On the second floor of the building, there were many rows of seats, and in the center of the entire hall stood a spacious stage.
At this moment, many people were already seated, and through the large floor-to-ceiling windows of the building, the howling winds and pouring rain could be clearly seen beating against the glass.
However, most of the people here were naval commanders and ship girls, so they were used to such weather conditions.
Moreover, as this was indoors, the wind and rain outside had no effect on the lively atmosphere of the trade fair.
Soon, Lin Lan, under the guidance of Qi Yue and the others, sat down on seats toward the back with Sui Qiong and the ship girls.
"I heard that the equipment at this trade fair is extraordinary. The high-ranking officials from the navy are attending; I wonder who will show up."
Naturally, Lin Lan sat close to Qi Yue and the others, with Sui Qiong and Nimi seated to his right.
Hearing the words of one of the commanders from the Yalang City Port District, Qi Yue's expression changed slightly.
"Maybe it's some general," Qi Yue said, her tone forced, as though she wasn't too interested in the topic.
"Yeah, I think so too. A classmate who works at the navy base fortress told me that General Li Hongjun was absent from the meeting last night."
After the commander finished speaking, another county commander from Yalang City became intrigued.
"General Li Hongjun? Is that for real? He's the spiritual leader of our navy! There's no way he would personally come to Yunhai City, right?"
"Why not? Yunhai City is only a day's drive from the base fortress. If he left yesterday morning, he could probably make it today."
Listening to the conversation, Lin Lan noticed that Qi Yue's face was becoming increasingly grim.
"It seems like Qi Yue might have some hidden connection with General Li Hongjun, and it doesn't seem like it's a good thing for her," Lin Lan speculated quietly to himself.
Li Hongjun was no ordinary figure. He was the highest-ranking official of the West Continent Navy, nicknamed the Iron-Blood General.
Even after the disastrous defeat of the Orlan Navy in their battle against the Sirens, this old general had used his iron-fist tactics to prevent the Tian'ou Group and Battleaxe Military Industry from taking control of the navy.
Whether it was the East Continent or the West Continent, the navy's leaders had fiercely resisted the Zhu Hai Business Association at that time, refusing to compromise, which led to the navy's independence from the association.
If Qi Yue had a close relationship with Li Hongjun, she should have been placed in a high-ranking position within the navy, not as a district port commander like she was now.
Of course, this was just Lin Lan's personal guess, and it had little to do with him.
However, General Li Hongjun was also one of the high-ranking officials in the West Continent Navy with ties to Bismarck and Frederick.
Although he had not been controlled by August, Li Hongjun deeply admired the Iron-Blood faction and had essentially complied with every request they made.
Convincing Li Hongjun to cooperate with the Tian'ou Group wouldn't be difficult, especially since Lin Lan could guarantee that the Tian'ou Group wouldn't behave as recklessly as they had before.
At that moment, Lin Lan felt a light tug on his sleeve. It was Nimi.
He looked at Nimi, who pointed in another direction.
Following the direction Nimi pointed to, Lin Lan saw that Ulrich and Count Zeppelin, along with others, had entered the second floor of the building and were seated in the rows behind them.
Seeing Lin Lan's gaze, the three little wolf girls from the group waved and smiled at him.
Lin Lan gave a slight smile in return. It was good that they had arrived.
"The time is nearly here. Let's see what treasures the West Continent Science Institute has prepared for us this time."
A few minutes later, as the seats were filled, Sun Dewang stepped onto the central stage, and the noisy crowd gradually quieted down.
Seeing a red cloth-covered cylindrical object slowly rise from the ground beside Sun Dewang on stage, Qi Yue whispered to Lin Lan.
Wearing a blue suit, Sun Dewang looked around the crowd before breaking into a radiant smile.
"Ahem, good morning to all the naval port commanders and executives from various Orlan enterprises. Welcome to the annual Naval Equipment Trade Fair!"
"Although many of you know me, I still need to introduce myself. I am Sun Dewang, the acting chairman of the Tian'ou Group and the host of this trade fair!"
Lin Lan was slightly surprised to hear that Sun Dewang had become the acting chairman of the Tian'ou Group.
It seemed that Jian Qian'ou was planning to focus on developing Sun Dewang.
This was, of course, a good thing. Sun Dewang had previously been one of the higher-ups in the Tian'ou Group with close ties to the navy, and many port commanders had good relationships with him.
After Sun Dewang was exiled to Lihu County, many port commanders struggled due to the lack of someone to issue their commissions.
Hearing that Sun Dewang had been reinstated to his original position and had even become the acting chairman of the Tian'ou Group, everyone began clapping to congratulate him.
"Now, I would like to formally introduce a heavyweight guest at this trade fair—"
"General Li Hongjun from the West Continent Navy! Please give him a round of applause!"
As the applause from the crowd subsided, Sun Dewang raised his hand and pointed toward the escalator on the second floor.
At his words, everyone in the audience turned to look at the escalator.
An elderly man in a white Orlan naval uniform, with white hair, stood upright with his hands behind his back as he slowly ascended the escalator to the second floor of the building.
