"Why did you suddenly want to pledge with me?"
Lin Lan looked at the small, innocent girl in front of him, completely shocked as he asked.
"Everyone has pledged with you, so Sui Qiong also wants to pledge with you."
Facing Sui Qiong's pure response, Lin Lan couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth and ask further:
"Do you know what a pledge means? It's a very important thing for your life... your mecha life, and you can't just talk about it casually."
After all, if you don't count Sui Qiong's lifespan as a mecha, she was still a "child" who had only been "born" for a few days.
Lin Lan doubted whether she truly understood what a pledge meant.
"Sui Qiong understands. A pledge is a very important ceremony.
Sui Qiong loves the commander deeply, and if the commander loves Sui Qiong as well, the commander will give Sui Qiong a pledge ring during the ceremony."
"After receiving the pledge ring, not only will Sui Qiong gain the power of the commander's love, but the commander will also do... naughty things with Sui Qiong..."
Before Sui Qiong could finish her sentence, Lin Lan hastily reached out and covered her mouth.
Meanwhile, the Iron Blood flagship, Bismarck, couldn't help but chuckle at the scene.
"What is this? Where did you learn these things?"
After stopping Sui Qiong from continuing her description, Lin Lan released his hand, face full of black lines, and looked at Sui Qiong.
"From Sister Blücher, Sister Roon, Princess Eugen, Sister Magdeburg, and Sister Z16..."
"Alright, I get it."
Lin Lan, now understanding, helplessly put his hands on his face.
It was clear that over the past three days, Hipper and the other Iron Blood shipgirls had been brainwashing this innocent Overlord mecha girl.
Especially Blücher, who had the greatest influence on Sui Qiong. The fact that Sui Qiong directly brought up the idea of a pledge was undoubtedly related to Blücher.
This child had been led astray by them.
It seemed he definitely couldn't let Count Zeppelin and Deutschland come into contact with Sui Qiong.
One was a delusional, world-weary madman, and the other was a cocky little devil.
If their personalities rubbed off on Sui Qiong, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"Listen to me, Sui Qiong, this pledge... it requires time and affection to build up..."
"But Commander, Sister Blücher said that as long as Sui Qiong fills her heart with love for you, time won't be an obstacle.
As long as the commander loves Sui Qiong, the pledge will happen soon."
Blücher again!
Lin Lan was about to argue, but then he noticed Bismarck was smiling, watching him with a knowing look.
In the game, the starting affection for newly added shipgirls to the port area was 50 points (stranger), and a pledge could only be made once it reached 100 points (love).
There were two fastest ways to increase affection and pledge:
The first was to set the shipgirl as a primary secretary ship, and the second was to send the shipgirl out as the flagship to engage in battles and map-clearing.
Aside from these two, putting a shipgirl in the dorm area could also increase affection.
But putting them in the dorm area and secretary ship only increases it up to 90, the rest 10 affection points can only be obtained via sortie them to battle.
Under Bismarck's gaze, Lin Lan suddenly realized that when he had made pledges with many new shipgirls, he hadn't even waited two or three days.
And Bismarck was one of the shipgirls he'd "quickly married."
"I... I'll talk about this later. Yeah, later. Sui Qiong, don't be in such a hurry. The pledge is an important matter, so give me some time to prepare."
Lin Lan was being stared at by Sui Qiong's expectant blue eyes, and also by Bismarck with a smiling gaze. He couldn't find a word to say for a long while.
After all, it's one thing in the game, but when a shipgirl or mecha girl presents the pledge idea to him in person, it was a bit hard for him to casually agree.
It would be a lie to say he didn't like Sui Qiong—who wouldn't like such a cute, flying mecha girl?
Since he couldn't directly refuse anymore, he chose to tacitly agree, saying he needed more time.
"Commander, you can't deceive this child. I will testify that you already agreed to the pledge,"
Bismarck said with a smile as she walked over, squatted down, and gently patted Sui Qiong's small head.
"As the commander, my word is my bond. How could I deceive her?" Lin Lan sighed and shrugged.
Since it had already reached this point, he couldn't back out, so he just decided to let it go.
After all, he was the one benefiting, and pretending to be all coy afterward would make him look bad.
However, Lin Lan didn't notice the bushes behind him in the green belt slightly moving.
After continuing their walk, Lin Lan began thinking about the pledge ring, which was an essential item for the pledge.
Logically, he had several of them the last time he played the game.
But most likely, those rings were currently stored in his old port area, protected by the Royal Navy faction.
He'd have to ask Akashi later to see if the little businesswoman still had any pledge rings for sale.
As a premium item, Lin Lan had purchased all of his pledge rings from Akashi, letting the little businesswoman take her cut.
Just as the three were approaching Akashi's shop, a loud explosion suddenly rang out from the direction of Akashi's store, sounding like a thunderclap!
"What's going on?"
Lin Lan was startled by the explosion, and Bismarck's face was also filled with confusion.
The three of them quickly quickened their pace and soon saw large amounts of black smoke billowing out from Akashi's shop, with part of what seemed like a warehouse behind the shop even collapsing.
Just as Lin Lan was worried it might be an enemy attack, rushing toward the shop to check on Akashi's safety, they suddenly heard Akashi's crying voice from inside:
"Deutschland! You promised it wouldn't explode, meow! You must compensate me for the damage to my store, meow!"
Before Akashi finished, Lin Lan then heard Deutschland's angry voice:
"You have the nerve to blame me? You damn business woman must have tampered with the explosion-proof materials I adjusted last night! I adjusted them to the safest ratio!"
"Proof... proof? You can't frame me without proof, meow!"
"Proof? What kind of person do you think you are? Do I need proof for this?"
In the middle of the argument, Deutschland's mecha dragon peeked out from Akashi's shop and forcefully knocked open the collapsed doorframe.
Then, a disheveled Akashi and Deutschland walked out from the smoky shop, holding their noses.
"Deutschland, what happened here?" Lin Lan asked before Bismarck, looking sternly at the black-haired heavy cruiser girl.
"Bismarck, my lord? Lowly creatures?"
It seemed like Deutschland didn't expect to see both her flagship and the commander standing right outside the door.
She adjusted her military cap, coughed out two puffs of black smoke, and complained angrily:
"I was about to assemble guided missiles today, and I had already prepared all the assembly materials last night."
"But this damn Sakura businesswoman stole some of my explosion-proof materials!"
As soon as Deutschland began accusing her, Akashi, also coughing up black smoke, quickly waved her hands at Lin Lan and Bismarck.
"Innocent! Innocent, meow! That workshop is my shop, I could never joke around with my own store, meow!"
Just as Akashi finished speaking, she was picked up by Deutschland's mecha dragon, who grabbed her by the clothes and lifted her off the ground.
"Then explain, how did Magdeburg's mechanical tools disappear?
What happened to my blueprints?
And why did the mechanical dragon maintenance materials in the workshop keep disappearing every day?"
"You have to provide proof..."
Faced with Deutschland's sharp-toothed, aggressive questioning, Akashi still tried to defend herself.
But Deutschland coldly said:
"We already know you well enough; that's the best proof we need!"
"Meow..."
Suspended in the air, the pitiful green-haired cat girl, seeing Lin Lan and Bismarck glaring at her, finally admitted her fault:
"Stop, stop! Fine, I'll compensate for everything, meow!"
Seeing Akashi admit her wrongdoing, Lin Lan chuckled and leaned down to speak quietly to Sui Qiong:
"See that? That's what happens when you're a bad kid. You can't just casually scam people like that little businesswoman."
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50 advanced chapters on p@t re on (.) com/SenatusTheta
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