Tu Tu Tu

"ID: I Love Juice has requested to contact you."

An electronic prompt sounded.

Wang Dong let out a long breath, calming his excitement, and accepted the call.

"Hey, big shot, wanna team up and run some battles?"

A sweet, girlish voice rang out.

"I can be your backup and cheer you on~"

"My time's limited. Sorry."

Wang Dong declined without hesitation, then ended the call.

He had no interest at all.

"Lucky me. The timing for Leaping Fish Topping was just right. Looks like my ship-handling skills have improved a lot."

Wang Dong silently gave himself a pat on the back.

The tactical maneuver known as "Leaping Fish Topping" was no easy feat. The window when the two ships crossed paths was incredibly brief, and with both ships' speeds constantly changing, accurately judging when to charge the main gun was extremely difficult.

It really did take a bit of luck.

Once the main gun finished charging, it fired immediately—at least, that was how the main guns on destroyers worked. That placed high demands on the captain's judgment.

If he charged too early, then by the time the charge was complete and the main gun had to fire, the ships might not have reached the crossing point. The enemy ship might not yet have entered his gun's firing arc, leaving him unable to hit it.

If he charged too late, they would already have passed the crossing point, and he could only fire into empty space.

Besides, I Love Juice's ship also had LV2 armor.

If Wang Dong had failed to hit the engine, a vital weak point, just then—even if he had been off by a little and his shot had struck the armor at the rear of I Love Juice's ship—it would only have caused minor damage at most.

Once I Love Juice had recovered and realized that Wang Dong's main gun was only LV1, all he had to do was reduce his speed and drag the battle into an endless exchange of fire. Wang Dong's defeat would have been all but certain.

Wang Dong continued matchmaking and entered three more battles in a row.

All wins.

Beating up rookies was fun for a while. Keep beating them up, and it was fun forever.

Or so he thought.

Even beating up rookies got boring after a while.

At first, he had been somewhat interested.

But after a few rounds, even that bit of nostalgia had gradually faded.

He was no longer the fresh-faced young man he had once been. Star Sea Expedition held little appeal for Wang Dong now.

"Exit Star Sea Expedition."

After he confirmed the command, Wang Dong's viewpoint withdrew from the ship. It receded into the distance, eventually becoming a small icon that remained in the upper part of his field of view.

Just as Wang Dong was about to look at his other applications, a notification suddenly popped up.

"Your friend, ID: Tu Tu Tu, has come online."

It was a game notification from Star Sea Expedition.

Warm memories welled up inside him.

Wang Dong had played Star Sea Expedition for more than three years. He didn't have many game friends, but he had a few dozen.

Tu Tu Tu was the one he'd gotten along with best.

That was because, like Wang Dong, she had chosen to keep using the same unupgraded starter ship.

Before his rebirth, after obtaining War Axe, Wang Dong had been constantly on the move and no longer had time to play leisurely. He had long since put Star Sea Expedition out of his mind.

Naturally, he had lost touch with his friends in the game.

Whenever he happened to think of them, he couldn't help feeling a little regret.

The moment he saw the notification, Wang Dong reentered Star Sea Expedition without hesitation.

He had barely logged in and hadn't even sat down in the captain's seat of his Scout-class Destroyer when a message from his friend arrived.

"Little Dongzi, you're here too! Perfect timing. Come play a few rounds with your big sister. I learned a new tactical maneuver today, so I can try it out on you."

A sweet, girlish voice rang out.

It was a message from Tu Tu Tu.

Wang Dong shook his head with a wry smile and replied instinctively, "Little Bunny, quit pretending to be the big sister. I've told you, I'm two months older than you. Call me Brother Dong, got it?"

"Bleh~ You, Little Dongzi, want to be the big brother? Beat me first! Want me to let you adjust your engines one position ahead?"

Through her bell-like laughter, the image of a mischievous young girl seemed to appear before his eyes.

They were typical gaming friends. Their relationship was limited to Star Sea Expedition, and they had no contact outside the game.

According to the ages they had told each other, Wang Dong and Tu Tu Tu were born in the same year, with Wang Dong being two months and six days older.

But their gaming skills were far from equal, so Tu Tu Tu had never been willing to acknowledge him as her senior. Instead, she often called herself his "big sister."

Tu Tu Tu's ship-handling skills and strategic insight were excellent.

At the time, among the opponents Wang Dong had faced during his three years in Star Sea Expedition, almost none had been better than her.

Even by Wang Dong's standards now, she was impressive.

Tu Tu Tu claimed she was a student at the Royal Sky Patrol Higher Education Academy in the Purple Thorn Kingdom.

Judging by the ship-handling skills and strategic insight she had displayed, Wang Dong believed her.

When Wang Dong first started playing Star Sea Expedition, he had begun from scratch and practiced his ship-handling skills constantly.

Since he had never learned anything about the subject before, he spent the first two years practicing blindly, relying on instinct.

Honestly, the results were mediocre.

His win rate in the game was quite low. Since he insisted on using a starter ship, it didn't even reach fifteen percent.

That was until, two years later, Wang Dong ran into Tu Tu Tu by chance in Star Sea Expedition's battlefield mode.

It was a hundred-player team battle, and Wang Dong and Tu Tu Tu were on the same side.