Leading the group was a petite orange-haired chibi with a single ponytail, wearing glasses and a sleeveless Eagle Union sailor uniform—it was none other than Fletcher, who had helped Lin Lan tremendously the night before.
Following behind Fletcher were two girls Lin Lan had a strong impression of among the Fletcher-class: Kimberly and Mullany.
Both of them had previously served as destroyer shipgirls under the Eagle Union faction before transferring to Dragon Empery on Blue Star.
Like them, the warm and cheerful little investigator from Eagle Union, Bristol, was also a destroyer transferred later to Dragon Empery.
As a result, they each had Dragon Empery-style outfits, although today Kimberly and Mullany were dressed in their usual Eagle Union attire.
"Commander~ good morning!"
Despite her chibi appearance, the mature-sounding Fletcher cheerfully greeted Lin Lan alongside her two younger sisters.
"Good morning, Fletcher. And good morning to you too, Kimberly and Mullany. Where are you all heading?"
Lin Lan smiled as he patted Fletcher's head, then waved at the two girls who were much taller and appeared more mature than their elder sister.
He also noticed that besides the three of them, the five other little chibis of the Fletcher-class Little Beaver Squad were approaching under the leadership of their captain, Charles.
"It's like this, Commander. Today it's our turn to do the daily patrol of the island."
Mullany replied with a smile, her cheeks slightly flushed as she added,
"Commander, um… ever since you left, I haven't skipped a single day of practicing Dragon Empery cuisine.
Would you like to come try some authentic Dragon Empery food tonight?"
Lin Lan's smile froze at her enthusiastic invitation.
Unlike the culinary goddess, Mullany truly seemed to be a master of dark cuisine.
He remembered in the game that Mullany once mentioned to him that even when following recipes exactly, the results always turned out… indescribable.
"Commander, don't believe a word my sister says. She just ruined a pot in the kitchen two days ago!"
Kimberly panicked the moment Mullany dared bring this up in front of the commander. She quickly covered her sister's mouth and shot Lin Lan a desperate look.
"Mmmf! Kimberly, don't slander me! I know I've gotten better than before!"
"Wake up! The stuff you make is not edible! It's worse than Royal Navy cuisine!"
Mullany blushed and began resisting fiercely, quickly getting into a scuffle with Kimberly.
"That's right, Commander. Back when Sister Yat Sen was still with us, things were manageable. But ever since we got separated from the Dragon Empery faction, Mullany's gotten completely out of hand. Please, don't risk your life."
Fletcher gave her two sisters a helpless smile and turned to explain the situation to Lin Lan.
"Ahem, I'll come give Mullany some personal pointers sometime."
Lin Lan chuckled as he watched the two girls wrestle. He had some confidence in his own cooking skills.
As someone from Dragon Empery, making common home dishes wasn't a problem.
If even he couldn't fix Mullany's cooking, then he'd have no choice but to wait until they reunited with the Dragon Empery faction and let Yat Sen personally train her.
"No fighting, no fighting! The justice squad Little Beavers are here! We won't allow such unjust behavior in front of the commander!"
What started as a playful scuffle between Mullany and Kimberly quickly descended into chaos when the energetic Charles Osborne arrived with her four teammates—Thatcher, Aulick, Foote, and Spence.
Of course, there was no ruling out the possibility that little troublemaker Thatcher took the chance to stir things up.
Fletcher had expected this outcome. She gave Lin Lan and Enterprise a helpless smile and said,
"Commander, you go ahead with your duties. Leave this mess to me."
Of course, Lin Lan couldn't just let Fletcher handle the chaos alone.
In the end, he joined Enterprise, Essex, and the others in scolding the rowdy little chibis, reminding them to listen carefully to Sister Fletcher.
As they parted ways with the adorable Fletcher-class destroyers, Lin Lan couldn't help but sigh:
"Taking care of so many little sisters… Fletcher really has it tough. Being an elder sister isn't easy."
After all, nearly twenty Fletcher-class chibis from the Eagle Union faction had joined his port.
Historically, there were over a hundred Fletcher-class ships.
If he went back to the old port and started building more Fletcher-class girls… Fletcher might literally work herself to death.
"Thankfully, my sisters are pretty easy to handle…"
Essex, hearing Lin Lan's complaint, couldn't help but think of her own sisters and let out a sigh of relief.
As the lead ship of the Dumpling-class, her sisters also numbered over twenty historically.
Fortunately, the four Dumpling-class sisters currently in the port were all well-behaved—and in fact, often looked after her instead.
"Not every older sister is as responsible as Fletcher. For example, my sister…"
Standing beside Enterprise, Maury smiled as she looked at her fellow-class sister—Gridley—who was busy fiddling with a camera, grinning foolishly.
"And Hammann's sister Sims always teases her. Hmph."
Hammann added her own jab at her mischievous sister.
Lin Lan chuckled. Well, clearly not every elder sister could be as reliable as Fletcher.
As they continued onward, they didn't encounter anyone else and soon arrived at the top floor via the elevator from the Eagle Union destroyer dorm.
As the elevator doors opened, Lin Lan was greeted by a silver-haired, blue-eyed little nurse in white stockings and a black frilled dress—the smiling culinary goddess herself stepped forward to greet him.
As a repair ship, she might not have been tall, but she was the epitome of a petite, well-endowed beauty.
"Commander! Welcome to your very special~ medical~ exam~ just for you!"
Embraced by the gentle nurse, Lin Lan gently patted her head and asked with a curious smile,
"I told you, I'm feeling fine. There shouldn't be any problems… So what kind of tests are on the schedule today?"
The culinary goddess released him and handed over a checklist, then turned to Enterprise with a warm tone,
"Commander's exam will take about two hours. Enterprise, please take the others to the nurse station on this floor to rest—there are snacks prepared. Leave the commander to me~"
"Mhm, I'll leave him in your care then, Goddess. Essex, everyone, follow me."
Enterprise nodded encouragingly to Lin Lan as she led the group down the corridor toward the nurse station to wait for his checkup to finish.
But as Lin Lan looked over the checklist, he started feeling that something was off.
The initial items—blood draw, eye-ear-throat checkup, CT scans—those were fine. He'd seen those back on Blue Star.
But there were others he had never heard of.
What the heck was a "Wisdom Cube Compatibility Index"?
And "Full-body Cube Energy Monitoring"? What was that?
A whole string of tests involving cube energy devices, terms he'd never encountered before, made him seriously suspect this list was meant for shipgirls—not humans.
"Um, Goddess, are you sure all of these are tests meant for me?"
Lin Lan looked uncertainty at the smiling silver-haired nurse in front of him, pointing to the list of cube-based tests.
"Yes, Commander~ Don't be nervous. Let's start with the blood draw~"
Maybe it was just his imagination, but when Lin Lan saw the syringe the Goddess pulled out from her rigging space—paired with that sweet, smiling face and squinting eyes—a suspicious thought flashed through his mind:
Could this sweet nurse… actually be hiding a dark side?
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50 advanced chapters on p@t re on (.) com/SenatusTheta
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