"What is this...?"
Lin Lan watched as the eerie black shadow entered his body, and before he could finish his sentence, an unprecedented, intense pain erupted from all directions within his body.
He collapsed to the ground, his eyes wide open, trying to scream but unable to make a sound.
Z23 and Z46 immediately rushed to support Lin Lan, who had fallen to the ground, continuously calling out his name.
They looked at Lin Lan's face and noticed that black mist, similar to that on Zhang Wei's face, was spreading inside his eyes.
At this moment, the residents from the outer district, who had arrived, also gathered around them.
Lin Lan had already closed his eyes, completely limp and unconscious.
When the nearby Liao Continent people saw Lin Lan, they suddenly screamed and recoiled, as if they had seen something incredibly terrifying, uttering panicked voices:
"What is this... this monster?" "Oh my God, what is this disgusting monster?!"
In contrast, the ordinary people of Orlan looked at these abnormal Liao Continent people with bewildered expressions, completely unable to understand what they were afraid of.
Seeing this extremely bizarre scene, Ulrich became increasingly anxious.
She never expected that something like this would happen at the very end.
If something went wrong with the commander, how would she face the other companions in the port area?
At this moment, the elderly Liao Continent man with white hair and glasses, who had left the factory and was residing in the inner district, also came to inquire.
When he saw Lin Lan being closely guarded by Ulrich and Mainz, he seemed to have seen something unbelievable and collapsed onto the ground.
The elderly Liao Continent man, ignoring the mud on his pants, trembled with a voice full of fear:
"How... how is this possible?"
Noticing the old man's reaction, Ulrich immediately handed the already unconscious Lin Lan over to Mainz and rushed to his side.
Under Ulrich's intense gaze, the old man felt as if he was suffocating.
"Tell me, what do you know?"
A terrifyingly authoritative aura emanated from Ulrich, making the air around them seem thick and sticky.
At this point, the people around finally noticed the short-haired woman in black.
They had completely failed to notice the presence of such a terrifyingly powerful ship girl next to Lin Lan before.
The elderly Liao Continent man, under Ulrich's intense gaze, swallowed hard, closed his eyes, and, with all his strength, gritted his teeth and said word by word:
"Liao Continent's Demon Army was completely defeated and sealed a thousand years ago by the hero…"
…
"Cackling, does it hurt? Are you despairing? Damn humans, do you know what you are facing? You actually dare to think of killing me?"
"Even with such powerful ship girls, you are still just a mere mortal, and you will never escape from my grasp!"
A chilling, sharp, and malicious laughter exploded in Lin Lan's mind, causing him unbearable pain and disorientation.
As he saw his girls picking him up with anxious and crying faces, Lin Lan realized he had lost control over his body.
The excruciating pain, as if being gnawed at, made him feel as if his soul was being continually shattered.
As the surroundings fell into complete darkness, Lin Lan, in this painful state, saw a twisted monster surrounded by dense black mist, with only a single red vertical eye visible, standing before him.
"So this is... your true form, monster?"
Lin Lan, enduring the pain throughout his body, looked at the monster and tried to ask with all his might.
"Heh heh, ignorant one, so be it."
The scarlet vertical eye emitted a sinister laugh, staring fixedly at the immobile Lin Lan.
"Originally, if I had killed all those Liao Continent scum, no one in this city would be able to see through the shell I possessed."
"I could have continued to accumulate power in this country, which knows nothing about my kind, and wait for the Demon King's return to the world."
"But since you had to ruin my plans and completely destroy my soul core, don't blame me."
The dense black mist surrounded Lin Lan completely, pulling him before the red vertical eye.
Under the gaze of this red vertical eye, he felt as though he was facing an ancient evil demon, feeling incredibly insignificant.
"Damn it…"
Despite the overwhelming pain, Lin Lan still struggled desperately.
But it was all in vain; he was now in his own mental world, with no one able to help him.
"Heh heh heh, I will savor your soul bit by bit, letting you know the consequences of offending me, the Supreme Leader of the Demon Army, Abbott."
The crimson vertical eye, now very close to Lin Lan, suddenly brightened, its red light shining over Lin Lan's entire body.
Just as Lin Lan, in despair, prepared to die, turning his face away from the terrifying giant eye, suddenly, the huge crimson vertical eye contracted sharply and emitted a piercing scream!
"Ah! What is this? What is this?"
With this dreadful scream, Lin Lan felt the excruciating pain suddenly ease, and the black mist binding his body vanished.
"How could a weak human like you have such immense soul power?"
"Could it be... you are... a hero? A hero! It must be! You are a hero!! And you are that damned hero from another world!!!"
