Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 728: Chapter 727: The Mysterious Fleet Girl in the Guardian’s Office

”So what you’re saying is, there’s a Mind Model that can help us?”

Arriving at the entrance of Guardian’s Office, Fang Zheng looked toward Musashi by his side.

”Then why not just call her over directly? I remember you have a mental network.”

”This Mind Model is a bit special...”

Facing Fang Zheng’s question, Musashi unusually showed some hesitation and... embarrassment.

”She’s different from the other Mind Models, it’s very difficult to call her through the mental network, and... she has a habit of disappearing, it’s hard to find her... In fact, even I have only met her once since her creation, and many Mind Models have only heard of her existence...”

After the establishment of the Royal Fleet, because Musashi was responsible for the safety of Heavenly Dao Palace, Fang Zheng had opened the construction rights of the fleet to Musashi. He knew that he was completely unfamiliar with the fleet, and whatever warships were needed relied completely on intuition. In contrast, as a fleet commander, Musashi was obviously more competent than himself. Therefore, Fang Zheng simply let Musashi take care of it, crafting whatever warships were needed—after all, core management was in Little Angel’s hands.

And according to Nymph, Musashi had also constructed some Mind Models during this period, but as for the ship’s bodies, due to Fang Zheng’s absence, they used the least consuming random types... it’s all luck.

Luckily, Musashi’s luck didn’t seem too bad...

”What’s going on? I thought your training was very strict?”

Upon hearing Musashi’s explanation, Fang Zheng was somewhat stunned. He’d been to the Guardian’s Office a few times and had seen the training of these Mind Models—overall, their training content wasn’t much different from that of a regular army. Including drills and shooting practice, Fang Zheng guessed it was all a result of the Mind Models directly downloading the military’s training content from the Azure World’s network and then imitating it.

Of course, since they were Fleet Girls, their training and punishment naturally differed from humans. For example, an endurance run had them running around Heavenly Dao Palace within two hours, and the Fleet Girl team with the lowest ranking would be thrown into the sea from the Heavenly Dao Palace without any safety equipment. Fleet Girls who slacked off during training would be punished with construction and maintenance work at the Heavenly Dao Palace shipping dock—all by themselves.

Even encountering a Fleet Girl running back and forth with a huge stone weighing hundreds of kilograms on her back shouldn’t be surprising; that’s her doing extra training.

Though to Fang Zheng, it seemed somewhat meaningless for the Fleet Girls, whose bodies were made of nanomaterials.

”The problem lies here.”

Musashi sighed helplessly.

”She’s always there for every training check-in, and according to all Mind Models, she’s present during the training, but for some reason, she disappears as soon as training ends and everyone disperses. In fact, the Fleet Girls in her team can’t even remember her name. I only noticed her because I saw the report showing her ship’s body isn’t quite like the ordinary warships... That’s why I made a mental note of her.”

Doesn’t this sound like some urban Kaidan?

”So, what do we do now?”

”Most Mind Models are currently working on the dock’s construction. I’ve already asked for the Mind Models on leave at Guardian’s Office to help find 1408... That’s her code, it’s all I remember. If nothing goes wrong, she should be in some corner of this Guardian’s Office. She’s easy to recognize; as long as you see a Fleet Girl with a 1408 badge on her chest, it should be her.”

Some corner?

”So, does that mean we’re going to play a game of hide-and-seek?”

On hearing this, Little Hei became excited, promptly grabbed Illya and Yoshino.

”Let’s go, Illya, Yoshino, let’s play a game of tag!”

Having said that, Little Hei led the two girls off, full of excitement. Kurumi could only smile helplessly and then turned to follow quickly.

”I should also take a look, to make sure these kids don’t get into any trouble.”

”Then, let’s just go with that.”

Seeing everyone who came with him to join the fun scatter, Fang Zheng simply decided to let loose. Nymph and Black Katie were busy with their own things, so they didn’t come along to see the spectacle. Right now, besides Kurumi and Illya, Fang Zheng was accompanied only by Natsuse and Fumie Busei, the Coordinators, and Atalanta, the nominal Servant.

”Then, MASTER, I will go over there to look. As a Hunter, I have quite a bit of confidence in tracking prey.”

As she spoke, Atalanta gave Fang Zheng a respectful bow, then turned and headed off toward the mountains on the other side of Guardian’s Office. Strangely enough, Atalanta had initially been somewhat cool towards Fang Zheng, but after coming to the Heavenly Dao Palace, her attitude toward Fang Zheng improved a lot, and could even be considered... warm?

Could it be Stockholm syndrome?

”Anyway, I’m free as well, so let’s go have a look... Right, Musashi, that 1408... she must have her own room, right? Let’s start by checking her room.”

Adhering to the ironclad rule that ”the culprit will definitely return to the scene of the crime,” Fang Zheng made his decision quickly. And upon hearing his order, Musashi and Iona’s expressions were somewhat strange, but they nodded anyway.

”Of course, please follow me.”

The interior style of the Guardian’s Office was just as Western as its exterior, which was precisely why Fang Zheng chose to build the structure—it had to match the town around it, after all.

So when he saw Iona and Musashi opening the metal elevator in the corridor next to them, Fang Zheng immediately felt unsettled.

”When did we have an elevator here?”

Fang Zheng clearly remembered that the Guardian’s Office he had built was a three-story structure. There were stairs, sure, but an elevator... he didn’t recall installing one of those.

”It was built by 1408 herself.”

At this moment, Iona spoke up somewhat helplessly.

”She’s a logistics ship; building things like this is her specialty... In fact, we only learned about the modifications after 1408 had done them. Musashi and I wanted to discipline her, but...”

”...we couldn’t find her.”

Musashi quietly finished Iona’s unfinished sentence. and the two girls both appeared exasperated in front of Fang Zheng.

”This is truly interesting.”

Observing the ”I don’t want to say anything” expressions on Iona and Musashi’s faces, Fang Zheng exchanged glances with Natsuse and Midori, intrigued. Knowing that Iona and Musashi were the flagship of the fleet, they surely had a lot of courage. But now, even they were showing an attitude of ”don’t ask me; I don’t want to talk about it,” which certainly piqued his curiosity.

However...

”When is this elevator ride going to end?”

Looking at the elevator indicator constantly flashing the down arrow, Fang Zheng had a feeling that something was off. He calculated the elevator’s descending speed and duration in his mind... this 1408 wouldn’t have dug straight through her Heavenly Dao Palace, would she?

”No, we’re almost there.”

But in response to Fang Zheng’s question, Musashi shook her head, then looked aside; Iona quickly nodded in agreement.

”Yes, we will arrive soon, right?”

”Huh?”

Seeing Iona looking over, Natsuse and Midori were surprised, but they too nodded.

”This... should be almost there... right?”

”That’s right. You think we’re almost there too, don’t you, Captain?”

”.........”

What the heck is this?

Seeing the other girls all looking at him, Fang Zheng was speechless. He’d never been here before, how would he know if they were almost there? But since everyone else said so, then...

”Alright, I think we’re nearing the end too.”

”Ding!”

No sooner had Fang Zheng’s words fallen than the elevator’s descending speed slowed down suddenly; a light sound followed, and then the doors gently opened in front of Fang Zheng and the others.

Fang Zheng: ”..........”

What in the world is going on?

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