Essex replied while eating watermelon, "Report, Captain! I am the same as Saratoga; I also did not see you wink at Illustrious."
Saratoga and Essex were telling the truth; their attention had been mostly on Illustrious, so they truly hadn't seen Atago wink at Illustrious.
After hearing Saratoga and Essex, Atago nodded in satisfaction. "You heard that! They didn't see me wink at you. How do you explain that!"
Illustrious roared, "What do you mean you didn't see it? You must be blind! It was so obvious, and you missed it. I think you all need to go see an ophthalmologist."
Saratoga had a short temper. Upon hearing Illustrious call her blind and tell her to see a doctor, she immediately jumped up, pointed at Illustrious, and shouted angrily, "Hey! Watch your tone! You're the one in the wrong here, and we're the ones judging you. How dare you yell at us? You've got some nerve!"
"I'll yell at you if I want to! What are you going to do about it? If you've got the guts, hit me! You flat-chested freak!" Illustrious was already furious, and since Saratoga had walked right into it, she vented all her anger on her.
"Pfft! Flat-chested freak! That name is hilarious, hahahaha..." Essex couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Hearing Saratoga being called a flat-chested freak, Atago couldn't help but turn her head and cover her mouth to stifle a laugh.
Hearing the laughter around her, Saratoga blushed. It wasn't a blush of shame, but one of pure rage.
Saratoga immediately ran over to Atago, snatched the remote control from her hand, and said to Illustrious with a dark expression, "Hehehe! You asked me to hit you just now, didn't you? What a strange request. You must be a masochist to enjoy suffering so much. Since that's the case, I'll grant your wish."
Seeing Saratoga holding the remote, Illustrious couldn't help but swallow hard. To stop Saratoga from pressing the red button, she immediately threatened, "Hey! You flat-chested freak, I'm warning you, don't do anything stupid! If you press that, I won't let you get away with it!"
Hearing the words "flat-chested freak" again, Saratoga's anger flared up even more. She raged, "Not only are you threatening me, but you dare to call me a flat-chested freak again! Very well, very well. You've successfully gotten my attention. It seems if I don't teach you a lesson, you won't understand the situation."
Saratoga immediately pressed the red button, and Illustrious was shocked by the torture chair once again.
Being shocked, Illustrious said viciously, "You dare shock me? You dare shock me? You dare shock me? It's one thing for Atago to shock me, but who do you think you are! How dare you shock me? Try shocking me again if you dare!"
Saratoga wasn't afraid of the murderous glare Illustrious was shooting at her; after all, she was used to being threatened. "Try you? I will! Do you think I'm afraid of you?"
Saratoga pressed the red button again, and Illustrious was shocked once more.
Shocked again, Illustrious raged, "Flat-chested freak, you have a lot of nerve! You just wait. Once I'm untied, I'll make sure you know how terrifying the consequences of offending me are!"
"Hehehe! I'll be waiting." Hearing the words "flat-chested freak" again, Saratoga's smile grew increasingly gentle as she pressed the red button.
Shocked once again, Illustrious continued to yell angrily at Saratoga, "Flat-chested freak! You..."
Before Illustrious could finish, Saratoga pressed the red button again. There were only two things she hated most in life: the first was people saying her chest was small, and the second was people having a larger chest than her.
Illustrious possessed both of the traits Saratoga hated most, so how could Saratoga not be furious?
She looked at Illustrious's chest, becoming angrier the more she looked. She repeatedly pressed the red button, venting all the frustration of her own small chest onto Illustrious.
"Ah...!"
The torture chair continuously shocked Illustrious. The pain of being shocked incessantly this time left her unable to argue with Saratoga.
Saratoga's face was dark, and as if possessed, she kept rapidly pressing the red button. Seeing Illustrious in such agony, Atago felt heartbroken. She couldn't let Saratoga continue, or Illustrious would die.
"Saratoga! Stop it!" Atago shouted loudly.
"You big-chested ones, all of you die! Die! Die..." Consumed by rage, Saratoga could no longer hear Atago. She continued to rapidly press the red button over and over again!
"Ah..."