Hearing the Demon Army Supreme Leader Abbott's furious roar filled with immense resentment, Lin Lan was astonished.
It... actually knew he was someone from another world!
"I must, I must eliminate you before you grow stronger! Go... die!"
With Abbott's roar, Lin Lan saw hundreds of sharp black blades, formed from black weapons, appear around the crimson vertical eye.
"For the eternal existence of the Demon King!!!"
The roar, carrying a terrifyingly frenzied killing intent, enveloped Lin Lan's soul.
Hundreds of black blades, promising this roar, charged fiercely toward Lin Lan.
"Damn it!"
Lin Lan, in despair, watched as the blades drew closer, as if he would be pierced through and his soul shattered in the next moment.
But just as the tip of the closest blade touched his nose, all the blades suddenly disintegrated.
"Ah!!!!!!!!"
The crimson giant eye suddenly swelled, filled with bloodshot veins, and let out an earth-shattering wail.
In the next moment, a beam of pure white light illuminated this dark world.
The huge vertical eye burst apart instantly, and the black slime splattered out was rapidly purified into ash under the pure white light.
"Why... why does this country have... a Liao Continent witch…"
The black mist continued to dissipate under the white light, even the deepest black mist was pulled out and cleared.
And Lin Lan's soul, bathed in it, felt a refreshing and soothing sensation.
Abbott's voice, filled with extreme unwillingness, hatred, and weakness, strained to its last bit of strength, shouted the final two words:
"Curse... symbol…"
As the last trace of black mist was completely dispersed, a broken black-red cube emerged from the mist.
"Is this the Wisdom Cube? No, could it be…"
As Lin Lan watched the familiar broken black-red cube slowly turn to dust, he seemed to grasp a clue.
But an overwhelming sense of exhaustion surged in, enveloping Lin Lan's soul.
Under the pure white light, he finally succumbed to sleepiness and slowly closed his eyes.
_______
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"Akashi, are you sure this talisman is really effective? Why isn't the commander waking up yet?"
Lin Lan felt like he was regaining his senses after an unknown amount of time.
He vaguely heard someone talking near his ear.
He tried to open his eyes but found his eyelids incredibly heavy, as if he had just undergone a major surgery under full anesthesia.
"Although Akashi isn't a professional witch, she has learned a few tricks from the Sakura companions, meow."
"And this is a genuine talisman personally drawn by Ryuuhou, meow. Even if you don't believe in Akashi, you should at least trust the exorcism talisman's effect from the Sakura faction, meow!"
Hearing that incredibly familiar loli voice and mannerisms, Lin Lan's mind, which was about to fall back into deep sleep, suddenly jolted awake.
Akashi... that deceptive merchant, fuck! My fists are getting hard!
"Look, meow, it seems the commander is about to open his eyes, meow!"
Lin Lan tried his hardest to open his eyes but couldn't manage to do so.
He could only vaguely see a small figure in a white shrine maiden outfit with a white cat-ear hood.
"It's really happening, the commander is really about to wake up. Akashi, you need to think of a way to make him wake up faster!"
Next to the cat-eared small figure, a lively loli with red twin tails wearing a black bikini made a cheerful sound.
"Even if you say that... let me think of a way, meow."
While Akashi was thinking, the red-haired, twin-tailed loli seemed to have come up with a good idea and said to Akashi:
"I heard that people wake up faster if they are stimulated. Maybe we should think of a way to stimulate the commander?"
Akashi thought for a few seconds and then nodded:
"I have an idea. I'll give it a try, meow."
Immediately, Lin Lan felt a seductive whisper in his ear from the green-haired, cat-eared loli:
"Commander, a new batch of gold equipment boxes has arrived at the store. Buying five at a time gets you a discount, meow. You'll definitely get rare equipment, meow."
How can you still have the face to say that?
Even though Lin Lan couldn't open his eyes yet, he was already furious.
As everyone knows, in Azur Lane, you only get one or two rare gold equipment items out of ten gold boxes. This often led players to complain about being scammed.
It wasn't until the game's cutscene revealed that Akashi and Shiranui, the port area shop owners, had been painting gold on purple equipment boxes that players finally understood why there were only purple items in gold boxes.
This led to their infamous reputation.
The red-haired, twin-tailed loli next to him joyfully exclaimed:
"It's working! It's really working! Akashi, try again!"
Hearing her words, Akashi's voice once again whispered in Lin Lan's ear:
"Commander, the port area has a new batch of limited edition outfits, but this time it's only available for three days... oh no, I mean one day, meow."
Lin Lan felt a surge of anger, and even breathing became difficult.
Previously, all outfits in the game were sold permanently.
