After walking out of the elevator, Fang Zheng was surprised to find that the weird thing here was not just the elevator.

Unlike the slightly old-fashioned style of the garrison itself, outside the elevator was a very modern pure white hall that looked like some kind of high-tech facility. Not only that, in this hall, Fang Zheng also saw a row of green plants placed in the corner of the wall that were being illuminated by fluorescent lights, and things that looked like research equipment were placed around. Fang Zheng even saw a compartment made entirely of glass next to it... Judging from the equipment inside, this seemed to be an emergency room or ICU or something...

Is this a hospital? Or some kind of research institute? Fang Zheng had never thought of equipping Tiandao Palace with a dedicated research institute, but now it seems that a ship girl wants to build one herself?

"1408, are you there?"

Musashi asked, her voice echoing in the empty hall, but there was no response. For some reason, this place seemed unusually empty, even the footsteps of Fang Zheng and others seemed to be slowly swallowed up in it...

"Brother Fang Zheng, I always feel like this place is a little scary..."

Cui leaned against Fang Zheng uneasily, reached out her hand to tightly grasp the corner of Fang Zheng's clothes, and Fang Zheng patted her little head.

"Don't worry, I'm here to protect you. Besides, this is inside the Tiandao Palace, what danger could there be?"

"That being said..."

"1408? The captain wants to talk to you. Did you hear that? Come out quickly."

Iona also walked forward and called out a few times in the hall, but it was obvious that no one was here. Even the table piled with what looked like research materials was empty, with only a cup of steaming coffee on it... It looked like the owner of this place had just left not long ago.

"Are you taking a break?"

Fang Zheng glanced at the other steel doors on the wall in front of him and asked casually, while Iona and Musashi looked at each other, and then they walked to one of the doors, and then the door slid open with a "swish", revealing the deep passage inside... Wait, what on earth did this guy dig into the Tiandao Palace?

"Anyway... let's look for it first..."

This is the only thing Fang Zheng can say now.

At the same time, in the courtyard of the naval base, Xiao Hei was taking Illya, Yoshino and the others to search for the legendary Ship Girl No. 1408.

“Why do I feel like I can’t find it anywhere…”

Xiao Hei put his hands behind his back, looking around boredly, and muttered to himself. Illya and Yoshino also walked and looked, only Kuang San followed the three with a smile... She could leave the task of finding people to her clones, and she didn't need to do it herself.

"1408...1408...where is it?"

Although they met several shipgirls on the way, there was no sign of 1408 among them. Not only that, when asked by Xiao Hei, those shipgirls also said that their impression of 1408 was similar to that of Musashi and Iona. They knew there was such a person, and it seemed that they had indeed trained with her. However, when Xiao Hei asked what the shipgirl No. 1408 looked like or what characteristics she had, no one could answer...

But this actually aroused Xiao Hei's interest.

"This is so interesting! I must find No. 1408 and take a good look at what she looks like!"

"How interesting..."

At this moment, Kuang San also became interested. She almost spread her clones all over the perimeter of the garrison, but the intelligence sent back showed that they had never seen the ship girl. Of course, to be on the safe side, Kuang San also sent a few clones to the streets and the docks to check the situation - maybe she went shopping?

"Wait a minute, I'll go up and take a look!"

After saying this, Xiao Hei turned around and quickly ran to the top of the bell tower next to him. Then he narrowed his eyes and quickly looked around. Then, Xiao Hei stretched out his hand and pointed to the square on the other side of the courtyard.

"Ah! There! On the chair under the statue, I saw her! A big sister with long straight black hair, reading a book. Her nameplate says 1408!"

After saying this, Xiao Hei suddenly jumped up, then quickly stepped on the tiles and jumped over the roof, running towards the square. Seeing that Xiao Hei took action first, Illya was also shocked.

"Wait, Xiao Hei, you actually jumped the gun, you are so cunning!"

"Hahaha, this is a competition based on your own abilities. Illya, if you lose you have to admit that I am your sister, okay?"

After leaving these words, Xiao Hei quickly disappeared from everyone's sight.

"Humph, that's impossible, I must have been here first! Sister Yoshino, let's go!"

"Ah... OK..."

Faced with the aggressive Illya, Shion nodded instinctively. Then she was pulled by Illya and flew up, rushing towards the square.

"Ah, I see!"

Soon, Illya and Yoshino, who were flying in the sky, also found the figure that Xiao Hei mentioned, sitting on the chair under the statue and reading a book. However, their eyesight was certainly not as good as Xiao Hei's eagle eyes, so they naturally couldn't see the number on the nameplate on the woman's chest clearly. But since Xiao Hei said so, it must be her!

"I was the first one to find 1408's sister!"

"No, it's me!"

With the shouting, Xiao Hei and Illya rushed towards the chair one above and one below, and then...

“Bang!!”

With a dull thud, the two little heads collided heavily, and then the two of them fell to the ground with a thump.

"Xiao Hei, Illya, are you okay?"

"Oh my... this is really..."

At the same time, Shion also flew down from the sky worriedly and came to the side of the two people, while Kurumi also reached out to cover her mouth, and slowly walked towards the two people with a few smiles.

“Woo…”

Hearing Yoshino's voice, Xiao Hei and Illya, who were knocked dizzy, hurriedly got up and looked at the bench in front of them again.

"I was the one who discovered it first!"

"But I'm faster than you, and you steal, Hei... eh?"

Looking at the bench in front of them, the two people who were arguing suddenly stopped. At this moment, there was no one on the bench in front of them, and there was nothing on it.

"Hey? Where's that big sister?"

"Why???"

"……this……"

It was not until this time that everyone was surprised to find that there was no one sitting on the chair?

What happened? They had clearly seen the ship girl sitting here just now! But just when Illya and Kuro collided and attracted everyone's attention, she disappeared?

What is going on?

"Just now...there is indeed someone here."

Xiao Hei scratched his head, then stood up and looked around. He saw that there was no one in the square except the four of them. There was not even a mouse to be seen...

She could swear that she had indeed seen the shipgirl sitting here, and the name tag on her chest did say 1408! But now, why couldn't she find her?

What is going on?