Azur Lane: Isekai'd with Maxed-Out Port

After much effort comforting the emotionally devastated Gridley—who had been backstabbed by her own little sister Maury—Lin Lan finally managed to coax her into a better mood by promising not to confiscate her photos. 

Only then did he finally get to see the photos of himself that the little reporter had taken.

As expected, the person in the photo was his former appearance on Blue Star.

However, the clothes he wore were uniformly a white naval uniform, unchanging in every shot.

Lin Lan wasn't surprised at all by his appearance. After all, how else would his shipgirls recognize him at first glance the moment they saw him?

But looking at the photos Gridley had taken in the later stages of his time in the port area—photos that showed his familiar, haggard face—Lin Lan couldn't help but smile bitterly.

With that near-death-from-overwork look, no wonder his shipgirls had been so worried about him.

Even he found that face scary to look at.

After handing all the photos back to Gridley, they had already passed through the western town and were now driving along the wilderness highway toward the back mountain.

"Gridley, I'll pick out more photos from you next time. I've got something important to arrange with New Jersey over the phone."

"All the photos of Little Sara—I'll take them all. Put them on my tab for now. Once Akashi comes back, I'll pay you in red gems."

Lin Lan glanced at the sun slowly sinking in the west and, after a moment's thought, lowered his voice to speak to the little girl beside him.

"OK OK~ Not just Little Sara, I've got photos of all the other faction members too. Come pick them anytime~"

Having already adjusted her mood, Gridley had no complaints and once again flashed a playful smile at Lin Lan.

Lin Lan nodded, stuffed the photos Gridley handed him into his pocket, and took out his phone.

Originally, he wanted to call Little Sara directly, but recalling how New Jersey had told him to feel free to call her before leaving that morning, he decided to contact her instead.

Since both of them were in the administrative hall on the artificial island, it made no difference whom he called.

So, Lin Lan found New Jersey's account through the Eagle Union shipgirl group and tapped to initiate a voice call.

He planned to use this time to lay out some early arrangements to avoid any worsening consequences from delays.

"Hi honey~ I knew you were going to call me today, mm-hmm~"

A few seconds later, New Jersey's lively and joyful voice came through the phone.

"Well, thanks for your hard work today, New Jersey. I'll be heading to the administrative hall tomorrow morning to meet you and Little Sara."

Lin Lan said teasingly, then continued after a short pause:

"New Jersey, listen to me. Contact Bismarck immediately and have her inform Jian Qian'ou of the Tian'ou Group in the Western Continent: absolutely prohibit the sale of third-generation robots, and have all already-sold robots recalled."

"This is urgent. If possible, she should notify them as soon as possible."

"Also, have the regional representatives of the Goilia Consortium's cities stop selling third-generation robots and recall those already sold as well."

Hearing the seriousness in Lin Lan's tone, New Jersey didn't question him at all and immediately promised:

"Don't worry, honey. Leave it to New Jersey~ But if you're coming to the admin hall tomorrow, I better tell Little Sara to prepare properly~"

Satisfied by her promise, Lin Lan praised her:

"That's our New Jersey. I'll leave it to you, then. See you tomorrow morning."

After chatting a little more with the reluctant-to-hang-up New Jersey, Lin Lan finally ended the call, feeling slightly relieved.

Thankfully, his port area had long-distance communication methods like this. 

Otherwise, relying on the Tian'ou Group's Eastern Continent branch to reach the Western Continent would've taken five or six days.

It also happened that Bismarck and the others hadn't departed yet, so she could pass on his orders.

For now, he didn't need to worry about the Tian'ou Group. 

Having witnessed the power of the Ironblood shipgirls, Jian Qian'ou was practically obedient to his every word.

After the battle in Yunhai City, the Tian'ou Group and the Western Continent's Navy Department likely viewed him and the Ironblood shipgirls as saviors.

Right now, the cube-powered robots were being hyped up by the Tianxing Consortium as promising boundless potential for Orlan's development. 

Since they'd only just hit the market, most ordinary people hadn't yet realized what was coming.

If he rushed to publicize the risks of these cube-powered robots now, he might just be dismissed as a contrarian and end up ridiculed by the excited people of Orlan.

So Lin Lan didn't intend to widely spread the dangers of these robots.

His decision to have the Goilia Consortium and the Western Continent halt sales and recall all sold robots was deliberate.

It was to prevent Orlan citizens under his influence from getting too used to a lifestyle reliant on robots—only to become unable to do without them later.

Instead of spending massive resources on recalling robots down the line, it was better to ban sales from the outset and keep the stockpiles frozen.

As the car driven by Essex began ascending the back mountain, Lin Lan quietly calculated the timing in his mind.

If the Tianxing Consortium continued pushing cube-powered robots recklessly, it wouldn't even take a month before the average citizen of Orlan realized the damage these machines brought to their lives.

He never intended to block the development of robotics. Lin Lan understood that in the future, robots replacing humans in tedious labor was inevitable.

But with the Tianxing Consortium under Siren control dumping robot labor into the market in such a crude way, the backlash on Orlan would be massive.

"I'll go over the details with Little Sara and New Jersey tomorrow morning. For now, this should be enough."

Lin Lan murmured softly. The fact that New Jersey hadn't even asked for a reason before agreeing to his request proved her absolute trust in him.

Tomorrow, he'd share his thoughts from the past few days with them. With more minds, maybe they could come up with a better solution together.

But just as one problem was resolved, another arose.

"Um, Commander… would you like to come to our dorm for dinner tonight?"

Essex, who was driving in the front seat, asked timidly, her voice carrying a hint of nervousness.

Even though Lin Lan couldn't see her face, he could easily imagine the blush she must be wearing just from her tone.

But was Essex really just inviting him over for an ordinary dinner?

Lin Lan was no longer the naïve Commander who had just arrived at the Ironblood fortress.

Thanks to the enthusiastic "lessons" from the Ironblood shipgirls, he had learned what it meant to walk into a wolf's den.

He knew full well—Essex wasn't just asking him to eat some simple dumplings.

Clearly, she was inviting him to enjoy the soft, tender, juicy kind of real "dumplings."

So Lin Lan smiled leisurely and said:

"How about this, Essex? I have to go to the administrative hall tomorrow morning, so tonight, all of you come eat at my place. Next time, I'll definitely visit your dorm."

It wasn't that Lin Lan didn't want to eat dumplings, but tonight's single big dumpling was more than enough. 

As for the full dumpling banquet, it would be better saved for next time.

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50 advanced chapters on p@t re on (.) com/SenatusTheta

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