However, due to reports from other players, all new outfits, including many previously available ones, were changed to limited-time sales.
Even outfits originally planned for seven days could be suddenly changed to three or one day.
Many players missed these outfits due to work or school commitments.
When they eagerly logged in on the last day to buy the outfit, they often found it had been taken down early, leading to furious complaints.
Noticing Lin Lan's breathing becoming rapid, the red-haired, twin-tailed loli happily shouted:
"I think the commander is almost awake! Just a bit more, Akashi, keep going!"
"Uh, meow... got it, meow!"
Akashi seemed to come up with a perfect way to stimulate Lin Lan.
The cat-eared little merchant leaned close to Lin Lan's ear and whispered:
"Commander, the wisdom cubes and supplies in the port warehouse are exhausted, meow."
"If you want to continue building new partners, you'll need to spend red gems to buy from my store, meow."
The already weakened Lin Lan seemed to recall some terrifying memories upon hearing this.
He felt his vision darken and, unable to catch his breath, fainted immediately.
"Wow, the commander's blood pressure spike suddenly. What did you say to him, Akashi?"
"This is bad, meow. It seems the stimulation was too strong, meow!"
In the last moments before fainting, Lin Lan heard the two lolis arguing.
After an unknown amount of time, Lin Lan finally regained consciousness.
This time, he felt his strength returning and managed to open his eyes successfully.
He saw a white ceiling and turned his head to find himself lying in a hospital room.
By his bedside, a woman with black short hair, wearing a sweater and with a pair of short red dragon horns on her head, was asleep.
It was Ulrich.
Lin Lan tried to sit up or lift his hand but found it difficult, so he decided not to rush.
He looked around and saw through the window that he was clearly in a high-rise hospital in the city.
It was early morning, just as the sun was rising, and he could still hear the chirping of birds outside.
At this moment, the TV on the wall in front of his bed was broadcasting the morning news.
The news anchor was reading out the latest update about Lihu County.
Lin Lan perked up and listened carefully.
"Regarding the Siren attack on the Lihu County Government Building in East Cloud City three days ago, the joint investigation team has provided the latest update."
"In the ruins of the government building, no bodies have been found."
"The investigation team reports that all former staff members of the building, including the Tian'ou Group's representative and county head Zhang Wei, are missing."
"Currently, the number of missing administrative personnel in Lihu County, including those from the Navy Department, has exceeded 120, and the counting is still ongoing."
"The investigation team preliminarily attributes the large-scale disappearance of administrative personnel to the Sirens."
Upon hearing this, Lin Lan was puzzled. How could the destruction of the government building be attributed to the Sirens?
Moreover, how could such a large building collapse without a single body being found, all categorized as missing?
Could it be that...
Lin Lan recalled the mysterious demon lord and combined it with what the old man from Liao Continent had said about this being having the ability to erase people and their corpses.
Lin Lan had personally experienced that this being could also control and attack souls.
Could it be that it had already slaughtered everyone in the building, and those office staff had been puppets under its control?
Such an unimaginable horror could only be deduced through abnormal reasoning.
The news on TV continued:
"Currently, the injured commander Lin Lan has been sent to a local hospital for treatment."
"The Navy Department has announced a commendation for thwarting the Siren's conspiracy and blocking their attack without casualties."
"General Li Hongjun from the Navy Department stated that the Tian'ou Group showed serious management negligence in the Lihu County incident, and the Navy Department will hold Tian'ou Group accountable."
"For further updates, please continue to follow our channel, Tianxing Morning News. Next, we have..."
Upon hearing this, Lin Lan realized that the true cause of the incident was likely unknown to the Candle Sea Chamber of Commerce and the Navy Department.
Or perhaps they knew the situation was unusual but couldn't find the true cause.
Even if the Liao Continent people suggested the possibility of the ancient demon army being behind it, the investigation team would likely dismiss it as a joke.
After hearing the news related to him, Lin Lan tried to sit up again.
As he was making the effort, he didn't notice Ulrich slowly lifting her head.
Lin Lan couldn't sit up despite his best efforts and was about to lie back down when a warm arm supported his back.
"Commander, you... you're finally awake."
A tired, deep voice came from Ulrich. Lin Lan turned slightly and saw her dark bronze eyes filled with surprise and concern.
"Good morning, Ulrich."
At this moment, Lin Lan wasn't sure what to say, so he smiled and greeted his battleship wife.
_______
20+ advanced chapters on patreon.com/SenatusTheta
_______
If any of you noticed an error, please point it out in comments!
I'll fix it as soon as I can.
Upload rate: 1 chapter a day
Don't forget to check out my other translations!
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