Still within his own consciousness space.
Surrounding the heart sword that shone with a golden halo, in addition to the previously existing representation of Ying, the "Traveler's Seat," there was now a new red mark.
On the red background was the image of a chibi maid in white.
“Isn’t this the icon for Belfast's special skill 'Exclusive Barrage: Belfast' in the game?”
After a moment of recollection, Bai Yu successfully found the corresponding part from his past life memories.
Recalling the experience of his consciousness merging with Ying last time, and vaguely sensing the state of his body located on the Luofu Immortal Ship, Bai Yu determined it was already morning and formally bid farewell to Belfast, his consciousness returning to his own body.
The first thing upon returning was to immerse his mind into the sea of consciousness to observe the changes in the heart sword.
As he had previously speculated, with the addition of Belfast as the host, a new mark appeared around the heart sword.
Fixing his gaze on Belfast's icon, Bai Yu vaguely sensed that even though his consciousness had returned to his body, there still existed a faint, unbroken connection between him and Belfast.
That was the contract between the ship girl and the commander.
‘Commander?’
Suddenly, Bai Yu heard a low call.
“Beifa?”
‘Great! I can still contact you!’
After Bai Yu responded, Belfast's voice came from the mark representing her, filled with joy and a hint of relief.
‘After you left, I tried calling out along the contract we have, and I didn’t expect to actually get through!’
‘Commander, have you returned home?’
‘Is there any way for me to come over too?’
“I’ve returned home safely, no need to worry.”
The beautiful girl was overjoyed to be able to contact him, which made Bai Yu unconsciously smile.
“For now, I can’t think of a way for you to appear on my side. By the way, can other ship girls also actively communicate with their commanders like you?”
‘No, normally ship girl contracts don’t have such a function. I was just trying my luck, thinking since the commander can send his consciousness to me, maybe I could also go see the commander.’
‘Although the result wasn’t as I hoped, I’m already very happy to be able to keep in touch with you.’
It seemed that the special situation between Belfast and himself was likely due to the fact that their consciousness coexisted in one body when they signed the contract, leading to this anomaly?
Bai Yu clicked his tongue: “What a pity, if only Beifa could come over, even on Luofu I would have my own secretary ship, which would relieve me of so much work pressure!”
‘So, is the commander planning to appoint me as your secretary ship?’
“Right now, you’re the only ship girl I have, aren’t you?”
‘That’s true.’
Belfast let out a clear, bell-like laugh.
‘I also want to be by the commander’s side to help you with work, but that part will need you to think of a way, okay?’
In the port area, Belfast stood by the shore, listening to the laughter of a group of young destroyer girls not far away, suddenly feeling a strong sense of unreality.
Clearly, she was in the port area, surrounded by companions she interacted with daily, yet she could communicate with a commander from another world across an unknown distance.
Warm currents continuously flowed from the mental cube within her, coursing through her limbs and bones, making Belfast feel no chill at all despite the cold sea breeze brushing against her face.
“Hoo hoo~ Hoo meow! So warm~~”
First, a pair of small hands reached from behind to cover her chest, followed by the sensation of someone pressing their entire body against her back.
Belfast helplessly pulled the little girl from behind to the front, raised her hand to ruffle her silver hair, and gently asked, “Little Swan, why did you come over?”
“Eh heh heh…”
The silver-haired girl, dressed in a high-end student uniform somewhat resembling that of a noble girls' school, with a white coat on top and a blue plaid skirt below, her legs wrapped in black over-the-knee stockings, sweetly dove into Belfast's embrace.
Though her chest was not as ample as Belfast's, it could definitely be considered a proud little swan. Both felt a soft bounce from each other.
“Wah?”
Startled, Little Swan was bounced back a step and fell onto the ground.
“You can’t always be so careless.” Belfast quickly stepped forward to help Little Swan up, and as she got closer, Little Swan began to burrow back into her embrace.
“Sister Belfast, it’s so warm!”
“Hmm?”
Hearing this again, Belfast couldn’t help but frown.
“Warm… what does that mean?”
“It means warm!” Little Swan tilted her head, revealing a silly smile, “The sun has set, the sea breeze is cool, it’s a bit cold, but it’s so warm next to Sister Belfast, just like a heater.”
Little Swan was often dazed, and her speech was somewhat jumbled, but as the saying goes, natural airheads often possess an extraordinary intuition, so she became the first to notice that Belfast's body had become unusually warm after signing the contract.
Although this child interrupted her communication with the commander, considering that the commander must also have things to attend to, Belfast could only sigh, feeling a bit helpless, and took Little Swan's hand to walk towards the port cafeteria.
“Let’s go, it’s almost dinner time, don’t be late and go hungry.”
“Okay!”
Little Swan tightly clung to Belfast's arm, occasionally rubbing her face against it, looking as cute as a little hamster.
……Separation line……
Several standard days later.
In the binary star system named 'Gou Chen One' on the star map.
The fourth planet from the inside, a gas giant with rings, suddenly found itself in a state of distorted collapse in the empty interstellar space nearby.
A massive silver space station slowly emerged from the jump channel, the light from a star nearly three million kilometers away shining down on the station's outer armor, turning it into a twinkling point like a star in an instant.
“Jump completed, successfully arrived at target star system Gou Chen One, initiating contact request to the Luofu Immortal Ship's transfer office.”
“Request approved, this is the Black Tower Space Station, applying for docking with the Luofu Immortal Ship.”
In the main control section of the Black Tower Space Station, a group of staff members sitting in the cockpit below the core command platform were busy, tense yet orderly.
After a moment, a clear female voice echoed through the space station's broadcast—
‘This is the Luofu Immortal Ship's transfer office, identity verification passed, welcome to Luofu, please proceed to the A3 cave according to the transfer shuttle's instructions.’