Illustrious's screams of agony rang out continuously, growing louder each time.
Hearing Illustrious's increasingly loud screams, Atago immediately rushed toward Saratoga. "Give the remote back to me!"
Just as Atago was about to snatch it away, an accident happened because Saratoga kept rapidly pressing the red button on the remote.
The remote could no longer withstand such frequent pressure. Several bolts of lightning sparked from it, and finally, with a bang, the remote exploded and fell to the ground in pieces.
"Ah...!"
Although the remote had exploded, the torture chair continued to release electrical currents, shocking Illustrious relentlessly. The shocks were unbearable, making Illustrious question her existence and causing her consciousness to blur.
The explosion snapped Saratoga out of her possessed state. Watching Illustrious screaming continuously from the shocks, Saratoga realized she had messed up. She said to Atago with a panicked expression, "Captain! I didn't mean to! I was blinded by rage just now. Now that the remote has exploded, what should we do?"
"What do we do? We save her!" Atago rushed toward Illustrious, intending to cut the straps on the torture chair.
But just as she was about to rush over, she was stopped by Essex. "Captain, this torture chair is quite expensive. If you cut it, we'll lose our wages for the month."
"Is the person more important, or is the money more important?" Atago stared at Essex.
"Money is more important!" Essex said seriously.
Atago took a deep breath. "As expected of you. But I think the person is more important. Move aside, or I'll cut you down too."
"Wait, Captain! I didn't say I wouldn't save Illustrious. I just meant you don't need to cut it; let me save her. You know my unique ability is lightning. If I take action, I can save both Illustrious and the torture chair." Essex said calmly.
"Then hurry up and act!" Atago urged.
"Okay! Right away!" Essex nodded.
Essex came before Illustrious and pointed her finger at her. The lightning surrounding Illustrious immediately gathered toward Essex's finger.
"No... I can't... Essex, hurry up and absorb it! I can't take it anymore." Illustrious said breathlessly.
"Mm! No problem. I'll absorb it all in one go." Essex immediately unleashed a stronger suction force.
"Ah!" Illustrious screamed and finally passed out.
The lightning from inside the torture chair and the lightning on Illustrious were all absorbed by Essex and gathered into a ball of lightning. Compressing the lightning ball to the size of a glass marble, Essex immediately swallowed it in one gulp.
After swallowing the collected lightning marble, Essex couldn't help but press her legs together, her face flushed, and her eyes becoming moist.
After her body shuddered, Essex said with a seductive expression, "So comfortable! The quality of this lightning is quite good!"
Seeing the lightning disappear but Illustrious fainted, Atago immediately unfastened the straps of the torture chair.
After unfastening the straps, Atago placed her hand under Illustrious's nose and discovered that Illustrious wasn't breathing. She was immediately startled, but she had undergone professional training; no matter the situation, she had to stay calm first. She couldn't panic now. Illustrious had only stopped breathing for a minute or two; she could still be saved.
Atago laid Illustrious flat on the ground, placed her hands on Illustrious's chest, and performed fifteen consecutive compressions. After the fifteen compressions, Atago immediately took a deep breath, used her hands to open Illustrious's mouth, and finally blew oxygen into Illustrious's lungs.
Atago repeated this set of CPR maneuvers on Illustrious continuously. The biggest problem she encountered during the process was that Illustrious's chest was too large, which made Atago furious. Why did it have to be so big? It made it so difficult for her to perform compressions.
After about four or five rounds of CPR, Illustrious finally regained her breathing and heartbeat. Her pale complexion also began to flush, returning to a normal skin tone.
"Great! Her breathing and heartbeat have returned." Atago sighed with relief, looking somewhat exhausted.
"That's good. If Illustrious died, I would definitely feel guilty for the rest of my life," Saratoga said with relief.
Essex said expressionlessly, "Why hasn't she woken up yet!"
Although Illustrious had regained her breathing and heartbeat, she remained unconscious.
"She was electrocuted for so long; her body is very weak right now. But! She'll be fine in a few days." Atago immediately and carefully moved Illustrious to the room below the carrier.