Despite his age, everyone could sense the strong military aura emanating from him—a cold, murderous presence forged through years of war.
"Swish!"
All the naval port commanders present immediately stood up from their seats and saluted the old man with the Orlan naval salute.
Lin Lan did the same.
It wasn't just because he was still officially a naval port commander.
After crossing into Orlan, he had received a lot of care from the navy instructors at the Red Leaf Naval Academy, so he felt that it was only natural to salute this figure.
As for the Iron-Blood ship girls and Sui Qiong, they completely ignored the situation, and the other chess piece ship girls merely stood up without saluting.
Apart from the port commanders, the executives of Tian'ou Group's subsidiaries in the hall also applauded the arrival of the old general.
Everyone in the room had the same thought.
Sun Dewang, who was now the acting chairman of Tian'ou Group, was once a high-ranking figure who had supported collaboration with the navy.
Now, he was in charge of the trade fair.
Li Hongjun, as the highest authority of the West Continent Navy, had personally come to attend a trade fair hosted by Sun Dewang.
Adding to the fact that the Battleaxe Military Industry headquarters had recently been attacked, with its boss Ye Zhanke rumored to be in critical condition, it was clear that without Ye Zhanke, the representatives of the Battleaxe Military Industry would be wiped out one by one, leaving Tian'ou Group to take over.
The simultaneous appearance of these two figures was highly significant.
At that moment, both the naval commanders and Tian'ou Group's executives seemed to understand something.
The West Continent was about to undergo a major change—and for the better!
"Everyone, I'm just here to attend this trade fair. No need for formalities, please sit down."
Li Hongjun, with his hands behind his back, slowly walked through the seating area and turned around after reaching the stage.
He looked at the naval commanders around him who were still saluting and spoke slowly.
Lin Lan keenly noticed that General Li Hongjun glanced in his direction several times.
It wasn't directed at him, but rather at Qi Yue standing beside him.
At that moment, Qi Yue's face had turned pale, looking quite miserable.
After Li Hongjun finished speaking, all the port commanders sat down, and Li Hongjun took a seat in the front row of the stage.
"No need for pleasantries, Sun Dewang. What has your West Continent Science Institute produced this time? Let us see."
Li Hongjun's eagle-like gaze fixed on Sun Dewang on stage, and he spoke in a calm tone.
"Heh, General Li, please be patient. Before we proceed, I still need to introduce the rules of this trade fair," Sun Dewang, unfazed by Li Hongjun's stare, chuckled.
After all, at this moment, he represented the face of Tian'ou Group and couldn't afford to appear weak.
"I'm sure everyone has already downloaded the software when they entered. This trade fair will be conducted through this software."
"Please open the app and you should see a prize wheel."
"The detailed rules are written next to the wheel, so I won't repeat them.
However, one thing I must mention is that in addition to money, you can also use oil to buy chances to spin the wheel."
"Some of the prizes on the wheel include blue boxes that can randomly drop ship girls' equipment, and the quality of the items is random—purely based on luck."
Sun Dewang finished speaking, revealing a mysterious smile.
"And now, the main event of this trade fair is... this!"
With one hand holding the microphone, Sun Dewang raised his chubby arm and dramatically pulled off the red cloth, revealing a cylindrical fuel filter.
As he officially unveiled the fuel filter to the crowd, a semi-transparent blue holographic image of the fuel filter appeared in the center of the stage.
Everyone could clearly see the appearance of this naval equipment.
"This equipment is called the Fuel Filter, created using Wisdom Cube technology.
It is the latest non-weapon naval gear and can greatly enhance the ship girls' endurance and mobility!"
"Previously, all naval equipment was related to weapons, but this is Orlan United's first non-combat naval gear, and it doesn't take up any weapon slots!"
"This will be a groundbreaking piece of naval equipment!"
Hearing Sun Dewang's enthusiastic introduction of the fuel filter, Lin Lan, who was sitting in his seat, was dumbfounded.
Just a simple fuel filter, and Sun Dewang made it sound like a rare, limited-edition item.
If it weren't for the fact that the fuel filter had come from his warehouse, he would almost believe it was some kind of divine artifact.
"Ha!"
Suddenly, Lin Lan heard a stifled laugh from beside him.
He turned to look and saw that both Agir and August, the Iron-Blood research ships, were covering their mouths and shaking with laughter.
Especially Agir, tears were streaming down her face from laughing so hard.
As for the green-haired little merchant Akashi, she had both hands covering her face and had curled up into a ball in her seat, trembling all over, struggling to hold in her laughter.
"Lin Lan, what's wrong with your ship girls?"
Qi Yue, who had finally calmed down, noticed the strange behavior of Lin Lan's ship girls and asked with concern.
"Uh... don't mind them, Senior. They've probably never seen such powerful equipment before, so they're a bit shocked," Lin Lan lied without missing a beat.
As he spoke, not only did the three ship girls tremble even more violently, but even Nimi, who was usually calm, turned to look at Sui Qiong, her body beginning to shake.
For the first time, the four ship girls realized how difficult it was to keep from laughing out loud.
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50 advanced chapters on p@t re on (.) com/SenatusTheta
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