Chapter 1: The Unfortunate Traveler

"Boom! Boom!"

Outside the cabin window, under the gloomy sky, a violent storm raged. 

Waves surged like man-eating beasts, crashing relentlessly against the passenger ship struggling through the ocean.

Lin Lan, dressed in a white naval uniform, sat in his cheap room, feeling the ground shake beneath him. He looked at the old calendar on the bedside table and sighed deeply.

"I must be the unluckiest traveler ever."

Reflecting on his experiences since arriving in this strange world, Lin Lan couldn't help but feel a mix of frustration and despair.

He had been enduring this unfamiliar world for over a year now. 

Though currently an intern at the Naval Command Academy of a country that resembled his original world, a year ago, he was just a typical overworked office worker on Earth.

One night, after working late, he lost consciousness while buying an energy drink at a convenience store. When he came to, he was in an unfamiliar room.

His body had transformed into his younger self, much stronger than his weak, overworked form.

Initially, he thought this was a chance for a fresh start, a new and better life. But he quickly realized how wrong he was.

The original owner of this body was also named Lin Lan, a shy teenager living in a coastal city. But his family was tragically killed in a Siren attack during his childhood.

The Sirens were the rulers of the seas in this world, feared as the greatest nightmare of humanity. 

They were monsters from the deep ocean, possessing immense power that could destroy any military force. They also wielded mysterious technology far beyond human comprehension.

However, humans in this world weren't entirely defenseless. They developed a unique technology called the Cognitive Cube, powered by a special energy source found only here.

The most significant creation from the Cognitive Cube was the shipgirls—essentially warships transformed into human-like girls through the use of cube technology.

These shipgirls appeared no different from ordinary humans but could harness the full power of their respective warships, growing stronger with experience in battle.

It was only with the help of these shipgirls that humanity could barely hold off the Sirens, avoiding total annihilation. 

However, the damage was immense, and the power of nations on this planet had significantly declined. Communication between countries was also severely limited.

After all, the Sirens still controlled the oceans, and it would take a long time to train shipgirls to become powerful enough to reclaim them. 

For humanity, reclaiming the seas remained a distant dream.

Maintaining and equipping shipgirls required vast amounts of resources and oil. 

Therefore, naval ports were established in various countries, where shipgirls were stationed, and specialized naval commanders were assigned to manage the ports' logistics and operations.

Only those who had undergone special training and acquired the necessary knowledge could qualify to manage a port.

After his family's demise, this world's Lin Lan studied diligently, eventually passing the entrance exam for the renowned Red Leaf Naval Command Academy in their country.

However, after the Siren disaster, the Orlan United States, where he lived, experienced severe political turmoil. 

The Zhuhai Commercial Association, a coalition of five major conglomerates, seized power during the Siren crisis when Orlan's government and public influence were at their weakest.

This world was dominated by the sea, so nations had always prioritized naval development. 

But after coming to power, rumors spread that the Zhuhai Commercial Association planned to abandon the sea, dissolve the Navy Department, and turn the military into their private force, isolating the nation.

The Navy Department, already discontented with the social unrest caused by the Commercial Association's takeover, could not accept this proposal. 

Having developed the Cognitive Cube technology and gained the shipgirls, who could fight the Sirens, why give up on reclaiming the sea?

In this tense standoff between the Commercial Association and the Navy Department, Lin Lan, as a top student at the Naval Academy, naturally attracted the attention of the conglomerates.

They tried to force him out of the academy, sending him multiple threatening letters, but he never took them seriously. 

However, the threats from the conglomerates were never just empty words.

When Lin Lan crossed over, it was the start of his third year in college.

His body had reverted to his 20-year-old self, yet he had seamlessly inherited the identity and relationships of the original Lin Lan in this world, without anyone questioning his changed appearance.

After understanding this world's situation, the new Lin Lan realized that the shipgirls and Sirens here closely resembled those from a mobile game he loved. 

He even thought he had been transported into the game's world.

But as his third year progressed, the attacks from the conglomerates came one after another.

From setting thugs to ambush him outside the school to orchestrating various "accidents," they never let up. 

If not for the protection of his teachers and the mutual help of a few fellow students who were also targeted, he might not have survived the year.

