the Siren fleet's cannon fire behind them and the dogfights breaking out in the sky.
Even at this distance and under the cover of night, Lin Lan could still make out the faint blue glow in the distance.
Without a doubt, that was the energy shield of the Compiler's massive rigging.
He couldn't help but recall that moment when they locked eyes on the passenger ship.
"Don't get bogged down—fight while retreating."
"Benson, use torpedoes to block the Siren Explorers' path. Independence, divert two aircraft toward the artificial island to scout. We must make sure we're not surrounded!"
"Hobby, once you've launched your torpedoes, scout directly ahead with a water reconnaissance plane—make sure there's no Siren submarine ambush!"
Using the communicator South Dakota handed him, Lin Lan quickly issued orders to the Eagle Union shipgirls.
"Independence, received!"
"Leave it to Hobby~!"
Recalling that in the game, the Compiler—a submarine aircraft carrier class—possessed a massive Siren submarine fleet, Lin Lan had to prepare for everything.
Intrepid and Independence's aircraft obviously couldn't match the sheer numbers of the Siren fleet.
Soon, Lin Lan could see the enemy carrier-based aircraft approaching into visual range in the night sky.
He could even imagine that a Siren air wing of this scale could wipe out a city in seconds.
And yet, Lin Lan had no concern for his or the Eagle Union girls' safety, because...
"It's about time—everyone, on my mark! Fire!"
With Cleveland's valiant command blaring over the communicator, an ear-piercing storm of gunfire suddenly tore through the night sea.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
In an instant, the Knights of the Sea, hidden beneath the darkness, and the Benson-class chibis all lit up with bursts of radiant fire from their rigging.
Their anti-air guns had opened fire.
A torrent of dense anti-air bullets lit up the sky like flowing fire. The black clouds from the shell explosions even blotted out the stars.
In moments, the sky-swarming Siren aircraft vanished like snowflakes, reduced to fireballs crashing into the sea under the intense anti-air barrage.
Within just a few breaths, the massive Siren carrier wing had been annihilated. Only a few scattered survivors managed to escape Cleveland and the others' anti-air range.
Just as Lin Lan had expected.
That's right—compared to the Ironblood faction, which lacked strong anti-air capabilities, the Eagle Union's AA strength was second to none.
Led by Cleveland, the Cleveland-class light cruiser Knights of the Sea not only had exceptional anti-air stats, but every single one of them had skills like [AA Mode] or other abilities that enhanced their AA power.
With gold-tier anti-air guns equipped, each one of them boasted staggering AA attributes.
Even South Dakota, standing right beside him, possessed incredibly high AA stats.
Against the full-on AA barrage from the gold-equipped Eagle Union shipgirls, if any Siren aircraft still managed to get through and harm him, Lin Lan figured he might as well give up trying to run tonight.
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50 advanced chapters on p@t re on (.) com/SenatusTheta
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