Saratoga and Essex followed her in. Atago continued to take meticulous care of Illustrious, and Saratoga offered to help. "Let me help too! It's my fault she ended up like this. If I don't do anything, I won't be able to rest easy."
"Alright! Then go get a basin of water." Seeing Saratoga with her head lowered, pinching the hem of her skirt, looking so pitiful, Atago agreed to her request.
"Okay! I'll go get it right away." Saratoga immediately and happily went to fetch a basin of water.
Seeing Atago and Saratoga busy, a bored Essex yawned. "There's nothing for me to do here, so I'll be taking my leave."
"Mm! Thank you for saving Illustrious just now!" Atago said gratefully.
"It was nothing, don't worry about it!" Essex waved her hand and left the room.
After a while, Atago saw Saratoga bring a basin of water. Atago took the basin, and seeing that it was inconvenient to clean Illustrious while she was still wearing clothes, Atago immediately began to undress her. Saratoga didn't stay idle and helped with the undressing.
After Illustrious's clothes were removed, Atago immediately began wiping down her body.
Saratoga saw Illustrious's body and blushed slightly; this was the second time she had seen such a beautiful body.
With a graceful figure, curves in all the right places, and a willow-thin waist, she was just too womanly! Especially that snow-white, delicate skin that made one want to touch it.
For a moment, Saratoga was stunned. So this is what a woman looks like. When would someone as flat-chested as her grow up to be like Illustrious?
"Saratoga, go pour out this basin of water." Atago called out to Saratoga.
Saratoga snapped out of it, turning her gaze from Illustrious to Atago. "Ah! Mm! I understand."
Saratoga immediately took the basin of water out to dump it, while Atago used the time to change Illustrious into a set of pajamas.
After a while, Saratoga returned to Illustrious's room after dumping the water.
Atago said softly to Saratoga, "Saratoga, I can handle things here. You've been busy for a long time, so go back and get some rest."
"But..." Saratoga also wanted to stay and take care of Illustrious, but Atago stopped her.
"Alright! Don't worry, she is a Five-Star Legendary Ship Girl; she won't die so easily." Atago smiled and patted Saratoga's head.
"Alright then! If she wakes up, remember to call me over. I need to apologize to her properly," Saratoga said softly.
"Okay, I'll call you the moment she wakes up," Atago nodded and said.
Saratoga left the room, leaving only Atago and Illustrious inside.
Atago looked at Illustrious and noticed she was shivering. Atago hurried over to check and found that Illustrious's body was very cold.
It was currently the cold season. If it were normal times, Illustrious might have been able to withstand the cold, but now that her body was in a weakened state, she couldn't resist it at all.
Seeing Illustrious shivering from the cold, Atago immediately became anxious. She racked her brain and quickly thought of a good method: body heat transfer. "If I hold Illustrious tightly with my body, wouldn't she be able to warm up?"
Atago immediately took off her shoes, lifted the quilt, hugged Illustrious, and covered them both.
Through this body heat transfer, Illustrious stopped shivering so violently, but she was still trembling a little.
Seeing this, Atago began to think of other ways to warm Illustrious up. After thinking about it, she considered that if she and Illustrious both took off their clothes and held each other, it would be even warmer.
But this method made Atago blush. "Would that be too shameless? If Illustrious wakes up and sees me like this, wouldn't she think I'm a very loose person!"
Feeling that Illustrious was still shivering from the cold, Atago hardened her heart. "Alright! It's all my fault that you ended up like this. Don't worry! I will make you warm."
Atago immediately took off her own clothes, and after that, she removed Illustrious's clothes as well. Finally, the two held each other tightly.
As the two held each other, the temperature of their bodies rose immediately, and Illustrious finally stopped shivering.
Seeing that Illustrious had finally stopped shivering, Atago breathed a sigh of relief.
Exhausted from taking care of Illustrious, Atago finally closed her eyes slowly and fell into a deep sleep.
...
The next day, sunlight shone into the room, and Illustrious slowly opened her eyes. "A familiar ceiling! It seems I'm still alive. This is my room. Did Atago and the others bring me back to my room?"
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