Lin Lan eventually learned that the person behind the repeated attacks was Zhao Hesheng, the young master of the Tianxing Consortium. 

But what could an ordinary person like Lin Lan do against a powerful and wealthy conglomerate heir?

For Zhao Hesheng, harassing Lin Lan had become a game, a form of entertainment, while Lin Lan and his friends had no way to fight back. 

Lin Lan knew that even if he dropped out of school, Zhao Hesheng wouldn't stop.

As long as they were in the academy, they had the Navy's protection, but once they left, the vast resources of the conglomerate could easily make someone disappear. 

This constant vigilance against the conglomerate's hidden retaliation left Lin Lan exhausted.

He had grown to despise Zhao Hesheng, who had tried to kill him multiple times for no reason. Even the most patient person would lose their temper under such circumstances.

To make matters worse, in their fourth year, students had to leave for internships, which involved being assigned to a port to train shipgirls. 

But Lin Lan was assigned to the most remote and dangerous port in their country.

When he saw the assignment, his face turned ashen because it was essentially a death sentence.

This world was nothing like the familiar Earth. 

Not only had the remote seas long been occupied by the Sirens, but there was also the issue of how the Navy could support him if he were attacked.

Even if he had a few Cognitive Cubes from the academy, after creating a new shipgirl upon arriving at the port, it was still impossible to survive in a sea frequented by Siren attacks. 

A single Siren attack could obliterate him and his port.

Soon, Lin Lan learned that his close classmates had also been assigned to similar remote ports, making him suspect that the Commercial Association had infiltrated the Navy's upper ranks.

"Crack!"

A flash of purple lightning tore through the thick clouds outside the ship, snapping Lin Lan out of his thoughts. He looked out at the ocean through the window.

The storm raged on, with waves growing higher and higher. In this vast ocean, humanity seemed insignificant, like a drop in the sea.

Lin Lan pulled out his phone, anxiously checking the map. 

He was currently on a route to the town closest to his assigned port, but this route was already considered quite remote. News of Siren attacks on merchant ships was not uncommon.

He clenched his fists. If it weren't for that damn conglomerate, he could have lived a peaceful life, even if he didn't become a commander. 

He could have settled inland and lived out his days quietly.

His teachers had tried to console him, saying that being assigned to such a remote place might help him avoid the conglomerate's interference. 

While there was some truth to that, being a commander in such a dangerous area was practically a death sentence.

As Lin Lan lay on the bed, pondering how to reach his port after arriving in the town the next day, a piercing alarm suddenly blared through the ship's speakers.

"Is this...an enemy attack alarm? Oh no, could it be the Sirens?"

As an excellent student of the Naval Academy, Lin Lan was all too familiar with the alarm sound. He immediately jumped out of bed and rushed to the door.

The hallway outside the passenger ship was in chaos, with passengers spilling out of their rooms in panic. 

The red warning lights on the ceiling flickered, a stark contrast to the previously calm atmosphere.

Children cried, adults shouted, and elderly passengers sighed—all sorts of noises echoed through the narrow corridor, drowning out the crew's attempts to maintain order.

Lin Lan ignored the panicked passengers, pushing through the crowd to reach the stairs at the end of the corridor—the only exit leading to the deck and the captain's cabin.

But the way was blocked by a group of strong crew members.

"I'm an intern commander from the Red Leaf Naval Academy. Let me see the captain!" Lin Lan declared his identity.

A commander was the ultimate source of reassurance in such a situation, as having a commander meant the presence of shipgirls capable of fighting the Sirens. 

The crew members ignored the "intern" part of Lin Lan's title, seeing him as a lifeline in their growing panic.

They quickly let him through, knowing that once the ship was sunk and they were in the sea, even the strongest humans would be at the mercy of the ocean.

Lin Lan hurried up the stairs. As he climbed, he glimpsed two small figures on the deck through a window—two girls dressed in ship equipment, standing in the storm.

They were likely the ship's escorts. Typically, civilian ships would hire shipgirls from the port commanders for escort missions. 

But seeing these two shipgirls did nothing to ease Lin Lan's anxiety.

He immediately recognized them as destroyers.